As someone who loved the PLL series, I was excited to read Sara Shepard's newest "adult novel" Nowhere Like Home. Overall, I loved the plot and the setting. Sara Shepard did an excellent job of fully developing the characters -- it truly hooked me until the very end. A great way to cap out my 2023 ARCs!

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was good, so so good …it sucked me in and I couldn’t put it down. There was some less descriptive writing and dialogue that would be fitting of a YA novel, but I was able to look past that. This was on its way to 4.5 stars (lost points for the writing)…. But the ending, oh the ending.
While creative…the execution lost me.
Then there was the never ending epilogue of verbal information that was not imperative whatsoever.

All in all, I enjoyed this book despite what I believe to need improvement.

This one was a bit all over the place. Don’t get me wrong - it kept my attention - but the resolution as well as the chronology were a bit whack. The crazy reveal at the end felt very much in line with how absurd the reveal was at the end of the PLL liars book series; like yeah sure I guess that makes sense but cmon. If you like crazy explanations and stories of misplaced female friendship, this books for you!

Started a bit slow and confusing but when I figured out who each character was and how they related to one another, I was very into it. The concept is different from other thrillers, which I enjoyed. The whole communal life situation. Very much potential for thrills.

How desperate would you be to keep or gain a new friend? That is all that Lenna, Rhiannon, Sadie, and Gillian think about as their lives intertwine and revolve around each other. This book made me think of the Peter Gabriel song, 'Games without Frontiers'--"Rhiannon plays with Lenna, Lenna plays with Gillian, Gillian plays with Sadie, and Sadie is happy again."
Sadie and Lenna are lured to a 'women's only' commune in the desert of Arizona for new and existing mothers who just want to get away. Because, lets face it, who doesn't at that stage of your life. Believing this will be a new way to bond with their children, and share in the child rearing duties with other exhausted like-minded mothers it turns out to be just that at first. Then they find out they have something in common about their past, a past they want to keep hidden. But whoever brought them here knows what really happened and they must be punished.
So many of these characters were unlikeable and made really bad decisions when put in these circumstances. However, I went along with it as the author is very good at increasing the level of suspense as each new twist is revealed, more shocking than the last, and some not so believable. This does read like a young adult book, which some of her earlier books are. The women in the this book are in their 20s I would guess but act as if they are trying to win over the popular girl in high school. Most women that age would not go to the extent that some of these girls do, just to be back in touch with their alleged best friend. So many red flags go unseen that when the final pronouncement came, I thought 'well what did you think would happen ladies!!!'. Still a good thriller with several surprises so kept me entertained throughout.

I couldn't get into this story. I think the target audience could like it though! I was thrown off by the main character almost having my name and one of my good friend's name. The story didn't grab me. I know the author is popular for teen stories, so I wanted to give it a try. It wasn't working for me, unfortunately.

I really enjoyed this book, despite not having known much about the author beforehand. With thrillers, for me, trying out a new author can be a test of faith! I really enjoyed this book, especially given the fact I have been watching documentaries about cults, etc., recently, and this book definitely was in line with that as well. The story follows a young woman who goes to a commune to meet up with a friend who she had lost touch with. Every one of the twists was interesting, and not predictable in the least, and was very well written. As someone who enjoys thrillers, this was not at all formulaic, and I felt the writing was fresh and the characters relatable. I would highly recommend this book to someone looking for a really fast read [even though it was not a short book!].

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks for the review copy. This mom community was very interesting. This book is centered on friendship and trauma. Shepard did an amazing job.

Lenna is running from a traumatizing event and new mom anxieties when her estranged friend Rhiannon invites her to visit a commune. The women she meets there all have a troubling past and the commune is said to have healing magic. After a couple days Lena find herself questioning her friends motive for bringing her there.

Plot twists, multiple POV, toxic relationships and lies. I enjoyed reading this book.

#netgalley

I had a really hard time getting into this novel. I was really more interested in reading more about the cult / woman's commune, but this book fell kinda short on delivering that. This was more focused on toxic friendships, jealousy, and mental health. Overall, it was just OK to me. I feel like it was more targeted for younger readers and that's probably why it just was not one of my favorites. I did enjoy the plot twist at the end. Unfortunately, I do not recommend this one.

Thank you for this opportunity NetGalley!
I may be one of the only people on this page who hasn't read or watched Pretty Little Liars, so I came into Sara Shepard completely blind.
I enjoyed this. Told in alternating now and then timelines and 3 total POVS, this follows Lenna as she goes to a woman's commune to attempt to run away from a huge mistake in her past. You meet a cast of women who are at this commune including her best friend, Rhiannon, who never really has clear motives. Lenna is really well written: you can feel her anxiety bleed into the pages, and the author does a great job of keeping you guessing what happened in her past. Rhiannon is also really well done: before you get her POV characters you are truly guessing who she is and what she is doing. Add in a mystery with a missing woman, weird happenings at the commune, a stalker, and you've got a pretty good mystery/thriller on your hands.
I gave this 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4) because I did truly enjoy it: I found myself coming back really quickly. I didn't love Sarah/Sadie's point of view: I think I could have used more Rhiannon / Lenna, or even a point of view from Gillian, but it was still good overall.

Ok… you got my attention👀
This book is twisty and fun to read, it was also a quick read for me. As soon I started I had to finish to find out what happens next.
The characters were well developed and it was a wild read. Friendship issues, drama, tension, dark secrets, a good thriller package and very enjoyable.

