I knew immediately from the book’s description that I would really like it. I was it disappointed. Two families swap houses for vacation, but from the beginning something is amiss. I didn’t like Niall at all. He was mean, selfish, and made Beth do everything. Amber seems sinister. I liked Renzo the best because he just seemed like a nice person.
I figured out the main pieces of the plot early on, but there were plenty of surprises left to keep me engaged.
The ending provides a nice twist and left me cheering.

As a big fan of this author I was really looking forward to getting stuck into this book and it was ok but not one of her best.. The plot was a bit predictable but that would have been ok if I could have identified with any of the characters but I couldn't bring myself to care about any of them. Niall was an arrogant bully but what annoyed me most was that Beth let him away with treating her as totally irrelevant. She was a talented chef but he constantly belittled her and she never defended herself.. The epilogue was quite clever but unfortunately not enough to salvage the book.

I loved this book so much. It reminded me of the popular tv "Wife Swap" except it's a house swap and there's murder. The alternate viewpoints between the two characters was fun and kept the book interesting. Beth and Amber are exact opposites in many ways. This coupled with the different locations and the author's vivid descriptions of each made me wish I was there. Of course, minus the drama. This is a great book for anyone who loves thrillers. Thanks for the advance review copy.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I love Shalini Boland books so was thrilled to get approved. I binge read house swap books over Christmas so that was the first thing that drew me to this book. The cover also caught my eye. This book is about two couples living in different countries that swap houses for a vacation. One wife is innocent, while the other is pulling strings behind her back as a form of revenge. Secrets and lies come out in every chapter. Niall made my blood boil with how condescending and entitled he was. The only thing I didn't like was how rushed it felt at the end. It jumped to one year later without wrapping things up in a way I would have liked. The epilogue was great!

I love Shalini Boland books, so was thrilled when I was approved. The cover is beautiful and drew me right in. The premise of a warm holiday really hits being in the middle of winter. Niall and Beth engage in a house swap with Renzo and Amber. Secrets and lies are the underscore of the story. Beth discovers all sorts of things about her husband at Amber's house. Meanwhile, Amber is at her house pulling strings behind the scenes. Lots of aspects of this book are real, adultery, busy body neighbors, controlling husbands. The ending was good, but I felt it was a little rushed. Did not see the events in the epilogue coming at all! Great twists, great suspense, another winner by Shalini.

I really enjoyed this book. It was quite a quick read but it definitely made an impact.

I love books set abroad so I really enjoyed the Italian setting of this one. The pacing was perfect and every chapter was exciting to read. Niall was one of the most horrible characters I've read for a long time but it made for great reading.

I had some of the pieces to work out the ending but I couldn't for the life of me put them together so the twists managed to surprise me, which is always a bonus because I read so many books in this genre that I'm quite hard to fool now!

I would definitely recommend this for a quick, exciting read.

I’m pretty sure I gasped out loud at one point as all the fast paced twists and turns gathered even more momentum. And I know my jaw definitely dropped firmly to the floor at that shocking moment when everything came together, finally hitting me full on.
Her book pulled me in from the first page and she took me on an intriguing journey. 
The pace of this book was tremendous and tense. 
Shalini's books are so binge-worthy and this novel takes the cake!
This fast paced and shockingly addictive page turner held my attention perfectly, keeping me guessing until that final twist was laid bare and giving me chills.
Absolutely loved it and Shalini Boland.
If you've read any of her books in the past..... You will love this story!

Bookouture,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

Firstly, I am thankful for the opportunity to have received a free copy of this eBook through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Shalini is one of my favourite authors, I have read several of her books in the past and they are always 4/5 star reads!

This one does certainly not disappoint. I literally could not put this book down, every spare second I was squeezing in as much as I could and staying up late to find out what would happen next.

We go through the lives of two separate couples who have agreed to a house-swap holiday. However, they all have their secrets. And OMG I was not expecting that final twist at the end, love a book that finishes with one final shocking twist that I had not guessed.

I rate this eBook 5 stars and would recommend to those who enjoy their psychological thrillers!

#TheFamilyHoliday #NetGalley

Wow! Great book! I kept trying to figure out what the heck was going on?!! lol it was killing me not to know! anyway this book had so many twists and turns! It had suspense, intrigue, murder, and a bit of a who done it! It was a chilling thriller! I highly enjoyed reading this one! I definitely will recommend reading this book! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

The Family Holiday is a highly enjoyable thriller.
Warm sunny Italy is the perfect setting for the secrets, deception and envy that Boland cleverly crafts.
Thank you for the digital arc.

Whoa! What a ride! I did not see the ending of this book coming and had to go back and reread the last couple of pages a second time.

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time! I loved it and read it in a day, reading it on the kindle app on my phone whenever I had a break at work! A holiday house swap that goes wrong, with so many twists, including a final twist right at the end! I’d recommend this to anyone who loves thrills and suspense! Thanks you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review

This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a long time and I read a lot of them. The author does a fantastic job of building suspense while also keeping the book moving and I just kept getting more intrigued. You know how some books like that have disappointing endings? Not this one. I don’t want to spoil anything but the entire book was fantastic. Will absolutely recommend it on my Instagram bookstagram account as we get closer to pub day!

