Great story! I was a little thrown off by the narrator type person, I wasn't fond of that. But, all in all a really good story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read it, netgalley.

"Valerie understood that while her son did and always would hold her heart in his hands, the fact of being a parent was that her son’s heart was and must be reserved for someone else."

There's so much to say about this book. So much I liked and so much I didn't like. I thought a lot about how I should rate it and what it meant to me. I read this book in one sitting, and found myself attached to most of the characters and caring deeply about where it was going even as I knew it was going to be a train wreck of a book. Even as I knew I was being manipulated as a reader. I still couldn't put it down. The writing was beautiful and compelling and I decided it deserved a high rating just for that.

There's a lot going on in this book. Some of it felt completely unnecessary. I felt the author went more stereotypical and villain that I would have liked for some of the characters. It oversimplified the story and didn't do justice to the complexity of racial issues and how they are there even when the person isn't a totally disgusting person. There were hints of that as the neighborhood reacted to everything and there were some glimpses of that but overall I think the book made things too black and white and too preachy. My biggest beef was with Brad. There was just nothing redeemable about him in the book. There were glimpses to how nice he was being to Lily but it just wasn't enough. Also I felt like the ending felt a bit rushed and didn't really feel true to character, especially with Julia.

I did fall in love with Valerie and Xavier though and this book broke my heart in all the ways it was meant to.

with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

This was an incredibly moving story of love and loss, complete with a modern Greek chorus. As the story picked up speed, I struggled to put it down, even as I could see the calamity approaching. Amazing, heartbreaking, thought provoking. All the stars.

Hmmm...this was really the tale of two books for me. The first part was okay. While the book drifted along, there was just not enough action or drama for my tastes. However, it really picked up in the second part and I couldn’t wait to finish it to see how it all played out. There was a complete surprise to me ending.

4.5 stars - rubbing elbows with 5 ⭐️

A well written and believable plot line, even in this day and age. I won’t go into the details of the plot line as you most likely will have read that first before reading reviews. Suffice it to say that this is an engrossing and immersive read. It will capture your attention right off the bat, and fill you with hope, wonder and admiration for those that are willing to do what it takes to right a wrong. In the process it fills ones heart with rage at the injustices, simultaneously breaking your heart for the young, so innocent, hopeful and helpless. The character development is awesome and has the reader right there with them.

We all realize that there are still racial divides, as well as classes of people with boundaries some dare not cross. If a courageous and talented young man like Xavier can risk everything good in his life… the consequences of following his heart, then he can choose to live with those consequences, or not. A haunting tale that will stick with you long after the last page is turned.

So good, and yet so sad... I will be thinking of this one for some time and it will go on my favorites shelf. My thanks to the publishers via NetGalley for a digital pre-release copy and for the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion of this work.

Pick up your copy at your favorite retailer March 10, 2020

This story is narrated by the neighbors of the two households involved in this story. These two households backyards meet and one family is a well to do white family in an extravagant new build and the other is a black woman and her biracial son in an older modest ranch. Each home contains a teenager that eventually have a relationship with each other.
We are told on this on the very first page — “Later this summer when the funeral takes place, the media will speculate boldly on who's to blame."
Such injustice in this book that enraged me.. this novel embodies class, race, love, tragedy.. among other topics very timely right now.
It was a very good read!

Thank you to St Martin’s Press through Netgalley for the ARC!

Oh my goodness! This was insanely brilliant, thought provoking, heartbreaking and just purely stunning! This definitely goes on my ‘best ever’ book list. The story is timely and very believable. Two young people fall in love, but one is black. They have kept it secret for a while knowing the reaction that will come from their families. There is so much more to this story, it is simply amazing and I do not feel I can give any more away. The ending is heartbreaking but this story will stay with you for a long time, and so it should.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to really like this book, and I did, for the most part. This seems incredibly shallow, but I was SO put off by the "narration" by the neighbor hood. It was annoying as hell, and just about the time I got over it and got back into the actual heart of the book, "they" were back to annoy the crap out of me again. I'm sure the author thought it would be a new little quirk that would make the book stand out, and I suppose it did, but for me it was for all the wrong reasons. I also struggled with the characters. Brad and Julia were just NOT at all likable. I'm sure that was the point, but since the book took so long to get to the true heart of the storyline, it just forced me to struggle through about 200 pages of disgust for two of the main characters.

