Our House
My thanks to #NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review. Our House is told from the viewpoints of Fiona and Bram Lawson, a married-but-separated couple. The format of the storytelling is alternating between Fiona’s tale in the form of a podcast and Bram’s in what appears to be a word document. The story unfolds slowly then explodes into a furious bag of lies that throws everyone into turmoil. Fiona and Bram are experimenting with a “bird’s nest” agreement where the children stay in the home and the parents alternate staying with them. This custody arrangement gives the parents a little freedom to explore their own pursuits in a shared apartment. This civil arrangement seems to be going just fine until the day Fi comes home for her switch to find strangers moving into the house. Where are the kids? Where is her furniture? Where is Bram? Who are these people who say they just bought her house?? In the end, Fi discovers nothing is what she thought it was, and her idyllic life completely falls apart. This is one not to be missed.

Fiona (Fi) Lawson and her husband Bram have separated but are trying a “Bird’s Nest” custody agreement in order to have shared parenting of their two boys. One parent is at an apartment while the other parent has their time with the kids at their enviable home in a well-known suburb. This way the kids are always at the house and the effort for stability is enforced as each parent takes turns between the house and the apartment. They try their best to keep everything together in a civil manner for the kids. That is until everything fell apart.

One day Fi comes to the house for her turn with the kids but someone else is moving into her house and her husband and children are nowhere to be found. How can everything turn upside down in an instant? When the rug gets pulled out from under you by those you trust.

This story is told through alternating perspectives between Fi in a podcast transcript format and Bram in a Word document. It was a unique way to read a story that I had not experienced before but once I got used to it, I enjoyed it. I honestly can’t decide if I liked the comments that were added at the end of each segment of Fi’s podcast with usernames and comments but they did eventually grow on me as the comments became funnier. It kind of reminded me of the comedian Jim Gaffigan and how he imitates what he thinks the audience thinks of him during his skits. It also reminded me somewhat of Shakespeare’s use of the chorus as a character in some of his plays.

Although some of the surprises were predictable, there is so much going on as the complex plot builds that it is almost a relief to have the main character, Fi, discover these secrets. The storyline accelerates as the pieces begin to fit together so, as a warning to my fellow readers, it is increasingly harder to put down the further into it you get. This is a twofold story about loyalty: between spouses and between friends. A balance between renewed faith and betrayal. I highly recommend it for adult readers that enjoy a thrilling plot and betrayal.

For those who may be sensitive/triggered: there are themes of violence, murder, road rage, manipulation, fraud, adultery, sexually suggestive scenarios (mild), bullying, suicide, and alcohol abuse.

Please note: an electronic ARC copy of this novel was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Our House. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

After separating, Fiona and Bram Lawson have been coparenting their two sons, with one parent staying in an apartment nearby. Fiona's life is thrown into a tailspin when she arrives home to find that her home has been sold without her permission. With Bram nowhere to be found, Fiona must rely on her friends and her own instincts to figure out what is happening.

The author did a real disservice to the story by inserting some of Fiona's perspective as a series of posts. Instead of letting the suspense build naturally, the flow abruptly stops to give Fiona's view. Certain aspects of the plot seemed to exist only to move the story along and did not seem believable. Bram was way better at deception than some spies, which did not ring true to me. Fiona did not seem like an oblivious person, yet the plot points in that direction. There were a couple of good twists, but it was simply not enough to elevate Our House to a four star rating. Our House represents a missed opportunity for the author to tell an engrossing story, with the tense moments that suspense can provide. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend the novel to other readers.

I loved the premise of Louise Candlish's new novel Our House.

Our home is our sanctuary, a place you've made your own. What would you do if you came home to find a moving van? Not moving your stuff out - but moving another family in. A family that has what looks to be legitimate papers proving they've bought your house. That's what happens to Fiona Lawson and her estranged husband Bram.

Oh, there are so many possibilities as to where this scenario could go! Candlish unfolds her story in an epistolary format, with Fiona's plight being recounted on a victims of crime podcast. I enjoyed the addition of comments from viewers. Bram's narrative is revealed through a word document he is writing. With the two stories running parallel, the reader is privy to what is happening and has happened to both Fiona Bram.

