Great book! Thank you Bonnie Kistler. It was one of the those books that is hard to put down. I would highly recommend this book! It is a MUST READ!!

What a thrill ride! The incident between Kip and Chrissy is any parent's worst nightmare, and when you're given different accounts of what happened with only one person relaying details, who do you believe? This is a whirlwind of a thriller and will certainly be in my list of favorites for a long time to come.

Leigh and Peter are celebrating their young marriage and the successful blending of their families. But, tragedy can strike in an instant, and lives upturned. An accident, a death, and a court case pull the reader in to the story. I was pulled in to the book and read through it in a day. There are several different story lines, and my primary draw was to the legal thriller aspect of the story. While I appreciated the different story lines, at a few points in the book, it felt like too much was going on and I couldn't really understand why different story lines were continuing on. However, I enjoyed the book and the escape it provided on a cold weekend day.

What a provocative, suspenseful, and engrossing read House on Fire is! I could not put this book down. Leigh and Peter are working on their second marriages when they return from a long weekend away only to be greeted by a phone call asking them to come to the police station. It seems Peter's son Kip crashed the car he was not supposed to be driving.
I really liked this book. The characters are well developed and very realistic. I liked the added interest of two subplots within the main arc of the plot and how it all fit together at the end. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this book and look forward to the author's next one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a Kindle ARC to. review.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought Leigh and Pete were a great example of a blended family, and this felt like a truly realistic representation of how tragedy can rip apart even the closest of families. This felt like it could have been any family on any block in Anytown, USA, making the hard choices between spouse and child. The author did a great job portraying all of the emotions associated with losing a child and balancing that grief with the need to continue with the day-to-day interactions with family and friends. Where I really struggled was with the unnecessary storylines woven throughout the book. It would have been far more powerful to keep things focused on the family and their struggles, instead of interjecting what I thought were some pretty far-fetched and ridiculous "twists" where they weren't needed. Distractions and complications that just muddied things up. But, in spite of that, the family's story really grabbed me and held me throughout.

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. What a disappointment. I was not sure if this was a love story or thriller.

House on fire was a very twisty dark story. I very much enjoyed the characters and the complex story that the author crafted. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I definitely did not.

Highly reccomend !

A compelling story that is difficult to put down! I enjoyed this one immensely.I think many readers who pick this one up are going to rip though it fast. I almost couldn't stop reading!

This is the story of a family that seems to have figured out the best way to merge two households. Leigh and Peter are managing a blended family with, seemingly, minimal bumps in the road. One night of misadventures leaves the family in tatters. Everyone attempts to go on with their "normal" lives but find that nothing is normal. The main story weaves in and out of side stories with remarkable ease. I found this book to be provocative and compelling.

I absolutely loved this book. It was such an interesting story of a blended family, and the loyalty dilemma that presented itself when tragedy struck. It felt genuine from all perspectives. The pace was good, except that I thought the secondary story line was unnecessary and the book could have done without it. I found myself simply wanting to get back to the main story. Overall, well written and I'd love to read more from this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While his parents are away, Kip Conley attends a party - his sister ends up showing up to tell him to go home as the parents are on their way home - earlier than expected. While driving home, there is an an accident and tragedy strikes.

Told through the voices of Leigh, Pete, and Kip, we find the tragedy that unfolds and the lies that were told.

What exactly happened that night...and who will pay?

As somebody who has dealt with familial death, House of Fire was intriguing to me. Would the author paint the way that I felt while I grieved? One thing I have learned while experiencing any grief is that the world keeps turning. House on Fire involves a very blended family, and a tragedy each parent feels more loyal to their child than their spouse. There were times that I wanted to some how yell to the characters "wake up, you're going about this all wrong!". I will be recommending House on Fire to my fellow bibliophiles.

House On Fire started out with a bang and went downhill about midway through. The plot was good with a lot of different stories fusing together, however, there was too much going on that wasn't very important that could've led to a quicker ending. I only finished the book to find out how everything turned out - but I did a LOT of flipping through pages.

