Ava leaves her daughter strapped into her pushchair ready to go and feed the ducks.
Ava nips upstairs to the bathroom when she comes down the front door is open and her daughter Abi has gone.
The police are called in everybody searches for Abi but she is not found.
A year later Ave is still feeling guilty.
A invitation to next doors housewarming arrives Matt convinces Ava to go.
But once there Ava hears something that changes everything and everybody around her .
Great read.
Thanks NetGalley

This is the second book I've read by SE Lynes and I love her writing. The Housewarming is a book that gets into your psyche and won't let go. The themes explored here - loss of a child, relationships between the parents and close friends who were around at the time of the disappearance are explored in such an intelligent way, it makes for a harrowing read. With. such relatable characters, a surprising twist and a shocking ending make this an extremely satisfying read.

A brilliant piece of writing where just 2 innocuous words spoken in The Housewarming party turned the story upside down. That was the point when touched caused the puzzle to lay open revealing its innermost secrets.

Little Abi was happily settled in her pushcart when Ava decided to take advantage of the peace and go upstairs to get the laundry and a few small chores. When she came down, Abi was missing and the front door was open. Where could she have gone? She stayed missing. One year later, Ava had a son, Fred, and was invited to a Housewarming party by her neighbor. There, a line overheard caused Ava to think back and get to the truth.

I was completely awed by author S. E. Lynes talent of using two words as a clue to unravel the mystery of the lost child Abi. What could I say about the emotions? I was on team Ava, a mourning mother whose grief pierced my heart when every moment before and after Abi’s disappearance was analyzed, beat by beat. Each time, her heart broke, mine broke alongside.

This was a slow burn read where the story started with the disappearance of a child that soon led to the truth. I liked how the author built up the layers in the plot, binding me to Ava, where I couldn’t help but empathize with her pain and guilt. I saw her character developing in the plotline when she understood the significance of the words spoken offhand. Her intelligence shone through as she pieced everything together.

I never knew one could write a story in this manner where the entire crux of the plot rested on two words spoken by a character who was not even the lead. The author S. E. Lynes had done so brilliantly; she set the prose alit with the cunningness of her words. The whole story of the disappearance of Abi was a knotted ball of yarn where everything unraveled with joy. You have to read the book to understand this line.

Simply astounding. It took me a couple of days to write this review as I couldn’t believe how tricky some authors could be with their plotlines and twists. That left me spellbound.

This story was slow to get going but i'm glad I stuck with it an emotional drama full of emotion, suspicion, secrets: A tense engaging read with an emotional outcome!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This was my first time reading a book by S.E. Lynes and was very excited to begin this. I did enjoy reading this author/book. The story kept my attention through out the entire book. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Housewarming by S.E. Lynes.

Ava and her husband are forever haunted by the disappearance of their two year old daughter Abi, who walked out of the house and disappeared after the front door was carelessly left open. Despite all of the efforts of neighbors and friends, she still hasn't been found, leaving the couple in a hellish limbo.

But there are secrets bubbling right under the surface of this mystery, and as a neighborhood housewarming is buzzed about, so are the details of the disappearance of little Abi. Perhaps her tragedy is more sinister than it originally seemed.

This is a slow burn with great tension. The characters are nuanced and flawed, and they all offer a great reason for suspicion. Nothing about it was mind blowing, no twists that knocked me off my seat, but it was still a very well written domestic drama that kept me captivated.

#TheHousewarming #NetGalley
I was expecting something regular but it was a surprise, a good one.

I did not love the characters but they were pretty fine and obvsly I loved the plot the most.

The Housewarming is a book for the fans of thrillers, it will give you chills and you will like de plot twist.

I received an eARC of The Housewarming by S.E. Lynes from Bookouture and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
4 stars! A parent's worst nightmare, your child goes missing... This book definitely kept me engaged from start to finish. If you are a fan of family drama, this one is for you!

Housewarming was a bit of a different read from what I have come to expect from one of my favorite authors, S.E. Lynes. The first few pages had me in doubt. I was almost tempted to skim through, something I never do. I found the chapters quite repetitive and felt like I was stuck in the MCs mind as she lived and relived the day her daughter vanished. Now that I think about it, I know the writing wasn’t the issue. I was struggling with the subject of a mother losing her little girl. Ava’s grief was tormenting me.

However, I was soon totally immersed in the narrative, soaking in each page, paragraph, and word. The actual housewarming party brought in fresh perspectives and twists that I didn’t see coming.

This is a twisty mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. It has the heavy theme of loss made more devastating by the dual narratives from Matt and Ava after the disappearance of their daughter. It is also a thought-provoking read that left me thinking about where to draw the line when it comes to self-preservation.

Beautifully written, heart-tugging and suspenseful, Housewarming by S.E. Lynes is not to be missed.

