This book will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. A perfect bended family until one thing changes everything. I literally couldn't put this book down. I had been seeing this book everywhere and I'm so glad I finally got to read it. It's a book that stays with long after finishing it.

This book didn't really resonate for me. I found myself skimming through large chunks. The storyline had potential but it just ended up falling flat for me.

Thank you @atriabooks and @netgalley for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my honest review:

Many of us have heard of the boy who cried wolf. The young child who made it his daily mission to provide a false account of a wolf infiltrating the pasture where sheep grazed until one day it actually happened. HOUSE ON FIRE by Bonnie Kistler is a remake of that story, but with modern twists and turns that kept me glued to each page.

The story follows a smart Duke-bound high school senior by the name of Kip (sounds pretty affluent) who is involved in a disastrous car accident that ultimately claims the life of his little (step) sister Chrissy. Not only is he on trial for her death, but the tragedy forces a major wedge between his family. His father endures the tragedy by standing by his side while his stepmother is grieving the loss of her only daughter. They are forced to cope with two possible losses in such a short amount of time. I felt like this was the "Brady Bunch: Behind the Music" since their happily blended family sequentially ended up going through major real-life struggles.

HOUSE ON FIRE was well written and I was able to appreciate the side stories that developed throughout the main one. They weren't overbearing or hard to follow, either. Each new piece of info thrown in made the novel that much more impressive and allowed me, as the reader, to feel sorrow for each and every one of the characters involved. I felt the mother's grief, the father's desperation, and Kip's determination on each page and that alone had me craving for more when I finally made it to the thrilling conclusion.

This book blew my mind! What a powerful and emotional look into the perfect blended family until one night changes everything. Leigh is a divorce lawyer married to Pete. When Pete's son Kip and Leigh's daughter Chrissy get in car accident everything changes when Chrissy dies. Kip is smart, headed to Duke but he seems to always walk the line of trouble. When Kip changes his story of what happened and now says that Chrissy was driving Leigh doesn't believe it. Pete is willing to do anything to save Kip from prison. This leaves Leigh broken. The harrowing events that Leigh and Pete face, so do their other children. The story also take you into the lives of Leigh's clients. This was a riveting read! Just stunning! I loved it. Emotionally charge and intense. I highly recommend.

It was supposed to be like the Brady Bunch. It was like the Brady Bunch until the accident. The accident that left one child dead and the other to blame for her death.
The two Chris’s - Christopher “Kip” and Chrissy. They were so close that one night Chrissy biked to the party where Kip was to warn him of their parents’ early return from out of town. Neither should have driven the car home. But one of them did. And the repercussions were drastic and tragic.
With the death of her daughter by the hands of her stepson, how could Leigh and her husband Peter and the remaining children go on as a family.
What caught me first with this book, was the captivating cover. I loved the main premise of the book but didn’t love how everything played out. I found there were too many things going on at once, almost like separate stories and too much time was going in every direction with the different storylines. Some of it was connected but there were subplots all over and too much time was spent on them, taking away from the main storyline.
I think realistically, that the family could possibly go forward as a family but not without scars. And I don’t mean scars from the loss of Chrissy, that’s a given. It’s only natural in the case of children and stepchildren, that forgiveness and acceptance comes easier towards your natural children and in a stepchild situation, it’s easier to place blame. I think the way Leigh reacted towards Kip may be forgiven but will always be the elephant in the room. The same can be said about her relationship with Peter and how that played out.
I found some of the characters to be unlikable. It’s hard to get into a story when you can’t relate to its’ characters. I don’t mean relate as in how they reacted to the accident. I can’t imagine what Leigh was feeling. To lose a child must be the worst thing ever and any emotions she was feeling would be real. I found that I didn’t care for her as a person aside from her grief. I totally disagreed with how the trial turned out and the message it sent to Kip.
I totally disagree with the reverend’s interpretation of the acceptability of lies and had very little respect for him. It’s very convenient to interpret when lies are or aren’t acceptable and we aren’t talking little white lies. Stephen’s interpretation of who was or wasn’t hurt by a lie isn’t accurate nor is it a message a priest should be conveying as acceptable.
For the most part, I sympathized with Kip. He made some stupid decisions while trying to cope and didn’t seem to fathom the seriousness of his decisions or situations, but he is a child without years of experience to know how he should behave.
While I did enjoy reading this book, I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It had a more original storyline than a lot of books out there but I think there should have been more emphasis on that main plot instead of bringing so much attention to so many other tangents.
Thanks to the publisher and net galley who allowed me the privilege of reading and reviewing this book by sending a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a great family drama/legal thriller! I read a lot of thriller/murder history books, but I find the fast action and thrill of it all burns me out. This was a great book to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride while being completely captivated by the story. I really enjoyed the writing and hope to see more from this author!

