Nowhere Like Home is the first book for adults that I’ve read by Sara Shepard. I’ve been a huge fan of her Pretty Little Liars series since high school. PLL was one of the series that inspired me to write YA thrillers. I was lucky enough to receive an eBook ARC from NetGalley. Thank you to the author and publisher for the free copy.

In this book, the main character, Lenna, is invited to a “mommune” called Halcyon by her old friend Rhiannon. Lenna is overwhelmed with her new life as a wife and mom of a newborn, so she decides to go.

As Lenna gets to know the other women and has flashbacks about her friendship with Rhiannon, the puzzle pieces begin to connect for the reader.

This thriller was so compelling that I didn’t want to put it down. I highly recommend it! I’ll definitely be reading Shepard’s other books.

Nowhere Like Home is available for purchase on February 20, so pre-order it now!

This book started out with so much potential. I really was reading it and thinking, “man I haven’t read anything like this before. “
Then it just got kind of weird and twist. I didn’t hate it, but I can’t say I loved it either.
The book mostly follows Lenna (however there are two other POVs). I’m nervous to go into too much a synopsis so I don’t ruin anything. But basically this is a tale of friendships gone wrong and communes.
It’s was an interesting read for sure. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

As this story goes back and forth between 2 years ago and now, you are able to slowly put together this twisty tale. Definitely a surprise ending!

Honestly I didn't finish it. I was so confused with all the back and forth between tense and characters. It drug on forever and just didn't grab my attention.

So many secrets equals lots of drama in this story.
In this book, you follow Lenna and her story flips from present and past. However, it doesn't get confusing the way that it is written.
Lenna gets a call from her old friend, Rhiannon. She's surprised that she called her because she disappeared years ago. She's also surprised to learn that she has a son.
Rhiannon lives in an all women community that is off the grid. She invites Lenna to come visit them. Lenna decides to go because she's a fairly new mother whose baby cries a lot and she feels like a change will help her. She also goes because she hopes to repair her relationship with Rhiannon.
As they drive to the desert and her cell service gets weaker, she starts to wonder if she made the right choice. A padlock gate with a code and being in the middle of nowhere has her trapped.
She stars wondering if she made the right choice. She's also worried that secrets from her past will come out.
I really enjoyed this book and I liked the way it all came together in the end.

DNF @ 50%

This takes no new friends to a whole new level.

I was initially drawn to this because of the cult/commune aspect and I was excited when anxiety and mental health was talked about in the beginning. But it quickly became clear that anxiety was just a crutch to blame the unhinged behavior of some of the characters on. It was also a bit repetitive and I only made it to the 50% point.

Thank you Netgalley and Dutton for providing this ARC to me!

This book had an interesting concept based off of a cult-like environment called a "mommune", which is a great concept for single women, who want to thrive and not need to be in a relationship. Sara Shepard has two different times that allow for backstory for the characters and current events that they are dealing with.

Lenna and Rhiannon started their friendship rather quickly and become major parts of the other's lives until it slowly begins to unravel and events lead to mistakes that continue to haunt both women. Due to Lenna's past mistakes she is not able to live her life with her husband and new baby so when her old friend reappears and wants to fix their relationship it's all Lenna can think about. She decides to leave her husband with their child and look at this "mommune" and see if this solves all her issues.

When she gets there it begins to show that there is something wrong with the commune and all the women that reside within. Lenna can't figure out why it feels wrong but begins to be suspicious of why she was brought to the commune.

Shepard shows her ability in creating twists and turns within a story that lead to an overall understanding of why things happened. This story looks at the complicated relationship between friends and the trauma that can affect those relationships especially into adulthood.

This parts that I found difficult to completely love this book was the lack of connection with the characters, and these full adult also behave like young adults. I struggled with this aspect since the beginning of their relationship and behaviors seemed to be high school-esque, but they are supposed to be working women.

I am excited to see what she writes next and how much more Sara Shepard will grow as a writer as she continues to write adult thrillers. I love seeing authors, who I read in my youth, moving up in the age categories to grow themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the early review copy!

I received a gifted galley of NOWHERE LIKE HOME by Sara Shepard for an honest review. Thank you to Dutton, PRHAudio, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

NOWHERE LIKE HOME follows Lenna, a young mother who is struggling with a fussy baby, an unsure future with the baby’s father, anxiety, and guilt. Her old friend Rhiannon reaches out to her after she had suddenly disappeared from Lenna’s life a couple years back. Rhiannon now has a son of her own and she lives in a commune of women completely off the grid.

