"Our Holiday" unfolded at a leisurely pace with an abundance of characters, though many were unlikable and difficult to relate to. Having read numerous books by this author, I found this one to be less impressive than others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

When a house falls from a cliff during a music festival everyone initially assumes the cliffs are collapsing. But when a body is later discovered in the wreckage a murder investigation is initiated.

I love this book. It’s full of really unlikeable characters and others that you feel sympathetic towards. A great thriller

This author is fast becoming one of my must read authors. No need to read book description, I just know it will be a great read. Our Holiday is no exception . I was engrossed from the start, wondering how the characters were going to fare in this story. Some local residents of Pine Ridge are protesting against holiday home owners. Plenty of characters some likeable, some not so likeable. Thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful read .

I love a Louise Candlish book so was keen to read this. It opens with a bang, literally, as a summerhouse falls dramatically off a cliff and into the sea at Pine Ridge, Dorset. Centred largely around two families Charlotte and Perry who have a luxurious second home in the town and their friends Amy and Linus who have just bought a rundown property near theirs. Aside from them there is a very large cast of other characters, their children and their friends and locals, most of whom are resentful of the incomers and are not afraid of making their views clear. As always the author has put together a brilliant plot and once I had the characters clear I raced through the rest of the book.

Briefly, the local members of the NJFA (Not Just For August) group have made their presence known in small but illegal ways - throwing soup at the second homeowners, painting slogans on their property walls, putting stickers on their properties but then the destruction of the summerhouse takes us down a darker path for the protesters as there is a shocking revelation. Just who was responsible?

Some very interesting characters, most of whom were not exactly the people they appeared to be and aside from the bed hopping, adultery, thieving and vandalism there were more serious and dangerous events taking place. The author makes a good job of describing the imbalance between the wealthy Londoners and the locals who had been priced out of the property market. So many twists and turns and some shocking revelations made this an entertaining read with a good, and not as I expected, ending.

Our Holiday was a slow burner but a great read from start to finish.
Charlotte and Perry own a luxurious holiday home in Pine Ridge in Dorset, this year is slightly different as their friends from London, Amy and Linus have now bought a run down house two doors up from them so thoughts of spending time all together is new for al, of them including their children. When they get off the ferry soup is thrown at them by activists who are ramping up in anger over the two houses per person. They are called the NJFA group which stands for “not just for August” signifying that these homes are empty all year apart from August and as most of the group live in caravans as there are no houses this is what has caused the upset. There are a lot of twists in the plot with the two couples and their children that brings everything to a head on the bank holiday Monday beach party. Resulting in something horrific happening but will they join together to protect each other?
This was a great read, y only negative is that at the beginning a lot of characters are thrown at you and I was slightly confused by who was supposed to be with who but I eventually got my head round it! A decent psychological thriller that had plenty of twists and an ending that covered all bases. This book didn’t go the way I thought it was going to and I enjoyed it al, the more for that.
I would like to thank NetGalley and HQ for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I've read a few by Candlish and she's a good, solid go to author. This wasn't her best but it's still a solid 4 star read as I liked the disputes and I loved the way Tabitha argued with literally everyone over anything and everything.

A gripping twisty thriller - the perfect summer read
A bit of a slow burn but so well written it keeps your attention
The story mainly centres around two couples who both have holiday homes in Pine Ridge, Dorset and the tensions with the locals who have set up a group NJFA (Not Just For August) protesting against wealthy people buying second homes and stopping locals from accessing affordable accommodation
By the end of the summer, Pine Ridge is torn apart and will be known for murder rather than a holiday destination
The characters were so real and relatable
Told from various view points and timelines flicking between pre & post the awful event
Loved how there were little clues throughout as to who the victim of the murder might be - lots of twists and turns and red herrings
Thanks @louisecandlish @hqstories & @netgalley for the fab twisty thriller

I recently finished reading Our Holiday by Louise Candlish, and I must say, it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I enjoyed it overall, there were several aspects that left me frustrated. The story kicks off with a bang – quite literally, as a house falls off a cliff. This dramatic opening certainly grabs your attention and sets the stage for what promises to be a gripping tale.
The plot itself kept me engaged throughout. There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing, and I found myself eager to see how everything would be resolved. However, the characters’ reactions to the events around them were somewhat baffling. They often seemed oddly apathetic, as though they were simply allowing things to happen to them without much thought or emotion. This detachment made it hard for me to connect with them or invest in their journeys fully.
Despite this, the conclusion of the story was satisfying in many ways. Candlish ties up all the loose ends neatly, and I appreciated the clarity of the resolutions. However, some of the consequences of the characters' actions fell flat and lacked the impact I was hoping for. There were moments that should have been charged with emotion and tension but instead felt somewhat muted.
In summary, Our Holiday is a book with a thrilling premise and a compelling storyline that kept me hooked. Yet, the lack of depth in character reactions and the underwhelming consequences of their actions left me wanting more. It's worth a read for the gripping plot, but don't expect to be deeply moved by the characters' journeys.

I enjoyed reading Our Holiday, however it didn’t quite have the added zing some of Louise Candlish’s other books have. Some bits felt a little far fetched and I didn’t feel quite so much anticipation as the story progressed.
I still found that I wanted to get back to reading the book and wasn’t bored at all. I would recommend it and certainly will continue reading the Author’s books that I haven’t caught up on yet!

A book that is a very worthwhile read - recommended for the reasons outlined below.

This book provides a focus on personal dilemmas, decisions and consequences. There are a few important social issues to think about too!

