The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen is the first book I’ve read by the author and it was so good, I went on to read the rest of her realistic fiction catalogue. At least the ones available in my library.

A basic summary is that this small town is one of the safest towns in the US yet the four women don’t feel safe due to each’s own dark secret. Now I know this sounds like a cliche soap opera drama but it doesn’t get overdramatize at all. Tessa is the new neighbor, and as the title implies she seems perfect, reserved, put together but very shy. Then the three main characters are Kellie the classic mom next door, Susan, a single mom working through a divorce and Gigi, the wife of a wannabe politician. 

Well with Gigi, the problem is the rascally new very young campaign manager that is now living in the house and also seems to be seducing her teenage daughter while being paranoid that her own secrets will be leaked to the press, ruining her husband’s campaign. What makes her character work is that while she is afraid for herself and that she won’t be able to make it as picture perfect politician’s wife, she is much more concerned for her daughter and expresses the old-age worry and concern for her daughter who seems to be growing more and more distant and growing up too fast. 

Kellie, like I said, classic mom next door. Straight A student, married her high school sweetheart, her husband is about perfect but they are lacking the intimacy they once had. So she has a small crush on a man at her work who pays her compliments and makes her feel sexy again despite both being married. Nothing happens thankfully but Kellie realizes this emotional affair has to stop on her own when the guilt starts to eat her up.  The arc that carried her over without making her seem like a “I just want to be loved” adulterer is her realization that if she wants the intimacy back then she needs to pull her own weight and communicate with her husband than just expect him to do it out of the blue. 

Susan is understandable very bitter against her husband that cheated on her, and now is divorcing her. She is also struggling with being alone with her son for the first time and working out custody. As well as that insecurity of what was wrong with her that her ex cheated, and now is having another child. While Susan can be down in the dumps sometimes she is empathetic and tries to pull herself together to help people and even reuniting an old man with his son. This helps her own realization the beauty of connections and trying not to let your own anger and prejudices blind her to what someone else is feeling. Also from how Kellie described her guilt, she realizes her ex’s nice guy act is not an act. He still genuinely cares for her and is actually sorry for hurting her, and may feel guilty for falling in love. That was just out of his control. So with that ephiphany it helps her move on. 

Tessa is the mysterious one and is told through a series of flashbacks on why she came to the new neighborhood. She was a nervous wreck as a mother, always seeing danger at every turn and trying to do her best but it never seemed enough. I felt bad for her. Her husband was always away and seemed to dismiss her nervousness making her feel even more alone and that her worries was paranoia. I won’t reveal what her secret is, but it is a doozy. Understandable but still a doozy. 

Now do these secrets ever get revealed to the others. Not really. Everyone just acts like they are the good, “perfect” neighbors as the title suggests. Which is fine, honestly. Because it shows even though these friends do not entirely know what is going on in the other’s lives, they still inadvertently help with advice. Also this book is humorous as well with it’s neighborhood mailing list showing the rest of the colorful people living in the neighboorhood. 

So overall, a pleasant read. 4 stars