Lenna needs a change in her life, so she accepts Rhiannon’s offer to visit. The commune of women seems welcoming, but the locked gate with an unknown code, the remote location in the middle of the desert, and some strange occurrences quickly raise Lenna’s suspicions. Still, she also has secrets and a need to unburden herself to repair the relationship with her old friend.

I didn’t know much about this book going into it, but I enjoyed Sara Shepard’s thrillers in the past, so I was excited to check this one out. It promised complicated friendships and big twists and it did deliver. We are following Lenna in the present and the past, learning about how she and Rhiannon met and how they separated all those years ago. We are also getting snippets from a third woman sharing her interactions with the main characters on an online forum which provides an interesting different perspective on what we’re reading.

I didn’t especially like any of the characters right off the bat, but that didn’t make them any less interesting to read about. There were plenty of moments where I got frustrated with the decisions the characters were making while appreciating that them getting themselves into awkward situations made for a more interesting read.

Overall this book took me a bit to get into as it slowed down a bit after the really strong prologue, but it did keep calling me to pick it back up. Once the action really starts, then it was hard to put down. The author does well at peppering in hints about what is really going on beneath the surface to up the intrigue and there were some twists I didn’t see coming which I really appreciated.

I had a lot of trouble getting into this, it just could not keep my attention. The storyline was a bit confusing because of the back and forth time lines and the fact that I kept putting it down from disinterest. I wanted to love this but it just wasn’t there for me.

This was one of the better thrillers that I've read in a long time. I had no idea where this story was going most of the time. There were times I hated all the characters, and then later I felt sorry for the character I previously hated. In true Pretty Little Liars fashion, I never knew who to point the finger at! I thought I had figured this out several times but was wrong every time. This was a well rounded story from start to finish. I always really enjoy when a story wraps up nicely in the end.

3.5 stars
Lenna is struggling with motherhood and takes up an offer to visit a now distant friend in a mother’s only commune, however her visit turns out to be anything but relaxing. Told from multiple points of view and a timeline of now/two years past, this thriller delves into issues such as social anxiety, motherhood and navigating friendships. I did not see the shocking thriller final twist coming, which was a welcome surprise.
This cover of this book is phenomenal! The play between the cool tones of the room and warm tones of the desert sky coupled with the sinister and ominous snake. Love it!

If there is one thing I can count on when it comes to Sara Shepard books it's that I am going to be totally invested in all the drama and twists and turns. NOWHERE LIKE HOME fully delivers all the best Shepard-isms that I need in books like this. It's got culty commune realness, issues with motherhood from all levels and layers, and some of the most toxic, manipulative, stress-inducing, gaslighting "friends" I have ever encountered. People just need to either not make friends in their 30s+ OR, better yet, just not tell straight up lies, act like 15 year olds, and be honest about who they even are and what their agendas are... like... LOL! Anyway... this book had me screaming and going off... and the finale was definitely a twist I never saw coming! It was really interesting to me, too, how Shepard did use the multi-narrative alongside the multi-time period when telling this story... sometimes, especially lately, it has not been used correctly and adds to the confusion of a story. But Shepard nailed it... and I also loved how there were random IG posts scattered throughout with comments, etc that really helped bring to light some of the extreme absurdity and toxicity to one of the characters. YIKES!

Great book!

I saw multiple bad reviews when I first requested them ARC, but I still decided to give it a chance. Readers, I should have listened to them.

I admit to being intrigued in the first half of the book, with its themes about female friendships and mental illness. But then it took a turn for the worse. This book read like a bad lifetime movie, and that’s being kind. I have read many a twisty thriller and they can and have been done well. I can’t say the same for this book
The characters were underdeveloped, the plot was contradictory, convoluted, and completely unbelievable, there were scenes that outright made no sense whatsoever, people argued and made dumb decisions instead of calling for help, there were too many words italicized for emphasis, and the villain explained their whole scheme to their captives (because that totally happens IRL and is my biggest pet peeve). I have read the author’s Pretty Little Liar series but did outgrow them after awhile, and it appears her writing style hasn’t matured either. This felt like an adult PLL book, in the worst way.

