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Summary: THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR
Review: The story of Barbara Delinksy's novel, The Woman Next Door, centers around the inhabitants of the four houses on a quiet cul-de-sac. There is Amanda and Graham who are desperately trying to having a baby which has made quite a strain on their marriage. There is Georgia and stay-at-home dad Russ while Georgia is running her own business. There is Karen and skirt-chasing Lee, which Karen tries to ignore his indiscretions. And the fourth house is occupied by a recently widowed young, beautiful woman, Gretchen. Life on the cul-de-sac is turned upside down when Gretchen turns up pregnant months after her husband died. Each of the other women on the cul-de-sac become very insecure when they learn of Gretchen's looming motherhood and wonder if their husband could be the father.
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Summary: A mixed genre of suspense, romance, and the value of truth
Review: In this interesting and intriguing novel, three couples living on the same street, close friends and neighbors, notice that the widow next door is pregnant. As time goes on and events happen, each woman begins to suspect her own husband, or her neighbors husband. With one swift move, the author drops the sword, proving to all of the couples just how strong their love really is, and just how much love it takes to make a future. Worth reading.
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Summary: The Woman Next Door
Review: This was my first Barbara Delinsky novel. I thought it was intertaining. It explored the heartbreak of infertility that seems to be affecting many couples. Ms. Delinsky also gave me food for thought about how appearances can be decieving, and how many of us rush to judgement before taking the time to get to know someone.
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Summary: Should be titled "The Insecure Women Next Door"
Review: Imagine that you are living a peaceful life with neighbors that you get along well with until one of them remarries a much younger woman then leaves her a widow. The reclusive widow becomes pregnant and immediately each woman in the cul-de-sac suspects that her husband is the one who has done the deed. Graham and Amanda O'Leary are having fertility problems and family pressure isn't making their life any easier. Their story is a heartrending and accurate portrayal of the pain and loss of trying and failing to get pregnant. However, Amanda's outright accusation of her husband of fathering Gretchen's baby didn't sit well with me. Karen and Lee Cotter seem to have a good life with four children, a successful husband, and at-home mother...but Lee's constant philandering is undermining their happiness. Karen is the only one who has a legitimate claim to suspicion. Georgia and Russ Lange live a different lifestyle with Georgia being the main breadwinner of the family and Russ the at-home dad. Since Georgia travels so extensively to promote her business, should she suspect that her husband is messing around with the woman next door? There is a tense subplot about teen depression and suicide that is very well written and bodes well for the story, but while the plot of the book is interesting, my constant annoyance with the three wives followed me through the entire reading.
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Summary: simple and refreshing
Review: So many books are created around themes like money, power, murder , sex scandals and deep dark secrets which are exposed in the end...there is obviously a huge market for these types of novels. But in this one instead everything is plausible and realistic, it has a down to earth quality which I found to be refreshing, and the real suspense is in trying to imagine how the characters and relationships will evolve . It was satisfying and uplifting to read .
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Summary: Always consistent, always reliable
Review: ...P>There is no question but that Barbara Delinsky is one of the most reliable authors working today. She has an enormous fan base and that base continues to grow. THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR is typical Delinsky. It has a compelling premise, well-developed characters, detailed subplots. The writing, as always with this author, is excellent. The only problem is that the characters are not that interesting. Whether it's that these characters simply are "too" nice, with not enough bite--when the hero and heroine get angry with one another, their rages seem rather polite--or whether it's that the plot turns are too remote for the average reader to be able to identify with them, it would be difficult to say. Inescapably, however, THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR is not Ms. Delinsky's finest work; COAST ROAD and LAKE NEWS both were markedly superior. Yet even some of Ms. Delinsky's less successful efforts still make for a good read. THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR certainly provides such an experience. And it requires an excellent author to write such a fine novel, even if this is not, indeed, her finest book ever.
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Summary: A Great Summer Read
Review: It has been such a pleasure to watch Barbara Delinsky mature from a formula-romance writer (albeit talented) to a seasoned author with something to say. "The Woman Next Door" addresses several meaty issues, and addresses them well. One is the anguish of infertility, and how it can tear apart the strongest of marriages, causing bitterness that can run rife through extended families. Another is the terror of teen suicide and its aftermath of copycat suicides among impressionable and troubled youths. The third issue is the destructive nature of gossip, and how it can harm the gossipers as well as those being talked about. And finally, there is the old standby--marital infidelity. If all this sounds too heavy to stand, forgive me. There is a good story here, made all the more interesting because the main characters are facing and coping with real-life problems, and they do NOT respond to them with perfect solutions, but rather bumble along doing their best, like real people do. Amanda and Graham, the infertile couple, react helplessly as their passionate and strong marriage all but disintegrates in the wake of prescribed sex and mood-altering fertility drugs. Karen and Lee, whose marriage has been strained to the breaking point by his infidelities, find their lives torn asunder in ways they could not have predicted. Georgia and Russ, seemingly the perfect 21st century couple (she runs a business, he's a house husband), are facing the strain of trying to keep a family going while remaining a successful upscale couple. And then there is Gretchen. Beautiful Gretchen, young second wife of a much-beloved neighbor, Ben, who has died over a year ago when the book begins. Ben's first wife, June, had been friend and mentor to the three women, Amanda, Karen and Georgia--and her own death years earlier devastated them all. When Ben brought his new wife Gretchen into the picture, none of the three women could stomach her. And that is the only part of the book I found annoying--three highly intelligent, sensitive and thoughtful women are going to blackball a young woman and label her a trophy wife with no attempt to get to know her? Apparently so. And when Gretchen shows up pregnant long after her now-deceased husband could have fathered the child, vicious tongues start to wag. Who is the father? That question, and Gretchen herself, becomes the catalyst for all that follows. Despite the real annoyance the reader may feel about the neighbors' treatment of Gretchen, nevertheless, this is a good book and a satisfying read.
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Summary: Looking for a Great Summer Book? You just found one...
Review: This was a terrific read! I really enjoy Ms. Delinsky's books because her people are very real and not Fake. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants a little escape, and a break from the norm of regular romance novels.
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Summary: Waste of my time
Review: In the past I have enjoyed Barbara Delinksy's books. SO I eagerly purchased this. It was trite, shallow and no more than a gossip fest. She will have to better than this in the future!
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Summary: Insightful
Review: Barbara Delinsky once again displays her supurb talent for insightful and authentic characters. Using well-thought-out action and dialogue to draw the reader into the plot, this author writes with a having-lived-it kind of reality. I found this page turning novel hard to put down when chore time came. "The Woman Next Door" is another winner for Delinsky.
Beverly J Scott author of Righteous Revenge
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