Creepy crazy story that involves a quaint neighborhood. Wonderful characters that the reader gets to know well. Tense, terrifying and heartbreaking as well as tender friendships, strong couples and the undeniable bond of a mother and her child.
Snag this book! You won’t be disappointed.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My heart hurts after reading this book. Over time I’ve become very sensitive to books with things happening to little kids and this one was overwhelming. I broke down and sobbed my eyes out. The book isn’t a a thriller really but is more of a domestic mystery. It is very revealing of the human psyche and the ending is elaborate to present the psychological aspect of the characters. The characters are well developed and real. It’s scary how real they are because it makes me sad that we live a world where this story may be a reality. A heart wrenching tale written very eloquently. The book really left me sad and devastated. I could feel the pain of the parents and anger at the people around them. The book definitely needs a trigger warning of ‘children affected’ but I can’t say much as I’ll end up giving away the plot if I do.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Housewarming is a heart-wrenching thriller about loss, family and grief. The writing was perfect for the genre and story, and I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

The story follows Ava, a mother who is in distress after her daughter goes missing. She left her daughter in the push chair for five minutes, but when she came downstairs the door was open and her daughter was gone.

A year later, the Lovegoods throw a housewarming party. She doesn't want to go, because she's haunted by the tragic events and cant even bare to look down the road. But her husband, Matt, persuades her.

Little did she know, that night will change everything.

This book was a great thriller to read in October, and I highly recommend it!

A very well written book that is extremely sad. I think the title of the book is quite misleading as it really wasn't that much to do with the housewarming party. However, the story is very good with well developed characters.

In all honesty, when I started reading this book I didn't think it would be for me, the first few chapters seemed to be very focused on repeating the same line second by second, beat by beat. However once I got past those initial few chapters, I really got a feel for the characters within the book and a sense of what they were about. The second by second, beat by beat metronome affect became more relevant with the disappearance of Matt and Ava's daughter, having to relive the lead up to the minute Abi disappeared with the feeling that each second is another beat of sheer panic.

I found this book to be really well written as to how the parents felt not knowing what had happened to their daughter and how it had an enormous impact on their lives moving forward. I think plot wise, the story led me along nicely through the book but towards the end it really got going. You were lulled into a sense of coming across who was really to blame with the disappearance of Matt and Ava's daughter, but in fact there was more to the story. The way the ending came together was really clever, thinking you had all the pieces slotted together and yet was given that extra piece right near the end.

To begin with, I felt this book could be a trigger for certain people, although it was established very quickly just what this book was about. I also felt that it was too long, repeating information over and over again about what happened the morning that Abi disappeared. I was also disappointed because I felt misled by the cover. To me, the cover promised something scary or spooky, especially about the neighbor's house and I was ready for some big horror thing about it. And while there was something about it, it was nothing like what I had expected.

All this being said, the plot was pretty good, there were a lot of twists to the story and I did not really guess who the final "bad" guy/girl would be.

A truly heartbreaking story, you follow Ava and Matt through memories of the saddest morning of their lives, the day little Abi disappeared. This book is more of a drama mystery than a thriller, as the story slowly develops into its conclusion making you analyse everyone’s behaviour. This is a extremely emotional story so be ready with the tissues.

I don’t know what it was about this book, but I was gripped from the first page. The writing style is really different, and it draws you in. The repetitive short sentences really drive home the mental state of Ava. The timeline jumps all over the place without warning, but it is really easy to keep up.
I literally couldn’t put this book down. I’d think “I’ll just read for another 10 minutes” and I’d look up and an hour had passed by. Not a lot is happening, but it is enthralling enough to want to know what the outcome is going to be. What happened to Abi that day?
I didn’t see the twists coming, but they weren’t wham in your face. They were quite subtle, but you do need to concentrate when everything is being revealed to get it all straight in your head. You have to pay attention to the timeline and where everyone is and what is happening. I found it quite confusing, especially not knowing the full layout of the ‘set’; it was quite hard to get my head around. Great ending and conclusion, though.
I liked the lengthy ‘authors note’ after the book that goes into detail about how she came up with this story. Such a small detail and a whole book can be developed and conjured up. I thought her insight into the current situation while she was writing was enlightening, and I’m glad she did go back a year in time and didn’t incorporate the coronavirus into the story. I’m reading books to run away from the horrors in the current world and don’t want to read about characters in the same predicament we are in. I want to escape into an alternate universe, and this book certainly did that. So, thank you to the author for not putting current events into the book despite that being predominately surrounding her whilst writing this.
This was an enthralling book that I couldn’t put down, the writing style was unusual but worked, and the storyline was different and intriguing.

It's a mother's worst nightmare. You leave your sleeping baby alone for five minutes (ok, maybe 15) and when you come back, she's vanished. There's so much I could say about this book but I don't want to give anything away. This is a good, solid story which kept me interested and involved from the first page to the last. I'd highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Their two year old daughter is gone. It seems that she went out the front door. It has been a year and no one knows what happened to her. Was she abducted, drowned, there are no answers. The police have put the case on the back burner. There's not been any new evidence.
Thinking back on the morning she disappeared, her mother starts putting small pieces together. Alone the pieces mean nothing. Together they are forming a picture. The people that are guilty will be found.
Intriguing, story!