A tense emotionally charged domestic drama with some questionable subplots.

This is a really hard book for me to review. I was completely compelled and addicted to the main storyline. BUT there were some subplots in this book that were over the top. It’s like when somebody puts too much salt on your french fries. I mean french fries are the best, right? I am perfectly fine with just a little salt, but if you overdo the salt they become really unpalatable. However, that is not the fault of the french fry it is the fault of the salt. SO in this book I really enjoyed the french fries, but not the salt. The problem is it’s hard to separate the salt from the french fries, and you can’t dip a book in ranch!🙃

The main storyline is about a blended family and how they handle and are impacted by a terrible tragedy. Leigh and Pete are coming home early from an anniversary getaway when they get the call. Pete’s son Kip and Lee’s daughter Chrissy have been in an accident, and Kip has been charged with drunk driving. The next day Chrissy is rushed to the hospital where she dies of a brain embolism, and Kip is charge with manslaughter. Leigh is tremendously supportive of Pete and Kip until the story changes and Kip claims that Chrissy was driving. I was so compelled by the story putting myself in both Leigh and Pete’s positions. As a mother I completely understood Leigh was completely distraught. But Pete understandably needs to stand by his child. I felt as though the book portrayed a very real and honest look at grief and conflict. The court case was intriguing and I was keeping my fingers crossed for a satisfying conclusion.

The subplots involved a Sheikha, a minister, A Russian temptress, and a mystery house. Now in the beginning I really felt as though these subplots added some color to the book. But as the book goes on they became more and more outlandish and detracted from The riveting main plot. The ending was pretty wild and I’m still not certain what to think? I really like how the main plot was tied up, but the rest? I think this was just a case of a debut author wanting to put too much in her book. I am really looking forward to what she has in store for us next because I think she did a very good job with that main storyline and I was most impressed with her writing.

*** many thanks to atria for my copy of this book ***

House on Fire was a mesmerizing novel! I loved how the story was told and how the characters and their emotional struggles were presented. Leigh and her husband Peter pride themselves on how well their blended family that includes five children works. One night, Peter’s son is involved in an accident. An accident where Peter’s son Kip is the driver and Leigh’s daughter Chrissy was the passenger. Hours later Chrissy dies and Kip is charged with manslaughter. Kip has been in trouble before and Chrissy was the outgoing child of the family. Peter and Leigh’s close blended family begins to fall apart as sides are taken and everyone puts distance between themselves and the others. The tension and distance become worse as Kip’s trial date approaches. We see the different characters lives after the accident. And we see other dramatic story lines of other people in their lives. An unimaginable event occurred the night the kids were in the accident. The pain and conflict were presented beautifully by author Bonnie Kistler. The scenes, descriptions, and the interactions between the characters were fascinating and moving throughout the story.

Leigh and Pete have been married for just five years. Their families have blended nicely. Leigh has twin sons and a daughter. Pete has one daughter and a son. Together they are a family of seven. It hasn't always been easy, Pete's son, Kip, has gotten into some trouble in the past, but it feels like they have turned a corner. He just got into Duke and seems to be thriving. Leigh and Pete returned home early from an anniversary getaway when they get word that Kip and Chrissy, Leigh's daughter, were in a car accident. Kip had been drinking.

Before the next day is over Chrissy is dead and Kip is being charged with manslaughter. Leigh, a divorce lawyer, is being faced with the destruction of her family and her life. And then Kip tells them that it was Chrissy driving. Chrissy is the one who swerved off the road and hit the tree. But nobody, including Leigh, believes him. The state wants Kip to pay for what happened and Leigh just wants her baby girl back. As the court date draws near, Leigh needs to decide which side of the courtroom she wants to be sitting on, the defense or the prosecution.

I read House on Fire with two different sets of eyes. That as a child from a blended family and that as a step-mom with step-children that I love dearly. I loved the way that the step-siblings interacted and tried to take care of each other. Chrissy was looking out for Kip when she went to get him from the party. She didn't want Kip to get into trouble with their parents. But I also struggled with the way Leigh shut out Pete and Kip after the accident. I would like to think that I would embrace Kip more, but who is to say how a person would truly react in a situation like that. She wouldn't even entertain the thought that Kip was telling the truth about Chrissy driving that night. It was both maddening and heartbreaking. Things rushed to a conclusion that was just okay. I was hoping for a little more, but it wasn't bad. Overall it was worth the read.

