The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley

A special thank you to the author, Simon & Schuster Canada, NetGalley, and Harlequin Graydon House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Drs. Miles and Grace Markell run the Harmony Resort where they help couples with their failing marriages. It is an opportunity for the couples to reconnect with the gorgeous Mayan Riviera as the backdrop.

Johanna and Ben seem to have a picture-perfect marriage, but they actually don't know each other at all. Shell and Colin constantly argue because Colin is a workaholic and Shell feels like she takes a back seat when it comes to his job, but that's a front for what has really torn them apart, it's actually too devastating to speak of.

Both couples begin the intensive therapy program and it quickly becomes apparent that that Miles and Grace Markell do not live up to their personas. They also appear to be hiding something.

As a deadly tropical storm descends on the coast, trapping the hosts and the guests on the resort, secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested, and no relationship or person will be unchanged.

The Last Resort is perfectly paced with an interesting multiple point of view perspective. With its excellent premise and setting, there is enough intrigue the keep the reader vested in the story. Stapley employs some interesting tactics to move the narrative along—TMZ news releases, dialogue between "him" and "her," and the story alternates between past and present.

The book is clever, tense, and gripping. With themes of loss, love, and an exploration into relationships and what it takes to make them work, Stapley has really come into her own and I can't wait to read what she publishes next.

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MARISSA STAPLEY is the Globe and Mail bestselling author of Mating for Life and Things to Do When It's Raining. She writes the commercial fiction review column "Shelf Love" for the Globe and Mail, and reports on books and culture for the Toronto Star.

She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.