I enjoyed this book and it kept me engaged throughout. There was an abundance of characters, many with a secret or issue to to hide, and their various actions and interactions provided the main focus of the book despite the opening chapter showing a house literally falling off a cliff.
There are several issues raised in this book apart from the obvious second home debate but they are woven into the characters and the story and not waved like flags and therefore left for the reader to acknowledge or not.

I haven't read many be Louise Candlish so i was really looking forward to reading Our Holiday. It did not disappointed and felt that it was a really well plotted suspense thriller with modern day themes that I felt really added to the plot and i throughly enjoyed. Once you are introduced to the characters the story really does begin to unfold and keeps you in suspense.
I would happily recommend this to anyone and would certainly read another Louise Candlish novel in the future

Our Holiday is a sun-drenched scorcher of a thriller that brilliantly spins out from its central concept to deliver a ticking time bomb of fraught familial relationships.

Opening with a dramatic tragedy, you are utterly ensnared in Candlish’s clutches as you move forwards and backwards in time – trying to work out the who, what and why of it all. By having so many different narrative strands and two timelines to keep track of, it makes for an impressive feat and a tightly plotted narrative that Candlish pulls off with aplomb. You get such a good sense of these characters immediately – there’s the sort of snobby cliquiness and endless invisible competitions amongst the second home owners. Within that group, there are all sorts of secrets and lies to uncover. What I particularly loved about this book is just how messed up and fractured these characters are. They do bad things, sometimes even unknowingly and it creates a tangled web around them all.

Then you add the extra layer of privilege, which glosses over the entire narrative. The main tension in this book is between the holidayers, the wealthy second home owners and the local townspeople, many of whom are from a vastly different economic background. It adds an interesting element, kickstarting a conversation about truly belonging somewhere and the gentrification of certain areas. There is a real issue of people being priced out of an area their family has lived in for generations and this sense that the identity of the place is shifting into something unrecognisable for them. Books like this illustrate that way that the British class system rules everything, intersecting it with a conversation about immigration and race that becomes more prominent in the latter half of the book.

I also have to comment on how well woven the mystery is. You are led down so many rabbit holes, becoming familiar with these complex characters and uncovering their secrets. In the further timeline, you start to unpick what may have happened from clues seeded into the narrative but you are only seeing glimpses of the wider picture. Once it all clicks together, it is magnificently done.

Candlish explores the simmering tension between locals and rich holiday makers in this perfect summer mystery. You know from the start that it will have explosive consequences, but Candlish keeps you perfectly on edge throughout.

I love books by Louise Candlish and this one starts with some really punchy action. However for me, this then slowed down as I tried to get my head around the mass of characters and their roles within the events. I found it difficult to connect with them whilst also trying to follow the story from multiple view points. So expect a slow burn for the start of the book.

That said, once I had got to grips with this, the pace quickened and the layers came thick and fast with so many plot twists, some expected, some totally not. Told from two different timelines, after the incident and the period leading up to it, the pieces all began to fall into place.

The book is set in a beautiful village in Dorset, where the locals are struggling to find housing as the DFL’s (down from London) buy up houses for second homes. Louise does not shy away from reflecting some real problems in society : housing crises, second home owners, seasonal employment, alcoholism,
violence, vandalism and protests. Nor does she leave us in any doubt about the unpleasant traits of human nature: secrets, lies, criminal activities, male rivalry and of course, messy relationships. The satirical nature is portrayed brilliantly, with over emphasis on the ‘haves’ and the lengths they go to for ‘entertainment’ contrasting hugely with the locals, struggling with how to progress in society.

The tension cranks up and I found myself wondering how it could all possibly sort itself out. This is multi-layered with plenty of under-currents and sub plots.

I enjoyed reading this, although I prefer some of her previous books.

I have read other Louise Candlish novels and really enjoyed them but I just couldn’t get into this one. There were far too many characters which often left me confused, I felt I had read a significant proportion of the book without anything actually happening. This was a slow burn indeed, sadly not a book I would recommend to others.

As with all of Louise Candlish's thrillers, this is a fast-paced and fascinating tale peopled with unlikeable characters whose lives are set to be turned upside down. Our Holiday is set in a seemingly idyllic coastal resort but those who own second homes in paradise are resented by the local, and in some cases homeless, locals who are intent on disrupting the incomers' blissful existence. Great fun!

I have read many of Louise Candlish’s novels and have enjoyed several of them but “Our Holiday” left me feeling a little disappointed. There were certainly high points of the novel and there were large parts of the story that completely hooked me but overall felt a little let down.

Pine Ridge is a clifftop village where wealthy second home dwellers encroach upon the local community, resulting tension, resentment, envy and ultimately, tragedy. Charlotte and Perry have owned a luxurious holiday home in Pine Ridge for sometime and re looking forward to another summer of relaxation. Their friends, Amy and Matt, have recently joined them by purchasing a second home nearby hoping for lots of relaxation and friendship.

There is trouble brewing with the arrival of Robbie who is a charismatic and determined local who is heading up a campaign against the second home owners. It starts as a small trickle of hostility but builds up to a full-blown conflict with Robbie and his minions resorting to increasing aggressive behaviour.

The story tells of the tensions that are building up with the two families as they deal with the social and moral dilemmas.

The problem for me personally was the story failed to engage me and I struggled to care what was going to happen. The characters were well written but it was just the story and plot that failed to capture my imagination. I suppose you can’t win them all.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and HQ for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Charlotte and Perry live in London but, each summer they spend the whole of August at their holiday home in Pine Ridge on the South coast, and have been doing this for the last fifteen years. They are joined this year by friends Amy and Linus who have also bought a holiday property close by and both families will be planning lazy days at the beach and watching the sunset from Charlotte's Nook which stands on the cliff edge overlooking the sea. The locals this year however, have other ideas, a group calling themselves NJFA (Not Just for August) are fed up of city dwellers coming to their town and buying up their homes, leaving the villagers not being able to afford homes of their own and they're determined to make them pay...

Our Holiday follows the topic of second homers, something which is becoming far more prevalent these days especially with the more affluent in Britain, where they spend the summer months in their holiday home and leave them empty for the rest of the year and, after reading this story I sympathised with both sides of the argument. This is a well written slow burner with many layers and characters, which could be quite confusing at times. It's described as a psychological thriller in the blurb but I'd say it's more of a family drama with political connotations, this did make it quite a heavy read, having said that the twists in the tale did make it an enjoyable read.

I'd like to thank HQ and Netgalley for the auto approval, I will post my review on Amazon and Goodreads.

Thank you to @Netgalley, the author and publisher for the e-copy of ‘Our Holiday’ in exchange for my opinions.

I love a Louise Candlish book and have been totally invested in them for the past ten years or so. I love the way she develops characters and some of them are so sinister you can’t help but be obsessed by them. Her books are perfect holiday reading as the fast pace of them just makes them perfect to gobble up whilst lounging the day away.

‘Our Holiday’ looks like a classic holiday read on the cover and it certainly focuses on the concept of leaving behind your normal routine to escape to the holiday home. But these holidaymakers are city dwellers who have privilege with a second home on Pine Ridge, where the locals are unhappy with property prices and are being forced out of the place they grew up. The NJFA group (Not Just For August) have a few tricks up their sleeves and as well as a deep-seated envy they are determined to teach these second-homers a lesson.

I liked this and it certainly was a slow burn. I just felt as though there were far too many characters leading to some confusion and my failure to gel with the story until quite late on. But overall, expect twists, turns and thrills so if you want a holiday read to keep you on your toes, opt for this.

Louise Candlish is the Queen of the Domestic Thriller!

Our Holiday tells the story of two families who are fortunate enough to own second homes at the beautiful English coast, but their summer holiday gets thrown into jeopardy! The locals don't want them there, but how far are both sides willing to go?

