Review: Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

Name: Home is Where the Bodies Are
Series: Stand Alone
Author: Jeneva Rose
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Format: Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: Adult, Crime, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Noted Tropes: Unreliable Narrator(s), Small Town
Spice Rating: Glimpses & Kisses (Forgive me this might be wrong, I can’t remember if there was off page activities) 🌶️

Rating:

Synopsis: Goodreads
After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.

While going through their parents’ belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.

Review:

I am not sure why at this point, Home is Where the Bodies Are made it onto my TBR… It has been there for almost a year and part of me thinks it may have been for the cover alone. I knew something about some siblings coming back to their home town after their mother dies and they learn about something via a VHS tape but that was it really. I kind of went in blind… I regret nothing.

We have three siblings, Beth, Nicole and Michael who return to their hometown after Beth sends a text out saying essentially, Mum is dying, come home now. And they all come. Initially, I thought the ‘mysterious’ thing that the siblings discover while going through their mum’s belongings would be about their dad. I didn’t expect the full mystery that we then went on.

I had a great time with this book. I really enjoyed the easy to read writing style, and the dialogue that felt very realistic (I have had my fair share of this shitty and pointless fights with family) to me. I didn’t do my usual amatuer sleuthing while reading Home is Where the Bodies Are, I just simply read the book and had a good time.

I wasn’t a fan of the multiple narrators – but I understand why it was done this way. We’re supposed to not trust any of the siblings, and have a hard time figuring out if any of them are trustworthy / likable! So, even though Michael and Nicole’s POV’s didn’t feel totally necessary while I was reading, by the time I got to the end I completely understood why they were there.

I did find the first part of the story to be slow, I didn’t like the siblings all that much and found it pretty hard to care about them. I don’t think I can pin point the exact moment that changed… but it did and I was hoping for the best for all of our characters – siblings, side characters and the ones from the past. Of course, that didn’t quite work out, but still…

Even at the end of this mystery, where things were coming together, I still was caught off guard. Either I had just been enjoying the book so much I didn’t see the truth staring me in the face or there was some damn good misdirect. At the point of writing this, I’m still not sure. But I can tell you that ultimately, whether it was predictiable and I missed it or not, I had a great time. And that’s enough for me!!

I also enjoyed the Author’s Acknowledgements. I got a kick out of that, ha. Remember if you’re reading a book on Kindle Unlimited, it is really important to read to the end of the book!

“Anger is easy, Rebecca. It’s the most rudimentary of human feelings. Babies experience anger. Psychopaths experience anger. People with little to no brain activity experience anger. But compassion and forgiveness are challenging. They’re the most complex of all the emotions.”

Reading With Tyler