This was a difficult read with its gritty and relevant narrative about murder, drugs, gangs, about desperation and poverty. It didn't really grab my attention and I could see what was going to happen and how the book would end - all a bit too predictable, really. The characters didn't really draw me in as much as I expected - I need to really care!

Other people seem to have really enjoyed the book so maybe I am in a minority. It was well written and emotional, just not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

An absolutely amazing book and a must read for anyone in our modern times. It certainly brings the reader down to earth with a bump and reminds all of us that difficult times and hardship can lie just around the corner through a set of circumstances. It is sensitively written with totally believable characters making it an incredibly powerful tale. Hopefully, at the end, many more of us will feel empowered to help those suffering misfortune through inability to help themselves against overwhelming odds. Once things start to go wrong they snowball and with the supposed systems in place it's obvious the safety nets are just not there with large chunks of the population trying desperately to manage despite having several jobs and I suspect most us have been in similar situations or know people that are even if not to the extreme that this book covers. It would be good to know there are real people out there with the means to be able to make a real difference in today's selfish world.

Susan Lewis is a truly gifted author and this book is one of her best to date which I recommend wholeheartedly.

In Home Truths, Susan Lewis returns to Kesterley, this time looking at Angie and her family. Angie has everything - until tragedy happens and her world collapses around her.
This book explores the world of drugs, homelessness, trafficking and how easy it is to be dragged into this world. Through no fault of her own (a delay processing benefits), Angie becomes part of this world. Forunately Angie finds who her friends are and they try to help including Steve, ex husband of Andee from previous Kesterley books.
I was left thinking about how easy your fortunes can change and what happens to those who aren't as fortunate as Angie and her family.
Thanks Netgalley for an honest review

This is a beautifully written book with characters that you root for from page one.
This is a powerful heartbreaking novel of how life can change in an instant.
This book may be the best book that I have read this year
Absolutely amazing

Steve, a highly respected painter and decorator, has worked for Hari Shakir for many years and, as a valued employee he is given a long-term lease on one of Hari’s new-build properties. He and Angie settle in with their son, Liam and the family soon grows to include Emma and Zac. Unfortunately, in his teens, Liam falls into bad company resulting in his father being murdered by the gang. Sadly Hari also passes away leaving the business to his ruthless son, Roland. Angie, still grieving, finds it harder and harder to make ends meet and falls behind with the rent leading to Roland evicting her. Her children are homed by Angie’s sister, Emma, but Angie has to fend for herself and sleep wherever she can. Struggles continue and part time work fails to provide sufficient income to live on let alone clear her debts, rapidly mounting. The local Council Housing Department have nothing to offer and life gets harder. During all this time she is also trying to find accommodation and work for homeless men. Her daughter, aged 13, searches the Internet for work that she can do and resorts to social media -a bad mistake. Can life get any worse? Or could there be light at the end of the tunnel?
A powerful and very thought provoking novel containing an awful lot of truth about society today.

I did enjoy this book - although I did feel a little bit like I was receiving a sermon on how bad the government were performing and how austerity measures were affecting everyone. It was a little like all the different issues in today's society were listed - austerity, Universal credit, homelessness, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking, mental illness in children, county lines, children with special needs. It was a little bit like the author had looked at everything that seemed to be in the press, and tried to get it all into one story. Everything that's currently in the news, appeared to happen to this family - with a then, miraculous happy ending. It was a little preachy to be honest. Having said that, it was well written and I did enjoy the story and it certainly kept me hooked in places and I was anxious to see how it all unfolded.

As always, Susan Lewis has knocked it out the park.

The writing is brilliant, the characters are very well written, and the plot managed to be truly surprising, even after so many novels!

The issues in this novel felt very topical too, with violence and drug use being in the news on an almost daily basis in todays world. I find topics like this at times can be hard to read about, but in this case, I thought it was very well done.

The twists in the plot were continual and moving every time, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Lewis.

