This book is written comparing 2 different decades 1965 and 2010 and how much people have changed but also can remain the same. The book was written so well that it kept me interested beginning to end. Even though there were problems in both decades in the end you see how so much have changed and with that change a lot of good came out of it. Ms. Chamberlaine told a story that everyone can learn from.

The year is 1965 and Ellie a white southern teenager wants to help the Blacks register to vote. What she doesn't see is how this selfless act impacts her friends, family and others around her. I found this story very insightful as I lived through this time but grew up in the Midwest far away from segregation (or as I thought)..
Diane Chamberlain weaves a story through the actions of Ellie in 1965 and 2010. It's a beautifully written story of the civil rights era and how it impacts the characters in 2010 and really an entire town. There are some great twists and mysteries which are all answered in the end.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this prerelease.

Diane Chamberlain transports us back so rawly to 1965. You feel the fear and hatred and passion of all the characters, and hate and fear and love equally for them.

The story is told in alternating timelines as we wait for the past and present to collide, and collide it does. The pace of the book is perfect. A quick read (because you won’t want to put it down) We get to know each of the characters and wish we could have more time with them (the good ones 😉).

I’ve long been a fan of Diane Chamberlain and her newest novel does not disappoint. What does disappoint, however, is that some of the freedoms people fought for in 1965 are still being fought for today.

This book tells the story of small towns of the 60's in the south during civil rights, issues of the heart and hurtful secrets. Diane takes us back and forth between the mid 60's to today. With the struggle of one to help with the racial injustice while her family and friends turn away and today how a new widower causes the past to jump back but with the truth. There is murder, lies, mistrust and resolution. Highly recommend reading this and any of Diane Chamberlain's books.

2010-After losing her husband, in a tragic accident while building their dream home, Architect Kayla Carter is struggling to stay strong for their daughter. The house is the first to be finished in the newly developed Shadow Ridge Estates in the city of Round Hill. Despite multiple warnings about the woods and lake behind the property, Kayla decides to move in but begins to regret her decision when the she is targeted by someone threatening her family’s safety.
1965-Ellie Hockley was raised in Round Hill, North Carolina to be a proper Sothern lady. Ellie's life drastically changes when she decides to volunteer for a program called SCOPE, helping to register black voters. Ellie's eyes are opened to the injustices within her community as well as the dangers of the racist and bigoted individuals she once called family and friends.

The Last House on the Street is another fantastic historical-based mystery novel by author Diane Chamberlain. This novel transitions between two different women, from two different timelines, whose paths are destined to cross. Ellie's story is set in 1965 where a young white woman decides to fight for civil rights and finds herself a pariah in the town she once called home. As her dedication to the SCOPE program continues she soon discovers how dangerous fighting for her beliefs can be. Kayla's story intersects Ellie's forty-five-years later when she moves into a new development at the end of Hockley lane. Kayla's husband suffered a tragic accident while building their dream home and she has reservations about moving in. She soon discovers that she isn't welcome by some of the townsfolk and they have secrets they want to keep hidden...whatever the cost. This is another beautifully written, yet tragic tale, which I have read by this author. She continues to pull me in with her tales of racial injustice where history and present day come together in an unexpected way. A must read!

Diane Chamberlain is a must read author for me and The Last House on the Street did not disappoint. This book has an alternating timeline between 2010 and 1965 and it tells the stories of two females that eventually intertwine. Kayla is a woman living in 2010 who recently lost her husband and is moving into their previously built home that has a history she is not aware of. Ellie is a college student in 1965 who is just becoming involved with SCOPE and voting rights for Black citizens. I loved the historical side of this novel and how it weaved into the current times of 2010. This was a great read with a very relevant message about Black voting rights and civil rights.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This was my first Diane Chamberlain book and I loved her writing. This really was 4 1/2 stars for me, and only not 5 stars because the beginning was a little slow. Once I got past the first 20% of the book, it was really hard to put down. The storyline goes back and forth in time between the 1960's and 2010 and it's sad and disturbing to read about the racism and the KKK in North Carolina in the 1960's. The main characters are Kayla and Ellie who are very likable and easy to root for. As the book goes on, you learn how their lives are connected. Ellie is the main character in the 1960's and Kayla is the main character in 2010. Their storylines are both tragic and heartwarming in different ways. Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book and will now look to read Diane Chamberlain's other books.

Really enjoyed this book. Good character development. Enjoyed reading about a bit of history about racial injustice. The mystery was intriguing, but predictable, although t in a bad way. Thank you NetGalley for the pre-release copy of this book. It should be a hit.

