June lives contentedly in her idyllic estate, with her children, cat, and peaceful garden. She has good neighbors and a quiet street-what more can she ask for?

When a new neighbor begins renting a house, she immediately suspects Steve. He is loud, takes up lots of space with cars, and has a criminal past. As her daughter gets involved with Steve, she grows increasingly wary of him. Steve's property manager Jim McCann initially seems nice to June, but as time goes on, she can't quite figure him out.

When June's closest neighbor is brutally murdered, she knows that something is wrong with all of these changes in her neighborhood-she needs to put her finger on it.

This book was a good read, although I did struggle reading it for a bit. At first, I thought it was because of the book's pace, but then I realized that it was just uncomfortable to read watching June get gaslit by almost everyone in the story. Although, as I was wrapping up with the book, the story's pace felt very deliberate, so I am not mad about the pace.

The Perfect Home is every homeowner’s nightmare. What if you loved your house, your neighbors, your neighborhood, and then one day the neighbor from hell moved in. What would you do? Talk nicely to them? Talk to their landlord? Get the cops involved? June, a divorced mother of two has had it with all the goings on in the neighborhood, but the last straw is when her daughter becomes involved with her neighbor. She’s determined to get some background information on several of the new people in the neighborhood, and when she does, she’s like a momma bear protecting her cubs.

The story was filled with clichés from multiple characters (“keeping his cards very close to his chest” and make hay while the sun shines”) and the ending was fairly easy to predict, but it was a fun little romp and a quick read.
Thanks to NetGalley, Inkubator Books, and the author for an advance reader’s copy.

The Perfect Home focuses mainly on June, a single mother. The threads of a psychological thriller are woven throughout this book, and it makes the reader feel almost helpless to assist June whilst she is subjected to a wide range of gaslighting. The Perfect Home keeps you guessing throughout the story, drawing readers in from the start.

This is the first book I read from this author and I’ve really enjoyed it. The plot is very engaging and the characters believable. I would recommend this book book for everyone that is looking for a fast read psychological thriller.

This was a great story. It was well thought out with some twists and turns..definitely what you want in a thriller! June is a single mom with the same problems a lot of us have.. an ex husband with no responsibility, a job and a house to maintain, and older kids who know everything and are sure they're already grown. When someone new moves onto her street in her quiet neighborhood, strange things start happening. Who is behind it? Will it stop? These were the questions I asked myself throughout the novel. The author does a great job with the ending...I won't say more than that! If you enjoy a good thriller mystery, this book is for you. It was a quick read. I couldn't wait to get to the end to see who the bad guy was!

I will say I was confused for at least the first half of the book as to where it was set. I did not read anything about the author (my fault, totally!) before starting the book. Some of the turns of phrase made me think maybe it was set in the UK, but as an American reader, I just wasn't sure. I'm used to the author setting the scene pretty quickly at the beginning of the story. However, it did become clear towards the end that it is set in Ireland and a lot of things made much more sense to me after that! I also felt like there wasn't a lot of description of places other than the house and street. Certainly that is where the story occurs, but it seemed slightly strange that no other place was detailed..not a coffee shop where she meets with coworkers, not her place of work, not the police station. The story placed June in those places, but no descriptions were made.

I did enjoy this book. It made me want to get to finish the story to see who did it! I definitely recommend!

The description sounded very good but the book was just so slow and I couldn't get into the story Sorry this one isn't for me

A standard domestic noir, it's not dark or edge of your seat stuff.... more annoying neighbours and everyday niggles really! I did fly through it in an afternoon and it did keep me guessing regarding who was behind it all. Its nothing to wrote home about but it's still an enjoyable way to pass a few hrs. I found it flowed well and had enough incidents and questions to keep me reading so I could find out what was going on. I'd say it's worth a read

June is put off when numerous weird incidents start happening – the garbage bins being set on fire, a snake loose in her house, and her car alarm going off. However, everything escalates when her neighbour is murdered, and June realizes these incidents are all connected.

