I enjoyed this book, but wish it had been a little bit more, gone a little farther, that it did. There are two timelines, present day and early 1960s, and issues of race, class, and social mores abound. At least for one timeline. The present day is more about loss and luck, I guess.

While I liked most of the characters (and REALLY didn't like others), they felt a little one dimensional. The story also seemed to go nowhere really. The writing style was enjoyable, as is usual for Ms. Chamberlain, but this didn't grab me and fully draw me in.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“It’s not your battle.”

Ellie knew the risks. She forged her parents’ signature on the form that advised she could be injured or even killed. Nothing would stop her from doing what she knew was right–her aunt’s example inspired her–and that meant she would spend her summer with SCOPE, the Summer Community Organization and Political Education project. Northern white college students would come to the south and work with black locals to lead voter registration drives. Ellie would be the only Southern, local person in the project.

She was convinced that her home in North Carolina did not share the violent racism of the ‘deep South’ that ended the lives of three Freedom Riders in Mississippi. She could not believe that her family were hateful racists, although her parents insisted she would not participate. Even when her mother said, “This is the way God made the world. Most Negroes know their place.” Ellie had seen her mother’s attachment to their maid, her pharmacist father help the black community. Her Aunt Carol had taught her the importance of acting on your convictions.

Ellie fought to join SCORE, and over the summer she bonded with the other volunteers, discovered love, and encountered the violent racism that lurked just under the surface. Afterward, she left for California, and never returned.

Until her brother, the one person she knew was guiltless, was ill and needed her.

The family home had once been the only house on the street, encompassed by a dark woods. Now, a new housing division was being built. The first house built is home to Kayla, a young widow with a child, her architect husband having died in an accident on the building site. Kayla is the daughter of Reed, Ellie’s high school sweetheart. A man she suspects was involved with the Klan activity that upended her world during the SCOPE summer. Kayla is disturbed by a series of encounters and threats, even the disappearance of her child. Someone is trying to drive her away from her home.

What is eventually revealed is chilling, horrifying.

Diane Chamberlain’s new novel will hook readers and take them into a dark journey into the soul of American hate, past and present. It is a disturbing story, and a true representation of American racism.

The love story came about quickly, and the plot becomes a bit melodramatic for my tastes. Still, most readers will be immersed in this story that encompasses a mystery, history, love, and an unforgettable climax scene.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain was such an enthralling read. This historical fiction novel drew me in to the last page. The characters were well developed and went through many trials and emotions that my heat ached for them. The dual timeline aspect was so great. I really enjoy books with that feature. A must read.!

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

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this novel.
"The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner wrote this and never has a quote been more apt for a book. The past is alive and feeding on the future in Diane Chamberlain's The Last House on the Street, a timely book that speaks about what America is still wrestling with, no matter what people say.

The story takes place in two different time periods. The North Carolina of 1965, and of today. In the past we meet Ellie Hockley, raised as a proper Southern lady, has dreams and ideas that might be bigger than what her family wants for her. And a better sense of what is right and wrong. Years later we meet Kayla Carter, a young architect who with her husband moves and designs her dream home for them both and their child. Her husband dies in an accident, rumors of haunted woods and strange messages start appearing and her neighbor Ellie Hockley, might know more about what is happening then she is telling.

The time-shifts are very well written with clear perspectives and narrative voice that makes both characters come alive and original. There is a grimness to the story, which grows as the book goes on, and the ending might not be what everyone expects, but is sadly true to life. This is a powerful piece of fiction with an important story to tell and to understand.

Ms. Chamberlain is a very good writer, and has a very diverse oeuvre. This one might be among her best. A complicated tale of love, loss race, and doing what is right, no matter what the consequences.

North Carolina author Diane Chamberlain wraps a mystery in historical fiction as she interweaves the stories of two women, Kayla Carter and Ellie Hockley, in her latest novel The Last House on the Street, hitting shelves on January 11, 2022.

Kayla is hesitating about moving into the house she and her husband designed in Shadow Ridge Estates in Round Hill, North Carolina, because he died in an accident during the construction of the home. Adding to her concern is a visit to her workplace by a strange woman who warns Kayla that she is “Thinking about killing someone.”

Down the road from Shadow Ridge, Ellie returns to her family home after decades of estrangement from her mother and brother. She fled to California in 1965 after her experience in a project to register black voters in the South led to harm for herself and others as well as opposition from her parents, her brother, her best friend, and her boyfriend.

