Laura has a difficult relationship with her erratic mother who put her father in jail for the murder of a young cocktail waitress. When another man confesses to the crime a decade later her father is released and she moves in with him and the grandmother she never knew. Finally she has the family she has always wanted.

Her mother still insists that he's guilty.

Laura's grandmother suffers a stroke so Laura makes her way back to the ranch in Sacramento to help her grandmother recover but her grandmother would like her to buy the ranch and take it over for her. Feeling as if this is the fresh beginning she's looking for after a bad break up she jumps at the chance and finds herself really enjoying the home renovations she's started. Until she finds something that will change her mind about everything she thought she knew.

We go back and forth between Laura (now) and her mother Donna (In the past) to find out what the actual truth is.

This book was okay. I think my problem was that I didn't like Laura or Donna. Laura was too wishy washy and Donna was too feisty and both were a little annoying. They also both talk to themselves constantly which was ... weird. I mean, we all do it from time to time, but this was a little too much. I also didn't find the grand revelation all that grand as it was pretty much what I had suspected from the beginning. This is a perfectly fine read for a novice to the genre but it didn't leave any lasting impressions for this reader. 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC.

A woman must question what is the truth in her family. Long ago, Lauren was reunited with her father and grandmother after her mother's testimony sent her father to prison for murder. A serial killer then confessed to the murder, and Lauren went back to her father and grandmother, cutting her mother out of her life. Now, Lauren's grandmother is going into assisted living and is selling Lauren the family home. And Lauren is ready to put down roots there.

Meanwhile, Donna, Lauren's mother, has tried to contact her again. Learning that her daughter has gone back to the family home, she tries to tell her that she has made a terrible mistake. Who is telling the truth? And will Lauren learn the absolute truth behind the murder and what really happened?

Told in alternating points of view between Lauren and Donna, the story gives just enough detail each chapter to keep the reader interested and intrigued about where it is going to go next. The ending was a big surprise for me. Family secrets will never be looked at the same.

i was super excited for this one - love victoria dahl's romance books and the few books i've read published under this name. i tried not to get discouraged when i started seeing lacklustre reviews, but i'm afraid i have to agree with them. this one just fell flat for me unfortunately. it was an exciting premise, but it was slow and a bit boring until the end, which is not something i enjoy.

This book had a lot of things that i really like, a complicated back story, two heroines to root for and many twists, i guessed them but the story was still very good and had many layers of information that dropped in between.  First time I read this author but will be reading more of her stuff for sure.

This is a Thriller/Mystery. I found this book hard to get into at first because the book jump between Lauren (Now) and Donna (Then). It took me a little bit to put together it was jumping back in time, and it took me a little to figure out what Lauren and Donna as to do with each other. I do not think this book as I big twist, but it is more of a slow burn reveal. This time of thriller is not my favorite type of thriller, but I really enjoyed this book. The characters where hard to understand at first, but I feel the characters grow on you the more you read. This is not a fast pace book or a book that will pull you in from the beginning. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Lake Union Publishing) or author (Victoria Helen Stone) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that. This book is schedule to be release on March 30-2021.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Helen Stone and Lake Union Publishing for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this one quite different from what i'm used to from Stone, but it was an interesting and unique story that kept me guessing what was going to happen right from the very beginning. I enjoyed the main character, but I didn't trust a single one of the other characters and for good reason. They all are keeping secrets to save their own skins. It was a slower paced thriller than I usually enjoy - but there was enough other things going on to keep me invested and kept me going. Definitely would still recommend if you enjoy Stone's writing!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.  Donna finds out she is pregnant with a married man's baby.  Michael swears he will leave his wife and move to his mother's property to help raise the baby.  Once moved, Donna is convinced that Michael murdered someone so she flees.  Flash forward to Lauren who has just moved into her grandmother's house after she suffers a stroke.  Donna finds out her daughter has moved into the house that she fled so many years ago but Lauren thinks she is delusional and won't stop lying. What kind of secrets are buried in this house?  Pretty good read.  #thelastonehome #victoriahelenstone #Mar2021

The Last One Home is a rollercoaster of a psychological thriller! Victoria Helen Stone is at least at writing suspense as she is at writing romance novels.

Chilling, creepy, and powerful! This book read like a nightmare, and I mean that in the best way possible. Lauren's story held my attention a bit more than Donna's story, but both were compelling in their own rights. I felt there was a fair amount of tension-building throughout the story, though some parts did get a bit slow. However, I would definitely recommend this to a friend.

I was really excited to read this one, and while it ended at a much faster pace than it started, I found that by that point I had given up caring very much.

Okay, admittedly, this is not what I was expecting from the author who brought us the insanely delightful sociopath, Jane Doe.

Having said that, I read many of the reviews before I started this book, so I didn't go in expecting a thriller or suspense story. I went in expecting a family drama...and that's essentially what I got. And it's not a bad story. Not at all. I think folks are simply being thrown off by the synopsis, and the author's previous works.

