Loved this book from beginning to end. What a great read to start off 2020.

While you read this story, almost a modern day Romeo and Juliet, it will make you think. It will remind all of us the way society views not only race, but the power that the wealth will always carry.

I highly recommend this book, for all type of readers.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this story.

I was not sure what to expect from this book when I requested it on Netgalley. I had a few hunches on where it would go, but it went further than I thought into controversy. I think this will be one of the most talked about books of 2020. The writing is engaging and the characters are easy to relate to. I don't want to give away anything in the plot because it has a twist that is not evident by the synopsis given by the publisher. It's clear when the book starts that the story is heading toward tragedy. Told from several POVs including the neighbors of the main characters. It makes you think about how we are all different and how what people present to the world isn't always who they are behind closed doors.

This is a story of two neighboring families and how their lives intersect and change because of an argument over a tree. This is an engaging story, as animosity grows between the adults while the teens find themselves attracted to one another. It's a story that shows how simple decisions can change the course of one's life. It explores prejudice and racism and is a book that stimulates a lot of thinking.

So many thoughts on this book and in the end, I don't think I loved it. I know the book was based on race and privilege, but the racial stereotypes bugged me. Single black mother raising a son. Single white mother married for money. Older white male was into younger girls. Also, what did that story line really have to do with the rest of the book? I think we could have done without it. Couldn't he have just been a good stepfather who went looking for his step daughter after she didn't come home on curfew or something? But in the end, I guess these things happen. All the negativity and racial biases here happen in real life. But do the stereotypes really need to be written about again? Does this story need to be told? I could have done without it.

As a fan of Therese Anne Fowlers previous books I was surprised by her new title. This time, she isn't retelling the life of a famous woman but creating a new neighborhood. All starts with the arrival of the Whitman family to Oak Knoll, disturbing the life of Valerie and her teenage Boy Xavier. As the unknown narrator says “The stories we as a culture love best, almost always have a villain.” The question here is, who is the villain in this story? Who is the bad neighbor? I didn't like the collective community narrative, as it puts a distance between me the reader and the main characters. Because of this, I never felt close nor particularly cared. Still the story is gripping and I never got bored reading it. The racism didn't feel realistic to me but the religion was beautifully disturbing. A lot in this book felt forced and not natural for me. Nonetheless the story was really gripping and I read it in one go.  I was grateful for the shortness of this piece and do hope her next book will concentrate on a fictional biography again. As this proved I am really fond of her writing.

Oh my broken heart! What a great story. So relevant for today’s racist atmosphere. You know this stuff happens all the time. So frustrating for Xavier not to be able to tell his truth and be heard. Two really great kids who suffer from the sins of an ignorant white man. Well written!

What an amazing read!!! it is my first book by Therese Anne Fowler and I really enjoy her way of telling this great story, I've never read a book written this way and I really enjoy it, it made me feel like I was watching a movie where we get to see every character to evolve and make mistakes even before we knew what was going to happen.

I started reading this book completely blind, without any knowledge of what the story was about and I was so happy that I did it that way. not only I didn't know what was going to happen or where the story was heading, every next page I was breathless and in shock how the things were turning out for Xavier, Juniper and The Whitman's ...

A Good Neighborhood it's the story of the perfect American family trying to build their house and roots based on lies that people around them will never guess. They're the perfect example to society with their fabulous life, the fabulous house, and cars but sooner or later things will begin to fall apart and the truth will show up making this family regret whatever their plans were.

It is a roller coaster of emotions, the things in the Whitman family were so calm and serene at least that's what they wanted to pretend but Juniper was very aware of everything that was going on around her, she was smart and didn't have a nice childhood, she still remember some of the things that happened to her and her mom but she won't stop fighting to rebuild a new life far away from those memories, far away from those who hurt them the most, but not every member of her family has those pure intension and she will find that out the hard way.

A Good Neighborhood is a heartbreaking story, it will take you into an emotional ride with so many scenarios that you won't see them coming, whatever you think is going to happen it won't. the good ones will show their true colors and the "bad ones" will show how much light they had to give and spread to the world.

I have so much to say about this story, it really made me feel so broken at the end but at the same time, it made me think and want to change so many things. it is brutal, it is honest and it will confront you with so many things society has imposed in ourselves but it will leave you with a sense of wanting to do more and understand more.

Amazing book, Amazing characters, Definitely a great book to read.
I Can't wait to read another book by Therese Anne Fowler!!

