Really good read.  Easy and light to start with, but not what I expected to happen.  Easy to identify with the characters.

Never read this book.  Will read it later when released in hardback from the Library.

Pleasant Court is a nice neighbourhood in the Melbourne suburbs - the sort of place families congregrate. So when single woman Isabelle moves in, she attracts some attention. Essie has just had her second baby and her personal trainer husband and her mother Barbara, who lives next door, are watching her carefully to see if she succumbs to postnatal depression again. Ange, the mother of two boys, has some doubts about her photographer husband Lucas, while Fran can’t seem to stop running – even in the midst of a heatwave. Amid all these secrets behind closed doors, Essie finds herself drawn to Isabelle but maybe it wasn’t coincidental at all that she chose this address.
This has all the ingredients of what makes women’s fiction great. Told from different viewpoints, it’s a compelling pageturner from a masterful storyteller. I basically read in an one sitting it’s that good!

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review "The Family Next Door
by Sally Hepworth" It was a great work of Women's Fiction. I love books that show multiple points of view. It helps keep things interesting. Each character point of view in the book was fantastic. The characters were interesting and likable. "The Family Next Door" really makes me wonder what my own neighbors are like and what they are going through. This book centers around Essie, a women in her thirties who had it all, the house, the kids and the husband. When a new single neighbor named Isabelle moves into their family oriented neighborhood, everyone is interested to know more about the new women. The story continues to introduce characters and show the power that women hold within themselves. A wonderful read that I would highly recommend.

4.25 stars rounded down to 4.    Reviewing honestly in exhchange for an advance copy of the book with thanks to Netgalley.

The Family Next Door reminds me of all of the things I love about Liane Moriarty's books.  From clever, relatable, modern characters to the cheeky charm of her mostly female protagonists.  This is the first book I've read by Sally Hepworth but I will certainly be adding her to my list of authors to look for!

Honestly-I'm not sure I would have picked this book up based on the cover or the title.  But it is a terrific story of 5 female characters and their families that live on a charming suburban neighborhood of Melbourne.  

The book does a really great job of tackling female friendships, mother-daughter relationships, modern relationships, marriage, and sisterhood.  The added bonus for me is that there is a good mystery and some well-thought-out twists encorporated to make it all the more fun.

Definitely will recommend this one to my fellow Liane Moriarty fans!

4 1/2 stars. 

Gosh, I love everything Sally Hepworth writes. 

Suspenseful, engaging, well developed characters.  

Highly recommend. 

I received an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

really enjoyed this book. It was fun to get to know the characters and spend some time with them. They certainly live in an interesting neighborhood! 

I won't say too much about about this book because it really is one that you want to go into without knowing too much. The basics are that it is mostly about three families and a new woman that moves into their neighborhood. Everyone is dealing with their own issues in their own way. Of course, it is highly unlikely that there would be this much drama in one group of friends in real life, but it is very entertaining to read. 

The writing was excellent. It draws you in, in makes you care, and it even makes you believe that it could possibly happen. I will certainly be looking for more books to read by Sally Hepworth in the future. There was just the right amount of emotion and just the right amount of mystery thrown in so that none of it felt forced.

It took me awhile to get into this book' at first it was confusing trying to keep the characters straight.  Once I became familiar with each of them, I was fascinated to learn what would happen next in each of their lives.  So many secrets!  It made me realize that no matter how well we think we know friends and relatives, there are likely many things we'll never know about them.  And things they'll never know about us!

I thought I knew where the story was going but the author pulled a major switch that made the story even more interesting!  Though situations in all their lives were resolved, nothing was perfect.  Like in life.

I enjoyed the book very much and recommend it.

Pleasant Court is a nice suburb where everyone knows everyone else, but it would be a stretch to say close friendships were formed. Essie, Fran, and Ange are all mothers of young children who take an interest in their new neighbor, Isabelle Heatherington, a woman who has neither husband nor children in a neighborhood full of families. It seemed a strange choice of residence to the trio of women, and they tried to learn more about Isabelle even as they concealed secrets of their own from everyone. One of the moms feels particularly drawn to Isabelle before the truth of her arrival is revealed, shattering someone's entire world when their child is put in danger as a result of the revelation.

