This book will stay with me for a long time. It is gripping, haunting, moving and disturbing in equal measures. I always love Diane Chamberlain and this is her at her best – creating a cast of fantastic characters and telling a story about a really difficult subject without it feeling like a lesson. It reminded me again, after events of the last couple of years and BLM, how far we have come in the last fifty odd years, but how very far we still have to go.
Not to be missed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t finish this book. I struggled with the dual timeline as both referred to ‘daddy’ and were written in the same style which meant it was hard to differentiate between the two timelines over the course of the story.

I felt that the characters were very typical of Diane Chamberlain as I recognised the same character personality from her other novels.

There were good ideas throughout but it dragged on and I wasn’t engaged enough to read through the extra bits to get to the true story underneath

A chilling read that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Not the fastest paced read but still it keeps you gripped till the finale.

This is a disturbing read that highlights the intense racism experienced in America's South. It shows how people's lives were blighted by the hateful actions of
the Klu Klux Klan.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

The last house is a novel about forbidden love and racism.

The novel is told by Kayla and Ellie.
Kayla is an architect that is about moving into her dream house, where her husband died in an accident, with her 4 years old daughter.
Ellie is 65 but we learn about her life as an 18 years old student and what happened then and how she fell in love with a black boy working during summer time when she becomes a civil rights activist.
We learn about the consequences of that love and what´s happened until now when she had to come back to look after her mum and her ill brother.
Kayla is her new neighbour and the meet, indeed.
Both stories are related but you won´t know until the end how they are connected.
When I asked to read this book, I didn´t realise it was a race book. I am not into reading that kind of books. However, I did enjoy the mystery and the whole story development.
Highly recommended if you want to read about the battle for civil rights during the 1960s.
I sincerely think that it is one of the best books that I have read this year.

Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this book. When I read what this book was about I was immediately drawn to it. After the first few pages I was hooked. I loved the way the story was told in the past and in the present and the last few chapters kept me up into the early hours so I could find out what actually happened. A great read and highly recommend

This book was incredible. The author is an amain storyteller and I loved how the characters, stories, both past and present, came together. Very clever and compelling story. I couldn't put this book down. highly reommended.

What a gripping thriller.

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension -  impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

This book was really beautiful. It's one of the best books I've read this year, easily. It was really moving and powerful. I felt so much for Win and Ellie! And loved the way the story was put together, going as it did from Ellie's story to the present day. A real gem, this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the advance copy. I can't wait to see it on store shelves so I can recommend it to everyone I know.

In the 1960s in North Carolina, a young white woman is drawn to assist with the civil rights movement, canvassing local black families to encourage them to sign up to vote, and to help them overcome obstacles that might prevent them from doing so. But she is shocked by the backlash she receives from her local community, her eyes opened to the conditions of poverty that her black neighbours have to contend with, and the bigotry of some of her white neighbours.

In 2020, a young widow and her daughter move into the new house on the Shadow Ridge Estate, the house where her husband died in an accident while building the house. It is the last place she wants to be, and her feelings seem to be confirmed when she is subjected to a series of disturbing pranks. Someone wants her to leave, but why?

Diane Chamberlain's books are always good, handling difficult issues, and she doesn't shy away from tackling them head on. I found the story shocking and heartbreaking, made more so by the knowledge that this would have been the way things were at the time. It stayed with me for a long time after I had read the final page.

With thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Told across two timelines from Ellies and Kaylas viewpoints this book goes seamlessly from one era to another and back again. At times it was a difficult read, racism in the 60s with the KKK isn’t nice to read but at the same time I think it’s essential to learn just how far some people went for their misguided beliefs. This was just a heartbreaking book and I cried. There’s so much more I could say about this book but having just finished it I can’t find all the words. I think this story will stay with me and this is one of those books I’ll go on to buy and read again and again.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

I am so glad I read this book. I felt this wasn’t going to be my type of book as I can be quite prescriptive in what I like. But I loved it. Great writing and a brilliant plot.

I always enjoy Diane Chamberlain’s books and I was delighted to receive a copy of her new book The Last House on the Street.
This story is told in alternative chapters by Ellie in 1965 and Kayla in 2010.
I normally don’t like duel timeline stories but this one worked for me and I was interested in both women’s stories particularly Ellie’s.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the history, the nostalgia and the wonderful characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book but found it quite slow in places, and I was so confused with the time hopping at the start - although it works itself out and makes sense!! It's a heartbreaking read about racism in the 20th century, mid in particular and makes your stomach sink at the lengths people went to for their beliefs. Ellie is a feisty young woman who wants the best for the world but tragedy befalls her in the most horrible way - really made me sad and angry 😠 It's a great story, I just felt it could have been a little shorter for me.

What an amazing book full of history and completely immersive in both Ellie and Kaylas story.
Loved it!

