3,5 ⭐ rounded up

julia’s world is turned upside down when her family moves to an exclusive, high-end neighbourhood called haven. she soon realizes that their new home comes with restrictions, isolating them from the outside world. as she uncovers the secrets about her marriage, she also becomes entangled in a chilling mystery. the seemingly perfect surroundings start to turn into a nightmare.


i liked the book, even though it was definitely far fetched and just too unrealistic for the thriller genre. i'd say it gives off more dystopian vibes and I would consider changing the genre to sci-fi/drama or something like that.

the first part was a bit slow paced and i found it hard to get into the book, but over time, it got more interesting.

as for the characters - i really liked julia. she was a good mother and knew what was best for her boys. i admired her resilience and how she was able to stand up for herself.
and james - his attitude was just irritting, and he was really manipulative.

the ending felt a bit rushed, and at times, the book seemed to drag on. it could have been much shorter, but still, i was invested in the story.

overall, i'd say it was a good debut novel by s.j. king. i'm open to reading more from this author.



*thanks to NetGalley, S.J. King and Storm Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t read an SJ King book before but I will definitely keep an eye out for more of his books. I’ve been having a hard time getting into thrillers recently and I think this one has put me back on track! King’s storytelling is both engaging and thought-provoking, making it a perfect read for anyone who loves books that leave a lasting impact. The pacing is perfect, and the prose is beautifully crafted, making it impossible to put down.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!

I was hooked on this book from the start. It wasn’t like any other I have read, alittle originality, but written very well. It kept me turning pages and the end was really good. Fast paced and tense which built suspense throughout

I can’t imagine living in the world of Radiance.

Highly recommended

Thank you to Netgalley and Storm Publishing

This compelling psychological thriller will take you on a wild ride. The tension and suspense reverberate off of the pages.

This beautiful gated community seems safe and perfect, but there are secrets hiding behind all of this opulence. The creep factor was high, which helped keep me spellbound as I raced through the pages.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

i felt unease right from the start. i dont know how authors do it. have you becoming suspicious of every character just be creating that eery sense throughout the pages. you along with the characters are starting to question even the most biennale movements. or maybe this is just good writing of suspicious characters!
Julia, her husband and children move to a gated community( always reminds me of desperate housewives these places so im automatically on the suspicious foot). but Julia feels something is off from the start. there is certain acts that you have to perform to be part of this community and the neighbor's all seem a bit off. and would definitely have me running for the nearest estate agents.
then a body turns up and she realizes she needs to leave. but how when she is locked in. and how when her husband is making her feel slowsly more uncomfortable of his intentions too.
great books. it has suspense and that creeper feeling right from the off. and has that smiley smiley evil neighbor feeling when really they are plotting to kill you!

Wow! This book reminded me of the Stepford Wives. So good I couldn't put it down. Definitely a good read.

Wow what a book. Had me hooked and I had to keep reading. This was very different to my normal psychological thrillers. Julia leaves her high end pressurised job to go with her husband to a new life in a lavish community. All is not what it seems, is it too good to be true. Real gripping, twisty storyline that keeps you reading. Will definitely recommend to others if you enjoy psychological thrillers that are a bit different.

Thank you to Netgalley, Storm the publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion

This felt like a book/film I already knew and I have to say that at least 2/3rds of the book felt like that. I was questioning myself as to whether I’d already read this book. Having said that I persisted and now can give a review based on having finished the book. It’s not bad …. But it’s not great. Sorry SHKing but it’s not your best work. If this is a reader’s first delve into this genre, then great - but I think there are better examples out there.

A story which has received a number of wonderful reviews, this book ended up not totally hitting the mark for this reader (who may be in the minority here).

Julia, the main protagonist and third person POV narrator, begins our tale as a psychologist, working as an executive for an IT company run by a magnetic CEO, Bob. Julia is married to James, with two young boys Ollie and Milo, and a life that is filled with stress and busy-ness, as any working mother can relate to.

When an opportunity arises, consisting of a dream job for James and a new life for the entire family, Julia agrees to a relocation to an exotic unnamed location, which will require a (temporary) career lull for herself. And that’s where the trouble begins.

The plot now unfolds into a far-away paradise of incredible splendor in a high-end gated and extremely remote community. With what feels quickly like sci-fi vibes of control and technological wizardry, the author does a great job creating a drool-worthy lifestyle that is immediately riddled with the dark and ominous. The development of this part of the story was intriguing and clearly the best part of the book.

No spoilers here, but needless to say, as the story moves on, Julia is in for some major trouble. The choices she makes, the women she befriends, and how (and if) she will manage to emerge intact (with her family) is the premise the rest of this novel will address.

An interesting mashup of mad-scientist vibe with more than a hint of “Desperate Housewives”, this book, unfortunately, ended up requiring a little too much suspension of disbelief for this reader, as it features a formerly professional heroine (who is also a well-trained psychologist) who falls far too quickly into completely unrelatable behavior.

A great big thank you to #Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts created are my own.

*** Three and a half shiny stars

This was a strange read, but kept my interest throughout. James and Julia have moved to the haven, lovely houses, beautiful landscaping and everything you could really want, but something is not right. Julia wants to find out what, but this might not be a good idea. A chilling read that I really enjoyed, The characters are perfect for their roles and I liked the twists at the end. A very well written book. 4.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

A present day, dystopian, stepford-wife-esque commmunity? I’m honestly not sure what to rate this. It kept my attention, that’s for sure. I wanted to figure out what on earth was going on. But also, this is not a genre I’m typically drawn too, so if you like dystopian commentary about society, this might be for you. It’s a 3.5 for me, bumped to a 4 since it did keep my attention.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

I started reading this book with the intention of putting it down after I had finished my coffee, but couldn't resist reading on. I wanted to find out who was responsible for all the strange happenings. On the surface things seemed almost too good to be true, but under the surface? A good book to read

This novel is a psychological thriller with a dystopian slant. Think Stepford wives meets handmaids tale.
Julia’s husband James is offered a new job and it comes with a house in a specially built neighbourhood, the Haven.
The Haven is meant to be everything you could wish for and should be perfect for Julia, James and their two young boys but something doesn’t feel quite right to Julia from the outset.
As a woman she doesn’t have a job and has a housekeeper, this leaves her with lots of free time to look for the truth.

The pace of this novel keeps you gripped as you keep turning the page to find out what is happening and if Julia and her two sons will be safe. The reveal is well done and you never quite know who to trust and root for.

Absolutely loved this book, would highly recommend.

I really enjoyed reading Where You Belong. I found it an interesting and unsettling story about living in a dystopian society. As these gated communities exist around us, this story feels completely conceivable. Which helped to build tension and suspense throughout.

You follow Julia as she moves into this idyllic community with her two boys after her husband James was offered a job in one. Everything seems too good to be true and not quite real. It's full of perfect families, clothing, shops, and activities, and the whole lifestyle is perfection. A place where the more you put in, the more you get back by earning gratitude points and thriving. Everything runs through an app and is measured through a bracelet. You are always being monitored and tracked.

I liked Julia's character. She always questioned things and didn't take everything at face value. She was strong, determined, and resilient. Always wanted what is best for her boys. I was never sure about the other characters they all felt off, and you didn't know whether to trust them. Everything seemed not quite right.

I didn't work out any of the twists. I constantly had no clue what was really going on, and there were parts where I was questioning why Julia acted in some ways. It all came together at the end and answered the parts I was unsure about. It had me gripped from the start.

Overall, for me, it was a great debut book. Full of paranoia, anxiety, I always felt uneasy and on the edge reading it.
It gave slight Handmaid's Tale and Stepford Wives vibes, mixed with big brother is watching.

Thank you to Storm Publishing for my advanced copy.

First off I want to thank Storm Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this amazing book in exchange for an honest review.

<i>"You'd never find a willing driver or get permission to go through those gates and you'd be an idiot to even try."</i>

Wow Just wow! This book had my head spinning. I truly thought I was watching Stepford Wives meets The Sims in real life. Well, you know when you have the one person who wants to make The Sims perfect but have one bad guy in the mix. I will be thinking about this book for a long time because it totally took me by surprise. I loved Julia and I thought she had amazing determination. She tried is all I care about, and I didn't feel like that I was watching some "bimbo" being controlled. Well maybe for like 2 chapters towards the end. I still cannot tell you who was the good guys and who all the bad guys were. But that doesn't matter. When this book comes out: <b>YOU NEED TO READ IT</b>

This book reminds me of a 50's sitcom where the women are dressed in beautiful dresses covered by an apron while the men go to work and provide for their family. Where boys and girls are slotted into the roles they are expected to play and punished if they choose otherwise. However, behind the idyllic life of the Haven, is the true story of how this community is constructed. How Radiance is merely a facade. It is a high-tech cult led by the biomarker bracelet. Where said bracelet glows amber, red or green dependent upon your "mood" and if it continues in such a certain way, that behind the fringe is blood. When Julia first arrived with Ollie and Milo to join James, she immediately questioned how this life could be sustained at such a level of perfection. How based upon where you ranked determined what you could and couldn't do. She tried to fit in and join Petra in attending events and being satisfied in a life filled with parties and sipping champagne. How having jasmine permeate through the air was normal. She wanted to escape. This book is captivating as she really finds out what was going on as the true leaders of the cult intentions were that all had no issue with decimating society. She thought she knew James and Bob. Its sad how she had to change her whole life including her identity to escape. She was finally free.

I was excited to get an arc of this but the first half of the book was very slow going. The second half picked up and I ended up rating it 3 stars.

Julia and James are going through a rough patch in their marriage. They have two boys and James decides he wants to love them all to a gated community. By a gated community I mean they can’t leave without permission. Julia isn’t happy about this but she’s trying to keep her family together.

Things are far from perfect in the gated community because people around Julia and James are being murdered but they don’t know who’s doing it.

Honestly, this wasn’t a favorite of mine but it kept me guessing up until the end.

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for a chance to read this for free in return for my honest opinion.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

This was… something. The first half is painstakingly slow.

When Julia first arrives, things are weird off the bat. There are snippets of some big disappearance she was involved in, hints of an affair and because of this she becomes unbearably submissive to her husband.

My main issue for the first half is the unbelievability of so much of it. This independent, self assured, career woman just… doesn’t question any of the odd things happening. I understand this is later half explained by the weird gasses everywhere, but even still. It’s a stretch.

The ending was fine. I wish there was more explanation about how the embassy rescued the boys and what happened to the rest of the community.

The social aspect at the end was a nice touch.

All in all, this was half way between a domestic novel and a sci Fi book and didn’t hit the spot for me.

What an incredible debut! This book felt like Stepford Wives meets a lighter version of The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a twisted dystopian world obsessed with achieving the perfect life—no matter the cost.

What a thrilling ride this was with Julia! There were moments when I had to put the book down because my heart was racing and the adrenaline was pumping. Just when I thought I knew where the story was headed after the incident, it completely took me by surprise.

This was a fantastic read, and I’ve already recommended it! Set to be released on March 4, 2025, so if you love psychological thrillers, make sure to grab a copy. I can’t wait to see what SJ writes in the future.

A huge thank you to **NetGalley and Storm Publishing

I love a good dystopian thriller, and Where You Belong delivered. Fast paced and tense, I couldn't put it down! Perfect for fans of John Marrs. I'm excited to read more by S.J. King!

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC!