Many thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Tina Seskis for the opportunity to read and review her latest novel.  Just finished a glass of wine and this book - totally escapism reading and I loved it!  4 stars.

A well-to-do Surrey cul-de-sac with four houses and four very different inhabitants.  There's the older couple, Joan is the local busybody, angry at the world.  Nicole is depressed after her children moved out and her husband isn't paying enough attention to her.  Layla is the newest wife of Charles, and mother to Henry.  She's coping with her husband's insistence that Henry go off to boarding school at the age of 8.  Then there's the mysterious new neighbor, who installed privacy gates and talks to no one, but we know that he just got out of prison and a halfway home.  So very many secrets for one cul-de-sac!

Just a fun read but also one that teaches us about judging others.

I’ve read all of this author’s books and though I enjoyed this one it wasn’t as good as her others I felt.
It’s an overall OK read.

I'm quite disappointed with Hope Close. The story sounds intriguing and potentially scandalous but I felt it fell short of all it suggested. I didn't really warm to any of the characters. Their relationships and interactions with each other are fractious and don't feel genuine. The introduction of Andy should've made things interesting but this fell flat too. His interactions with the his neighbours on Hope Close are awkward and uncomfortable. The book is filled with curveballs that don't go anywhere and basically just keep looping round to keep you guessing who Andy is related to and what his secret past was. I just found it more frustrating than anything and found it a bit of a slog to finish. 

It's a shame because I loved One Step Too Far and The Honeymoon from Tina Seskis but Hope Close just didn't come near for me. 

Thank you to NetGalley, Tina Seskis and Amazon Publishing UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hope Close is Tina Seskis’s fifth domestic-based psychological thriller and is every bit as addictive and captivating as her previous books. From initial perusal, the synopsis reads like a trillion other similar novels but in its defence, the author does a great job of depicting the small-town community living in which everyone knows everyone else and their business, or so they think, and many tensions fester underneath the surface of most peoples pristine facade. This time it takes place in a Surrey town and charts the intertwining lives of neighbours Andy, Layla, Nicole and Joan. Andy is a bit of an oddball who very much keeps to himself; Layla is the great pretender and for all intents and purposes her family life appears idyllic yet nothing could be further from the truth; Nicole who is unlucky in love and life; and elderly Joan the common local busybody who loves nothing more than to be the instigator or perpetrator of idle gossip about other residents.

This is a superb character-driven thriller mixed with aspects of women fiction/chick lit with tonnes of drama, secrets and twisty surprises throughout. What really makes this as addictive and engaging a read as it is though is undoubtedly the depth of characterisation, and although the cast are all pretty unlikeable it created a underlying sinister undertone and chilling atmosphere that run the entirety of the plot and emphasises just how deft and talented Ms Seksis actually is. The slow unfurling of everyone's secrets kept me hooked and I was ultimately intrigued at quite how the characters had managed to keep them under wraps for so long. It can often be a minefield deciding which domestic dramas to pick up as there are so many with almost identical plotlines, but I urge you to give this a go if you enjoy the genre as it is compulsive, gripping and absorbing from cover to cover. Recommended. Many thanks to Amazon Publishing for an ARC.

A few things I really like about this book was the neighborhood and some of the characters like Andy. He was super mysterious and I couldn’t figure out what he is hiding, but he still showed so much emotion. I also loved that the chapters were short which made it feel I was going through the book really fast. Going into this book i thought there was going to be a lot of suspense and twists and turns but i was wrong. this book was not suspenseful to me, it did have some twists that i liked and i feel like that’s what kept me from DNF this book. It started out slow and then it gave me a twist but I figured it out so fast that it didn’t even feel like a twist. This book was just a slow read and it only really started to get interesting about 85% through it.

A street with a lot happening and neighbours with secrets. This was an easy read with a few twists thrown in.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Hope Close by Tina Seskis features three women who live in a lovely neighborhood called Hope Close. The peaceful neighborhood changes with the arrival of a mysterious man named Andy who puts up a big gate, why? What is he hiding?  Naturally, the women are curious and want to know what’s going on. But each of them has something they are hiding too…

Synopsis:

Hope Close: a leafy, tranquil backwater in the heart of the English countryside. But when Andy Meyer moves in, it soon becomes clear that picture-perfect homes can hide less-than-perfect lives. Fresh from rehab and with no interest in meeting his neighbours, Andy erects forbidding gates to keep the ghosts of his past—and any prying eyes—at bay.

Next door, in the grandest house, Layla is unhappily married to a much older man and desperately misses her young son, who has been banished to boarding school. When lonely Nicole from over the road confides her own secret heartache to Layla, the two women form an unlikely bond—until one of them attracts the attention of their mysterious new neighbour.

The only person to sense something dangerous about Andy is busybody Joan. But will her suspicions bring her more than she bargains for?

As the past catches up with the residents of Hope Close, it becomes clear that the intriguing new neighbour isn’t the only one with something to hide…

I love books like this where everyone has a secret. The plot was intriguing and I liked the characters. I love it when a book keeps me guessing and I’m not sure how things will play out.

Free if you have Kindle Unlimited, out on March 24!

I was not a fan of this novel. I struggled to find a redeeming feature in any of the characters. They were mostly mean spirited, strange and bitter. The novel is set in England in a country town in a street called Hope Close. It is told from the point of view of several of the occupants of Hope Close who are mostly fueding, suspicious or spying on each other. The plot was so convoluted that I struggled to work out what was going on, and even at the end of the novel I still wasn’t completely sure what had happened. A total miss for me.