What I Liked:

The story is told through the perspectives of five women—Essie, Essie's mother Barbara, Ange, Fran, and Isabelle—and this is something I've become a fan of over the last couple of years. With this format, you get a deeper sense of each of their personalities, and a better understanding about why they react the way they do much quicker than you would otherwise.

I really appreciated that motherhood was presented realistically, with all the sleep deprivation and frustrations that go along with it. I've read so many books where motherhood is presented as something that's constantly rosy and wonderful, so it's always nice to read something that mirrors reality, instead.

The mystery surrounding Isabelle was very well done. I had so many theories about her, but none were anywhere close to being correct. When all was revealed, it shocked the heck out of me, and the events that took place afterward had me on the edge of my seat, worried about what was going to happen next.

What I Didn't Like:

I can't recall anything that annoyed me.

Final Thoughts:

The Family Next Door is a compulsive page-turner with finely crafted characters and scenarios that will keep you reading 'just one more chapter' for hours. Hepworth is fast becoming a go-to author for me when I'm in the mood to read some high quality women's fiction.

I'm highly recommending this book, and I hope that everyone who reads it will enjoy it as much as I did.

This story is a tapestry of the inner thoughts of five female residents of Pleasant Court, a quiet suburban street. Their stories are interwoven along with the story of a young woman who unexpectedly went into labour with her first child and experienced a series of tragic events, including postnatal psychosis. As the shocking events in her life are gradually revealed, a sense of foreboding builds, because it is obvious that the two worlds are eventually going to collide and things will be messy. The identity of this young woman, and the way she fits into events at Pleasant Court, remains hidden until the final chapters. 

Hepworth spends time introducing each of the characters individually, which is time-consuming and causes the story to build gradually. This technique sets the scene of an ordinary group of neighbours, going about daily life with young families. On the surface everything appears routine and mundane.

On first appearances, Esse is the resident to watch. After the birth of her first child she experienced postnatal depression and left her daughter at the park. She has recently had a second child and her family, especially her mother Barbara, are watching her carefully. The other residents all know what happened, but try to be discreet.

As the story gradually unfolds it becomes evident that all of the families have secrets. Slowly the cracks begin to appear. Each woman is absorbed in her own chaos and yet valiantly working to keep up appearances so their neighbours think that they have it all together. It is not until a crisis occurs, that they begin to support each other. There is a line towards the end that sums it up well: “The less perfect things were, the more likely they were to be real”.

One of the things that I found interesting about this book was the way it explored relational issues from a variety of perspectives. There were two individuals involved in separate extra-marital affairs one male and one female. Thus one of the women is describing the experience of having an affair, while another is describing the experience of finding her husband had had an affair. In both cases there were paternity issues. Postnatal depression is also explored in the same way. One woman is experiencing postnatal depression, and another describes the experience of supporting her husband through postnatal depression. It also looks at the issue of child abduction from a variety of viewpoints.

While The Family Next Door addresses some big themes, it is also a story about the tendency to become absorbed in our own family crisis instead of reaching out, the insular nature of families and the value of community.

Do you ever really know your neighbors? Do your loved ones have terrible secrets?

This book dealt with a lot of hard issues and kept me turning the pages. I just had to know what was going on and what would happen next!

The women of Pleasant Court have secrets, life-altering ones. When a new face moves onto their street new things begin to come to light to cause them all to question the things that they thought they knew about each other, their family....and themselves.

This quick paced contemporary mystery has REALLY got me thinking about my neighbors, both past and present...and how you never truly know what's going on with them. They may seem like the sweetest, nicest people one earth, and there could be a whole other life going on under the surface that you're unaware of. To me it read like classic Desperate Housewives meets Big Little Lies. If you're a fan of either of those, you're going to enjoy this!

I have to give the author some major props for taking this book places I wasn't expecting it to go. It was a super fast paced ride, and I finished it in one go...which is a good sign really. But I totally thought I knew where it was going, and then it veered off a different way...and I sat back and thought...huh, didn't see that one coming! It always excites me when that happens. And it happened more than once with this book.