The Housewarming by S. E. Lynes⁣
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This was an emotional read for me. One of my best 2020 books btw. It was sad, thrilling, intense, marvellously written and most especially, intriguing. I've never read a book by this author before, so I didn't know what to expect. The title and cover caught my attention and I requested for it on NetGalley. At first i thought it would be more of The-Haunting-Party/The-Guest-Book vibes, but i was wrong.⁣
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The first chapter was marvellous, the reader notices a sort of tense environment but still unaware of the elephant in the room. After few pages, we understand the real deal. A baby is missing and the mother is beyond distraught. Can you imagine? A two year old baby!⁣
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Wbat could have happened, is the question everyone is asking. ⁣
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As the book progressed, I was really hoping for Abi to be found. After a year though, the family have lost hope. At the most unexpected moment, something wierd happened. Though I had been suspecting this particular person, and when the neighbours little girl acknowledged him as 'pockets' and also acknowledged Abi's doll Mr Sloth which she had never set eyes on as Mr Sloth and also called him 'Mr Sloth Pockets', I knew i was right. ⁣
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The conclusion was more emotional than I thought. Finding the real culprit and finally knowing what happened was too sad.⁣
This book also discusses a crucial problem we face everyday, everywhere. That of missing children. There are families out there who have been looking for their children for a long time. The wait is excruciatingly painful, and I pray they're found.⁣

This was a fine book-I just don't think I was a great audience for it. As a mother myself I found it incredibly difficult to get through without having a lot of negative feelings unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley, SE Lynes and Bookouture for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was definitely what you term "a slow burner" The beginning was very repetitive. Due to the nature of the subject, I made allowances for that, but even so, I started to find the constant repetitiveness a little tedious. However(!) from about half way through, I was absolutely glued to my kindle, and I literally could not put it down. The book took on the persona of a speeding train! The storyline thundered along throwing the reader one way and then the other, almost coming to a halt, and then accelerating again at full steam. By the time you reach your destination you will be as shattered as the characters in the book!

This was a very emotive subject, with each character displaying their own developing emotions throughout the story. There is an awful lot of food for thought as the drama unravels. You won't know what to think until the whole truth comes out, and after that you will be mulling over many different facters for some considerable time afterwards!

My rating: 3.5/5 (rounded off to 4)
The Housewarming is a psychological thriller that focuses on a young couple Ava and Matt cope with the loss of their daughter Abi after she wandered out the open front door almost a year ago. A chance comment during the housewarming party of her neighbor leads her back into the rabbit-hole to try and piece together the event to uncover the truth of what happened to her daughter.

This was a compulsive and gripping book that showed the devastating effect the loss has on the family and the deep psychological scars it leaves behind. Losing a child is such a horrifying scenario and every parent's worst dream and the author manages to encapsulate it beautifully within the pages. The author patiently fleshes out the central characters: the claustrophobic feeling of Ava's from being stuck and obsessively reliving the fateful day is vividly described and the extreme physical training for the triathlon undertaken by Matt to not dwell in the past is shown to establish the clear contrast between them which was a nice detail. The author adds such details throughout the story as little points that help in finally answering the big question.

The narrative switches between the leads but the major portion is conveyed from the perspective of Ava and how she deals with the grief and guilt of being the main cause for her daughter's disappearance. The book takes time to get to the core issue and so much of the beginning is spent with Ava and her inability to get out of the traumatic and life-altering day. While it added perspective and made for an interesting slow burn, the pace was occasionally a bit too slow. I felt it both added some richness and dragged out the story.

Coming to the mystery, it was a pretty decent affair. The author methodically drops hints here and there and begins unraveling the mystery after the housewarming party. The plot thickens with every layer of the fateful day being slowly ripped apart; while I was able to make a fairly successful guess at the happenings, I still found it a very engaging affair and I liked how the best was saved for the last.

If you like slow burn psychological thrillers that gives you a rich vivid narration, then this is a book that you should definitely pick up.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and the author for kindly sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my review.

Ava and Matt are an average married couple with an immense difference from the norm: they are desperately trying to carve an existence out of what’s left of their lives after the traumatic disappearance of their two-year-old.

Ava is unable to cope with the loss of her little girl. The guilt she feels has spooned out her insides and left her a hollow shell. Her all-consuming grief traps her in a painful loop of reliving that day. However, that unforgiving mourning is the key that unravels the piecing together of the events of that tragic day.

Matt is doing his best to be supportive of Ava while trying to keep himself from crashing. He can’t bear to see her so devastated, empty, fading. But Matt has a fear of his own corroding his insides, that if exposed, will destroy everything he holds dear.

Attending a neighbor’s housewarming invitation is meant to ease Ava and Matt gently back into socialization with their friends. Instead, the shocking fall-out from that gathering ignites the flame to a powder keg that ultimately explodes, laying bare the smoldering bones of the duplicitous.