Bottom Line - Being a step-mom is never easy. Being a step-mom to a young man accused of killing your daughter is nearly impossible. House on Fire explores this notion in a book that will break your heart and make you think about the "what-ifs" at the same time.

Details:
House on Fire by Bonnie Kistler
On Facebook
Pages: 416
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: 3/12/19
Buy it Here!

I couldn't believe this was a debut novel for Bonnie!! As someone who has a blended family, Bonnie nailed it! This book is a thriller -- but I believe it is also women's fiction - because it is so highly focused on relationships. On top of it all, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!! The ending!!!

tl;dr: Intense, thought provoking and a well written debut. House on Fire is a well written novel about blended families and what happens and how family reacts in the aftermath of an accident.

4.5 Stars

Fantastic and engaging story of the aftermath of a tragic accident. Very insightful and sharp writing. This story would make a great movie!

This heartfelt and emotional story starts off with an almost unbearable tragedy. Two young people returning home from a party are involved in a relatively minor accident. But one of the people in the car dies. It was Chrissy, the stepsister of the alleged driver, Kip. How can their parents deal with this? When Kip is charged with manslaughter as a result, the family is broken apart. The author then raises the question: is there such a thing as a "good" lie?

"They had to start planning how to deal with this. It was what families did when an outside threat loomed. They closed ranks and worked together to shield themselves from it."

But the parents, Peter and Leigh, differ on what it means to deal with Kip's arrest and the death of young, beautiful Chrissy. I loved the questions raised by this thought-provoking book especially in light of the fact that Leigh is an experienced divorce attorney who has seen her share of broken families. Not only did she think that she and Pete had the perfect blended family, she thought she knew what it took to make a second marriage work.

"He picked sides last night, and so did she. The trouble was, neither of them had picked each other."

Family loyalties are divided as Peter and Leigh must wrestle with their grief over losing Chrissy, but with the harsh reality of Kip's arrest. Leigh does not believe her stepson's account of the night of the accident. But Pete is determined to stick by his son and will do whatever is takes to keep from losing his promising future.

“I want him to get off.” He studied the label on his beer bottle. “Don’t you?”
“Of course I do. But not if it takes a lie.”
“I guess that’s where we differ.” He got to his feet. “I want him to get off no matter what.”

I was fascinated by Leigh's clients and the way all of the threads of the plot came together in the end. While 'House on Fire' is a sharp family drama, it is also a smart legal thriller, providing plenty of intrigue and heart-stopping action. I was rooting for Peter and Leigh's marriage to survive Chrissy's death and Kip's arrest while at the same time devouring the juicy details of Leigh's clients' own family dramas. The author explores what it means to be truthful and how grief operates on its own timeline.

"All she could see was Chrissy. A beautiful child on her way to becoming a lovely young woman. Becoming. Unbecoming. Never to be."

Smart, clever and engaging, this was my kind of book. I loved this page-turner and can't wait for more books from Ms. Kistler!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and Bonnie Kistler.
Captivating story of a blended family and what happens when a child of one parent dies in an accident while the other parent child is accused of manslaughter.
Devastating story, well written, thought provoking.
Recommend.

Leigh Huyett, a divorce attorney, and her husband Pete Conley, a custom house builder, are celebrating 5 years of marriage with an "alone time" trip.
They have a happy marriage and a successfully blended family.
When Pete and Leigh decide to drive home early from their trip, Chrissy rides her bike over to get Kip from a friend's party. He is celebrating getting into Duke University, but had promised his parents to stay home with Chrissy.
Kip feels that he didn't have too much to drink, so he stows her bike, and takes Chrissy home in the car with him. On the way, they swerve off the road to avoid a dog and hit a tree. Kip gets arrested with alcohol in his system for reckless driving. They are both okay after the accident, but he must face his parents wrath when they have to pick them up at the police station.
The next day Chrissy starts feeling bad. She is rushed to the hospital, but dies from a brain aneurysm.
The family is devastated by grief.
Kip is charged with manslaughter, he told the emergency room doctors that Chrissy hit her head during the accident.
He changes his story and confesses that Chrissy was really driving.
Already pulled apart by emotions, Leigh becomes angry at this lie that Kip is now telling.
Pete and Kip leave the house and Leigh immerses herself in work as they head toward the trial.
This is a moving, emotional story that is difficult to categorize. Equal parts mystery, thriller and family drama with some interesting twists at the end, this one had me feeling so many things! It kept me hooked till the end. Highly recommend this original book.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 3.5 stars!

