⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5

This book was dark and twisty. A new set of neighbors moves in and they bring more “behind closed doors” secrets. I enjoyed how quick this book was.


Read this book if you like:
- multiple POV
- neighborhood drama
- women protecting women

Thank you NetGalley, Brilliance Publishing, and Katie Sise for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Well this was a sneaky little domestic mystery/suspense. Multiple povs of shady characters in a community, dirty secrets and a murder. Kinda like a book version of desperate housewives.
It was good, interesting and quick - which I appreciated most of all!
Once I finished the story, I realize that a big part of this story plot is becoming more common these days because I recently read a similar storyline a few weeks ago.
The narration was really good and kept me engaged in the story!

4.50 stars rounded up
Firstly, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me early access.
Whoa! What a suspenseful, twisty, thrill ride!
I did not expect the twists when they happened and found myself dropping my jaw constantly.
I loved all the different relationships. Neighborhood drama is one of my favorite things in a storyline and Katie Sise has that down to total perfection!
This was an easy to follow read although you do have to pay close attention to be able to keep “who goes with who” clear. But that’s the fun of a neighborhood storyline.
I love a good who done it. This book was exactly that! The ending is impeccable! I was cheering!

The only things that didn’t make this a completely perfect 5 star read for me were 1.) I received the audiobook arc and my word the narration was odd. The continual up ticks of sentences and I promise you one of them was trying to sound like a narrator on a prime time true crime broadcast or reporter trying to use their “on air voice”. It was weird and totally put me off. 2.) The constant vulgar language is a turn off for me as well. If you’re not a vanilla reader, like me, then no worries.

YOU MUST BE NEW HERE is an exciting fast-paced novel with several questionable characters. There are several surprises throughout the book which made it hard to put down. Overall, this had everything I look for in a thriller. Highly recommend! The audiobook was exceptional with a full cast of narrators. I just loved it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for my #gifted ALC.

This review will be shared to my Instagram account (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the future.

kept me on my toes the whole time! i loved this. I have never read this author before but i will again!

Life in Sycamore Glen may appear idyllic, but the community there is more complicated than it appears at first glance. All its fault lines come sharply into focus when a young woman disappears with shocking suddenness.

Teenage Margaret was a sought after babysitter, an excellent student shortly to head off to Princeton, and a girl generally liked by everyone who knew her. Who would want to hurt a young woman like that?

In exploring this tightknit community, which holds so many secrets behind its facade of perfection, Katie Sise does a stellar job of delivering a thought provoking, nuanced, intelligent piece of story telling, examining some serious issues in contemporary America.

The book goes far beyond any standard neighbourhood thriller, and should not be missed by any discerning reader of psychological thrillers and social drama. It gets 4.5 stars.

It seems like this is another story about a well-off community where everyone’s got secrets, scandals, and something to hide, but it gets much deeper than that.

There are new neighbors, a missing girl, and plenty of drama to keep you interested. Margaret’s disappearance isn’t even the main focus for a lot of the book, there’s more happening beneath the surface.

Without giving anything away, it ends up being a pretty sad story in a way, mostly because it reflects the kind of predatory behavior that some men get away with. I liked that the women in this story were strong-willed and tough, each in their own way.

I listened to the audiobook, which had a full cast with different narrators for each character. That made it easy to follow, and everyone did a good job.

The plot isn’t super twisty or shocking,
it’s actually pretty predictable, but I stayed invested and wanted to see how it would all play out.

3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley, Brilliance Publishing, and Brilliance Audio for the advance copy.

You Must Be New Here is a fairly quick and simple read. The story is set in Sycamore Glen which sounds typical of a small town with big aspirations. The story opens with Sloane and her daughter Daisy excited to see new neighbours moving in, for Sloane there’s the hope of finding a new friend, Daisy’s heart condition means that while she’s tried to put herself out there, being a part of the pta activities, her life is mainly centred around her daughter and the connections she has are fairly surface level, just as she hoped Sloane strikes up a firm friendship with Harper, but after Daisy’s teen babysitter Margaret goes missing hard truths and secrets of the past come tumbling out.

The story is delivered from multiple pov but at times it was hard to distinguish main characters from side characters especially when so much history comes pouring out. It was fairly obvious throughout that the ending was going to wrap up as it did, and while several twists were thrown in they weren’t enough to sway the readers belief.

There was a full cast of narrators for this title, but unfortunately while some were really great others were either a bit afternoon soap opera or verging toward the robotic. I still enjoyed the majority of the book, just not as much as i had hoped.

2.5 🌟

My thanks to Brilliance Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

You Must be New Here by Katie Sise was a great book with interesting characters, several good surprises and an ending I didn't expect. This was my first Sise novel, but I will be adding here to the list of authors to watch.

Main character Sloane, a divorcee with a daughter with a serious illness befriends new to the neighborhood Harper and a (too fast???) friendship forms. I adore books set in tight knit communities and this one included the expected social gatherings, jealousies, philandering husbands and mysteries. Dependable babysit Margaret disappears and we spend a lot of time peeling the onion discovering that the perfect neighborhood is not so perfect.

It's a good book.

As an audiobook I was excited to have a cast of four narrators. A full cast is always my preference because it lets each character really be fleshed out by different voices. Sadly, there was a narrator amongst the four who made me bang my head against the wall each time she appeared. A great narrator does not get in the way of the story, but this voice was so distracting it spoiled the tale. She overly dramatized each word. Imagine, if you will something like this out loud: Aaaannnd theennnnn the baaabysitteer disappppeareedd........ I know that seems insane, but honestly every single word was spppppppoooookkkken like it had way more letters than it should. I can't explain it, but if this book had been narrated by just her, I would have set the speed to 2 times normal. With three other narrators speaking at a normal human rate, I was trapped. Speeding it up for her meant listening to three others at Alvin and the Chipmunk speed.

Luckily the story and plot were strong enough that I kept listening.

Katie Sise delivers another compelling domestic suspense in You Must Be New Here, a twisty, emotionally layered story set in the idyllic yet secret-laden community of Sycamore Glen.

On the surface, this affluent mountainside town is everything its residents hoped for—a peaceful retreat from city life filled with school events, country clubs, and well-manicured lawns. But when Margaret, a responsible and beloved high school senior, suddenly vanishes, the neighborhood’s carefully constructed facade begins to crack, and long-buried secrets come rushing to the surface.

Told through the alternating perspectives of several women—each dealing with their own personal struggles—the story delves into the tangled relationships, quiet resentments, and unspoken histories that bind this community together. Sloane, a divorced former playwright juggling anxiety and her daughter’s chronic illness, finds solace in her new neighbors Harper and Ben. Clara, the seemingly flawless PTA powerhouse, is trying to hold her picture-perfect life together while grappling with her son’s grief and her own guilt. As the search for Margaret intensifies, alliances are tested, and no one is quite who they seem.

I loved how Sise portrayed the complexity of modern family dynamics—especially the refreshingly healthy co-parenting relationship between Sloane and her ex-husband—and how she allowed characters room for growth and redemption. The multi-POV structure adds emotional depth, allowing readers to see how easily miscommunication can spiral into mistrust.

With well-crafted misdirection, sharp writing, and an undercurrent of unease that builds steadily, this is the kind of book that keeps you flipping pages late into the night. It’s a perfect summer suspense read—equal parts gripping and poignant. I loved how this book had me guessing and guessing up until the end.

A must-read for fans of layered suburban mysteries with strong female leads and emotionally driven plots. Katie Sise once again proves she’s a master of domestic suspense.

3.5 rounded up. The vibes of THE GIFTED SCHOOL with higher stakes and a touch of murder.

Premise - Sloane lives in an upper middle class area, in a seemingly perfect life with only one stain: she has no friends. When Harper and Ben move in next door, she finally makes a friend and has everything she could want… until her daughter’s babysitter, a gifted high school senior called Margaret, goes missing.

This was a great read for anyone who’s previously been on the gifted kid-academic competitions-Ivy acceptances track. Some of the characters were a little too archetypal (I’m looking at you, Margaret’s parents), but they were all around interesting and fun to watch/read about/listen to.

Strong pacing, tight plotting: a good story, well told.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Erin Mallon, Vanessa Johansson, Caitlin Kelly, and Dominique Franceschi. I enjoy a full cast read most of the time, but this one wasn’t quite my favorite as the readers weren’t all equally matched. There were one or two that delivered a bit of a melodramatic read, while the others were really, really strong. That said, it was still a very enjoyable listening experience and I’ll readily recommend it (albeit with an asterisk).

Thanks, NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing, for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.