Thank you @isabelrosedas @netgalley @duttonbooks for the invitation to access this book early for an exchange for my honest review.
Coming out 02/20/24

Loved It and couldn’t put this one down!!

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC of this new thriller from the author of the Pretty Little Liars series.

This is fresh, timely, and kept me up reading past my bedtime more than one evening.

Exploring complicated friendships, the lies we tell to fit in or hide the things we like the least about ourselves, this book makes you feel for each of the characters and the journey they are on. Even those who end up being the villains or have done things that are beyond the pale, you find compassion for due to their backstory and motivations.

Preorder a copy today because this should be on your TBR for February.

I really enjoyed this book. Read it in 2 days. I thought it was a different plot and I enjoyed the story line and characters. It pulled me in and I just wanted to keep reading.

3.25 stars

This new novel NOWHERE LIKE HOME by Sara Shepard is categorized as a thriller, but it comes across as overly long and not suspenseful - at least to me. I know Shepard wrote the young adult PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, and I've read at least one or two in that series. It did get a TV adaptation that I didn't watch, but I seem to recall that involved zany, soap opera-like plotlines.

Anyway, back to this one. The characters in this are fairly young (early 20s), so I'd say this is more of a new adult novel. The dialogue and plot lines might be tedious for people in their 40s or older. That's a likely holdover from Shepard's YA specialty.

What I did appreciate in this novel was that, while the characters were young, men didn't feature in the vast majority of the book. Women were bickering, but not really about men. This passes the Bechdel test! That part was refreshing. It did introduce a "mommune" (commune of moms), which was an interesting concept. However, it didn't delve enough in it to be immersed or fully capture what it's like to live in this mommune. I think the novel had some interesting things to say about friendship, but that didn't come into play until very late in the book.

The plot mainly focuses on the quasi-friendship among four women two years ago and today. Lenna is the main character, and she met Rhiannon at work. Lenna also met Gillian, who works in the same office building and struggles with social anxiety. Gillian basically is living at Sadie's house. I could never understand why Sadie, a doctor, is letting Gillian live with her when she doesn't seem to like her very much. Gillian gives out some creepy, manipulative vibes for sure under the anxiety facade. It was interesting to see her social media posts, which is how she wants others to see her.

As I said above, this novel is drawn out and I thought leaned more into tedious territory than a page turning thriller. There was a final action scene that did have that "grand finale" feel, but other than that the book plodded along at a slower pace than you'd expect for a thriller. There were some redeeming features, but I'm not sure it's going to hit its target thriller audience like the author and publisher might think.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lenna and Rhiannon have a history, and some parts aren’t worth reminiscing about. They also had a common friend, Gillian, who fell to her death while hiking. They’ve been estranged from one another for years, when suddenly Lenna gets a call from Rhiannon asking to meet.
The end result: Leena takes her baby, who is colicky, ignoring that she's showing all the symptoms of postpartum depression, and travels across the country to visit a new age home for mothers.
Getting the reader to this point in the book is a little slow and scattered, but once Leena gets to the compound, the tense reading speed shifts to high gear.It’s clear that something isn’t quite right with the group home. It’s isolated, fenced-in, no phones allowed and absolutely no visitors. Leena quickly begins efforts to return home, but undoing what she’s agreed to isn’t so simple.
As the various residents display odd and unusual behavior, the tension grows to a fever pitch.
I enjoyed the character building, the atmosphere in a roasting desert, and the twisty ending. Ms. Shepard never fails to entertain with her tales of scheming, sneaky young women.
Thanks so much to Penguin Group- Dutton for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is February 20, 2024.

This was just okay. The writing was good and easy to read. There were some good twists, but I felt like I knew where the story was going the entire time. Although I was half right, the shocking twist didn't really shock me that much. I love Shepards writing, so I will continue reading her future books. This one just didn't do it for me.

Thanks netgalley for this title. This book was a quick read for me which I love. I love reading about female friendships and how powerful they can be. It can be more meaningful than romantic relationships and stay with you forever. But friends can also damage you and make it hard to trust anyone. This book had both of those. The ending was a little odd when you find out who’s behind everything. They are overly protective of someone they don’t even know. It wasn’t how I imagined book to end.

Give me a cult or commune thriller and I'm immediately in. Lenna has had a lot of struggles with friendship. When her old friend, Rhiannon reaches out to her with life news, Lenna feels obligated to see for herself. A commune for women and children only, no men. What could possibly go wrong. When Lenna finds out she shares a connection to another member though, things take a turn for the worse. Is it a set up or could her worst fear come back to life?

This was a solid read. The setting was great, the main characters had flaws that made you feel for them. There were quite a few names in the story though, most of the women at the commune. Sara writes a quick book, grabs your attention and keeps you hooked. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

I loved this book! As someone who reads only thrillers the majority of the time, I couldn’t predict the ending of this book which I appreciate. I love a story with different view points and this was written perfectly to give you a good understanding of each perspective. Also I loved that this book focused more on female characters. I feel like in so many books a romantic love interest ends up being a huge story line no matter what the book is actually about. It was refreshing to read a book that mostly focused on female friendships and the relationship dynamics. This has me planning to revisit the PLL series (I think I’d still enjoy it as an adult!) and check out other titles by this author.