In House on Fire, we follow a blended family - normal by today's standards.  There's Leigh Huyett, who is a divorce lawyer who is five years into her second marriage with Pete.  They seem to be beating the odds this time and their blended family is going very well.

Leigh and Pete are out for the night celebrating their anniversary.  They have left Pete's biological son, Kip in charge of Leigh's daughter, Chrissy.  Kip has been celebrating at a party and crashes his car on the way home with Chrissy inside.  Chrissy later dies and Kip is charged with manslaughter.

I really appreciated how the author wrote Leigh's character trying so very hard to keep her grief from separating her blended family. Little by little, it's clear that Leigh just can't help but drive her husband and her stepson away.  Also, thanks to the fact that the author is an attorney, readers get to follow not only the family dynamics angle of the situation, but the whole legal angle and how that plays out.  I did enjoy the drama and how well it captivated me.  I was totally immersed in the story and all of the subplots and I enjoyed the twists and turns at the end.

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and Bonnie Kistler for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

1 Star ⭐️

The premise of House on Fire sounded very intriguing to me. I love domestic thrillers and this one sounded just perfect. The story started strong, but quickly fizzled from there. What could’ve been a fantastic book turned into a boring mess with subplots that had no business in the story. I don’t know why the author would do this - it took away from the plot and did not make any sense to me. I was really looking forward to starting it - mainly due to the Jodi Picoult comparison. To compare this book to Picoult’s work is laughable. I skimmed the last half just so I could say I finished it.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just did nothing for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Bonnie Kistler for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Full disclosure here, this is labeled as a mystery/thriller on Goodreads and I wholeheartedly disagree with that, enough so that I would say it’s fiction and leave if at that. I feel like expectations are super important to me as a reader and this is really not a thriller whatsoever. I’m actually not even sure what it is to be totally honest, so there’s that too. Is there a mystery? Sure I suppose so but I mean that in the loosest sense of the word. Is it a thriller by any means? Nope, not at all. Is it really an examination of a family on the brink? Yes, that’s the most accurate explanation that I can come up with.

I enjoyed the dynamics of this family that were explored and couldn’t even imagine being in the same situation myself, losing a child is unfathomable but having your other child be at fault? Horrific, and seeing Pete and Leigh deal with the aftermath was fascinating and heartbreaking. How do you chose between your child and your wife? You don’t, it’s an impossible dilemma.

The author did a great job bringing the main storyline to life, but there were several side plots as well that made it sorta messy for me. I just don’t think it any added value to the story, in fact it was distracting for me. Just unnecessary and made the book longer than it needed to be. Overall an interesting book that mostly worked for me in the end, well drawn characters and solid writing, definitely enough to make me pick up her next book but it needed to be scaled back a little for me.

What started as a great, great read about a family and marriage affected by an accident and the way grief affects our lives in different ways ended up spiraling out of control with not one extraneous, ridiculous subplot but three of them. By the end of the novel, I wasn’t sure I was reading the same book I started. It was just, no. It’s really frustrating that a lot of books nowadays are filled with plots or twists that are a hindrance to the story. I was not a fan of this book. Thank to @netgalley for the advanced reading copy, though!

Intensely emotional and instantly gripping, Bonnie Kistler’s HOUSE ON FIRE is a masterfully written saga of family drama in the vein of Celeste Ng, Liane Moriarty and Sally Hepworth.

Living in 2019, you no doubt know, or are part of, a blended family --- a family consisting of a couple and their children from previous relationships. No one knows how much work it is to maintain a blended family than Kistler’s main character, divorce lawyer Leigh Huyett. Now five years into her own blended marriage with Pete Conley, Leigh is the proud mother of college-aged twin boys and 14-year-old Chrissy, and proud stepmother to high school senior Kip and 10-year-old Mia. On a rare evening away, with Mia at her mother’s and the older boys at college, Leigh and Pete leave troublemaker Kip in charge of Chrissy. Hours later, when they are driving home so that Leigh can meet a new client, they receive a terrifying call: there has been an accident, and a drunken Kip was driving with Chrissy in the passenger seat.

As the harried parents race to the police station, they are relieved to learn that their children are fine --- mostly. Their community enforces a zero-tolerance policy for minors driving under the influence, and Kip already has technically lost his license in a similar event months earlier, so he is facing little more than a slap on the wrist. Tired, annoyed and anxious, the family heads home to figure out their next steps. Unfortunately for them, this will be the last night they enjoy as a loving and peaceful blended family.