So gripping and intense!! I was hooked straight from the beginning. Great domestic thriller with a fast plot and well written characters

This story introduces the residents of a small cul-de-sac in Surrey who all have their issues. Suddenly a new neighbour shows up which nobody is sure about...it seems that the peace is disturbed by this intruder.
In the beginning i thought beeing pushed into some kind of desperate housewife-ish story which is not my cup of tea....but i was so wrong. All the charakters are very special and well constructed!
to me the story never seemed to be boring or superficial, on the contrary!
dive into the world of HOPE CLOSE to see for yourself and enjoy!
thank you very much for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Lots and lots of secrets in placid Hope Close.  The arrival of Andy, who has his own things he'd like to keep hidden, starts a waterfall.  Layla, Nicole, and Joan all lived quietly - or did they?  No spoilers bit know that this is told from multiple perspectives.   Pay attention to Joan as she's the one who prompts  the others to look at both themselves and everyone else with a different eye.  Is she right?  No spoilers.  There's no big drama or trauma here but that doesn't mean it isn't a good read with nice storytelling and characters.  Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

A story of secrets, relationships, loss and new beginnings. Hope Close is a quiet well-to-do English countryside cul de sac. Life 'should' be easy here, but "you never know what someone else is going through". The four main characters are well developed, the plot moves along quickly with enough mysteries to keep your mind working. A good book that makes you adjust what you were thinking as the story unfolds, providing more bits of the puzzle as you move toward all the answers at the end.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of the book.

Mesmerising
The whole book 

Hope Close, so wonderfully described by the author is a well 2 do cul de sac in leafy Surrey, consisting of only 4 abodes yet rammed full of ‘perfect to read about’ characters

From Joan the wiry haired curtain twitcher gossip with her venomous tongue to Layla the bored housewife
forever regretting sending her young son off to boarding school to the new arrival, the mystery man, dressed in black and reluctant to leave his newly gated property, they all fizz into Hope Close and once Joan with her instantant dogged determination sets about to alienate everyone and find out who the mystery man is she sets off a chain of events even she could not foretell

Told mainly in the now by various characters with ‘mystery man’ delving into his past this book kept me on my toes all the time, I thought I had it all worked out, quite a few times only to have it proved wrong

Absolutely loved it, page after page of book goodness, fabulousssss

10/10
5 Stars

So many different types of household on a random cul de sac in England. I didn't guess many of the plot twists and, although I did find the book slow at times, I really did enjoy watching it all come together.

I have read other books by this author and enjoyed so I was keen to read this. The story focuses on the residents of Hope Close and is told from the perspectives of 4 main characters, each with their own mini plot going on. Each character is different and has you guessing about how their part in the story will develop. The new resident Andy is the one which has you gripped the most , what did he do and how does he fit in to it all? Although I thoroughly enjoyed this  I was expecting a bigger twist at the end, I'm not sure what but I just sort of felt a bit deflated by the end. After saying that , it is a good read though and I would recommend it to others who like this genre.
Thank you Netgalley and Tina Seksis for this ARC.

The premise of this book was so intriguing. I have read multiple books about neighbors and secrets and have always found them very entertaining. This one barely seemed to keep my interest throughout. I had a hard time staying engaged and really skimmed chapters to get to the end and to find out the secret. 

Told in alternating perspectives per chapter, this follows the group of neighbors and their lives on their quiet little street. While usually a novel like this works well, this one seemed to be disjointed. Not all the stories seemed to mesh well together. Because of this choppiness, I felt completely set back from the overall story and actually had to remind myself why I was still reading- I wanted to find out the BIG SECRET! 

This is a cast of unique characters- an odd bunch of sorts. Since each chapter follows a different character, I did like how I got to know each one individually. However, there were times I felt like I was getting too much story which lead to complete boredom and skimming on to the next chapter.

The ending was quite the letdown. I, of course, will not give anything away and you can decide for yourself how you feel about Hope Close when it is released here in the U.S. on March 24, 2020. 

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for allowing me an eARC to read and give my honest review. It was a 3 star read for me. 

Happy Reading!

I stayed up way too late last night finishing this book off 😆 but I really enjoyed it!
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𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀 ⠀
"Hope Close is a small cul de sac with residents who are terrible curtain twitchers who stick their noses in one another’s business. They think they know everything about each other until the newest resident arrives. He puts physical walls in place to keep his busy body, prying neighbours out and they’re all convinced he has something to hide.⠀
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Unbeknownst to each other, it appears that they all have secrets behind closed doors, and once they start unraveling the impact is explosive."⠀
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𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀⠀
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I found this book really intriguing and I couldn’t put it down.⠀
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It was very cleverly written as each chapter was told from a different characters perspective, with their name heading the chapters. This differed when written from the mysterious new residents point of view , who has so much anonymity that it keeps you turning the pages. Nothing was ever given away about who he was, where he came from, or what impact he would have on this street.....very clever in my opinion. It kept me gripped.⠀
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This is my first book by this author and I look forward to reading more of her books.⠀
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 from me ⠀
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You never really do know what's going on behind closed doors... Or gates. 

A great twisty read about the residents of Hope Close, Old Battleaxe Joan who doesn't like change. Trophy wife Layla and bored housewife Nicole. Things are fairly quiet on the close until the arrival of a new neighbour who is very much keeping himself to himself. 

The mysterious neighbour unlocks secrets that have ramifications right across the close. 

This book made me miss the good old days of Brookside Close!

This was definitely a page turner. Thanks to net galley for the opportunity to review this book this is my honest opinion.

This is the first book I have read by Tina Seskis but it won’t be the last. I really enjoyed this book, it immediately pulled me in and then was very cleverly written to keep me intrigued with different strands of story interwoven between all the residents of Hope Close. 
I rated this 4⭐️ and would recommend it.

I only read about 10% and couldn't get into this book.  I wanted to give it more of a chance, but Layla sending her 8-year-old to boarding school prejudiced me against it from the start and I didn't really want to find out what the new arrival's likely terrible secret was.