A page turning mystery to keep you on your toes trying to solve. The characters are deliciously dark and the plot is so twisty you don't know what happened.

The House of Now and Then is a dual timeline story set in both 1985 and 2017. Eloise owes a house in rural Tasmania. In 1985, Pippa, Jeremy and Rebecca travel south to house-sit Eloise's house. Pippa becomes involved with a young local man, Leo, just before he mysteriously disappears. Meanwhile in 2017, Olivia is in hiding from the media and her old life, due to a scandal and rents Eloise's secluded house in the hopes of peace and quiet. When a young man knocks on her door Olivia is drawn into the 30 year old mystery. I really enjoyed Jo Dixon's debut novel. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC.

“The House of Now and Then” is an interesting dual timeline thriller. While the main twist will be evident to many readers from early on, the strong characters still make this compelling reading.

In 1985 Eloise has asked her godson Jeremy and his flatmate Pippa to housesit her remote house in Tasmania. This suits both young people; they’ve been exceptionally close friends for years. A place to stay rent free for a few months suits very well; Jeremy is about to leave on an extended trip to England, and Pippa, more nomadic, is considering where she wants to go next.

Jeremy brings his girlfriend Rebecca along with him. This creates some significant tension; Rebecca and Pippa have never really got along, and this only gets worse now they’re in close proximity.

In the present Eloise has rented that same house to Olivia. Olivia has unwillingly been at the centre of an enormous scandal involving sex, adultery, a movie star, and blackmail. All she wants is to be anonymous and unseen – and definitely unfound by some of the people pursuing her.

So Olivia doesn’t exactly react well when a strange man appears on her doorstep, trying to force his way into the house and demanding information about a previous resident named Pippa. However, she eventually develops a reluctant interest in his search, and becomes increasingly invested in finding answers to what happened in this house all those years ago.

The connection between the two story lines is evident very quickly; Pippa’s name comes up within the first few pages of each timeline. Indeed, the broad outline of the central mystery to be solved is also obvious pretty early, and I think that’s exactly as Dixon intended.

What may be a bit more problematic for some readers is that the major twist is evident pretty early on. The why’s and wherefore’s are less obvious, but many readers are going to pick the main element of the solution pretty early on. I don’t think this was intentional, and readers looking only for a tricky mystery may be put off by this.

However, the characters are so strong and engaging that even that early in the novel, most readers will be caught up with them and will care deeply about the details. Dixon sprinkles minor revelations throughout the novel, and these work well in terms of increasing your concern for, and interest in, the characters.

In the end this succeeded for me as a novel because of the characters and my strong engagement with them. The mystery elements didn’t work so well for me (although perhaps that depends a bit on how suspicious minded you are. A more innocent reader may find it more puzzling).

The time period and the technology available is critical to both storylines. In the earlier one, the lack of mobile phones, internet and surveillance cameras impact on the characters’ interactions with each other. In the later one, the same things both create Olivia’s problems and make it harder to escape them.

Dixon has been careful with the details of her plot. Small but important things like character ages have been carefully worked out, and make sense throughout.

I enjoyed reading this. Although not quite as big a mystery as intended, I found this compelling reading because I cared about the characters. It was easy to switch between timelines, and both were equally involving. I’d recommend this not just to mystery and thriller readers – although they may certainly enjoy it – but also to readers particularly looking for strongly character based stories.

Author Jo Nesbit has delivered an absolutely stellar debut novel in The House Of Now and Then. Intriguing from the start, the story is packed with plot twists that kept me guessing to the end.
This is a dual timeline story that starts in December 1985 in picturesque Devil’s Cove near Hobart, Tasmania. Here we see Pippa, her best friend Jeremy Kearsley and his girlfriend Rebecca about to commence house-sitting for his godmother Eloise Fowler. Soon introduced into the mix is talented yachtsman Leo Clifford, who turns out to be Jeremy’s cousin. This thread follows the story up to Tom’s disappearance in early 1986.
The second thread is set in 2017 where we find Olivia Haymers hiding out in the same house, wallowing in self-pity and hiding out from the media after a scandalous affair with a married A-list actor. The arrival of Jeremy’s son Tom, who is searching for Pippa to give her a parcel his dead father left for her sets off a hunt which inevitably ties in with Leo’s disappearance.
Packed with red herrings and apparent dead-ends, this story had me reading way into the night to see how it finished.

