I love all of Diane Chamberlain's recent books and this one was no exception! She has a way of developing characters that you greatly care about and that you remember afterward. This story is told from the view point of two of the characters in the story. The story goes back and forth between two time periods and characters; 1965 and the civil rights struggle and the other is from the view point of a newly widowed mother in 2010. The stories blend together seamlessly as we find out how the characters' stories are related. There is also a mystery that keeps one guessing. The back and forth chapters of the two time periods always end at a place that makes you want to keep reading until you get back to where the last time period section left off. This book kept me engaged throughout and looking forward to Ms. Chamberlain's next novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for an ARC of this novel.

This is an excellent book. It has a very well developed plot , relatable characters, an insight in the struggle for voters right in the south in the 60’s with a touch of mystery thrown in. I highly recommend it to everyone.

This book was gripping. I was sucked in and could not put it down! The concept was so unique, I loved this book.

Another timely story by Diane Chamberlain.

As always, the writing is spot-on for the era and for the characters. I felt the story flowed well and the dual timelines worked well. The characters were well-developed, and I thought their individual voices came through.

A novel of shocking prejudice and violence, forbidden love, the search for justice, and the tangled vines of two families.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

In 2010, Kayla, along with her daughter, has just moved into a new house that she and her husband designed, but her husband was killed in an accident during the construction of the house. This already has her wondering if moving into the house was the right move, then a strange lady threatens her and tells her she shouldn’t live there. Then we get the story of Ellie back in 1965 as she volunteered with a movement to help black people register to vote which was not at all well received by her friends and family in North Carolina. Kayla’s new house is on the same street where Ellie’s family home is.

This was definitely a general fiction or women’s fiction novel, not a mystery, in my opinion. There are reveals at the end but we don’t even know what the mystery is until shortly before it is solved. This is a timely novel and it is interesting and informative about voting rights in the south in the 60’s and the attitudes of white people at that time. Though outside of my usual genre and a bit slow to develop for me, it is a really well written book. I thought I remembered a little more mystery in previous Diane Chamberlain novels but I could envision myself reading more from her in the future.

I wouldn’t classify this as a thriller or page turner but I really liked Ellie’s storyline and felt her backstory gave an interesting perspective of the Civil Rights era. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this story. The dual timelines spanning 45 years as well as dual protagonists kept me turning the pages to find out how one relates to the other. I was hooked from the first chapter. Like any book set in the American South in the 60s, this book will make you angry and break your heart. There are plenty of characters to hate in this book, but there are also plenty to love. I would have liked to have seen a slightly different ending, but overall it was a great read. Huge thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for giving me a sneak peak, and special thanks for Diane Chamberlain for being such a master storyteller.

There are parts of history you think you know until you read a book like this. The message is historically powerful with an unexpected ending.

Ellie was enrolled in the UNC in Pharmacology in 1965. She decided to apply for a special summer program that helped Blacks in the south to become comfortable with voting. The program recruited workers from the North and West universities but Ellie decided as a southern girl, she could fit in well with her interest in helping Blacks with the Voting Rights Act that President Johnson was trying to pass. She talked to the leaders and with her submitted forms, she got accepted.

However, she would be going from a lily white area into a place of great poverty farm lands where Black folks lived and if she returned, she would no longer be welcome in her community. It would not only be bad for her but also for her family who strongly opposed this program.

Ellie was determined to join this civil rights group and she bravely left in spite of her parents objections. She said, "During my week in Atlanta, I think I went through a sort of metamorphosis." It was certainly a wake-up call for Ellie who came from a "little white vacuum." She was now living in poor conditions in houses owned by share croppers. Instead of bathrooms with tissues, she was now using an outhouse with hay and corncobs.

The book has another timetable with Kayla in 2010 which weaves in a story from the future into the 1965 past with Ellie. She moved into her dream house that was previously used as a burial ground for the KKK. Kayla's father was Ellie's boyfriend from 1965 that she dumped for a Black student of the program. You can imagine how that went.

Diane Chamberlain is a master with character development and making you feel that you are there with the civil rights workers desperately trying to help people without being knocked down. I had no idea that in 1965, there were 10,000 white supremacist in North Carolina. She did an incredible amount of research to write this.

While I knew I was reading what happened almost 50 years ago, I didn't realize how much the history impacts so heavily on the current state of affairs. This book is highly recommended for a historical story that allows us to understand more about our country and where we are now.

My thanks to Diane Chamberlain, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with an expected released date of January 11, 2022.

This was one of those dual-timeline novels where I was more invested in one storyline than the other. A decent read.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Last House on the Street is one of those books that makes you think. This book has a dual timeline first set in 2010 but the story really begins in 1965. Two young architects design their dream home. But after an accident, the widow and her daughter must move into the house on their own. Set in North Carolina the reader sees prejudices and bigotry and evil make people do things that are unfathomable. Even though this is fiction the story is so real the reader may be physically ill while reading this book. The Last House on the Street gives the reader a glimpse into the lengths that some will go to scare others away. This book definitely deserves at least 10 stars.