Picture a beautiful, quiet neighborhood in North Carolina. Valerie Alston-Holt, an African American woman and passionate community leader lives in a small home with her straight A, talented son Xavier. She is an ecology professor at the local university and he has recently been accepted with a scholarship to a prestigious San Francisco conservatory program. In the lot behind them the Whitman family has recently built a magnificent home and to do so destroyed much of the local greenery. The Whitmans are a white family with two lovely daughters, the eldest named Juniper. As an incensed Valerie watches her ancient Oak tree begin to die, her son and Juniper are secretly falling love. It took 75% of this book to set up the characters and lead up to something actually happening. It is narrated by too many voices along with an alternating “we” as if the neighborhood was telling the story. The author tried to highlight an overabundance of subjects at once; racism, love, law, history, nature, suicide, molestation - to name a few. The “we” part, although unique, was ultimately confusing - by the time something happened in this novel I was completely bored, confused and could not wait for it to be over.

My goodness—-this book took my breath away, evoking a plethora of emotions, and bringing me to tears. This is a story that digs deep, revealing layer upon layer of what happens inside the homes in a “good neighborhood”. I was riveted by the story, cleverly told by an omniscient narrator, and I was completely immersed in the lives of the characters. “Start here, please, in communion with one another despite our differences, recognizing that without start there is no end.”

A Good Neighborhood is a book that will keep you up past your bedtime and make you late for work. I loved the character and story development. And the ending- I did not expect it. This is book that will make you feel all the feels and want to look at your own prejudices. I will definitely be recommending A Good Neighborhood to family and friends.

I finished the book and my first thought was WOW! That was an incredible story, although in today’s world it could have easily been non-fiction. This book shines a bright light on the racism that still exists in America today, not as an outside observer, but as someone who knows the players personally. A Good Neighborhood should be required reading in every college freshman literature course. It’s an updated Romeo and Juliet, with just as much love and tragedy. I couldn’t put it down.

What a cataclysmic, heart breaking story of seemingly small moments going terribly awry! A Good Neighborhood is the story of Xavier and Juniper, teens who fall in love over the literal and metaphorical fence in Juniper’s backyard. Many seemingly insignificant choices lead to larger moments and decisions that ultimately demonstrate systemic racism and lead to heartbreak.

From the beginning, the reader is told by the narrator, the neighborhood, that this story regrettably ends with a body being found in the woods. As the tale unfolds, the unfairness of several systems as well as society is highlighted, and as a reader I hoped that the teens would overcome these challenges. A Good Neighborhood is not only the story of Juniper and Xavier, but also the story of the history of racism in our country, and 2 families trying to make good lives for themselves in a “good” neighborhood.

I liked how Therese Fowler chose to tell this story - with the neighborhood as a narrator to these events. This provided a unique perspective to the reader, as an outsider looking in, on the dynamics of the neighborhood and families involved. A Good Neighborhood is a story that will grab you, whirl you around, and leave your heart pounding with the resolution.

Thank you to #StMartinsPress for the early copy!!

I received an arc of A good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler. All opinions are my own.
This book dragged for me in the beginning, partly due to being told by 3rd person. The book is about race, prejudice, family, relationships and so much more. I personally did not care for the ending but it was understandable. Thanks to netgalley, the author and St. Martins press for the opportunity to read this book.

*** 4-4.5 Stars***
Expected Publication: March 10, 2020

This read was a great change of pace for me from my usual psychological thrillers. In an extremely brief overview, as to not ruin any elements, Juniper a rich white girl gets into a relationship with a biracial boy, Xavier, in the neighborhood her family moves into. Xavier's mother is a ecologist and is upset that an oak tree in her yard was damaged by the building work done by Juniper's family, and decides to place a civil lawsuit against them. Now for me, I wasn't jumping out of my seat at this. I was kind of eye rolling and kept saying "how is everyone rating this 5 stars"
There's also this extremely creepy dynamic between Juniper and her step-father Brad throughout the story that I feel most people didn't mention in their reviews, so be forewarned!

So this started slow for me as the characters were being developed but it really paid off when things started spirally quickly. This is a book that tackles some difficult topics in the world today and I think this would be a great discussion book for a book club.
There is also one different thing to mention, the narrator of this story is a third person view that kind of talks you through the story and asks you how you are feeling about things... it felt weird to me at the beginning but as it continued I started to enjoy it. It was like we were looking in on the story together. Again, really helped think about the story and gave it that book club discussion vibe.
This book is just real, felt honest, with no fairy tale endings. This will be a story I will never forget, highly recommend and expect to see this as a top read for 2020.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So many recent books attempt to achieve what A Good Neighborhood has mastered. This is the story of those who will do whatever it takes to stay in power, those that choose to bury their head in the sand so they can continue to benefit from the power guilt-free, those that observe the power dynamics but choose not to involve themselves, and those that never had power to begin with but whose very presence create a fear of the loss of power. This story was told beautifully through multiple lens that are representative of everyday society. I'm sure there will be some Julia's who read this story with their head in the sand and see the story as far-fetched. But there is no need to suspend belief in any part of the telling of this story. And if you are looking straight ahead with eyes wide open this story has the potential to knock you square in the chest. Get ready.

I had difficulty getting into this novel. I have put it aside, perhaps to return to it some day, perhaps not. I appreciate the excellent writing and the change in voices, but the story just never grabbed my attention. Clearly others don’t share my opinion and I hope readers will take more satisfaction from the title than do I.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Whitman family moves into their newly built home in a tight-knit, established community. Their next door neighbours are single mother, Valerie Alston-Holt, a professor of forestry and ecology, and Xavier, her biracial gifted eighteen-year-old son. Other than sharing a property line, the families have little in common.

At first, the nouveaux-riche Whitmans appear to be a family with traditional values. Brad, the father, is a local celebrity with his charming commercials for his booming HVAC company. He also stepped up to raise Juniper, his wife's (secretly troubled) teenage daughter. But Brad's public persona is quite the opposite to his private one, and he's got secrets of his own.

Brad and Valerie become embroiled in a legal battle over the oak tree in Valerie's yard that is dying as a result of the Whitman's new build and Juniper and Xavier's romance fuels the fight between her stepfather and his mother. This cautionary tale builds to an incredible, tragic climax that negotiates its way through topics of race and race and racism, class and gentrification, sex and sexual violence, and the environment.

This explosive novel takes place in a "good neighbourhood." Fowler skewers the plot with topics of race, class, and love. Even though the tragedy that ensues has been heavily foretold, what unfolds is nothing short of remarkable. Her narrative is layered and intricate with blame and consequence woven in. Fowler skewers the plot with topics of race, class, and love.

What I found most intriguing was how Fowler used the third person omniscient narrator—the neighbourhood—and occasionally breaks the third wall. This type of narrator brings forth some awesome truths, offers foreshadowing, and keeps the reader's interest.

My only criticisms are, that the story did take a while to get moving, and the relationship between Zay and Juniper was not fleshed out enough to be believable.

Thanks to Therese Anne Flowler, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. A Good Neighborhood tackles very difficult topics, specifically racial prejudice, and I think largely succeeds in handling those topics with nuance and sensitivity.

Having said that, I didn’t love this novel. It started well, with interesting, well-drawn characters, but it took a long time to get going and then everything wrapped up VERY fast. It would have been nice to see some growth, redemption — something, as a result of the horrible things that happened in the story, but there seemed to be very little/none of that. Finally, I found the device of the unspecified neighbor “narrators” very distracting and ultimately, annoying. I’m not sure why that choice was made by the author, but every time the narrator intruded into the story, it took me out of the spell of the novel.

While there were things about this book that I didn’t love, I very much liked Fowler’s writing style. I look forward to reading her next novel.

Oh wow. This is a much more powerful book than I expected when I started reading. The last quarter is tough, very tough, to read. And if I’m being honest, the strong emotions I was feeling made me have to skim a bit towards the end. It’s just so hard to read with the knowledge that though this is a work of fiction, these biases and prejudices are ripe in our world. There are hundreds of factual news stories that parallel this fictional one. This books exposes exactly how law abiding black men can get imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit, explains white privilege in a non-abstract, concrete way you’ve never seen before, and will subsequently horrify you. It’s an important book. Books like this one are why people who read are more empathetic, more action-driven for positive change, and more outspoken for those that don’t have a voice. Don’t expect to read this and stay the same person you were before reading.

Wow! What a great book. Starting with the narration and who tells the story. The characters are fantastic and you’ll root for them, hate them, and be heartbroken by them. I loved this book and cannot wait for the release for everyone to read it. Would make a fantastic book club book