This book broke me emotionally! I had to grab my husband’s hands during some parts because I was so on edge, but not from the usual thriller type suspense, but from the social injustices of the time. This was my first book of Chamberlins but I will definitely be looking for more from this author and recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction or mystery.

Synopsis

Kayla has just lost her husband in a freak accident during the construction of their dream home in a small town of Round Hill, North Carolina. They were both architects and had designed the home with loving care. Now Kayla and her young daughter are moving in to the large dream home that seems bittersweet without her husband. Not only that but being secluded by all the trees they left on the property feels more sinister than private.

Weird things start to happen at their home that make Kayla rethink her decision to live there. With her father’s help and the return of Ellie, the awful events will slowly reveal themselves to the awful events that haunt Kayla’s property.

Told during dual timelines of Kayla in the present and Ellie in 1965, the reader learns of a town once filled with racism , social injustice, and where belonging to the Klu Klux Klan was as common as a country club membership. Ellie was inspired to become a freedom fighter to try and get more black citizens registered to vote. This alienated her from both her family and community.
It was a poignant tale of the effects of the civil rights era and the social injustice that bred hatred in the south. Chamberlain handled the difficult topic very well. We had a civil rights attorney in our buddy read and she was the first to bring that up! This is a must read!

Diane Chamberlain, you did it again! 4.5 stars for this beauty. Rounding up for Goodreads. I was so grateful to get to read this book early thru @netgalley It's tough read. It's a frustrating read. It's a necessary read. About half way thru this book, I blew thru the rest of it in one evening. I was scared but desparate to know what came next. I love how she can always connect two stories so seamlessly. I highly recommend this book, but check trigger warnings before doing so.

I have had this book for a while but it just did not really call me to read it. Eventually though, I figured I needed to give it a shot. I’ve read a handful of Diane Chamberlain‘s books now, and I have to say I found this to be my least favorite. I’m not sure exactly why, but I just couldn’t get into the storyline and really feel the characters.

The story takes place in two time periods, 1965 and 2010. The two main characters Ellie (1965) and Kayla (2010) are brought together by secrets that many hoped would remain in 1965. Ellie is a fighter for justice and equality. In 1965, she went out to support giving minorities the opportunity to vote.

Kayla is an architect and a recent widow. Her and her late husband designed the house she’s about to move into with her daughter. This was meant to be their dreamhouse, but it’s the house that took her husband away from her. She has reservations about moving in, but goes ahead with the plan. Quickly it becomes apparent that others do not want her to move into their neighborhood.

This is a very sad story. Unfortunately, I’m sure it represents reality more than I’d like to believe. The story was definitely well written but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.
#DianeChamberlain #NetGalley #TheLastHouseOnTheStreet

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

This latest historical fiction novel from Diane Chamberlain takes us to two timelines in a small town in North Carolina. We meet newly widowed Kayla in our time. We watch her struggle as she moves into her newly constructed home that she designed and built with her now deceased husband. Strange events occur that show her that someone doesn’t want her there.
We also meet Ellie, a privileged white girl in the 1960s. Ellie takes an interest in the civil rights movement and joins a group working together to help register black voters. Her drive to help others brings to light the prejudices in her community that she had always been blind to.
What a great story Diane Chamberlain has crafted as the two women’s stories intersect!
I really enjoyed this story! It was tough to see Ellie make choices that were destined to bring heartbreak, however that made the story all the more real. I was able to anticipate some of the twists and turns, but all in all, this was a superb read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

Diane Chamberlain has become a must-read author after her last few books and I could not wait to get my hands on this latest one. It was one of my most anticipated reads for this month and it totally delivers. This is also one of the selections this month for my online bookclub, the #bookfriendsbookclub, and we are not only discussing the book tonight but we will also be chatting with Diane as well. I’m so excited!

As soon as I started reading this book, I was captivated and that feeling never let up. Told in a dual storyline, I was equally invested in both timelines, which is not always the case. Sometimes with the dual narrative, I find I am more drawn to one timeline over the other, but here, I loved both. I found both women, Kayla in the present day and Ellie in the past, to be intriguing characters and right away I found I needed to know what was going to happen next with them. I very quickly became emotionally attached to these characters.

I loved the way this story unfolded, moving back and forth in time, slowly unraveling mysteries in both, while ever so slowly weaving a tale that eventually winds together both seamlessly and emotionally. This story packs quite the punch, shedding light on a small slice of history that should not be forgotten, however hard it may be to read about. While these events happened years ago, the sad fact of the matter is some things aren’t that much better now. And that is what makes this book so important and so timely.

