Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

What a fantastic read. I thought it was a little slow at the beginning but it was a page turn about the middle of the book. The twists and turns just made it a remarkably great read.

Thank you net galley for this great opportunity to read this book.

Great job Kaira

Wow! On the edge tense thriller full of suspense and a few hours of loss sleep in reading! Absolutely a page turner must read!

How's this as a sneak peak on how exciting this book is: Downloaded September 15, completed December 20th. Yes, it was that bad.
Here is a snippet: I'm embarrassed by the number of times in the past that I've offered to give Jess a tune-up. I even pressed Roger to let me fix her big forehead when she was a toddler....Sure, she's plain and flat chested...let's just say if sh had a brow lift it would make the world of difference." Yes this a mother speaking about her child.
Throughout the book you have to deal with sentences like " If people don't pick up when I call them, it's their loss. " How arrogant this character was..you get SO many statements like that "I'm Ruch and smart and I host great parties at my huge house." It was SO childish, all of the characters were SO shallow. I mean this not only was a terrible story (Like why is it a thriller? It was just a family drama with some thriller aspects the last 15 pages...
So the premise of the book is Sandi and Doug (a pastor of a Christian mega church--I will go ahead and say the way the author handled Christians/Jews was really bad) move out of their house leaving behind their weird kid Tom (?) Tom refuses to leave the house and Jess and Julie move in. Jess is the teenage daughter and sort of gives Tom some attention and he automatically assumes she is obsessed with him.
Either way Jess is furious her mom moved her out into the new house away from her lavish lifestyle with her dad who is SUCH a jerk (apparently he was never home....even on Christmas Day)
So lots of anger there.
Lots of flashbacks to give insight into how terrible of people the characters really are. Seriously. You will not like one single one of them.
Sandi and Doug move to a new home with their two other children, because Doug was forced to resign from his position. Typical bad portrayal of a Christian, a hypocrite. That irked me.
So all this plotting to get Tom to move out of the old house, while he is plotting something sinister, while Roger is trying to force Julie back to his home, Jess being angry she isn't at home.....throw in some Nazi Loving Teens (cringe again) and there is your story.

The ending was some what okay because there was some redemption. But clearly it took me 3 months to read this book, Not a thriller.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy read. I was not paid for this full honest review.

I really enjoyed this book which had a unique storyline. It definitely kept my attention and all the characters tied together so well at the end.

Thank you NetGalley,Thomas & Mercer and the author Kaira Rouda. I have read a few off her book and this one seems like it was written by someone else. A. Ghost writer? It did not start of bad it seemed like a book that I would enjoy in the first chapter and then it was so mundane and not worth reading as it went on. I read 50 percent. of the book and. had to stop. This is not the book for me and I hope others like it because I do like her most of what she writes.

You know when you sit down with a book by Kaira Rouda that you are in for a treat. There is going to be a twist or multiple twists and you will be kept guessing as to what will happen next and you will probably be wrong.

I devoured Somebody’s Home. Another fantastic book from Kaira and she is an author whose books I will always read, I don’t even need to know the plot. Get this book when it comes out, you won’t be sorry! Clear your schedule, grab some snacks and settle in for a gripping read.

Synopsis:

Julie Jones has left her suffocating marriage. With her teenage daughter, Jess, she’s starting over. Their new house in Oceanside is the first step toward a new life. Even if it does come with the unexpected. The previous owners, a pastor and his wife, have left something—or rather someone—behind…

Tom Dean has a bitter hatred for the father who considers him a lost cause, and for the woman who’s moved into their family’s house. The only home he’s ever known. He’s never going to leave. She thinks he’ll be gone in three days, but Tom has the perfect plan.

For a newly single mother and her daughter, a fresh start is the beginning of a nightmare. Before the weekend is over, somebody is going to get exactly what they deserve.

Somebody’s Home is my second book by the author. I really enjoyed this book and I love her writing style. The ending felt a bit rushed for me but overall, I really enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Kaira Rouda for the ARC.

Well…that’s it! I may never sleep again! This was a great thriller that I refused to put down! Loved it!

Just isn't drawing me in...gave it 40% in and couldn't do it. Characters were just not interesting me. Hopefully others love this book but for me I have to pass. Disappointed as I love this author.


Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Rouda excels in writing about despicable characters; you wonder what kind of people live in her mind!

We meet two obnoxious men, a pastor and a rich businessman. Their wives don’t want to stay married to them. Their teenage children fall into the wrong group of friends. We get the POV of these characters. Because you see how they think, you know things will happen, quite unpleasant things.

I’m a fan of Rouda, a master storyteller, and have several of her books waiting in my kindle.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for giving me the privilege of reading Somebody’s Home.

Kaira Rouda's Best Day Ever was one of my favourite books of 2017. I haven't received any since for review but managed to read The Favourite Daughter just recently.

Rouda's talent seems to lie in offering up flawed characters but luring us into their world, so we bond and feel sympathy or empathy before twisting things until we realise we've been duped. Often along with other characters we're following on the journey.

Rouda puts us in Tom's head in the beginning and we learn of his difficult relationship with his father and step-mother. We also learn however that he's just returned from a retreat and keen to make an effort to introduce what he's learned there, like controlling his anger for example. 

Which, we readers think, is good because Tom's father sounds like (and we discover IS) a prick and he's had it tough.

Our other narrators are Julie, her daughter Jess, Tom's stepmother Sandi and Julie's husband Roger.

