Wow well this was well worth a read! This was my first book by Lauren North and I have another on my shelf that I now cannot wait to pick up. North has such a fabulous way of writing that makes it so easy to read and just devour. I think I read this in all of two days, and it kept me on my toes the whole time. I really enjoyed the character building, I felt like you really got to know the James family and having it from multiple perspectives really made the story so much more tense and thrilling. I also really loved the fact North included transcripts of interviews and also text messages in between the chapters so you got an even wider picture of what’s going on and just how many characters could be involved.
The only reason this was a 4 star and not a 5 for me was the ending, I enjoyed the build up to the end, enjoyed the conclusion and the way things came together but the actual reasoning behind the ‘situation’ was just slightly disappointing. Nevertheless, this was such a fabulous thriller that actually got my heart racing at some points and me sitting on the edge of my seat eager to find out what actually happened on the fateful night. Definitely a thriller recommendation from me!

Another fine novel from the excellent Lauren North. Well written and with an impressive series of twists and revelations, the story is set in a quiet village where nothing bad ever happens...until the evrning that 10 year old Harrie is left alone while her mother pops out briefly. All of the main characters have secrets which gradually emerge until the final revelations leave the reader open-mouthed. Great stuff!

Unputdownable. This book gripped me right from the start and I couldn't put it down. As a mum I found this book even more terrifying.

I loved this book. It was exciting, dramatic and had me on the edge of my seat on more than one occasion.

Lots of fireworks and some cracking story telling to keep you up till the early hours wanting to get to the end.

Great characters and interesting plot. Full of more twists and turns than the best rollercoaster.

Highly recommended 5 stars from me.

Excellent. A gripping story from the very beginning.. So many twists and turns. As a mum it was too realistic!

This is a really well written and completely gripping thriller, full of tension and suspense.

The narrative is divided between Anna and her eleven year old daughter, Harrie. Anna meant to leave Harrie home alone for only twenty minutes but an accident delays her. It's a delay which will change their lives forever; something dreadful has happened.

Set in a small, gossipy village where Anna is surrounded by other judgemental mothers who use WhatsApp with bitchy glee, the plot is cleverly developed and I was totally drawn in. There is an underlying sense of claustrophobia created by the background, the characters and their interactions with each other. This is a clever novel full of intrigue and drama with entirely believable characters.

In summary, an excellent read. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Safe At Home is a 4.5⭐️ read. This is not the first book I have read by Lauren North but she just gets better and better.
The book is told in three time lines but worked very well and didn’t confuse at all. Anna James is mother to eleven year old twins and a younger daughter, she spends the majority of her time on her own as her husband is away working fro months at a time. She is pressured into leaving Harrie on her own whilst she does the after school club run. She is held up in a crash and instead of being minutes she is hours. When she returns there is mud over her kitchen floor it Harrie is asleep. Harrie is not the same girl the next morning and the night before a business man from the village has gone missing. Surely there is an explanation but Harrie won’t speak about that night but gets more and more out of character.
This is a really good plot, I had no idea where this was going and don’t think I would have guessed right if you’d given me multiple chances. I really enjoyed this as the characters were to some extent believable.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Anna goes to collect her daughter from her extra curricular activities. She takes her youngest daughter with her but leaves Harrie (Harriet at Home). Anna is known as an over protective mother. However, she knows she’s got to start trusting her children, and after all she’s not going to be long. However, there is an accident that holds her up. She is unable to contact her daughter and now one she knows can check. Eventually a friend calls on the house but there’s no reply. Her daughter must be asleep. She us reassured when she finally gets hone and her daughter is asleep in bed.

Unfortunately following that evening there us a dramatic change in her daughter. What actually happened while she was held up? Also a friend has gone missing. Are the two things connected.

A read that will keep you turning the pages.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to see an arc

I couldn’t help but get dragged fully into this one. I wasn’t lead in gently, I was pulled in hard and it didn’t let me go until the last page.

This is told in three timelines and not at all confusing. I thought the author did a super job with this and tying everything in plus……keeping the momentum going for the reader.

Brilliant characters with a known anxious mom who may be not be wrong on her assumptions.

Loved it.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this gripping novel

oh my word what a ride of a book this one is...it hits nerves left right and centre and at times i had to put the book down and walk away....there was so much going on and at times it hits several nerves all at the same time

anna has left harrie at home while she picks up her other daughter but on the way home there is a car accident and they are stuck in traffic for hours...anna is frantic as this is the first time she has ever left one of her daughter at home alone

when they finally get home and everyone is in bed..anna finds the back door unlocked and there are muddy footprints through the kitchen...

when anna asks harrie what has happened and had she left the house harrie behaviour becomes worrying...

and so begins the start of the nightmare for all....

a compelling read that at times you have to walk away from to settle your nerves...and that twist at the end..man i didnt see that one coming..phew my nerves are shot

@currentlyreading__
Book 54 of 2021

I love September but my, my, my it's a busy old month. This review is l-o-n-g overdue but as it isn't released for another six days, I'm sure my tardiness will be forgiven. This book brought up an interesting question - at what age is it acceptable to leave your child home alone? As I'm the mother of an eight year old, definitely not now but what about when he's eleven? Can I run to the shop and leave him alone? The mother hen instinct and the fact that he's my one and only child says that I'll be ok to run to the corner shop for a pint of milk when he's eighteen! This is the dilemma Anna James (practically raising her daughters single-handedly due to her husband's job on the oil rigs in Nigeria) finds herself in when she leaves one of her eleven year old twins home alone as she collects the other twin from gymnastics. She won't be gone long so surely this is acceptable? What about when there is a crash on the motorway which means she is literally stuck for hours whilst the police clear up? This had my heart racing and the fact that her daughter Harrie is traumatised by what has has happened in her mother's absence really made for gripping reading.

