Milton and Yvonne Hamilton live next door to Odell and Joyce Watson in Branson. Milton and Yvonne have a checked past, and are now bootleggers. Odell manages Yvonne’s father’s grocery store, they look to have the perfect life and this makes their friends the Hamilton’s jealous!

When Milton and Yvonne are taken in for questioning by the police, they’re furious and determined to find out who filed the false report? When they discover it was their so called friend Odell Watson, they want to make him pay and set about taking him down.

Odell is leading a double life, he’s not the model citizen or husband Joyce thinks he is and the Hamilton’s use this to blackmail him. Odell gets tired of how he’s being treated, he comes up with a plan, it’s a disaster and it backfires. Joyce is the innocent victim in this crazy game of blackmail and deceit.

I received a copy of Across the Way by Mary Monroe from NetGalley and Kensington Books and it’s the third book in The Neighbors Series. It’s hard to keep a secret, greed and violence destroys three lives in this story and Joyce wises up! Three and a half stars from me, and I wish I had read the first two books in the trilogy.

I received this eBook from the publisher via NetGalley.com, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

This is the 3rd book in a series where the story revisited the small town of Branson, Alabama in 1939. The story alternates between Milton and Yvonne Hamilton, and Odell and Joyce Watson, neighbors to one another. Everyone has secrets.

Mary Monroe referenced several things relating to the time period in which the story takes place. One thing I learned about was what “spoonbread” is; a moist cornmeal-based dish prevalent in parts of the Southern United States. It became popular around the turn of the 20th century and has been a mainstay in Virginia and Kentucky kitchens ever since. Although named a "bread", spoonbread is closer in consistency and taste to many savory puddings. This was a fascinating fact for a northerner like me.

This novel was very repetitive in order to refresh the characters and the scenarios in play from the first two novels in the series. The story became very interesting and climatic to me around chapter 37. I was surprised with the outcome and conclusion. otherwise, this was a great end to the series!

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! I highly recommend this book and author to all!

Across the Way is the third and final book in this series. Mary Monroe has done a fabulous job with this book. It may be my favorite of the series. I love the time period, the setting and the development of the characters. I really liked this book.

This book was the last installment of the series. It seemed a bit redundant. I liked the characters but they just kept doing the same idiotic things over and over. I enjoyed the series but it dragged on

With perfect pitch, the author describes the tumult and energy of her characters and the era they lived in. This is my first book by this author but I will be seeking more of her work.
Many thanks to Kensington Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Across the Way by Mary Monroe is the third and final book in her The Neighbors series. The novel is set in the late 1930’s and is told through the alternating points of viewpoints of the main couples, the Hamiltons and the Watsons.

Milton and Yvonne Hamilton are fun-loving, down on their luck bootleggers. They’ve moved one house over from the prosperous, straight-laced Watsons, Odell and Joyce. The disparate couples become friends. Everything would be perfect but for secrets, jealousy, betrayal and revenge.

As usual, Ms. Monroe has done an excellent job and Across the Way is another triumph to add to her repertoire. Enough backstory is provided for the book to read as a standalone. The grammar and dialogue are perfect for the time period and the characters. The characters are vibrant but so flawed they must be real. The ending is truly jaw-dropping. I enjoyed this novel from start to finish and was sad to see the series end. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

My thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

The Depression-era for book/movie/TV settings is one of my top favorite eras to read about- the human spirit that is fighting against every single struggle is just amazing. Across the Way had many twists and turns and frankly, I need to read the first books in this series because this one? It was GOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

Melvin and Yvonne and Odell and Joyce become fast friends. Odell has scheming issues such as blackmailing and bootlegging. Melvin and Yvonne are greedy. What will happen when all they collide? This was an interesting read. I did not know the backstory. This is a series and I will have to go back and read the other books. There were a lot of twists and turns. This story was drama-filled. I have never read this author before but I want to go back and read the others in the series. I love the book cover. I give this a four-star review.

This is the third and final book in the series, and I have to say I felt this was the best one. The couples Milton and Yvonne, Joyce and Odell are still neighbors, but a lot of drama happens and secrets revealed, and I was not expecting it to end like it did. I'm still shocked at what happened. What a surprising and fitting end to this series.

I have been pacing, listening to this audiobook while alternately screaming what!? And “these people are dumb as hell”. I just feel like… Without spoiling anything? People got what they deserved to get.

Fantastic. Great writing, moderate pacing... I missed these characters. Wow

Across the Way is the conclusion to The Neighbors trilogy, and what an end it is! While in some places it does continue with the leisurely, yet suspenseful pace of the first two, there is a lot of action at last, as tensions come to a head between the titular neighbors due to the secrets and blackmail.

And while Milton, Yvonne, and especially Odell have always been shady or scummy, I enjoyed seeing them try to thwart each other, especially when things finally came to a head, fulfilling a promise that had been in place over the course of the series.

And while Joyce has her flaws, I sympathized with her, her somewhat controversial choice in the midst of it, and her conflicting emotions in the aftermath of it all regarding the actions and motives of all three of them. And she finally gets her confrontation with Betty Jean, and while it did not come about in the context I was expecting, I enjoyed it.

This book makes all the drama, repetition, and slow pacing worth it, as it delivers the perfect conclusion with exactly what each of the central characters deserves. If you love books about unlikable characters and nefarious deeds, pick up this series!

There's a lot of drama in this interesting tale of two couples in depression era Alabama. I've read this series from the beginning and had a hard time summoning affection for any of the characters in the previous ones. Milton and Yvonne are the bad guys and Odell and Joyce are meant to be the good ones but those lines aren't always clear (well, Yvonne and Milton are rotten). There are some secrets floating around that will finally bring everything to a head in a way that actually surprised me. I do think you need to have read the earlier ones in order to fully appreciate this. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Received from Net Gallery and this is my review for this 1930's couples who are supposed to be the best of friends and the worse of enemies, but as time goes on you have drama,greed,trusts broken friendships. This is Alabama and you feel the friendship,then you dont! The adventures and drama that these two couples go through it comes across very well. First time reading this author's writing and I did enjoyed the story where I will read more of her works! This story takes you to places you didn't know you were going,the emotions come across the pages so very well ,it suits each character,you do feel them. You will begin to know each of these people and they will be a part of you where you will not forget very easily! As you go through the story you are so surprised by the ending! You don't see that coming!! Very much enjoyed the story and it's a "Must Read" book!

Across the Way, while the writing style was one that would normally keep me interested, I couldn’t connect with the characters. This had nothing to do with how they were presented, but was probably my own personal inability to engage with characters who I dislike and I disliked them all.

This was a good ending to a good series. Lots of drama and issues that were dealt with. The ending was a bit of a shocker but a perfect ending. Do not sleep on this 3 book series. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

don't usually like to read historical romance novels, but this one I really loved and is the best one i read by far. My first Mary Monroe book i read was the God don't like ugly series. i was hooked every since. I am happy that I got the chance to read this one. I mean where else can you get love, drama, and scandal all in one ? Especially when it's set in the 1930s. I look forward to reading more of her books.

I am grateful that both Netgalley and the publishers gave me the chance to read and review these books in exchange for an honest review.