Our Dream Home
I’m not a winner. I don’t win competitions, I lose every argument, and I can barely win a smile from my own children. My life is a cycle of teenage sarcasm, dirty plates, and a husband who looks right through me.
I ignored the spam emails promising cars and holidays. But a radio contest for a "Dream Home" caught me in a moment of weakness, stuck in traffic and desperate to feel something.
I sent a text. And against all odds, I won.
Now, we are living in a mansion beyond my wildest imagination—and inside my worst nightmare. Because the threats arrived with the keys. Someone isn't just congratulating me; they know my name. They know the mistake that destroyed everything sixteen years ago.
They know the truth. And if I don’t give them what they want, this lucky break will be the death of me.
- Fiona - George's wife, 36
- George - Fiona’s Husband
- Heather - George and Fiona’s daughter, 15
- Liam - George and Fiona’s son, 14
- Glory - Victor's wife, Fiona and George’s new neighbor
- Victor - Glory’s husband
- Ryan - Victor and Glory’s son, 17
- Jess - Victor and Glory’s daughter, 12
- Part I
- Heather isn’t George’s biological daughter, but no one knows.
- Fiona isn’t sure who Heather’s father is; it was a drunken one-night stand.
- Fiona gets a call saying she won the drawing for the country house in the Cotswolds and they move in shortly after.
- The family goes to Victor and Glory’s for dinner, and Fiona recognizes a tattoo on Victor’s shoulder; she realizes Victor is Heather’s biological father.
- Part II
- Victor tells Fiona he recognizes her from university and she asks him to keep it to himself.
- Liam is doing a blood types project for school and asks everyone their blood type.
- When Fiona says Heather's is O negative, Liam says that can't be true if George is AB positive and Fiona is B positive.
- Fiona says she must have misspoke but George doesn’t believe her so once they are alone she tells him the truth that Heather isn’t his biological child.
- Victor tells Fiona that he knows Heather is his child; he says George told him a year ago.
- Part III
- Fiona is attacked while she’s sleeping and calls the police.
- George admits he gave Victor a spare key and the alarm code right after they moved in.
- Fiona wakes in the middle of the night to find the house on fire, but everyone gets out safely, including Boots.
- Fiona Googles Victor and finds out George started working for Victor’s company a year ago without her knowing.
- Fiona confronts George, who says that after he started working for Victor and they realized they were both connected to Fiona, he took Victor’s DNA and tested it against Heather’s.
- After he got the results, George told Victor that Heather was his daughter, and they made a plan together to get revenge on Fiona for lying to them both for all these years.
- Victor does own the house Fiona and George are living in.
- As soon as victor saw Fiona he backed out of the plan so George carried on solo.
- George is the one who attacked Fiona and set the fire.
- George tells Fiona he’s been cheating on her with Glory.
- Glory is not Victor’s wife; she’s his employee, Ryan is a paid actor, and Jess doesn’t exist.
- Glory started sleeping with George after he started at Victor’s company.
- George says they killed Victor and are going to frame Fiona, then he knocks her unconscious.
- Heather recuses Fiona from a cupboard she was locked in.
- Heather says Ryan has drone footage of George and Glory talking about their plans and Victor’s murder, so Fiona is safe.
- George and Glory fled when Ryan told them about the drone footage.
- Fiona tells Heather that just before she turned eighteen her parents told her she was adopted and she ran away. While her parents were out looking for her, they were killed in a car accident, which is why Fiona has been scared to tell Heather the truth about her father.
- Victor’s lawyer tells Fiona that his will left all his assets to his eldest child, Heather.
- Epilogue: Five months later Fiona is on a train when Glory approaches her to threaten her but is detained and arrested for killing Victor.
- Fiona returns to Victor’s house, where they are now living, to find George on the floor; Heather says Liam hit him with a hammer after George tried to kill her and kidnap Liam.
- They realize George is still alive, so Fiona sends the children out of the room, smothers George, and gets to work cleaning up.
I really enjoy Jessica Huntley’s writing style - it’s polished and engaging - but Our Dream Home was just too slow for me without enough of a payoff.
The prologue definitely hooked me, but when it finally came back around at the end, it felt like a total let-down. I kept waiting for certain details to matter - like Fiona’s history with breast cancer or Huntley specifically calling out that the game room was soundproof - but they never actually impacted the story. Even the twists, while not totally obvious, didn't feel shocking or unique enough to make the slow build-up worth it.
It’s a beautifully written book, but the lack of momentum and empty details made this a middle-of-the-road read for me.
- Victor - Dead - Killed by Glory and George
- George - Dead - Smothered by Fiona
- Fiona - Alive - Willing to do anything to keep her children safe
- Glory - Alive - Arrested for killing Victor
- Mention of self-harm
- Fire
- Gaslighting
- Murder
Publisher: Joffe Books
ISBN: 9781805734628
Publication Date: February 25, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
