What the heck did I just read?

That ending really got me, in the best way. I think this is definitely going to be a love it or hate it thing, but whew, that brought my rating up for sure. 

Sloan and Cherry are the only survivors of a summer camp massacre, and they are not doing well, to say the least. Their relationship is obsessively codependent and trauma-bonded, which, I mean, yea. That makes sense. 

The story is told from Sloan's perspective, and she's still struggling to process the events, especially because she is missing memories from that night. Cherry has relayed her side of the story to Sloan as many times as she's needed, but Sloan's starting to wonder if maybe her mind is repressing things for more than one reason. When it comes out that the killers were part of a death cult targeting soulmates to bring about the end of the world (ok sure), it makes Sloan think, could Cherry have been involved?

Sloan desperately researches the lives of the killers, as well as her own history and Cherry's, determined to find a reason for all of this to have happened to her and trigger her memories to come back. Cherry grows increasingly worried for her girlfriend, but is she just concerned for Sloan's mental health, or afraid she's going to get busted?

I wish this had a bit more of the summer camp portion of the story in it, as it mostly focused on the aftermath of the trauma, but once I got over the loss of the summer vibes I was totally absorbed. I didn't love Sloan or Cherry as characters, but I read this in a few hours, I was so curious to find out what happened. This would make a really fun movie, too!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

“The Last Girls Standing”

by Jennifer Dugan

Releasing August 15, 2023