I wanted to like this one more than I did. I love the premise of it being set during the pandemic. However, I was hoping for more of a mystery thriller than I what I got. I feel like it was more dramatic than suspenseful. Not bad by any means, just wasn’t what I expected from the blurb.

This book has such a great premise, but it didn’t work for me. It was very descriptive, very wordy and I just got bored rather than intrigued. Disappointed.

This book is a good one.

It’s a good one for this pandemic of covid. It shows how it affects people being isolated

I would recommend this to a friend

Well written with good character development but very predictable to me. A woman is having an affair and trying to hide it from her husband. And then we enter a lockdown with covid. And it becomes near impossible to avoid them coming into contact and keeping her secrets. It honestly was a struggle to get through this. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

London is in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown and Caitlin has had just about enough of family togetherness and bickering children. Despite the “stay home” order, she sneaks out to see her lover Daniel. When she arrives at Daniel’s flat, she finds him dead in a pool of blood.

Ali is a semi-functioning alcoholic whose favorite pastime is spying on her neighbors, including Daniel. She sees Caitlin enter and quickly exit Daniel‘s flat. The two women’s lives quickly become intertwined as they work together to solve Daniel’s murder.

I loved the premise of a thriller set during the pandemic lockdown, but this book just didn’t do it for me. It’s less a thriller and more a family drama, which isn’t evident from the blurb. The story was slow and there was far too much internal dialogue and not enough action. I didn’t like any of the characters much, although I did enjoy the wry humor in Ali’s voice. I do think Ms. Pierce has some fresh ideas, and I would enjoy reading her future work.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb.........'Stay Home is a timely story of dark secrets - affairs, addictions, habits and horrors - which are bought to the surface by these unprecedented times we find ourselves in. It explores the dark parts of people's lives, while at the same time leading us on a breath-takingly twisty race to find a killer.'

Well, who wouldn't want to read this book after reading that?? It has it all alcohol, sex, infidelity, seediness, murder, intrigue and 'breath-taking' twists and Covid!...... but unfortunately, for me, I just didn't care, the story was a little disjointed, I didn't like Ali or Caitlin or really any of the supporting cast and several of the twists were quite unbelievable and far fetched. I found myself skim reading. Now I am only one person and lots of you will enjoy this book and already have if you read the reviews., so please dont be put off by me.

Thank you to Netgalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Ava Pierce for kindly giving me the opportunity to read an early copy of Stay Home

Ava Pierce's Stay Home is the first book I've read that is intentionally set during the COVID-19 lockdown. Masks, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and a murder make for a fun read.

Caitlin, her husband James, and her 15 year old twins are at their wits end during lockdown. Also, Caitlin is having a spicy affair with Daniel down the road, but the lockdown forces Caitlin to take up "running" just so she can get out of her house and down to Daniel's house ... until she walks into his home and finds him murdered.

Caitlin soon meets Ali, who lives across the street from Daniel and spends her days spying on Daniel and the rest of the neighborhood, only Ali has a bit of a drinking problem. I was worried that this was going to be an AJ Finn The Woman In The Window situation, but I was so pleasantly surprised that Ali in no way reflects the unreliable narrator I remember from Finn's recent book. Instead, Ali and Caitlin eventually overcome their mutual distrust, and they form a wonderful friendship that is the highlight of the book.

Surprises keep coming as Caitlin and Ali join forces, initially to find out what happened to Daniel, but ultimately to support each other through several surprises that are thrown at them during the course of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Ava Pierce, and publisher Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of Stay Home in exchange for my honest review.

This book piqued my interest as it revolved around the initial lockdown due to Covid-19. I also like thrillers so thought this would be interesting.
Sadly I did not finish it, I found the dialect too slow and bordering boring. We have Caitlin who has a family but also has been having an affair and the lockdown hits. She manages to find a way to get out of the house (exercising) to visit her lover only to find him dead.
You then have the woman who lives across the road from the lover Ali, she drinks far too much and seems like a nosy neighbour, she knows the comings and goings of everyone but Caitlin's lover has gained her interest, she can see through his windows. She is a bit weird if I'm being honest. Who does that?
I ended it shortly after 25% in as I struggled to engage. I may get the audiobook at a later date.