In a small-world moment, Kayla learns that her father Reed had once been Ellie’s boyfriend. Ellie downplays that relationship as she seems to hold a grudge against Reed. What really happened to Ellie during her voter registration experience? How might Reed have been involved in Klan activity in 1965? Does the last house on the street hold the answers? A startling climax will be the impetus for some devastating revelations as well as some heartfelt healing.

Diane Chamberlain has created an intriguing story about two women who are dealing with major transitions in their lives. With a master’s degree in clinical social work from San Diego State University, Chamberlain was a hospital social worker and a psychotherapist in private practice before she turned to a writing career. Last House is her 30th novel.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting October 22, 2021.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Chamberlain never lets me down, and this novel didn’t disappoint. I definitely preferred the storyline set in the past, but both were pretty well done.

Wow. Not me ugly crying over this story. What a wonderful depiction of past and present lives intertwined in tragedy and triumph. Beautiful love and heartbreaking loss wrapped up all together in a emotional ride through the times. Diane Chamberlain is amazing.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

I'm torn with how to describe my thoughts on this book. While my overall perspective is that it was good, the storyline was painful, awful and heartbreaking. I couldn't put it down, so I guess that means it was good!

I always devour this authors books and this one was no exception. This novel is so deep and complex. The socail commentary is well written and this is a complex character driven story. Unputdownable!! Justice, faith, family and hope,,it has it all!!! I really enjoyed reading about Ellie and Kayla.great book!!!!

3.5 stars - This book started out only so-so for me. It didn’t pick up until 30-40% of the way through. It was interesting, but also a heavy, frustrating read. It was heartbreaking, both because of what happens to the main characters, but also because it doesn’t feel like there’s any justice in the end. It’s hard to believe these kind events occurred regularly only a few decades ago, but it’s important to remember. It’s hard to say I enjoyed the book, because of the heavy content, but for the most part it was immersive and well written.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

Engaging, enlisting, enlightening! The author does a great job connecting the past and the present - very engrossing read. You will want to continue reading and it will be hard to put down to take a break.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was sent this ARC by NetGalley for my honest opinion. Diane Chamberlain did it again, I was enthralled with this story from beginning to end. I really enjoy when authors write in the dual timeline, one was in the 1960’s & the other in 2010. Ellie is a young lady fighting for racial equality in the 60’s & Kayla unknowingly becomes intertwined with that life in 2010. I highly recommend this book.

Love Diane Chamberlain and this book did not disappoint!  It covers a very hard topic but the way it is told you fall in love with some of the characters and feel the emotions of them all.  Told in alternating timelines of the past and present and you realize how far we've come and how far we have to go.  This is a story that will stick with you for a long time and I enjoyed reading it and actually learned a lot from it, as I was not familiar with the Scope project.
Expected publication date January 11, 2022 so put it on your To be Read list now!  Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this advanced copy.

At first I was confused by the dual timelines. We go back to 1965 when segregation and civil rights were in full swing and then to 2010 - present day. It took some time to find the connection to the two time frames but they finally came together to make the book flow. It is a mystery laced with family drama.

Mesmerizing, poignant, brutal, and tragic, this story veers wildly from modern day to the civil rights era and rips your heart right out in the process. It was just enough mystery to not be an easily solved tale, and fully fleshed out the characters in both timelines. Great read!

Diane Chamberlain is an auto read author for me, but after her last book and now this one I think I need to reconsider.

While this was good - I didn't find it memorable or impactful. With the civil rights era story line you expect it to be really impactful, but it just felt sort of meh to me.

A masterfully written story! This book was told in two timelines, one in 1965 and the other in 2010. . In 2010, Kayla Carter and her daughter end up moving into the dream home that she built with her late husband. Then we go back to 1965 where we meet Ellie Hockley. Ellie is a young college girl who volunteers to help black voters register. Ellie's family does not like or support what she is doing.

Someone, for some reason, is trying to scare her from the property that is rumored to be haunted. Past secrets hidden in the woods and two stories that come together with a hunting conclusion.

THE CREEPY. THE SPOOKY. THE SCARY. I loved it. This was great and atmospheric and got into my head. I really loved getting this as an ARC and I'm so happy I loved it! It was highly anticipated!

I was invited to read this title prior to the release on 1/11/2022 by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I read one of Chamberlain's previous books, Big Lies in a Small Town, which I really loved and had it as one of my favorite books from the year it published. Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about The Last House in the Street. I'm not certain as to when the writer started this project, but due to real life events from 2020, I feel that events described in this book could be potentially triggering for readers.

