By:  Sarah Pekkanen

ISBN: 9781501106491

Publisher:  Atria 

Publication Date: 7/5/2016 

Format: Paperback

My Rating:  5 Stars

A special thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An avid fan of the "queen of chick-lit with grit" Sarah Pekkanen, returns following (2015) Things You Won’t Say with another edge-of-your seat domestic suspense THE PERFECT NEIGHBORS with a mix of contemporary, suburban chick-noir, (dark side) mystery, lots of wit, wine, whine, scandal and intrigue. A Sure-Fire Hit!

A modern twist of Wisteria Lane’s Desperate Housewives and Peyton Place, sprinkled with hilarious updates from Newport Cove Listserv Digest social media commentary! Everyone is trying to be the picture-perfect family. Halloween is a theme. Masking the real person. Telling yourself stories about people. Superficial details. Underneath - struggles and flaws.

How far will you go to protect those you love? Do you really know your neighbors, and those who interact with your children?

Welcome to Newport Cove, Parenting Magazine touts as one of the “20 Safest Communities” in the US. A peaceful, serene, and bucolic suburban neighborhood, where anyone would love to raise their family. From new McMansions, to original Tudors, Colonials, and Craftsmans, with street names of flowers.

Meet the families:

Tessa and Harry Campbell: They are the newest addition to the neighborhood. The most intriguing and mysterious, especially Tessa. Everyone wants to know their story. Moving to escape a past, bad memories. Very private. Protective of children. Husband a software developer and travels often. They have a secret. An ongoing mystery. None of the neighbors know. Children: Daughter, Bree, nine. Son, Addison seven.

Susan Barrett: Most impressive, outward appearances. Superwoman. Divorced. A perfectionist. A business woman. Owner of “Your Other Daughter”. Speaker, radio show. Business franchised into four states. Type A personality. Helps the elderly. Bakes. Loves to cook. Perfectionist. Ideal mother. She has regrets about her marriage. Ex-Husband, Randall is remarrying. She stalks them. His girlfriend (her former friend-Daphne). Obsession. Inside she is broken. She is drawn to her clients which have broken lives. She fixes others. Attempting to try and date again. Son: Cole. She has secrets.

Kellie and Jason: She married her high school sweetheart and has never been with another man. Her husband works with his family’s local Scott & Son Hardware Store. Close with the in-laws. She was a stay-at-home mom, and has now joined the work force. A real estate agent, now wearing heels, showing homes, and taking notice of her married broker, Miller Thompson. A dangerous attraction. She is getting attention. She is not looking at her husband like she does hotty Miller. Secret texts and flirts. Dangerous territory. From new clothes to secret lust. She has secrets. Children: Mia and Noah

Gigi and Joe Kennedy: Joe is running for Congress plus working for an environmental company. High stress. Gigi likes to smoke pot. Zumba, Pilates, and a former activist. Likes alcohol. A bit of a Bohemian style. A wild past. Rebellious. Things she does not want uncovered. Struggling with media, lack of privacy, the campaign, scrutinized, and currently having issues with their 15 yr. old teen daughter, Melanie. Their 12 yr. old daughter, Julia was usually cooperative. Also dealing with Joe’s campaign manager, Zach who moves in downstairs. She has secrets.

The women are close friends and love to get together for Whine and Wine night. The newest addition is Tessa, and they think she is a little standoffish. They are dying to get her drunk, so she will spill. The community manager Sharon sometimes joins them.

Readers get tidbits of Tessa “before Newport Cove” mixed in with the sections from each woman. Pekkanen keeps readers in the dark, handing out clues as we move along with a series of events surrounding Tessa and her mysterious past. Tessa is the most mysterious, and my favorite character!

“You couldn’t outrun your past. It was like sprinting on a treadmill—as soon as your legs faltered, you’d discover you were in the precise place you’d, been trying so hard to escape.”

“Moving to Newport Cove was nothing more than putting on a Halloween costume. Tessa had been swept up in the imagining, in the pretending to be someone else. But once the disguise was off, you no longer fooled anyone, least of all yourself.”

“Tessa and Joe had opposite agendas. His was to stand out in people’s memories, to make an impression. Hers was the opposite: To blend in. To not be noticed. They were both campaigning.”

