This book was quite a slow read, sluggish in its pace. By halfway through the book, it did get better but it still didn’t have the suspense but I thought it would in the plot. Synopsis: It's every mother's worst nightmare to find that the precious child she's raised for fifteen years isn't her own. Adele Parks MBE is one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women's fiction writers in the UK. She has sold over 4 million books and her work has been translated into 30 different languages.

When Elizabeth, her cruel stepmom dies, Caro, a talented but struggling artist, moves into the family estate after her sister relinquishes her rights to it. Recent immigrants to the U.S. work hard to live the American dream; tempers flare and one ends up struggling for her life. View DetailsA hollow creaky house, a haunting melody from the pear drum, a hurl from the bannister, and a hallucinating main character make this book a vortex of swirling visions. Here realities are dreams, and dreams are illusions. I love Adele Parks, her books often make me cry. You should try The State We Are In. It was such a good book. I haven’t heard of this one, but then I haven’t read all her books. One to add to the Christmas list.

You MUST discover this absolute gem of a novel for yourself... It had me truly gripped from start to finish * The Welsh Librarian * Fifteen years ago, someone else took Alison’s baby from the hospital. And now Alison is facing the unthinkable. After the death of her stepmother, Caro moves into the country house to sort through personal belongings and tidy up any loose ends while awaiting probate to be finalised regarding their father's estate. Unbeknownst to Caro, there is one loose end somebody else has been waiting to tidy up for many years. Craig fits in perfectly with other characters in the story who you feel may have more to them than meets the eye.

I think that a lot of readers might like this book more than I did. I didn't hate this book but it failed to completely grab me. While I found this book easy to set aside at times, I was curious enough about how everything would work out to keep me reading until the very end and I was satisfied with its conclusion. As she recalls long buried childhood memories and fears that include a bizarre fairy tale involving a pear drum her stepmother used to tell her, Caro unearths forgotten family secrets, losing her tenuous hold on her sanity at the same time when she uncovers the truth of her origins. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Stranger In My Home. It was one of those books where I wanted to get to the end to see how it all turned out, but at the same time, I didn’t want to finish it.

I enjoyed this book so much! I love books that go deep in family dysfunction. I love seeing all sides to the story, although this one took a while to reveal what was really going on. During her career Adele has lived in Italy, Botswana and London. Now she lives happily in Surrey, UK with her husband, son and cat.

There was decent writing here. Caro was a good enough character too. I really liked the line "Pandora's box was open, the one in my head". However some aspects did seem rather contrived to me. Returning to clear the old house would be an example of that. How could I resist? When I requested this book it had no title, no author, no cover and no descriptive blurb - it just said Can You Keep a Secret? A secret book - how fun! Then once I received the galley I was instructed to go ahead and read it but not to talk about it anywhere until Halloween. I was even more intrigued and excited. Definitely a good piece of marketing!