★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Sue Watson's tension-filled psychological thriller THE FOREVER HOME.

I'm sure Sue Watson sits and dreams up ways to tie her readers in knots with her characters that just love to get under your skin! She once told me that I'm one of her favourite readers...probably because her characters get me so worked up I could happily poke my own eyes out they do my head in so much! Now she says "I write them just for you Stina! I know you love to hate them!" lol The last time she did that to me was in "The Sister in Law" ...but in that case there was only one irritating character. In THE FOREVER HOME there are two of them! Give me strength...!!

But having said that, I know when I pick up a Sue Watson book I am going to get a good fast paced thriller with plenty of twists that will have me turning pages long into the night. This book is no exception. And the setting...omg! Cornwall is one of my favourite settings and just visualising the house on the cliff overlooking the Atlantic and those stormy nights with the rain beating against the windows and those mornings you wake to see the colours reflected in the ocean depths...I was in heaven. Always a perfect setting for a thriller.

The house was in dire need of repairs when her mother gifted it Carly as a wedding present when she married Mark, but to Carly it is her forever home. The house of her childhood. Where her memories were made. But it has been open to the elements for so long that it needs bringing back to life. Newly married with a baby on the way, Carly and her architect husband Mark set to renovating and repairing the house.

Carly captured the many moments spent renovating on video as Mark talked through the process, uploading to their YouTube channel and social media sites and quickly gaining followers. Tagging DIY suppliers where they purchased supplied, this generated support from the various businesses and in turn their costs were kept to a minimum enabling the project to keep going. It wasn't long before their renovation was picked up by producers and turned into a TV programme titled "The Forever Home" watched by millions around the UK. And while Carly is the brains behind the concept, Mark is the handsome charismatic face of it and soon went on to renovate homes all over the UK for TV. And now a US streaming service is interested in "The Forever Home" with the promise of a multi-million dollar contract and the temporary relocation to America for TV's perfect couple. It's a dream come true. But is it really?

On the surface, Carly and Mark appear to be the perfect couple with the perfect marriage and living in the perfect house...their forever home where it all began. But on the night of their 25th wedding anniversary celebrations, the perfect facade to the perfect life comes crashing down.

Not only is Mark late for their own party leaving Carly to welcome their guests alone, but she finds herself at the forefront of a media circus that her husband has created for a PR show! But when she catches her husband arguing with her best friend Lara she wonders if she is just another in his long list of affairs...but the truth is far worse. Mark, it seems, has been sleeping with Lara's 24 year old daughter Erin. The same girl who used to play with their children and they sometimes babysat for as a four year old! But it gets worse...Erin is pregnant and the couple are in love. Could things get any worse?? Trust me, it does...

While Carly remains in the house that was her family's, it appears Mark is telling Erin a different story. Added to that, Mark's agent creates a narrative that puts Carly in a bad light but she agrees to the "story" they will tell the public to enable Carly to keep the house and Mark to get the US deal and therefore an amicable divorce settlement that will benefit them both. It is what they agreed. But then Mark and Erin go on national TV, rewriting the narrative yet again when Erin announces sweetly that she wants people to know how generous Carly is and that she said how "the house is too big for her, that she's too old to have any more kids, so rather than rattle around in there she is giving Mark his house back". Carly is livid. This is NOT what they agreed. And it seems that Erin mistakenly believes that THE house, the forever home, HER house is Mark's...since she stupidly believes everything Mark tells her. But Erin has always been spoilt and thrown tantrums whenever things never went her way, even as a child, and she's too greedy to let Carly live in that gorgeous spacious house alone while they are forced to rent a tiny two bedroom cottage with a baby on the way.

And then Carly starts getting threatening notes, seeing shadows and hearing noises in the house. A shattered vase, photos rearranged on the wall, a dead rat. A campaign to scare her from her home? Or is there something more sinister going on?

At first she suspects Ryan, the thirty five year old builder who she employed to start much-needed repairs and maintenance on the house...which Mark neglected after reaching the heights of success the forever home had brought him in the first place. But Ryan has been incredibly supportive throughout everything she couldn't see him behind the scare tactics. But then her daughter Phoebe warns her to be careful of him as "the Jarvis boys have a bit of a reputation". Is Ryan all that he appears to be? Should she be worried? But as their relationship becomes more intimate, Carly finds herself sharing the true nature of her marriage to Mark and the dark secrets that they kept from the public. And while they portrayed the image of the perfect couple to the nation, no one knew the truth of what happened behind the closed doors of their marriage.

