3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pretty good domestic mystery. Kept my interest the whole way through. I predicted the ending around halfway through, but I still liked how everything played out. This is my first TR Ragan. I think I’ll be checking out more of her books in the future!

Resentful and bitter after the recent death of her son, Rosella Marlow began taking her anger out on those around her but especially those with the seemingly happiest lives. A retired journalist, now living as somewhat of a recluse, she has all the dirt on all of her neighbors and she is determined to make them suffer just like she is. She sets out to accomplish her plan with the help of the unknowing Shannon Gibbons, who, as an aspiring journalist, is under the impression that she is receiving mentorship from Rosella. When someone turns up dead, this otherwise quiet and quaint neighborhood begins to implode.

This book is full of drama drama drama! Just when you think you have it figured out, the rug is pulled out from under you. There are a lot of characters and everyone has motive.

There are a few instances where character names are used incorrectly so I hope an editor is going to comb through this again before publication. Some of the dialogue is unbelievable or seemed a little too cheesy for me and it took me out of the story.

I would recommend this if you are looking for a domestic, suburban thriller.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 11/05/2024!

This book held my interest but wasn’t my favorite. It centers on Shannon, an aspiring journalist who moves to a fancy new neighborhood to work with an aging journalist named Rosella that she has always respected, only to find that Rosella is not what she imagined. Rosella is suspicious of all her neighbors and wants Shannon to help investigate, but Shannon can’t figure out if she is delusional or if there is really something sinister happening. When a murder occurs, Shannon is thrown right into the middle of all of the secrets people are trying to hide.

This all sounds very interesting but felt like a bit of a slow burn. There were a ton of characters to keep straight and some of their secrets were more interesting than others. It takes a long way through the book to even hit on the kidnapping that happens in the prologue. I found Shannon to be somewhat of a likable character but she came off as a bit gullible to me and it didn’t fit with the wannabe journalist persona that she was supposed to have. The storyline held my interest and I think the ending worked, but the author deliberately didn’t tie up one loose end and I wish she had, as it seemed a little fantastical to me and I wanted a rational explanation.

Overall, this was a decent read but I don’t think it’s super memorable within the genre. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Intense and complex neighborhood mystery. Posh neighborhood, close knit, but secrets within secrets as all the families hidden side come to light, unravel as the mystery unfolds. The strength of hatred and obsession and the larger strength of love and family found. A good read as always!

Best House on the Block by new to me author T.R. Ragan, published by Thomas & Mercer is a slow burn, complex and complicated read that had me in suspense from the first page till the last sentence. Twisty and full of unexpected turns, a pageturner of its finest.
Blurb: Aspiring investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons and her family have moved into a beautiful house in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento, where Shannon finds a fast connection with a new neighbor. Renowned journalist Rosella Marlow appears to have a genuine interest in giving Shannon’s own career a boost—as personal assistant on Rosella’s new project. Appearances are deceiving.
Bitter, resentful, and consumed by grief, Rosella is obsessed with exposing her neighbors secrets. In Shannon, Rosella has a trusting and unwitting accomplice. But Rosella is being watched, too. And when someone is found dead, everyone on this quiet block is a suspect. Because everyone has a motive.
With the help of a friend, Shannon begins an investigation into a person she just met. As neighbor is pitted against neighbor, the truth is much scarier than anything they imagined.

I am in my thriller era! This book was a perfect fit. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

This book was kind of all over the place. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the normal tone of T.R.'s writing so that threw me for a loop. I had a hard time getting with the fact that she would just tell these random strangers all the facts about the case. She knew one of them had murdered the lady but she just blabbed stuff all around. It truly was a mystery how she didn't get killed herself. She was kind of difficult to connect with as a main character, for some reason she and the rest of the cast of characters just all felt very superficial. I didn't love or even hate any of them they were just kinda meh. it was going for Stepford wives meets murder but didn't quite get there.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Suburban Blissful Murdering Stars !!

Y’all this book totally surprised me , in a good way!

Best House on the Block is a combination of Desperate Housewives meets Murder She Wrote .

“Most outsiders who strolled down her tree-lined street would believe the inhabitants were living the American dream ….But they would be wrong 👀 “!

Read this if you like :
🔎 Multiple POV
🔎 Suburban Settings
🔎 Lots of Characters
🔎 Mystery
🔎 Binegable Reads

I raced through this book , it starts off so strong as we learn of a man who kidnaps a little boy and then we find ourselves in present day in the perfect little neighborhood. Or is it ?

Shannon and her husband have just moved to the block and Shannon has the opportunity to work alongside a journalist she idolizes Rosella .
Rosella hand selected Shannon , and the crazed woman shares information with Shannon that she thinks someone is out to get her. 😮

Then suddenly Rosella is found murdered and it seems everyone on the block has a motive 😳

As the story unfolds Shannon puts her sleuthing expertise to work with the help of her nosey neighbour Chloe . The two of them together find themselves caught in a dangerous position that could cost them their lives , so they must tread carefully…. But beware could the murderer be their neighbour, their spouse or could it be one of them ??

This was such a fun bingeable fast paced read that also had some charm to it. It does have a lot of characters so could get the reader tangled up at times , however I was able to navigate and couldn’t wait to see how it ended !!

I really think fans of Freida McFadden Jeneva Rose and B.A. Paris will absolutely devour this read !

This is my first time reading this author and will not be my last !!

