Fiona, (Fi) is walking home when she sees people moving into her house. Not really believing her own eyes, she looks again. Yup, they sure are moving into her house. When she gets to her home, the Vaughns, the intruders, inform her they just bought the house from Bram and his wife, Fiona. They quickly figure out that one way or another, her estranged husband Bram has conspired with a woman posing as her to sell her house out from under her and their children. How did this happen?

The narrative jumps back and forth from Fi’s conversational discussion on a popular true crime podcast with intermittent comments from listeners and Bram’s Word document, a very long suicide note explaining how he came to steal everything from his family. It begins with Fi catching Bram with another woman, making out in the playhouse in the backyard. Tacky!

Fi, in an excess of good parenting, decides that rather than banishing Bram, they will continue to parent, sharing the house so their children’s lives are not disrupted. Bram gets a flat, he lives in it during the week while Fi lives in the house. On the weekend, they trade places, and the kids stay at home. Bird-nesting is what it is called and it’s oh-so-civilized. But then, it’s all about the kids.

Bram, though, has a problem with impulse control, accountability, responsibility, honesty, and maturity. He has none. He speeds, knowing he is in danger of losing his license. He loses his license and still drives. He challenges a too-slow driver. He causes an accident. He never tells his wife about it. There are many things he never tells and they all pile up when Mike uses his past to extort him to sell the house.



So, house-stealing is really a thing but it usually happens to people who are not in residence and don’t realize the house is sold for a long time. I did not find this part of the story credible. The signatures of the fake wife were forged. All Fi needed to do was challenge the sale, prove she didn’t sell it, and she would get her house back. The police would not go ho-hum, this is no big deal about a £2 million pound fraud. It was not a stolen stereo. There is nothing credible about the theft or the police reaction, or the idea that Fi, not the Vaughns would be the loser.

Then there is Bram, he’s writing a suicide note after doing everything the extortionists wanted him to do. Sorry, Bram, the time to kill yourself was before the sale. It’s too late now.

Fi is also not a credible character, it’s not just how completely she puts her children first. That I can understand, it’s her other actions, far too forgiving of those who trespass against her. It’s unrealistic and I don’t buy it. This story is not complex, it’s convoluted. We keep getting more and more revelations that explain Bram’s behavior, but no, it doesn’t explain his behavior. It’s some pathetic excuses for his behavior. And seriously, Bram, I have to say this one more time. If you want to kill yourself, do it when it can make a difference.

So, obviously Our House excites emotions so it’s not a terrible book. If it were, I wouldn’t care that Bram was so utterly useless and Fi so completely a floor mat. I just did not buy the story, it’s like dumb on dumb on dumb. Bram relentlessly, inexorably does the wrong, dumb, stupid thing. It was frustrating.

I received a copy of Our House from the publisher through NetGalley.

Our House at Berkley | Penguin Random House
Louise Candlish author site
★★

Imagine cheerily jaunting along to your house and finding another couple moving their household goods in while yours are completely missing. This is the predicament that Fiona Lawson finds herself upon returning early from a weekend away. Told in vignettes via podcasts called The Victim, Fiona regurgitates what has happened before and since finding out about this transaction. The alternate chapters are narrated by her husband, Bram, elucidated in a word document. Bram and Fiona had split due to his marital infidelity but had been sharing living in their home at different time frames to co- parent their two young children. However, as the story unfurls, events cascade that threaten their fragile alignment even more. At first, I was very intrigued with the style but by 30% I felt it was monotonous and longed for something more to happen. As if the author could hear my thoughts, things picked up steam with lots of twists and turns and a shocking ending. A mystery that is more a character study, it deserves a vigorous round of applause..

Part of the huge appeal for this novel (and potential movie rights, I'm sure) is the fact of how many people have similar lives. A marriage that wasn't strong, an attempt at parenting together, which shows where parental and moral weaknesses are, and then an ultimate betrayal. Bram and Fiona each have their own issues and faults, and combined you can see the disaster in the making, but like any accident scene, you just can't stop looking and turning the pages. By giving the reader insights into the different characters, you learn why they make the choices they do in the book, and the subsequent results. Definitely add this one to your reading list, you're going to be hearing a LOT about it!