Kayla is a young widowed mother, who is about to move into the house she designed with her fellow architect husband Jackson, who died in a freak accident while building the home which was built on land with a troubled history. She is warned not to move in with her young daughter, by a woman wearing a wig and sunglasses that hide her eyes. Then we get the point of view from Ellie Hockley who lived in the house down the street in 1965. Ellie was a good girl, working on getting her pharmacology degree at UNC when she decides to get involved with civil rights work, helping "Negro" folks register to vote. It was very courageous of her, in that time to go against her family and do what she thought was right. Until she gets involved with a boy that she wasn't supposed to- in North Carolina 1965, before the Voting Rights Act was signed by the President, where the Klan had an active hold over the privileged white folks. Ellie's infatuation and secret relationship with Winston was dangerous for him, and if she hadn't been warned in other ways, I would say she was naive and sheltered about how the future might look. Voting rights is still very much a pivotal issue in 2021/2022, with gerrymandering and voter suppression happening in Southern states. So while the reader can appreciate what civil rights workers did in the 60s, it feels like we should be further along than we are now. With all the cases of Black women and men killed by police and civilians for existing while Black, the conclusion was very difficult to read, not because it is surprising but because people are hurting from these more recent murders. I definitely feel that these stories need to be written but I question the way it was written or the timing. It may be extremely triggering for a reader.

In addition, the character development was very uneven. Kayla wasn't written with very much character development at all, whereas Ellie's past showed her character very well. I also felt like she shared some responsibility with what happened to the young man. It wasn't so much a huge mystery of who was harassing Kayla and her daughter, or what happened or who was responsible. It was a tragic story with a slightly bittersweet ending- which was a bit abrupt. Did the woman who harassed Kayla and briefly kidnapped her daughter get arrested? Were there consequences to her actions? I was almost going to rate this book 4 stars, but it really felt like a 3- 3.5 ☆ at most.
TW for racist language and violence.

What we see often is only a fractional part of what really is.

Deception comes in all sizes. Some from the little lies we tell ourselves to make us feel like we're standing on more solid surfaces. Some lies erupt after being marinated over decades and passed on from generation to generation. These are the ones that sink beneath the surface and decay holier ground.

Diane Chamberlain presents a split storyline that pivots from 1965 and lands on happenings in 2010. It settles itself near Greenville, North Carolina with a base located in the small community of Round Hill. Believe me. Prepare yourself to be tussled in both directions.

In more present days, Kayla Carter is a successful architect who is bogged down under the weight of moving into her dream house in Round Hill. She and her husband, Jackson, designed and carried out the plans to the nth degree on this jaw-dropping property. But Jackson won't be guiding the moving van in front of this luxurious piece of real estate. Jackson died in a freak accident on the top floor. Kayla is torn as to the rationale for still residing in that house with its sad memory. But she justifies it with the hard work put into it by Jackson himself. She and her three year old daughter, Rainie, eventually move in with the support of her father, Reed.

Chamberlain adds a thread of mystery when a red-haired woman with reflective sunglasses visits Kayla at her office. Ann Smith seems to threaten Kayla if she intends on residing in that house. But within moments, this strange woman flits out of the office leaving Kayla with more questions than answers.

We now take a step back in time to 1965 during the Civil Rights Movement. We have the honorable Freedom Riders and those who worked diligently to secure the voting rights of the Black community in the deep South. There were an array of individuals who came from the North with a multitude of intentions varying from strong intent to mild curiosity. Some made successful inroads while others merely disrupted and endangered the lives of these families who opened their homes to them. It's still a heavy moment of deep reflection.

And here is where we are introduced to Ellie Hockley, a student attending the University of North Carolina. Ellie has a strong desire to become part of the SCOPE Project working in the Black community. But Ellie's naivete will draw the walls in closer and eventually bring the house down. Ellie will become the bridge between those two time periods in this novel.

The Last House on the Street had a remarkable opportunity to stick with the 1965 storyline. The 2010 thread added present day tension and mystery and served as a connecting point. Although a fictional work, this novel had a thunderous avenue to gear readers into the lead up to the Voting Rights Act that LBJ insisted on treading water for far too long. Through the characters of Ellie and Win and the community at large, we would have had a vehicle of more profound understanding. But it's still a top-shelf, eye-opening read.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to the talented Diane Chamberlain for the opportunity.