I received an advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I'm fairly new to audio books and I've found that the narrator is a major factor in deciding how I feel about the book. Emma Love is the narrator of this book. I would give her 4 stars. I found the voice of Harri a little shrill.
This a story of a relationship between a mother and daughter. They moved to a neighborhood of large, fancy homes and entitled people when Ginny married Jeff. It was a whole new world for Ginny and Harri. Jeff's job takes him to Ireland and they are left to navigate this new world with backstabbing neighbors, cliques of their entitled daughters and Jef'f's crazy ex-wife. There was one nice neighbor ~ Wayne and his dog.

Welcome to the Neighborhood by Lisa Roe
Contemporary chick lit.
Ginny falls in love with Jeff and she and her daughter move into his home to build a new family. Trouble brews with the upper crust as Ginny is left to deal with the neighborhood gossips whole her husband works out of the country.
It’s not the start she expected.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook version narrated by Emma Love. I enjoyed the performance. The full narrative is from Ginny’s perspective so there was no need for a lot of voices to perform. Regardless, I clearly felt Ginny’s anxiously watching her daughter become someone else and I heard the anger and embarrassment from the neighbor hitting on her.

This was more a renewal of learning or relearning values and standing up for them. It was heartbreaking to listen to the daughter be bullied by the neighbor friends but so wonderful when Ginny said enough!
Enriching and smart. An empowering story for values.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media.

Welcome to the Neighborhood • Lisa Roe ⭐️ - 3
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I was drawn to this audiobook by the cover and I thought it would be nice to switch to a different genre for a little (I’ve been only reading romance) - Definitely would not say this is a romance
Overall I thought it was ok, but some of the story didn’t sit well with me.

I liked Ginny as a character but the way she encouraged her daughter Harri to fit in with the other girls did not sit well with me and really didn’t seem like it suited her character. Which then made me feel bad for Harri, being a young girl being thrown into this whole new world and then her mom pushing her to fit in with the other girls.

But I did not like Jeff at all. The way he brought Ginny in to his life, basically expecting her to just slide right into where his ex-wife left was not right, and how he thought it was acceptable to leave his new wife at home to deal with everything.

I did like the narrator for the audiobook version!

⚠️: Sexual Assault, Eating Disorders, Bullying and Terminal Illness

Lisa Roe wrote a beautiful mother- daughter story that shed light on how difficult it is to be a young girl or woman in 2022. Add in the life changes of starting over at a new school or moving into an established neighborhood, and you have a recipe for disaster. It was heartbreaking to see Ginny and Harri on the outside looking in. It brought me back to all of the times I have felt less than or tried to alter myself in an attempt to be accepted.

I loved that Roe spent equal time on both the young girls and women in the story. In doing so, she validated that no matter your age, your feelings matter. The trials that we endure when we are young, really aren’t all that different from the ones we will face as women.

I especially liked that Roe allowed the women to be the hero’s in the story. While men were present, it was ultimately the women who handled things. There was no man who needed to come riding in on his white horse to fix things or save the day.

Special thanks to NetGalley. com and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to listen to this audio book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Thank you to Netgalley, Lisa Roe, and Dreamscape Media for an advance listening copy of Welcome to the Neighborhood in exchange for an honest review. First off, the narrator was great. She kept me listening and I felt like her voice helped draw me into the story. Next, this was a super cute story that had added depth to the plot. First off, I loved all the characters (even the quirky, mean neighborhood ladies) and felt like their personalities added so much to the story. I appreciated the plot and felt like it could be relevant in everyday life when moving to a new neighborhood and having to deal with passive aggressive and concescending neighbors. I also felt like the sub-plot with Harry is all to prevalent these days too. All in all, this was a cute and non-steamy romance that had a lot of depth. This one comes out April 5th, 2022!

I really enjoyed this audiobook even though I felt the voice actor was a bit young sounding for the narration of this book, that was just a personal feeling, but didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book in the grand scheme.

I don’t typically read books like this, but decided to start branching out more with my audiobooks. I was pleasantly surprised that this was as enjoyable as it was for me, given it’s not a book I would typically select.

