Our Holiday by Louise Candlish
Who doesn’t fantasise about owning a second home by the sea?
Charlotte and Perry own a little slice of paradise in a beachside community off the Dorset coast. The house, Cliff View, and its aspirational summerhouse, the Nook, offer them the perfect place to escape London and spend quality time with their friends Amy and Linus, who have bought a property two doors down.
But resentment towards second homeowners is growing in the idyllic Pine Ridge as local youngsters are priced out of the housing market.
A protest against the city interlopers is gaining momentum and it’s not long before the two couples find themselves at war with residents.
But no one realised the bad feeling would end in murder…
Some reviewers are calling Our Holiday a slow burn, but I didn’t find it so. I was instantly drawn into the worlds of the two factions: locals and second homeowners.
What Candlish does so well is to expose the glaring disparity between those who can afford a second home and those who spend their summers in rented caravans because they don’t have a cat’s chance in hell of buying their own place.
It is this disparity that fuels a menacing thriller that I found unputdownable. Candlish expertly portrays some deliciously awful characters. Perry is a dinosaur raging against wokeness; Linus is the archetypical middle-aged man in Lycra who seems to care more about his carbon-fibre bike than he does about his family.
The teenage children are wonderfully portrayed too: from Benedict and his right-on, placard-waving girlfriend Tabitha to brattish Beattie who falls for Tate, one of the second-home protestors.
Written from multiple points of view, the book allows us to see both sides of the second-home argument, although by the end of the book one side definitely comes out on top. No spoilers!
Unbelievably, this is the first Louise Candlish novel I’ve read, but I’ll soon be putting that right. Our Holiday is the perfect summer read - unless you’re spending your break in your second home, of course…

Not my favourite 'Louise Candlish' but another really good, well written, compelling plot - as you'd expect from the author. This one was more of a slow burn, relationship story than psychological thriller but with multiple layers and subplots plus tension simmering from the off. It was compelling nonetheless featuring the divide between both locals and second home owners (or 'blow-ins') and between generations with the various POVs equally balanced and thought-provoking. It was a good example of how things can easily and quickly escalate to extremes when passions are heightened and conflicting.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3
Our Holiday is a psychological thriller set on the Dorset coast amidst a community of second-home owners and their issues with local activists.
This was the first novel that I have read by Louise Candlish, and whilst I found the quality of her writing very good, I'm afraid that I wasn't too impressed by this particular story.
There were a LOT of characters to remember, and none of them were likeable. They all seemed to be either cheats, liars, thieves or hypocrites and I couldn't connect with any of them. Ultimately, this meant that I didn't care what happened to any of them.
The story was slow and I plodded on with it, although I considered giving up numerous times. However, I battled on towards the underwhelming finish line whereupon I breathed a huge sigh of relief that I would be able to start another - hopefully better- novel.
Sorry, Louise Candlish, I might try another of your novels if I thought there was a decent main character I could root for. Alas, this one wasn't really for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

A slow burn of a novel that took a while to gain narrative pace. There were too many dislikeable, divisive characters which got a bit confusing. I have read other books by this author and though this was not her best, I enjoyed the setting and the social commentary.

This was the first book by Louise Candlish I've read. I was super excited as I've seen so many good reviews of her previous books but it was a little disappointing.

I think the slow pace dragged the story out for too long and it wasn't until a good halfway in that anything started to happen.

Glad I persevered and will continue to look out for her new books.

Thank you HQ for a ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Charlotte and Perry and friends Amy and Linus have a second home at Cliff View where they spend their Augusts. However, the locals are not happy with second home owners and there is a lot of resentment between them. Oh, and a murder takes place.

I found the story slow and incredibly boring. I was really gutted as I liked Louise’s last book The Only Suspect.

It took me nearly a month to read this, I should have DNF’d it really. The characters were horrible, the plot was dull and the ending was unsatisfactory to be quite frank!

This was a very small burn, almost bland in places and I very nearly gave up on it but I have enjoyed Louise's books before so I carried on and it more than made up for itself as it reached the end, marvellous!

Pine Ridge is the perfect place to own a holiday home. A complete escape from city life, a paradise for families to unwind. Two families have bought properties in the area and are looking forward to a relaxing lazy Summer with friends. However, things at Pine Ridge are not as idyllic as they appear to be. The people of Pine Ridge are resentful of rich city people coming in buying homes that are only used for one or two months of the year, then standing empty while the locals struggle to find housing. What starts as minor incidents and some graffiti soon escalates to much worse, plus, each family has secrets which they would rather not have come to light. An entertaining psychological thriller.