Diane Chamberlain weaves yet another fabulous book with a well developed plot that switches back and forth between two time periods that holds the reader on the edge of the seat! DC has a knack for twisting and turning and weaving a complex storyline that leaves the reader well satisfied because you don’t see the final twist coming and it catches you by surprise! DC is one of my favorite authors because each of her books is unique and very well thought out and well written… this one was filled with mystery, and intrigue and kept you guessing right up until the very end. Highly enjoyable, and a real page turner!
Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my review.

3.75 voting rights stars (rounded up for the SCOPE project)

This one features a dual storyline, one from 1965 and one from present day. I really enjoyed the earlier storyline, more than the modern storyline. Ellie is our main character, and she is a young college -aged woman in North Carolina. I loved learning more about the summer project she signed up for – The Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) Project. White college students were recruited to help register voters prior to President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965. This story seems especially timely since the Supreme Court recently ruled to gut most of this act.

While Ellie was passionate about this volunteer work, her family and friends were against it and tried every possible way to get her back home. I loved reading about this important community activity. I didn’t love the attitudes of many people about the work and goals of the project and the racism. In fact, many of the volunteers were threatened and violence was not uncommon.

The modern-day story features Kayla, an architect who recently lost her husband. She is getting ready to move in to her recently completed home with her small daughter. The house is the last one on the street and surrounded by woods. It now feels like there are too many trees to Kayla and it is especially difficult because her husband died in an accident at the house. There is a mystery surrounding the woods.

The two stories eventually intersect, and we ultimately learn what happened with Ellie and that summer she worked on the voting rights project and why she fled North Carolina 45 years ago. Overall, I liked this book and the writing was quite good, but I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I did with some earlier Diane Chamberlain books.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain.

Gosh I adore Diane Chamberlain. If you haven't tried any of her stuff, I highly recommend it. She's excellent with historical fiction, and I love how much care and research she puts in her work.

Kayla and her four year old daughter have just moved into the their dream house in a quiet new development. But the situation is far from dreamy, because her beloved husband died while building it. Now gripped with grief and leaning on her dad for support, Kayla has to figure out how to move forward as a single working mom.

But grief turns into utter confusion when a woman comes into her place of work, full of warning and hostility about her new home. Kayla is so rattled that she calls the police, feeling threatened and scared. Why would someone feel so strongly about the location of her new home? She is new to the area, she knows nothing about this town. But she will soon learn more about Round Hill, North Carolina, and how close it's secrets hit her family.

As I've said, so well researched, so sweet, so tragic, so gripping. Chamberlain hooks me always with the very first page. I love the characters and the backdrop. I always learn a lot about a targeted moment in our history. Very good.

I received a free e-arc copy through Netgalley.
This book follows two timelines: Ellie as a young woman growing up in the south where the KKK meets locally and in current times after Kayla's husband has died in a freak accident in the new house they are building. Diane Chamberlain as an author often hits some hard topics, but this one was a bit anxiety-provoking for me to finish because I knew that something bad was going to happen and I was right. A stomach twister of a book with the horror of thinking that these kinds of things can still occur in our racist society.

Diane Chamberlain's latest novel features a dual story line in two different time periods. The first story takes place in 2010 where a young widow is just about to move into her dream home when she gets several warnings not to move in. The second storyline takes place in 1965 in the same town as young college student Ellie joins the Civil Rights Movement to help get Black people registered to vote. Just how these two stories intersect, even fifty years after tragedy proves just how talented an author Diane Chamberlain is. This novel will pull you in almost immediately, even as you read about a very dark period of US history.

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

2010 What had been an exciting chapter in their lives changes into a sad step forward for Kayla Carter when her husband dies while building their dream house in Shadow Ridge Estates, Round Hill, North Carolina. Now Kayla and her four year old daughter are moving into the huge, finished home and Kayla feels dread and sadness rather than the excitement she would have felt if her husband was still alive. What had seemed like a happy place before, now seems closed in by the surrounding woods, too big, too full of memories, even though the place hasn't been lived in yet.

1965 The same location and Ellie is a young college student, ready to tackle the social ills of the time. The SCOPE project needs white volunteers to live with black families to help prepare them and their neighborhoods to get out and vote. Everyone in Ellie's family and community is against Ellie volunteering for this project but Ellie is not to be deterred despite being admonished that her joining the project is destroying her family, the family business, and the community. Ellie follows her heart when doing do isn't allowed and she and those dear to her pay the price.

