I was really interested in reading this because I enjoyed Pretty Little Liars so much.
I think my tastes may have changed since reading that series because this book felt juvenile to me. Some of the conflicts were childish and it made the characters unlikable. I also thought the plot was bit slow and confusing at times making it hard to get invested in the plot. There were some interesting twists and I liked how all the threads came together in the end. Overall, both the plot and characters suffered in this one making it just an okay mystery book.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #PenguinGroupDutton for the book #NowhereLikeHome by #SaraShapard. This book is about relationships between friends, falling outs and a tragedy that leads to them being drawn to a woman’s commune. Question is, why and by whom?

I was excited to read Nowhere Like Home. It seemed like a great premise but I had trouble getting into the characters and the story. It was good but not my favorite

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I had such high hopes for this book since I love Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard.

But this one fell short. I had a hard time getting through this book. There was alot going on and trying to keep up but it did not hold interest.

I had to put down because I didn't want to waste my time.

Hopefully her next book will be better.

Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard is the newest book by the author of the Pretty Little Liars series. In this story, several women are living together in a "mommune" each brought there by different reasons. The story focuses on Lenna and how she ended up at the mommune through a rekindled friendship from her past. This book has several different storylines that merge to make things clear at the end of the story- definitely some surprises and secrets that come up along the way.

This is a cult-classic waiting for it's chance at the small-screen. Why people continue forward when their gut is screaming to turn and run baffles me. Lenna senses everything is wrong, and there isn't cell service to even call for help, but she continues on because she wants to repair a friendship with a long-lost friend. It's the blond running upstairs from the murderer. I couldn't get past that aspect. I know it's a thriller, but I just couldn't get past the main character making stupid decisions.

Nowhere Like Home had so much going on that it was difficult to get through it. There were lots of twists and tense moments, but everything came together at the end. Because there was too much going on and I felt lost at times, I rate this book as a low three.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.

I didn’t read the PLL books but I watched the show, so I feel confident in writing that Shepard clearly knows how to portray f**ked up female friendships. This story was unhinged in so many delicious ways. I loved all the characters (especially Lenna) and how realistically damaged they felt. I loved that I was never fully sure where this was going at any point. And I loved the palpable sense of anxiety and tension that is wound around the core of this story.

It was quite “thrillery” (which is a word I just made up) but still addressed some serious topics (a lot of the writing on motherhood stood out). I also thought all the little plot threads came together interestingly and somewhat unexpectedly. This was a solid, fast-paced read!

Thank you to Penguin Group - Dutton and Netgalley for the ARC. Nowhere Like Home is out today!

I tried to enjoy this one but it was tough. It was too slow of a pace for my tastes. Overall the book is very juvenile. The decision made by the characters are questionable. I didnt find the characters to be likable. I thought this was going to be a quick, enjoyable, cult like thriller based on the description but Nowhere Like Home was too difficult to get into.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From the beginning, Sara Shephard's Nowhere Like Home keeps the reader asking questions about the unreliable narrator(s), the characters' often toxic relationships, and the "mommune" supposedly meant to be a safe haven. The book is a slow-build exploration of female friendship and motherhood that doesn't provide many answers or much hope until its final pages. It's an intense, often frustrating read, but even that reflects Nowhere Like Home's most prominent themes. If you're a fan of Shepard's and want to read a psychological thriller this February, Nowhere Like Home is the book for you.

Woah! This was a twisty ride and did not see some of it coming. It is a story of friendship and secrets and lies and how words and actions and perception can lead to consequences you never imagined. Social media also plays a role in the story. The characters all have forms of social anxiety and it plays a role in the relationships creation and destruction.

Leena can't believe her good fortune when Rhiannon befriends her. Leena always feels awkward and doesn't know how to act so a friendship with someone like Rhiannon is unexpected. Rhiannon is amazing and has overcome her tragic past and helps Leena get a job and supports her dreams, at least that's what Leena perceives. When Rhiannon mysteriously disappears from work Leena is hurt and open to the friendship Gillian is offering. Gillian always seems to be around and has her own social anxiety but she is just the friend Leena needs since Rhiannon abandoned her. But what is truth? What is lies? What does it mean to be a true friend? Leena questions everything that happened in her friendships and before she can be happy she needs answers. So when Rhiannon reappears and offers Leena an escape to a desert community of women Leena goes. What she finds is more questions. Everything and everyone is not what they seem. Will she get answers before it is too late?

I read this book in one day because it was instantly compelling, and stayed a mystery throughout the vast majority of the book. And even though I knew there was a twist ending coming, I was never entirely sure what or who it would be. That being said, it actually got a little complicated for me towards the end, and I wasn't entirely thrilled with the twist reveal itself. But Shephard is a master of the thriller genre, and she didn't disappoint here with her characters development. It's a real skill when an author gives you a whole bunch of very flawed and kind of terrible people, and you find yourself rooting for them and for their redemption.

Serenity. Community. Help. Answers. Well. A mommune, a communal environment for women and children.

Lenna and Rhiannon become fast friends, and Rhiannon even plays a part in Lenna getting a job at the gossip magazine. However, there is another young woman on the fringes of Lenna and Rhiannon's friendship, and this plays into the drama that Lenna experiences before long.

In this story of past and present, Lenna is now a mother to a baby named Jacob. Seemingly in love with her husband Daniel, Lenna is surprised when she hears from Rhiannon after their friendship was lost many years ago. Lenna takes Rhiannon up on the offer to leave Danial, albeit temporarily, and to go to a community called Halcyon.

