A very slow moving story of events in a hot day in an idyllic neighbourhood. The narrative of different POV helps to maintain the suspense. But trying too hard to hide the suspense also doesn’t serve the purpose. Most of the first part is filled with fillers and is boring that I skipped pages. I couldn’t enjoy it. Sorry.

3.5/5
Plot:
Katherine and Josh with their twins have lived in Hogarth Street for several years now. This is a place where everybody wants to live because of its pretty avenue and white houses. Everything is fine until one day it isn't as Katherine and her family members seem to not follow their routine.
Writing:
The story is told in 4 POVs: Katherine, her neighbor Gladys, a delivery driver Logan and a mystery man (coz no spoilers here). The story progresses in present timeline with flashback of the past coming in between for every character i.e. every POV. I liked that the multiple POV gave didn't perspectives but at the same time it made the pace fluctuate as for one person something exciting happens and for another it's a boring day. The mystery man is revealed at about 80% of the book and it won't be someone you suspected all along. I really liked that twist and how the pieces fit together at last.
This short mystery thriller was really good but it was not unputdownable. It was intriguing enough for me to continue but not something I loved. I really liked all the characters and if Gladys were my neighbor I would love the heck out of her.

This is a slowly unfolding and detailed story of one epic, action packed day, with flashbacks between chapters describing the circumstances that lead to the day’s horrific events. I did find it a slow paced read that seemed to take its time to get to where it was going, but in saying that, it still kept me hooked because the events were so tense and quite sad. I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen!
For me, ‘the twist’ was confusing and I took a little bit to ‘get it’. It wasn’t a shocking twist for me like most thrillers with a good twist are, it was more of a ‘huh? I don’t get it?’ until it finally sunk into my brain, (but that is probably just me, haha!!) 😅🤪
What I loved about this book, was the ending!! 💕 I loved the lessons learned, the messages that it represented about friendship, family, relationships between people, second chances, judgement of others etc. it bought such a smile to my face and was quite simply.. lovely 😊
The ending made all the difference to the overall read for me, it was so sweet and really strengthened the whole story 💕

Frightening in the way that you could really imagine this happening - it was so true to life with the characters and day to day lives described so well. A real page turner with a really great ending!

I really enjoyed reading Home Sweet Home.

Nosy neighbor Gladys notices that there’s something not right next door at the West’s house. They haven’t opened the blinds, and twins Sophie and George are not outside as they usually are. This morning, father John left in a huff. Gladys’ husband encourages her to keep her nose in her own business, but she can’t shake the feeling of something sinister in the summer air.

Delivery guy Logan also feels that something isn’t right at the West’s house. When he goes to drop off a package that morning, the woman refuses to open the door to sign for it.

What is happening at the West’s?

The writing style and the switch of point of views chapter by chapter reminded me of Liane Moriarty’s writing, which is a huge compliment as I love her books. I couldn’t quite figure out how the pieces fit together and this book glued me from page one. I can’t wait to read more from Ms Trope!

Home Sweet Home by Nicole Trope

‘Something strange going on in the house’ whispers George.

‘Halp Us’ written on a sign.

A real gun!

There is something terrible going on at the West house.

Gladys the noisy neighbor doesn’t see Katherine West or her twin kids and becomes worried. John West stormed away earlier in the morning. Did he return? He’s not at work? Why didn’t the kids go to school?

Logan tried delivering a computer to the West house, but Katherine won’t open the door to accept the computer. Something seems so strange. It bothers Logan the entire day along with other personal events.

I really enjoyed this book, it kept me very interested!! I did feel at times it was a little slow and repetitive. But I was interested to see what was going to happen. The last 25% had my complete attention!! Wow!! I really enjoyed the characters!! Fun read!!

Thank you Nicole Tripe, Bookouture and NetGalley for the advance copy to read in return for my honest review!

I just finished the last chapter and I’m writing this review with tears streaming down my face!! What a BRILLIANT book. Right off the bat, the first paragraph sucked me in and I was on edge every single second after. At one point I realized my body was literally tensed up in anticipation. This story was so action packed and so suspenseful yet still provided characters that were so well developed and lovable. The ending was absolutely heart wrenching in all different ways and I was crying tears of sadness and happiness. What a powerful book. Would give it more than 5 stars if I could!