The next day, as Leigh is meeting a prospective client, Chrissy suffers an aneurysm and is rushed to the ER, where she soon passes away. In the blink of an eye, the Huyett-Conley family is ripped apart, as Chrissy was always the unifier of the clan, with her boundless joy and carefree optimism. Leigh suffers through the next few days in a haze of grief, but her world comes into sharp focus when the police arrive at her daughter’s wake: Kip is being charged with manslaughter for his potential role in Chrissy’s death.

What follows is a tense and tautly plotted series of miscommunications, painful admissions and a slow-burn mystery. As Kip faces trial and a potentially lengthy sentence, Leigh and Pete find themselves taking sides --- Leigh swears she does not blame Kip, yet Pete has his son while her daughter is lost to her forever. When Kip suddenly changes his story and reveals that Chrissy was driving --- and he has a witness who can prove it (thus removing himself from any accountability in her death) --- Leigh and Pete are torn between trust, loyalty and the greater good of their perfectly blended family. Amidst their grief, anxiety and pain, they must ask themselves if blood is really thicker than water, and whose side they are actually on.

The title of this book is a reference to the Turkish proverb “A liar’s house is on fire, but no one believes him,” and Kistler expertly toys with truth and perspective. When Kip changes his story, it is easy for Leigh especially to believe that he is lying (and even easier for a desperate Pete to believe him), but there is enough murkiness to the truth to add an intense, compelling mystery to an already gripping book. As Leigh struggles to forgive Kip and grapple with her belief that he should be punished, she meets with a reverend/ethicist who forces her to confront her innermost feelings about honesty and deceit. Through Leigh, Kistler compels readers to ask themselves if there is ever a time when it is better to lie.

Kistler poses some interesting thoughts about lying, but where she truly shines is in her portrayal of family and the space we allow one another. The Huyett-Conleys are nearly perfect at the start and seem to have found a way not only to make second marriages work, but to bring together teens and children who otherwise never would have met. But when the cracks begin to surface, their careful relationships quickly falter, and even the smallest indiscretions lead to major eruptions.

Some of my favorite interactions were when Pete and Leigh spent the night apart, and both struggled with the urge to text or call the other, but feared coming on too strong during a particularly chaotic time. With both of them overthinking and wanting to respect the other, their messages often come across as terse and unfeeling, layering on even more feelings of resentment and hurt. As a reader, I nearly wanted to jump into the pages to grab them and exclaim, “Write what you are feeling!” Kistler’s interactions between her characters are all like this: nuanced, raw, cringeworthy and painful --- exactly the way they are in real life. She has a knack for putting life on the page, and the book is full of these tautly written and achingly relatable interactions.

For all of its highlights, HOUSE ON FIRE is difficult to summarize: this is one of those novels where nothing really happens because everything happens. A lot of the action takes place in the characters’ minds, and the rest in lawyer’s offices and courtrooms --- where spoilers abound. Leigh’s grief is especially psychologically gripping, and Kistler’s compassionate yet unflinching look into her pain will tug at any reader’s heart. Even troublemaker Kip has his moments of total relatability, and Pete is perhaps my favorite of the three, with his good intentions and loyal, all-encompassing love.

HOUSE ON FIRE is deeply immersive, and you will often find yourself debating the characters’ actions while also wondering what you yourself would do if you were Pete or Leigh or Kip. Just when the familial drama feels too overwhelming, Kistler swoops in with a new twist to the mystery of the night of the accident, and the way that she juxtaposes these storylines will make a fan of any reader.

This is an instantly compelling and compulsively readable novel, and I would not be surprised to see Kistler achieve the same level of fame as LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE author Celeste Ng.

House On Fire
By
Bonnie Kistler

What it's all about...

A blissful blended family, horses, a dog and a lovely farmhouse...the ingredients for a perfect life. Until a really bad decision made by both by the 14 year old daughter and the 18 year old son...step siblings...led to a disaster that changed this family forever.


My thoughts after reading this book...

This book was intense. At times I was frustrated by the decisions made by the parents as well as the siblings. Life did not go on blissfully for this family. Will they ever find forgiveness and be able to come together? I was never sure. Peter and Leigh...parents...were driven apart by this accident involving both of their children. Leigh simply did not believe Peter’s son and could not be around him. Is this the end of this blended family bliss? It very well could be.


What I loved and did not love...

The writing was good but there were a few issues I had with the subplots...however they finally came together at the end.


What potential readers might want to know...

Readers who love intense family dramas should enjoy this book.


I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley. It was my choice to read and review it.