Despite being the 'victim', I wasn't firmly in Fiona's corner. I thought she made some questionable decisions. And her 'house proud' attitude rubbed me the wrong way. But hey, it's those choices and developments that drew me deeper into the story and ramped up the tension. Bram? Well, I didn't even have a smidgen of sympathy for him at all - until the last quarter of the book. I had pretty much decided how things were going to end - and then Candlish threw in a last twist and turn in the final pages. A really good one that there was no way of predicting.

Our House was a great read for me and I look forward to Candlish's next book.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
This book starts out really low key. It is well written enough that I kept reading, thinking I was having a break from high tension and having a light hearted easy read. Was I wrong! The plot slowly develops along with the characters until the end where you are hit in the head with an amazing surprise. The middle of the book was tedious but it meandered forward. Interesting and unusual plot which probably wouldn't happen in real life, but that's okay.

The dual his-and-her voices telling this story drew me in immediately—even as I came to question their decisions, their motives, their priorities, and even whether I was truly rooting them on in spite of it all. This is a book in which there truly is no good guy, no hero that I can think of. And yet I finished this days ago and still haven't quite let go of thinking about the ending and its chilling implications. I'll certainly be looking for more from Louise Candlish.

I loved the concept of this book - the idea of coming home to find someone else already moved right into your house. While it isn't necessarily believable, it seemed fun so I kept reading. as this is exactly what just happened to Fiona Lawson.

Fiona’s shocking realization only gets worse as she tries but is unable to reach her estranged husband, Bram because he seems to be missing and his phone is shut off. Bram and Fiona are separated but they maintain a custody situation in that one of them stays with the children in the house on different days through out the week while the other stays at an apartment.

Our House is told in alternating timelines and points of view. While, as I stated above, the story isn't actually believable, but the story was well written and I enjoyed it all the way through the end. I found the characters to be developed.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book. Opinions are my own.

I kept having to put down this book because it couldn't hold my interest. after several weeks I finally got through it. The premise of pod casts bore me....to much like reality TV. The story line seemed to choppy and the plot unrealistic. I really wanted to like it...and I kept at it. But it just wasn't there for me

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy.

Imagine you love your home, you've labored over every detail, and when you come home from holiday your husband and kids are missing and someone else 's family into your home. What do you do, where could they have gone? This book domestic thriller started off as a page turner, I need to know what happened now! Towards the mild of the book there was to much of what felt like just extra stuff that didn't need to be there. It did picked back up for the ending.

OUR HOUSE by Louise Candlish immediately drew me in; imagine coming home from a weekend away to see another couple moving into your house. This is exactly what happened to Fiona Lawson in this well written, engrossing novel.

Fi shares custody of her two sons and their house with her estranged husband Bram; though Bram tries to be an upstanding citizen and good husband he fails miserably on both accounts. The succession of pitfalls that Bram incurs are easy to imagine, a domino effect he loses control of.

Fiona has no idea what’s going on., she can’t find Bram, she can't find her children and she has no idea why this young couple insist they own her house.

An interesting and totally unique read. The story is told in alternating perspectives which doesn't always work but Ms. Candlish is a matter at the technique. Aside from the perspective of Fiona and Bram we also are privvy to a podcast of Fi telling her story and I enjoyed reading the viewpoints of the listeners for another perspective.

There are few great twists in the book and everything is nicely wrapped up in the end. "Our House" was a well-written,captivating domestic suspense novel; I will eagerly anticipate Ms. Candlish's next novel.

So, if you’re looking for an addictively disturbing read that weaves the perfect tale of deceitful secrets… this is the book for you!
How incredibly crazy would it be to come home one day to find a new family moving into your house! Obviously a grave mistake on someone’s part. Surely your husband will sort it out when you speak with him. Ha! Fat chance… Fiona Lawson, aka Fi, is living a huge, big, fat, lie! But unfortunately for her… she hasn’t a clue.
Bram on the other hand, Fi’s husband, was guilty once of infidelity. I guess forgiving and forgetting was Fi’s first mistake. Once a cheater, always a cheater! Well things spiral from bad to worse as she realized the tangled mess Bram has gotten himself into and subsequently dragged his entire family through.
I can’t say how much I loved this book enough so if you’ve liked our reviews in the past, go out and get it! You will be utterly mystified at the level of lying, cheating, deceitful behavior of these cast of characters! Not everyone is who them seem to be either!

