Louise Candlish is on top form with this her latest book, just perfect for a summer read!

In Our Holiday the political issue of second home owners is explored as tensions between the Down from London(DFL) holiday homers during August meet the resistance of the Cornish locals with their activist group Not Just for August (NJFA). With two couples, an assortment of teenaged youngsters tensions are high from the moment the first missile is aimed at the incoming windscreen.

As always with Louise's books, you get an awful lot for your money. There are lots of characters, a myriad of sub-plots to keep track of and more than a handful of heart in your mouth moments as various characters behave in ways they really should know better than! This is absolutely perfect summer reading.

When I visit my favourite holiday cottage in Devon every year I often wish that it belonged to me all year round. For one week a year I feel like a local but as I now know this beautiful village better it is clear that the real locals have been usurped by the rich, holiday home brigade and it must be galling when you have been brought up there. Visit, slightly out of season, like we do and take a stroll around the village and you will see many palatial properties in prime positions empty. What a waste, I always think, that beautiful house could be occupied all year round by a family.
So, as I started to read Our Holiday, I had a great deal of sympathy for Robbie, Tate and their friends and not a great deal of patience with Charlotte, Perry and their friends Amy and Linus.
Robbie and The Not Just for August group are just ramping up their campaign when the two families arrive. The real locals are having to make do with static caravans all year round while properties lie empty for much of the year. Most protests are low key, egging cars as they arrive off the ferry, the worst, graffiti on walls but no permanent damage. As the campaign intensifies it is clear that somewhere along the way this has got serious and early in the book Robbie witnesses a summerhouse tumbling off the cliff in the midst of a music festival on the beach. The finger of suspicion soon points to The Not Just for August protest group.
It is the characters that really make this book. I was so annoyed by Perry at the start, as was his son, Benedict’s girlfriend Tabitha who is told to leave when she joins the Not Just for August brigade but there is so much more to Perry as the story unfolds. Similarly, with the other family, their friends Amy and Linus who have just bought the bungalow next door, there is so much to discover about them.
Of course, in life, nothing is black and white and as the writer explores all the characters in this engaging story the reader gets to know them all so well and perhaps, by the end initial perceptions have changed. I was certainly taken by surprise and the ending was not at all what I was expecting.
Thanks to the author and publisher for an ARC of Our Holiday in return for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed it and give it 5 stars.

This was a slow burn for me but so pleased I persisted because the second half of the book certainly made up for it. The interweaving of all the characters and their stories and how each part played a much bigger part of the whole was truly brilliant. There are a fair few characters to get to know but definitely worth getting to know them

Having enjoyed previous books by Louise Candlish, I was delighted to be given an advance review copy of her new book, Our Holiday, which is published early in July 2024. Here’s the blurb:

“Charlotte and Perry long for summers at Cliff View, their gorgeous holiday home overlooking the turquoise waters of Pine Ridge. And now that city friends Amy and Linus have bought a property nearby, they plan lazy weeks of sun, sea and sipping rosé on Charlotte’s summerhouse veranda.
But there’s trouble in paradise…
A rising tide of resentment towards second-home owners is heading their way and small acts of criminal damage are escalating into something more menacing. By the end of the summer, families and friendships will be torn apart and Pine Ridge will be known for more than its sun-drenched beaches. It will be known for murder…”

The book has a very similar vibe to Ms Candlish’s previous books – but if you have a format that creates Sunday Times bestsellers – why deviate?! It’s told from various characters points of view – including the DFLs (Down From Londons) and the local NJFA (Not Just For August) activists. There are lots of acronyms! Initially I found this a little bit confusing – as there were so many POVs (yes, I’ve thrown that one in just to be a d*ck!) and the time lines flick between pre and post ‘an awful event’ (no spoilers here, but it does happen very early doors in the book) – but once I settled into the book, the different perspectives actually made it really interesting.

The descriptions of Pine Ridge – and the Dorset coastline – are beautiful, and really evocative of a gorgeous hot summer (please let us have a gorgeous hot summer this year!) – and the claustrophobic weather adds to the claustrophobic feel of the book and the tension between many different parties.


I have to say that again, like previous books by the same author, none of the characters are particularly likeable – but that doesn’t stop you wanting to know what’s going to happen. The relationships between the parents and kids are really well written (although maybe that’s because I have kids of a similar age to the 2 couples?). Similarly the depiction of snobby middle class Daily Mail readers is also perfect!

