Lenna is a young mother with a small child who seems to cry constantly. She is anxious and distraught. When an old friend, Rhiannon, who she hasn’t heard from in a couple of years, reaches out and tells Lenna of this wonderful “mommune” she lives on and suggests Lenna come for a visit to experience having help for a few days. Lenna thinks about it, and after a couple of days decides to take her son and leave early in the morning to go visit. She leaves her husband, Daniel, a note with not much explanation and never talking to him about it and never disclosing things from her past that affect her decision. As Lenna and her son travel to the commune in Arizona, she realizes how isolated it is and how she’ll be cut off from cell service, etc. Her anxiety is further heightened by the locked gate on the property that requires a code to open and only one woman seems to have the code. The women on the commune appear friendly, but Lenna is wary of the rules and how no one is supposed to talk about their pasts or ask questions of others’ pasts. Lenna desperately wants to talk with Rhiannon, to try and clear the air about their past, but never seems to be able to get her alone to do so. Someone else from Lenna’s past shows up at the commune and Lenna feels strongly that something else is going on here and decides she needs to leave - but can she.?? The story moved along fairly well. It was a quick read and had me interested to see where it was all going. The characters were not very likable, I have to admit it was hard to cheer for any of them. It was difficult to understand the draw different characters had for one another when there were so many red flag moments. I found it especially hard to understand why Lenna would not discuss everything with her husband before taking her son and traveling to another state to see this old friend - it just didn’t ring very true to me. All in all, I enjoyed the book - it was good, but not great in my opinion. I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first half was great and built up a lot of suspense and then the second half was such a let down. It was still a quick and easy read, but wasn't sold at the end. Loved the culty vibes though!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC

This book oozed unease and deception from the first page. I loved the Pretty Little Liars TV show and have read several of the books. All of the things I loved about Sara Shepard’s characters and writing were evident in this book. The characters are unreliable from the start and every time you think you have it figured out, there is a well timed plot twist. I find the setting of a secluded women’s collective in the desert to be terrifying and that unease carried throughout the book. I had a hard time putting this down and it is the best book I have read in a while. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the digital ARC of “Nowhere Like Home” in exchange for my honest opinion.

Nowhere Like Home is a fast-paced thriller full of Shepard’s signature twists. I was pulled in right at the start and appreciated the different narrative styles, especially Gillian’s Instagram posts.

While the characters were all severely flawed, I was invested in how their lives intertwined. The mommune element of the story was the weakest part for me. All the summaries for the book focus on that plot line, but reading the actual story, it actually could be done away with entirely. It serves to press a point about the struggles of motherhood, but otherwise doesn’t add anything significant. I would have liked to see the locale play a bigger role, personally.

Also, the final twist felt disconnected to me in some ways, while also adding the final piece to the puzzle. Not sure how that works exactly but I can’t really say more without spoiling the plot.

Overall, this was a quick read and I was invested in the story’s outcome, but found it didn’t play up its unique element, the mommune, enough to make it stand out from other thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved how this story started off but as I got to about half way I started getting a bit bored. It seemed like some details were being repeated. I always love multiple pov stories but I don’t like when information is repeated by each character. I like a more fast paced thriller that keeps me entertained all the way through. Overall it was an okay read. Not a must read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

I was intrigued with the "mommune" premise since I haven't read many books with that plot.

I enjoyed the multiple POV, past/present timeline, and ending. However, it was a slow burn and I didn't like or connect with any of the characters. The dialogue was weak and did not seem like it was meant for adults. The book dragged on at times.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read and ARC of this book. I really liked this book for the most part, I loved the mystery of why Rhiannon invited Lenna to the community since their friendship seemed to fall apart. It seemed like a darkness was over the community, I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. I found this book to be a decent read, the ending was just OK in my opinion, but, it kept me entertained and I did enjoy it.

I'll start by saying, I did not love this book. I was drawn to the commune aspect, the women supporting women. It all felt a bit YA to me except they had babies. I'm struggling on this for a review, but hope some of my reading community can give me a different perspective!

I had high hopes for this book. Sadly, it was a bit disappointing. It took far too long to get to the "issue" that the main character had. Then when this was revealed, it sort of flopped and nothing much happened with it. Meanwhile, a bunch of other things were going on and it just felt chaotic and all over the place. The author tried to do too much and didn't really end up doing it all as well as it could have been done. I couldn't wait to get to the end ... to just be done with it, not because I was at all invested in the ending.

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

I loved Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of her latest thriller! The story follows four women, Lenna, Rhiannon, Sarah, and Gillian, all of their complicated relationships, and the surprising ways in which their stories intersect. The "mommune" was such an interesting concept and setting, but I particularly enjoyed the themes surrounding toxic friendships, social media, and mental health. I thought Shepard did a fantastic job of setting up the dual timelines, alternating between the past and present. She establishes a great balance between flashbacks and the current day, slowly revealing more twists and turns throughout while also developing the characters and their motivations. None of the characters are necessarily likable, but Shepard makes sure that readers are invested in their journeys nonetheless. And, as always, her writing style is so engaging and compulsively readable! I didn't want to put the book down, and needed to see what would happen next.

