Burlington, by writer Heather Dixon, tells the story of Mae Roberts, a mom and wife, whose recent move into a posh suburban neighbourhood in Vermont comes with more than she bargained for. As she tries to gain entry to new social circles and make new friends she quickly discovers that Burlington may not be a place she wants to fit into. The moms she meets seem to have it all: looks, wealth, and perfect children and husbands, but when one of them go missing the cracks in their flawless facades begin to show. This was an enjoyable fast paced read and I found myself relating to Mae and her feelings of exclusion and social anxiety. Her quest to find out what happened to the missing mom added just the right amount of thrills and I was following the clues right along with her. This was a great debut novel and I look forward to reading more from this author!

3.5 stars.

A book that reminded me a bit of desperate housewives; Small town, big hell. Ideal book for those who like drama among a group of women, but elevated to the group of moms who call themselves THE MOB. Our main character and only narrator, Mae, must decide if she really wants to belong to this group or if belonging has a cost that she is not willing to pay.

Rating: 3.5 stars.

Burlington is a debut from Heather Dixon that involves a thrilling mystery taking place in an American suburban neighborhood. The story focuses on Mae and her family as they relocate to a new, beautiful home in Burlington. She becomes involved and fascinated with the lives of the other wives & mothers in this town, but when a woman goes missing, things take a turn.

The setting of this book was fantastic and described clearly, I really enjoyed the feeling of reading about these suburban housewives and the shady stuff happening behind the scenes... The mystery gets darker and deeper the further we get into the story.

Personally, I had a hard time connecting with the characters, the writing style was not my favorite at times and I just didn't feel fully invested in the story a lot of the time. I think I was expecting the mystery/reveal to go in a different direction than it did and it wasn't as strong as I was hoping for it to be in the end. But, Overall, it was a solid and quick read that I would recommend to fans of domestic thrillers.

Burlington
🗓️ August 22, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Mae never thought she would fit in amongst the beautiful and rich mothers at Riverpark Elementary. Though, when she's accepted into their clique and they ask her to be a part of their unofficial neighborhood watch, Mae finds herself slipping more and more into a world of odd dinner parties, secrets and lies, and even rumors of suicide attempts.

It's only when one of the Riverpark Moms disappears, and then another, that Mae must decide what's more important -- fitting in or uncovering the truth.

A fresh take on belonging, obsession, and schoolyard politics, Burlington is a suspenseful debut novel that explores the exclusive world of wealthy mothers and demonstrates how privilege can come at a devastating price.”

Domestic thriller with Mean Girl Vibes. I have read so many 5 star reviews for this debut novel, but it really missed the mark for me. I found it to be a slow and predictable read from the start. The mothers in this book are just terrible, which was how they were written to be. The main characters desire to please everyone and fit in with the “in” crowd made me feel like I was back in high school. I will admit, I selected this book based on the title, as I grew up in South Burlington, just outside of where the story takes place and it was fun to read a book based in my hometown!

Burlington was disappointingly unthrilling. I started off enjoying the claustrophobic Stepford-Wives style vibes, but found it frustrating that the plot relied so much on people steadfastly refusing to talk to the protagonist about what the hell was going on. I may have enjoyed this if the pay-off was worthwhile, but instead the denouement was almost bland.

Mae is new to the suburb of Burlington and is trying to settle down and fit in with her family. Things get strange though when one of her friends, a fellow mother, disappears. When another disappears, Mae must figure out if she is going to investigate at the risk of being outcast.

I think a lot of this was more drama than thriller/mystery vibes. I think more suspense could’ve been built up earlier on to really engage the reader.

Burlington by Heather Dixon is a crisp domestic mystery liberally sprinkled with elements of suspense, mom cliques and family drama. Families in Burlington are not typical Vermont families. Kids go to Riverbank Elementary where there are unspoken rules. Slim moms wear expensive clothes and houses are showpieces. Moms ostracize those which don't fit in and new moms face initiations of sorts. Mae Roberts is aghast at their odd behaviour but quickly realizes she must comply to certain expectations and choose loyalties. She, husband Drew and daughters have a new house and new life and want to make the best of it. Dinners and meetings abound. When a mom goes missing, the topic is hushed. But she was not the only one to have disappeared.

What I liked best is the tension which drove me to read Burlington in one sitting. Though not at all fond of the characters, especially the juvenile moms, the mystery kept me riveted. The disturbing thing is, there are exclusive neighbourhoods with cliques in real life. The author has written in gaggy angst and arrogance very well and evoked disgust in my mind. I needn't love the characters to enjoy a book.

My sincere thank you to Rising Action Publishing Company for providing me with an early digital copy of this engrossing novel.

Burlington by Heather Dixon was a super fun and interesting read, I thoroughly recommend this novel to people who enjoy a good domestic noir novel.

We meet Mae who has moved to a lovely and somewhat prestigious estate Burlington, and where her children will attend the school that is somewhat typical of most schools nowadays and has the clicky groups of yummy mummies and who only seem to stick with themselves. They very unusually invite Mae into their group and Mae readily accepts the offer.

Then one of the mums is missing and Mae starts to question why the other women are not wanting to find out where she has gone and this sets off the main premise of the novel.

I really enjoyed reading about Mae and how she uncovers that all is not what it seems with this group of women who are not actually what they appear to be.

A really good novel by new author Heather Dixon with well rounded characters that were really great to read about.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a fast paced book and a very easy to read one also, it has all the feels of drama and richness, Heather Dixon did a super job

This was a quick read that reminded me of Liane Moriarty. The characters were all horrible, which is fine by me, but maybe it would have been nice to have wanted any of them to have a happy ending. I kind of hated them all!

