Elise has a good life. She is coming home early from a conference & tomorrow she is going sailing with her husband to celebrate their first anniversary. She has wonderful house inherited from her mother with a shop and herb garden. All is perfect until she arrives home.

I felt that this was a very poor book which seemed to dissolve into a farce at various points. The plot is dreadful. There are 4 main characters – Elise, her neighbour Chantal, her ex-husband & her current husband. There are more than six attempted murders of Elise & her two husbands each by another main character. At one point there seemed to be murder on the same person attempts missing each other by seconds! It isn’t normal to want or attempt to kill anyone making these characters rather worrying.

The characters are poor and cardboard. Apart from their murderous desires there is little character to them. Yes, there are hints when one is unveiled as a stalker and another rather controlling but that shows little of who they really are, how they feel & why their personalities have sunk to such levels.

A lot of the murder attempts centre around a flower in the herb garden called the Juliet. Elise’s mother has warned against it saying that the right amount can kill but no one really knows anything about it. They don’t even know its proper name, its properties or how much harm it does & how – apart from the very convenient fact that it kills without leaving any trace in the bloodstream – really?????? Isn’t it a shame that there is no way of looking up herbs on a central database to get all the information about it – something like the internet!

This was a poor book with bad characterisation & a dreadful plot. The language was quite simple & the description was poor. I shall certainly be avoiding future work by this author.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!

Elise comes home early on her first wedding anniversary to find her husband in bed with another woman. What follows is a series of twists and turns as the reader finds out exactly who can be trusted!

The book is a definite page turner and I did enjoy the twists and turns throughout the book. I loved the descriptions of the scenery of the island and the surroundings.

What let the book down a little for me was that I felt that the characters were all a little simplistic and I never felt I got a really good sense of any of them. As such, I found it hard to relate to any of them and feel any sort of connection or empathy with them.

All in all though, it was a great page turner and I did enjoy reading it.

What a page-turner! Elise finds her husband in bed with another woman and thus begins a series of twists and turns involving Elise, her husband, ex-husband and her neighbour.
Elise is a herbalist and the poisonous properties of the plants in her garden take centre-stage.
Well-crafted, this is where gothic horror meets literary fiction - the setting a fictional island that feels suitably claustrophobic.
Occasionally I couldn’t keep up with the plot ducking and diving, but the characterisation was strong enough to carry me along.
I liked the way the author left me guessing whether Elise is going mad or - because of her sleepwalking - herself the perpetrator.
Recommended if you like an easy-to-read thriller.

The word 'atmospheric' has been used a lot lately, perhaps overused, but it's the best way to describe the island where we find our main characters. Away from the hustle and bustle of Seattle is an island in the Pacific Northwest, with a close-knit community - and so many secrets.

Our first-person protagonist, Elise, discovers one of these secrets when she comes home a day early - to her philandering doctor husband, Kieran, in bed with another woman. They are talking about getting rid of Elise - but how? And when?

What began as promising was followed by somewhat jumbled story lines. We had Elise and Kieran, Elise's ex-husband, Elise's neighbor Chantal (who got a few of her own chapters in the third person). There was also Elise's deceased mother and Chantal's daughter, who committed suicide by drowning a few years prior. The other main character was the Juliet plant - a potentially deadly plant grown in Elise's mother's - now Elise's - shop of potions.

There were some twists and red herrings in the book, some fun and some a little far-fetched without more information. In the end, everything was pretty much spelled out for the reader. Which is understandable, considering there were times when the reader did not know who would stay dead and who would pull...a (Romeo and) Juliet.

The writer definitely gives the feel of being moored on the island and the pages do keep turning; I have heard great praise for this author so I may just have to try another before making a decision on whether I am a fan.

Elise is thrilled to be coming home early from her business trip. She's celebrating one year with the man of her dreams, lives in her childhood home, and is building a solid career. But instead of the happy reunion she had planned, she's the one in shock when she returns to find her husband in bed with another woman. And worse, their conversation sounds suspiciously like they're planning to get rid of her. Sometimes inheriting $5 million dollars comes with more problems than it's worth.

Elise is sick over everything, literally. Turns out she's also pregnant. Despite the issues she's facing in her marriage she decides to stick it out at least until the baby's born. When her ex shows up offering desperately needed support, Elise doesn't know what to believe. She's been sleepwalking and he seems to be the only one who understands her.

