I am so excited to be taking part in the blog tour for The
Homes today. I received a copy of this book from the publisher to review.
The Homes is a village for Scottish orphans that is based in
the Scottish Lowlands, over 1000 children live there. They live in cottages
with a set of House Parents each. Everything is based within the village –
there is a school, church and even shops.
Lesley and Jonesey are twelve years old and have been best
friends for as long as they can remember. They have lived at the the Homes for
so long that Lesley was six before she even realised that children usually grew
up with parents.
Although, there are great friendships formed at the homes,
life can be very hard. When one day a young girl is found murdered in the
grounds the day to day living for the children based there suddenly becomes
much worse. At first it seems like an isolated incident, but then another girl
is killed and no one knows who will be next.
When the police don’t seem to be getting anywhere Lesley and
Jonesey decide to take the investigation into their own hands and track down the
killer. However, this killer wants to stay hidden and the closer they come to
uncovering the crime the more dangerous it gets for them.
This is an amazing book, it’s fast paced addictive to read –
the chapters are quite short so every time I thought I would read one more I
just kept going.
I had never heard of the village children’s homes before and
was quite shocked that places like this existed.
The Homes is easily one of the best books I have read this
year – it’s gripping, compelling and completely heart wrenching with characters
that you will never forget. It is a powerful book that makes you realise how
cruel the world can be sometimes.
5 stars
