A mystery that was entertaining. I having trouble remembering details of story as I forgot to review right away. I think it was a good book but not a wow.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. 

Elise and Kieran have been married for about one year, and she could not be happier. This once divorced woman has finally found the person who has made her more than happy and she is finally feeling content. Until she comes home to find the shock of her life and marriage. It completely turns her life upside down and makes her question everything about their relationship. 

What she finds when she comes home is just the tip of the iceberg and it takes her down a grueling path of discovery. Who can she trust? Can she trust her ex-husband, her current husband, the police, her neighbors, and her friends?? 

Elise begins to fear for her life and has every reason to. Will she find out the truth and will she survive are the two biggest questions I had throughout this book. It wasn't the most "rope me in" kind of story line, but it was intriguing enough to want to keep going, and the end was definitely worth it. 

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and especially A.J. Banner for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. A full review will be posted on Amazon and Goodreads

I expected more from this one. I think I've been in a thriller slump though where none have been great and this one had similar themes and concepts so I didn't find it ourstanding and really all that unique, unfortunately.

Thank you to #NetGalley for providing #ThePoisonGarden by AJ Banner in an exchange for an honest review.  

The main character, Elise, easily won me over to her side from the beginning as she returns home early to find her husband in bed with another woman! 

As the story unfolds, it becomes a mystery in which the reader has to determine who has done what along the way. I didn't expect that at the beginning of the story. There were several twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end.

There were times in the story where I was rolling my eyes due to the behavior of the main character. Wimpy would be a nice word.  Definitely aggravating during certain times where the conversation between two characters became redundant.  The rest of the story was interesting and the Pacific NW is always a great background.  I wish there was a bit more of the area included in the story .

I absolutely loved this book! I was initially drawn in by the cover as well as the title as thought it seemed really intriguing. This book was fantastic, it was full of twists and turns that I did not see coming. I have never read a book by this author before and I can safely say I would definitely read more! Thank you netgallery and the publishers for the opportunity to read this amazing book.

The Poison Garden was my second book by A.J. Banner.  My first was 2018's After Nightfall which I really enjoyed A LOT.  So, I hate to leave a less than glowing review on The Poison Garden, but I was very disappointed in it.  From all the convoluted twists that kept occuring around the main character, Elise, to the general wimpiness and poor character of all the others in the novel.  Elise is prone to sleepwalking while under stress.  At the beginning she faces extreme stress.  The rest of the story is one person taking advantage of her mental weaknesses over and over again.  I mean  (mild SPOILER ALERT), practically our first introduction to her 2nd husband's character is in the first pages of the book when Elise talks about how she has just moved all her $5 million into both their names so that what was her is now both of theirs.....Ummmm, whether or not that is normal (which I am guessing for a person who marries quickly while grieving her mother's death and apparently not too long after her first divorce....wouldn't her lawyer, friends, or even her self-conscience and common sense warn her to wait?  She can always share her money without turning over ownership.)

I like vulnerable characters, but they have to show some resolve, strength and intellect in combination with the vulnerability.  Elise never did.  She was just like a lost lamb looking for someone to solve her problems.  How was she an independent pharmacist prior to the events of this book?  How was it that every person in her life seemed to have ulterior, sinister motives?  

Honestly, I think there was a lot of possibility for this story had the author made more well-rounded characters and maybe had some red herrings instead of every foreshadowing turning out to be really what was about to happen.  Yep, this guy is bad.  Yep, this guy is bad.  Yep, this friend is not looking out for Elise.  Finally, big pet peeve for me:  female authors who seem to respect women but who continue to solely blame "the other woman" when cheating happens.

The poison garden was not exactly the novel I expected. While I was expecting a mystery/ thriller novel, I felt this one just didn't hit the mark. 
While the characters are well written and so is the story, I just thought it gave everything away to quickly instead of the slow build you expect from a novel like this. I think if the novel had been a little longer, there could have been more of a back story to build the events for the reader. While I enjoyed the story, I just didn't love it. 

I received an advanced copy through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Love this one. So interesting. The cover is great too. Will recommend it to friends. What an ending!

The Poison Garden is a story about a young newlywed woman, Elise, who comes home unexpectedly and finds her husband in bed with another woman.  The beginning of the book was engrossing and had the tension a good mystery thriller should possess.  Unfortunately it quickly became ridiculous with improbable and convoluted plot lines.   Elise and the others characters soon became unbelievable.  This multiple murder story fell flat for me.  I did receive a copy of the book from Netgalley so I felt I should finish reading it.  This is my own unbiased review.

This is my second book I read from this author. And this is the second book I’m putting into my reading later’ pile. I was really excited about this release but it didn’t grab my attention right away.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Poison Garden by A.J. Banner.

