All the Little Houses
- Judith D Collins
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
By: May Cobb
Narrators: Malin Akerman, Allyson Ryan, Alexandra Hunter, James Fouhey
ISBN: 9781464245794
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: 01/20/2026
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ARC)
TOP BOOKS OF 2026
Adults can behave badly too...
It's the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can't get for herself… well, that's what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen, blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning, remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top.
When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser, an outcast, humiliated, and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she'd so desperately thirsted for. When a prairie-kissed family moves to town, all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes, Charleigh's entire self-made social empire threatens to crumble. Who will be left standing when the dust settles?
From the author of The Hunting Wives comes a deliciously wicked new thriller about mean girls, mean moms, and the delicious secrets inside all the little houses.
About the Author
May Cobb is the award-winning author of The Hollywood Assistant, The Hunting Wives, My Summer Darlings, A Likeable Woman, and Big Woods. Her books have received attention from Book of The Month, The Today Show, and O, The Oprah Magazine, and The Hunting Wives is currently being made into a series for STARZ. She has an M.A. from San Francisco State University and her essays and interviews have appeared in The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Texas Highways, and more. She lives in Austin with her family.
Praise
"A striving Texas mother gets mixed up in violent business in this juicy thriller...[an] intricate tale of secrets and lies."
― Publishers Weekly
"It’s East Texas in the 1980s, and the only ones misbehaving more than the teenagers are the adults...Every character inhabits a moral gray area, stuck and struggling with secret desires, resentments, and plans. Cobb may claim Little House on the Prairie as an inspiration―but this is more Desperate Housewives."
― Kirkus Reviews
"The novel begins with a body floating in the lake and ends with a stunning reveal of who has killed whom after a series of shocking events...Readers will be glued to the page, gawking at the messes Cobb’s characters make."
― Library Journal
"All the Little Houses is May Cobb’s most explosive book yet. And trust me, that’s saying a lot." ― Jeneva Rose, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Nobody does explosive and twisted like May Cobb does it. She's in a league of her own."
― Lisa Jewell, #1 NYTimes Bestselling Author of Don’t Let Him In
"Get ready for next year's obsession: All the Little Houses is a dynamic, multilayered powerhouse of a book from an author who writes the inner lives of complicated women with uncanny depth. May Cobb perfectly captures the intensity and precariousness of female relationships, rivalry, jealousy, and obsession, set against the sultry backdrop of an 1980s Texas summer. Timely, twisty, and utterly explosive."
― Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, USA Today bestselling author of Till Death Do Us Part and The Girls Are All So Nice Here
"A spicy cocktail of mean girls, bad boys, and secrets bigger than the prairie sky. It goes down easy but packs a punch."
― Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The House Across the Lake
"Addictive and wildly satisfying."
― Karin Slaughter, New York Times and #1 International bestselling author
"May Cobb does it again―All the Little Houses is a deliciously sharp and unflinching dissection of ambition, legacy, and the brutal politics of small-town status. Set against the sweltering backdrop of 1980s East Texas, Cobb weaves a tale as seductive as it is sinister. With the formidable Charleigh Andersen at its center―a woman who built her kingdom from scratch and will burn it all down before she gives it up―this novel grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. If you love your thrillers laced with danger and dripping in secrets, this one’s for you."
― Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghostwriter
"Crisp and delicious and devious as a strong cocktail, vivid and atmospheric and steamy as a hot summer day. Reading May Cobb is like happy hour with your most fun frenemy dishing out the juiciest gossip you’ve ever heard in your life, and All the Little Houses is her best novel yet."
― Rachel Harrison, USA Today bestselling author of Play Nice and So Thirsty
"Deliciously twisted! May Cobb does it again! All the Little Houses goes down as easy as a cold margarita on a scorching summer day. I devoured it!"
― Elle Cosimano, New York Times bestselling author of Finlay Donovan is Killing It
"Big money, big hair, and even bigger secrets will keep the pages flying in All the Little Houses, with May Cobb’s signature rich bitch characters that shock and enthrall. All the Little Houses is locked and loaded for fans of The Hunting Wives!"
― Vanessa Lillie, bestselling author of Blood Sisters