From the mystery dog pooper, mechanics, warnings, dry cleaning, mail, used cars, parties, headless Barbie, politics, complaints, (loved the Turbo Tax comment and unsubscribe). Bet the author had a blast writing this book. You will laugh out loud—witty, and humorous, and oh, so realistic!

Loads of humor and razor-sharp insights will keep you turning pages into the night. Pekkanan fans will devour! Each of the women- desperately working through their domestic struggles and family life, while facing the secrets, crimes and mysteries hidden behind their doors. On the surface a perfect suburban idyllic neighborhood.

Pekkanen once again delivers a winner! Not sure I have ever had to this happen-when looking back over the ten previous books I have read by Sarah- each one is a 5 Star! How many authors can write ten books and each be top rated? I knew she was a rock star, the first book I read back in 2010.

From fears and anxieties of women, motherhood, marriage, and crossing over to the dark side with a bit of mystery, suspense, and impending danger. The idea that you can never really know your husband, partner, parent or neighbor- intriguing!

I love the way my top three chick lit authors, Sarah Pekkanen, Emily Giffin, and Jennifer Weiner have taken readers from women in their 20s, 30s, and now 40s. From single, dating, marriage, divorce, motherhood, and family.

Fans of Paula Treick DeBoard’s The Drowning Girls (2016) will love the idyllic prestigious community and the scandalous secrets of the neighbors as well as Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies (2014).

This would be a great movie! Or a DH remix comeback. While reading, I continued to imagine which Desperate Housewives’ (2004-2012) character related to each of the women in THE PERFECT NEIGHBORS. I had to double up, since DH sometimes had five women and we have four. Here is my take:

• Kellie (Teri Hatcher-Susan Mayer). A romantic, married to plumber similar to hardware husband. Mix of a real estate agent (Edie Britt/Nicollette Sheridan). A little like Gabrielle Solis—Beautiful, heels, desiring attention-Wanting her cake and eat it too.
• Tessa (Felicity Kendall Huffman- Lynette Scavo). Frazzled mom, control freak, walks on the edge, impulsive, husband takes orders. Devious.
• Susan (Marcia Cross-Bree Van de Kamp) Totally Bree! Can do anything. Queen of the neighborhood. The perfectionist, cooking, business, and stalker. Whose perfection masks major dysfunction.
• Gigi (Eva Longoria-Gabrielle Solis) Shady past, rebel, successful husband. Younger guy creating problems. In some ways she is also like Lynette Scavo with her pot. She also reminds me a little of (Edie Britt/Nicollette Sheridan).

(Brenda Lee Strong-Mary Alice Young) DH narrator, would have a field day with Tessa’s character and her haunting past.

Anyone want to weigh in with their vote? Would love to hear more.

Note for publisher: PS. When it is time for the reprint, please put a dog on the cover somewhere. The dog poop commentary is priceless (a trademark)! I almost want to see an upscale gated community entrance with immaculate landscaping and a dog pooping in the corner.

You MUST read this one to find out Tessa's secret! Loved it. I hope we hear more from these colorful characters.

A special thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Susan Lewis returns following Too Close to Home (2015)with another gripping edge-of-your-seat psychological suspenseTHE GIRL WHO CAME BACK—a family’s idyllic life, shattered in a million pieces. A mother’s desperate need for justice for her daughter, from a twisted evil monster. MIND-BLOWING!

Prologue: As the book opens we meet Amelia briefly. A nine-year-old disturbed girl, who wasn’t like other children. She stared at people, never laughed or no excitement. Little seemed to amuse her and she always wanted what was not hers. Amelia did not speak much even to her mother, Olivia. She chatted away with her father, Anton, when he made the time. She was sullen and shy. She did not fit in with other kids. Then one day . . . the unspeakable. Murder.

Chapter One begins sixteen years later. Jules Bright answers the door—Detective, Andee Lawrence delivers a message. Amelia Quentin is being released from prison. The detective is every bit as appalled as Jules, when the wheels of justice had turned the way they had almost three years ago.

