Author: Freya Sampson
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Women's Fiction
Format: Kindle ARC
No. of Pages: 384
Date of Publication: April 2, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars
Two neighbors-at-war band together to stop a dangerous criminal in their midst in this enthralling new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Lost Ticket.
Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never felt at home anywhere, and especially not in crumbling Shelley House. According to her neighbors, she’s prickly and unapproachable, but beneath her tough exterior, Kat is plagued by guilt from her past.
Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling is Shelley House’s longest resident, and if you believe the other tenants, she’s as cantankerous and vindictive as they come. Except there’s a good reason Dorothy spends her days spying on her neighbors—a closely guarded secret that no else knows and the reason Dorothy barely leaves her beloved home.
When their building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home. But when someone starts to play dirty and viciously targets one of the residents, Dorothy and Kat suspect foul play in their community. After the police close the investigation, it's up to this improbable pair to bring a criminal to justice.
Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never felt at home anywhere, and especially not in crumbling Shelley House. According to her neighbors, she’s prickly and unapproachable, but beneath her tough exterior, Kat is plagued by guilt from her past.
Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling is Shelley House’s longest resident, and if you believe the other tenants, she’s as cantankerous and vindictive as they come. Except there’s a good reason Dorothy spends her days spying on her neighbors—a closely guarded secret that no else knows and the reason Dorothy barely leaves her beloved home.
When their building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home. But when someone starts to play dirty and viciously targets one of the residents, Dorothy and Kat suspect foul play in their community. After the police close the investigation, it's up to this improbable pair to bring a criminal to justice.
MY THOUGHTS:
The residents of Shelley House have a fight on their hands. But, let’s start with seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling. She is the self-appointed guardian of the one-time historic home. Taking notes and sending letters to the building owner to mark every infraction in the building. Not only does she have concerns for logical safety issues, she is watching her fellow neighbors with an eagle eye, and they are quite tired of it.
Building meetings don’t go well at all. Some of the other neighbors include Kat Bennett, father and daughter Omar and Ayesha, Joseph, Tomas Wojcik, Gloria Brown and a mysterious neighbor who never shows his face. With the building owner planning an eviction of all of the neighbors with grand plans for the building. Even before this can happen, some of the neighbors end up banding together, and this includes the nosy Dorothy.
When Joseph, who has know Dorothy for decades, falls ill, his boarder Kat takes responsibility for his dog. But Kat is only at Shelley house for a limited time and is more than reluctant to get close to her neighbors in any fashion. Her job means that she needs help with caring for Joseph’s dog, and this creates an unlikely bond with young Ayesha and Dorothy. But, the danger of eviction looms over all of their heads, and the tension in the building is unsurprisingly high.
Nosy Neighbors was not the book I thought it would be. I have read books or even watched television shows where neighbors are entirely too nosy. But this book has a surprising emotional edge. Just as the neighbors found ways to actually care for and about one another, as a reader, I felt close to the neighbors and really worried for all of them. The drama that Freya Sampson executed was done remarkably well, just as in her previous book, The Lost Ticket. This talented author has a way to make the reader connect with the characters, and in both books that I have read by her did just that.
Yes indeed. This book really drew me in. It was wonderfully heartwarming and was just the kind of feel good I needed to read. If this is how Freya Sampson can make me read while reading one of her books, then bring future ones right to my reading list. I certainly won’t pass them by.
Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
She studied History at Cambridge University and in 2018 was shortlisted for the Exeter Novel Prize.
She lives in London with her husband, two young children and an antisocial cat.
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