DNF at 42%

As much as I loved Sara Shepard's YA series, this adult thriller did nothing for me. Although I was intrigued by the premise and even more so by the author's name attached to the book, the cult-ish premise and the odd choice of pacing deeply off-put me. The book got repetitive at times, and I couldn't become attached to any of the characters.

This is a soapy, domestic thriller with cult vibes. It felt like Shepard was trying to do Pretty Little Liars, but with moms. I think it worked for the first half, but the ending lost me a bit. Overall, enjoyable!

I spent too many a night to admit glued to Pretty Little Liars (long past when I should have been in the show's target demographic), so I'm always excited to see a new Sara Shepard novel come out for adults. I enjoyed this, but like other reviewers, I think it delivered less on the cult side of things and spent more time exploring toxic friendships between women outside the compound. It was a good read but didn't give me what I was looking for when I picked it up based on the novel's description.

I'm a big fan of cultish stories- how one becomes part of a community that blindly follows a leader without questioning the red flags around them. How lost does one need to be to leave their whole life behind and start fresh with promises of finding new purpose.

Nowhere Like Home finds a group of broken, damaged, and lost women looking to start new, to leave their secrets behind and start over with people that don't know what has brought them there.
Rhionnan, after abruptly leaves her job and life in NYC without any notice, leaving her best friend Alex to wonder if she is to blame, resurfaces 2 years later recruiting Alex to Halcyon where matriarch Marjorie has created a community of women who only rely on each other in their desert Oasis.
Alex is still reeling 2 ;years after a tragic event, a secret she's been keeping all this time, even from her husband. When Rhionnan comes back and asks her to give Halcyon a try, she figures she has nothing to lose.
However, once at Halcyon, Alex realizes she can, indeed, lose everything.
A story rife with complicated, messy, imperfect women with imperfect lives. There are secrets and betrayals. There are missed signs and ignored red flags. The setting- 5 miles in the desert with only one way out through a locked fence where you need a closely guarded code to open- provides tension on how there is any possibility of escape.
The ending moved into more of an unrealistic scenario. I feel the final reveal could have been just as explosive without an actual explosion (that is not really a spoiler.) However, the overall pace and tension of the story kept me flipping the pages late into the night!

If you love books with cult vibes and messy female friendships, this is for you. I really enjoyed this and reveled in how f***ing messy these women are.

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

This book was bananas. I had to keep reading to see how things were sorted out…but I cannot get over how legit bonkers it was.

I like the plot idea of a cult/commune where it seems everyone has a secret but this novel was a wild ride.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

I am not quite sure what I thought of this one. This was the first one I’ve read by Sara Shepherd who is quite the writer! This story made me think about people and how you never really know what is going through their minds, causing them to behave the way they do.

The friendship between Lenna and Rhiannon and then Lenna and Gillian is a toxic one from the get go but when Rhiannon disappears, Lenna is beside herself but opens up to Gillian. Then Rhiannon reappears in Lenna’s life asking her to come to a commune where she has been living.

There is a lot of manipulation and lies between these “friends” which made you feel bad for them but wonder why neither one of them could step away from their toxic friendship.

From the authors who brought us Pretty Little Liars. We are taken on a ride of lies.

Lenna has kept a lot of her past a secret from her husband until old friend that comes back from past. Lenna might have to dig up those old secrets.

This novel went by quick! This was go go go from page one of Lenna stepping off the air plane. We are getting three POVs, plus present and flash back timelines but it is easy to keep up with.

You can really feel Lenna’s struggle with the past and with being a new mother.

I didn’t see the twist coming. I thought I did and then it just blew my mind 🤯. I always love a thriller book that doesn’t tie the ending in a perfect but leaves you wondering what if…

In Nowhere Like Home we follow the intertwined stories, and internal guilt, of three women.

One theme in this book is that lies always have a way of catching up with us. Leena met Rhiannon and had an instant connection but when Rhiannon abandons Leena to go take care of something from her past she’s hurt. She turns to a girl who Rhiannon had warned her against, Gillian, and it all goes wrong ending with Gillian’s death.

Years later, Rhiannon and Leena reconnect and the story follows the trauma they’ve gone through, and how truly complex humans and friendships are.

I was on the edge of my seat for more than half of this story. Some things I could easily figure out but most were total wild cards. It was a supremely satisfying mystery/thriller that ties, nearly, everything up nicely at the end.

I’d give this book 2.5 stars. This author wrote the YA series Pretty Little Liars, which this book reminded me of by using initials to talk about characters throughout the book.