IFor those of you who are fans of Gone Girl and Big Little Lies, you will enjoy this new novel by Louise Candlish. Infidelity, lies, blackmail, murder, and betrayal are in abundance in Our House.

I must be mistaken, but it looks exactly as if someone is moving into my house.

Fiona (Fi) Lawson comes home after a trip to find that people are moving into her house. She and her ex-husband, Bram, are practicing bird’s nest custody of their children: sharing the same house in order to maintain as close to the same life as they possibly can for the boys. However, Bram’s created a web of lies that leads to the destruction of this agreement. But has he gone too far with his new exploit?

"He planned not only to steal my property, but to help himself to my wife."

Bram is nowhere to be seen, Fi no longer has a home, and Harry and Leo aren’t at school. Secrets are everywhere and no one is as s/he seems. The situation seems to be getting worse and worse, and infinitely more complicated.

Where is Bram? Why are other people living in the house? How did everything come about?

"He was convinced it would be easier for you if he wasn’t here to bring more shame on you."

There was so much more potential! I was really intrigued at the beginning, but as the story went on, I expected more “aha!” moments than I received. I really enjoyed seeing the story from both Fi and Bram’s perspectives. There was one twist I did not see coming, but I should’ve given the clues. Nothing gets past me (…except for this once)!

This is a light and easy read laced with slight thriller traits. I would recommend this for people who enjoyed Gone Girl and Big Little Lies.

Can you even imagine coming home to find strangers moving into your house, saying they had bought it, and your husband and children are missing? Fi comes home early from a romantic weekend with a new boyfriend to this very scenario. She's separated from her husband Bram but they're sharing their dream home so their children are not forced into shuffling from place to place, Suddenly, she has no home, no Bram and no idea where her children are. I was hooked from the first paragraph and stayed up way too late following many twists in the plot. Yes, a lot of the plot is unlikely to stand the test of "would someone really behave this way" but who cares when the writing is this tight? Trading chapters between Fi's appearance on a podcast about crime victims (that she was a fan of previous to her own experience as a victim), a Word document Bram is writing to someone (?) and Fi's viewpoint outside of the podcast, the suspense builds with every page. And just when I thought things couldn't get worse for our heroine FI - TWIST! The end of this book actually had me gasping, something that hadn't happened since I was halfway through "Gone Girl". As much as I hate when people compare a new book to another big blockbuster, I have to admit I kept thinking this was the one book that actually lived up to that comparison. Definitely looking forward to discussions with other people who have read this book!

This book starts by the main character Fiona, seeing people move into her house. Thinking this is a mistake, she slowly realizes it wasn't a mistake and that in fact her husband, ex-husband technically, has sold their house and has disappeared!

The story then starts at the beginning and explains what happened, and why Bram, her ex, has done such a thing. The different perspectives really had my opinions and sympathy changed from one character to another. There are also little twists in there that I didn't expect. Especially near the ending, really love how it played it. Noticed how I said 'near' the end, and not the actually ending.

I love my ending tied in this neat little bow and completed. With this book, you will not get this ! I was really shocked by the ending and felt like I had to speak to people about it and google the heck of the ending to see what other people thought ! It was truly unexpected and I still have questions ! Highly recommend !

Thank you to Berkley for providing me with an electronic ARC of this book via NetGalley. As usual, my reviews are my honest and unbiased opinions.

This book starts off strong with a great opening scene. and stayed strong for me for the first third of the book.. But honestly it really started to drag after that. It was slow and repetitive. There were long passages of dialogue that didn't always advance the story and characters that felt more like caricatures. I became impatient with it around the half way mark and struggled a bit to finish it.. It is still worth 3 stars for me based on the idea which I found very interesting.