If you knew you wouldn’t be caught, would you snoop around in someone’s house? One of the characters in this book snoops in a closet and finds something in a jacket pocket that instantly changes how she sees the world. They say that once you see something you weren’t supposed to see, you can’t unsee it. Your mind keeps replaying it. Over and over. Boland explores the aftermath of secrets revealed.

This story is about the perfect family, the perfect home and the perfect murder. It’s also the story of a house swap gone wrong. Terribly wrong. You see, neither family is perfect. They are both hiding secrets and despite travelling 1000s of miles across the globe, their secrets found them and brought them to their knees.

There’s no doubt about it, there are some real risks to home exchanges. Most people conjure up an image of the home not being as listed, whether it be dirtier or messier than presented. Not many would even project that the house would be better than imagined! The Mason’s mansion in Maiori town, on the Amalfi Coast, is heaven-sent for Niall and Beth Kildare. The British couple can’t believe they’ve traded their tired 300-year-old cottage in Dorset for two weeks at Villa della Luna. Before the two weeks is over, they’ll wish they never agreed to the swap. On the surface, the Mason family look like they have it all, but the Italians are anxious to get away and enjoy the anonymity in Devon in a cozy cottage. Why?

Boland’s success comes from writing about the plausible; readers become absorbed because it could happen to them! We may not have done a house swap, but maybe we’ve done an Air BnB, or maybe we’ve simply snooped around when we thought nobody was watching. Boland knows our human nature is curious and she runs with it.

As is the case with all the Boland books I read, I spend most of my time suspicious of the potential villain’s actions. In this book, there are chapters in Italics. There’s no chapter title to suggest who is speaking, so it adds to the mystery and tension. Readers presume that some trauma has occurred in the past and the person has never healed. Boland makes sure to dole out tidbits allowing readers to guess and guess again who the villain is and what happened to make them this way.

“I thought that time and space would knit the wound together. That I’d be scarred, yet somehow able to carry on. But that’s not the case at all. I’m still paralysed by it. The pain increases week to week….there’s only one way I can think of to ease it. One way to make things better.”

This villain this time turned out to be clever, composed and manipulative. Boland’s trademark is to give a hint of a twist early in the story and sometimes readers don’t know they’ve read a hint until they happen upon the twist and then there’s the inevitable, “Ugh, I should have seen that coming!” It happens here, too; the inevitable “of course!”

The symbolism of ‘Villa della Luna’ is not lost on me! The moon has no light of its own. It reflects the sun’s light. One of the homeowners has lost a light within and is desperate to get it back. It’s been said that the moon is the light that rules the night. You’ll have to read to find out which character is ‘of the night’ and why. Astrologists also refer to moon signs as symbolizing one’s innermost self; under the moonlight people discover who they truly are and their hidden desires. Keep in mind that what you see in the moonlight is always better than it appears in the sunlight.

I’d never seen Boland’s sense of humour reflected in her writing until this book. I was snickering at the authentic portrayal of 11-year-old Connor and 7-year-old Liam’s antics. Try to read the airport scene with a straight face. I dare you!

I was gifted this advance copy by Shalini Boland, Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

House Swap To Die For…
A house swap to die for in this well paced, psychological suspense with a credible cast. Two families and an exchange of homes - one in sunny climes and one countryside based - seems like a perfect idea of a holiday. Perhaps. However, nothing is quite as it seems. Tense, immersive and enjoyable.

I absolutely loved this creepy thriller. It’s about a vacation that goes awry and I spent the entire book wondering what was going to happen at the end. I love the setting and felt like the characters were definitely real. Highly recommend!

This story drew me in from the opening chapter. Two families. One house swap. A vacation to die for….. I’d read plenty of this authors previous work so knew I was in for a gripping read…..

The white-washed Italian villa is perfect. I thought it might feel odd, living in a stranger’s house for the summer, but as my husband and children swim in the infinity pool, I start to relax. And then, in the back of a wardrobe, I find something that shatters everything…
Sparkling green eyes, square jaw, lopsided smile. A young man with his arm around a beautiful woman. The picture is old and faded but I’d recognise him anywhere. The man is my husband.
But we’ve never met the family we’ve swapped homes with and my husband swears it isn’t him in the photo. He’s lying. We argue on the balcony with the sun setting behind us and I storm out.
When I finally calm down enough to go back to the villa to confront him, I find his dead body sprawled across the veranda……

I could feel the tension between Beth and Niall as the story progressed and I really felt for Beth. Always trying to do the right thing, say the right words not rock the applecart. Beth really just wanted the perfect holiday getaway to re-connect with her husband and two boys. When she finds a photo of her husband in the rented holiday home she’s shocked should she approach Niall about it or not….
I flew through the pages and thought I had it all sewn up but little did I know there was another unexpected twist in the final couple of pages…. Look forward to seeing what this author brings out next! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️