I generally don't care for books that go back and forth between characters but I didn't mind with this one. This was a very emotional read for several different reasons but again I didn't mind. You will feel for both Ellie and Kayla. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was never quite sure which path it was taking and it was wrapped up nicely at the end. I do not want to risk spoiling anything so I will not go into detail. I would highly recommend this book, I had a hard time putting it down.

Loved this book! The storyline is awesome!

It's a dual timeline story:
1965 -- Ellie is from a North Carolina town, steeped in tradition and secrets. Instead of working in her father's pharmacy for the summer, she joins a civil rights movement that is traveling around her county registering black community members to vote. She is discovering new prejudices and another way of life.

2010 -- Kayla and her daughter are moving into their new home - designed by Kayla and her husband, who was killed in an accident while working on their dream home. She is approached by a mysterious woman about the secrets in town and how she shouldn't be moving onto her new property.

How the two stories tie together is so cleverly crafted and the story so interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

I thought the book was okay. The modern time line with Kayla ,her daughter, the new house and the wooded area was tedious at times. The incidents that occurred in and around the house were dull. The story of SCOPE , Ellie and Win and a small white town experiencing the civil rights movement in the 1960’s was more engaging. People are often not whom we think they are and this book showed that. This book dealt with forbidden love, prejudice, secrets, and injustice.

I'm a fan of Diane Chamberlain and this book did not disappoint. I felt it was a little difficult to get into at first, but soon found it highly entertaining. I learned a lot about the time period and enjoyed the plot twists.

Diane Chamberlain has been one of my favorite authors for some time now. But that doesn't mean that I don't read her books with a critical eye as I do everything else that I choose to spend my time reading. Honestly, this latest title by Chamberlain may very well be her best. There is still the familiar concept of dual timelines that her readers adore. But this time she had tackled a very timely issue of race relations and how people of color relate to white people and vice versa in 1965 and in 2010. The 1965 story of civil rights workers in the south will be eye-opening to many, it was to me. The concept of racism being an ugly, hidden, quality is something that should be written about more. I adored this book and it even has the bit of mystery that Chamberlain is so good at it. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy. I cannot wait to hear all the splash when this title hits the shelves!

1965. Ellie, a Southern girl, works to get black people registered to vote. She and a young black man, Win, fall in love. They are parted by her town and she leaves for 45 years.
2010 Kayla, a young widow, moves into the dream house she and her husband designed. A woman shows up and tells her not too. Odd things start happening.
Ellie has returned to help with her sick brother and mother. She and Kayla are thrown together to find out the answers to current and a 45 year old mystery.
Secrets from a town you thought you knew, friends and family can be the most devastating.
Diane has once again written a " can't stop reading it" book. It had me up all night.
Thank you NetGalley!

In the past I have really enjoyed books by this author but unfortunately, this one was a little bit slow for me. I kept hoping that it would captivate me more.

The premise of the story was interesting as Kayla and Ellie's lives intertwine but the reader has to keep reading to figure out how they come together.

The story is difficult to read as it involves the racial injustice that took place in the past and still rings true today.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

In many of her books, Diane Chamberlain does a really good job of bringing a difficult bit of history to light. In this book, she tackles Civil Rights and the fight back in the 60's to help make it easier to for black people to register to vote. It's a very timely story given many of the issues that we have seen in the news in 2020-2021, unfortunately, these issues have been going on for a very long time in one form or another.

This book has a dual narrative - one that takes place in 2010, and one that takes place back in the 60's. At first it's really unclear how these two narratives have anything to do with each other, but as the story progresses, that becomes clear. The character development of the central characters was really well done.

I felt like Ellie was extraordinarily naive given the place and time that she grew up, so some of the things that she did were pretty shocking because one would think she would have understood the cultural consequences of the time. For someone who wasn't raised in that place and time (i.e. this reader), the story does help make some of the history more real (and definitely painful)

This is a well-written book, fast-paced and hard to put down. Some of the things that were brought up at the end I expected, but there was a little twist that certainly did not expect.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #DianeChamberlain for the free Advanced Digital Copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions related to this book are purely my own.

Another great read from one of my all time favorite authors. Everyone reading this review...read all of Diane Chamberlains books! I finished this one and immediately picked up Pretending to Dance. Back to back Diane Chamberlain made for an outstanding weekend. No two books of hers are the same but they are all great reads that stay with you. The Last House on the Street was a beautifully written story about social injustice expressed in a thoughtful manner through complex characters with ever more complex relationships plus a love story that brought me to tears. Thank you Diane Chamberlain, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!