It had a good story and messages throughout about resilience in the face of change and struggles with those changes. But it also was wishy washy and the MC didn’t intervene in my opinion quickly enough with all the BS surrounding her and her daughter in town.

The thing that really didn’t make sense was the decision to move because it wasn’t a good fit, but then stayed at the request of her 11 year old that had been struggling because of the people in the town. I felt it was wrapped up a little too neatly given the drama of the story, but overall it was enjoyable and would recommend to anyone that likes woman’s fiction. I would not call this a romance by any means though.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC of this book! I am so thankful to obtain a copy to read in advance of its release!

#WelcomeToTheNeighborhood:

Welcome to the neighborhood, or welcome to hell. Absolute hell. Carb control for an 11 year old? Literal rage while listening. Ex-Wife conwoman trying to steal half of the possessions because running off with another didn’t work out? Actual cussing out loud.

Ginny and Harri, the coolest mom and daughter duo around the block have just moved into Elderberry Lane. The families are rich, their hair is as big as their secrets, and kids cannot be kids. I really enjoyed that we got the “mean girls mom” trope but.. with bigger issues. There’s been a lot of suburban housewives books, but this just hit different. We didn’t just brush dieting at 11 under the rug, we didn’t ignore sexual assault as a “friendly neighbor” in passing. Roe tackled it head on. It didn’t feel unnecessary to the plot and was done well.

I got to do another listen/read combo thanks to @dreamscapemedia. Emma Love was so easy to listen to and really had me feeling all the feels. I saw she’s the reader for Dylan Newton’s new book, which has me even more excited. Love did a great job with WTTN, and definitely work a listen if you’re into audiobooks!

I do wish we could have gotten a bit more backstory from Jeff and Ginny’s relationship from him to not hate him for going to another country for 6+ weeks. While the story does focus mindful on Ginny and Harri, the whole reason they’re there is because Ginny married Jeff! What makes him such a catch!? I wanna know! He definitely made up for it at Canvas & Cocktails, so my annoyance of him and his Dublin pub crawls are all forgiven.

Overall, a different take on the suburban moms who seem to have it all. The audio is wonderful, the story itself is great. Thank you so much Sourcebooks and Dreamscape for the gifted copy. Welcome to the Neighborhood is out 4/5!

OK this is cute, it’s not really what I look for in romance but that’s A me thing. It’s interesting it’s cute it’s sweet. It works. Ultimately I’m just very Middle of the road about it. There’s nothing wrong with it it’s just fell flat. I really like my books up a little bit more bite and this was very bubblegum.
Nothing wrong with fluffy bubblegum cotton candy just not generally what I read. But if you’re looking for that this is fantastic. It’s cute it’s sweet it’s lighthearted. And I enjoyed it even though not really my cup of tea if that makes sense. As always thank you to NetGalley for sending me a review copy. All opinions are my own.

Ginny is an artistic free-spirited single mom who is used to scraping by and making her own way. When the New York City girl is transplanted to suburban New Jersey she is in the lap of luxury, but also the lions den of gossipy over-the-top mean girl moms. Her new husband is thousands of miles away for work as she traverses the rocky terrain of adjusting to this entirely new world and new neighbors. She has taken on the streets of Queens and raising a daughter that is all her own but can she handle all this new life throws at her - a naked neighbor, a kleptomaniac, a narcissistic womanizer, a backstabbing gossip, and the controlling queen bee? Can her daughter, Harri, survive 5th grade with the carbon copies of their mothers? This story is about finding your way when life isn't all you thought it would be, and the friends you find along the way.

The characters were believable and their personalities and lives covered a wide range of issues. !!!Trigger warnings!!! for this book include sexual assault, eating disorders, terminal illness, and bullying. Written in first person, this narrative puts you directly behind the eyes of the main character and what she is facing. I think the author does a good job showing the problems present with others through this lens and appropriately covers the issues faced by 11 year old Harri in relation to the girls in the neighborhood.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book in 1.25 speed. The narration was easy to follow during dialogue, however, I found the voice shift for Harri's dialogue a bit shrill, so I turned down the volume a bit during the scenes heavy on that character.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced copy for this review.

