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.

By: Fiona Barton

ISBN:  9781101990261

Publisher:  Berkley/NAL

Publication Date:  2/16/2016

Format: Hardcover

My Rating:  5 Stars  

Featured Weekend Spotlight Jan 8-10 

Upcoming Blog Tour Host

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

Smartly written, Fiona Barton’s debut THE WIDOW, most definitely lives up to the hype---a wicked, deliciously evil, slow-burning, taut psychological suspense—the author definitely knows her way around the media, investigations, obsessions, and crazies. Even though this is a debut, (shocking), this is not Barton’s first rodeo. Have you read her bio? Impressive.

While readers seem to be flocking to psychological suspense and suburban noirs---2016 brings a mix of the hottest new genre, following the sensational Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

Barton masters the craft with her haunting creation. (I actually liked it better than the aforementioned). Filled with complex and intimate glimpses into the lives ruled by obsession, crisis, and fear; where mood and characters drive the novel—creating a dark, chilling, disturbing and unsettling tone.

Meet Jean Taylor, The Widow. She is the heart of the story. A complex woman of many faces.

As the novel opens, it is 2010. Jean is hiding out from reporters, as she has done for years. She has managed to stay clear; however, this time there is a different vulture calling, with her own agenda. Kate Waters, a tenacious reporter from the Daily Post. She is crafty and works herself smoothly inside the door, for her kill.

Why the interest in Jean?

Kate wants the story. A trained observer. She can taste the story. The story of Jean’s life with her killer husband, Glen. The real truth about Glen. Bella, the baby girl. He died the previous week, knocked down by a bus just outside Sainsbury. Accident, pushed, or suicide?

Is Jean really sad about Glen dying? Or, did she just dream of him dying. (with a devious smile). A grieving widow, or a happy one behind her veil?

Jean and Glen met when she was only seventeen years old. She, an apprentice at a hairdresser in Greenwich. Glen worked at a bank. He was a bit older. Good-looking. He was protective, neat, and romantic. She was messy. They were married when she was nineteen.

What does Jean really know about Glen? What does he know about her? The intimate lives of a marriage. A husband and wife. No children. Addictions. For better or worse-a marriage vow.

Meet the cast:

Dawn: A single young mother with a two- year- old daughter, Bella. Abducted from her own back yard.

Bob: The detective who is obsessed with finding the little girl. Desperate to prove Glen’s guilt.

Glen: The manipulative monster. A liar. A pedophile? A murderer? What is he really doing at night behind closed doors in front of the computer. His secrets. Accused of a brutal crime. Is he guilty or innocent? After getting laid (fired) off at the bank he was a delivery driver. A van. He wanted to start his own business. The unraveling. Guilty, not guilty?

Jean: She does what Glen says. Glen is her husband. Is she naive. She loves her husband. He could not do terrible things. Is she too, one of Glen’s victims? Under his control? Does she believe his lies, or is she as twisted as her husband? Does she have her own agenda? An obsession and desire for a baby. She is weak, clever, and manipulative. She plays two parts. Why would a woman stay with a man who looks at child abuse on their computer? What is the hold?

Kate: A strong personality. (Loved Kate) She wants more than anything to be the one to get the truth. She can taste it.

Let the games begin.

Flashing back and from 2006 to 2010, readers learn about the abduction. This event sets everything in motion. What happened to Baby Bella? There is much to explore in the four- year period.

Unprofessional behavior, inappropriate, termination. The end of their dreams. None of this was Glen’s fault. After all Jean (Jeanie) was his world, he leads her to believe. An investigation. Now, with him dead, they only have Jean to lead them to the truth. Where is Bella? Does Jean know what Glen did with Bella?

An intriguing puzzle. Jean is in control. Whether fake or real. Barton’s crafty skills are reflective throughout this ongoing nightmare. An abduction which only took minutes. Even though Jean dominates, readers learn perspectives from the important players.

Atmospheric. Doubt. There’s a dark, growing sense of foreboding; however, the compelling pace stems not so much from the actual action, but from the intensity of the mood. Disturbing, Creepy, and Unsettling.

THE WIDOW plays with your mind…leaving the reader wondering about the authenticity of the character. Barton takes you inside their complex minds. This is where I see a difference of opinions within the reviews posted. The novel plays with the readers’ mind. Internal psychological monsters are at play, versus external ones. Not from action. Intensity. The obsession. The changing of the character from beginning to the end, captures you. The "reveal" is in the changing of your perspective of the characters from the beginning of the book to the end. Inward, versus outward.

Tortured relationships. Obsessions. Emphasizing the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states. While reading, you will experience an array of emotion from doubt, fear, disgust, and in the end a satisfying twist.

Psychological suspense crosses suburban noir. Where characters are wounded and flawed, yearning for something they can’t define. A toxic marriage, greed, envy, discontent, fear. Off-balance, driven to crime by mental and emotional forces they’re unable to control—how many are in your own neighborhood? Obsessed, paranoid, desperate to find happiness, and clinging to their sense of security. A scary thought.

An excellent choice for book clubs or further discussions. An author to follow! Can't wait to see what's next.