@lauren_c_north creates a wide cast of characters in the seemingly friendly and safe village of Barton St. Martin and the movement of the timeline plus the interspersing of WhatsApp messages really give us a sense of the action being totally out of Anna's control. Despite wanting her daughters to have independence and freedom, she knows that things are not as they seem. London might have trapped Anna and her husband financially, but the safe haven of Barton St. Martin has become the very opposite - one of hidden and shady dealings and when she thought nothing could happen to her daughter Harrie, she was very much in the wrong.

Thank you to @lauren_c_north, @NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my opinion.

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I really liked this book! It was fast-paced and gripping and I was hooked from the first page. The format worked really well, there are 3 different timelines which although had the potential to get confusing, didn’t - it was always clear to me where in the story I was and those timelines really helped to give a comprehensive insight into the reasons behind certain events. Interspersed with the timelines are both press interviews with various residents of the village this story is located in and also WhatsApp group chat extracts and I enjoyed the addition of these.

The intrigue and suspense was off the charts! It built quickly from the beginning and didn’t let up until the secrets began to unravel. I wasn’t sure how I felt about main character Anna at first - she’s a very overprotective mother and is highly strung but as the story develops, the reasons behind her personality traits become clear and I ended up sympathising with her a lot. The ending was amazing, I definitely didn’t see it coming and the final twist is the best one of all.

What age is it ok to leave a child home alone? How would you cope with the guilt if something terrible happened to your child the one time you left them?

Anna and Rob have secrets they want to keep from the village they have moved their family to. But should they be more worried about the secrets the village is keeping from them?

Told over 3 timelines and via news reports and WhatsApp messages as well as standard prose, this story will have you hooked. Information is given to the reader drip by drip and the revelations keep on coming right to the very end!

I love the dynamics in the book, all the relationships are so well written. The twists were not obviously and certainly kept the pages turning.

I will definitely be looking out for more by this author.

I was instantly gripped by Safe at Home. I found it an easy read that I got immersed in immediately. It had plenty of twists and turns and had an ending I did not see coming at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Anna is mum to 11yr old twins Harrie and Elise, and 7yr old Molly. Living in a small village with her husband working away for months at a time, she is quite anxious about raising the girls practically alone and is not quite ready to let them loose to do things more independently. One the one night she does, things don't go to plan and their lives will be affected more than she could have ever expected.

After the opening on Halloween, it then goes back to 10 days earlier and unravels the story of what happened leading up to the events that night. Told from alternate perspectives of Anna and Harrie it is well fleshed out showing both sides of the story and I really liked the use of whatsapp messages, media and police interviews, giving it a very authentic feel.

This was my first read by this author and I will certainly be looking out for more!

Keeps you reading till the end.
Anna leaves Harrie her 11yr old at home while she goes to collect Harrie`s twin at gymnastics but Anna is delayed after a car accident causes a massive road block, on her return home Harrie is asleep but the next day Harrie is acting strangely and has bruising on her arms. Anna knows something is up but Harrie won`t tell and also a friend and local business man goes missing and the local women's chat app group is stirring up trouble and with Anna`s husband working away she is finding it difficult to cope.

Some good twists and it keeps you on edge till the end wondering what is happening.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I started this book thoroughly enjoying the mystery and drama of the night everything happened. However I did feel that the plot somehow lost its way and I got a bit exasperated towards the middle when nothing much seemed to be happening. However I finished it and quite enjoyed it. Not sure of the reason for it all, it sounded a bit overdramatic and unnecessary.

Sorry, but this book is not for me - it is written in the present tense which I have always found impossible to read, However, it would be unfair of me to mark this down based on my own inability to cope with the writing style, and therefore I have awarded the average mark that this book has received to date (four stars).

I would find it very helpful if NetGalley offered the option of a few preview pages before requesting a title as the other review site that I contribute to does.

What if you left your child alone, and something terrible happened?

Anna James is an anxious mum to three girls, eleven year old twins Harrie and Elise, and seven year old Molly, living in the village of Barton St. Martin. She is currently looking after them on her own while her husband Rob is working away on an oil rig in Nigeria and he only returns home every couple of months. One evening she decides to let Harrie stay home alone whilst she takes Elise to gymnastics, it's only 20 minutes away, nothing can go wrong in that time can it? Except things do go wrong, Anna is held up due to a road accident and returns hours later to find her daughter has become very withdrawn and unable to explain the bruises that have appeared, will Anna find out what happened to Harrie that night and is it connected to the disappearance of a local businessman?

Safe at Home is told from the perspectives of both Anna and Harrie, beginning with a group Whatsapp chat on Halloween night and then goes back ten days to tell us the story leading up to Halloween and beyond. Anna is a very private person, feeling the strain of being a 'single parent' while Rob is working away and even though she's made friends with some of the other mum's and villagers, she never quite feels that she belongs, which probably explains why she's a bit overprotective with the girls, but she also has a secret that nobody else in the village is aware of and she's hoping it stays that way, but of course nothing stays secret for long in a small village. Harrie is a typical eleven year old, until that night when her whole attitude and demeanour changes in a split second. The premise of this story is authentic, the chapters short and seamless, with the added WhatsApp chats and the interviews intertwined. The characters are believeable, some not very nice ones I have to say! Its a tense read with some unexpected twists. This is the first I've read by this author, recommended by a friend, and I'll certainly be looking at her other books.

I'd like to thank Random House UK Transworld and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

A well written book of mystery and intrigue set in a village where some people are not as they seem to
The story goes back and forth in time but found it easy to keep up with
The Watsapp messages were a good touch
Lots of characters to love to hatw
A good read