This is a really interesting and thought provoking book written over two timelines, 2010 and 1965. It is set in the USA and both timelines features the same families and looks at how actions in the past have changed the lives of those so much in the future.

In 2010 we meet Kayla, a young wealthy widow with a young daughter who is moving into a home she designed with her architect husband prior to him falling to his death there. Kayla’s father Reed has lived in the area since the 1960’s and tried to warn the couple to look elsewhere. One of Kayla’s neighbours is Ellie, who is recently returned to the neighbourhood and Kayla finds was her fathers first love.

In 1965 Ellie defies her family and joins Scope, a project designed to help ensure black citizens were able to vote and be treated as equals once the Voting Rights Act went through. Ellie meets Win and although their lives are very different and their love is frowned upon they are very much in love, despite the issues a mixed race union causes.

The story highlights the appalling differences in lives of people with white and black skin and the treatment of those dealt with by the KKK and their sympathisers.

The storylines were really interesting, especially the 1965 one and it was not at all what I was expecting from this author. It’s a really well written and hard hitting book with its basis in fact.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have just finished this novel; all I can day is Wow!
Although disturbing at times with scenes of hardship, poverty, racism and brutality I found the storyline both educational and compelling.
From events in North Carolina in the mis 1960's, Martin Luther King, voting rights, Ku Klux Klan and a love affair, to North Carolina in 2010, we learn the stories of two women, Ellie and Kayla.
Although it look a while to set the scenes, the tensions and mysteries in both timelines were expertly wound up to cumulate in an explosive finale. As these horrific events of the two generations explode, so the truth is finally exposed.

I loved this book! I am a fan of Diane Chamberlain and this book didn't disappoint. As ever there is always a twist at the end to pull you up to think again. I shall recommend.

I'm quite particular with thrillers. I either don't find them thrilling enough, too obvious or too gory. This one hits the mark though.

It has a strong start with a very creepy atmosphere to the modern day part of the story with Kayla moving into a newly designed and built house in some supposedly haunted woods and strange happening.

This is woven in to an older story about the civil rights movement in the same area ans slowly the links between the two stories slot into place.

I won't give away the plot but it's a great thriller, and really heartbreaking at times.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Headline and Diane Chamberlain for my arc of The Last House on the Street in exchange for an honest review.

Publishing 20th January 2022.

Spanning across two timelines. The Last House on the Street begins in present day when Kayla, grieving the loss of her husband who died in an accident at the house they designed together. is approached by a mysterious woman who tells her not to move in. The woman knows a lot about her life and Kayla is spooked. Meanwhile back in the 60s Ellie is trying her best to help the civil rights movement, determined to get involved she signs up to a programme to help black residents of North Carolina register to vote. But this comes with it’s own problems as there are a lot of people, including those closest to her who are determined to stop her at all costs.

This was a fantastic book, my first one by Diane Chamberlain and surely not my last. The timelines wove together perfectly in a twist and turn of historical fiction blended with thriller and suspense. Educational, heartbreaking and above all fascinatingly interesting before coming together in a perfect and yet soul destroying ending.

I normally enjoy books from this author but this one was very different and I found it hard to get into the story line but think this was due to the dual timelines.

One the whole I really struggled with this book and was disappointed.

This book just blew my mind!!. It was sad yet parts were filled with joy. It's based around two main characters, Ellie who's story is in the sixties and Kayla who's story is in the present time. Ellie has a bad time within her life which has a profound effect on her life in the future and Kayla becomes entangled in Ellie's life in the present.
I don't want to say any more than that because you have to read it to understand what a fantastic book it is!!!
Many thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC book for an honest review.
#Headline, #netgalley #diane.chamberlain.author

The Last House On The Street by Diane Chamberlain

This is a wonderful piece of historical fiction . It has a dual timeline 1960s and current day.
The 1960s story is by far the best part of the book. It tells of a student activist Ellie, a white girl who volunteers for SCOPE a civil rights movement, and her relationship with a black man Wil. It details the horrors of the KKK, public attitudes and how interracial relations had to be hidden. It is an eye opening and shocking story.
The present day story brings the past to light and the truth of what happened is finally revealed!
This is such an interesting story that deals with a subject that I wasn’t very aware of. It’s hard to believe that it was less than 60 years ago that the Voting Rights Act was signed, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote.
I highly recommend this book and I will be looking for more books that deal with this subject.

This is my first time reading anything by Chamberlain - thank you to NetGalley and Headline publishers for allowing me an EARC in exchange for an honest review!

This story has two main protagonists and is set in two different time periods. Ellie is a young white woman in North Carolina, who in the 1965 narrative wants to play her part in aiding the civil rights movement, so joins SCOPE in the hopes of helping Black people to register to vote for the first time. In a (pandemic-free) 2020, Kayla is a young architect and mother, recently widowed, and is moving into a house on the street where Ellie and her family used to live. But the street has a lot of history and someone is trying really hard to stop Kayla and her daughter from moving in…

At first I struggled to get into the novel. The two stories seemed so wildly different, and I was a lot more interested in Ellie’s story than Kayla’s. But when Ellie began to appear in Kayla’s narrative and all of the pieces began to fit together, it grew really interesting and I struggled to put the book down for the second half of the novel. Sometimes time shifts can be a bit jarring but I think here, Chamberlain did a really good job; we had enough time with each character that it gave us the opportunity to understand the protagonist and to form attachments to the secondary characters.

What I also enjoyed most was the self-knowing nature of the novel. There were some really interesting discussions on the nature of white saviourism that I thought were necessary given the direction the novel headed. Without giving away spoilers, the ending also absolutely broke my heart. I did manage to successfully guess the events and also correctly identified the key players but ultimately this didn’t spoil it for me as it was well-written enough to keep my attention.