Logan, is ex prisoner, now working as delivery guy. He is married to Debbie, a nurse, who used to treat him when he got injured from break and enter. On one of his delivery address, Logan found it weird that a woman,Katherine, doesn't want to open the door to sign for the package. His instinct after lived in a prison for a few years blaring that something is not right. Katherine's neighbour, Gladys, who's also suspicious as she hasn't seen any of blinds opened and hasn't heard any of Katherine's kids morning noise.

While Logan's mind can't drop about what's happening at Katherine's house, he is also anxious and upset about his sister, Maddy who is induced coma in hospital after being abused by her boyfriend, Patrick.

Logan and Patrick had similar past but each of them chose different way to move forward from their past.
A past, can shape someone's life differently. Still, every person has a choice in their life, and a choice defines how your life will be, no matter what past you had.
A great story of second chance, stunning, very cleverly written with brilliant ending.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read "Home Sweet Home" by Nicole Trope. I really enjoyed the book. The author did a great job of setting the stage. I was able to place myself in this seemingly perfect neighborhood. I don't want to say anything for fear of spoiling the plot. I recommend read this book!

Thank you Netgalley for this opportunity to read this ARC. I was shocked that Nicole Trope had another book out again so soon after just reading Bring Him Home a few months ago. Since reading her first book I have been hooked. I enjoy the author's style of writing and especially the references to Australia as this is a place I'd love to go someday. This book had many twists and turns and very interesting characters. You never know who your neighbors are and what goes on behind closed doors. The ending was a big twist and totally unexpected. I can't say more as I don't want to ruin the surprise. I would definitely recommend this book!

Home is where you feel you can relax and shut out the rest of the world, but what if your home turns out not to be the refuge you seek? How well do you know your neighbors, are you observant about what goes on in your neighborhood or do you just keep to yourself? All seemed normal on Hogarth Street on a hot sunny weekday as the people on the street were getting ready to start the day. A neighbor, Gladys, the neighborhood busybody noticed something seemed amiss at her neighbor Katherines house and felt unsure if she should interfere for fear that she was just prying in other peoples business. As the day went on others noticed that something strange was going on inside Katherine's house. Then something horrifying happened no one could ignore. The book alternates between people in the house and people outside in the neighborhood. The book was intense and engrossing and was one of my favorite thrillers I have read this year because of how unique it was.

This has to be for me one of the best reads this year. Nicole Trope creates characters you really feel for in this perfectly executed psychological family drama. The whole story takes place during a sweltering hot day when Gladys, an elderly neighbour thinks it is very strange that the curtains remain closed at the house over the road one morning and the five year old twins remain uncharacteristically silent. Also worried that something is not right is Logan the delivery driver, who despite having serious problem s of his own to deal with cannot shake the uneasy feeling.
Inside the house a terrible situation is playing out which had me on the edge of the seat and reading far into the night. I am not saying more because I do not want to spoil the read for other's but without a doubt this is a rollercoaster of a read and worth every minute biting my nails over.

This was an unexpectedly good - and moving - thriller. I loved the way the plot - and twists - unfolded. I thought I'd predicted what was happened but I was way off. There wasn't a character I didn't root for or want to know more about and at the end my heart was in my mouth.

Really enjoyed this.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for my ARC!

This book isn’t at all what I anticipated from the blurb. I was expecting a gradual unraveling of secrets related to a family on a suburban street. Instead, I got a heinous situation pretty much right off the bat, and one that escalated as the book progressed. The entire storyline plays out during the course of a single day, the scenes conjuring a heightened sense of claustrophobia along with escalating danger.

There are a number of characters who surprise you. When the book started, I wasn’t sure how I felt about and delivery driver, Logan, or neighbor, Gladys, but both become standout characters and steal the show. I’m not sure what it says about me that I was more invested in them than Katherine, the woman in danger.

I don’t want to say much about this novel for fear of giving the plot away. There are scenes that made me uncomfortable that touched on domestic abuse (I usually avoid such books but didn’t realize the theme before downloading it). That said, as intense as some scenes were, they didn’t turn me off from the story. I found it engrossing and was completely caught off guard by the twist at the end. This was a well-executed story, but I felt the blurb was misleading, thus the story was not what I expected. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for review purposes.

Home Sweet Home by Nicole Trope is an adrenaline-fuelled rush that propelled me through the pages, and kept me both riveted and guessing until the very end. I have always enjoyed Ms Trope's writing, and her latest offering proved to be no exception.

