Open House: A NetGalley Review

 Thank you to NetGalley for my early review copy of Open House by Sam Carrington to be released in December of 2020!

This story follows our main character Amber Miller as she tries to sell her home after separating from her husband, eager to start a new life with her new boyfriend and her children. She decides to have an Open House and watches to see how many people show up. 13 go in but only 12 come out. Soon things start getting a little odd in the home and Amber is faced with some serious dark family secrets.

This book was super intriguing and had me engrossed from the very beginning. That could be due to the very short chapters, or the fact that Sam Carrington's writing is excellent at immersing you into the story. I felt like I was witnessing all these events happening with my own eyes because of Carrington's writing. I also enjoyed the different POV's that we go through including Amber's, Barb (her crazy mother-in-law, and an unknown source). I still am not sure if I am confident on my identification of who the unknown narrator was. 

The ending was NOT what I expected at all. I knew that there was some shady stuff going on with Barb and another character, but my mind never guessed what ended up playing out. It had me sitting there with my jaw dropped as far as it would go saying "what the f...?" in a good way. 

My biggest issue is that Amber was so naïve at times that it was painful to read. The way that she wholly trusts and loves this new man that she met on online, and is so quick to move away from him made me pretty uneasy. It later made sense as to why she was like that, but I can't give away any spoilers! Barb was ATROCIOUS. She was the literal definition of a psychotic mother-in-law. My god. I mean, I guess it makes sense at the end why she is the way she is but wow. I really did not like her one bit. Nick was a bit of doofus but aren't all men? LOL just kidding...sort of.

I will definitely be looking to pick up more of Carrington's literary masterpieces in the future!