“We all, regardless of the color of our skin, are bound by a moral duty to demand equal and just treatment for all women and men under the law."
I was so caught up In the storytelling of this novel, I could not stop reading!
The blending of this emotional novel with so many serious topics, is truly amazing and had my brain trying to figure out ways to help both families and thinking of them all long after I read the last page.
It is well done!
How can things go so wrong for two teens who live next door to each other and eventually fall in love?
Both Juniper and xavier are model students and well respected in their community. But… one is biracial which still causes a deep mistrust by many. Why?
Should we only look with our eyes? Who is not to be trusted in this neighborhood?
“We’ll start here."

Ten stars!!

What a poignant book. This compelling story will stir your emotions and make you question your train of thought. It reaches a part in your heart that you can't ignore. A story that I hated to love. I had a hard time not rushing to the end. The characters were well depicted and the story line was captivating. I enjoyed the way the story was told, more of from an outside, neighborly perspective with switch backs to the person telling the story. Great book.

This story blew me away, what I was expecting from the story and what happen just threw me. I loved how the detail of the character started building the suspense of the story both by making the character vulnerable and creating an assumption about them. When I first started the story I thought that the trouble was just going to involve a tree, and then I thought that the trouble was going to come from the step father desires and then when the trouble came I thought I knew what was going to happen to Xavier, because there were a lot of clues that made me think that the story was going to be typical and I fell for the stereotype description of the characters but it came out different and even though it was still sad the ending was a lot better than and I thought.

Sad story about how easily situations can spiral out of control. The author brings in a wide range of issues like racial prejudice, the legal system, ecology, teenage sexuality, neighborhood dynamics and incest--lots of food for thought.

This book is an intriguing read. It's based around two very different families. The storyline was captivating and kept my attention.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC. I should not complain that this book was predictable, because that is why I signed up for it to begin with. I liked the premise, new neighbors move in, change everything and cut down the trees allegedly damaging the roots of the tree next door. The lady next door sews them and they manage to stage a counter move to stop her suit. (Don't want to give the details away). Moral of the story: Good fences make good neighbors.

This is a great book, I loved the character development of each of the characters. However the third person comments I found to be quite strange. I feel it really took away from the quality of the writing.

Here's the setting; you have a quiet small town neighborhood in North Carolina, some original ranch houses and some mcmansions being built when houses are razed. In the original ranch house, you have a single mom, who is black, raising her now 18 year old son. The house behind them, their backyards bordering each other, is a self-made wealthy business man, white, with his wife and daughters, ages 17 and 9(?). What unfolds is the story of these families in a good neighborhood, or is it? I really enjoyed the telling of this story and the character development. Parts of this made me really angry and sad because it's quite believable that people like this exist. Once you get involved in their lives, it's hard to put this one down. #agoodneighborhood #netgalley. Watch for this one, February 2020 Pub date!

What a book! It was gripping, emotional, timely, and so so well written. This one is going on my best of shelf for this year, for sure.
We are introduced to a nice, quiet neighborhood with modest homes. When a new neighbor comes in and remodels to create a grand mansion, essentially destroying a 200 year old oak tree from the neighbor's yard due to the huge root system, the beginning of the end starts. An illicit relationship between daughter and neighbors' son begins, which adds to the mounting tensions and results in tragedy.
I cried, I smiled, and this is definitely one that will stay with me for a long while.

A Good Neighborhood is an interesting read. It centers around two very different families. I do not usually read this genre but I found this book very interesting and important for this day and age. You never know what goes on in ‘good neighborhoods’.

A Good Neighborhood is a contemporary family drama that explores some important themes throughout by way of two families living next to each other. This is a novel that will make you think. Themes of race, class, the justice system, love, religion, and sexual assault are all explored. Readers who enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere will want to get their hands on A Good Neighborhood. Highly recommended!

The Good Neighborhood is an engrossing and relevant novel. Though it is fiction, the situation that is depicted is one that is all too familiar in today's climate (in more ways than one). Following Valerie and her son, Xavier, the novel discusses the disruption to the environment (both physical and emotional) that occurs when a new, wealthy and white, family builds a home and moves into their neighborhood. Tackling the heavy issues of both racism and destroying nature, The Good Neighbor is an important but also enjoyable read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel.