The synopsis and the cover lead you to believe this will be a great psychological thriller, but it is entirely disappointing. Why? First off, I was very put off by the authors writing immediately. The flow is strange, and there are random paragraphs included that have nothing to do with anything. Whenever I read, I see what’s happening like a movie, but I was unable to do that with this book because the writing was so off. Now I pushed through because I really wanted to know what the big twist was, but guess what? There is absolutely no twist, and the book literally tells you who is doing everything. This book also rips off the plot from “When No One Is Watching”.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review. This was a quick read. Nothing pulsy or racy but kept me entertained

A neighborhood changes quickly, and not for the better, in The Perfect Home. The story line itself of neighbors driven to sell by what may be some sort of organized plot or just the undesirable loud new residents is powerful. It’s obvious that there is something going on. The reader is drawn in quickly to main character June’s unease and suspicions. There are many characters who could be responsible. The plot is fast paced and the conclusion is a surprise.

The problem here are the characters. June herself is a judgmental doormat. Her children, Cathy and Sam, are spoiled and unlikeable. Cathy is especially cruel to her mother. Nick, the ex-husband who left June for her best friend, is a weaselly man who still expects total access to his former home and home made meals (prepared by June, of course). The children are old enough to understand that their father is living with another woman by choice but they still take his side in every argument. Jim McCann and Steve Murray round out the list of unlikeable.

I’m giving this book 4 stars. I really like the concept and the plotting. If there had been one character that I could identify with or feel sorry for this would have been a 5 star book.

An interesting suburban whodunnit- perhaps a little bit slow at the beginning. Personally, I like diving deeply into a character's day-to-day life. This would probably work for you if you are into the same kind of book.

This one was just barely o.k. for me. June is separated from her husband and living with her two grown, spoiled, and mouthy-ass kids that I just wanted to strangle from beginning to end. A noisy neighbor moves onto the street fixing up cars and playing music and everyone gets made about it. Then June's cheating, deadbeat ex starts hanging around all of the time making things even more nonsensical. But when her neighbor is murdered, June really starts wondering what is going on and decides to play an arm-chair detective.

June was about as unlikeable as a character could be, not because of how her kids and ex and most everyone else disliked her, but because she had no spine. Her two children, Cathy and Sam, should have been thrown out to fend for themselves because they were the most disrespectful and entitled brats that I have ever had the displeasure of reading about. Then her cheating ex-husband Nick comes along wanting a key to the house so he can get a cup of tea throughout the day while he does gardening for the neighbors. I was done at this point.

Why did I finish it? I had a dentist appointment today and they were running over an hour behind.

I knew who was behind everything fairly early on and there were no real surprises. I would normally say I will forget this book within a few days, but unfortunately, the awful, selfish, spoiled characters will haunt me for a while. I cringe at the thought of ever treating my parents the way June's kids treated her, or even worse if my own adult children would have ever treated me that way. Please God I hope those awful children aren't a reflection of the author's actual home life.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Inkubator Books and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

June was hard to find likable, imo. As was the book. It was predictable and the characters were truly grating.

June loves her home, garden and peaceful neighbourhood, that is until a new neighbour moves in who is noisy and has a criminal background, and worst of all, seems very interested in June's daughter. Her son is also being secretive, and her ex-husband is being a nuisance. When someone gets murdered, June realises that things are much worse than she thought, and that she may be in danger...

A brilliant, well-written thriller that keeps you turning the pages until the shocking conclusion. I loved this book and am glad to have discovered Kevin Lynch!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book in return for my honest feedback.

I liked the description of this book, but at 15% not much has happened except that the new neighbor who seems rather unpleasant has moved in and I've had a description of every day's dinner. Too slow-moving for me, I'm afraid.

Good lord, these characters. June, the POV, is a single mom and apparently, A judgemental shrew. Maybe she should pay closer attention to her kids instead of her new neighbor just trying to be a mechanic because they're in all kinds of trouble and stupidity.

Things in this story are strange. A terrible thing happens but never really gets resolved, instead, it's just miraculously okay and then the characters move onto the next thing.

This is a slow burn. Like crawling with two busted arms slow. And the ending? Predictable from miles away.

Thank you to the author and to netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. I really enjoyed it and I read it all in one day. June , the main character in this book is a single mother of two college aged children. She keeps to herself and gardens most of the time , but then a new neighbor named Steve moves in across the street. He is a nusiance and keeps his music blaring and fills the sidewalk and his lawn with cars . When her daughter Cathy becomes involved with him things get even more tense. He says a bunch of rude things and almost seems to threaten June. Then things get crazier on the street and within June's household . Her son Sam is arrested but claims he's innocent But we are left to wonder who is responsible . Is it June's ex husband , the realtor Mr McCann, Steve ? There are tons of twist and turns in this story keeping you wanting to keep reading well into the night. The ending wasn't what I expected at all. I'd definately recommend this book to others and look forward to reading more by this author .