Overall, this was good. I’d recommend to fans of thrillers.

When Kayla Carter's husband dies in an accident while building their dreamhouse, she knows she has to stay strong for their four year old daughter. But the trophy home in Shadow Ridge Estates, a new development in sleepy Round Hill, North Carolina, always hold tragic memories. But when she is confronted by an odd, older woman telling her not to move in, she almost agrees. It's clear the woman has some kind of connection to the area.... and a connection to Kayla herself. Kayla's elderly new neighbour, Ellie Hockley, is more welcoming, but it's clear she too, has secrets that stretch back almost fifty years.

This story has a dual timeline, 1965 where we meet Ellie Hockley, and 2010 when Kayla and her daughter move into their dream home in Shadow Ridge Estates. Kayla and her husband, Jackson were architects who designed their new home together only for Jackson to get killed during it's construction. The story is told from Kayla and Ellie's perspectives. The main characters are likeable and believable. Ellie had had a keen interest in the Civil
rights in 1965. There's also something eerie about Kayla's house. The two stories join together seamlessly.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Headlike and the author #DianeChamberlain for my ARC of #TheHouseAtTheEndOfTheStreet in exchange for an honest review.

This books runs through to parallel timelines, 1965 and 2010 and is set in South Carolina. The timelines concern, Kayla in 2010, a young widow with a small daughter who has recently lost her architect husband just before they are due to move into their newly designed and built house, The last House on the Street and also Ellie, in 1965 who joined the SCOPE project, which aimed to help black people register to vote. But of course, this was during the 60' s and the time of the Ku Klux Klan. Ellie falls in love with Winston but these are dangerous times and they must be careful

Kayla is trying to come to terms with her husband's death and single motherhood; also she is being given very disturbing "messages" from a strange red headed women that she must not move into the house - why??!!

I have always loved Diane Chamberlains books; this one covers an emotive subject and the effects of that time in the 60's will remain with me. Read this book, I have given it 5 stars. It is a great read and you will learn historical facts too.

The subject makes me recall another great book about this time by Greg Iles called Natchez Burning.

I’ve been reading this authors books for many a year and I can’t recall one book I’ve not enjoyed.
This latest one is again without exception.

I love the mystery and the outcome of this story.
I was able to question things and learn something about The Scope Project which I Googled to see if it existed. And yes it did!

It’s two time lines from 1965 then up to 2010.
The Rights for the vote for Black people. I found this enlightening and gutting at the same time where we have moved on somewhat but still heaps and bounds as regards diversity.

Going back in time to 1965 when Ellie was just 20 years old who had the same fair stubborn nature as her late aunt Carol she embarks on something that goes against the grain of her families standing in the Community. I’ll leave that…..right there….

We have forbidden love, a heart splitting touching honest account of what things were like for certain couples. I was so invested in this.

Bringing it forward and meeting Kayla in the story again put such a clever stance on this story.

I love to read and see why authors pick certain titles for their books and discover how they weave this about.
I soon got to understand why the book was titled The Last House on the Street.

Wow….everything connected with this land, with this house the sinister happenings, the woman turning up in her office, as it unfolded I just was sinking and sinking within the depths.

I read this on kindle and I’m definitely getting this in physical format to add to my shelves.

In my top 20 this year for sure.

I’m eagerly anticipating her next one now!

Told in two different timelines, 1965 and 2010, although the story and characters are connected it doesn't become apparent to the extent of the connection until the last few chapters. This is a thought-provoking read which I enjoyed and can highly recommend.

I just didn’t connect with this book - the strength of subject matter for the period timeline didn’t match the modern section of the story, I felt the earlier story could have been a stand alone piece.

It just didn’t white work for me.

Unfortunately I found this book really hard to get into and struggled to follow the time lines of the various characters. It was obviously a thoughtful telling ​of an
emotive and horrific subject, but the way it was done didn't work for me.
Thank you to netgalley and headline for an advance copy of this book

This book was right up my street. I love a duel timeline and found the switch from 2010 to 1965 really easy to keep up with. The topic was really interesting. I hadn’t heard about the scope project so found this very educational.
Loved the strong characters in this book- loved their fight for what they believed in, they changed the way forward for black families.
An amazing read for anyone who wants to learn, accurately, about the past or for any duel time lovers like me.

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain has been reviewed for and chosen as a LoveReading Book of the Month. See LoveReading site for review.

Ellie lives with her family in North Carolina. They are a well respected family within their town when in 1965 Ellie makes a decision that will change their lives forever and will reach down the next generation and the one after that.
Ellie is expected to settle down with Reed when she decides to spend the summer canvassing for civil rights and then falls in love with a black man. Tensions within the town , family and friends begin to rise.

Forty five years later a young widow moves into a new house on land which used to belong to Ellie's family. Someone is upset about this and tries to scare her away. But why? Who wants to harm her and her daughter?
What is the connection between the two?

This read has dual timelines, following Kayla as she moves into her new home which has a mystery past and in 1965 where we meet Ellie as she discovers herself. I really enjoyed this read, mainly historical fiction into a time I had never read about with the SCOPE movement and a touch of a thriller about it. I enjoyed both storylines equally and would recommend this read to any historical fiction fans. Many thanks to Netgalley and Headline Publishing Group for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. It jumps between timelines of Ellie and Kayla and I felt particularly invested in Ellie’s 1965 time period, however as the story progresses you realise that the two women share a connection which brings things to a head in the 2010 time period.
I found the story very emotional, it moved at a good pace and the timelines intertwined perfectly. I really liked Ellie’s character and thought she was very brave to stand up to the hateful ignorance of her town.
Diane Chamberlain fans won’t be disappointed and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a thought provoking, emotionally charged read. A good solid 5 stars.