So why didn't Carly kick him out years ago? Why keep up the pretense for the world, her friends, her children even when they clearly were not? Even after the children grew up and made lives of their own? What did Mark have over Carly to keep up the facade? And is it that which now keeps Carly from revealing the truth about Mark and shattering his perfect persona to the world? And what secrets does the forever home hold?

Then when Erin disappears having last been seen at Carly's house, the tension mounts as police are called in to investigate. A blood-spotted throw of Carly's is found on the beach and Erin's shattered phone hidden behind the shed and suddenly Carly finds herself in the spotlight and under suspicion of having done something to her husband's new girlfriend in an attempt to keep her house. But Carly can't help but think maybe Mark was behind the disappearance...after all, he admitted to her that he was finding Erin far too high maintenance and her behaviour was threatening the American deal. Could he behind it after all?

Oh my word! What a tension-filled suspense-driven thriller THE FOREVER HOME is! I could not swipe the pages quick enough waiting for Mark to get his comeuppance...not to mention the awful Erin as well. She was just vile. The way they both treated Carly was despicable I could hardly believe it. I was so angered on Carly's behalf. Mark was complete b****** and Erin behaved like a spoilt princess - they were perfect for each other. But it was the scene in the cafe soon after their separation that had me reeling with disbelief. The nerve of that woman! And then to turn it all around to make Carly out to be the vengeful ex-wife that Erin lived in fear of just made my blood boil.

The story is told from the first person narrative in Carly's perspective throughout, making the reader sympathise with her from the start. I was Team Carly from the beginning and like her, I didn't know who to trust or believe. Even Ryan, who Carly grew attached to and fell into a relationship of sorts with after her separation from Mark, I felt I could never quite trust him either. He just always seemed to be there at the right time when something happened. He even turned up moments after Erin disappeared which seemed somewhat suspicious. This added to the tension and left us wondering if Carly was doing the right thing letting him in...

And then there is the whole cliffside house setting, particularly on stormy nights which simply adds to the suspense on a Daphne du Maurier scale. The house which is a character in itself. It's the centrepiece of the entire story. Like Manderlay in "Rebecca", the house is the beginning and the end. I had visions of it burning down so no one could get it, particularly when it seemed like Carly had no way out when Mark depleted their entire savings and left her with nothing and no way to pay for the upkeep on the said house that is open to the coastal elements year round and in constant need of maintenance.

THE FOREVER HOME is the perfect title for this tension-filled tale of secrets, lies and jealousy. I could not devour it quick enough although I had real life rudely get in the way making the journey a little longer than anticipated. But still, it was an enjoyable ride that Sue took us on with an ending that you might think you know is coming...but it isn't. Although I thought it would have been a slightly more evil touch had the result been one of my other theories, the ending was still satisfactory and very well done. And as always, I love the short snappy chapters that just add to the building tension.

If you're a fan of psychological thrillers, I'm sure you will devour THE FOREVER HOME. There are so many secrets and lies that it is one truly twisted read drawing you in from the beginning and doesn't let go till that final page.

I would like to thank #SueWatson, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheForeverHome in exchange for an honest review.

Carly and her husband Mark live in what sounds to me like a beautiful home on the Cornish coastline and they have two grown children who no longer live at home. Mark is the host of a home improvement program on tv; Carly assists by writing scripts for the show as well as suggesting projects which will capture the audience's attention. At their 25th anniversary party Carly receives some shocking news which results in her life as she knew it changing dramatically. The story is told from Carly's point of view and is well written with good characters, some likeable and some not, and proves once again that you never know what goes on behind closed doors.

I liked this book right from the start and got more and more drawn in as the story progressed. At one point Carly is pouring her heart out to Ryan, a young handyman type (read hunk!), and I was so engrossed in what she was telling him that my husband asked if I was okay. I must've been making some odd noises and probably gasping a lot, possibly forgetting to breathe occasionally. There were hints throughout the book about an occurrence in the past that Mark is holding over Carly's head and I couldn't imagine what it was if it didn't involve what she was telling Ryan. There are many occurrences which defy explanation and I was scrambling to blame someone but most of my guesses proved to be incorrect by the unexpected ending.

Highly recommended. I'll definitely be picking up some of Sue Watson's previous novels as well as keeping an eye out for future books.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

The perfect couple with the perfect marriage. That’s what the world sees. But it’s all a sham. Things are never what they seem. A great read with twists and turns aplenty.

Not a whole lot happens in this book if I'm being perfectly honest. It's generally quite slow and there are quite a few red herrings but nothing that piqued my interest and any twists fell a bit flat for me personally. There's quite a lot of repetition and at times I felt the plot was just going round in circles. The characters frustrated me, Mark is a walking cliche while I found myself wanting to shake Carly now and again although I do appreciate the relationship she has with her children and her need to protect them.

The forever home was a great domestic thriller. Carly and Marks’ 25th anniversary party just sets the wheels in motion for shattering the Anderson’s golden image. There’s cheating, lies and even murder. I might have whiplash from all the twists and turns this plot had!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest psychological thriller by Sue Watson - one of my go-to authors! 4 stars for another fast-paced thriller.

To the rest of the world, Mark and Carly are the perfect couple. They are the hosts of a television show called The Forever Home, which began when they started rehabbing the cliffside home where Carly grew up. Even though the ideas behind the show were Carly's, she was happy to stay home and raise their two children and let Mark be the face of the show. But when Mark leaves her on the night of their 25th wedding anniversary party, all the secrets in their perfect life threaten to rear their ugly faces. When threats to Carly start showing up at her home, she rightly doesn't know who she can trust.

I love fast-paced thrillers with short chapters and lots of unreliable characters that leave you guessing. This one had an ending that I never suspected but loved! Another example of not believing what you see on social media because we never know what's going on behind closed doors. Sue Watson always delivers - don't miss this one!

The Forever Home by Sue Watson
I give this book 3.75 stars


The beautiful Cornish cliffside house it was where Carly and Mark had raised their children,where they’d promised to keep each other’s secrets…
Until now. Because Mark has fallen in love. With someone he definitely shouldn’t have.
Carly thinks forever should mean forever though: it’s her home and she’ll stay there. Even the dark family secrets it contains feel like they belong to her. But someone disagrees,they want to demolish every last thing that makes Carly feel safe. Forever......

A story of family,secrets,lies and betrayal.Not everything is as it seems!
I enjoyed reading this although it took me a while to get into it,about half way through l was hooked and literally didn't put it down until l finished it.Great twist at the end!
With thanks to Netgalley,Sue Watson and Bookouture for my chance to read and review this book

First, thank you to the publishers at Bookouture and Netgalley for this arc of The Forever Home.

The Forever Home follows the story of Carly, a 47 year old mother of two and wife to the famous Mark Anderson, the face of The Forever Home. Carly has just learned, at her 25th wedding anniversary, that her husband is leaving her after being caught red handed in an affair. Devastated, she kicks Mark out and begins to file for divorce.

The Forever Home, the original that is, has been in Carly’s family her entire life. Passed down to her from her mother, Mark created it into something new, but it’s still the place where she grew up and eventually raised her other children. It’s her home; no one is kicking her out of it. But when strange letters and creepy “gifts” begin to arrive, Carly can’t help but wonder if someone is trying to scare her out of her rightful property.

Throw in a narcissistic ex, not one, but two young lovers, cops, a best friend, and some children, and you’ve got a thriller on your hands!

The storyline starts off a bit slow, but quickly picks up speed. There are a lot of shocking moments, and even by the end, I wasn’t fully sure who could be trusted. The Forever Home releases on June 4!

TW: adultery, abuse, and murder.

Another engrossing read from this author, which steadily builds to an unexpected finale. I liked the main character and they way we slowly learnt about her life. It was a slow build, to give us the backstory, but then it hurtles towards the end, with all the reveals coming to light. Some great bitchy characters and others to love.

I have loved all of Sue Watson previous domestic noir thrillers. and was thrilled to read her latest entry The Forever Home. More of a drama than thriller this time round with Carly and Mark, owners of a stunning and picturesque cliffside home renovation which they have made into a tv show now a million dollar business. Unfortunately their marriage is a fake as the show and we meet them at their big wedding anniversary soirée which is also the day they dramatically break up. Mark is a High Grant type of character serving on good looks and charm while, of course, Carly has been the backbone of the marriage and the show. Interesting read with side stories of love and betrayal, the reasons why some couples stay when they shouldn’t and what happens when one is pushed to the edge.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of "The Forever Home" in exchange for my honest review.

The story starts off at the silver anniversary party for Mark and Carly Anderson. They have a gorgeous home on a cliff in Cornwall. They have been married for 25 years with 2 children - Phoebe (24) and Jake (18). They seem to have it all. Mark has a highly successful tv show. He's over 2 hours late getting home to his part. Claims that filming took ages.

The beginning of the book is a bit slow with all the party descriptions. It picks up when Carly overhears an argument at the bottom of the garden. Her bestfriend Lara had told her she couldn't come early to help her but then why is she coming from the bottom of the garden and not the front of the house if she just arrived? And why is Mark following close behind Lara?

Something is going on and Carly seems to be the only one that is not in on the secret. I found this more to be a story about a family and their lives as opposed to a true thriller. As always it's a grand addition to Sue Watson's catalogue of books.

Carly and Mark are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in their seaside home in Cornwall. Mark has a successful DIY television show, initially showcasing their ‘forever home’, and expanded the show to fix up other homes. This is a good story and well written. There are twists, untwists, and more twists. Recommended!

An incredible book.

Not only is it utterly unputdownable, this book doesn’t finish until everything has been completely wrapped up.

I found this a completely refreshing read, not held down by normal thriller tropes and truly delving in to the deepest parts of the human condition.

Plot twists are one thing but this book shoots it out the park. Incredible.

I couldn’t really get into it. I think I just had so many books goi f ok at once, this one took a back seat and I wasn’t able to get back into it.

The Forever Home Sue Watson
I really enjoyed First Date, written by Sue, so was delighted to get my hands on this book.
Sue gives a master class in building a character in this book, by the time you are finished reading, you have really gotten to know the main character Carly, and loathe other characters.
The story builds really well, and had me suspicious of everyone, and kept me guessing right to the end.
Overall another great book by Sue.

We meet the Anderson's on their 25th wedding anniversary party. And on the surface they seem to be a very happy family. Hosts to a successful TV home-makeover show. Beautiful home. US deal imminent.
And then the cracks start to show when a cannonball confession from husband Mark rips Carly's life apart.
And things take a rather creepy turn - threatening notes; dead rats and more.
Without giving too much of the plot away, the story races to a nail-biting finale that leaves you rather stunned as all the dirty laundry of everyone is exposed. You don't know who to trust, who to believe.
A great read where you are torn between wanting to see what happens and scared to see what happens.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read this book.

This was a good read, though not my favorite Sue Watson book. It centers on Carly, who has been married to her husband Mark for 25 years. We find out that the marriage isn't all it seemed and that Mark has demonstrated some bad behavior. Carly and Mark made money on televising their home renovations and are minor celebrities, though the house itself means more to Carly than Mark and she is determined to keep it no matter what happens.

These were believable characters for the most part, and I could understand why they made the decisions they made. I didn't find any of them extremely likeable (some more than others) but did feel that they were fleshed out well. The pacing of the story was fast and there was plenty of action, though it did get a tad repetitive at some points in the middle.

The ending of the book was satisfying- I saw part of the twist coming but not the other part, and thought it was well done. Overall, fun read, even if it wasn't my favorite- I'd give 3.5 stars and recommend to those who like domestic suspense. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sue Watson has done it again. Just brilliant! Sue has this knack of writing thrillers where I just think, one more chapter, and before I know it, I have read most of the book in one sitting so I just continue! Never mind the housework, I need to finish the book!

Carly and Mark appear to have the perfect marriage to everyone, especially in the world of television, where their “Forever Home” has become a famous tv series. Now the US want to continue the series, which means a massive financial deal for them.

Unfortunately, Mark is not all he seems and he falls in love with another woman. This is where secrets and lies threaten to be exposed. Without going into the storyline too much, can I just suggest you read it. I am sure you won’t be disappointed. If you have read Sue’s books before, you will know why I recommend this. If you haven’t, then give it a go.

The characters are all very believable, which is another thing Sue does really well. Carly is an absolute gem but I am not sure how she has put up with Mark for 25 years. I certainly wouldn’t. As for his new lover, she was the most annoying character and I found myself instantly disliking her and getting frustrated with both her and Mark.

The story dealt well with family relationships, not just romantic ones, but parent / child relationships and friendships too. Who can be trusted? Who has been keeping secrets for many years? Can you really trust those closest to you?

There was a surprise ending, which I most certainly hadn’t seen coming, but I was really pleased with.

Thank you to netgalley, Bookouture and the author for an arc.

Due to be released on 4th June 2021

Sue Watson is one of those authors, I know I can grab a book of and get a fun, fast paced, well written thriller; this book just further enforced my thoughts on this! It’s very well written, fast paced, and unique! Riveting, chilling, thrilling, and shocking! Characters done phenomally, grabbing you and holding you glued to the story! If you’re new to Watson, this book will definitely get you hooked to her work, if you’re a fan, you will not be disappointed! Highly recommend!

Review to come very soon! You guys know how much I adore Bookouture! And Sue in particular! You find the best authors!!! xo