When I saw that "Nowhere Like Home" by Sara Shepard was available I jumped at the chance to read this new book by the author of "Pretty Little Liars." This is the story of friendships, with all the twists and turns that life can take. The main character, Lenna, reconnects with a friend that she has lost touch with. Rhiannon is living in a commune-like community of women, and Lenna & her infant son, go for a visit. The book is very suspenseful and has twists you don't see coming!

Well, we have my first disappointment of the year. I found myself extremely frustrated with Lenna as I wanted her to really stand up for herself and be stronger. She stressed me out!

I do love the touches on the cult and the ending did make up for a lot of mishaps along the way. However, a lot of the character development missed for me and I really struggled with connecting to any of the 4 POVs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing team for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

Sara Shepard, is the brilliant mind behind the iconic Pretty Little Liars series, takes a daring leap into the realm of adult fiction with her novel, Nowhere Like Home. Buckle up, this is not your typical cozy mystery—it's a psychological drama that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about friendship, secrets, and the desert.

Lenna Schmidt, our enigmatic protagonist, receives a call from her long-lost friend Rhiannon, who disappeared years ago. Now she has returned, with a son in tow. The son is a member of the Halcyon community.

Ultimately, Lenna drives to Halcyon. The women of Halcyon live off the grid, bound by rules that would make any conspiracy theorist raise an eyebrow: no outside phone calls, no probing into each other's pasts, and a padlocked gate guarding the way out. It's a place where secrets thrive, and trust is as scarce as water in the desert sun.

But Lenna has her own skeletons rattling in the closet. Secrets she'd rather bury beneath the shifting sands. As she navigates the peculiar dynamics of Halcyon, she realizes she wasn't invited here by chance. There's a purpose—a dark one—behind her arrival. And when a newcomer stumbles into their midst, Lenna's worst fears are confirmed. She's a pawn in a dangerous game, and the stakes are high.

Shepard weaves a web of intrigue, pulling us into the minds of these complex women.

Even the most treacherous paths can lead us home.

I never read or watched Pretty Little Liars so I wasn’t sure what to expect from Sara Shepard. It seems to be a popular trope these days to run off to a commune of sorts to escape your past. This is a decent novel but I felt like so much more could’ve been developed, especially with the side characters outside of Lenna, Rhiannon, Gillian, and Sadie. The characters motives were kind of weak and I kept expecting more to happen, especially at the end. The buildup was great and effectively disconcerting, but the follow through was a little disappointing. It was a solid read though, and maybe I will give her PLL series a shot since I’m actually not spoiled.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for providing this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This story really had me guessing about the past of these ladies and why Lenna was leaving her husband. A community off the grid that keeps people out and doesn't allow you to talk about your past or contact people on the outside should seem suspicious to anyone. Shepard really kept me on the edge of my seat with all the twists that I didn't see coming at all!

Impossible to put down! I enjoyed the time jumps & different characters POV. From the mind of PLL's this isn't one to miss!

I liked this book but I was a little strange. It’s interesting how people can so easily be sucked into these cult type situations. Lots of twists in this book. I did like the multiple perspectives. I found most of the characters hard to relate too. Good twist!

Unfortunately, this was too triggering for me to finish. (Trigger warning to anyone who can't deal with babies in stressful situations!) I love Sara Shepard though!

The book delves into the interesting concept of running away from home and forgetting all your troubles by joining a commune. Communes take care of all your needs without any interference, or communication, from the pesky outside world. But sometimes, they have other plans for you besides just retreat and respite.

The main character here runs away from home to visit an old friend who she just reunited with. Her baby is several months old and severely unhappy/colicky - constantly crying. She feels her husband is running away from the house to avoid the baby and she's exhausted. When an opportunity arises to visit a friend on a commune of ONLY women with children, she jumps at it. But is she jumping into the fire?

I did give this book a good go, but really couldn't become invested in the main character. Perhaps the build up was a bit too slow for me, but I lost interest 1/3 of the way in. Not to say I won't reach out and try again later, there's always the chance it was not the right book for the mood and moment. Giving it a four as it was well written overall.

Elle was best friends with Riann and one day Riann went missing so when she gets in touch with Ell again right after Elle has given birth to her son Jacob she convinced her to come visit her in the group of ladies she lives with in a cult like setting in the desert. So in order to find out what went wrong with their friendship and the incident on the mountain El abandons her husband Daniel and takes her cranky baby Jake up to the desert to a place that will tell you when it’s time to leave. Even before she leaves her home L is second-guessing herself as she does the whole way there but goes anyway. After arriving she meets everyone except for one lady who is in town having IV treatments because essentially whoever lives at the commune and wants to get pregnant can do that. L has many questions for Riann but that first cannot bring herself to ask but even when she does it seems Ryan is still skillful and dodging questions she doesn’t want to answer. The book is pretty full with drama but win Sarah comes back from getting artificially impregnated Elle already knows she cannot leave the commune but the arrival of Sarah tells her so much more. By the time L thinks Ryan cannot be trusted it seems Ryan will need her help oh will she? This book is big on semantics and Has a high school like drama atmosphere. I rolled my eyes so many times while reading this book for example when the stuff starts to fly they criticize L by saying she handed her baby to a complete stranger even though most people when being introduced to their friends friends would let one of them hold their baby not knowing them by trusting their friend I found this book ridiculous on many levels but head some really skillful twist I didn’t see coming and trust me there is a lot of 360s in this book. I would like to say I didn’t like it because of that but found myself not being able to put it down I do think it would’ve been better aimed at a younger audience but regardless I still recommend it and want to thank penguin group Dutton and Net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A unique and interesting story of uneasy relationships. It was thought provoking and I thought the setting was ominous.
Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Slow burn, cult vibes. I liked it. I think I would give it 3.5 stars. Thank you to the pub for my gifted ecopy.