This novel could've taken place basically anywhere that I have lived in the past. It could be written about people I know, and people I've lived next to. And initially that's where my head space was while I was reading it. But then it veered off a little into something a tad larger...and that was okay, because at it's center was still that core nugget of wonder and knowledge that you just don't ever really know what's going on behind closed doors.

If you're a fan of a lighter type of suspense book, you're going to love this one. I think it would make a great book club selection also, as the discussion fodder is endless. Secrets, betrayal, infidelity, motherhood, postpartum depression, mental health issues, sexuality, trust, friendship, etc. I mean seriously, tons to talk about! Big thanks to the publisher for sending me this to read.

I wasn't immediately taken in by this book.  It took me a bit to get into the story.  When I did, I was getting confused, as it was going back and forth between characters.   Once I got to know them and could picture each of them, it made it easier to read and follow along.   It was worth holding on ...  I liked the story, which actually surprised me, when I realized where it was going.  Not where I anticipated.  Very good conclusion!

3.5 stars.  I liked the relationships, the good and bad, in this one.  I would have liked more of a feeling of the women neighbors being closer than they appeared.  The little twists were a nice addition.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy..

Loved that book! So much happening with the families on Pleasent Court..I really enjoyed so much!!

This was a very enjoyable story. I connected with the characters as they were lovely written. I am a fan of this author.

It’s true, no one can really know what secrets the family next door harbors, or even what secrets are kept in your own family. I loved the very realistic and relatable depiction of day to day struggles of raising young children. All together a quick, good read.  #NetGalley #TheFamilyNextDoor

I want to thank the publisher, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is my first title from this author,  Sally Hempworth and I am looking forward to read her other works.
This book is really about the question how well do you know somebody and in this case your neighbor.
This story takes place in an idyllic neighborhood, Pleasant Court> and it follow the lives of five families. The book is so spot on  with the different experiences that suburban wives and mothers may go through. 
I enjoy reading about all the drama but also about the forgiveness, resolutions. I really liked that one of the characters, Ange,  found her voice.
 I do feel that some of the events in took away from the focus of the story.
But overall a very entertaining read!!

3.5 stars

This was a quick, entertaining read that kept me engaged throughout in wanting to find out the various secrets that each of the families were trying to hide.  The story was told from the perspective of each of the 3 housewives – Essie, Ange, and Fran – as well as Essie’s mom Barbara and the new neighbor in town, Isabelle.   As the narrative alternated between these characters, we were given insight into the varying amounts of drama that went on amongst families behind closed doors and how people who may appear from the outside to lead “perfect” lives could, in reality, be falling apart inside.  Most of the characters were well-drawn and some were certainly more likable than others, but all of them I felt were realistically portrayed and relatable.  I especially liked the different aspects of motherhood that were portrayed and getting to see how each woman dealt with the issues that came up, how their respective backgrounds influenced their decisions and actions, how they interacted with their spouses and their children, etc.  

Overall, I would say that this was a good story with interesting characters and a few well-executed plot twists thrown in for good measure, though it’s a story that I’ve definitely seen/heard before, so from an originality standpoint, made it less memorable of a story for me.  I also wasn’t as emotionally invested as I thought I would be and even though the characters were well-written and relatable, I didn’t really connect with them – in fact, there were a few instances where I felt a bit detached, a few scenes where I felt like I should’ve had a more emotional reaction but didn’t.  There were also some parts that were a little too predictable, too neatly resolved, especially given some of the heavy subject matter -- it gave me the impression that this was perhaps supposed to be a “feel-good” read that maybe wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously.  And yes, as other reviewers pointed out, there was definitely a “soap opera” feel to this one, which is perfectly fine of course, just not really my sort of thing.  The writing was solid though and the flow was smooth, which made it easy for me to want to keep turning the pages to find out how all the issues would eventually get resolved.  Overall an enjoyable, engaging, entertaining read, one that I would absolutely still recommend, even if a bit too dramatic and predictable at times for my tastes.  

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley