Thank you Netgalley for an early copy for an h9nest review.
Beautifully written but also very sad , I was hoping for a happier ending but I enjoyed this novel very much.

I was fortunate enough to receive a hard copy AND an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Valerie and her son Xavier live in a quiet neighborhood; Until the Whitmans build a house built for a king. Brad Whitman is a business man and is quite popular around time. Brad's stepdaughter Juniper starts a romantic relationship with Xavier, but when she was younger, she signed a purity pledge with Brad.

Even though Juniper and Xavier have to sneak around, things seem to be going smoothly until Valerie sues the Whitmans over a historic oak tree.

This was a fantastic read and I did not see the twist coming!

Thank you NetGalley for gifting me an arc copy of A Good Neighborhood. Wow! This book. Where to start. This book hurt my heart in the best way possible. It was written in a unique point of view, the neighborhood’s. We got to see everything from their perspective. I thought the author did a beautiful job of developing the main characters, especially the two main teens, Xavier and Juniper. I think so many times we forget we were teenagers once on the edge of adulthood and we don’t give them enough credit to know themselves and what’s in their best interests. This book tackles a lot of very heavy, relevant topics including race, love and abuse. At times, it was very difficult to read, but I’m glad I made it to the end. I encourage everyone to read this book and truly think about what it means to be a good neighbor.

I would probably call this book a modern Romeo & Juliet retelling. Following to star crossed lovers (mixed race) and the journey that leads to a very sad ending.
This book is told in many different perspectives and it slowly shoes you how everything is going piece together between the cast of characters. It is very gripping read; making you not want to put it down and see how everything ends.

The premise of this book enticed me to request it from Net Galley. I was disappointed in the book. While it kept me engaged, there seemed to be darkness without letup and had an ending that did not satisfy. I will not be including this on my blog since I feel I owe it to my readers to only post books that they will find satisfying.

A Good Neighborhood tells the tale of the tragic events that unfold when two families become next-door neighbors in the up-and-coming Oak Knoll neighborhood.

Valerie Alston-Holt is a widowed single mother, an ecologist and professor, raising her exceptionally bright and musically talented teenaged bi-racial son Xavier, an aficionado on the classic guitar.

Brad Whitman, a self-made millionaire on the success of his local HVAC business and entrepreneurship, moves himself and his blended family into a newly built house behind Valerie and Xavier.

Tensions are evident immediately and come to a head when Xavier begins falling for Juniper Whitman, Brad's lovely teenage step-daughter who has made a purity promise in her early teenage years. The feelings are mutual, much to the dismay of their parents.

What makes this novel unique was it was told from the viewpoint of the neighborhood itself, referred to throughout as "We", which gave it an unusual un-biased third party feel. I also loved how the author wove in backstories from the pasts of the main characters to get an insight to what shaped them and made them who they were to become.

The events that unravel through this novel shook me to my core. It addresses many social issues head on including racial injustices, social inequity, white privilege, racism, classism, and oppression. I was left internally screaming and hollowed out. It was an excellent, albeit heart-breaking story that will stay with my soul.

I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for the opportunity to review an advanced copy. I highly recommend this novel.

This book gripped me right from the start. It was a slow burn and a page turner at the same time. It’s difficult to condense this to a review without giving up secrets. Suffice it to say, just read it and you can see for yourself.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
I’m giving this 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Summary: In present day North Carolina, an older suburb is getting a makeover. Smaller, less desirable homes are razed along with mature trees to make way for multi-bath homes with sparkling swimming pools. One resident of the older homes in the neighborhood, Professor Valerie Alston-Holt watches the destruction with fear for the ancient oak tree in her own yard. The venerable oak’s root system extended far beyond the boundaries of her property. The tree also held emotional significance for Valerie. She decides to take an action to save her tree that eventually has heart wrenching consequences.