There are little clues throughout about who the victim of the murder might be, but then the next chapter will throw cold water on your theory as someone else is in the frame as both murderer and murderee (possibly a word I’ve just made up…….)

The twists and turns are unpredictable – and there is not a neat ending all tied up with a bow – but I really enjoyed that.

A big thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for my advance review copy. You can pre order it now for release on 4 July 2024, and let’s face it – we’re all going to need fabulous books to escape to that day!!

The story is a good slow-burn It revolves around second homers in a seaside area who relocate for the month of August, causing tension with protest g and locals. The month is filled with hostility and anger, culminating in a interesting event. Candlish has a interesting way of formulate a storytelling and could keep me engaged in the story and plot. I enjoyed lots some of her characters and the plot was good for the book. My only trouble was with the beginning and the pace of the book but overall was a good book

Really loved this book. It was full of a wide range of characters, from various walks of life. It also raised a lot of issues such as 2nd home ownership, theft, questions on relationships which really gave the reader food for thought. It was well written with a very coherent storyline which really had me hooked right up to the end. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

When Charlotte and Perry arrive at their holiday home in Dorset there’s activists waiting to protest about people having second homes for the summer when there are people in the area without homes. Their London neighbours Amy and Linus are also staying in their second home in the same road.
There is trouble ahead this summer with protests and a tragedy that happens at the end of the summer.
There are lots of characters in the book including local people teenage children of both main characters and story lines a plenty that intertwine with each other. This was a good read but didn’t wow me like the authors other novels have.

I usually love a Louise Candlish novel. However, this one just didn't do it for me. I think the plot was a bit all over the place, and I wasn't on board with it right from the very start. So I didn't feel engaged from the beginning.
It was a very strange idea for a book, but I decided to read nevertheless because I just love the author.

I look forward to Candlish's next one, as this one I really didn't love!

🌟🌟🌟.5

Locals vs second homeowners in Pine Ridge. Protestors &activists, alongside tourism protests. A house slides into the sea during a festival… but was it empty?

Perfect for those who enjoy:
- Stories told from different perspectives
- All makes sense endings
- Slow burn fiction
- Psychological thrillers

Would definitely encourage lots of discussion if read as part of a book club

With thanks to HQ and Netgalley for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

Thanks to #NetGalley and publishers for an #ARC of #OurHoliday.

A good slow-burn tying in several characters who could have been the Suspect or the victim in this book. Second homers in a seaside area relocate for the month of August, aggravating the locals and the NJFA *Not Just For August* protest group. A month of hostility and anger follows concluding in a life changing event for many.

Louise Candlish has a good formula for a story, and this book is no different.

Louise Candlish is just one of those authors who conveys a story so miraculously engaging every time. This one was no different.

The narrative follows a small town, often used for holiday lets, and people with a hatred for it. The entire narrative left me confused, exhausted for Charlotte and Perry, and all around on edge of what would happen. Louise has such a fantastic way of engaging us and making us believe so many different narrative paths, even though we know deep down that they can't all simultaneously be true. I felt really empathetic towards some characters and others made my blood boil. I found that the multi-pov narrative strands helped me to puzzle the pieces together and see the relationships develop or crumble.

She has done it again.

Our Holiday a tense psychological thriller by Louise Candlish was a gripping read.

Charlotte and Perry along with their friends, Amy and Linus from London have invested in holiday homes in Pine Ridge but the locals are not comfortable that Pine Ridge is being inundated by outsiders encroaching their rights to land as more and more arrive in the month of August.

Charlotte, Perry, Amy and Linus will not be enjoying their holiday as locals band together to protest against them all as they hold up their banners 'Not just for August. and holiday home hostility.'

Someone amongst them is a murderer as one of the holiday homes crashes to the sea and Charlotte and Perry's friendship starts to disintegrate.

This book would be an excellent choice for a book club to discuss the 'For and against' by the protesters and the holiday home owners.