A great page-turner!

Overtourism, the scarcity of houses for the local and the disruption of the life of locals: this is a thriller but it also deal with a hot issue, one that is causing protest all over the world.
Local don't usually starts such a series of disasters but it was an entertaining, twisty, and sometimes disturbing way to talks about this issue.
I wasn't a fan of the characters and appreciated the surprising twists.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This unfortunately was a DNF for me on this occasion.

I found that there were too many characters, none of which I was particularly invested in and this made the storyline a lot less engaging.

It also felt like I had been reading for quite sometime without anything really happening which made it hard for me want to pick this up.

Perhaps I’ll try finishing this again in the future but for now it’s not for me.

I am a huge Louise Candlish fan so I have been so excited to get to read this book. She has always had me on tenterhooks, waiting for plot twists and gotchas to shock and surprise me. This book had a different vibe to books of hers that I've read in the past. It had a slower pace and I didn't get quite as much "domestic thriller" as I was hoping for, but that's not to say that I didn't like it.

The subject matter was very appropriate for the current climate and it did make me think more about the experience of those who live in second home towns. The group protesting about the holiday home owners in Pine Ridge had a very valid argument, but did I agree with all of their actions? Probably not. On the flip side, I didn't particularly like any of the home owners either. Some of them were more entitled than others, but even the more reasonable ones carried a pinch of pompous about them.

Did I absolutely adore this book as much as Louise Candlish's others? I'd have to say no. But I did enjoy it and it was an enlightening read. It was a slow burn for sure but it did pick up in pace more towards the end and it was then that I was racing through to find out what had gone on. A relatively easy story to follow and I'd recommend for a laid back reading experience.

Two families from London come to Pine Ridge in Dorset to their second homes to enjoy the summer, however they are not made welcome by the locals unable to purchase first homes. The not just for August group (NJFA) led by Robbie and Tate arrange different stunts to highlight their plight and to attract media attention. As the summer continues the tension comes to a head culminating in a dramatic event. The reader is left to wonder if it is NJFA or if there is someone else to blame.

This was a slow burn thriller that spent time establishing the characters and weaving in the subplots so the revelation when it came was surprising.

The issue of the second homes is topical, so it felt realistic and relatable. I enjoyed the way all the subplots worked together.

Louise Candlish pits holiday home owners against locals in this clever, twisty thriller that builds tension page by page. A one sitting read for me!

I liked this book but I don’t think it was as good as other Candlish reads. Too many characters at once and, what I felt, was an underlying political message, I don’t think this book packed the punch I was expecting.

It took me a while to get into this story. The first few chapters introduce new characters each time which left me rather confused about the different identities. Unfortunately, I could never quite shake this off for the rest of the read, particularly confusing the two wives and their children. I wished the writer had established the characters more before adding different ones to the mix. If that had been the case, I think I would have enjoyed watching them more.

However, undeniably, these are not likeable characters in the slightest. All of them have an air of self-entitlement that rankled with me. Selfishness abounds and I don’t think the locals were much better either. I cringed when watching scenes with Beattie and disliked the example that the parents set: they are hardly ideal role models and are all considerably flawed. In contrast, the locals are all presented as incredibly angry and gunning for a fight. This is shown through their attitude towards the holiday makers who have bought second homes in Pine Ridge. The clash between two types of people with very different backgrounds simmers over the story, reaching a disturbing climax.

At times I really engaged with the narrative. The fact that the story opens with a summerhouse falling into the sea was really shocking and I loved how Candlish only gives slight clues about this story. Instead, readers are taken back several weeks so we see how events build up to this grand finale. This dual timeline aspect meant readers can make some informed judgements about the present narrative, helping to unravel why a summerhouse has ended up in the sea.

The idea of having a second home dominates the narrative. The locals are sick of these tourists swanning in each summer and then leaving their second homes empty for most of the year, whilst they are struggling to find even a rental property. The injustice of this is reinforced when there is news that immigrants are also to be housed nearby, making the protest group – Not Just For August – even more angered. In my opinion, this felt too close to reality because these topics are in the news so much, that it felt like Candlish was critiquing these current affairs. Personally, I would have preferred less of a reflection of daily life; I wanted a bit more escapism to the coast.

Definitely a slow burner, this a complex plot that has a range of characters. None of them are likeable but with the shocking opening, I was definitely hooked. It took me a while to settle into the story and I do think the ending was quite prolonged however, it was a mystery that I wanted to solve and I was really keen to see all the characters have some sort of comeuppance for their actions.

With thanks to HQ and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded up.
I have a bit of a hit and miss relationship with this author and I think that this book lies somewhere in between!
We start with Charlotte and Perry who have a rather nice clifftop holiday house in Pine Ridge. They have worked hard for what they have and feel they thoroughly deserve a nice place to go and relax in the summer. Sadly the locals do not share their feelings as they believe that it is people like them that have driven the locals out, unable to now afford to live in the village they grew up in. Trouble only escalates when fellow city dwellers Amy and Matt also buy into the dream and the action really begins when the two families descend on their respective holiday homes for August and the locals step up their NJFA (not just for August) campaign with devastating repercussions...
This is a very slow burner of a book. So much so that I found myself putting it down and not really feeling eager to return to it, instead urging it to get on with itself. But, as I usual do in this circumstance, I popped over to have a look at the reviews and the consensus appeared to be keep going, so I did...
It's multi layered and multi faceted and the author does a good job of building it all up, raising the tension, before eventually peeling it all back to expose the truth of it all. There are a LOT of characters, maybe too many, especially given the slow nature of the start of the book. I really did have to work hard to keep everyone in check, especially as their duplicity, secrets and lies all started flowing. Which I managed to do with my trusty notebook cast list, although having to use that did keep taking me out of the story somewhat which wasn't helpful given the aforementioned slow pace.
The main thread of the book, the holiday home issue is actually a real issue for a lot of people, and tempers do overflow on occasion, you only need to look in the media to see that, especially these days with AirBNB becoming more popular and it is researched and handled very well indeed.
And the ending, when it came, well... don't worry, I won't be spoiling things, but yeah never saw that one coming...
All in all, after a shaky start, it did all come good at the end and was worth the effort getting through the slow beginning. It's a destination rather than a journey book! My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A great holiday read, but it also packs a bit more punch. All the characters are flawed be they rich and privileged or poor and desperate but some are quite likeable even so. For example, Beattie is quite loathsome- beautiful, brainy, rich and totally self absorbed but even she has some redeeming features if only that she’s young. It’s a twisted tale of lies, deceptions, addictions and greed and it kept me glued to the end.

Having read and enjoyed the work of Louise Candlish before, I was keen to read her latest novel, which shows a story that often reaches the press in modern times - where visitors from big cities are buying up second homes in a seaside village and the locals can no longer afford to purchase. Just as in the newspapers, matters between visitors and locals turn from irritated to dangerous. Second homeowners begin to see plenty of criminal damage and this of course, escalates. It's easy to see how the relationships between visitors and locals become more resentful and over a short period of time the worst is sure to happen. You may find yourself taking sides or seeing both points of view and while I would describe this story as a slow burner, it certainly makes you want to turn the pages to provide you with the outcome. Here’s looking forward to the next by this writer

As always, Louise Candlish re-imagines a relatively ordinary scenario but with complex relationships leading to deadly consequences. The setting is the idyllic sounding Cliff View where Charlotte and Perry have their holiday home. We meet the locals like Robbie, Tate and Ellie who have been priced out of their birthplace and as their resentment grows to the blow-ins whose holidays homes have inflated house prices. A campaign starts highlighting the animosity between the locals and the London elite, things start turning nasty. A terrible incident occurs with many locals and not-so-locals now suspects. It's not only the weather that gets hot. A great summer read!