Now the murderer is returning to Crofton Park. Julies Bright could not believe she murderer could even consider stepping foot in this place again. Her sentence was an outrage. They had been cheated a proper trial. Jules' and her husband, Kian--their horrific tragedy and demise of a family at the hands of a lunatic, Amelia Quentin. She received parole and she has not even served three years!

A dark and disturbing mind a plot, a conspiracy-the unraveling begins, as the author takes us back to the crime three years earlier. We also meet Daisy, who lives at the Mermaid pub, a happy child and a lovable family. Befriends a girl her opposite, Amelia.

From past to present we meet a cast of characters from childhood to adulthood. It all started with a text, the arrest, and the trial. Revenge. The death of a beloved daughter, and a friend to many.

Hatred, resentment, and the need to hurt, even destroy, the girl continues to burn holes through Jules, the mother. Was Amelia even capable of remorse? Jules knows if she had been a part of any other family without the money, she would have had no privileges or early release, much less her big fake comeback.

Manipulative Amelia is trying to turn the tables, once again with her evil, twisted lies. What gave her the right to take her daughter’s life, and her family? She watches as she goes through the elegant iron gate, so perfect and tranquil and no one would have guessed that a killer was in the vicinity, hidden like a sick predator, or a poison in the air.

Jules: If anyone was going to avenge Daisy’s killing, it would be her. A mother torn apart by grief, crushed by the system that had robbed her of proper justice, traumatized by the proximity of her nemesis, besieged by Facebook posts and attempted visits to her old home. In the light of all she had been subjected to -would it come as a surprise to anyone that she’d lost all sense of reason? How could she be accountable for her actions? Maybe she’d be tried for voluntary manslaughter—with provocation. Who else wants revenge?

Amelia and Dean had been arrested at the scene of the crime and were later charged with joint-enterprise murder. Amelia had set up Daisy and Dean as part of her conspiracy. Sick and twisted. (now this is one complex story). Dean was remanded into custody and Amelia was released on bail--for murder. She had sent the text that had tricked Daisy into going to her house. Fifteen stab wounds had been inflicted by the same left hand. Amelia was left-handed. Dean was not. Rape? How did you set up such a sick plan?

Amelia’s father was connected in places that mattered, a lawyer. Amelia had tricked them all. Obsessed with another girl's life and family. Daisy was no longer with them, and unable to pursue her dreams and live her life. No one had the right to take that from her and yet Amelia had decided that she did. A calculating murdering lunatic.

Jules received letters from Dean, the first week of his sentence with details of what happened. They all knew there was something horribly wrong with Amelia—sick, a maniac, a psychopath. Dean is tortured by the events---received ten years, and Daisy five. Out in three.

Families ripped apart by this monster. How would they prove she killed her mom and Daisy? The most heartbreaking parts of leaving the Mermaid had been forcing herself to let go of Ruby. She had believed that Ruby was passing messages to Daisy to keep them connected. (magical realism here).

Their lives remained in pieces in so many ways, while Amelia Quentin was allowed to start hers all over again—to choose another generous-hearted girl to befriend and butcher. A mother’s vengeance. Justice for Daisy and Dean.

Will a broken family bond over their tragedy, or move further away from one another? However, there may be others who want justice just as much as the Bright family. Could there be a larger plan in motion—will fate step in and the nightmare finally be over?

WOW! Susan Lewis just keeps getting better and better. Not sure how anyone cranks out so many books—she has a special gift. Intense, dark, gritty, disturbing, and emotional, mixed with psychological twists and turns—leaving you holding your breath. I was still reading through the night, finishing at 4 am...racing to the end.

The strong love of parents, and one cold twisted gal--she could turn on a dime- your head will be spinning. A haunting and gripping tale, vivid settings and well-developed characters….and did I mention plot(s)? If you have not read Susan previously, definitely start.

Fans of Lisa Jewell, Diane Chamberlain and Heather Heather Gudenkauf will enjoy the complex multi-layered tale and domestic suspense. (my favorites). This may be Lewis' most intense yet! A cautionary tale for parents and teens, alike. Be careful who you befriend--it could prove deadly.

