Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of my latest read!

Sara Shepard has had a longstanding place on my bookshelf with her popular YA series, so I was eager to dive into this newest thriller about motherhood and friendship. My review falls somewhere between 3 and 4 stars depending on how I'm feeling at the moment. The description of shady friendships, the "mommune" and not knowing who to trust immediately pulled me in, but I did find a difficult time getting behind anyone character to root for as I read. This was a quick read for me since it hit on several topics I typically enjoy, but still this book left me wanting just a bit more. I have nothing against this book but I do think it fell a bit flat for me, and am still determining if I would recommend to a friend.

Thank you, NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the copy of Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard. I thought the social media posts were really well done and realistic. The story was a little uneven, bouncing back and forth between the past and the present so quickly it was hard to keep track of, so the book seemed really long. This book touches on many issues; cults, mental health, female friendships, motherhood, and communes, but none of them were really examined deeply. It would have been better to have one or two issues that were the heart of the book and really explore them more. If you like a surprise reveal this is probably the book for you, because I had no idea how this book would end.

This book is a thriller about jealous friends, complicated friendships, and bad roommates. I think this book would appeal to a younger audience. While i did kind of enjoyed the writing style I could not connect with their characters and their actions. The writing did feel a bit amateurish. I felt the characters were not likeable at all and the conversations between them annoying. The ending I also thought was not well done.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy. This book had some twist, but there was also at times where I felt it was a little slow. Overall, it was a great book.

I did not see that coming one bit!! It was well written and the twists kept coming. At some points I did find it a little long winded but overall great story!

I have received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

I have never read a cult thriller novel that i even slightly enjoyed prior to this one so i can say that this was not a bad book. But it unfortunately failed to develop the story and execution could have been much more complex.
This was a fun read but it unfortunately wasn’t my favorite one.
3.5 stars

Social anxiety is real and this book hits it hard. I really was looking forward to falling into the depths of strong characters and plot, but this fell short. I found myself scrolling and wanting to get to the point, but it dragged on. Unfortunately, this cult read was not for me, but I greatly appreciated the ARC.

After reading this, I realized I am absolutely the type of person who would accidentally join a cult. It took me a bit to figure out what was happening, but this book was so engaging.

This was the best type of a cult thriller, depicting some yummy mommies that are up to their ears in lies and subterfuge. The perfect fall read, full of secrets and suspense!

I enjoyed this book so much! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read it.
It was full of twists and turns. Not knowing who could be trusted and believed and the main character finding herself in the midst of it all.
I believe we all suffer from social anxiety in some ways. Some more than others.

This book had promise but didn’t deliver.

It’s a moderately engaging thriller. However, the entire premise is ludicrous and the story is full of more holes than a moth eaten sock, more dead ends than a cemetery, and more red herrings than a kettle of fish.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

I’ve been a Sara Shepard fan since high school, so I knew that this would be written well. And it absolutely was, but the plot didn’t really do it for me. There was too much going on with it—there were 3 “main” POVs, plus 2 timelines, plus a mysterious cult in the current-day timeline that was full of interesting characters. Everything was tied up nicely at the end, but I found myself unsatisfied.

As a PLL fan, I went into this book with incredibly high hopes, and that may have been part of the downfall. I enjoyed the topic-cult-like commune in the middle of nowhere-but this took a long time to catch my attention and was almost a DNF. The flashbacks to different times were dull and didn’t add much to the story. However, I did enjoy the parts of the book that took place in the commune.

I’m normally drawn to books about cults, communes and motherhood. I thought this book seemed like a good fit. The problem is the book is really focused on what happened to these girls previous to motherhood. It’s about bad roommates. Crazy jealous friends. Complicated friendships. I think this would be more appealing to a young audience. I just couldn’t get interested in these 20 something’s fighting over who can be best friends. I wanted to say can’t we all get along and go to brunch. Then this really traumatic event happens when they fight over a text. Suddenly the main character has amnesia and isn’t sure what’s happened. At this point I want over this book and DNF at 50%.

Thank you netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a great read! Fast paced thriller! This kept me on the edge of my seat the whole book. I am need this sequel quick!

In true Sara Shepard fashion, Nowhere Like Home is cleverly plotted and heavily character driven.

Much of the story takes place at an off-grid women and children only commune called Halcyon. Lenna, the main character, is invited to visit her old friend Rhiannon at Halcyon, but becomes a bit leery when she realizes how truly off the grid these women live. The rules they must abide by are strict and a bit crazy. Soon after arriving, Lenna starts to believe she’s there for more than just a visit with her old friend. She wants to leave but that is proving near impossible. As secrets unfold, Lenna must get her baby and herself free from this compound.

I loved the twists, I loved the complicated friendships and I loved the ending of this book. I rate it 4 stars and recommend it to readers of thrillers and general fiction. Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC.

This book was disappointing, it was just ok, a fast read but overly long and somewhat improbable, overly dramatic. I liked that it raised the issues of social anxiety and bullying and building community. But the plot wasn't believable to me.

Thriller about friendships, lies and a cult like commune, I enjoyed the writing style but could not connect with the characters and their actions. Lenna is a young woman who suffers from OCD and anxiety. She works as a copy writer and has trouble making friends. One day she meets Rhiannon in a clothing store and is quickly taken under the outgoing woman's wing. I found their friendship to be very intense and it seemed more like high school girls rather than young working women. Most women in their 20's are involved in their careers, travel, hobbies, dating and other things besides just having a best friend. There is also a third woman named Gillian; Gillian has some mental health issues and tries to hang around Lenna and Rhiannon although they don't want to be friends with her. Gillian becomes a stalker of sorts and even clones one of the women's phones in an effort to gain control of her life.

The commune comes in a bit later and is like all the communes in books; run by an older woman with a crew cut and a hatred of the world outside. The women have to give up their money and freedom and work hard at various chores dictated by the owner. This comes into play a few years after the first section of the book when Lenna is a mother to a baby named Jacob who cries a lot and she discovers Rhiannon has moved to the commune and now has a young toddler of her own. Lenna is married but is upset that her husband doesn't seem to take a lot of interest in the baby although he does love her and does a lot for her around the house. When Lenna arrives she finds that the commune is not what she was looking for and wants to go home to her husband but not sure she can leave.

There are a lot of secrets between all of these women plus another woman named Sadie who was Gillian's roommate. All of the women lie to each other and try to hide parts of their lives and there are various betrayals. I found the very end of the story to be a bit unbelievable and again it just didn't seem like these characters were women in their 20's. . i did want to find out what would happen to Lenna but I didn't find her or any of the other characters likable. I just didn't buy her reasoning for going to the commune in the first place and her description of Rhiannon as the first real love of her life seemed silly based on their short and kind of one sided friendship.. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

This was a fast paced story. It is multiple POV and dual timeline. (2 years prior & present day) while it was intriguing and I liked the explaining of how the women's lives intertwined, it was a little much like a lifetime movie in being just unrealistic. The ending was also not great which was disappointing.....

I requested this book through Netgalley. thought this was a really great read. There's a lot of twist a turns. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen something changed. There's a few questionable characters that made the read even more interesting. I'm a fan of PLL. I thought this book was going to be similar to that series but it wasn't. I would reread it again.