What a brilliant debut, Jo Dixon is an author to keep an eye on as I just know there will be wonderful reads in the future from her if this novel is anything to go by.

This is a twisty mystery novel told in two parts, with a house at Devils Bay the centre of both timelines.

In 1986 Pippa and her best friend Jeremy stay over the summer, it’s during this time Pippa meets Leo and they begin a romance until he disappears.

In 2017 Olivia moves in to the house to escape a humiliating public scandal, and its while she’s here dealing with her own issues that the two worlds collide when a young man from the UK, Jeremy’s son, arrives on Olivia’s doorstep in the search for Pippa in order to deliver an envelope he’d discovered addressed to her following his fathers death what gets uncovered in the quest to locate Pippa is an engaging story that will leave you gobsmacked.

I really loved the Tasmanian setting, the locations in and around Hobart were so familiar to me, and I have to admit I am still a West Coast Cooler drinker so I loved that it was a favourite of Pippa’s too.

I also couldn’t help but chuckle at the accuracy in describing the dress of a Sandy Bay woman!

After reading the acknowledgements I learnt that this book was a few years in the making, and I am so glad that the author continued to write & rewrite the story until she achieved this finished product as it was definitely worth all the work.

Largely set in Tasmania, this story begins with two narratives, one during 1986 and the other in 2017. But the two strands quickly come together through one plot line where Tom Kearsley finds an envelope addressed to Pippa after his father’s death and sets about trying to find Pippa to give it to her. This mystery takes us back and forth between the two different years. During this Tom meets Olivia who has fled to Tasmania to escape a scandal she has been involved in and this becomes a secondary plot line. Meanwhile there are two romances taking place in each of the different time zones. In other words, there’s a lot going on in this story and the reader needs to be alert to follow all the different threads.

The plot lines are intricate and complicated and I admit that about three quarters of the way through I became confused about who knew what and when. I began to think that it was getting a bit messy. But that only served to lull me into a false sense of security when the writer produced a couple of very stunning plot twists that ingeniously brought everything together! Most impressive storytelling.

What a brilliant debut this one is, it was so hard to put down, wonderful characters good and nasty and there are few of those but this story is well written and pulled me on from page one, it has twists and turns as the story unfolds, it is compelling reading.

Olivia has run from Sydney and her past and the media who will not leave her alone she is hiding out in a beautiful isolated home in Devils Bay Tasmania hoping to work out how to get her life back on track, when there is a knock at the door, a man she does not know, at first she does not want to know anything about him but then she listens to his story about a woman who was a friend of his father’s, Pippa and she stayed at the very house Olivia is renting thirty years ago, can Olivia help even with her sordid past?

Thirty years ago Pippa her best friend Jeremy and Jeremy’s girlfriend Rebecca stay in this house for the summer it was the best of times for them Pippa met local, Leo and they fell in love, Jeremy had plans to leave for England at the beginning of February, Rebecca was going back to Brisbane and Pippa was staying on for a few more weeks, but Leo’s parents are controlling and want Leo away from Pippa, but when Leo leaves to meet his parents and tell them his plans he is never seen again.

Now Olivia is drawn into the mystery with Jeremy’s son Tom searching for Pippa so as a letter can be delivered to her will there finally be answers to the mystery add to that Olivia and her problems will Olivia be able to reclaim to life she knew and deserves and what will be between her and Tom will they find love and happiness?

This is a must read story, deadly secrets, controlling nasty characters and fun and loving characters all add up to an awesome story, debut author Jo Dixon has written a story that has everything a true mystery should have to keep the reader guessing and trying to get answers, she certainly had my mind jumping and the twist wow. I do highly recommend this one, huge congrats on the debut I will be eagerly awaiting more books from this author.