Mystery
Adult
Fiona Lawson arrives at her London home to discover complete strangers in the process of moving in. They say they’ve just bought it from Fiona and her husband Bram – the estranged husband whose mobile is now out of service. And Fiona absolutely did not sell her home. This books starts out with a wallop and never stops – honestly, it’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I felt quite literally ill at times, just imagining the pain and heartbreak this family is going through as Bram tries to cover up his wrongdoings and finds himself in ever deeper trouble. The story opens in January with the house dispute, then jumps forward a couple of months as Fiona is telling her story via a podcast called The Victim. (Each episode ends with a couple of snippy comments – love it!) There’s also a word document from Bram, emailed from France just before he is to commit suicide. Thus the reader knows more than Fi does, a situation that frequently leads to confusion, but also adds a growing tension and sense of impending doom for the Lawson family, though this really is more about the couple than the family. Bram is a liar, a philanderer and, most importantly in this book, a terrible driver who ignores a driving ban because he can’t tell his wife the truth about anything. Neither Bram nor Fi is in the least bit sympathetic as characters, but the catastrophes befalling them are irresistible – just when you think it couldn’t get worse, it does. Right to the very last page. I am not kidding about the nausea. But I kept reading, driven by a kind of high-octane schadenfreude, I suppose. Reminiscent of Gone Girl, this is the latest bit of contemporary fiction best described as British middle-class chaos – The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, etc. I don’t know Candlish, though she is a well established British author; based on this, I’m not likely to look for any more of her work. The tension-building is awesome, but after it’s done I’m a bit ashamed of having devoured it, and wish I’d chosen something more wholesome. My thanks to Berkley Publishing for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35924499

When fortyish Londoner Fiona Lawson catches her handsome husband Bram with another woman, in the children's playhouse no less, that's it! This is Bram's second offense, and divorce is the only answer. Fiona is a modern woman, though, and proposes a 'bird's nest' custody arrangement. In this plan, the kids - Leo and Harry -remain in the family home, and the parents take turns living there. On 'off days' the non-resident parent retires to a small apartment nearby, rented for that purpose.

Fiona is mainly concerned with the children's welfare, but that's not the whole story. The Lawsons own an elegant home on ritzy Trinity Avenue, where the houses are worth upwards of £2,000,000 -and Fiona LOVES her house: the furniture, accessories, garden, magnolia tree.....everything. Moreover, Fiona wants to retain her status, her friends, and her lifestyle. Since Fiona can't afford to buy Brad out of the property, the bird's nest plan is a good alternative.

The shared custody of the house (and boys) seems to be working well until Fiona returns from a brief getaway with her new boyfriend and observes a shocking sight. 😵 A moving van is parked in front of her abode, and workmen are carrying furniture inside. Fiona rushes into the house to find that ALL of her possessions are gone, and a married couple she's never met, Lucy and David Vaughan, claim to be the new owners. What the hell? 😣

Fiona tries to call Bram, but there's no answer, and she can't locate him anywhere. Worse yet, when Fiona phones Leo and Harry's school, they're not there.

Before long Fiona learns that Bram has indeed sold the house. He masked the takeover from nosy neighbors by spreading the word that he was redecorating as a surprise for Fiona.....presumably in an attempt to win her back. Fiona was away for only a short time, so Bram had to empty the entire house in a single day - to allow the Vaughans to take ownership before Fiona returned.

(I have to say this doesn't remotely ring true. I had professional movers when I relocated - who packed and moved everything - and the packing alone took a week. And my house wasn't nearly as grand as the Lawson place.)

The story is related in dual narratives, by Fiona and Bram. From their discourse, we get a glimpse of the couple's courtship, marriage, estrangement, and what happened after that.

