I was so excited to get this one. Honestly, Jane Doe, Victoria Helen Stone's previous thriller is one of my all time favorite books and I also enjoyed the sequel, Problem Child. The first chapter was promising with the reference to all the serial killers that have emerged from or operated in Sacramento, California, but then nothing really happens for a LONG time. I thought the book was well-crafted with the alternating chapters between Lauren with the present day story and with Donna's story from 1985 (you don't find out until well into the book that they are mother and daughter), but nothing really happens until about 65% into the book. After the first chapter and then much longer than halfway through the book it was like boring and bland--I wasn't even really convinced I was reading a thriller! It kind of felt like a bad romance which is NOT my thing. The last third was more of what I like--an action packed thriller with twists and turns. The beginning could have been shortened and more exploration of the serial killer, Kepnick, could have been developed--I wanted to know more about his other crimes and wished there had been an actual in person interaction between Lauren and him that would also have made him taking the blame for the murder more plausible . The premise of this one was great, but it fell down with the execution...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my first Victoria Helen Stone but it won't be my last. This book was so good!!!!!!!! At first I was conflicted about my feeling about the leading ladies Donna & her daughter Lauren but by the middle my feelings were totally twisted. Just like this story!!!!!! I loved this authors style of writing & the way she took you through so many mind spins & twists!!!!!! Thriller lovers will devoured this story. Thank you to Lake Union and Netgalley for my early review copy

The main characters in this book are Lauren and Donna. It took me a couple of chapters to realise that Donna’s story is years ago and Lauren’s is in the present and how they are connected. But that’s probably me not paying attention!! Lauren’s father was jailed for killing someone but then let out after someone else admitted it. There are strained relationship issues with her mum. And Lauren adores her father and grandmother. But everything isn’t what it seems.

The end of this book ..... wow so many twists that I did not expect !! Definitely worth a read. Enjoy!

#netgalley #thelastonehome #lakeunionpublishing #victoriahelenstone

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If you are a fan of Victoria Helen Stone’s Jane Doe books be aware that this one is different from them. This is not a bad thing, actually I enjoyed this book as much as I did the Jane Does. But just don’t expect something like Jane or you will be disappointed.

This is a twisted and tangled family drama. Lauren had a difficult childhood. She was raised by her mother who had to work hard to make ends meet. And they were always moving into new places. And Donna, Lauren’s mother, put a fear into Lauren. Then Lauren’s father spent 10 years in prison for the murder of a young woman. Donna herself accused him and was the main witness in his trail. But then suddenly an already convicted serial killer confessed to the murder and Lauren’s father was released. And Lauren was finally able to build a relationship with him. Somehow she idolized him. His home on a farm in a rural California seemed like heaven to her. She also formed a bond with her grandmother. When she was old enough she decided to stay with them instead of her mother. That did not go well with her mother and affected their relationship. Now Lauren is thirty-five and after a breakup with her boyfriend she is happy to move into this old farmhouse. Her grandmother had a stroke lately and wants to move into a cared house. Her father has a new wife and a new family. So Lauren decides to take over the family home. But soon she begins to understand that not everything is like she idealized it when she was a child.

I am a fan of Stone’s Jane Doe books. I love to look into the mind of a sociopath. So I was excited to see that she had a new book. But this is different and in my opinion that is a good thing. I admire it when an author is able to write different kind of stories instead of varies the same elements over and over. Stone can obviously write different stories than ones about sociopaths. Well, almost. But here we don’t look into the mind of one. This is a complicated story of a weird family. I was sucked into the story almost immediately. I love Stone’s writing. I felt for Lauren and could connect to her. The story is told from Lauren POV and form Donnas in the past. I enjoyed both parts equally. I found this book to be entertaining and it has a unique story which I enjoyed.

Mystery - 2.5*

I was a huge fan of Stone's last novel, Jane Doe and couldn't wait to read this. Alas, it was a bit formulaic and I didn't like the main protagonist Lauren. Even though Stone split the narrative between Then/Now and between Laura and her mother Donna it couldn't save what was a pretty formulaic mystery.

Now - Lauren has broken up with her boyfriend and doesn't really know what to do with herself. She and her mother Donna have a contentious relationship. Her mother accused her father of killing a woman and he spent 10 years in prison. He was released because another man took the blame for the murder. Her dad has remarried and has another family, so her relationship with him has become more tenuous. Her Grandmother has just had a stroke and they decide that Lauren should buy the family home and that her Grandmother will move into assisted living. The home needs some updates and Lauren is adrift, so decides to document her remodeling efforts online. She keeps turning up interesting tidbits on the family property. She also starts receiving notes from the man in prison that killed the woman her father was accused of murdering.