However, I did feel a little let down by the ending. There were lots of fascinating layers to it, but I found the twists in the book to get progressively more far-fetched and less believable, culminating in an ending that I thought was a little disappointing and rushed. I also think some of the characters could have used slightly more depth—even with the main characters, it felt like we didn't get a full sense of their personalities and only really got to know them on a more superficial/basic level. While I found Nowhere Like Home entertaining and compelling overall, I did want more from it in certain areas! Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC.

If you're looking for a fast paced thriller about MOMs (I love thrillers like this) then make sure to grab this one. Sara Shepard is a great author and can write both adult and YA novels that all readers will love.

I received an ARC copy of Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard from Netgalley.

I really enjoyed this book! I felt like a huge mystery was hanging over the whole story the whole time and i kept wanting to know more! The setting was great, as I am so interested in people who get themselves involved in communes/cults. This book has everything .. from friendships, manipulation, fear, love, hate .. it kept me on my toes the whole time wondering what was going on. I also enjoyed the different perspectives we got because we got to see how the other characters were handling the same situations but from a different point of view and how they all came to be where they were in life.

I would definitely recommend this book (and have already!) to friends and family!

Friends, enemies, betrayals, and secrets is how we meet Lenna, Rhiannon, Gillian, and women in a woman’s compound that lives off the grid.

I didn’t like the thoughts of this compound from the start and wondered why Rhiannon came back into Lenna’s life and talked her into giving the remote commune a try.

Lenna left her husband early in the morning and took their baby without telingl him where she was going. Once Lenna contacted her husband Daniel, he was furious and didn’t understand why Lenna did this.

If he knew what Lenna had done before they met and never told him, he would be more furious.

We follow all the characters and try to figure out what is going on. It is a bit confusing and mysterious until the book gets going and things become clearer.

You won't be able to put the book down as things get intense and secrets are found out.

Don't give up too soon….it is a wild ending. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I initially grabbed this one because of the setup, I loved the idea of a mommune and hadn’t read a book with that exact premise before. I also loved the PLL series so that may have influenced me too, but the authors adult novels have been hit or miss for me and those fell somewhere in the middle. Like I said, a great setup and if you like a slow burn that has a slight literary feel that’s exactly what this one is. I don’t have as much patience with thrillers as I used to, I need something that a bit faster and more gripping but I never contemplated dnfing so there’s something to be said about that. I just feel like things got a little drawn out and convoluted at times and while the ending was more exciting, it was also a bit silly and far fetched so I’m not sure it was totally worth it. Fans of slow burns about toxic friendships and who like stories with cult like vibes may enjoy this one.

Thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for the eARC!

I love Sara Shepard's writing, I really do. That being said "Nowhere Like Home" didn't really do it for me. And I think it's because it would have worked better for me as a YA novel. Some of the motivations are weirdly petty for grown women and honestly, I couldn't really connect with the characters which is strange because Shepard excels at creating protagonists that aren't necessarily the most likable people.

It's not terrible but I do feel it could be better.

#NowhereLikeHome #NetGalley
Awesome. 5 ⭐
When Lenna gets a call from her old friend Rhiannon, she is startled; Rhiannon disappeared years ago without a trace. But Lenna is even more startled to learn that Rhiannon has a son and that she lives off the grid with a group of women in a community called Halcyon. Rhiannon invites Lenna, a new mother herself, to join them. Why suffer the sleepless nights by yourself? It takes a village, after all.
Lenna decides to go and hopefully repair her relationship with Rhiannon, but as she drives into the desert and her cell service gets weaker, she becomes suspicious. Who are these women and why did Rhiannon invite her here? And that is before she learns about the community's rules (no outside phone calls, no questions about people’s pasts) and the padlock on the gate that leads out to the main road. But Lenna has other concerns, secrets from her past she is terrified will come out. When a newcomer arrives in the community, Lenna’s worst fears are confirmed—she was brought here for a reason.
Loved it
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for giving me an advance copy.

NOWHERE LIKE HOME was a great story. I thought it was well written and suspenseful. It's definitely a book I can recommend to read.


Many thanks, to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for my gifted ARC!

I wanted to like Nowhere Like Home. I am a new mom myself and thought I would relate more to Lenna, and I did--the fussy baby who can't be soothed, feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated almost all of the time--but I often found her unlikeable. There are a handful of twists in the story that almost seem to intentionally overwhelm the reader rather than have one big, believable reveal, but coming from the author of Pretty Little Liars, I should have expected this.

Overall, an entertaining read, nothing to take too seriously, but its flash-in-the-pan plot makes this a forgettable book.

Unfortunately, I DNF this book at 30%. I couldn’t really get into the story and everyone annoyed me so much. I couldn’t get over Lenna and her husband’s constant complaining that their newborn baby was crying all the time. Well duh! What did you think little babies do – they cry! It was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited to get my hands on this book because the pretty little liars series was one of my favorites in middle school. Unfortunately I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites. I usually enjoy books about cult culture but I just couldnt get into it the way I was expecting.