The premise of the book, The Family Holiday by Shalini Boland, is intriguing – a house swap for two vacationing families who have never met each other. One house is a charming cottage in England and the other is a modern home in Italy. Both families are looking forward to some getaway time.

The Family Holiday is a family drama/domestic thriller that’s told from two points of view. One is Beth, the owner of the English home and the other is Amber, who lives in Italy. The two women couldn’t be more different but both families are harboring secrets.

For the most part this book kept me engaged and captured my attention. But, as the story progressed, there were several head-shaking events that seemed random and only cursory explanations were offered. The ending almost felt like it was snatched out of thin air and should have had more attention from the author.

In the end, this novel wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped and I don’t think it’s as good as some of the other books Ms Boland has written and I have enjoyed. NetGalley provided an advance reader copy.

The hardest part of reading this book was deciding who we disliked the most, but I'm pretty sure....well, let's hope that's what the author intended. I don't get the allure of house swapping. I don't want strangers going through my stuff, but I see lots of them advertised so somebody must love it. Ok, the book. The jacket synopsis was interesting enough to choose this over the literally hundreds of choices, and delivered exactly what the synopsis promised. But it still fell pretty flat for me. A good, not great story that had lots of villians, anyone of them could have been the killer and the profile would have fit. But still, I enjoyed seeing how the characters worked their way through an ideal vacation to turn it into a murder scene.

I knew all the ways this could wrong from page one, but that outcome wasn't quite what I was expecting. I always like that there is one more twist in a Shalini Boland novel. I get to the end and saw the big twist and a few others, but then there is always one more.

So twisty and engaging. I wasn't sure who I liked or trusted in this one, but enjoyed sitting back and letting the story take me on a journey.

I popcorn thriller that I could easily see as a movie of the week. Don't read much about this one before you start so none of the twists are spoiled.

I easily read this in a day.

Wow........ what a thrilling roller coaster of a read I enjoyed the twists and turns and the edge of your seat moments this was a fantastic thriller

I enjoyed the majority of the book. It starts off being very fast paced and then then everything changes. The ending was unsatisfying.

I love Shalini Boland her books are contemporary relevant and 100% identifiable to me. Flawed people mean and living thoughts and actions all the things we do and think of doing!!
Thankyou

Beth and her husband Niall decide to do a house swap, as they and their two children have not had a holiday in years. They swap their UK home with Amber's gorgeous house in Italy which has a pool, sun and amazing views.

Beth is surprised that the Mason family would want to swap their beautiful home in Italy, for a cosy cottage in Dorset. They explain that they used to live in the UK and they want to introduce their children to their home country.

The swap turns out not to be the perfect holiday they imaged and that they had hoped would reignite their marriage.

I have loved every book I have read from Shalini Boland, so when I saw this I just jumped straight in without reading the synopsis.

This amazing book did not disappoint, the twists and turns made this a read that I could not put down.

A must read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

A holiday house swap: Sounds like fun but in reality, will bring nothing but sheer misery and life changing events for both families involved.

I'm pleased I didn't read the synopsis prior to delving into the book as it seems crazy that so many of the plot twists are on there for all to see before even opening the first page! I found this to be a thoroughly entertaining read, though perhaps I wouldn't have if I already knew to expect some of the outcomes listed. I have to say, I love a book that ends with that one final, shocking twist!

An entertaining read.

I look forward to future releases from Shalini Boland.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review 📖

I love all of Shalini Bolands books! A twist worth reading. Amber and Renzo are a couple who live in a beautiful Italian villa. Renzo has a very successful business in jewelry and Amber has a successful public relations firm. Having two children they really seem to have it all. Beth and Niall live in the UK where Niall is an author, he wrote a popular series. Amber is a chef and has dreamt of opening her own restaurant but her husband insisted that she stay home to take care of their two boys. Niall then suggests to Amber one day that they swap homes with another couple for a 2-week vacation in Italy he had found online. At first Beth doesn't want to do it since their home is the typical English older cottage that is nice but nothing fancy, Niall insisted it would be fun so Beth made all the arrangements to switch homes and ends up being none other than Amber and Renzo. Once switching homes things start to go wrong. Twists that you won't expect or think you know but don't. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

A decent read but highly predictable. The blurb doesn’t really fit the book as it gives a major spoiler that only happens towards the end of the book. I think that this needs to be rewritten.
I still enjoyed it but it didn’t thrill me enough for any more than 3 stars. Cover doesn’t fit the sorry either.

The tension hits the reader in the face as from page 1, and keeps you reading until the very end. I must say, after this read, I will not easily ever consider a house swap..... Recommended for anyone who loves a read where you don't really know what's happening....

Two families. One house swap. A vacation to die for.

2 families swap homes. One home in Italy and the other in the UK.
This book had the longest wind-up before the pitch! Overall, it was an okay read.

If you plan on reading this, don't read the synopsis! There's a thing that happens in the synopsis that makes you think that's the big thing that happens in the story before it takes off. That thing does not happen until the 72% mark, I kept reading and willing that thing to happen and it took forever!

Not a deal breaker, but the cover did not relate to the story at all.

Salinity Boland writes such devourable thrillers, I always know I'm in for a wild ride.

This was no different. Twisty and dark, quite unbelievable but fun. Loved it!

Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and Shalini Boland for the ARC of this book

Soo twisty and I couldn't get enough

I have never read anything by this author before but wow this was a great one.

Read if you like addictive thrillers!!

The book is about 2 families who do a holiday house swap. Amber and Beth swap houses. Amber finds a photo of her husband in the home of Beth. Lots of twists in this story, a classic psychological thriller. Well read

Book: The Family Holiday
I though this was a fun and twisty (yet predictable at times) with unlikeable characters. I would love recommend to people looking for a quick read.

That didn’t appeal much to me. Such a letdown.

Thanks to Netgalley! Hoping for a better read next time!

Fantastic twists in this one and I didn't see them coming. I was really surprised by the final twist - so clever! Somehow the author also comes up with a gripping read that can't be put down.

Great book, I can’t say I particularly liked the characters, but with this type of genre, you’re not meant to!

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

3 stars! The Family Holiday was a decent read. It's fairly predictable but still enjoyable.
Thank you to Shalini Boland, Bookouture, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.