Mystery surrounds The Perfect Home and it's one book you are going to love to read. Great job! Can't wait to read more from this author in the future.

***Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book prior to the publication date in return for an honest review***

Summary:

“Judy lives a nice & quiet life on her suburban street tending to her two grown children & her beautiful garden. One day the neighbor from hell moves in. Steve. He’s loud, messy, & is making very suggestive moves on Judy’s daughter Cathy. Needless to say, Judy’s not a fan. Soon very strange & sinister things start occurring such as car fires, concrete in plumbing system, snakes appearing in toilet, & to top it all off a neighbor is murdered. Who could be behind all the chaos? My bets are on Steve…”

Honest Opinion:

I so desperately wanted to like this book but I found myself bored. The story line wasn’t very deep in my opinion & it took too long to reach the climax. I like my thrillers to be more fast paced. I did enjoy the character detail the author put into the story, but I found Judy to be judgy as hell. Granted as the story progresses you can clearly see why Steve is a problem, however, at the beginning he was just a mechanic trying to make a living who happened to own two pitbulls (which portrayed as hounds from hell. I really didn’t appreciate the stereotype.) & she didn’t like Steve right off that bat. He didn’t fit into the cookie cutter picture of the neighborhood and none of the neighbors even bothered to give the guy a chance. Of course if the new neighbor was blasting music late into the night I’d have an issue with him too but I think things could have been handled better from the beginning— but that’s neither here nor there.

All in all, I think it was an OK book I guess, it just wasn’t my cup of tea but maybe others would enjoy it! Despite not being a fan, I’d still like to read another one of Kevin Lynch’s novels in the future because I did enjoy HOW he wrote this book, just not necessarily the story itself.

3.5 stars

The Perfect Home is a light, quick, fun read. I enjoyed this one even if the character at times didn't make much sense to me.

**Slight spoilers ahead!**

This story is told from the point of view of June, a divorced mom of two college-age kids. Now we are in June's head the entire time so we get to see what she is thinking the whole time and well...June is one of those busy body neighbors, she is always thinking and judging other people so she is not the most likable character, but she doesn't really act on her thoughts. She lets everyone walk all over her which did get frustrating. I don't know if the kids know why their parents got divorced, but it would be hard not to notice, but even if they don't know it doesn't make any sense the way they treated their mom. They kept getting on the mom's case for trying to have boundaries with her ex, their dad. At one point she finds out the ex stole 250 euros from her and maxed out her credit card without telling her! She only found out because she hardly ever uses her credit card, but she wanted to buy something and the charge wouldn't go through. When she confronts her ex about it he is all what is the big deal? It is a loan! Don't you want me to be successful? And the kids side with the dad that it is no big deal that he stole hundreds, maybe thousands of euros from her. Like who doesn't think that is a big deal? And who thinks the person who was stolen from is in the wrong? It made no sense. The ex constantly steamrolls over June and gets whatever he wants. A key to the house so he can keep his work stuff there and pop in for a tea whenever he wants, even if no one is home? Yeah sure why not. The kids throw a fit when she hesitates to give a key to her house to her ex which...I wouldn't want him to be able to come and go as he pleases either! He isn't owed anything, especially when he starts trying to threaten June so he can get what he wants.

Really the kids and ex and most of the characters made no sense a lot of the time. Like the daughter's storyline was ridiculous to an extreme. Sure this could happen I guess, but really? In such a short amount of time? It was all a bit over the top. The ending didn't make much sense either. You find out who was doing all the things and what was going on, but there were still more things that were messed up that happened and it was like all of a sudden oh, well that is fine now. Everything is wonderful again. The things that June had major issues with just somehow weren't a problem anymore? It made no sense. I still had issues with it, other characters should have had an issue with it, June should have still had an issue with it. It was strange.

Now I know this is all very negative, but it was actually a fun read even if the characters acted oddly. Even if June was a doormat the entire time. Even if you could guess who was doing the things. It kept me engaged, it was light and fun and I would read more from the author.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy of this book