Ooo this Sara Shepard novel was a fantastic read!! I really enjoyed the storyline and all of the characters that she writes about. This had a great thrill/suspense aspect to it and I am a big fan of her writing, must read!

This is my first Sara Shepard book, however I was a huge fan of Pretty Little Liars, the tv show. The book was fast paced and had such an element of mystery, throughout the whole book they kept mentioning what the MC had done that nobody knew about. While I found it intriguing and easy to keep up with, I wouldn’t say that I loved it. It was a good. I enjoyed it

I’m not normally one who goes in for stories about communes but the synopsis drew me in. I should have stuck with my gut and skipped it because this one dragged at so many points and I never really got invested in any of the characters, which makes for a challenging read, especially for a thriller.
Lenna decides to join a “mommune” of other mothers when she finds motherhood challenging and she hopes to heal her relationship with her old friend who is part of the community at the same time. But the commune has some super sketchy rules and the other moms are Sus to say the ,east and the main characters real reason for being there is revealed.
I have to admit that the ending did pick up and there were a couple of twists that I didn’t expect but it overall lacked enough depth to call it a thriller for me.
Thanks to Dutton Books and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

What a twisty read. This book is set in now and two years ago.
Following Lenna, who is a new mother with a baby who cries constantly and a husband who became distant. When a friend from her past, Rhiannon seems her out and invites her to a commune (mommune) for women and mothers, she writes a note to her husband and leaves for a few days with her baby.
There is also Gillian who has an online presence for having social anxiety and writes posts about her crazy roommate and wanting to befriend Lenna and Rhiannon. She has many secrets of her own.
The women at the commune help each other and raise kids together. They seem a bit odd and have sketchy rules. But Lenna wanted to come to work things out with her friend. Weird things are happening , secrets come out and Lenna wants to leave but the commune isn’t ready to let her leave.

This one was a really pleasant surprise. The first few chapters were a bit slow but honestly the story picked up really well after that. There are several major characters in this with Lenna being the main lead. I really enjoyed this tale of secrets, lies, hidden agendas and betratyl. Things aren't always what they appear and sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just can't hide from your own past.

I really try my best not to DNF ARCs but I just couldn’t take this one. I couldn’t connect to any of the characters, since none of their decision making processes made any sense, which is one of my least favorite characteristics in a main character. The dialogue also felt so unnatural and clunky, which I can’t stand to read. It read like a tween book, but was marketed as an adult thriller, which is just inaccurate. I also kind of found the interpretation and implementation of social anxiety so inaccurate it was almost laughable. Nothing about the plot or the characters kept me interested enough to keep reading, and I decided to DNF at 25%.

Thank you to @netgalley and @duttonbooks for this free eARC.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

This premise was EVERYTHING. A tired mom looking to rekindle with a mysterious friend from the past, anxiety, social media and my favorite - cults.

This book was written in three parts, past and present with multiple POV's. What a fun ride. I honestly did not guess what was coming! I love when you cannot trust a single character and this delivered. The Mom-Cult group was a unique perspective and definitely not at all what I expected.

One critique - this felt very long and at some points drawn out. However, you cannot help but be invested and see it through to the end.

Wow oh wow! This book was absolutely brilliant and I couldn’t put it down! I highly recommend it and make sure you clear your calendar!

I really enjoyed this book! The premise was interesting and although the pacing dragged at times, it was pretty good for the majority of the book. The flashback format worked well enough, but I felt myself getting more and more impatient to get to the conclusion after the 70% mark. I also couldn't connect to any of the characters except for flashback Lenna. Most of their actions didn't seem rational or relatable at all, but they of course made for a great story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy - I always enjoy Sara Shepard's books!

Thanks to Netgalley & PENGUIN GROUP- Dutton for the E-ARC! I grew up with the Pretty Little Liars series, so I was excited for another book from this author. This was good! Very fast-paced & I actually liked the characters. Definitely a new favorite!

Nowhere Like Home 🏜️🌵🐍🍼🌄
by Sara Shepard
4.5/5 ✨

If you know me, you know PLL and Sara Shepard were my ish in high school. Her writing never, ever fails to disappoint and I can’t seem to put anything down that she does write. Nowhere Like Home wasn’t any different!

This was such a fun spin on the culty idea of mommunes and I was kept guessing until the very end. You’re going to think you’ve got it figured out, but you don’t! I loved the multiple perspectives; it added on another element of surprise in terms of the storytelling. If you’re a fan of Shepard’s previous work, you’ll love this one too.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this ARC!! Be sure to grab a copy of Nowhere Like Home on February 20th!! 💕

This is an interest take on cults/communes where the main character decides to join a "mommune" full of mothers where she hopes to do some healing and repair her relationship with an old friend in the community. But the community is super suspicious and has sketchy rules and as you'd expect, secrets from the past come out and the main characters true reason for being there is revealed.