Fiona's tale is presented (mostly) as an interview on a true crime podcast called 'The Victim', which exposes wrongdoing as a warning to the general public....in this case, real estate fraud. The podcast is accompanied by sardonic tweets from interested listeners about Fiona's misplaced trust and naivety. Fiona was certainly inattentive and distracted - and overly besotted with her house - but I felt sympathy for her plight.

Bram's story is contained in a letter that explains his actions and what led up to them. Bram is a REAL piece of work - supremely self-centered and craven. To say more would be a spoiler.

The novel has an engaging plot, interesting characters, and surprising twists. For me, though, the story moved too slowly and the drip by drip revelations made me want to skip ahead. I didn't, however, which is a good thing because the book's ending is a corker. The word 'ironic' in the dictionary should be accompanied by the finale of this book.

Overall, I think many readers would enjoy this cautionary tale, and I'd recommend the book to fans of suspense novels.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Louise Candlish), and the publisher (Berkley) for a copy of the book.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I waited to write this review, because I needed to let this book sink in. Our House, by Louise Candlish, isn’t a bad book. But it’s not always a great book, either. In a sea of suspense/thrillers that all involve multiple points of view and an unreliable narrator, this book is too long and doesn’t use the alternating narratives to develop new ideas - instead, we get two or three accounts of each event that are roughly the same.

While it took me weeks of picking up and putting down this book, I did tear through the ending. Some of the twists landed well, including the final pages. Others seemed obvious and made me wonder why the author spent so much time to get there. But the book ultimately redeemed itself and earned an additional star from the two stars I intended to award.

So, if you're looking for an addictively disturbing read that weaves the perfect tale of deceitful secrets... this is the book for you! 
How incredibly crazy would it be to come home one day to find a new family moving into your house! Obviously a grave mistake on someone's part. Surely your husband will sort it out when you speak with him. Ha! Fat chance... Fiona Lawson, aka Fi, is living a huge, big, fat, lie! But unfortunately for her... she hasn't a clue. 
Bram on the other hand, Fi's husband, was guilty once of infidelity. I guess forgiving and forgetting was Fi's first mistake. Once a cheater, always a cheater! Well things spiral from bad to worse as she realized the tangled mess Bram has gotten himself into and subsequently dragged his entire family through. 
I can't say how much I loved this book enough so if you've liked our reviews in the past, go out and get it! You will be utterly mystified at the level of lying, cheating, deceitful behavior of these cast of characters! Not everyone is who them seem to be either! Tsk, tsk... 
5 huge stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to Louise Candlish for writing this twisted tale of addictive suspense!

This is another book thats been all over my Instagram for the last month or so. I was approached a few months ago to read it and put it on my calendar for late summer and then moved on to other books.

When it came time to read this one, I had kind of forgotten about it but then I started seeing these posts on Instagram and was like ‘OMG I need to read this book!’. Then I remembered that I was supposed to be reading this one, and soon! So I started to get excited!

There’s nothing unusual about a new family moving in at 91 Trinity Avenue. Except it’s her house. And she didn’t sell it.

When Fiona Lawson comes home to find strangers moving into her house, she’s sure there’s been a mistake. She and her estranged husband, Bram, have a modern coparenting arrangement: bird’s nest custody, where each parent spends a few nights a week with their two sons at the prized family home to maintain stability for their children.

But the system built to protect their family ends up putting them in terrible jeopardy. In a domino effect of crimes and misdemeanors, the nest comes tumbling down.

Now Bram has disappeared and so have Fiona’s children. As events spiral well beyond her control, Fiona will discover just how many lies her husband was weaving and how little they truly knew each other. But Bram’s not the only one with things to hide, and some secrets are best kept to oneself, safe as houses (summary from Goodreads).

So this book is marketed as a thriller, and the cover actually kind of says domestic thriller to me so I was kind of surprised when this book wasn’t really all that thrilling. That’s not to say that it was bad—in fact I liked this book a lot, I just don’t think that it was much of a ‘thriller’. Domestic suspense—yes—-domestic thriller—-no.

The cover was what hooked me on this book. I thought there was a lot of visual interest in this cover and I liked the description of the book enough to agree to review it and so here we are.