After years of being a single parent and struggling to make ends meet Ginny quickly falls head over heels in love with Jeff ( a divorced man with an older son). They get married and Ginny and her daughter Harri (11) move in with Jeff in his house in the suburbs of New Jersey. Genny is hopeful that she will be able to give Harri the live shes always wanted for her.

Ginny is convinced that she will get along just fine with all the other women in the neighborhood until she meets them...

Ginny joins the PTA and is volunteered to help with the school fashion show. She quickly learns that both the mother and daughters in her neighbor and very fake and that their values do not line up with her values at all.

Will Ginny and Harri survive this new suburban live style?

I thought this was a cute story about being true to yourself. I really enjoyed it!

After years of barely getting by, Ginny marries Jeff and she and her Harri move in with him into his house in an upscale New Jersey suburb. When they arrive, Harri and Ginny are quickly thrown into the complexities of the neighborhood filled with perfect PTA moms and their mean girl daughters. Ginny finds herself having to figure out what is really important for her and Harri and how to balance who they are with this new group.

I love a good Real Housewives-esque story of mean girl moms, and this provided a lot of that. But more importantly at the heart of this is a beautiful story of a mother-daughter relationships. Harri and Ginny’s relationship was by far the highlight of this book. I adored how Ginny truly wanted her daughter to be happy and was willing to do anything she could to get there.

The audiobook was done very well. I loved the heart the narrator put into Ginny’s character.

This one is out April 5th, and is one that should be on your radar. Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the advanced copies.

Thank you netgalley for the audio arc of this one. I really enjoyed it and totally binged it in one go. There was drama of course that made me a bit anxious but it was definitely a good read.

So, this book is basically like if I moved onto a street with the real housewives of New Jersey…. and it was seriously such a pleasant surprise!!

This is a women’s fiction, not romance, but there are some super sweet moments mixed in. I fell for Ginny and Harri’s sweet mother/ daughter relationship immediately and hated the awful new neighbors just as quickly!

I think this book is perfect for moms of preteens/teens and those who have moved to a new area and are trying to find their people. As a mom of teens myself I identified EXACTLY with so many of the emotions in this book!

"Welcome to the Neighborhood" by Lisa Roe is a mother-daughter story that I highly recommend!

'Ginny from Queens', is a professional artist and struggling single mom to eleven-year-old daughter Harri. She just married handsome divorced hunk, 'Jeff from New Jersey'. Now mother and daughter are moving to the suburbs into Jeff's great big upscale house.

Ginny has a second chance at love and she's excited to finally be able to provide Harri with everything a preteen dreams of, within reason, of course!

But life in the suburbs may not be as rich and welcoming as Ginny had first hoped. In a neighborhood of extravagant, materialistic housewives, lustful, wandering husbands, and mean-girl daughters who exemplify their mom's behavior, it's a bit of a nightmare!

I had forgotten how interesting life can be living in an upscale neighborhood where bad behavior is acceptable. Oh, the memories it stirs! The 'country club' life and the long noses your neighbors look down because of your choice not to join 'The Club'. Keeping our kids' normal was both a focus and a challenge that led to a lot of tears and fears!

We, you and me, as everyday parents, working for a living, ensuring our kids grow up to be good, decent people don't always realize that there are real people who live and act like the 'neighbor' characters in this book. It does capture the extremes but it also reflects fairly accurately how it impacts others who refuse to play along.

Yep, it's fiction but this stuff happens every day! So do the triggers like attempted rape. The socially relevant messages: listening to your instincts, being kind to others, staying true to who you are and standing alone when necessary, are all elevated in this mother-daughter story.

I'll get off my 'soap-box' now and tell you I love the mother-daughter characters of Ginny and Harri. Their love for each other is palpable and it's what carries them through their unexpected adventure in this community and what keeps them centered.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Emma Love who did an excellent job overall. I love how she projected her energy into the passion behind Ginny's love and protection for her daughter, Harri. It was a perfect fit for this story!

I enjoyed how this story played out even though it was a bit predictable and cheesy in parts. The fact that it held important social messages made it a relevant story, for me. I highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Lisa Roe for a free ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

This was so sweet. Its heartwarming! The narrator did a great job on the audio book. I really enjoyed it. I loved Ginny and Harri! Mom and daughter have my heart. I want to be their friends.