This book was...okay. I liked the premise of the community and some of the twists were pretty good. My favorite part of the book was definitely when they were actually at the community, I didn't care much for all the time jumping around it did even though I know it was important to the story. The ending was decent but overall not a super thrilling book to me.

Many thanks to Dutton for the gifted copy for my honest review.

This book is told by multiple POV's. I felt like I didnt connect with this book due to the characters , and that played a part in my low rating.

Lenna’s young son cries all the time. She needs a break and her husband is not very helpful. Lenna decides to go visit an old friend and she hopes to repair their relationship. This friend, Rhiannon, lives in a commune. When Lenna arrives, she immediately knows something is not right.

I had a bit of trouble connecting with the characters in this tale. I also found the dialogue between the characters a bit simple. Or rather, it did not feel like adults talking to each other, especially mothers.

I did enjoy the concept of the “mommune”, a commune full of mothers and young children. This makes the story move quickly. However, the “meat” of the story does not happen till the very end. And believe me, it is a good, tangled mess full of secrets. It just took a while to get there.

Need a twisted tale about friendship…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

I am a long time fan of the Pretty Little Liars series as well as the Lying Game series so I am always excited whenever Shepard releases a new adult novel, however, this one was an absolute miss for me. This came in about 200 pages longer than it needed to be and the characters were absolutely horrendous - there was no one I wanted to root for.

I'm hoping for her next book, Shepard will bring back the soapy drama of PLL or more like her first adult thriller, Reputation.

Thank you to Dutton for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I’ve read almost all of Sara Shepard’s novels and I’ve loved each and every one of them. This one was twisty and thrilling just like all of the others. You never really knew the characters and what they were capable of and I found myself just zooming through this book to find out how it ended.

This one fell short for me unfortunately.. the pacing just wasn't there and I felt myself not wanting to pick it back up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the eARC

When Lenna agreed to meet Rhiannon again, after she’d disappeared for years, to take her baby to a community in the Arizona desert, Lenna had no idea what was waiting for her. There are windstorms and snakes, secrets and lies. But mostly, there is a part of her past that she’ll have to face if she wants to make it back home again.

Years before, Rhiannon had helped Lenna get a job. Rhiannon was working for a gossip magazine, and she met Lenna, an aspiring magazine writer. Rhiannon tried to get her a writer job on her magazine, but all that was available was a story editor position. Lenna took it anyway, hoping that once she got her foot in the door, she’d be able to find opportunities to write. Instead, she found herself stuck in the tedious editing job. And Rhiannon disappeared.

With Rhiannon on radio (and cell phone) silence, Lenna is befriended by a woman named Gillian who worked in the same building. Gillian told Lenna all of Rhiannon’s secrets, like how she’d been keeping Lenna from writing assignments, how she was flirting with a coworker that Lenna was interested in, how she’d lied about her family. Lenna felt betrayed. She felt abandoned by Rhiannon. And then she learned something about Gillian that made her feel so alone.

And later, years later, after Lenna had married and had a baby, Rhiannon reappeared and invited her to Arizona. Lenna wanted to go, she wanted to reconnect with her friend, and she had found herself struggling. Motherhood was harder than she thought, so she packed up some things for her and her baby and caught a flight. She traveled across the country to the community Rhiannon was living in, Halcyon, a safe place for women and children. She’d only left a note for her husband.

But once she got to Halcyon, she wasn’t sure what she’d stumbled into. There were rules, like no men, no talking to men even, and no asking about the women’s pasts. They grew their own food and made very little waste (making Lenna self-conscious about the disposable diapers she brought). And there were secrets. Lenna started to feel uncomfortable. She felt bad about how she’d left things with her husband. She wanted to leave. Rhiannon told her that she would take care of everything.

And then Rhiannon disappeared. Again.

Lenna is alone in a strange place, with no cash or credit cards. Her phone isn’t working. She has no way to get to the airport. And the woman who leads the group is telling her she can’t leave the compound. Will Lenna and her baby survive, or is this the end for them?

Nowhere Like Home is the latest from Sara Shepard, known best for her Pretty Little Liars series. This one takes a dark look at female friendships and the damage that secrets and lies can do to them. This story bounces back and forth between the past and the present, taking its time to lead readers to the truth of what’s going on within the walls of the Arizona compound.

I love a good cult story, so I was intrigued at what was happening here. The story that unfolds between Lenna and Rhiannon is fascinating, trying to figure out where the deceptions are and why. Unraveling all the twists is a journey, and I was excited to take it all the way to the end. There are layers of revelations, lots of twists, and a surprise ending that left me a little stunned. Nowhere Like Home is a dark tale of female friendship and its pitfalls, but it’s also about how truth and friendship can save us.

Egalleys for Nowhere Like Home were provided by Dutton through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the eARC.

I was really intrigued by this novel. I was so excited to see where it went. Ultimately it fell flat for me. I think this is probably because I struggled heavily with the main character. It was not a bad novel by any means, but just did not fully "get there" for me.