I enjoyed this book from a mystery stand point. The premise was interesting and there were a few twists and turns that I didn’t see coming but this was a far cry from the extra dark twisted thriller that I thought I was going to be reading. That said, I still really really liked this book. The characters were believable and I felt like their actions fit with who they were as characters and they didn’t do anything over the top of completely crazy or out of characters. Fi could have easily been me or a friend of mine for something, which was why I loved the characters—-their realness.

The middle of the story got bogged down a bit, but over all I thought it mostly moved well and I was interested in the story and mystery enough to keep reading. If you like domestic mysteries similar to Big Little Lies, then you will probably enjoy this one, but if you are looking for something like The Girl on the Train, then you should probably keep looking. Overall good but not great.

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: Our House by Louise Candlish

Kindle Edition, 416 pages
Published August 7th 2018 by Berkley (first published April 5th 2018)
ASIN B075HZ82S6
Review copy provided by: publisher/author in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own
Recommendation: 3.5 out of 5

Genre: mystery, domestic suspense

Memorable lines/quotes:

Oh my — I chose this book through Net Galley and it was one of those “I can’t put it down” reads! The poor guy in this novel makes some bad choices, and instead of doing the right thing, he makes more bad choices. Meanwhile, the main female in the story, his wife Fiona, suffers the consequences and makes some bad choices herself. I kept reading and thinking, “Oh no. This is not going to turn out okay!”.
Loved the ironic twist at the end, which made me keep thinking about this book long after it was over.
My only challenge with it was that it was told in real time (omniscient narrator from each character’s point of view – Fi’s and Bram’s) and also as a podcast in Fi’s voice with listener comments that I found distracting. The timelines varied throughout, which could confuse some people. I found myself double checking the dates for each chapter so I knew where we were chronologically.
Overall, a suspenseful and satisfying read! Thanks for my e-copy!
SPOILER ALERT — I almost didn’t keep reading this book as I feared Bram had killed the children and I didn’t want any part of that, but no fear, the kids are fine – they are just at grandma’s!

This book though...what a nail biting, griping experience. Both Bram and Fi are difficult characters to love but that's sort of the point. The tension throughout the book kept me wholly unable to stop reading. I won't go into spoilers but there are plenty of new twists and turns to keep you wondering without the plot feeling stale. It's a wonderful domestic thriller. I highly recommend putting it on your to read list and I think it'll make a great book club read because there's so much to discuss.

This was such an interesting take on the domestic thriller. It just kept getting more twisty, even at the very end.

It starts out with Fiona, or Fi, as she is returning to her home after a weekend away. But when she walks up to her house she finds someone else moving in. First she tries to reason that maybe she’s looking at the wrong house or someone is playing a prank, but she soon realizes that her worst nightmare has come true. Her beautiful home that she worked so hard to buy, decorate, and keep, is now sold to someone else.

Fi and her husband Bram have been separated for a while. They had worked out a situation where they shared the home in order to make their separation easier on their children. As we get further into the story we find out that it is this separation that has started the downward spiral to where Fi now finds herself.

The story is told in three different timelines. One is the present as things are unfolding and Fi is trying to find out why her house has been sold. Another is Fi’s side of the story, after things have been figured out, as she is interviewed for a podcast. And the final timeline is Bram’s side of the story told through a final letter. This makes for an interesting set up and one that kept me engaged the entire time.

I won’t say much more because, thriller. You just need to read it for yourself!

By now you've probably read the synopsis and it grabbed you as I was captured. The premise is amazing, and the story takes off quickly. Our House is character driven and oh they are not likeable characters at all. At first I was dismayed that the character didn't seen very layered or complex, but I believe that in reality, what you see is what you get could be easily applied. I really appreciated the narration technique. The ex-wife's story is related via podcast interview, the ex-husband through written notes and responses. The pacing is uneven, the beginning quite fast, and the center sections ramble and repeat a bit. There are several twists and turns which I did not see coming, so kudos to Ms. Candlish for not telegraphing. My inters\est picked up again as the ending neared and I was not disappointed. I would read more from this innovative author. I would rate Our House a 3.5 because of the pacing/repetitiveness issue.