Then - Donna gets pregnant by her boyfriend who is supposedly separated from his wife and soon to be divorced. She moves to Sacramento to be closer to him and finds out that his marriage isn't as quite over as she has been led to believe. Also, he seems to be trying to date other women on the side. Donna wants desperately to be a family with this man, so she allows herself to believe his lies. He desperately wants the child Donna is carrying and moves her onto his mother's property 45 minutes away. The farm is removed from everything and at first Donna thinks its the perfect solution. But, of course, events start happening that turn her idyllic fortress into something she needs to escape from.

As a big fan of mysteries, it wasn't hard to see where this story was going. In fact, I was almost annoyed that it took Lauren so long to figure it out. Granted, as the reader, you are privy to inside information, but Lauren just seemed super naive. I don't like weak characters as a protagonist and even though Lauren did find her spine, it was too late. She is the character in a scary movie that you yell at for hiding in the woods, instead of getting in her car and leaving when bad things start happening.

I'm going straight down the middle for this rating as the book is very readable and the story engaging, but as a mystery it falls short, for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this novel.

I really enjoyed this book but I think it deserves more than the 3.49 rating, although I can understand why. This author wrote Jane Doe and it was wildly successful and while The Last One Home has a mystery to be solved I would not call this a thriller, it is more of a domestic drama. The book is in my favourite format....two timelines from two points of view. While some readers don't like this style I LOVED it, it was like two stories in one with a climax that converges the two at the end. And what a satisfying conclusion it was!

I love Victoria Helen Stone's writing style and slow burns always keep me guessing. I read this in two sittings...it would have been one but this girl was busy the last couple days. I honestly believe this book deserves four stars because I didn't see the twists and I loved the writing...but if you're looking for a fast paced thriller this isn't it. Don't go looking for a Jane Doe type read...take this book for what it is...a solid piece of fiction with wonderful writing and a few surprises.

This book is hard for me to rate. I would give it 2.5 stars. It was OK, but definitely not what I expected. I wouldn't exactly call it a mystery or thriller. The story moves so SLOW and all the characters are extremely unlikeable. It's not until the very end of the book when everything was finally revealed and it felt like a let down. Throughout the whole book I was waiting for something to happen and nothing. Lauren wanted to please everyone, especially her grandma and dad. Her dad didn't seem like he had any time for her and her mom just seemed crazy. The story alternates between Lauren in the present and Donna while she's pregnant with Lauren in the 1980s. Donna had so many red flags waving in her face while she was with Michael. She ignored all of them. Lauren seemed surprised that someone would put notes in her mailbox and wondered how someone could find her. She's recording videos of herself renovating her house and posting it all over social media. If I received strange notes from a serial killer, my first instinct would be to call the police, but of course Lauren does the exact opposite. I did learn that Sacramento apparently breeds serial killers.

I didn't hate the book, I kept waiting for something big to happen but it never came. Give the book a try, it just wasn't for me. I LOVE the Jane Doe series and look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

When I saw Victoria Helen Stone's name, I immediately requested without even reading the synopsis of this book. Jane Doe by this author was one of my favorite reads. However, I just did not enjoy this novel as much. This is definitely not a thriller, but more of a family drama. It moved rather slowly and I thought about quitting it, but wanted to finish it. The mystery was not much of a mystery at all, and I had it figured out myself, which usually ruins a book for me in the long run. I will read more by Stone, but this just wasn't my favorite at all.

The Last One Home is told in alternating views by Lauren and her mother, Donna. Many years ago Donna testified against Lauren's father and sent him to prison for murder. Michael serves his time until a serial killer confesses to the crime. As stories from the past begin to come to light, Lauren doesn't know who to believe: her mother or her father and grandmother. A fairly big twist thrown in near the end changes everything. I liked the characters of Donna and Lauren even though both have plenty of flaws. Michael is a pretty unlikable man throughout the book.

Thanks to netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the arc

3 1/2 ⭐️‘S
After a her grandmother suffers a stroke, Lauren heads to the family’s Sacramento ranch to help care for her when she’s ready to come home. Lauren’s childhood was far from idyllic, she has a broken relationship with her mother after she turned her father in for a murder he was later exonerated for. As Lauren starts to restore the old house secrets unfold and all of a sudden Lauren no longer knows what to believe. Told in the past and present by Lauren and her mother, Donna, this book was filled with family drama and not much suspense. The secrets weren’t too difficult to figure out, but overall Lauren’s character made the book a decent read.

While I expected much more from this title I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t get into it as I hoped. It was still an enjoyable read, not one I’d reach for again.

I adore every word this author writes. I'd read a phone book if she wrote it. This story was so incredibly with her usual style and sharp prose, along with page-turning action and such great suspense.

Laura has a difficult relationship with her erratic mother who put her father in jail for the murder of a young cocktail waitress. When another man confesses to the crime a decade later her father is released and she moves in with him and the grandmother she never knew. Finally she has the family she has always wanted.

Her mother still insists that he's guilty.

Laura's grandmother suffers a stroke so Laura makes her way back to the ranch in Sacramento to help her grandmother recover but her grandmother would like her to buy the ranch and take it over for her. Feeling as if this is the fresh beginning she's looking for after a bad break up she jumps at the chance and finds herself really enjoying the home renovations she's started. Until she finds something that will change her mind about everything she thought she knew.

We go back and forth between Laura (now) and her mother Donna (In the past) to find out what the actual truth is.

This book was okay. I think my problem was that I didn't like Laura or Donna. Laura was too wishy washy and Donna was too feisty and both were a little annoying. They also both talk to themselves constantly which was ... weird. I mean, we all do it from time to time, but this was a little too much. I also didn't find the grand revelation all that grand as it was pretty much what I had suspected from the beginning. This is a perfectly fine read for a novice to the genre but it didn't leave any lasting impressions for this reader. 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC.

A woman must question what is the truth in her family. Long ago, Lauren was reunited with her father and grandmother after her mother's testimony sent her father to prison for murder. A serial killer then confessed to the murder, and Lauren went back to her father and grandmother, cutting her mother out of her life. Now, Lauren's grandmother is going into assisted living and is selling Lauren the family home. And Lauren is ready to put down roots there.

Meanwhile, Donna, Lauren's mother, has tried to contact her again. Learning that her daughter has gone back to the family home, she tries to tell her that she has made a terrible mistake. Who is telling the truth? And will Lauren learn the absolute truth behind the murder and what really happened?

Told in alternating points of view between Lauren and Donna, the story gives just enough detail each chapter to keep the reader interested and intrigued about where it is going to go next. The ending was a big surprise for me. Family secrets will never be looked at the same.

i was super excited for this one - love victoria dahl's romance books and the few books i've read published under this name. i tried not to get discouraged when i started seeing lacklustre reviews, but i'm afraid i have to agree with them. this one just fell flat for me unfortunately. it was an exciting premise, but it was slow and a bit boring until the end, which is not something i enjoy.

This book had a lot of things that i really like, a complicated back story, two heroines to root for and many twists, i guessed them but the story was still very good and had many layers of information that dropped in between. First time I read this author but will be reading more of her stuff for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Helen Stone and Lake Union Publishing for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this one quite different from what i'm used to from Stone, but it was an interesting and unique story that kept me guessing what was going to happen right from the very beginning. I enjoyed the main character, but I didn't trust a single one of the other characters and for good reason. They all are keeping secrets to save their own skins. It was a slower paced thriller than I usually enjoy - but there was enough other things going on to keep me invested and kept me going. Definitely would still recommend if you enjoy Stone's writing!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. Donna finds out she is pregnant with a married man's baby. Michael swears he will leave his wife and move to his mother's property to help raise the baby. Once moved, Donna is convinced that Michael murdered someone so she flees. Flash forward to Lauren who has just moved into her grandmother's house after she suffers a stroke. Donna finds out her daughter has moved into the house that she fled so many years ago but Lauren thinks she is delusional and won't stop lying. What kind of secrets are buried in this house? Pretty good read. #thelastonehome #victoriahelenstone #Mar2021

The Last One Home is a rollercoaster of a psychological thriller! Victoria Helen Stone is at least at writing suspense as she is at writing romance novels.

Chilling, creepy, and powerful! This book read like a nightmare, and I mean that in the best way possible. Lauren's story held my attention a bit more than Donna's story, but both were compelling in their own rights. I felt there was a fair amount of tension-building throughout the story, though some parts did get a bit slow. However, I would definitely recommend this to a friend.