I loved learning about the SCOPE Program in the South, a program aimed at helping register Black voters in the early 1960s. This was a program I had never heard of prior to reading this book, nor did I realize all the other obstacles that Blacks had placed in front of them if they wanted to try to get themselves registered. This was so eye-opening and exactly why I love reading historical fiction – I always learn something new!

I highly recommend this story to both historical fiction fans and fans of mystery and suspense. This genre-bending story will certainly appeal to all as it is completely captivating. It is definitely one powerful story that I know will be staying with me for a long time and I will be telling everyone I know to pick it up!

In this book, we get a dual timeline view. One of the timelines in Kayla, who was working on building her dream house with her husband, hoping to build a perfect life with their daughter. Then, her husband dies and Kayla is struggling with the choice to live in the house they designed together. She meets an elderly neighbor who creeps her out, and she's wrestling with lots of bad memories about designing the house. In the other timeline, we are confronted with the 1960s and issues of race and class. White college students are joining together, against the wishes of their parents in some cases, to help ensure that young black people are able to vote. They are taken in by black families and canvass the neighborhoods, and it's an eye-opening experience.

The dual timelines were each emotional and attention-grabbing in their own right. The emotional and gripping modern timeline kept me guessing. The flashback timeline resonated with me. We still struggle with those same issues today with voter suppression and inequality. One would think there would have been much more progress, but this book illustrates that we aren't the modern and evolved people we think.

Told through the lens of human emotions and experiences, the writing was lovely. It was emotionally driven for the most part but didn't feel overdone or excessive. I felt like I got to know these characters as people, fully fleshed out and clear. I'd recommend this book if you like a thought-provoking read. It will make you rethink your actions and what you can be doing to improve the world around you.

Thank you to NetGalley etc for an ARC in return for an honest review!
Pros: very easily readable, fell into the flow of the writing style from the get-go. The story is so engrossing I could visualize the people, places, and events. A story that sticks with you long after you are done reading it.
Cons: it was a bit of a slow start for me, however, going into it I thought it was more of a mystery so was expecting it to be faster-paced. This is a historical fiction book with a mystery element. There is plenty of mystery, just a bit of a slower start than I was anticipating.
All and all, I would highly recommend. On the surface, it is about the struggles of convincing and helping black people register to vote in the 60's but it goes so much deeper than this. Great read!

—Book Review—

Title: The Last House on the Street
Author: Diane Chamerlain
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
@stmartinspress
Genre: Women’s Fiction

Huge praise for Diane Chamberlain and her latest novel The Last House on the Street. This was a brave story to tell. One that I haven’t stopped thinking about since I finished and one that will stick with me for a long time. Aren’t those the best books!?

I’m a big fan of historical fiction and coming of age stories so I naturally preferred the 1965 timeline vs. 2010 one, but both come together, beautifully. A dual POV narrative is my favorite story telling.

1965 - Ellie Hockley, the daughter of the towns pharmacist, has grown up in a well-to-do neighborhood of Round Hill. She’s enrolled in college to follow in her Dad’s footsteps. She’s seriously dating a bank manager which thrills her mother who has expectations for Ellie to be a proper Southern Lady. But Ellie isn’t so sure about the future her family has chosen for her. Ellie has decided instead of her usual summer of double dates with her best friend and working at the pharmacy with her dad; she wants to volunteer with SCOPE a program that helps register Black voters.

2010 - Kayla Carter and her husband have purchased and designed a beautiful house in a new neighborhood in Round Hill. They are going to live happily ever after there with their three year old daughter, but instead Kayla’s husband dies in an accident. Then a mysterious woman warns her not to move in. Followed bye rumors that the woods and lake behind her house are haunted, threatening notes and vandalism. Kayla’s neighbor, Ellie Hockley, may be the only one who knows the answers.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 The only reason this isn’t a five star is it took a little bit for me to get into this one, but once I was into both timelines I couldn’t stop reading! I felt like I learned so much in the 1965 timeline. I had never heard of the SCOPE program before. Be sure to read the author’s note at the end of the book too. She offers more insight and some addition reading.

CW: Racism, Death, Violence, KKK

Thank you @bookfriendsbookclub for reading with us! I’m looking forward to our discussion and zoom with the author!

(Thank you for the eARC to read and review)

Well it's happened again: Chamberlain has made me an emotional wreck! And it's absolutely worth it because The Last House on the Street is a triumph and I loved every page.

The pacing is spot-on, not so fast that you felt left behind but not so slow that you felt like you could put it down (trust me, you won't be able to). The mystery element that unfurls as the story flows will keep you glued to your chair as you learn a little more with each jump into the past.