This is the story of Lenna, who doesn’t make good choices when it comes to befriending other women. She meets Rihannon who disappears after a couple years only
to pop up and invite Lenna to visit her at the cult-like “mommune” where she lives. In the time Rihannon is missing, Lenna befriends Gillian, another poor choice of a friend.

Lenna decides to go see her old friend at the cult in the desert. Is Rihannon whispering about her? Did someone steal her baby’s diapers? Why is there barbed wire surrounding their property? There are too many red herrings in this book; almost everyone is written so that you’d believe they could be “the bad guy.” No one is really likable. If you enjoy YA fiction you may like this one, otherwise I’d skip it.

I read all of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars and The Perfectionists series, so I was excited that the Publishers and NetGalley chose me to read her newest thriller book. Nowhere Like Home was a slow burn. Overall I enjoyed it, but it felt really long to me.

Told through alternating povs and timelines, Nowhere Like Home is a story of 3 women whose lives intersect at important parts. For one reason or another they all find themselves in the same place. Relationships between women can have their ups and downs, this book shows that with the added thriller elements.

I have to say a "mommune" sounds awful but it makes for an entertaining book! It was a great backdrop for the book. I did feel like the main character was a little underdeveloped but the story was entertaining enough. I liked the framing of reconnection with an old friend to draw Lenna in. I felt it like could have been tightened up a bit

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lenna is living in LA and lonely, until she meets Rhiannon. They quickly become best friends until Rhiannon vanishes. After some time passes, Rhiannon reaches out to Lenna and asks to meet. When they meet, Rhiannon convinces Lenna to come visit the women-only community/commune in the Arizona desert where she is living. When Lenna decides to take her up on her offer, she gets much more than she bargained for as her darkest secret is brought to the forefront.

I enjoyed this book. It did get off to a slow start but once it picked up I was really interested. I thought I’d figured out the twist but was wrong, which made it even more unexpected! This book gave cult-y vibes so definitely check it out if you’re interested in that. Add this to your list!

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review. I was excited to read a Sara Shepard. She is known for her twisty stories and I usually really enjoy them. This was not my favorite of hers. I couldn't connect with Lenna very well. And I wanted more current-time storyline but the focus was more on the past and all the relationship issues between the girls. I wanted to feel a big suspense but instead I had a hard time sticking to the book.

Overall, if you are a Sara Shepard fan you might still want to give it a chance. If you go in realizing this is going to spend a lot of time on the past you might really get into it.

I’m going with 3.75 stars… it was a ride for sure and definitely gave me PLL vibes at times. But there was something about the writing & pacing of this one that I didn’t vibe with for a lot of it. It felt a little draggy at times? And repetitive. But I enjoyed the story overall!

Thank you to Dutton Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story focuses on Lenna and Rhiannon. Rhiannon ghosted Lenna over 2 years ago. Left town, blocked her number, and Lenna hasn’t heard from her since. Now, Lenna is married with a newborn and is burnt out. Suddenly, Rhiannon reaches out offering Lenna a chance to escape to a “mommune,” a community of mothers living off the grid with their children.

This book was interesting, but Most of the book felt like women just bickering back and forth. The characters consistently infuriated me, and who disappears to go off the grid in a desert with no details and leaves their husband a note? Yikes. Despite how frustrating the characters were, I found myself wanting to know the ending. I did enjoy the ending though and didn’t guess the twist. Overall I give 3.5 stars.

i’m currently undergoing an exercise for my manuscript where i ask myself how each scene is possible to help identify plot holes, half-baked descriptions & unnecessarily complicated twists. it’s very clear this author did not do the same exercise. everything that occurred in this mother’s commune-gone-wrong felt so out of left field, the entire plot suffered as a result.

I really enjoyed this book. It had somehow spots but the book as a whole was engaging and suspenseful. I was really rooting for the characters, all of them, even the unlikable ones 😂. I liked the multiple viewpoints and timelines. I definitely recommend giving this one a shot!

I read this twisty story way past my bedtime. So good! I will have to find more from this author because I loved this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you #Netgalley

So many twists and turns in this read! The story is told from three perspectives, Lenna and her two newer friends Rhiannon and Gillian. Each woman has their own insecurities, jealousy and secrets. Years pass when Lenna hears from her old friend Rhiannon who convinces her to come visit an all women compound she is living at. While there Lenna is forced to face her past and quickly learns that the compound is also full of its own secrets and who can she really trust? I enjoyed the story line, but felt it was dragged out a bit.