Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the authro for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return fro a review based upon my honest opinion.

This was a haunting book from a different time. It is a dual timeline story, told in the present (2010) from the point of view of Kayla, a woman whose husband dies while constructing their new home and as it comes time to move into it, she discovers all is not as it may seem. The past story is from 1965, from the view point of Eleanor (Ellie) a young adult who realizes there is more to life than doing what you are told and not questioning your surroundings, a time to stand up for what is right Ellie find a passion for civil rights when she hears about the SCOPE program, a program to help get black voters registered to vote. I had not heard of this program before and found it very interesting

A woman shows up at Kayla's office and ultimately she feels threatened by the visitor but she cannot discover who the woman was. When Kayla moves in she introduces herself to Ellie and discovers her father has a connection to Ellie's past. As we read of Ellie's past, we learn that she discovers too late how bigoted hr smalll town is and her loss is enough to make her eave her home for 45 years.

A wonderfully told story, well written with memorable characters.

Author Diane Chamberlain’s books never fail to captivate. The Last House on the Street is a suspenseful, heartfelt and emotional story about civil rights in a dual timeline between the 60’s and 2010. From the moment I began, I was captivated by the writing, the characters, the intense drama of this story. The Last House on the Street is a lion of a book that will roar into your heart. Be prepared to be entangled in its lure.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

The Last House On The Street by Diane Chamberlain was certainly quite a story. Dual timelines, 1965 where Ellie’s wanting to do something about social injustice amidst racial brutality, and 2010, where we meet Kayla, widow mom that just got a house finished built and it sits in the land where Ellie grew up. So the two stories come together at the end nicely. DC has penned one of my favorite novels The Dream Daughter and I always keep looking forward to see what she brings next! This one was well done but not to that level. 3.5 Rounding it up to 4 stars.

1st Line: "I'm in the middle of a call with a contractor when Natalie, our new administrative assistant, pokes her head into my office."

Review: Told in dual timelines, Diane Chamberlain's latest begins in 2010 with architect Kayla Carter, a woman still reeling from - and dealing with - the death of her husband, killed in an accident while building the dream home the two of them had planned and worked on together for years. Now that same home - the first finished residence in Shadow Ridge Estates, a new upscale development blossoming in Round Hill, North Carolina - is ready for move-in for both Kayla and her four-year-old daughter ... but Kayla can't decide if her dream house has now become a nightmare, especially when a strange, vaguely threatening woman drops by her office one day, seemingly knowing a bit too much about both Kayla and her tragedy.

Round Hill in 1965, still very much segregated and racist, is the bane of Ellie Hockley's existence when - taking after her deceased favorite aunt - the young activist decides to spend one summer off college by working with a program to help register local Black residents to vote. A young, white girl from a (by comparison) privileged family in town, Ellie's parents, brother - even the boy she may or may not be in love with - are vehemently opposed to the young womans putting herself in potential danger, even as their own prejudices and bigotry rise to the surface. But Ellie remains strong in her convictions of racial equality ... even in klan country, where aything could happen to a young, pretty white girl seemingly turning traitor against her own kind ...

The Last House on the Street is the story of both of these strong women, and how (or even if) their stories might converge in surprising - even shocking - ways. This was my first time reading Diane Chamberlain, after years of hearing so many great things about her work, and while I think I had a stronger connection to Ellie and her story, the book's trips back to 2010 were no less compelling, and 1965 Charmberlain does an intense job of revisiting a volatile, gut-wrenching time in this country's history that - sadly - still resonates today. I had some concerns that the 1965 story was told from the "white" point of view, but Chamberlain gives both Ellie and her story a dignity and earnestness that easily had you watching even the most shocking happen through the young girl's eyes; so much so, by halfway through the book, whenever I had to put it down I found myself constantly wanting to pick iit up again, whenever life intervened. Even if you can kind of guess where you think the ending is going, there are still surprises waiting - making this a compelling, dramatic read that already has me going over Ms. Chamberlain's backlist for more. (4.5/5 stars)

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Kayla lost her husband in an accident while their new house was being built. And now she’s ready to move in with her daughter, but it feels like there is something wrong with their house. Or someone doesn’t want them to live there. There was so much involved in this book. It is about family ties and secrets. And the violence that occurred nearby years ago.

I usually don't enjoy dual points of view/two different time periods but this story surprised me and I found myself hooked from the beginning. The subject is a hard one but it's very well handled - social injustice. I won't say anything more for fear of spoiling it. Now that I have read my first book from the pen of Diane Chamberlin I have added her name to my list of authors to catch up with.
My thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this was a very well written and engaging story. The story has a dual timeline narrative. In the present, there is Kayla, a grieving widow moving into the house that her and her husband designed (and where he died) while dealing with a mysterious person who definitely doesn't want Kayla and her daughter living where they are. In the past, there is Ellie, an idealistic college age woman who decides to spend a summer trying to register black people to vote in North Carolina (just prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act), to the shock of most of the people around her.

I have to say that I loved Ellie's chapters a lot more. She was so young and naive and she had no idea the racism ad bigotry that existed within some of her loved ones and she had no idea (until her volunteer work) just how much it would mean for many of the black people in her county to be able to have a say in elections. I found myself feeling a bit bored with Kayla's chapters, at least at first. I didn't fully understand how they connected with Ellie and I didn't understand a lot of the mystery that was happening and why someone was so intent on making her leave.

Eventually though, everything came together and I saw the connection and I was so invested in learning the secrets of the past and how they related to Ellie and Kayla in the present. While this was not one of my favorite Diane Chamberlain novels, this was still a great read.

The Last House on the Street
Author: Diane Chamberlain

My Rating: 5 stars
Opening Line: 2010 I'm in the middle of a call with a contractor when Natalie, our new administrative assistant, pokes her head into my office. I put the call on hold.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Diane Chamberlain for an ARC of this book. It is now available!

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain was such a fantastic read. This is an historical fiction drama that kept me up at night. I couldn’t put this book down. It is emotional. I found myself talking out loud to the characters (Don’t go there!) & thinking about the story during the day.

The Last House on the Street is about voting rights and presents a split storyline that pivots from 1965 and 2010. It takes place in North Carolina with a base located in the small community of Round Hill. You will be tussled in both directions.

Haunting, real and so good! With dual timelines, this book will keep you engrossed from beginning to end.

Diane Chamberlain is quickly becoming a favorite author. This is only the second book of her extensive list I’ve read but I will read everything she puts out in the future and plan to work my way through her backlist.

This is a dual timeline book set in both the 1960’s when Ellie Hockley, a white college girl, is trying to help register Black people to vote, and 2010 when Kayla Carter is trying to finish building the dream house she and her husband started before his accidental death.

Ellie is Kayla’s neighbor and fills her in on what has happened in this area of North Carolina in the past.

This is a powerful social justice book which reminded me a lot of John and Mary Margaret by Susan Cushman. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for a digital ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! It was part historical fiction and part mystery. I couldn’t put it down. Diane Chamberlain never disappoints!

This would happen to be my very first book by Diane Chamberlain but it wont be the last!

Such an interesting read about the life people lived before the modern day. How awful people of color had it when the white people had it all. How awful colored people were treated when the ones who treated them harshly were no other than your neighbors or even your family- the ones you thought you trusted and love.

Such a heartfelt read of an interracial love. A love that not everyone could understand or even accept, but yet felt it was their duty to intervene and control the situation how they felt was acceptable.

The Last House on the Street had even educated me on what the SCOPE program was. I had never knew programs like these existed and lead me to do more research on the subject. This was such a moving book, It is one that will stay with me for years to come.