I really enjoyed this book. 2 families from London are spending August in their holiday homes on the cliff at a beautiful village on the south coast. However, feelings are running high with the locals who are protesting about the lack of affordable homes . Inevitably, there are clashes between them. However, what makes this book so good are the characters. Secrets, relationships and resentment all play a part. I recommend this as a great read.
Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for allowing me access to an ARC.
Holiday homes in Dorset owned by the entitled and well off, leaving the locals with nowhere to live. A topical issue.
But this has been turned into a 'Just one more chapter' page turner with so many twists.
The chapters are each told by one of the characters who all come to life, which makes reading it even more enjoyable.
Gripping, tense and a great book to take on a summer holiday.

Our Holiday is a slow-burning, well-written psychological thriller from an author I have come to expect great stories from - and this novel is no exception.

The story moves between various perspectives but largely centres around two couples - Charlotte and Perry, who have owned a holiday home in Dorset's 'Pine Ridge', at the top of a beautiful Cliff, for 15 years; and their friends Amy and Linus, who have just bought their own home nearby. We actually start the novel with Robbie, a member of the NJFA (Not Just For August) group which protests against wealthy people buying second homes in the area and stopping locals from accessing affordable accommodation, as he witnesses a house fall off the edge of a cliff - and this really opens the book with a bang! We also get inside the heads of Tate (Robbie's best friend), Beatrice (Amy and Linus's daughter), Tabitha (who is the girlfriend of Benedict, Charlotte and Perry's son) and others. Sometimes it took me a minute to remember who was who, but I soon got used to them all.

I love the character-building in this novel, done expertly (as always in Louise Candlish's books) so that they feel like real people. The way the second-home-owners speak and refer to other people or current events is a brilliantly subtle way of highlighting their ignorance or hypocrisies. No one in this novel is painted as good or bad, but people with flaws and personal views, and I found reading about them all utterly absorbing. I always enjoy the mystery element of a novel but in this book that was just a bonus because I so enjoyed reading about the multi-layered, convincing characters.

Add the intriguing plot, excellent writing and characters, and evocative setting together and you have a great read that would be great for any time - not just holidays!

Charlotte and Perry enjoy summers at their holiday home in the paradise of Pine Ridge. Their friends Amy and Linus have bought a property nearby to renovate and, along with their children, a long, lazy summer is expected.

However it’s clear from the outset that the locals harbour, not completely unwarranted, resentment towards these second-home owners. Small acts of intimidation and graffiti build to a menacing and unexpected conclusion.

A slow burn with multiple POVs it took a little while for the story to reveal itself. I really enjoyed it once I got to know each character and I liked how the writer cleverly weaved all of their stories together.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HQ for the ARC.

I'm just not sure about this book, there were sections that i absolutely loved - Robbie and Tate's POV and parts that i really disliked - Amy or Charlotte or Perry they were .......whiny and unlikeable as characters - even though the things that were happening to them would normally have me firmly in their corner they were just so horrible! If this was the authors intention then it definitely worked but the thing is it may have worked too well as i really didn't care what happened to them, the jeopardy of their secrets being found out didn't hit and i was a bit disappointed with the ending, which i won't ruin for others - because if you are a fan of Louise Candlish then you will probably love this but i think it's just not the style of book for me.

*This is a good book, but it is not a style i'm a fan of*

A good read set in the world of second (and third) homes and the people who are unable to find homes because of it. I’ve lived in an area of Yorkshire near towns that are now basically all holiday homes and second homes and I fully empathise with the point of view of the locals on this one. The home owners are wealthy, entitled people, not people I would like in the real world. Quite shallow, their biggest worry is that the crab and samphire pate is out of stock in the deli.
The story was a bit jumpy and it took a while to settle into all the characters.
I enjoyed the storyline, some good twists and turns although some was not very believable, then again it is a work of fiction

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for allowing me an early copy to enjoy. You know when you see the author's name that you are in for a treat and once again her slow burn pschological thriller with lots of plots interwoven perfectly executed and never too complicated.
The setting (Dorset) and storyline about the people DFL (down from London) who purchase second holiday homes in Dorset, who live in London is somewhat a new concept and the locals are not too keen. There are alot of characters to contend with which can be hardwork sometimes, but it's well written and I love reading material from British writers.
Our holiday will make a perfect holiday read, I do think this is one of her best books!

I raced through this fabulous summer read with its entertaining, flawed characters. I loved the sense of building tension that so spectacularly explodes. Thought-provoking and twisty. Highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC.