Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard, 4 Stars

When Lenna gets a call from her old friend Rhiannon, she is startled; Rhiannon disappeared years ago without a trace. But Lenna is even more startled to learn that Rhiannon has a son and that she lives off the grid with a group of women in a community called Halcyon. Rhiannon invites Lenna, a new mother herself, to join them. Why suffer the sleepless nights by yourself? It takes a village, after all.

Lenna decides to go and hopefully repair her relationship with Rhiannon, but as she drives into the desert and her cell service gets weaker, she becomes suspicious. Who are these women and why did Rhiannon invite her here? And that is before she learns about the community’s rules (no outside phone calls, no questions about people’s pasts) and the padlock on the gate that leads out to the main road. But Lenna has other concerns, secrets from her past she is terrified will come out. When a newcomer arrives in the community, Lenna’s worst fears are confirmed—she was brought here for a reason.

Nowhere Like Home tackles themes of complicated friendships and trauma but all with Sara Shepard’s expert twists that you don’t see coming.

My Review:

Have you ever been so enamorate of a friend that you would follow them anywhere? Yeah, me neither. But I know there have got to be people like that and Lenna is one of them. She has no qualms picking up an leaving her husband, infant son in tow, to head to a commune-like community in the middle of nowhere to reunite with her girl crush.

At first, it seems nice, almost relaxing, to be surrounded by only women, off the grid. The food is good, and she can actually rest and has help caring for her infant son –a far cry from life with her husband. But the longer she stays, the more it becomes clear that she’s not allowed to leave on her own. Nothing is as it seems.

Nowhere Like Home is a twisty story where absolutely nothing is as it seems. Shepard does a great job creating an ominous retreat that’s both homey and terrifying all at once. This one is available now!