A kidnapping, a murder and a neighborhood full of secrets, what’s not to love about this book! I really enjoyed this book, the only downside for me was the large amount of characters you had to keep track off. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Book: Best House on the Block
Author: T.R. Regan
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Pub Date: actually two dates listed - January 1, 2025 as well as November 5, 2024
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pages: 287

Why, this title? Journalist Rosella Marlow lives in a beautiful house in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento and for several years was the winner of the ‘Best House on the Block’; however recently the award went to Chloe and Wesley Leavitt who live across the street.

Now Shannon Gibbons, a hopeful investigative journalist, her husband Trey and their daughter Mackenzie (Mac) recently moved into a home in the neighborhood. Shannon is delighted when she finds out her neighbor is journalist Rosella Marlow-then is excited when Rosella befriends her.
However Rosella is not liked by the neighbors, which doesn’t bother Rosella- in fact, she enjoys being loathed and actually revels in the hate directed towards her.
So when Rosella is found murdered, everyone in the neighborhood is a suspect.

With the help of a Chloe, Shannon begins an investigation.
As a thriller fan I enjoyed their conversations regarding possible whodunits.

Although this story wasn’t a big WOW it certainly held my interest.
Plus the adoption situation was interesting.

Want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 1, 2025.

I’m really struggling on what to give this book. I did like it. I didn’t love it. Will I remember it down the road and think I need to tell ppl about this book. Probably not.
It started out with a bang. Then it fell off. I found it very slow and all over the place to be honest. There is so many characters to keep track of. And none of them really cling to you. I found it hard to keep track of who was who at first. There was so much going on and yet so little. It started off with a kidnapping and then nothing about it till closer to the end. A murder takes place 4 years later that is the main plot of the story. Everyone on the block is a suspect. Everyone had reason to want her dead. Yes there is a few twists and turns. But nothing you really don’t see coming to be honest. If you’re a fan of desperate housewives and drama this might be up your alley.

🏡Book Review🏡
Best House on the Block by TR Ragan

Aspiring investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons and her family have moved into a beautiful house in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento, where Shannon finds a fast connection with a new neighbor, a renowned journalist, Rosella Marlow. However, Rosella is bitter and has a weird obsession - watching her neighbours and wanting to expose their dark secrets. Revealing a neighbor’s deep secrets and dark obsessions turns to murder in a shocking novel of psychological suspense.

This book is slow to start. I paused this at around 10% and it took me a few days to continue reading. It might be me, but I wasn't that invested in the story.

The large number of characters also does not help. I'm not sure why thriller authors love to include so many characters nowadays. It probably is to throw us off our course and increase the number of suspects in the story. If well written, it might work in favour of the author. Unfortunately, this is not the case for this novel.

The characters are under-developed. I prefer thrillers with well-developed characters as they give me insight to their motives and characteristics.

I also feel like author is trying to achieve too many suspense and threads that they got tangled after a while. The plot subsequently, became messy and the plot hole became bigger. 😅 At around the third quarter, I almost didn't care about the storyline.

Overall, this is a weak thriller and I didn't really enjoy it. Sad to say, this book is not for me. However, don't let my opinions keep you from trying it. After all, one man's meat is always another man's poison.

Thank you NetGalley @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

#arcreader #thriller #trragan #besthouseontheblock #netgalleyarc #netgalley

Neighborhood drama meets murder mystery.

The book opens with the kidnapping of a toddler, then flashes forward to a young women moving into one of the nicest neighborhoods in town.
If you’re from Sacramento, you know about the Fab 40s. Being familiar with, and having frequented this neighborhood myself, made this a fun and engaging read.

A woman on the block who nobody likes is murdered, which means the suspect list includes pretty much everyone. Two women are determined to do their own investigation to find out who may have killed her. But along the way there’s plenty of drama amongst the neighbors, including fights and arrests made by police.

In investigating this crime, the two woman who had been strangers not too long ago are brought much closer than they ever could have imagined.

Definitely recommend if you like a murder mystery sprinkled with family drama and adultery. Well written.

I did not finish this book and I will tell you why. The premise seemed interesting, but the style of writing was forced; I felt like I was following someone’s thoughts instead of reading a crafted story. It was starkly different from the level of writing talent I am used to experiencing. I hope the author heavily revises the writing before publishing. I feel bad writing this, but it needs a major overhaul before it is ready for a seasoned reader.

What if someone in your neighborhood threatened to expose the secrets of everyone living on your street!? Would you kill them to keep them quiet? Probably not you, (at least I hope not!) But someone was murdered and everyone in the neighborhood is now a suspect.

It’s been a long while since I’ve picked up a T.R. Ragan book. I enjoyed the first few books of her Jessie Cole series but had never tried one of her stand –alone books.. So when seeing this latest, a neighborhood thriller, (one of my favorite sub genres) I was all in.

Unfortunately this book failed to grab me. I had little connection to the characters and storyline. I always like to get caught up in the drama of the neighborhood…like a fly on the wall. But I just didn’t feel it.🤷🏻‍♀️

Hoping you will have a more positive experience!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in the Fabulous Forties neighbourhood of Sacramento, California.