*Some subject matter in this book may be hard for individuals to read, Please allow yourself to check out trigger warnings before you start this wonderful book*

Mixed Feelings

3.25 stars

The Last House on the Street is a historical drama about voting rights and a related mystery.

In the 1960s, Ellie, a college student at UNC, joins the SCOPE Project, an organization focused on voting rights for African Americans. Being a white woman from a privileged family in the south, Ellie becomes embroiled in controversy. When she develops romantic feelings for a black man, she becomes a target of the Klan.

Shift to 2010, and the reader meets Kayla, a young widow who has just moved into a beautiful house in what was once an uninhabited area. When someone begins leaving threats around her house, Kayla begins investigating, which leads her to uncover secrets about the past, including ones involving her father.

Told in dual timelines, the narrative alternates between the 1960s and 2010. Ellie narrates the 1960s chapters and Kayla in 2010. Ellie’s chapters had depth, whereas Kayla’s chapters were more of a plot device. Kayla’s character wasn’t fully formed, and it took some time for me to warm to Ellie. She has a childish voice (IMHO) that annoyed me, but she eventually grew on me.

The themes center on systemic racism and oppression, but Chamberlain only touches the surface. I would have loved more on the SCOPE Project, more on Wyn and the oppressed vs. Ellie and her family. Instead, this is a story about Ellie and Kayla and righting the wrongs of the past. There are lessons to be learned, but they are wrapped in a white savior narrative.

The Last House on the Street was easy to read. The narrative flows and parts were compelling. I expected to be gutted, and while I was moved, I wasn’t as emotional as I anticipated. I didn't love this book, but I appreciate that it introduced me to the SCOPE project.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Chamberlain hits another one out of the park! The chapters taking place in 1965 No Carolina describe the well-known racial divide, at the time when LBJ was signing the landmark Voting Rights Act to make it easier for everyone to vote. That's the bill that was derailed by the Supreme Court in 2013 so that now states can pass basically any type of restrictive voting law they want to. The authors own review of her book explains it so well:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4142584942?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Read this book -- it's important and topical -- and read her review.

My thanks to Erica at St Martin's Publishing Group for guaranteeing me a copy from NetGalley. I mostly listened to this on audio - excellent narrator!

Yep, this one made me cry!

I’ve read one other book by Diane Chamberlain, Big Lies in a Small Town. I yawned through the first half (and swore it was too light a book), when suddenly the tide changed and I was swallowed up by this gigantic whale of a plot, and I was tumbled round and round in its guts. And guess what? It just happened here with Chamberlain’s latest book, The Last House on the Street. Same deal: antsy to get to some grit, critical of the slow pace and mundanity and predictability of it all, and then WHAP! I’m a goner. And like in Big Lies in a Small Town, I cried! I hardly ever cry when I read, so it’s major if a book pulls tears out of me.

Wow, Chamberlain is such an expert storyteller! Like in the other book, she weaves together two plots happening at different times (here, 1965 and 2010), and when they meet in the middle, it’s crazy good. It reminds me of a song that starts out too slowly (the slow part seems to last forever), and then the tempo changes and it gets louder, and all the sudden you can’t sit still. In the end, that’s what you remember—the incredible part. I realized that the slow setup was critical in making me go so wild later on.

The 1965 story is told by a 20-year-old white college kid in North Carolina. She joins college kids from the North to canvas the black neighborhoods to get people to vote. I was wary, because I don’t like message books and I figured I’d get hit over the head with a cause. And it felt like a Hallmark movie. But let me tell you this: I couldn’t help but get pulled into the story; the more it went on, the more invested I got. The book taught me a lot about how people lived during that civil rights movement (I knew so little!) and put me right into the scene; very vivid. There were some incredibly heartbreaking scenes that unfortunately were reflections of what was really going on back then. The Ku Klux Klan stuff is frightening beyond belief. It’s obvious that Chamberlain did her homework.