This is so sad, dark and twisty! It is a great thriller mystery and keeps you on your toes and up at night.

Gosh, I have never used this expression before but I can honestly say that this book blew me away ! I thought it got off to a slowish start, but that is because I am an extremely impatient reader. It wasn't really slow it was just setting the scene I guess, but when the book really took off for me it was a rollercoaster ride, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor a couple of times, No spoilers but I honestly didn't see things coming, and I loved it. I thought it was a really clever, and well written book, and it definitely goes into my top 5 best books of this year, and I read a lot of books. I have already recommended it to my partner and told them to read it as soon as possible, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other readers. I really enjoyed reading it.

I have enjoyed this author’s previous books, so looked forward to diving into The Housewarming. It certainly did not disappoint.

This is a gut-wrenching story of a missing child and the search for the truth. Ava has gone upstairs leaving her two-year old daughter secure in her buggy: taking a few minutes to herself and relishing the peace, Ava returns devastated to see an empty buggy and open front door. What ensues is the police investigation and hunt for the child. The depth of feeling in this book was immense; guilt, suspicion, doubt, anger, sadness.

The writing is brilliant and the characters really came to life. Excellent read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing an advanced ebook copy of this novel for an honest review.

This book was very well written, well developed characters, easy to read, and flowed well between character perspectives.

I found this book got off to a bit of a slow start for me and I wasn’t sure what to think initially, but for those of you who aren’t intrigued right off the bat, keep reading! Once I got through the backstory/past I found myself speed reading wanting to know so badly to find out what happened!

This book goes back and forth between the perspectives of different characters which I liked, hearing the story from different points of view. I don’t know if I would necessarily call this a thriller, maybe more of a drama with bits and pieces of a thriller. I would read other novels by this author.

It’s now a year on since Matt and Ava Atkins daughter Abi went missing and when next door neighbours Jennifer and Johnnie Lovegood are holding a housewarming after a major refurbishment, they can’t decide whether to attend or not. However, this event is the catalyst for the truth.

Susie Lynes has done it again! Another cracking read which had me glued to my seat unable to put my e-reader down! The author captures the fear and panic after Abi’s disappearance so well using short clipped sentences which perfectly matches Ava’s breathless panic. The self recrimination and guilt especially of Abi is heartbreaking in its intensity, it’s distressing as it is every parents nightmare. It’s a very emotional, tense and powerful story and it must be a daily gut wrench not knowing exactly what has happened to your child and you feel their palpable grief. The author demonstrates the changing relationship between Abi and Matt, with their best friends and neighbours who become awkward as they don’t know what to say or do. What can you say in these circumstances? The plot is well thought out, it’s well paced speeding up perceptibly towards the unpredictable end which is one shock after another.

Overall, an extremely good novel which examines how people can be defined by a tragedy, it’s impact on relationships and the need for closure. A highly recommended emotional read.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.

The first 10% of this book was nothing but the continuous and repeated angst of a mother whose 2 year old child had disappeared from her stroller in the foyer (?) of their home. Was this story ever going to proceed or was it just going to continue with the self-blame and angst and distress and despair? I didn’t find out. That was enough for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early release in exchange for an honest review. I’m sure this will have wide appeal to those who enjoy guilt and self incrimination.

The housewarming is a heartbreaking and suspense filled mystery about a couple who lose their young daughter. A year after she goes missing, more information starts to come out about what really happened that day.

I think author wrote the characters, especially Ava, very well, but her torment almost made me uncomfortable to read. While I've never gone through something like that, I could relate to the way she was focused on one thing, one moment and couldn't shut off her brain.

There are so many cliffhanger chapters in the housewarming that it almost started to get frustrating. It meant I had to keep reading and couldn't stop.

The deeper I got as the characters started to uncover more secrets, the more painful it became. I've never felt so much empathy for book characters. It was tragic and the truth behind it was really haunting. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while.

Beautifully written, heartbreaking story of every parents worst nightmare. When Ava goes upstairs and gets distracted for a few minutes, she returns downstairs to find her baby daughter Abi missing. She knows Abi was fastened into her stroller and playing with her toy, and she believes she closed the door all the way. When she realizes the door is wide open, she knows she made a mistake that may haunt her the rest of her life. As every aspect of their lives and their closest friends and neighbors lives are examined, the young couple realize they don’t know who to trust, even those they thought they knew best. Excellent heartfelt story that is impossible to put down.

I really was looking forward to reading this but unfortunately it fell short for me. I found it a very slow burner and urged it to move on. For the first 1/4 of the book I found it to be repetitive and over descriptive when it came to the inner thinkings of the characters with not much actually happening. The author really portrayed the topic of grief and loss so well that you felt like it was actually happening to you. I was expecting it to have more dramatic twists and turns as it’s described as a suspense thriller. Unfortunately just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC and review thats due to be published on the 23rd of Oct.

Such a great book! I was immediately intrigued, I mean where could Abi have gone? The ending was not what I expected, in the best way. I would definitely recommend this book. Thank you, NetGalley!