By Louise Voss
ISBN: 9781477822159
Publisher: Amazon/Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 2/24/2015
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars

A special thank you to Amazon Publishing, Thomas and Mercer, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

British thriller author, Louise Voss delivers a twisted romantic suspense, "chick noir", and psycho-thriller mix, of dark humor and wit. THE VENUS TRAP —a cat and mouse game of obsession, leaving you second guessing your own past, when things may not be as they appear.

Have you ever felt as though something in your past happened, not by chance? Had someone set a plan in motion, which forever changed the course of your life? Only to discover years later, it may have been orchestrated by someone else?

Jo Atkins, protagonist, a forty-three year old divorced single mom of Megan, dreams of happily ever after, and decides to get back in the dating game, setting up her profile on an online dating site. Her life has not been simple. Her dad died, her high school boyfriend dies, assaulted, divorced, dumped, and now she wants to find a man, and live her happy life with her daughter.

She is thrilled about the possibilities of her blind date; however, reality comes knocking quickly, as she meets the date from hell. (I laughed out loud, as Voss definitely pulls out all the stops with her British humor and wit). Gerald, the guy is a nut job and succeeded in embarrassing her at a public restaurant, when she decided not the waste an hour of small talk with him, to let him know she is not interested. Needless to say, he did not take the news very well. (instead of using the emergency call from the girl friend tactic). What comes next is even worse.

When an old high school chum, Claudio (not really a chum) happens to be in the same restaurant at the exact time with his mother, lurking from across the room --comes to her rescue. Happy to learn she is now divorced, he wants her phone #, and she gives him the number but changes the last digit, (good call) as her memories of this guy are not so great.

Through clever research, he manages to track down her down. Desperate, she agrees to go out with him, thinking maybe he has changed (WRONG). By the third date, she knows this is going nowhere, and he senses it, and drugs her. Upon waking, she is in her flat, chained to her bed, sick and held hostage. Talking about the date from hell—the other guy was only practice, compared to creepy Claudio. He has nothing to lose. She has one week to say, "she loves him or he kills her."

Her daughter happens to be on a week long trip with her dad in Italy, of course the crazy abductor, knows this---you see he has had an obsession with Jo since high school. He knows everything about her. Now his is closing in for the kill. He desperately wants her love and continues to tell her how great they will be together.

In the process of going through her things, he discovers her diary from 1986. He makes her read passages and relive her past. Her past is a series of tragedy, with emotional baggage carried over into her marriage and future relationships. Could he be the one who literally changed the course of her life . . . her fears, her anxieties.. her years of therapy?

As the week closes in, she races against time to escape the clutches of this wacko madman (a venus trap), and claim her life, her daughter, and possibly her ex-husband, Richard . . she longs to see once again. After a week of time to reflect, she is seeing her life through new eyes.

THE VENUS TRAP, offers a different twist for a psychological thriller of obsession, as Jo desires romance, and wants a man in her life; however, she possibly had it in front of her, but was always looking elsewhere. She is a flawed character, and many women will relate to her with a series of bad dates and bad luck. From the emotional impact of divorce, and the perils of modern dating, with some psycho -obsession. The fun part was the diary entries, as she was reliving her past from high school days through her marriage.

Venus Flytrap: If you live in southeast US, especially in NC or SC you may be familiar with the Venus flytrap. (a nice tie in) ….A carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands; it catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids— with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces.

If you love chick lit, mystery, suspense, and psycho-thrillers all rolled into one with lots of humor ---you will enjoy THE VENUS TRAP. This is my first book by Voss solo, as have enjoyed her duos with Mark Edwards and Mark solo, in the past, with my favorite “Because She Loves Me”. (congrats to Mark on the Venus title).

COVER- On a side note: When reading a recent post regarding Voss’ cover design (being a former publisher myself, for years), I agree with the overall look, with the exception of making the author's name in a smaller font. When choosing covers for many years, am very picky about even reading a book with a bad cover.

When posting upcoming books, on my websites, I am noticing a trend of teal and darker turquoise covers for the upcoming next three or four months, similar to back in October when many were a rich blue. The darkness of the door and the implications of what may be lurking behind the door, gives it a mysterious feel; however, the splash of pink offers a nice contrast, and does in fact draw you in—hence, the mix of chick noir, tie in. Well done!