On the good side, I liked Zay and Juniper. I thought the author handled the prejudice storyline well. I was satisfied with the final ending and wrap up. So if the style of the narration doesn't bother you as much as it did me, this was a pretty decent book.

Foreshadowing began with the opening sentences, narrated in a voice that brought to mind Rod Serling introducing a Twilight Zone episode, setting up the story.

A girl sitting beside a swimming pool behind her newly built home. The neighbor boy welcoming her to the neighborhood. A typical day in a typical good neighborhood, upscale and friendly, a place where women gather for book clubs and teenagers can safely run in the local park.

But underneath the 'tenuous peace' simmers the possibility of fracture, the conflict of class and money and race and values. For some, conspicuous wealth is the goal. For another, environmental concerns are primary.

And probing deeper, there are secret desires and blooming love and the blindness we hold on to for self-protection.

Lives will be destroyed.

Xavier was good looking, a National Honor Student. He had won a scholarship to study classical guitar. He was also biracial. His white father died tragically. His mother Valerie was a professor whose hobby was more than 'gardening', it was environmental restoration and preservation. She was especially proud of the towering oak tree in her back yard.

The oak tree whose roots had been harmed when the house behind was torn down and replaced with a showcase McMansion.

New girl Juniper never knew her dad. Her mom Julia struggled before she lucked out, catching the attention of a self-made man with a lucrative business. Brad Whitman set 'his girls' up in a sweet deal of a life. But Brad's easy-going charm hid his motivation of self-interest and sick obsessions.

Valerie includes Julia into the neighborhood while Xavier and Juniper discover friendship is turning into something more.

Valerie cannot allow development to destroy the environment--she must make a stand and decides on a lawsuit. Juniper doubts the Purity Pledge her parents shepherded her into taking and secretly meets Xavier. She knows something is wrong with her dad's attentions but Brad justifies his obsession and plots ways to take action.

I will tell you this: the culmination will make you shudder and you will cry.

A Good Neighborhood is a reflection of the social turmoil of our time.

I had to consider my own 'good neighborhood,' a two-square-mile city highly rated on lists, with quick selling properties, a safe neighborhood. A predominately white neighborhood with a small demographic of foreigners and split in half politically. A city that voted out a mayor who used tax money to dig up dirt on her opponent and fired long-time city workers who would not cooperate with her plans.

And yet...every tree-lined avenue may shade secrets.

I received access to a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Such a compelling story. Things like this just don’t happen in a fog neighborhood. As the story unfolded, I could begin to envision the end. At the same time, I desperately wanted to be wrong. I feel the book starts slowly but I couldn’t put it down once I got going.

I just finished A Good Neighborhood, and I am unwell. Wow.

I read 225+ books this year. Most of them were enjoyable. Very few of them induced this "wow" feeling (e.g., The Nickel Boys; Ask Again, Yes; Catch and Kill).

A Good Neighborhood starts off as a slow suburban drama set in a desirable neighborhood in North Carolina. In so doing, it completely takes the reader by surprise in the last 25%. And yet...in retrospect, one might feel as if none of it should have been a surprise.

The characterization felt a bit stereotypical at times, but I completely bought it. I really liked the "Greek chorus" vibe of the narrator(s). There are strong themes that can be discussed with book clubs for days - indeed, I'm eager to talk this one through with friends.

To any NetGalley users who happen to view this review prior to reading the book - Please note several trigger warnings. I'm leaving them off this review, as they're potential spoilers, but I will include them under the spoiler tag on Goodreads.

(Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this e-arc, and St. Martin's Press and Libro.fm for an ALC - I traded off between the text and audio)

In an affecting story that could have been ripped from the headlines, Fowler examines contemporary life rife with the tensions of race, class, and sex. Professor of ecology and forestry Valerie Alston-Holt and her gifted biracial son Xavier live in the quiet, old neighborhood of Oak Knoll in North Carolina. Just as Valerie is coming to terms with the prospect of empty nest syndrome when Xavier leaves for college in the fall, the peaceful environment of their lives is disrupted by the nouveau riche Whitman family who build a McMansion and pool next door.

The Whitmans are a blended family with a complex structure. Brad is a rags-to-riches, successful businessman while Julia is grateful to live a life of luxury after her early life of poverty and teen motherhood. Her daughter Juniper has embraced the traditional lifestyle of her parents, right down to taking a purity vow at the instigation of her church and parents. Her little half sister Lily has never known the uncertainties of Juniper's early life; now family life seems solid and certain - until the family moves into Oak Knoll. When Juniper meets Xavier, teenage romance sparks, threatening the newly made relationship between the Whitman and Alston-Holt neighbors.

Told in chapters with different viewpoints, the very first paragraph makes clear that a tragedy is about to unfold. A Romeo and Juliet romance complicated by issues of race and class and an arrogant stepfather's obsession with his stepdaughter make for an explosive situation. Ulltimately, Fowler's novel proves an indictment of racial injustice in our society. Book groups will find much to discuss in this eminently readable book.

#AGoodNeighborhood #NetGalley

Books about trees have been having a moment and a tree is central to this story. “You might not think a tree could mean so much to a person. This tree, though, was more than a magnificent piece of arboreal history...” Also interesting in this book is a narrative voice that represents the collective neighborhood and the underlying question of what makes a neighbor good.

Opening sentences: “An upscale new house in a simple old neighborhood. A girl on a chaise beside a swimming pool, who wants to be left alone. We begin our story here, in the minutes before the small event that will change everything.” Doesn’t that make you want to read on to find out what is going to happen? This book is so well done that you should clear a few hours when you sit down to read it.

There are teens who find a strong attraction for one another but race could be a complicating factor in their North Carolina community. She took a purity pledge at 14 and he’s about to leave for college all the way across the country. Old money, new money; development vs conservation; secrets that fester; and wrongs that can’t be set right, so many disparate pieces of information all added together in the hands of this masterful storyteller make for a totally engrossing read.

Thank you to @macmillanusa for this #advancereaderscopy.

In the love literature Gods, what an incredible, tasteful gem I just read! This is epic! This is masterpiece! This is surprising! I loved everything about it and I’m sure it’s gonna be most anticipated and highly recommended fictions of 2020!

Please stop singing Mr. Roger’s epic song: “It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood, would you be my, could you be my? Won't you be my neighbor?” because this book is nothing about good neighboring. It is about tangled, complex situations and their eventual consequences.

You love to travel to the South to take a quick break at beautiful suburban houses, friendly people, genuineness, friendliness, respectful and exampled families that you may root for. So yes, it started like a dream is coming true. Oak Knoll is heaven of NC, a splendid suburb with its lovely people. Who doesn’t want to solve his kidneys to live there? But wait a minute… Is that a drilling sound? Rrrrrrrr… Does somebody start to build a mall across the street? Oh, thank God! No! Keep calm. Just new neighbors moved to your next door.

Valerie Alston-Holt, African-American woman, raises her son Xavier (he is biracial) by herself and considers herself lucky because she is living in this peaceful neighborhood, a wonderful house fits with her own expectations. And Xavier is a musical prodigy. He is hard worker, respectful son who takes his duties very serious. But when Whitman family moves to their next door, their peaceful life will be shattered into the pieces.