Starts off strong with that prologue but dnf at ~20%:
• Handles the cast of characters by listing first and last names, at best some hair colour, but mostly just names we gotta remember. There’s nothing to anchor them in our minds or give us first impressions. [This might only be a mind’s eye reader problem]
• This is made worse by peripheral/seemingly one-off characters being referred to the same way. ___ is ____’s golfing buddy and they met via ____, who’s related to ___. I’m slightly exaggerating, but my character notes were a mess.
• This is made much worse by how the characters all sound the same and feel robotic or stilted in how they speak
• Too much info dumping the plot with little room for intrigue, immersion, or inferring for ourselves. If you like that style or want a basic easy read it could work except that character problem makes it not that.
• I was looking forward to the world building but other than what reads like a list of facts I already Googled, this story could take place anywhere with big houses.
• Instead of the reader being thrown in the story the story is thrown at the reader. ___ does this, then that, then thinks this, that says that.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

This book by T.R. Ragan is a psychological suspense novel following aspiring investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons as she tries to untangle the web of lies and secrets around her. I have really enjoyed previous books by this author and although I really enjoyed it I feel that it started out a bit slow as it took me a while to truly get engrossed in this book. After the initial impact at the start with a toddler being kidnapped it slowed right down and didn’t really get going and suck me in until the murder. After that I was so engrossed I couldn’t put it down. There are a fair amount of characters in the book and it took me a while to get my head round who everyone was and the parts they played but once I got everyone sorted out in my head it wasn’t an issue at all.

I’m giving Best House on the Block 4 stars because although it started out slow I did really enjoy it.

BEST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK started out strong, with a flashback that promised some intrigue and mystery. However, this one fell short as it was way too character heavy, without enough development done to distinguish them from one another. The various families and storylines blended into each other and was confusing, and the ending didn’t redeem the convoluted path it took to get there.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review BEST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK.

Oh this book was FANTASTIC! It kept me on the edge of my seat from chapter one, and I just could not even get over the ending. Wonderfully done!

This was a middle of the road read for me. Not amazing, but not terrible either. Halfway through starts to get a bit muddied with so many plot lines going on at the same time. I didn't find the characters to be super relatable, believable, or full fleshed out. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to be honest, with so many other more memorable and engaging stories out there. Ultimately, this one falls flat in comparison.

Mystery and twists, my 2 favorite things in a book. I couldn't put this book down, it was soooo good! This truly is the Best House on the Block.

Slow to start but once you get half way through the book gets going. The twist at the end between two of main characters is so good!

What happens when a neighborhood villian,Rosella Marlow, is found deceased in her house? The neighborhood attempts to solve the murder. Rosella went after her neighbors in a completely underhanded and vicious ways. No one in the neighborhood liked her so they are all suspects.

Not a bad read just slow and I had to work hard to finish it.
I am glad I finished the book.

I've discovered T.R. Ragan because of this platform and I've enjoyed all of her books but this one. It was really interesting at the beginning, it's got her signature style, the main character fighting for her sanity despite being gaslit to oblivion but then towards the middle 'til the end it just became woke and weird. I have nothing against woke narratives. It's just that I don't think it pairs well with thrillers.

A who-dun-it with too many whos. Pretty much everyone in this book had motive for the murder. As well as nearly everyone being in or around the house at the time of the murder.

There were so many connections between each person and each time I thought I had something figured out, something new would come up.

I really enjoyed this story. The only minor downside is there are so many characters you have to really pay attention and keep a running list in your head of the characters to keep up with the story. But other than that, it is a very unique, full of secrets, scandals and mystery.

The book starts off with a bang, there's a kidnapping of a toddler who was wandering alone at night.
Then the setting is changed to a posh neighborhood with neighbors who all have secrets. I kept wondering where the kidnapping fit in and which character was involved with that. Many characters, enough to keep me wondering throughout.

Firstly I want to thank T.R. Ragan and the publishers for allowing me to read an early copy of this mystery novel!
I really enjoyed the style of writing and the different characters that we meet throughout the book. There were a few plot twists amongst the main and side characters I was NOT expecting and I really enjoyed that I wasn’t able to call it before it happened. I normally put the puzzle pieces together before the plot is revealed so it’s always refreshing when that doesn’t happen! I was able to really picture the neighbourhood and how close knit they are without being bored by too many filler details. I’d really like this to become a movie or Netflix limited series!

I’d rate this a 4/5 ⭐️

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

In the heart of the Fabulous Forties in East Sacramento, where tree-lined streets hide secrets behind white picket fences, aspiring investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons and her family move into a beautiful house. Their new neighbor, renowned journalist Rosella Marlow, seems eager to help Shannon’s career by offering her a personal assistant role on a mysterious project. But appearances can be deceiving.

Rosella is consumed by grief and resentment, determined to wipe the smiles off her seemingly contented neighbors’ faces. She watches closely, ready to expose their darkest secrets. And when a murder occurs, everyone on this quiet block becomes a suspect. Shannon, unwittingly drawn into the intrigue, begins her own investigation into the death of someone she barely knew.

“Best House on the Block” is a gripping psychological suspense novel that combines the intrigue of “Desperate Housewives” with the investigative spirit of “Murder She Wrote.” T.R. Ragan weaves a web of lies, secrets, and unexpected twists, keeping readers on the edge of their seats. The multiple points of view, suburban setting, and well-drawn characters make this a binge-worthy read. 🕵️‍♀️🏡🔍

If you enjoy mysteries with a touch of domestic drama, this book is a must-read. Ragan’s storytelling prowess shines as she unravels the tangled threads of neighborly deception.

The perfect slump book for me. Just what I needed. The perfect mix of suspense and keep you on the edge with page turning and engaging.