Was disappointed with this novel as I usually love her books but this one just did not deliver for me. A very slow burner .It took over half way through before the pace built up and became more of what I had expected.. Felt overly complicated about who everyone was at the end. I would definitely read her next one and hope that it is back to her usual standard. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I have really enjoyed all of the author's previous books and was really looking forward to this one.
I found it quite hard to get into as there are quite a few characters and it is a very slow burn.
I quite enjoy books full of unlikable characters but there has to be a hook with intrigue and thrills.
This story is about a desirable seaside location in Dorset where the locals are being priced out of local homes by wealthier Londoners who stay for the summer and then leave their homes empty for the rest of the year while locals live in caravans. Not Just For August or NJFA is a protest group of locals who want change. The story slowly meanders and weaves between characters on both sides of this divide.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalleyUK for the ARC.

Somehow, I’m choosing a lot of books this year that are set close to where I live (or maybe they’re choosing me?).

Set in the fictional coastal enclave of Pine Ridge in Dorset, the DFLs (Down From Londoners) are snapping up
Second homes in their droves, upsetting the born and bred residents who can’t keep up with the ever increasing house prices. A band of protestors start causing issues for the DFLs, who already have plenty of their own issues to be dealing with. And then a body turns up….

There’s a lot to focus on in this book. As much as it’s about solving the death of one character, it’s also an (often humorous) insight into the lives of the characters; not many of them seem likeable but they do seem real.

This book was an okay read, but I did find there were a lot of characters keep on track of, which I struggled with at the very start. It was a slow burn and although I enjoyed this book, I probably wouldn't recommend to someone else to read unfortunately.

There's a lot going on between these pages.

It's August, the month when those with holiday homes leave London and head for the coast. Charlotte and Perry have a spectacular home up on the cliff at Pine Ridge and now their friends Amy and Linus have followed suit, buying a renovation property. They plan on having weeks of relaxation but on arrival discover that there is a movement of protest from locals who are unable to afford any kind of home. As acts of vandalism and criminal damage increase, it's not the holiday season anyone expected and certainly no-one expected a murder ...

What a terrific read! Not only is this an excellent tale, it raises the profile of a serious social issue and I learned such a lot. To write such a novel, showing things clearly from both sides takes considerable research and skill. As well as enjoying it immensely, it has given me much food for thought. Another great read from this author, and one I'm very happy to give all five stars and my recommendation.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

Louise Candlish is the queen of the twist, so I started this book expecting more of the same, but it takes a different direction. The story is based in an upmarket coastal resort in the UK, and follows the lives of a small group of both locals and second home owners over the course of a fraught summer. The author does a great job of slowly building up the tension between the privileged second home owners and the marginalised local workers, while never making either side the villians. This is an unsettling tale of how easy it is for grudges to escalate out of our control from an extremely accomplished writer.

This is another great book from this author and one which I would recommend. The book is set in a beautiful part of the world, Bournemouth in Dorset and the scenery and feel of the seaside town is described beautifully, including the stunning homes set high on the cliffs owned by DFL’s (down from London 2nd homeowners).

The book is complex in that there are multiple points of view that it is told by and many characters to follow, however right from the start the tension between the locals and the DFL’s is palpable and builds towards the climactic ending where the end of summer season crowds see a house falling from the cliff top above.

The writing is very well constructed although many of the characters were quiet unlikeable I enjoyed getting to know them and how they interacted with others. The story has a good social message featuring the vast financial differences between those born in a town they unable to afford to stay in and those that set up a second home there and walk away back to their real lives after the holidays.

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

Quite disappointing this was from Louise. Usually her books are brilliant but, this was slow a d I really didn't like the characters they seemed unreal and very selfish. The story was sluggish and I struggled with it. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have liked everything this author has written and this was no exception. Great characters and a great storyline, I really enjoyed it.

The premise and opening to this book drew me in quickly, but I found that the amount of characters plus the very slow pace made it a difficult read.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. The premise of this book was great, and Candlish switched between the various characters' perspectives well. However, it was too slow paced to have been engaging as it might otherwise have been.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc.

Unfortunately I ended up DNFing this book as it just wasn’t for me and I was getting confused with the characters as 1 POV was a bit ahead of the others.