I should've known from the whole "mommune" thing that this wasn't going to be the type of story to click with me but it's Sara Shepard so I wanted to give it a try regardless. I think this could've worked better if the pacing didn't seem to drag at so many moments. I never got invested enough in Lenna, the side characters, or any of the relationships going on to enjoy this story when nothing much was happening. I found myself putting it down and never having the desire to pick it back up which is not what I want when reading a thriller. I will say that the ending did pick up and there was a twist that shocked me.

Not for me but I could see this working more for people who enjoy a bit slower and suspenseful cult/motherhood/friendship stories.

I was expecting more from the author of Pretty Little Liars. Maybe that is why I found Nowhere Like Home to be mediocre. I don't know. I had a hard time getting into the story. I didn't like any of the characters. I wasn't a fan of the ending... Although, I didn't see it coming. Great suspense... No surprise there. I started showing interest in how everything would pan out when I was 30-40% into the book.

At first I really was into this book. Lenna seemed to be a real sympathetic character even if her reasons for leaving were strange. but I'm not a mother so I felt like I was missing a little in the connection here. The pacing was low and it was quite repetitive.

Sara Shepard is a stellar story teller. I do believe that she typically leans more YA which I am total ok with. Her stories are very plot driven, and this one was no exception! Another great read.

This book had me shook to my core. I loved all of Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars books so when I saw she had a new book coming out, I had to read it! The interesting “mommune” setting was something so different from everything I have read. The ending blew my mind!

I remember enjoying some of the PLL books years ago so this author was an instant request for me. I don't reach for YA anymore so I was excited to see she's writing for adults and the description was very intriguing. I blew through the first 30% of the book. The social anxiety is something I think we can all relate to now and needing to get away and have a village is what every mom really needs. Many parts of this story that just hit right. The twists were twisty, the desert setting provided the right amount of claustrophobia, children always make a thriller extra nerve-wracking. The book was super promising based on these points. Unfortunately, the villainess they revealed in the end just fell a little flat for me. While trying to come up with the ultimate twist, as Shepard is known to do, she pulls it just a bit too late out of left field. I enjoyed the read and I'm happy to find a book reminiscent of the show that I'm realizing must have induced my love of thrillers. 😊 Obviously I will have to check out her other adult books. Now to fight the urge to re-watch Pretty Little Liars... Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group for this ARC!!

I have to admit I was shocked at how young/annoying the main characters read. I read some of her PLL series a hundred years ago (okay, probably closer to...12 years) but I'm shocked at how similar the writing style and narrative feel of her writing is. This just wasn't as creepy or culty as I was expecting/hoping, and what the story actually ended up being fell flat for me. I could have done with more character development, and I wish the story had really focused in and intensified, but instead the plot just wasn't super compelling for me. It was fun revisiting and author I used to devour as a young teen, but her adult work just doesn't seem to be for me.

Lenna is in the fog of new motherhood, with a baby boy who hardly sleeps and seems to cry constantly. She hasn’t heard from her friend Rhiannon in over two years, but when Rhiannon gets in touch out of the blue and asks Lenna to come visit her, Lenna jumps at the chance. Rhiannon lives in a “mommune” – a cooperative group of women and their children living together off the grid. Lenna feels alone and isolated in her regular life; she’s longing for the type of village the community provides to mothers. But the longer she’s there, the more she suspects that the community is more sinister than it seems.

This thriller has so many things that I love: toxic female friendships, new motherhood, and cultish vibes, so it should have been right up my alley. The writing is solid and the characters’ backstories are interesting, but ultimately it just didn’t quite work for me. The way that these grown women fell headfirst into deep friendships and obsessions seemed very immature, and some of their actions just didn’t ring true. Who takes their infant to an isolated compound deep in the desert just because an estranged friend called – and doesn’t even talk it over with her husband? Just leaves a note and sneaks out? Unfortunately, I couldn’t suspend disbelief enough to stay immersed in the story.

Even though this book wasn’t for me, I thought it had a great premise and served up some twisty twists in the end, so if you are better at rolling with some implausibility than I was, definitely give it a read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for providing me an advance copy of this book.

This is my first book by Sara Shepard. I never read or watched Pretty Little Liars so I had no idea of the author's writing style. I thought the premise of this book sounded interesting, a mommune, cult-like experience. I felt that the 3 main characters were quite annoying and very immature for their age. I stuck with it to see what the outcome would be but I don't think I will be picking up anything from the author again.