My thanks to Harlequin AU for my copy to read and review

The House of Now and Then is a well written debut novel, the dual timeline works perfectly!
The characters are all relatable, warm and caring, their history is strong and also mysterious!
The earlier setting concentrates on three friends living in Southern Tasmania, their futures are intertwined and full of hopes and dreams! A chance meeting adds to the dynamics and sets a chain of events into action, intriguing!
Olivia lives a solitary life, in the same remote house as a younger Pippa did, but in the present time. Tom arrives, searching for Pippa, the story turns corners in the quest of discovery, the characters have a lot to reveal!
I became totally invested in the search for the truth, the storyline has many twists and turns, family connections, drama, mystery and is a compelling read!

Thanks so much to Harlequin Australia, NetGalley and debut author Jo Dixon for the wonderful opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Throughly enjoyed this dual timeline story, becoming invested in both eras which is unusual for me.
Set in 1985 when Pippa, best friend Jeremy and his girlfriend Rebecca travel to Tasmania to house sit for a few weeks. There Pippa meets and becomes involved with Leo but secrets are abound.
In 2017 Olivia escapes unwanted media attention due to a sandal to reside and heal in the same house. But her peace is threatened when a young man called Tom comes from England to find information about Pippa. He wants to deliver an envelope to her from his father Jeremy. Olivia becomes drawn into the mystery of Pippa with Tom and together they try and find her.
There is so much more to this story but I don’t want to give to much away. Had many twists and interlaced with Olivia’s issues there was a lot to keep me reading.
Just an all round entertaining story that was perfect for lazing and reading on the holidays.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to review.

The House of Now and Then has the makings of an Australian gothic classic. The thrilling mystery is set against the Tasmanian landscape which invigorates the mystery with the Australian wilderness. The story bounces between two points in time, which if not done well can be jolting, but Dixon connects these two time frames beautifully through their grounding in an isolated house in Tasmania. In the 1970s the story centres around a love quadrangle of romance, friendship, and jealousy. Shrouded in a sense of mystery and darkness, four twenty-something Australians confront dark family secrets and celebrate the all-consuming joy of young love over a two-month period that is stretched out joyfully to feel like a lifetime for the reader. Dixon achieves a depth of character development in such a short time frame for these characters which is rare for a book split into different perspectives. Fast-forwarding to the present day, the story focuses on a young woman, Olivia, scorned by society and finding refuge in the same darkness that consumed the young foursome from the 70s. The secrets from the house that Olivia rents collides with her own life of scandal when she receives a visit from Tom. So begins a new journey of uncovering long-buried pain, injustice, and love as he invites her on his quest of finding young Pippa from years ago who was once in that very same house. The hidden character in this novel is the dynamism of the Australian landscape which breathes life and a sense of eternity into the stories that exist within it. It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys finding romance in darkness.

The significant theme running through The House of Now and Then is that of hopes, dreams and the promise that the future holds and of the tenuous thread that holds those hopes and dreams together. This is the debut novel by Jo Dixon and it proves to be a highly engaging story filled with promise and regret.

The story is set in a remote part of Tasmania and is told over two time frames (1986 and 2017), switching back and forth over alternating chapters.

Olivia Haymers has hidden herself away in a remote house in Tasmania in a bid to escape from the public eye after she was publicly outed having an affair with a famous (married) actor. Her mortification has led her to become a virtual recluse in the remote house where she shuns any contact with the outside world. However, when she’s visited by Tom, a young Englishman, who claims he’s the son of Jeremy Kearsley, she starts to find herself drawn out.

In December 1985 three young friends from Queensland arrive at the house for a short holiday stay. Jeremy is the godson of the owner of the house and he, along with his girlfriend Rebecca and his good friend and housemate Pippa, is preparing for a short holiday before heading off to London to work. During the holiday Pippa meets and hooks up with Leo, a young local man from Hobart on New Year’s Eve. More than a little turmoil unfolds between the four young holidaymakers as they contemplate the possibilities for the rest of their lives.

But we’re given the tip very early on that their holiday would not end as they’d hoped:

“Okay, well basically, some kids were staying at Eloise’s house - this is back in the eighties - and one of them disappeared. He was about eighteen or nineteen, I think, maybe older. And that house was the last place he was seen. His car turned up in the carpark at the yacht club in the city, but he was never found.”

