Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy! I have read Diane Chamberlain books before, so I was excited to get a copy of this one!

The book did not disappoint! In this read we follow Kayla, a recently widowed single mother, architect, who is moving into her new custom built home. This home is the first house built in the new Shadow Ridge Estates. In addition to Kayla, we follow Ellie. Ellie used to live in the area now known as Shadow Ridge Estates. We follow flashbacks of Ellie in the 60's and her work with civil rights. During this time, her family is not happy with Ellie's choices and she ultimately leaves home without turning back after her boyfriend was killed. We follow both Kayla and Ellie and see how their lives are intertwined. This book keeps you guessing until the very very end. very well done.

I usually love Diane Chamberlain but this one wasn't her best. I wish I could say I loved it. I did enjoy the flasback chapters as that was definitely an interesting POV.

Lovely little story, the plight of the Magdalene girls is so sad and a very shameful part of Irish history. If only more people had made such a small humane gesture….

Master storyteller, Diane Chamberlain, does it again combining a harrowing period in US history with a story full of mystery, heartbreak, poignancy and a touch of hopefulness.

Alternating between the present day and the 1960s in a small town in North Carolina and two female points of view. Ellie Hockley has lived in Round Hill her whole life, only leaving to study pharmacology st Chapel Hill. Instead of working at her father's drugstore, she decides to work with SCOPE for the summer to help the poor Black community get registered to vote. While she knew her decision would be controversial, she was surprised at the vehement disapproval from her family.

In the present day timeline, a young widow and her daughter plan to move into the house where her husband died in a freak accident when a strange woman threatens her about moving there.

As their stories combine, it builds to a tragic crescendo with plenty of unexpected twists. Highly recommended.

I don’t normally like books that are told in different timelines, but this one really sucked me in. One tells the story of young Ellie getting involved in the Civil Rights movement, against her family’s wishes. The second timeline let’s us visit Ellie 45 years later. I felt the “mystery” in the second timeline was a little clunky, but overall this was a great book!

The Last House on the Street (Diane Chamberlain)
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I had a hard time putting this one down. Ellie Hockley takes us through her experience growing up in the 60’s and going through civil rights movement, and Kayla Carter attempts to move forward after her husband’s sudden death. When Kayla’s new home seems haunted and a mysterious woman threatens her, Ellie and Kayla realize they are more connected than they thought.
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Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Fast moving, highly readable book. I could not put it down once I started! Will definitely be recommending to others!

The Last House on the Street is incorrectly billed as a mystery/thriller, likely due in part to the genre’s wide appeal and voracious readers, and in part to the novel’s straddling of genres, with its civil rights storyline and Southern Gothic elements sprinkled in. While I generally like books that refuse genre conventions, or that meld or transcend genres, this feels more like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. The set up is all mystery/thriller: a young widow and her toddler move into the house she and her husband built before he was killed in said house, only to find it’s haunted— but by what, or who? But as the story unfolds through two points of view and two timelines, it becomes more disjointed, as the two POV’s are also in separate genres. While they inevitably converge in the present, the story never feels cohesive. Now, don’t get me wrong, I really like that author Chamberlain delivered an unexpected and unusual storyline, as I don’t think I’ve ever read a mystery/thriller involving civil rights in the Jim Crow South... But I think it could be for reason. I commend her for her ambition, but it ultimately didn’t work for me.

The Last House on the Street doesn't disappoint. The little nuggets of truth dropped in as the story develops help to build the suspense of learning the whole story.. The weaving of the relationships, past and present, draws in the reader and keeps you right there, wanting more.

Cannot get book to download, Says it is on my Net Galley Shelf but it is not and won’t download again

I enjoyed this new Diane Chamberlain novel. I am a fan of her books in general and this one is definitely worth reading. As usual, her character development is excellent - I cared a great deal about all of the characters and what happened to them over the course of the story. This is the story of two women in different times - Ellie in 1965 and Kayla in 2010. Ellie is a young woman in the South who has an awakening about racism and her desire to effect change in the civil rights movement and how her choices will play out for the people she loves. Kayla is a widowed mother who is trying to move on in her life after her husband tragically dies in the house they designed and built together - in a place that holds a great deal of pain in the community. I wonder how some fans of the author will react to the content of this book. It shows the very dark and insidious racism that existed in the South in the 1960's. I would have liked the author to say more about how that racism continues to be a part of the current story of our country, not just the past - and I expected this to show up more in Kayla's story but it did not. Considering that Kayla's story is in 2010, I thought perhaps the end would show her young daughter 11 years later (2021) and perhaps tie the theme in that way. Not sure why this didn't happen, but overall, great book.

Diane Chamberlain never disappoints! Her dual storylines are always relevant and fascinating. A young woman in the 1960’s decides to join a program helping poor black families register to vote. In 2010 a young widow moves into a new home she planned to share with her husband. Their stories are very different, but end up intertwined. Wonderful storytelling.
Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC!

Wow! I really didn't see that coming. Once I started this book I didn't want to put it down. The story is told in 2 different timelines. I've always liked Diane Chamberlain books and this one didn't disappoint!

I love the authors previous works and this book did not disappoint. Though I had figured out who the mystery woman was who was introduced at the beginning - getting to the point of disclosure and finding out the story set in the past - was very good read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and St Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

First off, Diane Chamberlain is one of my favorite authors. I love her writing style, she is able to mesh one time period to another smoothly and relevantly. Ellie's story starts in 1965 with her dedication to the Civil Rights Movement SCOPE and meanders to Kayla in 2010, a young widow with a child.

This book will stir lots of emotions in you. One woman giving up so much for Civil Rights and the ripple effect 45 years later . It was a very hard book to put down, as are all Diane Chamberlain books. You don’t want to miss this one, honestly,you don’t.

The Last House on the Street is a beautiful, bittersweet, poignant novel. Though I knew what was coming, I couldn’t put the book down until I finished—highly recommended.

Diane Chamberlain's latest novel is told in dual timelines. In 2010, Kayla Carter and her daughter are moving into the dream home she and her late husband designed and in 1965, where we meet Ellie Hockley, a young college girl volunteering to help register black voters. Ellie's family isn't too happy about her volunteering and she's pretty naive about how involved her small town is with the Ku Klux Klan. Kayla's house is the last house on the same street as the one Ellie grew up in. It doesn't feel as welcoming to Kayla as it once did. Now the house has a foreboding presence and mysterious things start happening making Kayla wonder if they need to move out.

Diane Chamberlain's books are always good reads. I thought Ellie's timeline was more interesting and kept me wanting to read more. There were some difficult parts to read. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that likes a little bit of historical fiction. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Told in a dual timeline, this book takes place in North Carolina during the time right before LBJ signs the Voting Rights Acts into legislation. A young white woman defies her family and becomes a member of SCOPE project to educated the black community and hopefully get their commitment to register to vote when the time comes. Each white student is paired with a black student to help gain the confidence of the community in which they are canvassing. One of the pairs develop feelings for each other, and racial tensions run high. As the past and present alternate we see the rich development of the storyline of the students, the lives they lead today, and the pain of their hidden secrets they have carried all these years later.

This book is AMAZING. I loved every single thing, from the characters to the storyline to the civil rights issues being expressed. It is beautifully written and I could not put it down. Diane chamberlain never disappoints and this might be my very favorite. Loved!!
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow ! Just wow ! Blown away by this book ! I am a huge fan of this author. No one pulls the past and the present together quite like she does. And always filled with epic twists ! Kayla lost her husband in a tragic accident and is leary about moving into the house she and her husband built together. He died in that house. Is she crazy or is the sense of foreboding real ? Ellie moved away 40 plus years ago and never looked back. Until she has to come home to care for her elderly mother and terminally ill brother. Is she strong enough to face the past ? How does her past conflict with Kayla's present ? Beautifully written story full of so much emotion. Highly recommend.