I loved this book.
The story of a family where the sudden violent death of the father and the connivance of others leaves a mother struggling desperately, yet failing, to hold things together for the sake of her family.
This story of Angie and her battles against the system, which seems set to fail those who need it most. She struggles with her own grief and anger and against those who like to see people fail and against those who deliberately set out to make things more difficult. The book is poignant and yet at times funny. There is humour amongst the same and throughout it all is a thread of family love which holds them together.
Ironically Angie works on a hostel /home for those needing a home and support. The parallels with her own life are visible to her too. She has three children, including an estranged and vulnerable son who was implicated in her husband's death. She is searching for him through the system with little support from the authorities. Her teenage daughter, desperate to help the family, ends up following an Internet contact which leads her to dark places.
Angie is lucky, good fortune lifts her out of her despair and back from the life of spiralling debt, but she is aware many others are not so lucky.
The book is well researched and very well written. I found myself thinking about it and looking forward to getting back to it during the day, which doesn't happen very often.

Home Truths by Susan Lewis a four-star read that may reveal some scary home truths. This was a well written, emotionally charged story, but it was not what I was expecting. I enjoy gritty reads when I am in the mood, I also like being able to lose myself in a novel and this one just came a little too close to home in the current climate. It is emotionally gripping and builds very well, if it wasn’t so well written I would have struggled to read, but the writing just kept me hooked. Angie is a very complex and brutal character, watching her grieve will knock you for six, but it was watching the effects on Liam, Grace and Zack that really knocked me down. I don’t know what to put as I don’t want to spoil the story as it is one that many will thoroughly enjoy. I will definitely be looking out for this author again in future.

"Home truths" was my second Susan Lewis. I really loved reading “One Minute Later” and couldn’t wait to read this one. I had really high expectations for this one, but sadly it didn’t really meet them. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad book but it just wasn’t what I was hoping it to be.

Home Truth is well written with a gripping opening wherea husband is attacked and killed by gang of thugs while his out looking for his son who is addicted to drugs. But after this everything slowed down and I struggled to get through the book.

There were some interesting characters in this book and I did like reading how they dealt with certain issues, but at the same time there were things that I found a little unbelievable, especially at the end.

Susan Lewis has done a great job with researching the issues that people face in the real world really well, although I would have  personally liked to read more about some of the other issues as I found she concentrates on Money issues more throughout this book. I know it’s one of the biggest problems people face but I feel it’s a topic that people already know about.

Oh, and look at that cover it looks so good. I love the colours used for this book. The designers have done a good job.

Even though this book wasn’t for me I’m still giving it a 3 out of 5 because it definitely worth giving it a read, AND therefore I do recommend you give it a go. I’m still look forward to reading more books by Susan Lewis in the near future.

There are some triggers that may make this book a little difficult to read for some readers. I have added some of the triggers below.

I would like to thank the publishers HarperCollins UK and to ReadersFirst and NetGalley for my Hardback and eARC in return for and honest and unbiased review.

Trigger warning: Drug abuse and addiction, paedophilia, Sex trafficking, Gang Attack.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. I really enjoyed this book, despite it being a bit slow at one point, and found the main characters endearing. I really rooted for them, and liked how Lewis wove very important sociopolitical themes into what was essentially a gripping family drama. Lewis created real emotion in her writing. However, a sentence in the final pages of the book has left a sour taste and meant I knocked a star off. Despite the book being written with so much humanity and compassion, this sentence was glaring in the opposite of that.

Oh my!!!!! This book just proves as we all know, that bad, sad, & hard times can happen to anyone!!
I found my heart pumping loud and hard at every page I read!! It was a heart rending story, that I just couldn't, or didn't want to put down, as there was something happening on every page!!
I have never read a Susan Lewis book before, but I certainly will from now on!! Such an exciting writer!! I enjoyed every moment of it!!
Thank you!!!!!!!

