I have read a number of Diane Chamberlain's books, most I enjoy although a few I haven't been so keen on. This however is a great read, maybe a slightly different theme for her, which she tells well. The storyline hooked me in from the first chapter and kept me interested the whole way through. It is set in two timelines 1965 and 2010 telling the story of two woman, eventually they meet up in 2010 and it is fascinating as the truths of the past are revealed and how this affects them both. The historical theme of the 1965 events was new to me, (although I knew of the KKK), not being from the US, so I feel a bit more educated which is always a plus. There were, for me, some frustrations around the actions of some of the characters in 1965 and also in how the red headed lady fitted in. I felt that the end was a bit dramatic and in some ways unsatisfactory but in the main it is a story which kept coming to mind both when I was reading it and for several days after. Personally I try to avoid books that are disturbing and there is a spookyness about this story and also inevitably upsetting scenes but the author has managed to keep this within the boundaries of what I can cope with!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Headline for a free early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book really takes you by the heart and shakes you. It is apparently two separate stories - about Kayla in 2010, buying a house at the edge of a wood in North Carolina, and Elli in 1965, a young student, facing strong opposition from her family and friends as she wants to join the civil rights movement and work for black voting rights.

Kayla's tale unfolds, she has lost her husband and is moving into the home with her daughter, but someone seems to want her to leave. Ellie's story is heartbreaking - her journey to understand what it was like for black people in 1960s America, the power of the Klan, the bigotry of otherwise nice people, the condemnation of her family. Of course the two tales converge, and it makes for powerful reading.

I didn't find the two strands very easy to begin with, as the two people are so diverse, but eventually I got the rhythm and enjoyed the back and forth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was close to DNFing this at one point. But I powered through. Part of me is glad because the last 10% was more interesting but it didn't fully save the book for me.
Ellie POV was an important story but I just felt disconnected and a little bored at times. But I did prefer her parts more.
While Kayla POV felt lacking the most. The woman at the beginning got me intrigued but I felt that mystery dropped off. It didn't feel that important until towards the end when past and present was connected.
Overall I just expected something more.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

It's 1965 and Ellie, a young, white female student, becomes involved in the fight for civil rights and part of the Scope movement. As tensions rise in the town, and the Ku Klux Klan reemerge, she becomes close to one of her fellow activities, a Black man named Win.

It's now 2010 and a young widow, Kayla, has moved into the home she designed with her later husband. But when disturbing things start to happen, she realises someone is trying to send her a warning.

I was not too sure about this book at first. There is a dual timeline, with two characters' viewpoints, which I quite enjoy. However, I do sometimes struggle with historical fiction and find the pace slow. This book did start a little on the slow side to me, but then picked up.

Unusual for me, I found the past timeline more interesting, though I feel this is because I preferred the character narrating this particular timeline and found interest in the topic, centring around the Scope movement, which I had never heard of before. I also loved Ellie and Win's relationship with each other.

For me, both timelines felt different, almost as if they were two different books. The 1965 timeline was definitely more emotional, with the 2010 timeline more intense. However, I feel more could have been made of the threats towards Kayla in the 2010 timeline.

Enjoyable and surprisingly quite educational too!

It’s the 1960s in North Carolina. When Ellie sees how black people are mistreated with no option to vote for a better life, she feels called to action. She joins SCOPE - an organisation which canvases the black population, getting them ready to vote when new legislation comes in to place. No one in Ellie’s life understands or approves of her choices. What follows in the next month, changes Ellie’s life forever.

Fifty years later, Kayla and her daughter move in to their new home with mixed feelings - it’s the dream house that Kayla designed with her husband but it’s the place her husband died in an accident whilst building the house. It’s soon clear that no one wants Kayla to live there as someone is leaving her threatening messages and trying to scare her away. Why is she so unwelcome? And why is her neighbour Ellie so unfriendly?

For me, The Last House in the Street is like a book of two halves. It spotlights a very important and dangerous point in American history and I was really interested in Ellie’s involvement and learnt a lot. It’s an emotive and moving narrative . Though it took me a while to get into the book, at the halfway point I found I couldn’t read fast enough, such was the tension and menace in the plot. However, Kayla’s chapters felt a bit flat to me. Her character was nowhere near as interesting or well formed as Ellie was. Her chapters were useful in that they provided me with some clues or revelations what had happened in the years following the events of Ellie’s chapters but really I felt her narrative could be dropped with minimal affect to the plot.
. I felt like the book would have benefitted from focussing on Ellie and her story. I also was able to guess the villain and their motivation quite quickly.

That said, I am glad I read it and Ellie and Win will stay in my thoughts for a long time.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy to the book in exchange for an honest review.

The story is told in dual timelines which is always something I enjoy.

I have previously enjoyed reading Diane Chamberlain and this one didn’t disappoint. The characters were well developed and drew me in to keep me wanting to turn the pages.

A book that keeps you thinking long after you have turned the last page.

A fantastic thriller from an author whose work I have not read before but I would again. I can’t say I hugely linked with the characters but that did not stop me from enjoying the book.

I was so excited to receive an ARC for the latest book by the talented Diane Chamberlain, one of my favourite authors.
As ever it was a fantastic and engrossing story, set over two time periods. I loved the historical elements, especially as American history was not something I was taught about in school in U.K. when I was younger. I was fascinated by the Scope project and the extent of the prejudices and hatred against the Black Americans and those in interracial relationships. The characters were so credible and well developed. The narrative was rich and made everything so vivid and easy to imagine.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

I went into The Last House on the Street thinking it was a thriller but it’s so much more than that and such a powerful read.

It’s hard to put into this words how this book made me feel as I felt so many different emotions. The Last House on the Street has dual timeline that take place in 1965 and 2010, reading the description of the South in 1965 and what occurred at that time really broke my heart and to think that this level of racism, hate and discrimination didn’t even happen that long ago deeply saddens me.

I would describe The Last House on the Street as a historical fiction with a mystery element and I found it so hard to put down. It’s definitely a book that I would recommend looking up the trigger warnings on before reading it.

The Last House on the Street is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I’ll certainly be reading more of the author’s books in the future.

A hard hitting read. A story of a small town in southern America with a terrible history. Set in dual time zones. Recently and back to 1965. I don't want to call it historic fiction as this is far too recent for the views, hatred and appalling behaviour just a few decades ago. The story brings together the relationship between the oldest and the newest house on the street. Secrets that come out are heartbreaking and shocking. A really good read that makes you think for a long time after.

Diana Chamberlain has woven her latest novel between a young woman just starting out in life during the 1960's, just as President Lyndon Johnson is on the verge of signing the Voting Rights Act that finally meant that black people would have the right to vote, and the modern day and a widowed mother moving into a new home with her young daughter in North Carolina.

I was unaware of this part of American history so this book has been an education as well as entertainment and it managed to do so in a natural way.

The characters involved in both stories were three dimensional, and while, given the storyline, some held objectional views, they felt like real people rather than cliché's.

The plot and accompanying revelations benefitted from perfect timing and I felt fully invested in both Ellie's, and Kayla's stories. Well worth the read.

I really struggled with this book, I really would have loved it if it would have just been the first timeline. That is the story I really wanted to read and know more about.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

This book will stay with me a very long time and some of it was very hard to read. The two timelines worked well and the final twist was shocking. This is a must read and although things have improved there is still sadly a long way to go. Thank you to NetGalley and Headline / Headline Review for letting me read and review this book.

When Kayla is widowed before moving into her dream house that they built together, life open up some unpleasant events from the past. Told in a dual timeline in 2010 and back in 1965 during civil right campaigning for black rights. A returning neighbours holds the answers to the strange events that keep happening. A harrowing but compelling story.

The Last House on the Street is a dual timeline novel set in North Carolina in 1965 and 2010. Two different stories are told by two different women but taking place in the same town, in the same woods and on the same street. 1965 is a heartbreaking story of 20 year old Ellie who decides to fight for civil rights of black communities against the disapproval of her family. In 2010, Kayla and her 3 year old daughter move into their newly built house when strange things start to happen as if someone didn't want them to live there. The two stories progressively start blending together with unexpected twists and revelations in the final chapters.

The prevailing themes of the novel are racism, bigotry and social injustice during the 60s in the South which I enjoyed reading about. I've only read one other book by Diane Chamberlain but I can tell she is a great storyteller. I'm definitely going to be on a lookout for more from the author.

The last house on the street by Diane Chamberlain.
1965. A young white female student becomes involved in the fight for civil rights in North Carolina, falling in love with one of her fellow activists, a Black man, in a time and place where an interracial relationship must be hidden from family, friends and especially the reemerging Ku Klux Klan. As tensions rise in the town, she realises not everyone is who they appear to be.
2010. A recently widowed architect moves into the home she and her late husband designed, heartbroken that he will never cross the threshold. But when disturbing things begin to happen, it's clear that someone is sending her a warning. Who is trying to frighten her away, and why?
Decades later, past and present are set to collide in the last house on the street...
This was a good read. Good story and characters. 4*.

I have been reading books by Diane Chamberlain for many years. This book will appeal to her fans and new readers alike.
Once again she brings warmth and emotion to a story set in two timeline. The story of of two women. Involving many themes but told in a thought provoking way.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC.

The Last House on the Street is a highly recommended read. Spanning two timelines and following the stories of two women, the story comes together to a very satisfying conclusion. Fiction merges with reality, telling the story of the SCOPE project which aimed to encourage black people to register to vote and met with great opposition in many communities.
The story kept me guessing and totally engrossed.

Most enjoyable. 4 stars

When architect Kayla's husband dies in an accident when building their dream house it takes a while before she can face living there but she know he would want her to bring up their daughter there. A strange woman tries to warn her away from the place. In spite of that she moves in with Rainie. She meets a neighbour, Ellie, who grew up in the town & has come back to nurse her brother & mother having lived on the West Coast since she was a young woman.

The story moves between Kayla's story in the present & Ellie's story in 1965. North Carolina is struggling to cope with even the smallest amount of racial segregation. Ellie finds herself drawn towards the Civil Rights movement & signs up for a summer job getting coloured people to register for the vote as the law enabling them to do so is to be signed imminently. This does not go down well with her family but she is determined & goes off to the training session against their wishes. Although she is exposed to the hatred of the Klue Klux Klan she gets to admire the people & before long she finds herself attracted to Win, the coloured boy she is working with. This is not destined to end well.

I have been a Diane Chamberlain fan for many years. I found this book captured the times so well. The characters were well drawn & the two time lines worked well together. Often when an author does that you find you want more of one than the other but I enjoyed both. This is a timely book, in the age of 'Black Lives Matter' it is tragic to see how little the world has moved forward. The story is written with sensitivity & a knowledge of the times. I loved it! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This book is a definite page turner. I loved the pace of the book, it was easy to read and get engrossed in.

The 1st main character, Kayla, was likeable and I really wanted to understand her story. The other main character was Ellie and reading her story encouraged me to source other accounts of the Civil Rights Movement of this time.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.