The Last House on the Street is certainly not what I expected, and I'm probably the only one that doesn't have many good thoughts about this book. Somehow I thought that this novel would be more of a mystery/thriller, but it turned out to be a dud for me.

At the 15% mark, I had a feeling that I just wasn't going to enjoy the book as many of the other readers, but I did give it a chance and read until 35% I didn't want to continue much more after that. I liked the back story of Ellie, but somehow couldn't connect the front story of Kayla and I didn't want to keep on reading especially since I had a feeling that both stories would not connect until I was too invested to give up.

Somehow disappointed that this novel wasn't what I thought it would be.

Wow. I’m still processing this story.

This was my very first Diane Chamberlain read. I went in mostly blind- just based purely on her reputation. I’m so very impressed with her craftsmanship! Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

The Last House on the Street can fall into a few genres- which just amazed me. It was full of history, mystery, suspense, grief and romance. We are simultaneously learning about two women's stories in two different eras.

We follow Ellie’s youth (in the 60s) as she battles segregation and voting rights for African Americans, as a white teen. Her journey is inspiring and I learned so much. Not only is her story important to our past history but unfortunately still in our current climate. It was at times challenging the read as I was embarrassed people behaved in such racist ways. I also never really thought about African Americans being given the right to vote as a challenge. Of course they were fearful and of course they needed support, yet I had never heard that side of history. Ellie was drawn to help convince them to vote even though it was dangerous. She was so brave to follow this voice inside her that wanted to make the world a better place.

We also follow the current journey of Kayla. She’s tragically lost her husband and is trying to carry on. In doing so she begins to uncover secrets of her town and family. She lives next door to Ellie. Throughout the entire story we’re not sure how they’re connected as we build upon their backgrounds.

Such a creative way to tell such an important piece of history! I’m in awe of Chamberlains detail and research! This story is heavy but a worthwhile read that you’ll carry with you for quite a while.

The Last House on the Street is the second book I've read by Diane Chamberlain and both were written in a similar manner where we get two storylines in different times that intersect at one point. I've come to realize that this author does a great job of capturing another time and another generation while reeling in the reader with the emotions of the characters.

This story takes place in a small town in North Carolina in a neighborhood called Shadow Ridge Estates. It is broken down in to two times. 2010 and 1965. In 2010 we have a woman, Kayla, that has just finished building her home in this neighborhood, but she is having a lot of feelings about moving into this new house. She has a young daughter and has recently lost her husband. She is close to her dad, but Kayla is just lost in general. Odd occurrences keep taking place and she doesn't know what to make of anything. She loves the home she built with her husband, but at what cost?

The story from 1965 is about Ellie (and her family and friends, but told from Ellie's POV). She is a young white woman that wants to help the world and she is going to help by working with the civil right's movement group SCOPE, working to get the black citizens to register to vote. But there is so much fight going on in the 60's and she has a lot of negativity surrounding her, from her family and friends and even the black community itself.

It is obvious that Ms Chamberlain did her research and really was able to connect with a time and place that still is prevalent today, unfortunately. It was an emotional journey and one that I could see resonating with many readers. I have to say I was more drawn to the 1965 story and what was happening during that time with Ellie and her group more than 2010, but to get everything to come full circle and to finally get the answers was almost a relief, but also heartbreaking.

This was a book that I couldn't put down and left me thinking about it even when I wasn't reading it. It is quite powerful and hits you with all the feels. It is a remarkable book with characters that are both stunningly powerful and filled with hate. The author captured both sides and did it with an easy and ugly finesse.
The Last House on the Street won't be an easy book to read, but it's a story that was well told and using the dual timelines helped give the reader a breather and connect with new characters while learning from the past. 4.5 stars rounded up

It’s rare when a book stays with me and haunts me. I finished this book almost a week ago and it’s still marinating in my heart.

Stories like this should be told over and over lest we forget. I’m not a huge fan of books with a political agenda however, this book wasn’t like that at all. It merely educated as I had no clue SCOPE ever existed.

That aside, I think I found myself more drawn to Ellie’s story than Kayla’s. Kayla’s story was more of a sub-plot to help Ellie’s story reach the very end. I had a more emotional attachment to Ellie in this story also.

Kayla’s grief was well-written, including her not wanting to live in the house she designed with her husband. I really liked her relationship with her daughter and her dad. It was honest and open. Kayla’s intrepidations over living the new house are well-founded as she begins to receive threatening messages urging her not to move in. There’s a creepy woman who has some aggressive things to say to her also. The all over creepiness of living in a house with mostly windows and a dark forest is threaded through the book and leaves a significant chilling imprint all over Kayla’s story.

Ellie is a beautiful character from start to finish. She broke my heart over and over again and as her life is shattered, I felt like mine shattered along with her. It’s rare for me to have such a strong reaction. Her story is one of strength, power, dignity and passion. She’s a character so real and so important that I wanted to go find her so I could sit down and have a chat.

The subject matter is intense and should not be taken lightly, especially in this day and age when racism is still a hot topic. As a white woman, I felt uncomfortable and challenged and broken.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Over and over and all day long.

Kayla’s husband dies accidentally while they are building their dream house in a new development. While she is ready to move on with her daughter, others in the town would rather she would not move in. Ellie is ready to join the Civil Right Movement during the 1960’s by connecting with the SCOPE program. She is passionate and meets wonderful people in the process, yet one young man will change her life forever.
Another hard to put down novel by Diane Chamberlain. I have read most of her books and this one does not disappoint. Told in dual timelines, 1965 and 2010, she easily weaves the two stories and character’s lives together. This novel was heart breaking, emotional and important. The SCOPE program is a little known aspect of the Civil Rights Movement that more people should know about;I know it didn’t. Read this when it releases on January 11, 2021. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for am early digital copy of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. Unfortunately, I was not a fan. The book started off great but lost momentum around 50% in.

Diane never ceases to amaze me. Her research, writing and portrayal of characters is always powerful and breathtaking. She did an amazing job making connections in this book across multi- generations. I loved this book and am so grateful to have been able to read it early!

What to say about this book by Diane Chamberlain except “outstanding and not disappointed “. I have read most of Diane Chamberlain’s book, thoroughly enjoyed the twist and turns she weaves into the story. The Last House on the Street has mystery, intrigue, and emotional stress concerning racism and injustice of the time but she manages to interject periods of kindness and love in these situations. I highly recommend this latest book as the readers won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC (advanced readers copy). 2010 - Kayla and her daughter moves into the house her and husband spent seven years designing and the place that took her husband's life. Though her father, who grew up in this small town didn't like the location, he tried to keep his opinion to himself. 1965 - Ellie Hockley leaves home for the summer to work with SCOPE. This group canvassed negro neighborhoods to help them register to vote. Ellie, a white girl in North Carolina didn't know what she was risking going door to door with a negro man. What happens on this land in 1965 that Kayla's father was trying to warn her about? Man, this book his a lot of feels. The injustice of being a negro in the 60's in North Carolina. Please read it. It is going to be talked about for a while. #TheLastHouseontheStreet #DianeChamberlin #jan2022 #stmartinspress

The Civil Rights Movements from the 60's and a contemporary murder make for the setting of the newest book by Diane Chamberlain.

In 2010, Kayla is just getting ready to move into her new house. She and her husband designed it and unfortunately her husband died in it, due to a terrible accident. A strange woman comes to visit her at her work and warns her not to move in. The woman also states that she could kill someone. She spooks Kayla, but not enough to deter her.

Flashback to 1965 and we get Ellie's story. She lives in the same town, on the same street where Kayla's house gets built. She is the daughter of the town pharmacist. She has led a privileged life, but wants to spend the summer working with SCOPE - a program designed to help Black people register to vote. Her family is scandalized by the decision but Ellie proceeds anyway.

How do these two stories even tie together? Other than being in the same town, we don't get the real connection for quite a while. It was a little disconcerting to hop back and forth between these two disparate seeming stories. They do come together, though, and it creates a whopper of a tale. It's great to come full circle and see how the events from the past played out between the eras. I did really like how things came together, but it took a little too long for me. I did enjoy learning about the SCOPE program and it made me do a little research into the program. When an author creates interest outside of the novel they've succeeded in my eyes.

It's a timely topic and combines for a great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC of this book.

The Last House on the Street
by Diane Chamberlain

Kayla Carter is having a difficult time adjusting to her new home in Shadow Ridge Estates. Even though she has her precious 4 year old daughter, Rainie, and her gorgeous home at the end of the street is truly a showcase, she’s still mourning the loss of her beloved husband who tragically died from a fall during the construction. In Round Hill, North Carolina the lot that Kayla’s home is built on has a haunted past. Is there truth to the rumors?

Eleanor (Ellie) Hockey lived in Round Hill until after the summer of 1965, when she spent her time helping with the civil rights voting movement. Now she’s back in Round Hill to help her aging mother and brother. When her path crosses with Kayla Carter she’ll seek to find the unresolved past.

This is such a wonderful combination of family drama, historical fiction and mystery. The chapters alternate between the 1960’s and 2000’s, from the viewpoints of young Ellie and newly widowed Kayla. Th author does an excellent job of conveying both time periods, then melding them together as the characters lives intersect.

I really became invested on this one, it’s one that you won’t want to put down. Highly recommend! 👍🏻👍🏻

Thank you to @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for my gifted copy 🙏🏻

Put this one on your TBR - available January 11, 2022

“The Last House on the Street” by Diane Chamberlain is a poignant, moving story about prejudice, forbidden love and unresolved tragedy.

After her husband’s fatal accident, Kayla Carter is apprehensive about moving into her dream home she designed with him in the swanky new Shadow Ridge Estates in Round Hill, North Carolina. When a strange woman comes to Kayla’s office with a threatening message, Kayla fears for the safety of her daughter as well as her own. Once she moves in, she befriends Ellie Hockley, her neighbor down the road who is back from San Francisco taking care of her ailing mother and brother. While kind, Ellie is cool to Kayla and Kayla feels there’s more to Ellie’s past growing up in the town than she lets on—including a tie to Kayla’s father. As Kayla receives more dark threats to leave her new property—including an attempt at kidnapping her daughter—she begins to investigate the history of the property and of Round Hill. She soon learns the key to all of it may be Ellie, but that would mean Ellie coming face to face with a devastating past she left behind over fifty years ago.

This was told in a dual timeline between Kayla’s present-day perspective and Ellie’s perspective in 1965. The book starts slow but at about a quarter through, it becomes nearly impossible to put down. I liked the 1965 timeline best and was totally immersed in the lives of the young students setting out to make a difference through SCOPE. That timeline was educational and hard—I felt like I grew and suffered right along with Ellie. The way Chamberlain weaved the two timelines together worked well and events in the present-day were equally as jarring as those from 1965. This is a love story, suspense and tragedy all in one with insights into the prejudice and violence of the past that spans into the present with people who are unwilling to change. Ellie will inspire you and her story will leave a lasting impression on your heart. 4.5 stars

Diane Chamberlain is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint. Told in alternating timelines which seems to be the authors signature style we hear the story of Ellie and Kayla. Parts of the plot were predictable but I was surprised by several plot points as well. Overall a wonderful and engaging read!

I was expecting some sort of thriller, a scary story. I got myself a scary story for sure, but not in the way I excepted. It wasn’t boogeymen or some mysterious death in the last house on the street, but it was a murder in hands of Klan members in their sadistic meeting: murder of a black man who ended up possibly in the wrong place just to see someone who was very important to him…

The story told from perspectives of Ellie and Kayla in different times. Ellie was an idealistic girl in North Carolina wishing to get more blacks register to vote after expected ruling of LBJ. As idealistic, brilliant and hopeful she was, she was oblivious to community and times she lived in. She didn’t have that gauge that helps some of us figure out how people around us react to certain things. On the other timeline, we have Kayla, who recently lost her husband to a freak accident and now she had to move into that house where this accident happened. Like she didn’t have enough to handle, she was getting threats because of that house. As more and more threats were coming her way, she started to uncover horrible things happened on her land during hopeful days of Ellie’s youth.