Back in the present, Tom’s story is a compelling one with the upshot being that he has a package to deliver to Pippa and is attempting to locate her. Gradually, Olivia starts to put aside her fear of inflicting further shame and embarrassment upon herself and teams up with Tom in a search for the whereabouts of Pippa. In so doing, it serves her well as she’s able to put her own problems in perspective and helps her begin to move on with her life.

Shot through with some resounding twists and a couple of true villains to despise, this turns into a compelling drama that managed to hold me in its thrall. All of the characters were well fleshed out making it easy to feel deep empathy for each of them.

I found this to be a deeply engaging story, a strong debut that benefited from a beautiful setting, strong and thoughtful characters and a superior plot. This complicated family tragedy spanning over 30 years could have been a confusing mess, but thanks to the proficient hand of Jo Dixon it unfolded perfectly to deliver a moving novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for providing me with the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

This is a story in two halves, the past and the present. This is a story of young lives lived and ruined, dreams and secrets and how the past can come back to haunt you. But it is also the story of family, friendships and love and how being honest and letting your past go can help you live in the now.

This is a story about two friends, Pippa and Jeremy, about Pippa falling in love with Leo and how families are found and lost. But that is the past (1986) and in the present (2017) we have Olivia, a young woman who has had a tough time of it and wants to escape. She ends up in a house in Tasmania and the story weaves a tale of past and present from there.

I really enjoyed this book as the story in both halves was told so well and although I had a few ideas about where it was going, it didn't always go the way I expected. There was a good lead up and the characters were well written and interesting. Some you loved, some you liked and some you just didn't like at all!

This is a book that will keep you reading, keep you interested and keeps the twists and turns coming right to the very end. I loved it and give it 4 1/2 stars!

I don't normally read #mystery or dual timeline novels, but the blurb for this novel drew me in.

You should leave the past in the past ... or should you? A vividly told, jaw-droppingly twisty and wholly engaging story about the consequences of discovering the truth. For readers of Sally Hepworth, Nicola Moriarty and Adele Parks.

Olivia is hiding from vicious media and online scrutiny in a remote Tasmanian house when an unknown man knocks on her door, seeking Pippa, a woman who once lived there. His father, Jeremy, has died, leaving behind a letter for the unknown woman. Olivia wants to help, but can she risk revealing her own sordid past and exposure to the world once more?

Thirty years earlier, bohemian wild-child Pippa and her best friend Jeremy spend a perfect summer in the house. Pippa falls deeply in love with local boy Leo, and they begin to plan a life of adventure together, much to the displeasure of his conservative and controlling family. One night Leo leaves the house to confront his parents ... and is never seen again.

As Olivia is drawn into solving the mystery, the unexpected and tragic story of Pippa, Jeremy and Leo is slowly uncovered. At the same time, a path to reclaiming her own life opens, if only she has the courage to take it.

Told from multiple points of view over two timeframes (1986 and 2017) the plot is very easy to follow, and has just enough twists and turns to kee readers engaged. Best of all, the resolution to the story is satisfying and complete, there are no loose threads.

Thank you to @netgalley for a copy os this book in return for my honest review.

The House of Now & Then by Jo Dixon is a fantastic read that had me engaged from the very first page and I thoroughly enjoyed it until the very last page! Sara Barrie, author of Unforgiven, sums the book up perfectly on the cover blurb “This intriguing, decades-long mystery combines endearing but flawed characters, deadly secrets, and a deliciously twisty plot”.

Set in a beautiful seaside home on the Tasmanian coast the story follows Olivia who is renting and hiding out in the house trying to escape an embarrassing public scandal when a knock on the door from a stranger propels her on a quest to uncover the answers to a decades long mystery involving a group of young people housesitting the house over a summer in 1986 during which local boy Leo goes missing.

Told from multiple points of view and over 2 main timelines, 1986 and 2017, this book is cleverly crafted. Sometimes with books like this I seem to engage more with one era than the other but with this I was equally excited to read both sides of the story. I really like the cast of characters and found myself really invested in them. The story has some great twists and turns that make for a really satisfying ending that I didn’t see coming!

This is the perfect summer read for me as I could get completely lost in the story. Readers that enjoy Sally Hepworth and Liane Moriarty should give this a go. Based on this debut, I’m really excited to read more books from Jo Dixon in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.