A. J. Banner

Shadow Cove, Washington, is the kind of town everyone dreams about--quaint streets, lush forests, good neighbors. That's what Sarah thinks as she settles into life with her new husband, Dr. Johnny McDonald. But all too soon she discovers an undercurrent of deception. And one October evening when Johnny is away, sudden tragedy destroys Sarah's happiness. Dazed and stricken with grief, she and Johnny begin to rebuild their shattered lives. As she picks up the pieces of her broken home, Sarah discovers a shocking secret that forces her to doubt everything she thought was true--about her neighbors, her friends, and even her marriage. With each stunning revelation, Sarah must ask herself, Can we ever really know the ones we love?

The good neighbor

Lacy W

First book of the new year. Holla! 

Okay, so this was a fun little read. And I mean it was little. It was only 198 pages, which is fine but I think this book could have benefitted from it being longer. You don't really get to know the characters or their backstory as deeply. 

We have two main characters, a married couple named Sarah and Johnny. Sarah is a writer of a children's book series. Johnny is a dermatologist. They live in this quaint little neighborhood where all the neighbors are friends and they look out for each other. It's the kind of neighborhood I would love to live in.

As mentioned in the blurb, tragedy strikes. (view spoiler)[ There is a fire at the next door neighbors. The neighbors died but Sarah manages to save their daughter. But unfortunately, Sarah's house catches on fire as well and it's completely destroyed.  (hide spoiler)] Johnny and Sarah are forced to rent a cabin and start all over. That is where Sarah starts to learn that people are not who they seem to be. 

I am not usually into mysteries and stuff like that. I have a love/hate relationship with them. I hate not knowing what is going on but at the same time I love the thrill of trying to figure out what is going on and the excitement of finally learning the mystery. 

I don't know. I feel like this book, everything just came together to easily. I had thought it was a bunch of different people but it ended up being the person that I should have seen coming. Also, this book is in first person so you can only view through the eyes of Sarah. She tends to see things that aren't really there. I don't mean that she sees visions. She just reads too much into things. 

I won't talk about the plot anymore. I did like it though and this book would have gotten four stars easy if not for that ending. (view spoiler)[ Sarah finds out that Mia (the neighbors who died's daughter) is Johnny's kid because he was stupid and had an affair. And then it ends. Like what am I supposed to do. What does she do? Does she stay? Does she try and adopt Mia? Like give me some damn answers!  (hide spoiler)] Overall, I'm happy but I wanted more.

Carol Bailey

This was in interesting story. It starts right out of the gate with the main character in the river fighting for her life. Then it immediately switches to the back story that leads up to that incident. Although, I would call this a mystery I wouldn't classify it as a thriller. The story moves along at a reasonable pace but I almost wishes for more suspense. That being said I did not anticipate who the bad guy was or the ending.

Diana

This was the first book by Banner that I read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a quick page-turner that I read in a matter of hours.

The good neighbor

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