Told from two points of view, Lauren's in the present day and Donna's in the mid-1980s, the characters were beautifully written and felt very real to me. In Lauren's sections, I enjoyed how her personality came alive when she was "going live" on social media. In Donna's, I loved all the eighties references.

The mystery...yea, it's a bit of a joke. I had this book figured out practically from page one. If it's mystery you're looking for, I'd suggest looking elsewhere. However, if you're looking for a slow-burning, character-driven family saga...I'd say this would be a great choice for a rainy day.

3.5 stars rounded down
Available March 30, 2021

My most sincere thanks to NetGalley and one of my favorite publishing companies, Lake Union Publishing, for my review copy.

Stone writes a twisted tale of a fractured family. Lauren returns to the family home and begins rehabbing it. Her mother, whom she has a challenging relationship with, is upset with her. Lauren begins to investigate a family secret that challenges most of what she has known. The pace of the writing was good. I figured out who was to blame, but the character hides the malice very well. It’s a dual narrative which works. It’s a decent read.

2.5* 
Years ago Lauren's mother, Donna, put her cheating boyfriend in jail, claiming he is a serial killer and that he confessed his crimes to her. After he was cleared of all charges, when the real killer came forward, Lauren chose her father and grandmother over her mother. In the present Lauren's grandmother sells her their family home. Lauren is happy to have a place of her own. But her mother is very much against Lauren living in that place and there are other weird things happening. 
So, we have a chapter from Lauren's perspective in the present and a chapter from Donna from the time she was pregnant, and they switch back and forth. 
I was so torn after finishing this and I ultimately decided to give it 2.5*, middle of the road rating. I Iiked both main characters. They were flawed, messy women with realistic struggles. I could very well picture them living somewhere in this world. But everything else fell flat. For starters,  I don't understand what genre this book wanted to be. If it was supposed to be a thriller then it did a bad job at it. The majority of the book was boring, there wasn't anything happening to make you feel on the edge of your seat, nothing thrilling. That took place in the last 20 pages. And frankly, those last 20 pages were not worth it because the reveals were just meh. And the more I think about it the more they don't make sense. For the most part it was a weird slice of life from two women in two different timelines. Lauren was renovating the house and posting stuff on Instagram. Donna was constantly following her boyfriend to see if he is cheating on her, if he is really at work,if he is lying about his wife. She would catch him on a lie, he would come up with excuses and they would make up. Repeat that cycle over and over. 
This was not what I hoped for, but I did read it very quickly and I liked the two main characters.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think this idea could have been decent as a short story, but as a full-length novel, it fell short. The premise sounded very interesting - a granddaughter moves into her grandmother's old house and starts renovating it, discovering secrets about her family's past in the process.

However, the dialogue felt very stilted and awkward, the characters were unlikeable, and the plot dragged.

* Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. I only wish I had liked this book better!

The Last One Home is an interesting combination of women’s fiction and thriller that manages to keep its pace tense and its characters interesting, and its unique premise makes it worth a look even though its conclusion is a bit forgone.

Influencer Lauren Abrams is returning home to the family’s California nest to help take care of her grandmother Elizabeth as she recovers from a stroke, and to look after the enormous house and ranch she lives in. Lauren has, for some time, felt like a little bit of an outsider in her own family, feeling that her father and grandmother both favored her step-siblings, so she’s pleased to learn that Elizabeth plans on selling her the house.  Lauren really wants the place, but lacks the cash to buy it outright, so Elizabeth offers to sell it to her in a private deal with a payment plan, promising to give her father his share of the proceeds later.

The family’s history is rather twisted.  Lauren’s father was accused of murder and her pregnant mother gave witness testimony that sent him to prison. All of that seemingly righted itself, though; when Lauren was ten,  new evidence proved Lauren’s father’s innocence and pinned the crime on a notorious serial killer.  Her father left the prison system, and after an erratic early childhood with her mother and a bitter period of shared custody, at thirteen, Lauren went to live with him and eventually changed her last name to his.  Lauren keeps her distance from her mother, and their conversations end in screaming fights over her paternal grandmother and father.  He’s since gotten married again and has two other children, and though the age difference between them is large, Lauren envies her younger half-siblings, who have had an involved and ‘present’ father throughout their whole childhoods.  But clearly Elizabeth’s decision to sell Lauren the house is a gesture of reconciliation and things can begin anew, can’t they?  To do just that Lauren begins to broadcast her renovation of the house of the internet.

Naturally, Lauren’s mother’s take on things is quite different. Back in 1985, thirty-five-year-old Donna Hempstead is living low on the hog – a punk with a crappy LA apartment but a cool boyfriend and a fun social life on the Strip.  That her boyfriend is married and living in Sacramento is less than advantageous, but he’s still a good guy.  When Donna turns up pregnant, Michael is excited at the prospect of a son, and promises to speed his ongoing divorce - which becomes difficult, as she threatens suicide. Or so Michael says. As Michael’s lies pile up, Donna must figure out whether or not to trust him.