But when she finds him dead in the garden, she begins to question her own sanity. Could she have killed him?

This is a page turner that will keep you guessing throughout. The twists and turns will keep you on your toes and you'll find yourself cheering for Elise and questioning everyone around her. This is one of only a few books I've read that held the secrets until the very end.

This is a great read for anyone who enjoys well rounded characters, fast pace, and skillful plotting.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Poison Garden by AJ Banner! Elise is married to a doctor and runs a small herb shop behind her house. One day she comes home early from a trip out of town and her world is turned upside down. I won't say how so I won't spoil anything. You won't know who to trust and who not to trust. AJ Banner does a great job in all of her books of creating ordinary characters thrust into dangerous and mysterious circumstances. This was a very quick read and I couldn't stop because I had to read "just one more chapter". I think fans of women's lit and mysteries will be very pleased with this book. Thanks to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for the copy of this book for an honest review. (4.5 stars)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

Another amazing book by A J Banner! I would read anything she writes. This was a quick read for me...could not put it down. Our library will definitely be purchasing! Thank you for the advanced copy.

The Poison Garden is a very fast paced book, I read it in just a couple of days. This book has many twist and turns and I was surprised by the ending. Definitely want to read more books by this author. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I always get a little shiver of excitement when I begin one of Banner's novels as her characters are so interesting and quirky. This one centers around Elise who upon returning home early from a trip, discovers her doctor-husband in bed with another woman. Shocked and devastated, she throws him out and confides in her friend, Chantal who comforts her as any good friend would. But things quickly become confusing for Elise as she is a frequent sleepwalker and often awakens somewhere other than her bed with no memory of what she has done in her sleep. So when her ex-husband steps in to help, she can't really be sure if he is helping or hindering her case. Of course things get dicey and the plot thickens until the conclusion that is both shocking and satisfying as all of Banner's novels are!

A.J. Banner is slowly becoming a favorite of mine and her latest The Poison Garden did not disappoint! My favorite book of hers is The Good Neighbor but this one held my attention and the characters were fleshed out and believable. The only reason I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 was in my opinion a few key plot lines weren't fully explained or were wrapped up too quickly; like the sleepwalking. But all in all this was a winner for me; interesting plot, interesting characters and several plot twists held my interest. Looking forward to her next one!

The book pretty much starts with Elise Watters discovering her philandering husband in bed with another woman. For me, the problems started there also. None of the characters are particularly fleshed out, but the husband is a cardboard cutout. After he's caught cheating, his reaction is absurd - he can't understand why Elise is so upset and just keeps turning up at the house - technically her house - seeming surprised when she tells him to leave (again...and then again...and again). There is no depth to his character at all and it just irritated me - I couldn't sympathise with Elise because I was too busy being annoyed with her for falling for such a thick-headed and one-dimensional character in the first place.

The story isn't bad, the writing's fine...but this book just didn't excite me, and I wouldn't return to it again. I gave it three stars because there were some things to like about it, but I felt like it could have benefited from a little more fleshing out / editing. The characters weren't fully believable, and there was no chemistry at all between the main character and her husband, who were supposedly madly in love prior to his indiscretions being discovered. It was fairly well written, but I like a bit more excitement from my thrillers, especially domestic thrillers.

Would I read more from the author? Sure. It wasn't a perfect book, but I liked it fine. And to give credit where it's due, I didn't guess the final twist, and I read so many crime thriller novels that I almost always do. For me this was a solid book, not a stellar one, but I look forward to seeing what this author does next.

Didn't love the story as much as I was hoping to. The plot kept changing which kept it interesting but the story jumped around too much and the characters weren't that likable except Bella. It's bummer since I love her other stories.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Poison Garden.

Initially, it was the cover and the description that sparked interest for me in this book but as soon as you dive into the first chapter you are thrown straight into scandal and set up for a journey of revenge which made me even more excited.

Althought the reader was set up for a whirlwind of a book, I think the bar was set too high early on and unfortunately it did not reach the level of intensity that it could have. I feel there were too many attempts to throw the reader off, and instead of one solid twist, there were a few that seemed unnecessary. I also felt the characters were unrealistic.