Another fabulous book by Susan Lewis, well written and so emotional.
This book covered many issues that so many people can relate to that at times it was hard to remember that it is fiction.
I would highly recommend this book and I’m so glad that I was selected to preview it.

The book begins when Angie’s husband Steve, has been brutally murdered, and she is coping against overwhelming odds to keep her two children fed and housed.

Angie’s extreme hardship is graphically described. Her son Liam is missing, and she is desperately trying to survive in a climate of austerity, with no welfare help. The writing is emotive without being maudlin, and draws you into how difficult it can be when things go wrong. Angie finds inner strength to keep on fighting, her humour and family helping to see her through. As a reader, I felt that this section went on too long and was hoping that something would turn up to help her situation. The pace rapidly increases as the story progresses, when Angie’s daughter Grace finds herself in an extremely difficult situation.

It’s a heartwarming, emotive story about love within families, resilience and inner strength. One minute Angie is full of laughter, the next in the depths of the despair.

Highly recommendeed, looking out for other books by this talented author.

This book is about a family who lose a son and a father in different ways and how life spirals for them afterwards. Susan Lewis is a fantastic author who describes the situation with enough detail for you to feel empathy and sympathy for the characters, it not so much that you are drowning in despair and too much information. This is a lovely story about family and community pulling together whilst giving a real insight in to how someone’s life can change in a moment, making you realise it could happen to anyone in a blink of an eye if the unthinkable were to happen. It is realistic about how debt could spiral and how easy it is to stick your head in the sand and the appalling situation this countries benefit system has turned into. I would highly recommend this book and Susan Lewis is one of my favourite authors.

An enjoyable, easy read, telling the story of a mother’s fight and a family’s love. A good book to pack in your suitcase.

* 3.5 stars *

Home Truths’ could have come straight from the news headlines, portraying as it does, the problem of county line gangs that infiltrate small communities, preying on vulnerable children, turning them into addicts or couriers, or both! It also deals with the issues of internet predators and ruthless landlords - something that is both shocking and heartbreaking. However, if it all sounds like doom and gloom, it really isn’t, because what does stand out in this novel is the love for one’s family, and also the way ordinary everyday people are more than happy to help lift you when life has kicked you to the bottom of the pile.

Steve and Angie’s eldest son Liam has fallen victim to one of the county line gangs, he’s being used as a courier under threat that as long as he does as he’s told, then his family will be safe. Sadly, Steve is brutally murdered by the gang when he goes searching for Liam, and when Liam returns home after the murder, Angie tells him she wants nothing more to do with him, after discovering that Liam was present when Steve was killed.

Left without her husband, and with her other two children, Grace and Zac to provide for, Angie gets into some serious debt, owing money all over the place, and with threats of eviction, life takes on a desperation that spirals ever downwards. When daughter Grace looks for ideas to bring some much needed money into the household, she too finds herself involved in a situation that no 13 year old girl should ever find herself in. In addition to all this Angie needs to know if Liam is ok, she said some unforgivable things to him, but she was drowning in grief at the time, and she just needs to know that he’s still alive.

Well written and sensitive, this was an emotional and powerfully charged novel that really held my interest. The tension builds to such a pitch that it’s hard to know where this devastated family will end up. Not entirely convinced about the ending, not quite believable enough for me, otherwise it would have been a definite 4 star review not 3.5, but overall I enjoyed it.

Read nearly all of Susan's books and enjoyed them all, this was no exception. A well developed story with interesting characters and well written.

I can thoroughly recommend this book and thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

A powerful, well researched and beautifully written book. It highlights the inadequacies of our social care system in the U.K. Having said that it is not a depressing read. I am not going to give any spoilers away about the ending, you will just have to read it for yourself. Definitely going to read some more Susan Lewis.

I found the book very inspiring how people cope with homelessness and what you would do for your children after such a tragedy the characters in the book you could relate to, though some parts were very sad and some heart warming really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend.