I liked open house, you never knew what was quite going on, who was conning who and why. It’s a real suburbia meets desperate housewives with a few shady men thrown in!!

What an amazing story!!!! I couldn't finish it quickly enough to find out what was going on in Amber's house. Full of surprises and twists from beginning to end. Brilliant.

Loved the cover and the story.
Amber and Nick are separating and the house is up for sale. Carl, the real estate agent seems to be dodgy at best. He hasnt managed to get anyone interested in the house yet.
Amber is keen to move in with her sons to her new boyfriend's place so as a last ditch attempt she agrees to have an open house! And thats when the trouble begins. Amber is sure she saw 13 people go in and only 12 come out! Who and where is the missing person? Things keep mysteriously appearing and disappearing in the house and strange noises can be heard as well. Amber feels she is being watched all the time. It seems to Amber someone doesn't want her to sell the house and move or is the opposite?
The list of suspects grows, Barb, her ex mom in law, Nick, her ex husband, Davina, the nosy neighbour, Carl, the dodgy Estate agent, Wayne, Davina's elusive husband or is it Richard her boyfriend?
Each one of them is hiding a secret and then a visit by a person from the past blows the whole thing apart.

A riveting read and was creepy in parts, had me looking under the bed and in the wardrobe! Thank you Netgalley for this wonderful ARC

The Open House by Sam Carrington was my first book by this author. I really love the cover with the yellow door. All I wanted to do was enter that door and become part of this world. The story was told in the alternating voices of Amber and Barb. There is a lot of twists and turns, along with many different things that happen to the main characters. Just which twist is the truth? It was something I did not see coming.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

A spooky story with creepy twists.
This book started out so well and I dove in yesterday and devoured it.

I like my books with twists but this one had at least one too many and Amber makes more than a few decisions at the end that left me scratching my head...and one that pissed me off.

However, I loved the fresh premise, I loved Sam Carrington's writing style and I loved that she definitely managed to surprise me more than once.

Many thanks to net galley, the publisher, and author Sam Carrington for an ARC of The Open House in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved the whole concept of this book. I mean who does not like a story about who could be lurking in your house unnoticed. We have all had that hair raising feeling that we are being watched, The Open House just took it to a whole other level. I also really enjoyed the pace that the story unfolded. I found the characters to be believable and for the most part likable. This was a good solid book for me and I look forward to reading more from Sam Carrington.

This was my first book by Sam Carrington but it certainly won’t be the last! It gripped me from the very first page right through to the very last! The writing flowed so well and I really enjoyed every bit of this delicious story! Soooo many twists and shockers! I love how a little is revealed at a time until the whole thing is unraveled at the end! So much fun to read! Definite 5 stars!

Thank you so much to Avon Books and NetGalley for allowing me the privilege of reading The Open House!

The idea of this book was better than the actual telling of it. Based on the name and the description I expected a completely different story, of someone attending an open house and not leaving it alive. Well that is not what this story is about.

This is a story about Amber, newly divored from Nick, wanting to sell their home so she can start her new life with Richard. One of the main characters in this story is Barbara, Nick's mother, who does not want Amber to sell the house. It was Nick's childhood home and Barbara had sold it to Nick and Amber. Is it just for sentimental reasons that the home should not be sold or does Barbara not want Amber and her two boys to move or....?

The story is told from different perspectives, mainly Amber and Barbara and then also occassionally some unknown character all in italics all in riddles trying to add excitement to the story. Not all that much happens the first 80% of the book, just a few things that spook Amber, but then in the last 20% the excitement and revelations really start.

It's a good pyschothriller, but not brilliant. I enjoy the author's style so I will read more of her books and just hope that I really love them.

My opinions are mixed about this book - on one hand, it was an interesting read and the premise was unique. On the other, the pacing was entirely too slow for the plot, and the 'big reveal' was predictable. That being said, I did not see the final twist coming... but I'm still trying to reconcile it to the story and the characters, because their decision doesn't seem to line up with what we know of the characters throughout the book.

After reading The Open House, I'm going to make sure my smart doorbell's cloud service is paid up!

Open houses feel invasive enough, but what happens to Amber and her family takes meddling to a whole new level. There are so forces on all different sides that seemingly are interfering with Amber's ability to sell her husband's family home. She can't wait to get it over with and move the three hours away to be with her boyfriend.

Things start to happen that would be considered gaslighting in any other novel, but Amber is strong enough to realize that something odd is actually happening in her house. When her kids start to notice, she ramps up the investigation and enlists friends and neighbors to help her figure out what is going on.

There are some twists you might guess before you get to them, but there are some you won't. The characterization is vivid, and the tension is very taught and moves quickly once things start to happen. This was my first book by Sam Carrington and I will definitely look for more!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an advance reader's copy for review.

Thank you to Net Galley and Sam Carrington for the advanced copy of The Open House in return for my honest opinion. The Open House is available now!

Amber recently separated from her husband Nick and is now trying to sell their family home – which was Nick’s childhood home that was given to the couple as a present from Nick’s mother Barb. Amber is having a difficult time finding anyone interested enough to buy the home and then weird things start happening. Her children are complaining about a man in the house that watches them when they sleep and furniture is rearranging itself. This story follows Amber trying to get to the bottom of what is happening in her house when the lights go out!

The concept of this book was really intriguing but unfortunately it fell flat for me. I was pretty early on in the book when I made an educated guess as to what was going to happen and I ended up being right. I feel like this book keeps egging you on to read more but doesn’t really give out any information – just a lot of continual teasing. Overall, it wasn’t my favorite book but it wasn’t a bad read if you’re looking for a twist on a “who dunnit” type of book.

*I received an electronic copy of this book for review courtesy of NetGalley


This book has such a great premise. A couple in the midst of divorce put their house on market. The estate agent holds an Open House for the property and suddenly things get creepy.

Amber is uneasy with the idea of strangers wandering through the house. She decides to get a glimpse of potential buyers by logging into her doorbell camera app. She is sure she counts 13 people going in but at the end of the night, only 12 of them come out. She's convinced someone is hiding in the house.

Then strange things start to happen. Things go missing or they're moved. She hears noises inside. One of her sons tells her there was a man watching him.

She doesn't know who to trust and there's a handful of interesting suspects.

This was a solidly four star read for the first half of the book. There were things the main character did that made no sense for someone so on afraid. The ending seemed rushed. The "resolution" was just weird and oddly unsatisfying.

This book has great reviews, so I'm in the minority here, but I really struggled to get into it. It took too long to reach the first 'shock' moment, and the lead character had no depth. I couldn't finish it, but I would still try other books from this author. Thank you.

The Open House is, for the most part a slow-burn psychological thriller which brought to mind spooky classics such as Henry James's The Turn of the Screw.
The book is based on a stimulating premise - thirteen prospective buyers enter an open home for viewing, but only twelve are observed leaving. Who is the thirteenth person, and where have they gone?
The central character, Amber Miller, from whose perspective the majority of the chapters are narrated, has split from her police officer husband, Nick, and they are in the process of selling the family home, so that both can move on with their lives. The complication is that the home in question previously belonged to Nick's rather overbearing mother, Barb, and was his family home growing up. Barb, from whose perspective the majority of remaining chapters are related, is desperate to prevent the sale of the house and stop Amber and her grandchildren moving away. Are her motives purely nostalgic and solely motivated by a desire to keep the family together? To what lengths might she be prepared to go, in order to keep Amber and the kids in Devon?
Add in a dodgy real estate agent, a nosy neighbour and mysterious sounds in the night and Amber is fast becoming a nervous wreck, second-guessing her conviction that there is someone hiding in her house and machinations going on that she can't quite put her finger on.
The character development and slow-burn plotting are excellent over the first three-quarters of the novel, the reader developing an understanding for the courageous but self-doubting Amber. However, after the point at which Amber finally starts to uncover the truth - which hits jarringly suddenly - it felt almost as though the author was in a hurry to tie off all the plot threads and bring the book to a tidy conclusion. It's a complex and macabre outcome, foreshadowed to some degree over the course of the build-up, but not entirely satisfying, to my mind. Without wishing to include spoilers, the actions and explanations of various protagonists didn't strike me as particularly realistic, or as consistent with their characters as built up over the preceding narrative.
That said, I feel The Open House shows great promise, and I look forward to future excursions in the genre by author Sam Carrington.
My thanks to the author, publisher Avon Books UK and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Amber, recently divorced and about to move, is trying to sell her house - but when 13 potential buyers enter it for an open house, only 12 come out...leaving Amber paranoid that there is someone in her home, watching her...

A promising set-up, with the potential to play thrillingly on the unsettling feeling of having strangers in one's home, the insidiuousness of neighborhood gossip, the stress and insecurities of modern motherhood - but The Open House doesn't live up to all that potential. I found the writing style strained and awkward, and the characters flat and unrealistic. As for the supposedly suspenseful plot, it takes too long to really get going, with the build-up of tension stalling every time we flip between POVs, and the ending is abrupt, over the top, and ultimately unsatisfying. A disappointment overall, I'm sorry to say.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to finish before the archive date, but so far I love the book and I will be reviewing on goodreads after finishing.

The Open House definitely had me hooked from the beginning. The twists and turns kept comping. The end was different then what I was anticipating, and sort of fell flat for me. I did enjoy the book though.

Gripping from the start, a great (albeit a bit far fetched at times), psychological family drama....who knew selling a house could be this problematic?
Fast paced with plenty of twists and turns and really did keep me guessing until the last.
A new author for me, will definitely be looking out for more by Sam Carrington.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and of course the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Nick and Amber decide to get divorced selling their home proves a challenge. When no viewings materialise they are persuaded to hold an open house. Someone or something doesn't want them to sell and things begin to happen. Everyone who enters the house does not leave. There are many twists which you will not anticipate.

This is the first Sam Carrington book I have read but won’t be the last. It was instantly gripping and I genuinely found it difficult to put down. As the plot unravelled though it lost me a bit. I thought the end was pretty implausible. But overall I enjoyed it and I will read more.