Book Review: The Secrets Next Door by Sally Royer-Derr

3.5⭐
Genre ~ domestic drama
Setting ~ New York
Publication date ~ March 4, 2024
Est page Count ~ 248 (p+ 48 chapters)
Audio length ~ 7 hours and 39 minutes
Narrator ~ Patricia Rodriguez
POV ~ mostly dual 1st with an extra pov at the end, present tense
Featuring ~ twins in their 30’s, secrets (duh), infidelity, revenge

My review:

Talia & Tabitha are twins who live next door to each other with their spouses, Zach & Grant. They even own a bakery business together. That’s a lot of time to be spending together, but that’s just the only child introvert in me talking.

Told in the present tense mostly as inner thoughts. This is fine up to a point, but then the narrator becomes quite unreliable. And one character has insomnia, so that heightens the unreliableness. I do enjoy an unreliable narrator, but in turn it made the characters very unlikable. In fact I can’t think of one character that I did like, oh wait maybe the part time worker at the bakery who we hear from on only a few pages. Since there is a fair amount of repetition, due to each twin telling us how they are better than the other, it slows down the pace. I did quite enjoy the whole revenge plot and I think that played out nicely.

Overall, a decent domestic drama with a little bit of mystery. I was quite pleased with the ending.

Narration notes:
I did not listen to this one, but am just giving the info above for reference, however I do think at least 2 narrators would have been beneficial since I have a feeling the voices might not have differed much.

*Thanks to the author, Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

Get your copy on ~ Amazon

Add to your never ending TBR  ~ goodreads

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read it.

Book blurb:

What does she know?

On a leafy, suburban street, curtains are subtly twitched to watch the new neighbor moving in.

Anne gets exactly the welcome to the neighborhood she expects: a basket of homemade cupcakes delivered by the woman next door and her best friend. One wears a curious smile while the other studies her every move. When Talia and Tabitha leave, Anne throws the treats in the trash.

She knows what to expect from the new neighbors. Talia with her perfect husband and pale-peach sweater sets, and Tabitha who reigns as queen in the close-knit community. That’s why she chose this house.

But they don’t know what to expect from her.

And if they get suspicious, well they can’t uncover Anne’s secrets without spilling their own…

An absolutely gripping and twisty psychological thriller that will have you questioning everything in a race to the jaw-dropping ending. The perfect read for fans of The Perfect Marriage, The Housemaid and Nicola Sanders.

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Sally Royer-Derr is an award-winning author of several novels including, High Bluffs Trilogy, The Tracks, and Ohana. She has degrees in book review, domestic thrillerpsychology and education. Writing has been a passion of Sally’s since childhood. Throughout her life, she has worked in education and banking, but writing has always proved to be her true love. Sally lives in Pennsylvania with her family. 

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