Wow. What the heck. Those were some crazy shocking twists. I never saw it coming. Fantastic read. Thank you for letting me read this in advance.

Rounded up from 3.5🌟

This book has some trigger warnings, particularly for bullying and trauma. It made me nervous to read, especially as a teacher and a mother of a prepubescent girl. The characters were well written. I loved her husband, I hated Stacy and loathed another character. Jen is flawed but you understand why. Told in two time lines, this story was twisty and dark.

The format of this ARC made it very hard to push through and engage. It is an ARC so all this will be fixed in publishing but it did impact my personal experience.

Thank you Embla Books, Penny Batchelor and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was not a book which I enjoyed. I found the basic foundation of the storyline weak. None of the characters was very likable. The twists towards the end, additionally, we’re rather weak.

Thank you Embla Books and NetGalley for an early copy of The Woman Next Door. First of all, there were two different authors, I’m not sure why. I was anxious reading this book, bullying is very real and my stomach dropped every time I read about Stacy with Jens friends. There was a WOW MOMENT that I did NOT see coming. Megan was a horrible friend and person, did not like her at all. I truly liked Gary, he’s a good guy. Very fast reading, I enjoyed the book. Thank you again.

This is a 3.5/5 book for me. Reading the description made me intrigued to read the book. When I started reading it, it was a little slow to get into, but I was hopeful. Throughout the book I had a hard time believing events/people reactions. I would imagine that a person who wants to have a kid would be better at standing up for herself, so I had a hard time feeling the main character. The ending was somewhat unexpected, but overall, I was expecting more from this book. I was intrigued enough to finish it and it’s definitely not a bad book, but it’s not a book for me.

The Woman Next Door follows couple Jen and Gary after they move into a new home. Jen suffers from PTSD caused by "the event" in school. Jen relies on her friends Jasmine and Megan for comfort and listens to her therapist's advice. In a turn of events, her childhood bully, Stacey, happens to be her new next-door neighbour. Stacey is married to Connor and together they have a daughter, Maya. Jen and Gary haven't been able to have children, and Stacey's apparent perfect life triggers her.

Through a second timeline, Jen's diary entries from school give us insight into Jen's past. Stacey is your archetypal bully, she stole Jen's friends and ostracised her in school before "the event" happened. Now Stacey is repeating her behaviour and trying to put all the neighbours off Jen, going as far as claiming she was the victim. Even worse, Stacey starts a friendship with Jen's friends. When really bad things start to happen in the neighbourhood, Jen tries to rationalise things, but she can't help but feel Stacey is scheming against her again especially as Gary takes Stacey's side (to put it mildly). The only person who believes Jen is her neighbour Pamela, who openly resents that Stacey moved into Edith's home so close after, well... you'll have to read this book and find out for yourself!!

This was a very quick read, I finished it in one sitting! I needed to know what had happened in school! I kept going back and forth about Stacey. Is Jen a reliable narrator? what if Stacey was the true victim after all? wait, am I being gaslighted by Stacey???

I feel like the author did a fantastic job describing Stacey's bullying. Bullies are the worst and sadly they're everywhere everywhere -school, work, mums at the school gates! The writing was so good, I found myself having conflicted feelings about the situation. On the one hand, I felt terrible for Jen that she had PTSD from "the event". On the other, there comes a point in life where you need to stop being a victim. I found Jen to be a bit jarring and naive. I mean, how naive can you be? Apparently, very much so! I wanted to shake her!! but at the same time, I don't think she could've pre-empted what was going to happen because that twist was wild!

Talk about shocking. No, I didn't see it coming! It was clever, so clever. The type where you go back a few pages and realise the author has been leaving a trail of crumbs all over the place! I loved, loved the ending. I can't say much other than it was very satisfactory. There's an extra twist in the epilogue (yes!) which I'd kind of guessed, although perhaps it was more wishful thinking on my part. Without saying too much, I loved it and felt it was completely justified, hah!

A solid 5-star read for me.

She knows all your darkest secrets . . . Now she's the woman next door! Wow!! Some crazy shocking twists that I did not see coming! It also had great suspense, mystery, intriguing, murder, gaslighting, abuse, and some shocking twists! The story was very interesting! I highly recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!