It's hard when a dual timeline story has a timeline that is much more appealing than the other timeline. I preferred the 1965 timeline to the 2010 timeline and felt jarred whenever we were taken to 2010. Meeting Ellie and other characters from 1965, in 2010, feels anticlimactic and lessens the tension of the events of 1965. What happens in 1965 is heartbreaking so maybe it's best that the later timeline allows me to stand back from the 1965 events, but that earlier timeline is the one that captured my heart. I do love how Chamberlain has taught me so much about past events that I wasn't aware of, in this book, and other books I've read by her.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

The Last House on the Street sounds like a murder mystery-and it is-just not the one you were expecting. Although much of the story takes place over fifty years ago, its theme is still relevant (maybe even more so) a half century later. What happened at The Last House on the Street is revealed slowly-you know something terrible occurred in the woods where contemporary McMansions are now being built, but the reality is much worse than anything you imagine. The story is engrossing and very emotional, but what resonates most is the passion Diane Chamberlain bestows on her characters, and their strength in the face of unrelenting bigotry. It is shocking events like those depicted in The Last House on the Street actually happened, but what is even sadder is how little things have changed, even though we want to believe they have. Much of The Last House on the Street centers on the civil rights movement of the 1960's-specifically getting The Voting Rights Bill passed. Although President Johnson signed the bill in 1965, decades later we're still embroiled in the same fight. Miss Chamberlain deserves much praise for not sugar coating what life was like for African Americans living in the deep south. You can't read The Last House on the Street and not feel enraged at the hatred people had for others just because they had a different skin color. The Last House on the Street is a timely and deeply moving novel that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.

I found this book to be immensely well written and I thought it did a good job of providing a complex, layered, civil rights story that adequately relates the drama and feeling of the time period. I really felt that this story really needed a more firm tie in from the past to the present. I felt that the relationship with Ellie and the Kayla just seemed to be forced and just off in portrayal. I think some of their interactions were just off and did not make sense to the story. I felt that they actually drew away from the story. It became pretty obvious what had happened toward the end and I was not satisfied with there being no resolution that made any kind of reparation in the end when the story was based on civil rights and what grew between Ellie and her partner in the movement. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

In 1965, Ellie Hockley is growing up in the town of Round Hill in North Carolina. Ellie has graduated high school and enrolled in college. Her future seems to be well planned and predictable. During her summer break, Ellie becomes involved in volunteer work to help black voters to get registered. As Ellie follows her ideals and becomes a civil rights advocate, a chain of events driven by prejudice and racism starts that could end in disaster for Ellie.

Fast forward 45 years to 2010. Kayla Carter and her husband are building a beautiful new home in an exclusive neighborhood in Round Hill, North Carolina. They plan to raise their young daughter, Rainie, in this perfect dream home. Then tragedy strikes, and Kayla’s husband dies in a freak accident. Kayla and Rainie move into the house only to find that the woods behind the property are rumored to be haunted. And her next door neighbor, Ellie, has secrets about the tragic events that occurred on Kayla’s property in the distant past.

Diane Chamberlain has created a masterful piece of work with THE LAST HOUSE ON THE STREET. I was immediately emotionally drawn into this wonderful, but sometimes gut wrenching, story about the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. The writing was superb and it felt very real, so much so that you may shed a few tears along the way (I certainly did). This is my favorite Diane Chamberlain book so far, each of her books seem to be better than the previous one. I would highly recommend this great historical fiction novel and it deserves all of the stars!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ark! I was beyond excited to receive approval for this book is Diane Chamberlain is one of my favorite authors. This book seems like a difficult one to pin a star rating on but if I had to I would give it four stars. I enjoyed the timeline between the present in the past, and particularly loved the 1960s time frame. Diane Chamberlain rights so eloquently and beautifully it is hard to put any of her books down. While this was not my favorite by her, I still really enjoyed it, and learned a lot about the SCOPE Program, which I knew nothing about. This is definitely a great book to read if you are interested in Civil Rights history.

Gripping story by Diane Chamberlain - couldn't put this one down. Told in duel timelines, the story of two women, one in the 1950's and one in 2010, who are connected in ways neither could have imagined. Diane Chamberlain brings us back to a dark time in our country's history with the story of Ellie, who spends a summer fighting for civil rights, much to the dismay of her family and friends. Fast forward to 2010, when Kayla must figure out the mystery surrounding her new home and the secrets that her town has held onto for years. Excellent story, vividly written - doesn't get better than this! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy.

What a story! What a book! A race relations book that is a mystery and page turner written in dual timelines. I was up almost all night finishing and I was totally blown away. The storyline about the civil rights group takes place in 1965. That is shocking. In 1965 I was in grade school in a well off university town. I don’t think I ever really knew how racist it was in North Carolina. And today in the US it is still horrifyingly filled with bigots. A great book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read this. Opinions are my own