Across her back fence, the recently completed extravagant home belongs to one Brad Whitman, owner of Whitman HVAC. Whitman is a larger than life successful businessman whose TV ads exude charisma. His wife and two daughters live in his generous shadow. The oldest, Juniper, was encouraged to take a purity pledge at puberty by Whitman, her stepfather. Now almost eighteen years old, she faces a challenge to that vow.

The challenge comes in the form of the young man who lives behind her house. His name is Xavier Alston-Holt. Xavier is a very studious young man who is working hard toward his chosen career in classical guitar. He also has sworn off relationships, but that is his own choice–he knows he must work hard to reach his goals.

The two young people are both focused on their goals and seem ideal for each other except for one tiny problem — Juniper is white and Xavier is black. Biracial, actually, as his mother is black and his deceased father was white. But in present day North Carolina, this might as well be a gap as wide as the Grand Canyon. When Brad Whitman gets wind of Xavier’s attraction to Juniper, his own lewd thoughts go into overdrive and he takes drastic action to “save” his daughter and get revenge on his neighbor with the stupid oak tree.

Comments: I hope this book shoots to the top of the best seller lists and gets in the hands of many book clubs for some deep discussion. A Good Neighborhood pokes a very timely sharp stick into bigotry and white male privilege. It shines a light on the appalling black male experience in current day America. The ending made me want to cry even as I knew it’s inevitability.

Although written by a white author, A Good Neighborhood shows a deep sensitivity for her black characters. Theresa Anne Fowler obviously did extensive research and reached out for guidance.

This book made me consider the current kerfuffle about American Dirt (which I admit I haven’t yet read) and the pitfalls of identity politics. The axiom “write what you know” is taken to extremes these days, enforcing racial barriers. Literature isn’t always safe, for the writer or the reader. Taking risks — writing or reading about other races and cultures — can mean crossing bridges, acknowleging differences and possibly changing your own views, which is dangerous business in our deeply polarized political climate.

Very Highly Recommended for readers of General Fiction and Literary Fiction.

Wow... just wow! This one grabbed me from the get-go and never loosened its grip.

This is the story narrated by the neighbors (very cool way to narrate a story) in a neighborhood where everything was just fine and dandy... until Brad Whitman and his family moved in, that is.

This is a love story wrapped in a hate story. Racism, horticulture, music, and poetry are weaves throughout the narrative in a beautiful and horrifying way.

This book made me extremely uncomfortable at times. And like all things in life, sometimes you have to feel uncomfortable to learn or to understand that things need to change.

I can see myself teaching this novel in my senior English class - it has the feel of a classic but the plot is contemporary. LOVED IT!

( 2.5 Stars)

The first thing that struck me about this book was the unusual voice; more of an overdub narration than storytelling. An unnamed neighbor or group of neighbor's gossiping and filling the reader in on what was going on in the neighborhood. This tone carried through the book, and while I felt it worked better in some places than others, I enjoyed the voyeuristic viewpoint of the story. That said, I'm not sure I was a fan of the writing overall. It grew on me the more I read, but sometime sit felt a little stiff and structured. That might have been because of the all-knowing narration.

The second thing that struck me was that this new neighbor, Brad Witman, was being portrayed as a charming, warm and affable man by pretty much everyone, including Valerie, who struggled with her prejudgments. But to me, he seemed like a total slime ball, right from the start. Even before I knew whether he turned out to be one or not, I had a terrible first impression and couldn't believe no one else did.

I had a pretty good idea from the start where things were heading, but it took a very long time to get there. There was a lot of character development, which I'm always a fan of, but this seemed to go a bit too hard on it. It was a slow build, which is probably what fueled my anxiety riddled response, and then when you finally reach the last portion of the book, so much happens at once.

This story was not at all what I was expecting and I'm having a hard time deciding how I felt about it. The author put herself in a lot of different shoes -- characters of different sexes and different races. I always praise a book for tackling tough topics and a lot of the unique perspectives were very important and timely conversations, but some of the ways it was delivered rubbed me the wrong way. As a white woman I don’t feel I’m entitled to comment much on how the racism and racial profiling were handled, though it did seem that there were some very strong conversations around the topic and the frustration Xavier expressed at his situation seemed painfully real. In my privileged opinion this was well done and I was interested in how this was framed.

That said, I know I’m supposed to praise this book for tackling some of these difficult topics, and if that was what this book really was, then I would be quicker to applaud it. While racial profiling was ultimately what drove this story to the tragic ending, the majority of the book focused on a perverted, privileged white man and his disgusting and obsessive thoughts about his stepdaughter. I can appreciate what the book was trying to do but using that as the catalyst to table a conversation about class and racism overshadowed that conversation. Way too much time was spent listening to his fantasies and daydreams about his stepdaughter and not enough time was spent talking about the other relationships, the racism and the ultimate outcome. I can assume this was to make his later actions more believable, but it all still seemed really unbalanced and distracting to me, and the ending was so rushed that it made Xavier’s storyline seem like an afterthought, the racism and racial profiling an easy target to tell this story of a horrible white man.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

Having enjoyed the author's historical novel; A Well-behaved Woman, I was intrigued to see what her contemporary fiction novel would offer. As readers are taken to a North Carolina neighborhood where two families- the Whitmans and the Holts find themselves center stage to several events that have all the neighbors talking.


Read in one sitting, this book intrigued me but also had events that disgusted me and I like that because I find those books the most entertaining and memorable. I am deliberately not saying a lot because I think the synopsis of the book already tells you all you need to know.


Goodreads review 20/02/20
Publication Date 10/03/20

I really loved this book, the characters were so vivid and recognizable and the setting was so realistic that I cried when it was over. I felt I knew each character personally.
I love the narrative of this book, too. I enjoyed having the author step away and speak directly to the reader about what just happened or was going to happen.
The story itself was heartbreaking, but expertly done. Without a lot of predictable action or being cliche'd.
I have another favorite book by Therese Anne Fowler!

This book will be one of my top 10 for 2020. It’s that good. And yes, I know it’s only February.

I’ve read both of Therese Anne Fowler’s previous biographical historical fiction novels and enjoyed how she creates complicated characters. But I was not ready for this book and how it ends. Part I had me thinking this would be just a contemporary drama that touches on issues of our times, like environmentalism, racism, and conservative religion. I thought that this book would be like many other books in this genre or an episode of This Is Us. Part II gave me a growing sense of unease as the tension ratcheted up. By the time I got to Part III I felt sick to my stomach and my heart was pounding. I finished Part III in one sitting.

Fowler is such an incredible writer. She tells the story from multiple perspectives so you know how a character feels and their backstory which explains (and maybe even justifies) their actions. I also loved her use as the neighborhood as a Greek chorus to help tell the story and offer a neutral opinion to the events that occur throughout this book. The neighborhood’s voice really ties the novel together and is such a brilliant narrative device.

Review posted on Goodreads and will be posted on Instagram the week of February 24th and again on March 10.

A Good Neighborhood is a complex book packed full of timely issues including race and class. It was at times hopeful and heartbreaking. I liked the narration by the neighborhood as a collective group – it was a unique way to get the backstory (and a little foretelling) of the characters.

If I had one complaint about this book, it was the inclusion of a certain aspect of the story (it may be a spoiler, so I won’t mention it exactly) that I felt detracted from the overall message.

A Good Neighborhood will be an excellent choice for book clubs as there is so much to discuss.