I REALLY wanted to love this one because let's just talk about THAT cover. OH my goodness... in love with it!

What a fantastic premise to this story... Fiona arrives home and finds a moving truck and strangers moving into her home?! YIKES... talk about anxiety attack 101 lol.

So, unfortunately this thriller fell extremely flat for me. UGH.... man I thought I was drowning half way through towards the end... I had to skim.... and skim... I was pretty bored and the story just lost me. I was hoping and praying SOMETHING would grab me back into the story... well let me tell you I was waiting a long time.

What I did enjoy? The story was well written but it just didn't have enough juice to the smoothie.

I can definitely see why readers may enjoy this one but I really like my dark, mysterious, on edge kind of thrillers with disturbing guts and characters.

2.5 stars.

Thank you so much to Elisha, Berkley, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.

Published to GR: 7/13/18
Publication date: 8/7/18

Everyone's worst nightmare on all levels. I'm still recovering from this book and I'm not sure what I could post here that wont give bits and parts away... I could not , but had to because of life things, put this book down. There were so many twists and turns I had to pay close attention to make sure I kept up. I tried to explain it all to my husband and even he (a non reader) was super interested.

I felt for Fi and still do. It was like reading some poor girls personal diary and every step of the way she is hit blow after blow. And can I say I felt for Bram too? All of these characters played perfectly into the scenes unfolding. This book must be made a movie I need to see it all in color played out.

AND THE ENDING .... this book hit it out of the park!

** spoiler alert ** Wow. A twisty book that had a plot that kept me guessing. This author made an unbelievable plot very believable. Anytime I had a rebuttal to a curveball she threw, she came right back at my questions/objections with "answers" in the storyline.

The ending???? Did Bram unknowingly or knowingly, link Fi to Mike/Toby with his written confession????

This was my first book by Candlish Louise and it won't be my last.

I received an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Oh my. I have such mixed feelings about this book. I'm sticking with a "very good" rating due to its intrigue. I looked forward to my evening read and was engaged all along the way. The mixed feelings are based on the ending. It's two-fold, though. I loved a portion of it, but hated another. I'm so tempted to give it a higher rating because it has had me thinking about it since I finished it. But, NO. The 4/5 remains. I'm curious as to what others think. Now, I'm off to see what other books this author wrote.

This book was a little hard to follow as it is written in 4 perspectives/timelines: a) from the husband's point of view, in the months leading up to where the the main event of the story unfolds, b) from the wife's as the event unfolds, c) from a word document written by the husband detailing the events d) several months after everything as the wife tells her story in a blog interview. I did enjoy it, however and read it fairly quickly.

I thought this book had an interesting (if pretty implausible) premise: Fiona comes home from a weekend away to find her beloved house is empty, her ex-husband is missing, and the "new owners" are moving in. How did this happen?? Unfortunately, the story did not keep me interested. The main characters were very unlikable and the pace was pretty slow. It felt like kind of a chore to finish it. Not really my cup of tea this time.

My house? Your house? Whose house is it?

Seeing someone moving in is no big deal in this neighborhood, but someone moving into YOUR house IS a big deal.

Fi had no idea that the morning she came back from a business trip there would be a moving van in the driveway and all of her belongings would be gone.

Where did everything go and what was going on? Another puzzling fact is that she was not able to get in touch with her husband.

We go back and forth in time and find out the circumstances leading up to the unknown sale. Bram had a shady past and secrets, but how could this have happened?

The situation was very tense, and hopefully can’t happen. Having your house sold right under your nose without signing anything or knowing anything about is frightening.

Both the house situation and what the characters were doing was truly unbelievable and hopefully not something that could be done.

Each chapter leads us to more and more about what was going on with the situation and the characters. I didn’t find one character that was likable in this book, but that didn’t take away from the excellent story line.

OUR HOUSE is one of the most creative suspense books I have read.

If you like to wonder what makes people do what they do, and you like to keep guessing at it, OUR HOUSE is a must read this summer.

