A unique storyline featuring an exclusive housing development linked to Radiance a new company. Stunning houses, gated community and money no object. Sounds perfect doesn't it? However as Julia discovers life isn't all it's cracked up to be. No freedom for wives, a wristband that flashes depending on your mood that links to points earned.
The longer Julia and her family live there the more distrustful she feels.
This isnt normally the genre I read, but I found it enjoyable. I found it a fairly slow read at the beginning. It's a stong debut novel

𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Is it still considered dystopian if it's actually happening? This speculative fiction title was so reminiscent of John Marrs, so if you're familiar with the world he's created in many of books, I think you will be drawn in to this horror pretty easily.

Julia has been the primary breadwinner for her family of four while her husband James has been floundering. But when James get an unexpected job offer that comes with numerous perks, including a gorgeous new home in an exclusive neighborhood, they jump at the chance. Julia struggles to settle in to her new routine, which is a whole lot of nothing. All of the chores are done by Lin, their housemaid, and she doesn't even have to drive her boys to school, even though she really wants to. As a matter of fact, she can't drive anywhere because she hasn't reached that "level" yet.

Julia's sense of unease quickly turns to dread when a neighbor’s body is found floating in a pool during a party. The other other wives are quick to say it was a tragic accident. But Julia also hears fragments of the rumors swirling around about the family who lived in her house before her--and the fact that they abruptly vanished one day. Will her search for answers and her desperate need to know be her undoing?

Tense, unsettling, and all too believable. Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the early copy. This title is expected to publish March 4, 2025.

Thanks to storm for the ARC here’s my thoughts on this read.
Well it wasn’t what I was expecting and it took me quite a while to connect to the book and really start enjoying it story but once I did I’m glad I stuck with it.
This was my first read from the author and it has piqued my interest enough to read others.
The storyline was creative and the characters though annoying at times I did come to enjoy. All in all a good read.

Is there such a thing as the perfect life? Of course, move to Utopia!

This really should have rung some alarm bells for Julia ( who I frequently wanted to shout 'Really' at, and that was before she moved home to follow hubby like some sort of stepford wife.

This was an interesting concept for a thriller ( but not in my opinion a psychological novel, more a futuristic cautionary tale).

I prefer more depth to my characters but realise in this novel that wouldn't really be possible so a superficial feel continued through the read. That said I was engaged enough to keep reading and on the whole it was an engaging read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC which was very much appreciated.

This one was pretty decent. I wasn't immediately hooked but once i hit the 40% mark it really started to be more engaging for me and I enjoyed it.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

This thriller had me kicking my sofa from tension, all the way long.

Gripping, the twists of this. IT WAS PERFECTION.

I could not put this one down!!
Julia is a hard-working mother of two, but her husband gets an amazing job offer and they soon move to the Haven! It seems like a wonderful perfect life but Julia can tell things aren’t quite right! Does her husband realize things are a little off? Things seem too good to be true and Julia is trying to figure out what is going on! The ending tied up so perfect for me. I was not expecting that!

Thank you to Storm Publishing for lending me an ARC copy🫶🏻 I give this one a 3.5/5⭐️ I blew through this book pretty quick but it isn’t at all what I was expecting based on the book summary. It’s giving Wayward Pines vibes—Julia’s life turns upside down when she agrees to move her family to this new luxury neighborhood. Little does she know, she would be cut off from the outside world and discover that her marriage has more secrets than she thought.

Julia was fascinating and enjoyable because she didn’t back down from her gut instincts. She believed that something was up and she didn’t stop until she figured it out! I hate that she was made to seem crazy the whole book!! You go mama bear!

James, oh James. You drove me bonkers tbh. One minute you played the sweet, caring husband, but the next you would gaslight your wife into oblivion. Once I got to the end, I understood why I didn’t care for you much.

I enjoyed this book but I do think the description should maybe include more details about this book being more of a dystopian mystery than a true mystery/thriller! I would’ve read this regardless, but I’m so glad I was lent a copy early!

You can find my online review at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223440233

Wasn't quite what I was expecting but the writing kept me going (& it was a fast read). A little mind-bendy creepy stepfordwives kind of thriller!

I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller.

Very entertaining, and suspenseful. This story kept me turning the pages fast and I devoured in just two sitings.

Moving to a new community, James and Julia are delighted, and all seems well, until is not. This community has secrets that they want to keep hidden.

Who can you trust? How far would you go to protect your loved ones?

Add this to your wishlist, I definitely recommend.

Thank you so much to Storm Publishing, and NetGalley for the eARC, opinions are my own.

Not really sure how I felt about this one, so it's hard to rate. The writing was great, the author kept me intrigued with trying to figure out the plot and it was a quick read for me. However, the concept of the storyline is just something I wouldn't normally 'choose' to read about, as it seemed a bit far fetched for me personally. I also realized while reading this one, that I prefer reading first person narratives over third person, specifically for mystery/thriller books- I guess it helps me feel more engaged with the main character throughout. I didn't realize I felt that way until this book haha! There isn't an option to give 3.5 stars, but that's what I would rate this book!

This was a very interesting read with a plot that was out of the ordinary. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it first because it left me a little confused and I felt like I was reading about some sort of AI world. However, I became really engaged in the whole story and trying to figure out what was happening to the characters and this strange life they were living. I found it to be well written and the author, even with such a far fetched storyline was able to shift the perspective of me as a reader and help me see the beauty in the mundane freedoms of life. Well done.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this one.

So sorry but this was not for me, i did not find this to be a psychological thriller so was left disappointed.
I picked it up and put it down several times.
Sorry for the poor review but not my thing.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

4* Yikes, reminds me a bit of the old 70s series Logan's Run.

This is really well-written and quite freaky that so many people could allow themselves to be manipulated. And that in this day and age, they wouldn't check things out and have MAJOR warning bells ringing that there's basically nothing online about the... thing they're about to join. Seriously, that's where the tale lost 1* for me, but it was still decent enough that I could overlook this.

I did like Julia, but how her instincts, especially with her training and profession, let her down so badly, was hard to fathom. Admittedly things got clearer and even more freaky, especially with the lemongrass scents and the fringes - trying not to Spoiler here - but it still bugged me that she was so passive for so long. I'm also a bit bugged not to know what happened to Lin, though I did think for a while that she might be a victim, too, and half decent, but right at the end, I wasn't sure. Another thing that irked me is that she could email, had internet access, could call her mother (at least) but didn't think it strange there was no TV, no news, no outside world intruding...

Her hubby was a wanker. Full stop. It was all about him and about lying and manipulating her, even to the point of allowing their kid to be victimised as a means to an end. That guy deserved to get stuck in a bog and slowly suffocate.

It ended believably, and I hoped that for her and her kids, life was as we know it, without that fringe thing being able to harm her/them. But, it wasn't talked about, so maybe not.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Storm Publishing, for my reading pleasure.

Julia is a busy professional, a wife, and a mom to two boys. Her husband has an opportunity to move the family to an idyllic location and have a steady job. Julia doesn't know much about this community and once she arrives, things don't quite add up for her.
This had a unique twist and the writing and storyline kept me reading because I kept guessing and wasn't quite sure where the storyline was heading. I liked Julia's character and was rooting for her throughout!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

When Julia and James move into a beautiful new community, Julia is ready to leave her stress behind and enjoy her life raising her two young boys without the stress of a fast paced career. But things quickly go south when a dead body turns up at a neighbors party. She quicky realizes that this place is hiding a lot more then she can see. A unique story that kept me reading late into the night!

Julia’s dream came true when she and her husband, James, moved into a beautiful new home in a gated community with their two young sons. At last, Julia’s stress-filled job was behind her, and she could happily watch her sons play in the car-free streets around their home. Her housekeeper, Lin, was ever present, supplying coffee in the morning and drinks in the evening when James returned from work.
But then tragedy occurred. A neighbor’s body was found dead in a pool during a party. It was written off as an accident, but was it? When the neighbors began behaving strangely, she started to hear rumors about the family that lived in their new home and how they suddenly vanished one day, and she began to worry.
As Julia began investigating the rumors, she realized the community was eerily secretive and that she and her family were being watched. Suddenly, this wasn’t the dream home that she thought it was. When James told her to stop asking questions and enjoy their new home, she began to distrust him. Was he part of the strange happenings?

I was hooked on this one from the start. It isn’t like any other suspense or thriller I have read. I wanted to keep turning the page the second I started. It all came together in the end and I didn’t see it coming. This is a debut book for SJ King and I think that it was a great book to be her first thriller. Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC.

Thank you to Storm Publishing for the early read in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, this book did not stand out as a favorite. It was advertised as a psychological thriller featuring a family of four—Julia, James, and their children who move to a new community hoping to escape their old life’s stresses. At first, it seemed like a dream come true, but as they settled into their seemingly perfect surroundings, a sense of unease began to creep in.

As I continued reading, I realized the book is falsely marketed as a psychological thriller. It reads more like a cautionary tale about a dystopian community where every move is monitored, controlled, and surveilled. The community's emphasis on groupthink, shared values, and conformity to societal norms made me think of a video game where players are trapped in a never-ending cycle of obedience and compliance.

While the themes in "Where You Belong" are thought-provoking, the book ultimately fell short of my expectations for a psychological thriller.