Second homes in an area where there is almost no affordable housing and the inevitable outcomes of these two scenarios are examined. Something I had not really considered before but it seems there is no obvious solution. The scenarios in the book show potential results of this undesirable mix.

The characters were very interesting - quite a few with annoying qualities. Unfortunately, it has to be said that the males in the book do not shine!

I love Louise Candlish! The author has delivered an entertaining book that gives you plenty to think about. I like that very much!

Love love love this book! Can’t recommend it enough. It’s an interesting concept and I was very quickly hooked. The characters are varied and well described so much so that I could picture them. I think we all know someone similar to them! Ideal read anytime but particularly good holiday reading.

I enjoyed this, as I've enjoyed all the other Louise Candlish books I've read. I didn't like or relate to any of the characters, but the skill of the writing had me still invested in what happened and to whom. It's a whodunnit and a who-whodunnit as you know there's been a death near the start of the book but you have no idea who it is until much closer to the end. Great storyline, an interesting theme. Second home owners grind my gears for the same reasons as the locals of Pine Ridge and I had a degree of sympathy for them. Not her best book, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Anyone who knows me knows I love Louise Candlish’s work, I always say it but I would read a shopping list by this author such is her story telling power and brilliance with words

I shall make this a short review and say the story re 2nd home owners in a beautiful Dorset village and the war they have with local residents and each other is a very good story, it is however so character rich that a character index is needed as for the first part of the book you are pretty much in confusion as to who is who as there are just so many of them, it is a complex story….

Some great humour and a good and fair narrative re the foibles, strengths and faults of the younger more offended generation vs the non offended oldies 😊

Not my favourite by a favourite author but that’s ok as am sure it will be other people’s and it was still a good read

A story full of stories with varying sub plots running alongside the main theme. This book is really good and portrays different viewpoints of the story along the way.

Our Holiday by Louise Candlish
Who doesn’t fantasise about owning a second home by the sea?
Charlotte and Perry own a little slice of paradise in a beachside community off the Dorset coast. The house, Cliff View, and its aspirational summerhouse, the Nook, offer them the perfect place to escape London and spend quality time with their friends Amy and Linus, who have bought a property two doors down.
But resentment towards second homeowners is growing in the idyllic Pine Ridge as local youngsters are priced out of the housing market.
A protest against the city interlopers is gaining momentum and it’s not long before the two couples find themselves at war with residents.
But no one realised the bad feeling would end in murder…
Some reviewers are calling Our Holiday a slow burn, but I didn’t find it so. I was instantly drawn into the worlds of the two factions: locals and second homeowners.
What Candlish does so well is to expose the glaring disparity between those who can afford a second home and those who spend their summers in rented caravans because they don’t have a cat’s chance in hell of buying their own place.
It is this disparity that fuels a menacing thriller that I found unputdownable. Candlish expertly portrays some deliciously awful characters. Perry is a dinosaur raging against wokeness; Linus is the archetypical middle-aged man in Lycra who seems to care more about his carbon-fibre bike than he does about his family.
The teenage children are wonderfully portrayed too: from Benedict and his right-on, placard-waving girlfriend Tabitha to brattish Beattie who falls for Tate, one of the second-home protestors.
Written from multiple points of view, the book allows us to see both sides of the second-home argument, although by the end of the book one side definitely comes out on top. No spoilers!
Unbelievably, this is the first Louise Candlish novel I’ve read, but I’ll soon be putting that right. Our Holiday is the perfect summer read - unless you’re spending your break in your second home, of course…

Not my favourite 'Louise Candlish' but another really good, well written, compelling plot - as you'd expect from the author. This one was more of a slow burn, relationship story than psychological thriller but with multiple layers and subplots plus tension simmering from the off. It was compelling nonetheless featuring the divide between both locals and second home owners (or 'blow-ins') and between generations with the various POVs equally balanced and thought-provoking. It was a good example of how things can easily and quickly escalate to extremes when passions are heightened and conflicting.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3
Our Holiday is a psychological thriller set on the Dorset coast amidst a community of second-home owners and their issues with local activists.
This was the first novel that I have read by Louise Candlish, and whilst I found the quality of her writing very good, I'm afraid that I wasn't too impressed by this particular story.
There were a LOT of characters to remember, and none of them were likeable. They all seemed to be either cheats, liars, thieves or hypocrites and I couldn't connect with any of them. Ultimately, this meant that I didn't care what happened to any of them.
The story was slow and I plodded on with it, although I considered giving up numerous times. However, I battled on towards the underwhelming finish line whereupon I breathed a huge sigh of relief that I would be able to start another - hopefully better- novel.
Sorry, Louise Candlish, I might try another of your novels if I thought there was a decent main character I could root for. Alas, this one wasn't really for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

A slow burn of a novel that took a while to gain narrative pace. There were too many dislikeable, divisive characters which got a bit confusing. I have read other books by this author and though this was not her best, I enjoyed the setting and the social commentary.

This was the first book by Louise Candlish I've read. I was super excited as I've seen so many good reviews of her previous books but it was a little disappointing.

I think the slow pace dragged the story out for too long and it wasn't until a good halfway in that anything started to happen.

Glad I persevered and will continue to look out for her new books.

Thank you HQ for a ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Charlotte and Perry and friends Amy and Linus have a second home at Cliff View where they spend their Augusts. However, the locals are not happy with second home owners and there is a lot of resentment between them. Oh, and a murder takes place.

I found the story slow and incredibly boring. I was really gutted as I liked Louise’s last book The Only Suspect.

It took me nearly a month to read this, I should have DNF’d it really. The characters were horrible, the plot was dull and the ending was unsatisfactory to be quite frank!