S.E. Lynes delivers a powerful, emotionally-propelled, chilling account of the never-ending nightmare of the loss of a child. By establishing the reader deep into Ava’s mind, Lynes creates an instinctual connection to her overwhelming devastation. From the slow reveal to the final revelation, the reader is in mind-bending, heart-wrenching pursuit.

I am a fan of S.E. Lynes, and if you aren’t yet, you are missing out on an ingenious and gifted author.

I highly recommend reading The Housewarming as a 2020 must-read.

Wow... This read was a sloooow burn with so many emotions I felt by the ending that I really didn’t see coming. I was left questioning what I would do to protect myself at all costs no matter who I hurt in the process.

Emotional and powerful and at times a little repetitive but overall a great read. Don’t let the slow start steer you away from this read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Housewarming is a psychological thriller based around the disappearance of two year old Abi. Ava only went upstairs for a few minutes and left her daughter safely strapped into her pushchair. When she returns, the front door is open and the pushchair is empty.
Despite some very positive reviews, I found the pace of this book far too slow with too much emphasis on every thought going through Ava’s head at the detriment of the storyline.

More of an emotional family drama, but still excellent

This author just knows how spin a tale, create characters and set the pace. At the first half this story was repetitive, and some reviewers didn’t care for that, but I thought it gave an excellent dimension to the story. It fleshed out both Ava and Matt and their reasons for their actions.

There isn’t a lot of action. This is a very slow reveal. The second half (two thirds?) really is where things come to light. Then you get answers and more answers and it’s just horrifying and beyond sad. I will always look for more from this author, highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bookouture for a copy in exchange for a review.

The Housewarming is an emotional and twisty mystery. A mother, Ava, leaves her young daughter in her stroller for a few minutes while she runs upstairs. When Ava comes back down, the front door is open and the child is missing.

A year after their daughter goes missing, Ava and her husband Matt attend a neighbor’s housewarming party. Ava does not want to attend, but Matt believes they need to get out and socialize more. During the housewarming, Ava realizes there is more to her daughter’s disappearance than she ever realized.

Told from multiple points of view, including Ava, Matt, and their neighbors. The different viewpoints add to the story, as does the alternating between past and present. While the beginning goes a little slow, the pace does pick up.

The Housewarming is a slow-burning mystery. It combines secrets, lies, and a gut-wrenching loss of a child. Fans of S.E. Lynes other novels are sure to enjoy this one too.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There is a reason that S.E. Lynes is my absolute go to author - I just LOVE the way she draws the totally human characters who inhabit her books, she manages to make you understand and has you empathising with even the most unlovable ones and utterly bereft and rooting for the goodies.

This is a devastating, heart stopping, thrilling book which will absolutely resonate with any parent. Ava's reaction from the minute that Abi disappeared was brilliantly portrayed - the panic, the desperation, driving herself mad with her brain rerunning events over and over in a loop, self doubt - did actually she fasten the buckle? how can she not have locked the door? Then there was the fall out the heartbreak, the relationships sent into a spiral, the deceit! but who is deceiving who?

A year after the tragic event at the long awaited Housewarming party of the house next door Ava discovers just how wrong she was about the people she held close - So many people putting themselves or the well being of their own family first and totally ignoring the needs of the others.

I can't recommend this book highly enough - do yourself a favour buy this book and make sure you can hide away from everything to read it as you won't be able to put it down.

The Housewarming by S.E. Lynes is a devastatingly dark and twisty read that tied me up in knots, wringing every emotion from me as I felt every second of Ava’s torment following the disappearance of her small daughter, Abi. The guilt she feels is palpable as she relives every moment of that terrible day over and over again.

The tension builds slowly, with Ava and her husband, Matt, living through every parents worst nightmare. They handle their grief in very different ways, Ava cutting herself off from the world and Matt trying to remain strong, continuing to work and live as normal a life as he can.

But then, a year later, Ava and Matt are invited to the long awaited housewarming party of the Lovegoods, whose house is very close to where Abi went missing. And as the party gets underway, Ava learns something new about the day Abi disappeared. Something that could change everything…

What follows is a dark and suspense filled psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. What really happened to Abi that day? The truth, when it came, completely blindsided me and tore my heart into a million pieces. I won’t say any more for fear of spoiling the story, but oh wow, the writing is so powerful and the story so intense I felt completely drained of all emotion as I turned the final page.

S.E. Lynes is an exquisite writer. She somehow gets inside the head of a grieving parent and transfers all of that raw and devastating emotion on to the page. The Housewarming is a dark, disturbing and utterly heartbreaking psychological thriller that I know will stay with me for a long time to come. It is a strong, powerful and beautifully written character driven story that I honestly can’t recommend highly enough!