Thank you netgalley and publishers for gifting me a copy of The Open House in exchange for my honest review.

The Open House was a great mystery! I had a very difficult time figuring out the ending, which I ALWAYS consider a great story.
This was the story of a recently divorced mom living in a house with her two
Young boys. They had been sold the house by her mother in law so it would
Stay in the family. After she meets her new boyfriend via Facebook they decide after months that long distance is hard and that she and the boys should move closer to him. Putting the house on the market has seen zero results in interest. Her realtor throws an open house in which she watches from the ring camera on her front porch. Having strangers in her home is unnerving. 13 people go in but she is positive only 12 come out.
Strange occurrences begin after that... and soon everyone becomes a suspect. Her MIL, neighbors, her ex husband, even her realtor! This is a twisty, turny, suspenseful read and I recommend it to anyone who needs a really good who done it!

Wow! A story so full of twists and turns, you won't know what to believe. Just when you think you have it figured out, plot twist, you really had no idea.

In the midst of a divorce, Amber Miller decides it would be best that she and her children move out and sell the home she shared with soon-to-be ex-husband, Nick Miller. Selling the home proves to be difficult to say the least. First, her mother-in-law is completely against the sale since Nick and Amber had originally bought the home from her and she doesn't hesitate to let Amber know. Then there is the issue with the weird open house. So many strange things begin to happen and nothing makes any sense. Is Amber losing her mind or is someone or something trying to sabotage the sale? Gripping and thrilling, this book is full of suspense from the beginning.

This is the 1st Book I have read by the author and I enjoyed reading this book.

This Book tells the story Amber Miller who have split up with her husband and decided to sell the family home, Amber estate agent suggests Amber does a open house to sell her house 13 people attend the open house but only 12 return, without giving too many spoilers away if you enjoy a a thriller I recommend this book

with thanks to Netgalley & Avon Books Uk for the Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Nick and Amber are selling their Devon home and splitting up. During an open house, which Amber has cautiously agreed to, thirteen people enter their home. But only twelve of them leave. I enjoyed the dual narrative in this psychological thriller and reading about village life, complete with a neighborhood busybody. Although the first third of the book had too much internal dialogue for me that slowed the pace, it picked up and raced ahead to an unexpected, not quite credible, strangely satisfying ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Love this kind of book. You never really know people do you and it’s really hard to be a good judge about people characters as people are really good at hiding their true self. Well done to the authors as I like the characters descriptions and although I didn’t like them all I thought it was a great book to dip into. Great.

It took me a bit to get into the book but I was pleasantly surprised. You’re drawn in by the suspicion that one of the 13 viewers hasn’t left the home. Really liked the ending, it’s a fun read with a few twist

Thank you netgalley for an ARC

First and foremost thank you to net gally and avon books for the chance to read the open house in exchange for an honest review.
When i read the blurb, i had an idea how the story was going to go. Thirteen people attend an open house viewing but only twelve leave. I had in my mind what could happen but i was wrong in every way. Im a massive sam carrington fan, have read all her books and this one didnt disappoint. The story was completely different to what i was expecting but it was full of twists and turns and i was not expecting that ending. Yet another hit book from Sam, i can't say too much because i dont want to give amy spoilers but definitely an enjoyable book that kept me reading and guessing

The Open House is a very long journey of a book about a woman who experiences strange things happening in her home following an open house viewing of the house she intends to sell. She is afraid and unsure of what is real and what is imaginary, and believes to be unable to protect herself or her kids and using every resource she has to try and piece together the mysteries that have landed on her front door.

I truthfully quite enjoyed reading 3/4 of the book. It is a very long read and not just because of the physical pages and words, but the journey of those pages and the toll the characters go through all rubs off on the reader. I read through a day and a half to finish it. This book is very high on the list of un-put-downable books, no doubt.

I was honestly expecting something quite different, more along the terms of people coming over to view a house, on Open House day, and they get locked inside because the person who all brought them together mysteriously, brought them together because they're all a part of some cover-up or crime and in order to get freedom, they need to find the person responsible and kill them. Thus; 13 people go in, only 12 come out. However, it's not like that at all. The book is full of secrets and twists that are not easy to figure out. The book literally keeps you guessing until the last page. As soon as you think you're in the clear, there couldn't possibly be more to uncover now; bam! there's some new secrets revealed that makes you question everything all over again. All throughout this book, I theorized, I guessed, and I solved many many mysteries and storylines throughout the book. Many characters have storylines that lead into a particular set of mysteries and there are several sets! There's also many red herrings so watch out for those!