This was a really fun "fish-out-of-water" story. It was cute and moved quickly. I enjoyed Ginny and the other characters. Overall I would recommend it to someone looking for some lighthearted and quick.

🎧Welcome to The Neighborhood by @lisaroe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Thank you @netgalley for my #gifted audiobook copy of #WelcomeToTheNeighborhood

🌙𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝐵𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑏: “After years of struggling to make ends meet, Ginny, a single mom from Queens, falls for a hard-working and loving man, and relishes the idea of moving with her quirky eleven-year-old daughter Harri to his home in an upscale New Jersey suburb. Though she's never been impressed by material things, she is thrilled that getting a second chance at love comes with the added bonus of finally giving Harri everything she never could before.
And then she meets the neighbors.
Ginny is quickly thrust into the complicated realities of a neighborhood defined by the ever-shifting alliances of PTA moms, Real Housewife contenders, and their mean-girl daughters. When the neighbors' secrets, back-stabbing, and bad behavior take a devastating toll on her daughter and new marriage, Ginny must decide what really matters—and protect it at all costs.”

🌙𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤: What a strong positive read of women holding their ground on their values and beliefs. I enjoyed this book so much! Lots of family drama, very heartfelt and moving situations. Lots of social issues discussed: narcissistic behavior, bullying, needs of fit in, sexual assault, gaslighting, you name it.
I loved Ginny! For now on I would have to ask myself “what would Ginny do in this situation?” She was strong when needed to be, firm but everything she did was with love, compassion and kindness.
Although, lots of heavy matters I found closure in the ending of the book; it felt finished and I loved that.

🌙𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒: According to GoodReads “…perfect for fans of Maria Semple and Abbi Waxman.”
I felt Little Fires Everywhere vibes with this one.

🌙𝑃𝑢𝑏 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒: April 5th 2022


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*I received a free copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This story of mother/daughter fish-out-of-water was good, but never fully pulled me in. While I enjoyed it, I felt like a lot of things happened but not always things that added to the plot. I didn't love that there was so much talk of Harri's disordered eating habits but that was never fully explored and she never received proper help or support from her mom about it. Ginny is trying so hard to be a good mom, but her attention was elsewhere so often that she couldn't see what was happening right in front of her. There were plenty of heartwarming moments throughout, but I often found myself very frustrated with with characters.

That said, I felt that the whole book had a strong ending. I'm a sucker for an HEA in whatever form that takes, and for these characters I was so glad to see them moving into the life they wanted and deserved.

So Close! I thought I was going to be able to power through but I can't.
This book is not at all what I thought it was going to be.
It's being marketed as a romance- it's not.
The cover is super cute and I thought this book would be a light, quirky, humorous read.
Nope.
This book was stressing me out 😅.
I was not entertained.
It's time to move on.

I was gifted this book on audio. Emma Love did a fantastic job narrating. It was the story itself that was the downfall for me.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my advanced copy.

I will not be rating this title.

I love me a good mommy drama!

When Ginny leaves Queens for a New Jersey suburb, she’s in for a rude awakening when it comes to PiTA PTA moms.

This is a popular trope–see The Truth and Other Hidden Things, the Class Mom series, Abbi Waxman’s books, etc. I find myself very drawn to it despite not being a mother. It’s almost like the “cool girl” stereotype all grown up: “I’m not an uptight helicopter mom, I’m a cool mom”. I don’t necessarily want to be the “not like other moms” mom, but I see myself in these women in that I don’t wear makeup, I hate spending money on clothes and status symbols, and I would never tell a kid they needed to lose weight.

What I especially liked about Welcome To The Neighborhood was that it tackled a lot of important subjects without being too heavy. It addresses body shaming, bullying, diet culture, and sexual harassment, but still manages to be rather lighthearted and funny.

I liked Ginny–she was the sort of character I could easily see myself being friends with. Her relationship with Harri was exactly what I would want for myself and my child someday.

If you’re a parent of a young teenager (especially a girl), you’ll definitely want to pick this one up.

Audio Review: I really enjoyed the narration, and thought the voice actor did a great job of bringing this story to life. I would certainly listen to more of her work!