Mae moves to a new town, but something feels off about the other mothers in her new town. When she finally thinks she makes a new friend - that friend disappears. As the book moves forward Mae has more and more questions as certain Burlington moms that try to befriend her. Certain things happen that make Mae try to research and delve into what makes her new friends tick. This book is a solid 3.5 (rounded to 4) - overall the story kept me intrigued as to what Mae might find out and what really makes the mom of Burlington tick. The only qualm I have about the book is that at times it seems to be shallow, especially at the end where you have a cumulation event that sort of brings things to light - however, in my opinion the author left the reader to surmise a few things that set things in motion

This is indeed a book about rich white ladies and their drama but in a good way. It completely underlines the issues with rich white lady culture.
I loved it so much!
Our girl moves to a new town and quickly finds herself roped into a weird group of women who run the school and everything else, including our protagonist husband's job.
She can't get away from them.
Anyway, it is mild compared to my usual reads about strange towns (with violence anyway) but somehow it is creepier.

I requested this arc because the vibes of the synopsis were immaculate. It’s a very specific niche subplot of genre; the whole, something is sinister about this neighborhood, suburban horror. It’s giving, Black Mirror, Stepford Wives, Vivarium. Burlington is your stereotypical white, wealthy neighborhood but when moms start to go missing, no one bats an eye. Unfortunately, this turned out to be 0% horror and barely even a thriller.

I was under the impression that this was a thriller, borderline horror, but this wasn’t that. I realized I was over 40% in and nothing remotely scary or thrilling had happened at all. There wasn’t even any suburban mom drama, literally just listless day in the life stuff. It left me wondering what the point was because nothing was happening. By the time you’re halfway through, nothing has happened except a mom in the neighborhood has gone missing. Not gripping enough to be a thriller and didn’t feel high stakes until the 80% mark. Before the 80% mark, I feel like I could sum up everything that happened in 2 sentences. I don’t understand other reviews that said this was a page turner because I did not get that at all.

This was ok I suppose. This was one of my most anticipated books but nothing ended up really happening in this. Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Burlington by Heather Dixon.

Mae has finally made it into one of the nicest neighborhoods in the area, which means the best school for her kids. But getting accepted into the inner circle of the mummy yummy Lululemon wearing clique can't be easy. This makes it even more surprising when Evelyn, the well known "leader" of said clique, invites Mae to a dinner party. And while Mae is ecstatic for the new friends, she is immediately uneasy at how her best friend Alice behaves at hearing the news.

But Mae's life gets turned upside down when after a tense interaction with Alice, she goes missing. And worse than that, no one is willing to talk about it. What is going on in this Stepford Wife land that has people disappearing like this?

Uuuuugh, I have mixed feelings. Here's what it boils down to. Was it fun? Yes. But was it too long? Yes, for what it was, way too long. I get that the author was really working on that suspense, but the length actually lost me a bit, and the tension went with it. This was okay. A bit anticlimactic, but I did enjoy it.

Thank you NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Publish date: august 22, 2023

Heather Dixon is an author local to my area. I saw on social media her teasing the release of her book so when I saw it on NetGalley I gasped and immediately requested.

This was a great debut! I love rich woman neighborhood thrillers and this one did not disappoint - stepford and housewives vibes all the way.

Mae and her husband, along with their daughters move to the beautiful suburbs where life looks perfect. She’s accepted into a clique of rich, mean-girl moms. Women start disappearing and no one is talking about it. Their are so many secrets and drama. Mae needs to figure out what is going on so she isn’t next and she can keep her family safe.

It was fun to see the story through Mae’s eyes, an outsider not born into this life. There is a little more drama than mystery in this book but it was a super fun read

This one gave me Stepford Wives vibes. When Mae moves to Burlington, she quickly discovers that she doesn’t quite fit in with the Riverpark moms. When one of the moms goes missing, Mae can’t figure out why no one in town seems to care.

I really enjoyed this debut novel. It was a quick read with short chapters that left me wanting more. This would be a perfect book club book!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

BURLINGTON is completely unputdownable. I read it in one sitting. Mae was the perfect main character you can’t help but root for with her lovely, down to earth family. I felt like the sense of wanting to fit in in a new town and how far you would or wouldn’t go to do so was so raw and real.

The town of Burlington reminded me of Stepford Wives/Desperate Housewives esque with a small town, lots perfect women, dark, dangerous secrets…and dash of Gone Girl.

Burlington is easily one of my favorite reads of the year. If you’re at all on the fence about buying/reading it, DO IT. Heather Dixon is such a talent.

Burlington is a drama-filled thriller that follows Mae who just moved to Burlington and is trying to navigate the ins and outs of her new neighborhood. I didn't find the book overly thrilling, and there really isn't much of a mystery. The book is mainly filled with drama surrounding the local rich housemoms. While it was a fast read, it simply didn't have the excitement or suspense that I normally would want in a thriller. Additionally, none of the characters are likable, and I was left questioning many of the actions of the various characters. Overall, I wouldn't necessarily recommend the book, but it could be an easy, read-in-one-day, poolside read if that is what one is looking for.

Oh. My. Goodness.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, a huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc. I truly loved this book and had a great time reading it. In this whirlwind of a story, we see through the eyes and mind of Mae Roberts, a mom that has just touched down in the neighborhood of Burlington with her family. The school and town are kept in check by a group of rather spirited moms… moms that don’t bat an eyelash when one seems to go missing.

If you like domestic thrillers, neighborhood dramas, mom-cliques, and twists in your reads, I’d definitely recommend this. Loved it.

This made me consider all the politics in moving to an area of home owners association vibes. It’s wild how some women grow up and still play high school in real life, that same anxiety was well written on these pages!