Although the book did not meet my need of suspense to the extent I was hoping, I did enjoy the setting of the story as I grew up near the area where it took place and was able to visually put myself into the story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'The Poison Garden'. I was interested in reading this book as it had an overall five star rating on Net Galley.

However... I'm sorry to say that I found the plot quite ridiculous and the writing very mediocre. The characters were not believable and the authors descriptions were very cliched.

I was unconvinced and wanted to give up about halfway through but kept going in case it improved. Unfortunately, it didn't.

I don't really know what about this book snagged my attention, to begin with, Probably the fact that it mentions gardens and plants in the synopsis, not gonna lie, but I was majorly disappointed. I feel like most books you receive from Netgalley are sort of hit-or-miss, but this one definitely missed the mark for me.

The story is about a girl named Elise who is about to celebrate her first wedding anniversary with her super successful husband, Keiran. That is until she unearths some skeletons in his closet and things escalate from there.

Honestly, I found the writing, in general, to be kind of surface level. I couldn't take any of the characters or the plot seriously. I could tell where it was going sometimes, making it cliche. I feel something that's really hard to do with books that are psychological thrillers or mystery novels is to surprise the reader. In this case, I found the characters laughable and bland. I honestly couldn't take them seriously, and the plot had absolutely no depth. I made it 26% of the way through and still hadn't reached a point where I was intrigued.

All-in-all, I was left underwhelmed and marked it as a "dnf"

garden. Do poisonous plants grow there and who would grow them and why? I rubbed my hands with glee before diving in.

When you come home early and find your husband in bed with another woman, that’s a strong opener right there and sets the scene for revenge and more. The woman in the book is Elise and it’s her soon to be ex husband who seems to then still be letting himself into the house when she’s not there. One time ends in tragedy and that’s when the story kicks up a notch and the characters within it seem to unravel.

There’s a lot of puzzling out what happens in this book and that’s a good feeling - to be on the same path as the characters and not know what’s happening..that sense of doom and foreboding in the background all the way.

Elise starts to almost go mad wondering what is going on and questioning herself about the events as they happen. Chapters were sharp and there were plenty of cliff hangers to keep you going from one to the next. Well -paced and written for this style of thriller.


So if you love suspense , a mystery set around a Victorian house? The atmosphere of a small coastal town? And characters you can’t trust as far as you could throw them?

WOW. This was full of twist and turns. A fast-paced ride that leaves you guessing until the last page. I was glued to the book until the end. Excellent read.

This is a stunning thriller, fast paced and well written. I was eager to keep reading as I needed to know what happened next! Creepy, twisty, and complex; everything I love in a mystery thriller.

**I generously received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review**

In the opening scene of AJ Banner’s newest book, The Poison Garden, we are immediately thrust into a vivid scene: a woman is fleeing from someone, as fast as her legs will take her, and behind her, a voice is calling after her, coming closer and closer...

The novel then cuts to where our story begins, three days earlier, with the ominous first sentence: “On the ferry ride home, I was not yet planning to kill anyone.” Here is the moment you know this book has got you in its grasp, and it won’t let go until you uncover every last detail.

Elise has been married to husband number two, a charming doctor named Kieran, for just under a year. She has come home early to surprise him for their anniversary. Unfortunately , Elise is the one surprised, finding her husband - whom she has just added at his urging to her substantial inheritance account - in bed with another woman. An argument ensues, and she quickly kicks him out of the house.

But that’s not the end of the matter. There’s much more going on underneath the surface here. As the novel continues, more and more damning facts (and the perspectives of different characters) surface. The suspense ratchets up and never really lets you go, as the reader is left with more and more questions and suspicions, until the final denouement.

I hate to give away spoilers in books within the mystery or thriller genres, because where’s the fun in that? But you will be wondering who is the crazy one? Whose version of events is distorted? Who can be trusted?

I recall reading AJ Banner’s debut novel, The Good Neighbor, back in 2015. It was decent, but I felt it could have been much improved. THIS is the novel you’ve been waiting for AJ Banner’s to write. The plot, the questions raised by the actions of certain characters within the novel, the incredible setting - it all came together to create a truly gripping story. I am so pleased to see this author step into her potential, and I will be eagerly awaiting her next book.

You don’t want to miss this one. Highly recommended.