Thank you NetGalley , Thomas & Mercer and T.R. Ragan for this great mystery digital ARC 🙌🏼

Respectfully Another Read by Angie

3.5 / 5

This was a good mystery filled with a cast of many suspicious characters and loads of secrets that were worth killing in order to keep. It started out with a bang but did lose some of its intensity along the way. It wasn't slow and I wasn't bored. It just wasn't as nail-biting as the story progressed, and I was able to predict the killer early on. The characters were all interesting and the secrets were juicy. Everything tied up nice and neat at the end. All boxes ticked. I was hoping for it to be darker and more intense like the author's previous books. It was still an enjoyable read. I love Ragan and I will continue to read anything she writes. If you are looking for a fast-paced mystery, I would recommend this one. I'm more partial to her series, which are darker and more geared to the thriller junkies. Strongly recommend all of them!!

Thank you to the author, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for granting me digital access in exchange for my honest review!

Omg! This was so good that it is 2:25 and I just now finished this! So dang good!

The book starts where a man crosses paths with an unattended toddler. He takes the opportunity to save (kidnap) him since he and his wife can’t have anymore children. Then it forwards to four years later.

Shannon and her family have relocated into a gorgeous and luxury community. She has been asked to team up with a famous journalist to work on a project about her neighborhood. The neighborhood is Shannon’s neighborhood too, she’s her neighbor.

Shortly after Shannon settles in, there is a brutal murder. Who is the killer in this fabulous community and is it someone they know? This was all about scandal, murder, secrets and lies! The juicy stuff and I loved every bit of it!

This was my first read by T.R. Ragan and definitely won’t be my last! Thanks so much Thomas & Mercer, Netgalley and T.R. Ragan for the opportunity! Publication date November 5, 2024
4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this story. The only minor downside is there are so many characters you have to really pay attention and keep a running list in your head of the characters to keep up with the story. But other than that, it is a very unique, fast-paced, exciting story.

Thank you to netgalley for my ARC!

I loved this twisty-turny, neighborhood gossip thriller where everyone on the block has a secret and one of them is guilty of murder. Fun, with a great cast of characters, this is a block I loved spending time on!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the advanced copy of this book!

My thoughts:

Ennnnghhh... the description of this was promising, but it did ultimately fall a bit flat for me. There were a few occasions where names were written incorrectly, or the formatting was weird, as well.

What reallllyyyy doesn't make sense to me is the Shannon and Chloe thing... specifically in the last few chapters. When you read it, you'll know.

In the end, I think there was simply too much going on in this one for me. The very beginning of the book isn't really even addressed until the last 80%, and there were loose ends left. Why add a clue or evidence, only to have the main character go, "I'm just going to ignore those." No!!! Why?! I can have my own ideas as to why, but I don't like ambiguous endings with thrillers.

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rating system:
⭐️ - Would not recommend
⭐️⭐️ - Has potential, but I did not like it
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - This was okay. I enjoyed it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I loved it
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I would re-read this and recommend it to everyone

This one started out with a bang!

We start out learning about a kidnapping of a small child. Then we go forward in time where a woman moves to a block of houses and begins to learn that all her neighbors are hiding secrets and there is a murder.

Pretty much everyone in this book had motive for the murder. But not just that, pretty much everyone was in or around the house at the time of the murder. Everyone on this block was trouble it seemed.

There were so many connections between each person and each time I thought I had something figured out, something new would come up.

I really enjoyed this story. The only minor downside is there are so many characters you have to really pay attention and keep a running list in your head of the characters to keep up with the story. But other than that, it is a very unique, fast-paced, exciting story.

Thank you to netgalley for this free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the author, T.R. Ragen, and publisher, Thomas & Mercer, for providing me with this ARC! Pub Date is November 05, 2024!! I was very excited to read this book.

This is my first novel by this author, and they did not disappoint. I really enjoyed their writing style. This book was not just a thriller but a full-circle story, too. I loved how the author incorporated suspense and topics that had some depth to them. There were just so many layers. The prologue had me hooked, and at first, I wasn't sure how it was going to tie into the story, but it was so interesting to see how the story unfolded.

Some areas fell short, but nothing deterred me from enjoying the book as a whole. If the book had been written in the first person, it may have helped the dialogue, but it is a solid 4-star book regardless! I look forward to reading more from T.R. Ragan.

Add this to your TBR! It is an engaging, twisty, and suspenseful book. Best House on the Block is a binge-worthy story that will have you hooked until the last page.
✨

Aspiring investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons and her family have moved into a beautiful house in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento, where Shannon finds a fast connection with a new neighbor. Renowned journalist Rosella Marlow appears to have a genuine interest in giving Shannon’s own career a boost, as personal assistant on Rosella’s new project. Appearances are deceiving.!
Good book! This book was definitely a twisted tale!! With plenty of crazy twists and turns! The storyline was interesting and kept me glued to my kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book! Thank you Netgally and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

I'm a big fan of Ragan so knew I'd like this one too! Renowned journalist, 65-year-old Rosella finds a letter stating, "I know what you did" but figures it's a prank so disregards it. New residents on this block of historic homes, Shannon, Trey, and young daughter, Mac move in and Rosella quickly becomes Shannon's mentor, telling her they both "harbor a darkness within." But soon the neighborhood is abuzz with the news of Rosella's murder, and of course Shannon was the one who made the discovery so her fingerprints are on the weapon. Believe me, this is a neighborhood you do NOT want to be a part of as everything spirals from here on as there are secrets, affairs, abuse, and things definitely not "neighborly" on this block!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!