Lenna takes Jacob and heads to the desert to this unusual community. Daniel is perplexed as to why Lenna has left. It is at this point the story begins to shift and plays into secrets, mysteries and more. In fact, there is even a measure of gaslighting in this story. The question as to whether or not Lenna can get used to the communal way of thinking, even though her stay was meant to be for only a short while.

Nowhere Like Home gave me strong vibes of the Eagles song, Hotel California, especially the lines, "You can check-out any time you like. But you can never leave!" When you read this chilling book by Sara Shepard, you might be just as inclined as I was to stop and listen to the once-popular song.

My did I love this book! The drama shifting from past to present, all while wondering about the integrity of the community made this book quite an engaging read. If there was any drawback, it would be the drama/trauma that more than one character experienced and how this shaped most of the story. Sara Shepard has escaped my radar before now, but I will likely check out her next book.

Many thanks to and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

📚: Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard
⭐️: 3/5

This read had so much promise. A mysterious “mommune” in the Arizona desert, a random friend (Rhiannon) reconnecting with former friend and struggling new mom Lenna, and some seriously strange rules for the women at the commune. (And why does it seem like no one can leave?)

I was very into this read up until the latter quarter. While some may say the ending is twisty, wild, and is where the pace picks up - to me, it’s where the story jumped the shark and fell apart. The epilogue didn’t deliver any more satisfactory resolution, leaving me feel pretty meh by the end.

Thank you to @duttonbooks via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Nowhere Like Home is out tomorrow, 2/20!

Toxic friendships, social anxiety, and shady pasts all take a leading role in this plot-driven psychological thriller. Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard features multiple points of view beginning with the protagonist, Lenna. The story begins with Lenna traveling to reunite for her old friend Rhiannon who dropped out of Lenna's life unexpectedly two years ago and is now living at communal women-and-children-only off-the-grid location called Halycon Ranch. Lenna came to fess up and apologize for something she did to Rhiannon when she departed. Lenna has been hiding secrets, but so has Rhiannon. Why has Rhiannon reached out after all this time to Lenna, and why did Lenna feel compelled to see her in person, recklessly taking her infant son out of state with only a brief note left for her husband?

The novel jumps back two years previously to when Rhiannon and Lenna became friends, and the reader meets two more essential characters: Gillian and Sadie. Gilliian, a thirty-something woman seemingly suffering from debilitating social anxiety, who longs to make friends. She has her sights set on befriending Rhiannon and Lenna. Rhiannon is not interested in Gillian's friendship--she knows a liar when she sees one. Also perplexing, Gillian's current friendship with Dr. Sadie Wasserman hasn't been going so well since Sadie started IVF and wants Gillian to move out of her home.

These women's lives will all intertwine. Someone will "disappear" and there may be more than one person responsible. All will come to a climax at at Halycon Ranch. There will be a few twists and old grudges will be brought to light. This is a book that keeps the reader locked in and turning the pages way into the night. Trigger warnings for grief, loss of parent, and severe social anxiety.

Thanks for Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this face-paced ARC.

After the birth of her child Lenna, is experiencing the overwhelming feelings of the newborn phase, coupled with some frustration with her partner. She hears from her long lost friend Rhiannon, who invites her to a communal living environment in the desert of Arizona. At this commune, women work together to raise their children and to live consciously. Lenna accepts the invitation and proceeds to go out into the desert to meet Rhiannon and visit her intentional community. However, once there Lenna realizes there are some things that just don't add up.

I enjoyed the cult like vibes of this one. The women at the commune do not have access to phones or internet. They are locked into the commune and only one person is able to open the gate to let people in or out. Lenna sets out to figure out what is going on, why Rhiannon is living there and why she has been invited. I was a fan of the premise fo the book, but I thought the plot dragged a bit in the middle. 3.5 stars for me

Nowhere Like Home is about a group of women who are connected through each other and end up at a compound at different times through a recruiter. While at this compound there are a set of rules that have to be followed. Not only that- but only women and their children are allowed. With that being said- you're not allowed to just leave. The property is surrounded by barbed wire fencing and there's a gate code to get out that no one is allowed to know.

There are so many twists in this story. I had a bit of a hard time following along for the first half of the book. But towards the end it got easier. I gave this book three stars because ultimately there was too much going on for me.

Sara Shepard's Nowhere Like Home is not only a compelling mystery/suspense, but it's also about friendship and love. When I first started reading, I thought it was going to be a "cult book", but it's not. It's better. It's about women wanting to find a place to belong when they've been wronged, but, when someone inside the community knows their secrets and uses them against them, that's when it gets really good. With a few well-placed red herrings, I suspected almost everyone of being the villain, and I was still wrong in the end. I hope Sara's latest gets lots of well-deserved love!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Sara Shepard, and Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a miss for me. I love books about culty communes, so that combined with knowing Shepard was the author of Pretty Little Liars (which I didn't read but loved the show as a teen) really drew me in at first. The book has a couple of surprising twists I wasn't able to predict, and I did think the commentary on female friendship was good. However, it just didn't quite work for me. The characters felt shallow and were not compelling, and I didn't like how the book set up all of the women on the commune to be "suspicious" but didn't ever go more in depth to them compared to the main characters. All of the main characters themselves were very flawed, and to be honest, I didn't really feel like rooting for them at any point lol. I also think the book would have worked better if the creepy culty commune was emphasized more; it felt like every time something suspicious was mentioned, it was quickly explained away. This book is a nice quick read that has some good thrills but overall just misses the mark as a whole.