This book is heavy, especially reading it now, under today’s circumstances where people who could have been Klan members if they were to live back in 60s go free for crimes that are mind boggling. So if you are triggered by today’s news, be prepared to be even more triggered and hurt.

What a beautiful, poignant and heartbreaking read! I loved how this book shifted between narrators and time periods. The setting really came alive thanks to the author's wonderfully descriptive prose. I felt drawn to both main characters and I really enjoyed how their friendship developed. The ending came together well and didn't feel rushed.

<i>The Last House on the Street</i> was a good mix of historical fiction, drama, and suspense. The story alternates between two POVs and time periods - Kayla in 2010 and Ellie in 1965.

Kayla is a recent widow, whose husband passed away in a freak accident while building their new home. Despite an ever-growing feeling of disease, Kayla moves into the home. It becomes clear that Kayla isn't the only one unsettled by her new residence. A mysterious woman threatens Kayla, warning her not to move in. Kayla receives other warning messages, each more terrifying than the last.

Ellie is a civil rights worker. She grew up well-off, privileged, white. The right to vote is about to be granted to Black Americans, so an organization called SCOPE has come to the south to help register Black voters. When Ellie hears about SCOPE, she signs on, despite significant resistance from her friends and family. I really enjoyed the historical fiction plot (or maybe not enjoyed, since much of it is painful). I have not read much (anything?) about the push to get Black Americans registered to vote. It was wonderful to read about the efforts, the connections, the freedom songs, and the humanity. It was sad to read about the resistance, the outright racism, and fear that permeated the south at this time. And in reflecting on what is happening today, this quote seemed prescient, "It's gonna take three hundred years of havin' the vote to turn this mess around."

Both Kayla and Ellie's story kept me interested and curious, despite the large differences in what was happening. They come together in a way that I (eventually) predicted, but that didn't make it less fun to read. Recommended. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars. A historical novel of social justice told in two timelines, it's also a bit of a mystery/thriller and a love story.

In 1965, Ellie Hockley joins SCOPE, and spends the summer canvassing to help blacks register to vote. Her family and the KKK are not pleased with her involvement, especially when it comes to light that she's fallen for her co-canvasser, a black man named Win. What happens next has Ellie fleeing to California. In 2010, Kayla is an architect who designed her dream home with her recently deceased husband. She keeps getting warnings to stay away from her home. The Hockley home is right down the street, and after 40 something years, Ellie is back.

"When Kayla Carter's husband dies in an accident while building their dream house, she knows she has to stay strong for their four-year-old daughter. But the trophy home in Shadow Ridge Estates, a new development in sleepy Round Hill, North Carolina, will always hold tragic memories. But when she is confronted by an odd, older woman telling her not to move in, she almost agrees. It's clear this woman has some kind of connection to the area...and a connection to Kayla herself. Kayla's elderly new neighbor, Ellie Hockley, is more welcoming, but it's clear she, too, has secrets that stretch back almost fifty years. Is Ellie on a quest to right the wrongs of the past? And does the house at the end of the street hold the key? Told in dual time periods, The Last House on the Street is a novel of shocking prejudice and violence, forbidden love, the search for justice, and the tangled vines of two families."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Last House on the Street is the story of a family in conflict, love, resilience, hatred, intolerance and racism. These themes are confluent throughout and I felt so emotional reading about Ellie, who is a crusader for civil rights. Her story takes place in North Carolina when the KKK was terrorizing her town. She felt so strongly about helping the black folks that she signed up for SCOPE (Summer Community Organization and Political Education), against her family’s advice. The story of what Ellie endured and watched her friends suffer through is completely relevant to today’s times.