Brad is the jerk and rich father of the family, making tons of money from air conditioning and heating business ( unfortunately those two adjectives can be often used to describe a same person) and his wife Julia, their girls Lily (little one), Juniper (sarcastic, problematic one) are the other members. Only Julia is too friendly, raised in a trailer park and now she is happy about their new wealthy condition and wants to enjoy the whole benefits, making friends in the neighborhood.

At first everything looks safe and sound. But their teenagers’ romantic involvement will change many things.

I don’t want to give spoilers but this book is a quiet crazy train ride. When you learn more about the way of
thinking Brad and other characters’ back stories, motives, actions, you get shaken and say several times: “Oh no! I didn’t see this coming!”

So this is surprisingly provocative, unconventional, exciting book. And I repeat it again: I didn’t read much 2020’s upcoming fiction books but I’m so adamant to say this gem earned a place at my top ten list.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for choosing me to share this amazing ARC COPY. And I have to congratulate Therese Anne Fowler for creating this remarkable, unique work.

Some fun and delicious moments in this novel about neighbors. But, there are some distractions in the narrative that made it not flow smoothly for me.

Therese Anne Fowler has constructed a superb and engrossing novel with A Good Neighborhood. Utterly compelling and timely read!

Wow! You know something big will happen when you start this book, you just don’t know what! There’s so much to discuss in this book based on what you bring to the table. Race, class, religion... it touches on all of them. I loved the third person point of view in this book which brings you in and holds you captive.

Oak Knoll is a good neighborhood in North Carolina. Valeria fell in love with her house the second she and Tom saw it, and she knew she would raise her son Xavier there. Things go awry when Brad and his family purchase the house next door and bulldoze it to build their mansion. They cut down every tree in their yard, and the digging they did damaged the roots to Valeries favorite tree in her yard, which is now slowly dying. Not to mention, Brad immediately takes Xavier for hired help and treats him as such. Can their parents dislike for one another keep Xavier and Brad’s stepdaughter Juniper apart though?

I loved this book. I was immediately drawn in and couldn’t wait to find out what happened. I loved the third person narration from the “town.” I thought it was so well done and it added extra interest to the story, as well as making the book unique. Both Juniper and Xavier were wonderful characters, meanwhile I wanted to smash Brad’s head in for most of the book. Halfway through this one I immediately sent a message to some friends asking who had read it because I needed to discuss. Sadly none of them have read it yet so I will stew in my need to chat for now!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book. I enjoyed it for many reasons, as there was much to like (and dislike) about the characters, the provocative issues, the stetting and the style of writing. As a resident of North Carolina it was particularly interesting to read about the progression of the neighborhood and its neighbors. I loved the third person narrative as a neighbor and while I guessed how this ended it didn't lessen the blow. I recommend this book!

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5

A neighborhood, just like any neighborhood in the US. Different personalities, different races, age old problem. This book will make you think, look at things from a different perspective, and ultimately break your heart. The characters are likable, deplorable, opinionated, single minded, one sided, entitled.

The Whitman’s, Brad, a local minor celebrity and Julia, former single Mom and Brad’s former receptionist, along with Julia’s teenage daughter Juniper and their daughter, Lily, move into the coveted Oak Knoll neighborhood in North Carolina. Next door is widow and environmental activist, Valerie Alston-Holt who is raising her biracial son, Xavier. Brad builds a large home in the neighborhood. Valerie’s beautiful, old tree is starting to die. She is positive that Brad has used his money to cut thru red tape at nature’s expense. What starts as an environmental issue, escalates when the two teenagers are strongly attracted to each other.

This book starts going down one storyline, then subtly changes and turns. I loved Ms. Fowler’s writing, and especially enjoyed the narrative thrown in by ‘the neighborhood’. I highly recommend this book, chocked full of current hot topics. Would bring up lively discussions in a book club.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.


Will post review to Amazon and Barnes and Noble on pub date.