We never really know what is going on in someone's personal life behind closed doors. Take, for example, Katherine, mother of five year old twins and wife to John. When delivery driver Logan attempts to drop off a computer, he is immediately suspicious when the woman of the house, Katherine, refuses to open the door to take the parcel. Neighbour Gladys also feels ill at ease as something across the street just doesn't sit right, but would she be overstepping to further investigate? Something is amiss on Hogarth Street, and it is up to a well-intentioned few to get to the bottom of things before it is too late.

This is a page-turner that kept me on the edge of my seat with an intensity that does not let up for the duration. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC.

Hogarth Street is the street where everyone wants to live, all the neighbours get on very well, but when the Wests move in and don't seem to be quite as neighbourly it starts to ring alarm bells, what are they hiding? This book was brilliantly written and kept me guessing until the very end, highly recommended.

This really intrigued me. There were lots of little things that raised questions and it kept you reading to find the answers. It was a good story, and I really felt for Logan. I'd read another by this author

Home Sweet Home is a story that starts off with a bang, literally, when one of the neighbors hears gunshots coming from Katherine and John's house. Gladys tells her to take her baby and go back inside. The story then jumps back in time about 8 hours prior when Logan tries to deliver a package to the home and Katherine tells him that she cannot come out of the house to sign for the package. Logan is confused and a little frustrated why someone would not come outside. Gladys, Katherine's next door neighbor, notices all the blinds in the house drawn and thinks that something could be wrong. However, her husband Lou knows that Gladys is generally just the neighbor busybody and tells her to leave it alone. We also get the perspective of Katherine and an unknow person that tells us there is definitely something bad going on in the home. Things are not okay at Katherine and John's house, and we slowly are given clues about who is there and what exactly is happening to the family.

The 4 POV's jump around a bit giving us perspective into each of the characters. Some of these really dragged out the book and I found myself skimming over them and bored. They distracted me from the action going on currently and I wanted to know who was in the house and why. There are some twists that I didn't expect and the author does a great job of pulling everything together at the end.

If you've read the author's previous book The Boy in the Photo, you will see similarities to the same type of family drama, which makes me wonder if this is a theme in all her books. Overall, a good thriller with a lot of family/neighbor drama.

This is a truly exquisite novel. Set in Australia, we meet Katherine and her five-year old twins, Sophie and George, Gladys the nosy neighbour and Logan the delivery driver. The story is told through different perspectives. Following gun shots, the Police are in attendance at suburban Hogarth Street and from there we are taken back to seven hours before, to find out what brought them to such a dark place.

There’s an immediate hook that gets you turning the pages wanting to know more. With wonderful velvety characters, all with their own demons, they are all, in their own ways, trying their best to conceal and live with their flaws which is the perfect recipe for an exciting unputdownable novel.

The character I completely fell in love with was most definitely Logan. With his deeply blemished character and his chequered past, he’s desperately trying to put his wrong-doings in the past thanks to the love of his wife Debbie. The fact that despite putting himself in the eye of the storm, he comes across as such a decent and kind guy that I was desperately rooting for him.

In fact, every single character leaps from the pages fully encapsulating this psychological novel with the fear mounting wonderfully as the book reaches its climax.

But the twist, I did not see coming. It was brilliantly executed and it made me delve deep to think about how I hadn’t seen it coming with a sense of satisfaction and a nod to the author for twisting it so brilliantly.

This is a heart-warming story delving into the unconditional love of a mother for her children, to want to protect them in every way possible even at great risk to herself.

I thoroughly recommend.

Thank you Nicole, Bookouture and NetGalley for the digital arc of Home Sweet Home. This book utterly blew my mind.

The beginning hooked me immediately. I started thinking, "Wait, what happened? Someone tell me!" It was as if I was present there with the characters. As I read on, the narration gripped me. I thought I knew where the plot was heading, but I was wrong. The twist shocked me and I was like, "Who is it then?!"

I like the way Nicole has structured the storyline. She has woven the scenes intricately that will confuse the readers and keep them guessing like it did to me. However, this fiction is, surely, not for the faint of heart who cannot endure reading disturbing events.

Many emotions surfaced while reading. I felt with the characters like they felt in the frantic helpless moments. Each character is profiled delicately. Their difficult situations are explicitly captured. From the first page till the last, the suspense glued me. I finished reading in two days. After all, I had to know about Katherine!

Engrossing, suspenseful and chilling, this psychological thriller is mind-bending. Definitely, a must read. I will, surely, recommend this book.