When Lauren receives a threatening letter from the person who seems to be the serial killer who ruined her father’s life, she goes into panic mode, and must unravel the mystery behind her birth and her father’s life.  Is her mother lying?  Is her father telling the truth?  Or is reality somewhere in between?

The Last One Home manages to pack some surprising twists between its covers.  It gives us a pair of sympathetic though immature heroines, though I was more closely drawn to feisty and mostly-fearless Donna as she stomps her way through the novel in combat boots.

Lauren’s ex is the most complex of the male characters, while Michael ultimately comes off as a duplicitous rat even when the author tries to make him kinder.  And then there’s Elizabeth, whose layers peel away to reveal something rather horrific.

The mystery itself is fairly mediocre, with the ultimate culprit coming off as an easy, law-of-character-economy choice. The atmosphere is perfectly drawn; all of Stone’s nights – black as midnight and chilling as a snowstorm – feel like they’ve emerged from a neon-drenched eighties noir.

The Last One Home will keep the reader guessing, though it doesn’t pop to life with the intensity of Stone’s other work.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent retailer
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Thank you @amazonpublishing @netgalley for my review copy.

I read Jane Doe a couple years ago and loved it! So I had high hopes for this one, expecting a hard to put down thriller. That wasn’t what this book was at all. I’d categorize it more of a slow family drama/mystery. Which is so not my jam.

Honestly, it was pretty hard to finish. I wasn’t really interested until the last 20% and even then I thought that it was very predictable. If you like slow paced family dramas then you might like this, but don’t pick it up expecting a thriller. ⭐️⭐️

#bookreview #netgalley #arc #ebook #thelastonehome #familydrama #readersofinstagram #reader #bookstagram #thetipsyreader #bookstagrammer #igreads #bookcommunity #bibliophile

This is a gripping story of suspense about dysfunctional families and lies. Lauren returns home to the family estate. Her mother lied and this resulted in her father going to prison. Lauren becomes haunted and troubled by the past and is determined to find out exactly the truth. This was and easy read like the author’s previous books.

Received this book as an ARC via Netgalley for an honest review.

Is it a bad sign when you sit down to do the review yo can't remember anything about this book?

This book had promise. It just turned into a big ol' WTF. 

Basically a young women, Lauren goes to live with her dad/grandma after he was falsely accused of a murder by her mother.  So once he gets out of prison- 10 years later- she develops a strong and very dependent on her pleasing him relationship (not like that- just will do whatever daddy wants, doesn't want to hurt his feelings type). And by doing this, she cuts off her mother. She is yearning for love and approval- and her grandma gives just that. So much that she is gifted the old farmhouse. 

I liked her mom. I wish the whole novel was based in her perspective. Sure she comes off as a bit of a bitch, but she had grit.  She ended up getting pregnant in her late 30s from a random hook up, who also was a serial cheater.  This guy turned out to maybe be a murder... a lovely scenario for your future daughters' father. 

While it was a decent read, I remember thinking the writing style came off as very Young-Adultish. I mean, the whole FB/Instagram stories. Like, I get it. I do them too, but the way its presented... just I dunno really didn't seem necessary at all.  And the pettiness of the whole ex thing. I get it. I really do. Just. Yah.  

Again, I wish it was Donna's side of the story the whole time, those parts made the rating go up.

3.5 rounded up. 

Part of the story follows Lauren Abrahams who moves into her ninety year old grandmother’s house in the Sacramento Valley with the intention of caring for her after she suffers a stroke. Her grandmother offers her the house on very favourable terms and Lauren sets about a renovation project. The second  part takes the narrative back to 1985 to Lauren’s pregnant mother Donna who is being made false promises by Lauren’s father Michael .....

I like the premise of the book and it’s very easy to read. The alternating points of view works well as we witness Michael’s behaviour and try to understand his relationship with Donna and when Michael’s mother enters the picture things get very interesting! Between the parallel storylines an intriguing picture emerges, secrets and lies build and all the puzzling pieces fall into place. There are so many dysfunctional relationships here in particular between Donna and Lauren but I like how that is resolved. The suspense and tension build well in the last quarter of the book and the ending is really good and somewhat unexpected! 

However, there are some negatives in my opinion. At times in the first 20/30 percent the pace is a bit slow in places and there is some backwards and forwards repetition concerning Michael’s actions. Lauren’s character is a bit bland, I’d have liked a bit more of Donna’s spirit! There is a strand in the storytelling that concerns a convicted serial killer which could have been more effective and that sort of fizzles out. 

Overall though, I did enjoy it as it’s easy to read with a very good finale.   

With thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the arc for an honest review.

3-4 stars, but definitely not a thriller in my opinion, but much more of a family drama/suspense.  It’s quite slow burn, so if you’re wanting a fast paced thrill ride, this is mot your book.  If you are looking for a well written, slow burn, family drama with some suspense, this is definitely your book.  It is well written, intriguing, with some suspense, and drama.  I would recommend if you’re looking for a quick read, which is easily finished.