Compelling family drama (with a lovely cover)that touches on many hot button issues of our time. I have no doubt that this will be a hit in the same vein as "Little Fires Everywhere."

In some respects the author expertly plays upon our existing knowledge of how unjust the world can be. She know that WE know...that brown boys are never treated the same by the justice system as white boys, that purity balls can imply a creepy sort of ownerships over a girl's body by the men in their lives, that women who have no power may be tempted to look the other way when they observe unsettling behavior by men who have loads of it. She gently leads us down a path where we can predict with some certainty how thing will play out, but are so enchanted by the storytelling that we still follow along anyway.

I think one of the strengths of this book is its villain--Brad, a rich, entitled douche-bro who sets off a domino-like series of events that ultimately harms everyone around him. I liked that this book wasn't afraid to dive deep into Brad's brain so we could really get to know his motivations. You can see that from his twisted, privileged perspective how he justifies his behavior and finds no fault in it. This is the type of villain many of us have encountered in real life--the type of person who doesn't seem overtly evil, who maybe even is championed by some in his community, but is just as damaging to other people's lives as the criminals we see on the news.

My least favorite part of this book was the Greek chorus of neighbors. I think it was an interesting artistic choice to make "the good neighborhood" a character in and of themselves. Unfortunately, for me personally, this choice interrupted the momentum of the story and took me out of it. Lines like this: "He was no slacker, which came as no surprise to Juniper of any of us," continually threw me for a loop.

I think anyone reading this book can suspect that things might not end happily ever after for all of the characters. Having a chorus foreshadow this reality throughout the book just seemed like overkill.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this unputdownable book!
It was a great and emotional read. The characters were realistic. The plot was gripping. Run, do not walk, out to get this fab book.
Thank you NetGalley.

What a beautiful, eloquent, and meandering tale that is so reflective and realistic of today’s environment. Therese Anne Fowler has brought to life poignant and powerful characters; some you can relate to, some you want to avoid, whose paths cross when they become neighbors in a well-established older neighborhood.
When the new neighbors immediately raze the older home and all the beautiful and stately green vegetation on their lot and then build an angular architect’s statement that doesn’t blend in at all, tongues start wagging. One protagonist of the story is the unified voice of the neighbors, an interesting and powerful aspect of this gossip-riddled novel; a voice and entity you never actually meet, but a much-needed perspective on the tangled web of events.
I absolutely love novels like this; written with so much emotion and heart, I wonder what personal events has the author suffered or witnessed in order to portray such human faults and angst. This is not a quick and shallow read. It will haunt you well after the last page.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks so much to Jordan at St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for making it available.)

A Good Neighborhood is the perfect mix of informing and entertaining. When the Whitman family moves to Oak Knoll neighborhood it is clear that they have everything they want and then some. Their arrival starts a domino effect of disasters occurring throughout the neighborhood. Now mix in a little bit of love, a little bit of want, race, wealth, and justice. When will it end? And who will be at risk?

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and author Therese Anne Fowler for this ARC!

This book touched on several topics pulled from today's headlines...racial, gender....ending surprises me. Told in interesting point of view from the future. Hated the father from the very beginning. Love story was doomed

I liked the young couple in this book. They were a good fit. I suspected the stepfather of being a creep. The virginity promise ceremony was too creepy. I was surprised at how he tracked her. Xavier was my favorite character. He was a great son, talented musician, and destined for fame. What happened to him was so unfair. He had no chose but to do what he did in the end. His future, hopes and dreams had been taken away.

This was a pretty good book! I enjoyed reading my ARC, and it was a fast read and easy to understand and great characters! Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy this new author and I highly recommend this to everyone.

In a departure from her most recent novels, which have been historical fiction, Fowler turns to the present day in A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD. The first page immediately draws the reader in and we are treated to a gripping and immensely satisfying story. In a world struggling with racial injustice and violence, the answers don't come easily. Experiencing this drama right alongside the well-drawn characters provides for an immersive and compelling reading experience. This might be Fowler's most successful novel yet. Can't wait for her next!