The 2010 story is told by a woman who is moving into a fancy new house. She’s a widow and she has a little girl. Some crazy woman comes into her office and threatens her. This storyline is full of mystery and suspense. Who is this woman? Why are scary things happening as the woman gets ready to move in? Because I love reading about the present more than reading about the past (and because I love me a good mystery), this story interested me more at first. Before long, though, the first storyline grabbed me, and I started loving both stories equally.

This isn’t literary fiction. I didn’t highlight and I didn’t look up any words. The language is straightforward; no jazz or poetry here. But the book isn’t pretending to be hotsy-totsy. It’s a great read—the characters are well-drawn and so sympathetic, the plot weave is amazing, and the reveal at the end is totally unexpected and phenomenal. Oh, and as a bonus, the book teaches you something about an important issue in our history (a topical one, it turns out). Like I said, this one made me cry, and any book that does that earns big points.

Chamberlain pulled off a terrific read, one that I’ll remember. I should say there is some tough stuff going on here, so don’t expect a comfortable story. I’ll be checking out more books by this writer, that’s for sure.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy.

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain is a book that will get you thinking while you are reading it and stay with you even when you are done. It is the story of Ellie Hockley in 1965 and Kayla Carter in 2010, their stories told in alternating chapters. Ellie is a passionate civil rights worker willing to give up pretty much everything for what she believes in and for who she loves. Kayla is a young mother and architect that has moved into the home she and husband designed together before his untimely death. The stories meld together beautifully and there is enough backstory to feel completely involved in what is going on. Some pretty heavy topics are met head on in the story such as interracial relationships, prejudice, and death, to name a few, but as always, Diane Chamberlain is a solid author that brings well-researched stories that keep the reader invested from beginning to end.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain. This is her latest, it just published this year, and it is another instant fav for me. Chamberlain’s books make me feel allllll the feelings. When she weaves two stories together - one from the past, one the present - it’s pure magic. I had very high expectations going into this one, and it exceeded them all.

I was particularly impressed by Chamberlain’s ability to write about a white, female civil rights worker during the 1960s, without making that character feel like any kind of white savior.

Definitely snag this historical fiction (with a smidge of some mystery) and be prepared to feel all the things!

Wow. I didn’t really have much background on this book before reading it so it took me by surprise a bit with the historical fiction side of things. I have loved everything I have read by Diane Chamberlain, and this one is high on that list.

The story is split between two perspectives, 45 years apart. There’s a connection, and it gets more deep and complicated as the story evolves. It’s part set in 2010 with a young widow and her daughter moving into a new house on a street that has a lot of history in her small town. That history unravels when she meets her neighbor who is back in town after being away 45 years. The other part of the story is set around the neighbor, as a young girl who is coming of age and becoming involved with civil rights and activism.

I will be thinking of this story for a while. What I love so much about reading is how much you learn about different times and history, especially in our country. There are some difficult parts to this book, but ones that need to be heard.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this wonderful book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This story takes place in the South, specifically Round Hill , North Carolina. In the past 1965 we meet and follow Ellie Hockley as she decides to join a summer program to assist registering black voters. Being young and naive, with all of the right intentions we follow the trials and tribulations she experiences. While in the present we meet Kayla the architect who recently lost her husband to a freak accident during the building of their home. She decides to move into their new home and raise their daughter. But soon Kayla feels watched and is threatened to move out of the neighborhood.
Chamberlain does a fantastic job of tying these two women's lives together and I enjoyed learning about the past and the present of Round Hill. This book also made me realize how much racism was still around in the 60's and really has never gone away. I could unfortunately imagine some of the scenes still being true today.
It is a great story leaving your heart broken but content. As well as a story to make you think about your fellow man. Not for the sensitive hearted.

This is the first book by Diane Chamberlain I've read, and I really enjoyed it! The dual timelines added so much complexity and depth to the story. The author has a skillful way of weaving together the past and the present storylines. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for an interesting story that will stick with you for a while after you finish reading.