Both POV characters, Eleanor "Ellie" and Kayla, are really likable and enjoyable. Ellie feels more like the main protagonist to me though and I'm happy for it because she was my favorite. The fully revealed story will leave you aching (I'm not a reader who cries but BOY this one got me.) but the ending of the novel was perfect if bittersweet.

There's not a single thing I'd change. I'd highly recommend this novel to any reader but those who enjoy historical fiction or have an interest in the 1960s American Civil Rights movement will find even more here to love.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

A book set in the civil rights sixties - how novel! I can't quite swallow that the first death in the book is just an accident, but the resolution of the rest is terrific!

This will end up being one of my faves of 2022. It’s been compared to “Crawdads”, and while in my mind nothing could compare to “Crawdads”, this book is a strong 5 stars all on it’s own. Beautifully written, it’s alternately heartbreaking, anger-inducing and uplifting. If you’re looking for a strong historical fiction novel, this is it. This one will stick with me for a very long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

DNF @15%- This just wasn’t for me. I thought it would be more mystery than it was and I just couldn’t get drawn in to the story. I found myself not wanting to read so I stopped.

I did like the alternating timelines and POV. I know there are a lot of other readers who really enjoyed this story so I am an outlier. If you enjoy history mixed with social justice, this would be a good choice for you!

This book was really good. I really enjoyed the dual timelines, however I was far more interested in the 1965 timeline. Diane Chamberlain is such a powerful storyteller, that I don’t think she can write a bad book. Definitely give this one a read, it will keep you invested the whole way through.

I am a sucker for the "dual narratives in dual time lines that merge at the end" story. Actually if there are more than two stories, I'm fine with that too. This book has two - both set in the same small North Carolina town - one taking place during a black voter registration drive in the 1960s and one tells of a young widow trying to move on in 2010. The stories kept me guessing (some things I had figured out and some surprised me - which I also like) and I was very satisfied with the ending. Diane Chamberlain is an author I've liked before. Her writing style moves right along and she writes characters that are admirable without being perfect. I recommend this one!

I could not stop reading this! Loved the dual storylines, I tended to look forward to Ellie’s 1965 story more than Kayla's story in 2010. Longer review to come. Thank you so much to the publisher for my copy to review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the early digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

I didn't read the synopsis to this book when I requested it on NetGalley because Diane Chamberlain is easily one of my favorite authors, even though I've only read one other book by her. Big Lies in a Small Town is an all-time favorite book, so I had to pick up her newest one.

Even though this didn't leave as big of an impact on me, I'd still consider this an impactful read. You follow Ellie as a young girl in 1965, in a town chock full of racism and oppression. She signs up for a program called SCOPE where she helps the black community register to vote. This is during the time that LBJ was preparing to sign the Voting Rights Act. This was my favorite timeline in the story. It was pretty much the heart of the whole book. The other half of the novel is set in 2010. It followed Kayla, an architect and recent widow, and her daughter Rainie. She and her husband planned to move into their newly built house before he died. The residents of the neighborhood all warn her not to live there.

I think this book had so much potential, but there was something that didn’t quite click with me. It felt so much longer than it needed to be, and I didn’t think the characters were developed as well as the other book I read by Chamberlain. It, unfortunately, felt redundant in an odd way. I don’t know how to describe it. However, I still enjoyed it, and I will continue to read Chamberlain’s novels. It’s still a four-star read, and I’d recommend it to those who are interested!

There are many triggers in this book, including racism, murder, and abuse. I think you can expect all of that from a book that takes place in 1965.

Liked the dual pov and timeline but I felt bored at times. I think I expected more. Diane usually ties things in better. The aha moment here wasn’t so great.

This book is close to perfection! Diane Chamberlain’s book is well-paced, with relatable characters, and believable plot and dialogue. She is my new go-to author…if she writes it, I will read it!
1960’s civil rights unrest, the sixties in the south, and forbidden love. So much action! I kept guessing the twists, but found myself reading well into the night to see if I was correct. My only disappointment was that I had a few unanswered questions regarding the police involvement at the very end.

Diane Chamberlain can do no wrong! She is so skilled at crafting emotional narratives while incorporating times and situations in history that many don't know much about. Told in alternate times, she ties the story of Kayla and Eleanor in to each other seemlessly, while teaching her readers about American history at the same time. And always tugging on the heartstrings with characters that you truly grow to care about. I will always recommend her books to others. She is a master!

Diane Chamberlain does it again! This novel has a dual time zone & point of view that I became absolutely enthralled in. Elle and her story in the past was moving & so powerful. And present day Kayla and her efforts to piece together the mystery of her house location, brings these storylines together to create such an outstanding tale. I do wish we knew more about Kayla’s late husband, Jackson, because I’m still not entirely sure why he kept the secrets he did.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! And highly recommend grabbing it!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review!