Events in this brilliant book take place over two timelines present day N Carolina and in the 1960s. With a strong emphasis on the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King and voting rights for Black Americans. The bigotry faced by Ellie when she realises that the black community are living in sometimes squalid conditions, that voting rights could improve their lives and outcomes is phenomenal. She joins SCOPE in order to encourage local people to register to vote as soon as Lyndon B Johnson was to sign the voting rights bill. She is judged, shunned and threatened.
I’m not one for spoilers, but there are seriously sinister scenes with KKK crosses being burned, Clan meetings and violence.
These chilling scenes had me holding my breath in fearful anticipation.
The dual timeline premise worked extremely well, Ellie then, and Kayla now: two strong women with the courage of their convictions, fighting for what is right in the face of adversity.

As usual, a FANTASTIC read from one of my favourite authors. Thanks Diane Chamberlain for another compelling page-turning reveal of American history.
Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review
#LastHouseBook #NetGalley

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
Publication Date: 20/1/22

No spoilers
4.5 stars out of 5

Interesting and informative story set across two timelines. I found the part set during the 1960’s civil rights movement particularly interesting and moving, although quite difficult to read at times making it all the more powerful. I almost wanted to skip some of the modern day part to get back to the that but I could appreciate how it brought the story together.
Some twists and turns I did not see coming and an unpredictable but satisfying ending.

Thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for providing me with this advance digital copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Deadly white secrets ★★★☆☆

When newly widowed Kayla moves into the house she designed with her husband she is haunted by memories in the claustrophobic woods. However, something more sinister is afoot.

Who wants to keep her away from Shadow Ridge? And why does newly returned Ellie Hockley act so strangely around Kayla and her father?

Set in two timelines - Kayla in 2010 and Ellie in 1965 - the fallout of Ellie's summer of civil rights activism and her love for a Black man are contrasted with the strange behaviour and long term secrets of Kayla's new neighbours.

What really occurred that summer and who was involved? What happened to Ellie's family and Brenda's husband? Who would do anything to keep an old crime hidden?

A compelling love story combined with the 45-year-old secrets of a bigoted community which Kayla must expose before it is too late.

Kayla is moving into her new house with her small daughter, after the death of her husband.
The house was their dream project, but now a mysterious woman warns Kayla not to move in, and buried secrets haunt the woods behind it.
The second story - that of Ellie - takes place decades earlier. Ellie is a civil rights activist in a society where the Klu Klux Klan has a stronghold.
In this gripping novel, the two lives - a world apart - intersect.
The result is a story you won’t be able to put down. It’s well-written and heart-wrenching.
The characters are so well-drawn, I know they’ll stay with me.
Thoroughly recommended: truly a lovely book and a sad indictment of a time gone by.

What should have been an exciting and happy time for the Carter family, moving into the house they had designed, turns into tragedy when Kayla’s husband has an accident while putting in the final touches to their dream home and dies. Kayla is now left to raise their four-year-old daughter Rainie. The house is the last one on the street and has huge windows on one side of it, facing the forest. The house is far the biggest and best but, when a strange woman goes to see Kayla, just before they are planning to move into the house, she puts the fear of God in her. The woman tells Kayla not to move in or face the consequences. The house takes on a more sinister feel for Kayla, as little things start happening that let her know that she is not welcome there.

The story drops back to 1965, and a time when changes are made in America that not everyone welcomed. President Lyndon Johnson is on the verge of signing the Voting Rights Act for black people to have the right to vote. An organisation is set up with volunteers that go into the community and encourage the black American people to vote. The organisation know that this is a massive task that will have opposition from many white people and members of the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). Scope (Summer Community Organization and Political Education project) is tasked with signing up college students to help with this.

Ellie is a middles class, white girl with a comfortable life, a steady boyfriend and a best friend who had just found out she was having a baby. The wealthy young man responsible was doing the right thing and marrying her. Ellie had her life planned out and was quite an independent young woman. I liked Ellie, but she didn’t have a clue what was going on in the real world around her.

Ellie lived in Round Hill, North Carolina, where the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) were at times still active. She didn’t want to work in her father’s shoe shop through summer, she wanted to do something meaningful. So against their wishes, Ellie volunteered. As part of the programme, she had to live with black American families. She had no idea how scary it was for the families day to day. When Ellie meets Win, they enter a dangerous world that they can not step back from. It is a compelling story that covers just about every moral issue that you can think of.

I find it hard to think that I was a young girl when life was like this and people accepted it! It is a slow burn read that bubbles under the surface in both timelines. The characters are unforgettable in both eras. Diane Chamberlain matures them perfectly when the story jumps forty-five years into the future. The past has had its toll on some of them and with reason. There is unfinished business in Round Hill. Bitterness, secrets and accountability. A superb book!

I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.