This book is written with a dual timeline, the other half about Kayla, a single mom who moves into the last house on the street where some of the horrors of those times took place. It’s the same neighborhood where Ellie grew up years before.

These two women come together and try to make sense of the racial tensions of the past, while Kayla tries to understand why her beautiful, new home feels haunted, for lack of a better word.

Diane Chamberlain has made me really think about the racial divide in this country. As I write this, it is Thanksgiving Day and I’m thinking about how grateful I am to have the love of family and hoping that everyone can come together and love each other instead of hate each other simply because of the color of one’s skin. This book is a must read and deserves every one of the five stars I’ve given it.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Jan. 11, 2022
Forbidden love, racism and violence intertwine in Diane Chamberlain’s newest novel, “The Last House on the Street”. Told by two different women in two different eras, whose lives connect in more ways than even they know, Chamberlain tells a powerful and thought-provoking tale.
After the devastating loss of her husband, Jackson, Kayla and her young daughter are looking for a new start. Kayla and Jackson worked tirelessly as the architects on a house in a new development, but Kayla’s excitement has waned since losing Jackson, and she is anxious to move into the house where she was supposed to be living a happy life with her loving husband. However, Kayla and her daughter move in despite it all, in hopes of moving on. One day, an eccentric older woman confronts Kayla, threatening her home and her daughter, insisting she pack up and leave the community. Kayla begins to receive more than verbal threats and she is facing more questions than answers. Why would anyone in her new community want her gone? What secrets is her new house keeping?
Chamberlain’s story is narrated in two time periods, 1965 and 2010, by two very different women, Ellie and Kayla. Both women have struggled with immense loss and have been forced to start over, immediately connecting with the reader through their bravery and strength.
“House” covers the emotional and sensitive topic of racism in the Deep South during the 1960s, and yet manages to do it with grace and respect. As a white reader, child of the 80s, who is about as far North as you can get, I was able to experience this torrential time almost first-hand through Chamberlain’s characters.
Chamberlain connects both characters to each other well, and her story flows effortlessly. Her talent exudes throughout, as the plot perfectly ebbs and flows, drawing the reader in. When the ending came around it was unexpected yet heartbreaking, but yet it also managed to provide satisfaction and relief to the reader.
“The Last House on the Street” is reverential, unique, and in an entire genre on its own. It addresses a hot-button issue while still managing to include a forbidden love and the relationship between two families, connected by loss. Chamberlain continues to deliver with her powerful novels, and I’m always eager for the chance to read anything she writes.

The Last House on the Right 🪧
Publisher : @stmartinspress
Author : @diane.chamberlain.author
Publication : Jan 11, 2022
ARC : @netgalley

The Last House on the Right is dual timeline novel taking place in 1965 & 2010, covering the lives of two women & their families during a time of great emotion.

It’s 1965 in the south and there is an incredible amount of racial injustice. Ellie Hockley was a writer for the school paper. She wrote about the protests and how she felt compelled to stand with those who took to the streets. She often shared her ideas with her Aunt Carole, one of the only people in her life who held similar opinions & values. Ellie learns of a program that is dedicated to educating Black people on the Voting Rights Act by canvasing in uncomfortable areas and, despite many warnings, decides to throw herself into the lions den. Ellie commits to doing what’s right regardless of the risk, even if it that means being disowned by her own family.

2010, Kayla Carter & her husband are both architects and have finally designed their dream home. Shortly after, tragedy strikes the new construction and Kayla begins to question if moving into their new home is still the right choice. Kayla receives an unexpected visitor at her office who seems to know more about Kayla & her daughter Rainie than she would like. Kayla decides that regardless of what has happened, she feels like it’s only right to move in. It is then that Kayla meets her new neighbors, the Hockley’s.

What a moving & humbling story. Chamberlain does an exquisite job with the fluidity of this novel & bringing everything to a head at the end. You will not believe the truths that are exposed by the light 45 years later.