Stay home is the first book I have read which is centred around the covid pandemic. The book is centred around the murder of Daniel. Caitlin was having an affair with Daniel and is shocked to discovery his dead body when she manages to leave her house during lockdown to see him. Ally is an alcoholic who likes to watch her neighbours. The two women find their lives intertwined.

This is under the category psychological thriller however this book is neither. Yes there's a dead body yes we don't know who killed him but it really doesn't read like a psychological thriller. I don't mind this if I'm honest however I do like to know what genre I am going into when I start a book.

The story is written in first person from the accounts of both women. I love a good first person story and I enjoyed each womans inner dialogue. I must say that I preferred Ally over Caitlin but that's a personal preference. I found that Ally had a bit more humour than Caitlins. I must say though at times both accounts did become a bit dreary. The novel is almost more about family dynamics and friendship than the murder that almost seems like a back story that I did lose interest in.

All in all I did like this book but I didn't love it. It's not psychological thriller and if that's what you're after then this book isn't for you. I must also say if you are reading to escape lovkdown and covid then once again this book isn't for you. However if you want an easy read set around modern day covid then yeah give this a read. The murderer was predictable and I had guessed within a few pages and the twist at the end fell flat I must say. But like I said I did still enjoy the book and I would recommend for a quick and easy read. Happy to rate 2 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the digital advanced copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

Yet another thriller that fails to catch me to their main characters. There is a lot of talking and thinking in this book and not enough doing. The ending was not very surprising and the plot points not as exciting. I had been looking forward to this book a lot because of the Covid viewpoint, but it just didn't do it for me.

Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my copy to review on netgalley.

What a culturally relevant topic to be embedded into a thriller. Very cleverly crafted.

A affair goes wrong and the fallout is massive especially in lockdown where everyone is home…

Twisty and unpredictable this is a compelling and exciting book.

Who can be trusted? Is all as it seems?

A great debut for 2020.

Published 31st December

Stay Home is the first book I've read that takes place during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it's a great one! A woman trying to solve her lover's murder during lockdown is an interesting premise, and I was really invested in finding out who the killer was. There were a lot of twists and turns I didn't see coming, and I was surprised by the ending. I really enjoyed Stay Home, and I'm looking forward to reading more from Ava Pierce in the future. Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the opportunity to discover a great new author! : )

Seriously, we entered lock down in March and this book is already published! How is that even possible?

March 2020, the first lockdown in the UK begins. Being cooped up in the house with her husband and two teenage children is proving difficult for Caitlin, she decides to use her one hour of daily exercise to pay her lover a surprise visit. Instead, it’s Caitlin that gets the surprise as he’s been killed. Rather than risk her affair being exposed by ringing the police, Caitlin heads home. Unfortunately, Daniel’s alcoholic neighbour has noticed Caitlin’s coming and going and put two and two together.

The rest of the story focuses on Caitlin and Ali working together to solve Daniel’s murder, digging into the life of the man that Caitlin thought she knew and finding lots of secrets. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout the novel and it was interesting to read something set in these challenging times.

Caitlin is having an affair. She is hiding it from her husband and children and when the country goes into lockdown because of Covid, she is unable to see Daniel, her lover. On the day she decides to go over to his house, she finds him in his apartment, dead. Little does she know that she has been seen and everything she has is about to go up in flames.
Ali lives across from Daniel and is a bit of a snoop. She has been watching Caitlin and knows about the affair. She has a pretty big drinking problem and as she is sneaking into Daniel's she also finds him dead and remembers seeing Caitlin leave and figures she must have done it. When the two confront eachother, they realize there is more to Daniel than what they ever could have imagined.
I really liked the plot of this story and it could have been really good. The issue was the inner dialoge for me. There was so much of it. Also, the POV's didn't make sense at times (you would have to read it to understand though). There was a lot of potential here, but unfortuantely the execution was a bit lacking. Thanks to Netgalley, Hodder and Stoughton and the author for an early copy.

Stay Home is set during the current COVID pandemic, where people are expected to isolate themselves and, in essence, stay home. It is told from two perspectives--Caitlin, a suburban housewife who is a bit bored, and Ali, a former teacher who is a bit of a mess. They are brought together after the murder of a mutual individual in their lives, and end up forming a bit of an unconventional friendship as they try to unravel the mystery of what happened.

The book moved quickly, and I was intrigued by the characters and the events. I did guess fairly early on what the outcome was, but there were not big obvious hints throughout the book, so it may be a surprise to some readers.

Overall, I enjoyed this read, and recommend it to anyone wanting an escape from their current isolation.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

"It was the worst thing anyone could do in the world. And there would be no coming back from it. Footsteps to the door, and a final look over the shoulder. No, perhaps it wasn't the worst thing one could do, no, not at all. A smile devoid of remorse crept across the killer's face."

Caitlin, a 39 year old housewife has been having an affair with the much younger Daniel. By the time the country goes into lockdown due to covid, it has been going on for a year. But even lockdown can't stop her going to see him. Only when she arrives, she finds Daniel dead in his home. Not willing to risk her husband and children finding out, she doesn't report it. Instead, she tries to carry on as normal. But she doesn't realise she was seen, and soon her life starts spiralling.

Unfortunately, I found this book pretty boring. There was so much incessant internal chattering from two of the most mundane characters, but nothing actually really happens. I feel like this shouldn't even be classed as a thriller.
I finished it pretty quickly just so I could move on to my next read.
This one was definitely a miss for me.

To escape her squabbling teenage children and disinterested husband , Caitlyn spends time with her lover, Daniel in his place across London. When the pandemic advances and London is put into lockdown, it seems the perfect opportunity to end her liaison and focus on her family. However weeks in to lockdown, Caitlyn is itching to escape her family life and runs over to Daniel’s only to find him dead. Torn between grief for her lover and the need to protect her family, she flees the scene.

But across the way, a woman with binoculars and a penchant for spying has seen Caitlyn and is intent on finding out all about her.

If you are someone that is avoiding fiction that features Covid 19, you needn’t worry about Stay home - the pandemic is very much in the background to the plot.
It’s an interesting read with alternate chapters from two unreliable narrators.
It definitely wasn’t the book I was expecting when I read the blurb because Daniel’s murder is less important than the change of relationship between the two women. It’s clever that Daniel’s death causes one woman to come back to life and start living again.

I did guess the killer but enjoyed the journey through the chapters to see if I was right. There are plenty of twists for the reader to enjoy but some of them are a little far fetched even with the scope allowed by a pandemic. I would have liked a little more background for one of the characters and her fall from grace to allow me to interpret the final chapters more thoroughly.

All in all, it’s an entertaining psychological thriller that’s perfect for us in tier 4 who have to stay home to stay safe.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ava Pierce and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read Stay Home.

This was the first I am sure of many that will feature COVID tie-ins and I was really excited to get my hands on this. Unfortunately, while it was an okay book it did not live up to any type of thriller, so maybe it is the wrong genre. Caitlin is trying to maintain her affair thru the lockdown and she finds her lover dead. There is a lot of dialogue but no real action. This was a miss for me,.

The synopsis sounded very good but sadly the book didn't live up to it in my opinion. I didn't finish it. This one isn't for me

I honestly struggled to finish this read. Ali, an alcoholic who has lost her teaching job and Caitlin, a woman who struggles through her relationship with her husband and children during the COVID pandemic form a very stilted relationship when Ali sees Caitlin leaving the home of her lover, Daniel, just before he is found murdered. Too much thinking and too little action sum up this one. Many thanks to Ava Pierce, Hodder and Stoughton, and NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to read this book.