Also, did I miss what happened to the dog after the scene in the cave? If they didn’t save it then I’m giving this another negative 100 stars

I initially gravitated toward this one because I liked the cult premise and I hadn’t read any books centered around a “mommune”. It was a bit of a slow burn, which can be a hit or miss for me because I tend to read more fast paced thrillers. Even with that said, it still held my attention to the end. I did enjoy the past and present timelines and the themes of friendship and betrayal. Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with these characters and the choices they made. It was hard at times to believe they were women in their 20s. I think the book would be better suited for younger audiences.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC!

This was the first book I've read by Sara Shepard but have heard great things about Pretty Little Liars, so I was excited to read Nowhere Like Home. This book was nothing like I expected but in a good way. It's split into three parts and jumps back and forth in time between the viewpoints of 3 different women, all with one one woman in common. This book kept me guessing up until the very end and really picked up about halfway through. The first part is a but of a slower burn. Great book!

I’m a huge fan of Pretty Little Liars and it really shaped my formative years so of course I jumped at the chance to read Sara’s newest book. Nowhere Like Home is an addicting read about toxic friendships. At times I was very confused and trying to understand what was going on but the more you read the more the mystery starts clearing up. I couldn’t put this book down whatsoever.

Sara Shepard is a bit of a hit or miss for me, and this was right in the middle. An unhappy mother runs into an old friend and decides to take a chance living in a women owned and operated commune in the dessert. What she doesn't realize is that many here have a secret; and someone wants her there for a reason. A bit farfetched, but with some interesting plot points, this was one just okay.

This book has soooo much….mystery, deceit, dangerous friendships, and a questionable commune! I found myself not quite able to put the book down, because I had no clue where it was going. Very twisty and suspenseful!

4 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.


Lenna has always struggled to have friends. So when she makes friends with a woman in a dressing room, of all places, she is determined to keep her. Rhiannon is so much fun. She’s a dedicated friend who wants the best for Leona, right? But then one day Rhiannon simply disappears back to Oregon without a word leaving Lenna behind.

Meanwhile life goes on for Lenna and Rhiannon. Crazy things happen in Lenna’s life and one day Rhiannon reappears. She reappears with a request that Lenna come spend some time in the women’s commune in which Rhiannon lives. Lenna agrees to go to try to find peace and repair their relationship.

This commune seems like the ideal, though kind of weird. The women are all very different, and asking about their backstories is not acceptable. Lenna starts to learn bits and pieces about the other women. Contact with the outside world is almost forbidden. While there are amazing things about living with a group of women who are accepting and welcoming, there is also something suspicious about the facility. When one of the residents returns, and Lenna realizes that she’s someone from her hidden past, Lenna begins to suspect that there is more to the story.

Twists and turns abound in this mysterious thriller. Crazy friendships. Secrets galore. Unhinged women. It’s great. Well written and a super fun read. Sara Shepard is known for her crazy characters and stories, and this one is great.

Many thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is such a suspenseful, twisted, mysterious, slowburn, cultish read full of secrets, mystery and murder from an all female cast. First we have a codependent friendship of Lenna and Rhiannon that borders upon love or infatuation between the 2. They have know each other for awhile, and even work together. But after Rhiannon disappears and Lenna experiences a traumatic event (Gillian's sudden death), both womens fall out of touch. When we catch up with the 2 a few years later, Rhiannon is recruiting Lenna to join the mom-mune with her and its very tempting to Lenna who has found herself in a confusing marriage with a child that cries nonstop.

Gillian who suffers from social anxiety and other mental illnesses, obsesses about the friendship of L&R, and goes so far as to stalk of the 2 womens at work and during their off hours looking for a way in. Gillian, in her desperation, finally does break into the L&R relationship when Rhiannon disappears using the tried and true, divide and conquer.

Sadie is Gillian's roomate. Sadie, having fallen victim to Gillian's manipulations, allows Gillian to live with her rent free until she can get back on her feet. However, after a few months, Sadie sees that Gillian has been lying about her work, life and friends. The friendship has run its course and Gillian's days are numbered before Sadie will kick her out. And then Gillian is suddenly killed, which both Sadie and Lenna witness.

When Rhiannon brings in Lenna to the mom-mune (commune - no men and mostly moms) in the middle of the desert to escape the stress of life, everything starts to unravel.

A lot of reviewers have tried to compare this story to "Pretty Little Liars" by this author but I think that is unfair. I believe that this is just as dark, twisty, and atmospheric of a tale but different enough that it should stand on it own merits.

If you like mean girls with a touch of crazy thrown in, you will want to read this when it comes hout!

Highly Recommend!!