A perfect neighborhood where everything is lovely, crime is non-existent, all the streets are named after flowers. But no neighborhood is perfect! The book centers around for families, primarily the women, their relationships, and the secrets they are hiding.
Kellie is attracted to a married man at work, feels her marriage has stagnated. Gigi is trying to manage a sullen teenager as her husband runs for political office, hoping her past doesn’t come up during the campaign. Susan can’t let go of her love for her ex-husband, and Tessa is hiding the reason she and her husband moved into town.
Interesting look at the dynamics of families, the struggles women face to manage children and caters, and the need to be honest with yourself. ( )

4.5 stars.

The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen is a compelling novel about the secrets of four neighbors living in idyllic Newport Cove, one of the twenty safest communities in America.

The oldest of the friends, Gigi Kennedy is happily married to husband, Joe, who is running for Congress while juggling his day job as a lawyer for an environmental company. She is a dedicated mom to their two daughters, fifteen year old Melanie and twelve year old Julia but she has a few secrets she would rather keep under wraps. Her biggest concern at the moment is her volatile relationship with Melanie, who has morphed from an innocent, happy young woman into a secretive, argumentative teenager Gigi barely recognizes. While she is very supportive of Joe’s bid for office, she is not at all happy with the intense media scrutiny and she is rather suspicious of her husband’s twenty-two year old campaign manager, Zach.

Recently returning to work after staying home with her two children, ten year Mia and seven year old Noah, Kellie Scott is rediscovering herself. A real estate agent who is indulging in a not quite so innocent flirtation with her good-looking, married co-worker, Kellie is growing increasingly unhappy in her long-term marriage to her high school sweetheart, Jason. Instead of focusing on Jason’s positive qualities, all she can see are his flaws and Kellie cannot help but wonder if she can endure a future filled with the same old things year in and year out.

An über successful businesswoman, Susan Barrett is struggling to move past her ex-husband Randall’s betrayal. While she is grateful he is still an active part of their son Cole’s life, she cannot help but resent the new life he has created with his girlfriend Daphne. Living the same neighborhood as her ex, Susan spends her free evenings sitting outside his house where she tortures herself by imagining what might be happening behind closed. Stunned by the happy couple’s latest news, Susan cannot help but reflect on why her marriage failed.

Newcomers to Newport Cove, Tessa Campbell and her husband Harry are a bit of enigma. An overprotective mom of two, Tessa tries to keep her distance from their new neighbors. Although she quickly succumbs to the warm welcome from Gigi, Kellie and Susan, she remains very tight-lipped about her family’s past. Of course, her new friends are a little curious about why Tessa keeps such a close eye on her two children, nine year old Bree and seven year old Addison. However, it is not until Harry’s shocking panic on Halloween that the three women seriously begin to question what is going on with Campbell family.

While the various events with Kellie, Susan and Gigi occur in the present, the truth about Tessa’s past is slowly revealed through a series of flashbacks. Going all the back to when Bree was a few months old, an interesting picture begins to emerge as Tessa struggles with single parenting since Harry is frequently out of town for business. Completely stressed and overwhelmed, she sees danger lurking behind every corner and after a few overreactions about her children’s safety, Tessa questions her judgment. All of her worries culminate in a shocking act that precipitates the family’s sudden move to Newport Cove.

Despite the outward peaceful appearance of Newport Cove, the enclave’s newsletter is quite entertaining as neighbors complain about barking dogs and the mystery dog pooping on various residents’ lawn. A curmudgeon homeowner goes to great lengths to ensure everyone stays off his lawn while another neighbor goes out of her way to stick her nose into the newsletters’ various announcements, questions and grievances. Despite the sometimes nitpicky complaints, there is a strong sense of community as everyone goes about their day to day lives. Readers will easily relate to the nuisance complaints (because who hasn’t experienced these things in their neighborhood?!) while at the same time, they will also appreciate the close-knit friendships between Kellie, Susan, Gigi and Tessa.

The Perfect Neighbors is an engaging novel of friendship with a captivating dash of mystery. The different storylines about each of the women are absolutely riveting and there is plenty of anticipation over how each of the women’s issues will be resolved. While all of the story arcs are interesting, the suspense about the reasons behind Tessa and Harry’s sudden move to Newport Cove is what keeps the pages turning at a blistering pace. Old and new fans of Sarah Pekkanen are sure to love this newest release. ( )

While I did end up liking this book, it wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. I thought it would be a mystery or suspense novel by the description but was more along the lines of women’s fiction featuring interactions between friends. That aside, since my expectations were my own, the ending is all wrapped up nice and neat with very little conflict but tons of warm resolution. So not exactly like real life. Would loved to have seen more realistic endings for the characters. ( )

This book came to me at the right time. I had been reading so many thrillers and books with heavier content and this was like a breath of fresh air. The characters were so well done that I felt like I knew them. There was an air of mystery that kept me intrigued and the pacing worked well. For a summery read with a bit of intrigue, this did not disappoint! ( )

Let me start by saying I hate the term “women’s fiction”, as if women’s brains are so different from men’s that we need our own shelves at the bookstores so we know what we’ll actually like. If this is typical “chick lit” then I may need to have a sex change because this was not for me. This is definitely the closest I’ve gotten to a DNF in a very long time.

In the town of Newport Cove, voted one of the top 20 safest towns in America, four women bear their for the most part incredibly mundane secrets. Gigi’s husband is running for Congress but something in her past may muck it up. Kellie is just going back to work and is apparently desperate for attention and develops a crush on a married coworker. Susan is the most functional of them but a divorced single mother who runs a successful business who may or may not be stalking her ex. And Tessa is new to the neighborhood, moving her family to escape a mysterious incident in their past.

I was never given a reason to care about any of the characters, except maybe Susan. They were shallow and way too much time was spent describing what was happening as opposed to letting us into their heads, in extremely passive writing no less. The only intrigue was what happened with Tessa’s family but after we got a name and little else, it took so dang long to reveal who the guy was let alone what happened to him, that I just didn’t care by the end.

This was Desperate Housewives on sedatives. It was like lying in a puddle of water with not enough energy to get up. The saving grace was a little bit of comic relief provided by the listserv, specifically Frank Fitzgibbons. I finished it so it gets 2 stars but I would not read again, would not recommend, and would not trust the opinion of anyone who rated this highly. I get that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and taste but holy snooze fest was this incredibly boring. ( )