The only part I did not like was the ending. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the way the book leads the reader, the ending goes through a lot and it becomes overwhelming to learn so much in such a short time. The suspense is ten-fold throughout the book. There are strange occurrences that are experienced by the MC, Amber, and many mysteries that make her life difficult. Her paranoia also brings out the detective in the reader as everyone is a suspect all the time. The book has an ending full of unexpected twists and new characters that undo everything you're mentally prepared to learn about.

All in all, this book was a great story, with many fun tropes, and fresh storylines. Most of the characters are enjoyable to read about. The only thing I vehemently hated was the lack of autonomy of one particular character throughout the book. The choices this character makes, especially at the very end make me question if I even know the character at all, and it also made the efforts I put in to read the book not completely worth it.

But in any case, the book is enjoyable and fun to read, and of course open to interpretation as all works are. The issues I had with it are personal in a sense, and I urge everyone to give it a try to see if they like it. I recommend this book to anyone who appreciates book on psychological thriller novels, murder mysteries, domestic drama, family issues, romance, and real estate!

*Thank you to the publishers; Avon Books UK, and the author; Sam Carrington, for my free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Difficult to critique without providing too many spoilers ! This was a complete page-turner, though not without its flaws. While I saw one aspect of the ending coming very early on, I could not begin to predict the twists and turns, since they seemed to appear a bit out of thin air? A little too much was jammed into the last 25% of the book, when it went off the rails. Overall, characterization was pretty shallow. The main narrator Amber is described by another character at one point as a "caustic one," which was pretty apt. I'm never opposed to an unsympathetic protagonist, though I wasn't clear on whether this was intentional. Barb, the secondary point of view, was a lot more sympathetic while being presented as the villian. Nick had potential as the one decent character, but seemed to have no emotional depth, and perfectly supportive of his wife moving several hours away with his two small adored children? Richard - there were points where I wondered if he was a figment of Amber's imagination, he was so thinly drawn. All was a little too heavily plot-driven and requiring more suspension of disbelief than I'm capable of. However, give a solid 3-3.5 stars since despite some shortcomings, for its gripping "un-putdownableness." Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sorry, but I did not care for this thriller. Did not like the characters and felt like parts had come from other stories. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I loved this fast paced mystery following the life of Amber and her boys. Amber is recently separated from Nick, a detective, and is trying to sell her home to move out of town with her new boyfriend. Unfortunately, Nick's mother, Barb, does not want to see her grandchildren leave her. Therefore, she does everything in her power to keep them there, including working with the real estate agent. There are so many twists and turns that I did not see coming, I very much enjoyed this read and recommend!

I hate giving negative reviews but honestly this was possibly the biggest load of rubbish I've ever read.

We don't ever really get to know our lead character, Amber. I don't think we even found out any details about what she looks like but we definitely don't find out anything deep about her personality, likes, dislikes etc so from the off it's hard to care about what happens to her.

And then the story.. my goodness. I was really intrigued by the concept and it had potential but at the end of the book it's like the author tried to just fling as many twists as possible in, kind of like a child telling a story: 'And then there were dinosaurs and then an explosion and then flying pigs and then alien robots' - that kind of thing. The central mystery of the book was explained quickly and brushed to one side to make way for various outlandish things to happen, it was far too much.

I did read to the end because I wanted to find out what happened, and the concept of 13 people entering a house and only 12 coming out could have been really interesting, but unfortunately this was a big miss for me.

3.5 stars!

I went into this book already loving the concept. I find premises based on an open house really eerie and this book definitely had that.
I haven't read anything by Sam before so this is a new-to-me author and I will definitely be reading more from her in the future!

What did I like?
- I thought the characters were well fleshed out and developed. Amber was a relatable mother and woman and I felt her choices and actions reflected her character well and were not eye-roll worthy. I thought Barb was off her head, and she was an unreliable narrator but I kind of loved it.
- I liked that we got an insight on before the open house and the book didn't immediately start off with it happening. We got to see some background of the characters and the history of the house and this added to the story.
- I think the lead-up and suspense were very dramatic and I loved it. Although I had guessed most of the major twists, I thought Sam did an excellent job of delivering this blows to the characters and there was definitely a sense of mystery throughout.
- The ending. That's how you do an ending everyone.

I think what was lacking from this book was the delivery in some of the information. I was very confused at first with who was who and the background and relation to the characters and at some points, I felt like there was too much going on for the story to flow well. I sort of thought Sam could have spaced out some of the twists in order to make the reader's experience more enjoyable.
I also thought that the book started off very slow and kind of blocky. I had never read anything from Sam before but I found her writing initially very blocky and it was only with perseverance that I found myself really enjoying the story.

Overall, a well written and thought-out thriller that will leave you feeling creeped out!
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one was okay for me. I finished it and I did enjoy it, it was just hard for me to get into. I liked the concept of the story so I stuck with it. I would still recommend it, but it was definitely a little slow in the beginning.

This book was great! I loved the pretense of the book and I must say that I'm relieved that my family doesn't plan to list our house for sale any time soon. I think what I enjoyed about this book was that it seemed to believable to a degree. It's so terrifying to think of people in and out of your house. I could completely see myself counting the people going in and the people going out! I loved her peeking through the doorbell camera as I do that! The main character and I did have some differences in how we would handle situations but woah, was she relatable. I loved that her struggles were so real and raw. It was intense reading about her divorce and new relationship but everything seemed so legitimate.

My criticism for the book was that issues with the antagonists wrapped up too quickly. The book did a fantastic job exploring out the plot lines and the research was well done and then poof, one of them just completely disappeared from the storyline. It was a bit of a let down. Everything just wrapped up so quietly at the end that you had to reread to make sure you didn't miss anything. I loved the plot lines though and would definitely recommend this as it really kept you guessing.

Could it be that Amber Millar is losing it?!

She’s definitely juggling too many things at once: an ex-husband, two young boys, an obnoxious mother-in-law, her job, nosy neighbours, a new boyfriend and now she’s put the family home on the market. Unfortunately, there is little interest in the Apple Grove listing and so she allows the real estate agent to convince her that an open house would be a great idea. Wanting to check on her dodgy agent’s ability, she uses her doorbell phone app to watch prospective buyers arrive for the open house. She sees 13 people enter, but only 12 people exit? Wait. WHAT?!

What follows next is a nail-biting, heart-pounding ride of emotions as Amber questions her sanity and attempts to explain odd happenings around her home. You’ll be quickly flipping pages, desperately trying to make sense of the situation. One thing’s for certain – someone doesn’t want her selling the house! Is there someone hiding in her house? Why does Amber always feel like she’s being watched? You’ll have to read this absolutely fantastic book to find out! Watch out for it on December 10, 2020.

This is my first book by Sam Carrington, but it won’t be my last. I’ve added her to my list of go-to mystery novels as she knows the recipe for a perfect thrill. There is no doubt that her psychology degree and her subsequent career as an Offending Behaviour Facilitator in a prison contributed to the success of this book. Carrington’s characters were relatable, the storyline plausible and the red herrings and plot twists were timed perfectly. I absolutely loved Barb, the mother-in-law, and found myself snickering as I related to the dynamics.

Thank you to Sam Carrington, Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this fantastic gift of an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

After splitting from her husband, Amber now has ownership of the family house. She decides the best thing for herself and her two boys would be to move on and move out. After setting the house up for sale, it just isn't moving fast enough so her realtor suggests an open house. Harmless and helpful, right? Through her video doorbell though, Amber watches potential buyers come in one by one, 13 of them interested in seeing the house. However, she swears she only saw 12 leave. The Open House is full of twists and curiosity as we follow Amber through the journey of figuring out why things keep going missing, lights keep going out, and their house no longer feels like a home.

What I Liked: the concept of this book is awesome and grabbed me right away. Sam Carrington spent a good amount of time in this one building up the characters and their intertwining relationships with one another. Ultimately, this helped the book and the story along and I enjoyed playing a whole game of "who done it" the entire time I was reading. The ending was very unexpected which I loved. It was fun to see all my guessing and clues come together in a final, dramatic closure.

What I Didn't Care For: There were a good amount of characters and were a little tricky to track for most of the book. I felt like every time I thought we were close to figuring out what was going on, another character was introduced. With finishing the book, I definitely see why each and every character was useful to the plot, and overall enjoyed the wild goose chase that each one sent me on, but at times it was muddled and unclear who we were following.

Overall, I enjoyed this one! What started as a full family drama soon dug deep into a crime driven mystery. The creepiness was just right (causing me to fully question if I was alone in my own house) and the plot twists definitely took me for a ride.

I enjoyed this book for the most part, even though Amber is the most self-centered creature on the planet. (Bless her friends, who never once are like, "Wow, we're doing great, not that you ever ask!") But the denouement was a little too far-fetched for me.

This is a book that kept me up late into the night, flipping "just one more page" to try and figure out what was going on. Carrington writes in a way that feels inviting and easy to read, and created characters that I really enjoyed. With it's short and chilling chapters, the story had me hooked.

While reading, this book felt like a solid 4.5 stars -- but then I got to the ending. While the last few chapters are packed with twists galore, some of them felt rushed and a little jumbled. I was also confused by some of the choices Amber made in the final pages -- they felt out of character and unrealistic.

Despite some of my disappointment with the ending, I still really enjoyed how suspenseful the book was. I'm definitely looking forward to checking out more books by this author.

3.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review

This book is so good at least 80% of the way in but that ending – eek. Took it from a 4.5 to a 2.5. I’m rounding down so you won’t be tempted