I have been a hardcore Victoria Helen Stone fan ever since Jane Doe. I read all of her books, some preordered, so I COULDN'T WAIT to devour The Last One Home.

This book is about a dysfunctional family, lies, domestic abuse and misunderstandings between generations. It is a brilliant portrayal of Donna, an estranged mother, and her daughter Lauren who feels betrayed and lied to. As usual, Victoria Helen Stone is absolutely incredible with character development with unexpected details and personality traits that made my jaw drop. This part made the novel unputdownable for me.

At the same tine, it was defnitely a good book (I'll tell you that) but not a riveting thriller I was expecting after Jane Doe. This is defnitely my own fault for associating this author with a specific type/genre, which is what let me down unfairly - this novel is in fact a really well-written light mystery.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Exciting psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page. I enjoyed this text so much I literally devoured it.

Lauren Abrams has disdain for her mother because she believes that her mothers slanderous lies put her father in prison for murder. That was proven when a serial killer admitted to the murder her father was serving time for. Once her father was released, Lauren wanted as far away from her mother as possible and so she moved in with her father and grandmother. The story moves forward to when Lauren as an adult decides to move back to her family’s homestead and did not care what her mother had to say. Lauren’s mother Donna, is hiding a secret. She knows that Lauren shouldn’t be coming back. Donna does not want Lauren to know what really happened. Does Donna know more about the murder that saw her boyfriend do jail time? This is a very well written mystery with some twists that will have you trying to figure out The Who’s and why’s. The author has taken great care to ensure that the characters are well written and their personalities are accurate and balanced. I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! This is not what I expected and yearned for reading!

I don’t know how quick I clicked the request button when I see Victoria Helen Stone’s name and find titles section on NetGalley! And as you may imagine, I gloated and gathered my friends to celebrate with early happy hour 9:30 am in the morning.

I couldn’t wait to jump into her new thriller even though its blurb was a little evasive.

I read 100 pages, nothing intriguing happened so I thought this was slow burn thriller so I decided to give more chance.

I was introduced with Lauren, the heroine who moves to her 90 years old grandma’s estate because her grandma had a stroke and she cannot live in this grandiose house by herself and she’s adamant to leave this place to her granddaughter with reasonable mortgage payment deal.

Lauren was raised by her mother Donna who thinks her grandma and father were dangerous people. She even testified against her father about killing a young waitress and put him behind the bars. Later her father was exonerated, got remarried and started from fresh as soon as he left the prison and of course Lauren formed a healthy family relationship with he and her grandma despite the worries of her mother.

The story is told by going back and forth between Lauren and Donna’s narrations: present time to read Lauren’s renovation plans, YouTube videos, Instagram stalking to her ex Bastian which made me yawn and get me bored to death.

We’re also moving back to 1985 to see the life of Donna who just moved to Sacramento after getting pregnant and Michael who is the father, trying to divorce from his wife who is not mentally stable. Donna wants to trust the man but we can hear the alarm bells from the beginning he is not telling the truth about his marriage. This part is a little more intriguing but it is still repetitive. Donna questions Michael’s motives and Michael acts like liar douchebag then she forgives him and he does something unacceptable again. Oh! Too much unnecessary angst and more yawning!

Only the last %2 of the book gets a little faster and as soon as tension starts building, the book ends. Yes, it’s not even slow burn because nothing is burning or flaming about this story. It’s a women’s fiction. This is not a thriller. Mystery parts are already foreseeable from the first chapters.

I gave three stars for my respect of the author’s previous works. Don’t get me wrong. This is not a bad book. The flawed, unreliable characters, dysfunctional family dynamics, abuse, estranged mother- daughter relationship are well-told and developed but I was expecting something more exciting, riveting,action-packed after reading Jane Doe series!

So this is too light, action-less, flat, slow for my taste. I’m still looking forward to read more works of the author but unfortunately this is not my favorite work of hers.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me this digital arc in exchange my honest opinions.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Lauren returns home to her grandmothers place after her stroke. She does not talk to her mother since she sent her father to prison many years ago. While doing construction on the house she finds some strange things which makes her think about the past. This book kept me guessing from the beginning to the end

Lauren wants nothing do do with her mother, the woman who sent Lauren’s father to jail, claiming he was a serial killer. It’s only after the real killer confesses, years later, that Lauren’s father is released. Now, Lauren is returning to the Sacramento estate where she was raised by her father, but she may not be as safe as she believes. Donna, Lauren’s mother, lied about her ex boyfriend, but she also knows something is seriously wrong with her ex and his home. Creepy