A Good Neighborhood
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book is about bad things happening in a good neighborhood, where racism is alive and well. Brad Whitman, a well known white businessman just built a fancy house in an established neighborhood and moved in with his wife and two daughters. His next door neighbor is Valerie, a single mother who lives there with his son Xavier. Valerie is black, she was married to Xavier’s white father, and as such Xavier is both white and black. Xavier and Brad’s daughter Juniper develop a relationship, and things in the neighborhood will never be the same.
One knows from the very beginning that something tragic is going to happen. The buildup was too slow for me, it did pick up in the last part of the book. Who is narrating this story? It sounds like someone from the neighborhood, who knows everything about the protagonists, including their backgrounds, families, etc. to the point of not being realistic.
The ending was pretty predictable. I can’t give this book more than three stars.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

A Good Neighborhood is an extremely powerful book. The author writes from multiple points of view and tells a story which is believable, memorable and contemporary. The characters were well-developed and the story unfolded in a logical manner. I was captivated from the beginning and had a hard time putting this book down. This was the first book I have read from this author, but based on this book I will be sure to seek out more of her books. I highly recommend this book to those of you who love contemporary fiction. A great book for book clubs.

Thanks to Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for the honest review provided here.

I finished A Good Neighborhood last month and I’m still thinking about it all the time. The story was not at all what I was expecting. I love anything dealing with families, but this book tackles a lot more than family drama.
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In a North Carolina neighborhood live Valerie and her son Xavier. When new neighbors, the Whitmans, move in they bring along a lot more than their belongings. These two families will be at odds from the beginning, some of them over small things and of course over bigger issues like the budding romance of their teenagers.
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I don’t want to give too much away because it’s what really made this book binge worthy! I just needed to know what was going to happen. I will say the end really surprised me, I can’t stop thinking about it. This is a great book to discuss, as it deals with race, social class, and what it means to be a neighbor and the consequences of our actions.
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Title: A Good Neighborhood
Author: Therese Anne Fowler
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Oak Knoll is a quality neighborhood—a good neighborhood—in North Carolina. The neighbors know each other and support each other, so when a new house is built and a new family moves in, everyone knows it. The Whitmans have money, fame, and a daughter who’s hiding things.

Brad Whitman likes everyone knowing his name—and controlling everyone he can. Julia Whitman escaped her trailer-house-and-poverty-filled life for the safety of marriage, and she knows Brad was her way out and her key to continued wealth. And Juniper is tired of being labeled a good girl and doing what everyone else thinks is best for her—and she’s intrigued by the cute boy who lives in the house behind them.

Valerie Aston-Holt is an ecology professor and a single parent to her talented biracial son, Xavier. She nurtures Xavier’s talents and her trees with the same devotion, and when the Whitman’s new home threatens the ancient oak on her property, she knows she must act. When she discovers Xavier’s love for Juniper, she knows there will be complications. But even Valerie can’t foresee just how bad those complications will be.
This book made me angry. Angry because I believe this could so easily happen in our culture—and does happen frequently in a society that thinks because racism isn’t blatant and overt, it isn’t real. So, yeah, anger was my main response to this book.

I had a little bit of trouble with the point-of-view here, which was a Greek-chorus style narrator, and made the book feel distant to me. I also didn’t find the portrayal of conservative “Christians” (in the book, a Christian is someone who goes to church, and that is not accurate in the least bit) to be anything short of narrow-minded and biased. I have no doubt that some conservatives attend churches like those portrayed in the novel, but not all Christian churches are like that. In the slightest. And the ones that are, are doing people a grave injustice.

The issues the novel is concerned with are real and troubling and horrible, and this portrayal of them brings them to life and makes them personal. Solid writing, intriguing characters (except Brad), and a read I highly recommend, despite its one-sidedness in certain areas.

Therese Anne Fowler is a bestselling author. A Good Neighborhood is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

During this transition phase, I tend to read books to escape reality. Prior to reading A Good Neighborhood, I read the authors Acknowledgement and wasn’t sure I wanted to spend hours reading a book that would probably slap reality back into my face. It was a challenging, painful, sad and uncomfortable read but one I will surely recommend. I do not wish to add any spoilers but I am very disappointed with the ending especially with so many other solutions.

This sounded like my kind of book but in the end it wasn't. The omniscient point of view didn't work for me -- it was hard to get used to and gave the narration a judgmental, gossipy feel that just wasn't a fit for me as a reader.
Thanks so much for giving me a chance to try this! Since I didn't finish it I won't be posting a review.