OUR HOUSE is bizarre, nerve wracking, and unbelievable, but oh so good. That last line is WOW!!

Enjoy if you read this book. 5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by NETGALLEY and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I ended up being disappointed in this psychological thriller; all the stories about dysfunctional married couples
are starting to blend. From the original Gone Girl, to The Couple Next Door, The Woman In the Window, Need to Know, and now Our House, I feel I am reading the same story with added chapters. Perhaps I had higher expectations than I ought to have had when beginning, for I found both the husband and wife equally manipulative and undeserving of one another. Even the “shocking ending”was not an unanticipated surprise.

What a great premise! To show up to your house only to discover all of your things are gone and someone else is living there?! Ummm...I'd lose my mind and then probably have myself committed thinking that I was actually losing my mind. I liked the characters and found myself invested in them and what was going to happen. This book was a twisty and layered thriller and had me wondering what was going to happen until the very last sentence.

once you start to read it pulls you into the story , with that said I would like to think Netgalley for letting me read and review Our House .

Fiona comes home to her worst nightmare, people moving into her house. The house that her children have called home for years. The house that holds indiscretions, secrets and memories.

From that moment the story shifts between Bram and Fiona's point of view. Letting the reader in on what went wrong...in the multiple different situations that these two characters find themselves in. Fiona trying to unravel Bram's trail of lies and deception and Bram showing you how he was forced into her recent situations.

A great contemplative story about the decisions we make and the consequences that come with them.

Each chapter of this book alternated between a podcast description from the wife, and a confession note from the husband. It felt like I was watching an episode of The Affair, with two differing views of the same story.

I enjoyed the different spin on mystery with this book. I live in an area where people are becoming rich with their home’s equity - but I could never imagine using it as a con to get rich!

I was drawn in, and I can’t wait to read another from this author!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If Something Could Go Wrong, It Did

The novel opens with Fiona, Fi, returning home on Friday, 13 January 2017 to discover that someone appears to be moving into her home. Lucy, one of the new owners, comes out to talk with her. She tells Fi that she and her husband just purchased this home. Fi is just shocked. Her home was not up for sale. A neighbor friend, Merle, comes over and takes Fi’s side. Fi tries to contact her ex-husband. They are going through a divorce, but his cell phone is out of service. Fi discovers that her children did not attend school that day! Fi panics.

The storyline expands from the real timeline stories in Fi’s and Bram’s perspective to include two more storylines that are parallel and linked. The first new storyline is a podcast from a website called The Victim. In this podcast Fi tells her story of the events that led up to that Friday the 13th. It goes back to six months earlier when she caught her husband, Bram, being unfaithful for the second time. She tells him to get out immediately. As they have two young boys and Fi wants their separation to have a minimal impact upon them, she proposes a bird nest child custody scheme in which the children state in the home and each parent takes turns living with them. Neither parent is there at the same time. The second storyline is a Word document that Bram wrote that parallels Fi’s podcast timeline.

About ten percent into the story, it was clear how untrustworthy and all-around dirt bag that Bram was. I said to myself, “How could Fi be so stupid!” I almost stopped reading. The reason was that I was, of course, reading Bram’s parallel side of the story and Fi’s story which goes back and provides her side of the story leading up to that fateful Friday. It is not what Fi knew at the time, so I kept reading. What followed was a storyline that I could only explain as if it could get worse for Bram, it did. And it did rather slowly for the next 70% of the novel!

Near the end, there was finally a twist and a surprise that I was not expecting. While the surprise left a puzzling question, the twist put an interesting aspect into the storyline. Finally, something in this novel piqued my interest. Then at the end, there was one hanging issue that was not addressed and left me shaking my head.

Overall, the story at the start showed promise; the long middle had only minor twists and nothing really unexpected, and an ending that again showed promise but ended with a large loose end that was left hanging. Twice the novel piqued my interest but never really captured it. This would have been a three star rating from me, but based upon the ending, I have lowered to two stars.

I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Berkley Publishing Group with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this novel early.