I felt that a strength of this story was hearing different points of view - sometimes of the same events - with Jess being the standout for me. She's angry at her mother for ripping her away from her privileged life, but in her musings we know she thinks her father treats her mother badly and is well... not a nice person. Interestingly she sees both sides and understands everyone's actions but doesn't seem to consider the implications.

As an overthinker and someone who ponders my own and others' motivations I wondered if her refusal to deal with consequences is a sign of her age and lack of maturity. In many ways she's the quintessential petulant child (albeit a teenage one). She wants what she wants and to hell with everything else. 

I also really liked Julie and we spend quite a bit of time with her early in the novel, understanding why she's finally decided to assert her independence and leave her emotionally abusive and philandering husband.

Later however, the focus moves a little more to Sandi who offers more insight into Tom. And again we get her version of events as well as his. 

There's a lot happening here but in many ways the stories of the two families mirror each other. Adulterous husbands who like to control their wives and the impact that has on their kids.

We probably could have done without some of the plot threads. The party game that gets Jess into trouble for example, as I don't think it adds a lot to the narrative. Similarly, even though events impacting Roger demonstrate his character, we've already learned - via Julie and the more objective Jess - what he's like.

Thankfully however the main plot doesn't get lost in the extraneous detail - though it's probably weakened a little.

I had <em>We Need To Talk About Kevin</em> flashbacks towards the end here and it IS quite shocking despite we readers being a smidge distracted by other stuff happening in the background.

Of course I should mention that I'm conscious Rouda's probably included this detail to mislead us so we aren't sure what the book's climax will involve, and I think she's succeeded here as we're certainly kept guessing.

Although I didn't consider this one to be a thriller, I still enjoyed it. I liked that it was told through multiple POVs and it had some suspenseful moments. It started out a bit slow, but then really picked up about halfway through. I thought the ending was really well done!

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and the author for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Almost unreadable which was disappointing since I am a huge fan of this author. Lisa Jewell did a much better job of handling an incel plotline. 1/5 stars

Julie is married to Roger who is very successful and always too busy for his family. She has had too many plastic surgeries, too many disappointments, too little attention from her husband, and now that her daughter Jess is a senior in high school, she realizes this might be her last chance to fix their relationship. She makes a drastic decision to buy a house in the very much less glamorous side of Oceanside, the one without a view of the ocean. Jess is livid. How can her mother do this to her now? All she has to do is stay with her father until she graduates and heads off to college. But no, her selfish mother wants to ruin her own life, and her daughter's life too.
The house Julie purchased comes with the seller's son though. He is supposed to move out of the cottage out back within days, but Tom has no intention of leaving his home without a fight. Tom's stepmother Sandi is a wife who has gotten a lot less than she deserved from her husband Doug, and she truly does not understand why Tom seems to hate her.
The story is told from Julie, Roger, Jess, Tom, and Sandi's perspectives, and at times, it did seem like an awful lot of voices. When everything comes together though, you see how each person's puzzle piece fits together. I was expecting Tom to be cray cray, but there is much more to the story.3.5 stars.

Finally gathering the courage to leave her husband Roger , Julie has bought the perfect home to escape and start over with her daughter Jess. Julie has left behind her million dollar home and the fake world that surrounds it, along with her husband who refuses to accept the word no and always gets what he wants. Julie’s new home comes with a carriage house the previous owners grown son Tom has two days to move out, but what happens if he refuses to move out? Tom hates his father whose a pastor, his father loves to see himself in the limelight and uses the Bible to his advantage , and twists its words to make himself a hero and to get away with his sins. Toms stepmother is looking for a way to help Tom not be so angry all the time and was sad to move out of her home that Julie bought. Soon Julie sees her world displayed for the world to see when her husband Roger is arrested and photos of Jess & her friends become public suggesting they were playing games fuelling hate. All the while Tom is planning something evil, that will soon affect everyone around him including the innocent people who bought his fathers home and as the day draws near his desperation grows. Wow I truly enjoyed this multiple POV story. The opening chapter immediately grabbed my attention. I read this book in a day! Four stars!

A terrifying domestic thriller in which a woman fleeing a difficult marriage and her daughter collide with a person refusing to see reason and vacate the house the former plan to start their new lives in. Couldn’t tear myself away!

I’ve read and enjoyed all of the authors suspense books and she has this unique ability to craft the most unlikable characters that are kind of endearing? It’s bizarre but I mean that in a good way, it’s almost like they’re brazen in their bad behavior and they own it and there’s something fascinating about that for me. With all that said there are a couple of characters that fit that bill for me here making this a pretty wickedly delicious read in most ways.

There are several characters that are loosely connected to each and you hear from each of them in alternating viewpoints. Most of the chapters are short and snappy but at some point around halfway it lost me a little and it felt like things meandered a bit. The end did pull me back in but there was something small missing for me here, I’m still pondering what exactly that is. Not my fave from the author but still a decent read and I’ll continue to read more from her.

Giving this 3 stars because I typically really like Kaira Rouda's books. This one, though, I couldn't get into. I tried twice but didn't connect with any of the characters and found myself skimming rather than reading. With so many books in my queue to read, I decided to move on.

Thoroughly fine, which is honestly an improvement for this author. I intensely disliked The First Wife, but I didn't realize it was the same author until I'd started reading - so my general apathy toward this book, ridiculous as it is, is a better outcome than I expected.