A suspenseful novel about a blended family in crisis after a drunk driving accident leaves the daughter of one parent dead and the son of the other parent charged with manslaughter.

The first half of the book was a little slow for me but the last half blew me away with all of the twists and turns! I think fans of Jodi Picoult would really like this novel.

House On Fire is Bonnie Kistler's debut novel. With a debut like this one, I can't wait to see what she has in store for me next time!

Thank you to #NetGalley for this great ARC #HouseOnFire
Pub Date: 12 Mar 2019

This was a quick weekend read and a great blended family drama/thriller. When their daughter dies as a result of the stepbrother, there are bound to be issues and this kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved the family aspects as well as the legal ones. It took me a little while to get into but the second half of the book really drew me in. I could have done without the other subplots of the book because I found them more distracting and took away from the main plot which I was most connected to. I received this book as an ARC from the Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read a Kindle ARC of House on FIre by Bonnie Kistler. I was drawn to the description of the story - in which a blended family suffers a tragic loss of a daughter, with the fault falling on the girl's step-brother. Pete and Leigh have been married for six years, with several children between them, two living with them and the others either away at college or with the other biological parent. Kip is 17 and at a party with alcohol when his 14 year old step-sister, Chrissy, rides her bike to the party to warn him their parents are expected home early. During the ride home, the car slides on wet roads into a tree. At first it seems as if all is well, other than the fact that Kip is turning 18 at midnight and was drinking alcohol. Chrissy ends up dying of an aneurysm several days later and charges are pressed. Bonnie Kistler's writing excels when she is describing the pain and anguish of a parent who loses a child and how such an event can tear a marriage apart. The story falters a little with the introduction of a potential client for Leigh when she returns to her law practice but it is still interesting. I also felt that the introduction of the local reverend/professor at the local college was a weaker part of the story line. Over all, House on Fire is a gripping., horrifying look at how families can be torn apart by tragedy.

I really enjoyed this novel! The plot was complex and the way the author tied it all together was excellent. A heartwrenching story that originates when two stepsibilings, one under the influence of alcohol and one under the legal driving age are involved in accident and one of them dies soon after. An accident of this nature would put a strain on any marriage, much less a step family. The subplots involving Leigh’s legal clients were very interesting and the way the author tied it all together was a shock that I did not see coming!

House On Fire by Bonnie Kistler is a fascinating book that explores the age old adage is blood thicker than water. This book is “a tightly wound and suspenseful novel about a blended family in crisis after a drunk driving accident leaves the daughter of one parent dead- and the son of the other parent charged with manslaughter”. Leigh Huyett and Peter Conley found each other five years ago and blended their families. They love each other and each other’s children. What happens to that family when a crisis occurs? Will they chose their children over each other? Does blood become the most important factor? Does a dead child beat out a living one? Are forgiveness and redemption possible? These are all issues that are explored in this very well written story. As a mom, this story really hit home and made me think…would I sacrifice a relationship with a living child to protect the memory of the one who died? There are side story lines that keep the reader engaged and keeps the book moving at a fast pace. I cant wait for Bonnie Kistler’s next book. ARC provided by NetGalley…

The happily blended family of Leigh and Peter unravels when Peter’s son, Kip, hours shy of 18, and Leigh’s daughter, Chrissy, 14, are in an automobile accident. They both seem fine until suddenly they are not when Chrissy suddenly dies in surgery for a brain aneurysm the day after the accident. It’s not clear who was driving when their truck hit the tree: was it Kip, drunk, who took immediate responsibility, or was it Chrissy, driving without a license, who asserted that she was the driver, which Kip denied?

Regardless, Kip is charged with vehicular manslaughter. The story surrounding this tragedy is excellent, and worthy of four stars.

However, there are several meaningless subplots and red herrings involving Leigh and her legal practice that have no bearing whatsoever on the arc of the story, and, for me, make the family tragedy far less powerful. Had these sidetracks been omitted, this would have been a great read. Sadly, they made this book not terribly interesting to me. At all.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

I loved this book . It was fast paced with believable characters and a twisty believable plot that keeps you guessing till the end .
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book