Elise, who has a contended life of living in a lovely home while working with herbs, discovers devastating news about her marriage on her one year anniversary.  And now she doesn't know where to turn, or who to trust.

Oh my goodness, this book was so silly!  It was just over the top campy, so very obtuse.  I like a touch of believability in these types of suspense novels, but I almost felt like I was watching a half baked version of Family Guy.

Thank you A.J. Banner for the opportunity to read The Poison Garden.

I am a huge fan of A.J. Banner's writing and I have loved reading all of her books. The Poison Garden may be my favorite! The book starts off with the main character Elise finding her husband cheating on her in their bed, which starts a roller coaster of twists and turns that left me guessing until the very end of the book. Learning how the title of the book applied to the story was so intriguing and a major part of the suspense. The Poison Garden is a great suspenseful, psychological thriller, with just the right number of characters without too much detail. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and reading until my eyes wouldn't stay open. The ending was a complete surprise!!! I will recommend this book to all of my friends! 5 plus stars for me!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

Wow.  This book had me all over the place trying to guess the guilty party and outcome.  Layers and layers of story here, so many twists and turns; and I loved the ending.  The story starts with Elise, running for her life through the woods, she can hear her assailant coming behind her, the first chapter ends as she falls down; next we go back three days.  Elise is coming back home to the island to celebrate her fist wedding anniversary to her second husband, Keiran.  She makes a shocking discovery when she finds her husband with another woman, but the conversation she overhears is even more disturbing.and Elise doubts everything she thinks she knows. She does not know who to rely on, and as she investigates more she wonders if her mother did die of her cancer or was her death hastened along; is Elise in danger and if so, who is she in danger from or has she been walking in her sleep again, or maybe she is losing it.  Great original story and great ending.

a really enjoyable story with a perfect ending!
full review to follow!
so far man thanks #netgalley and the author for the copy!

This was an interesting book, to say the least. Given the ratings on Goodreads and my love-hate relationships with unreliable narrators, I went in expecting a decent book but nothing great. This was better than decent, it had the required spins to make it stand apart. It might have been the fact that I heard it on audio but I got swept away with all the constant back and forths on what the truth could be.

The narrative begins and predominantly stays with Elise, a woman who is happy about her approaching first anniversary. She gets a rude jolt as soon as she gets home. Within the span of the next few hours, things start spiralling further out of control than expected. There are multiple unknowns and although some parts were predictable, the timing was good enough that even the feeling of knowing what the future holds does not take the momentum away when the events finally do occur! 

The cast in the story is limited to a few players, almost all of them play significant roles in the deterioration of Elise's mental state. She is not the standard unreliable narrator with problems of addictions or bad experiences previously hindering lucid thought. She is an average woman who has excellent judgement at certain parts of her ongoing adventures, for the most part, reality and persuasion tends to crowd her concerns out and replace it with uncertainty about her own ability to judge the situation. It is fast-paced and has more than a single thread of a story woven through it. The epilogue/last chapter was more sedate than I expected given the pace through the rest of the book but otherwise, it was quite an enjoyable read (if you enjoy reading thrillers and are okay with using the word 'enjoy' in describing the experience)

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but ended up listening to my copy thanks to my Kindle Unlimited membership and this review is of the audio version.

The path splits here, the left track climbing upslope, and the right plunging into darkness. I must choose a direction-it's life or death. The sum of my choices has brought me here. Every decision I've made, every suspicion I've nurtured or ignored has led me into danger.

Elise Waters is recovering from her mother's sudden death. Recently married to her mother's doctor, living in the Northwest, and money in her bank account. Nothing is what it seems. Her mother's death, her marriage, and her house seems to be prison.

Elise must determine whom she can trust and that seems to change with discovery after discovery.

I like a good "who can I trust" thriller but this one left me at a disconnect. It was too many variables and thus was unbelievable. It did leave you wondering how it was all going to end. Was it a satisfying end. I will leave that up to you.

A Special Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest revie

The Poison Garden did what many books fail to do - it caught my attention in the first paragraph. A.J.Banner builds on your questions and anticipation all the way through the book. Having twists and turns that keep you wondering, pulls you in emotionally, and leaves you with all sorts of feelings is definitely a book worth reading! Thank you for letting me read this arc book and give my review on it.

This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and absolutely loved it. 
It’s beautifully written and pulls you in from the first page. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. 
It’s the perfect domestic noir thriller with plenty of twists and unexpected turns.

Ms. Banner I have to comment you on this brilliant book! I loved it. I started reading, forgetting to eat for hours I could not put it down . I loved it!!! This is a Definitive domestic thriller. 
Elsie comes home early to see her  new doctor husband on their 1st. Anniversary. She finds him in bed with another woman and overhead them plotting her death. Shocked she kicks him out and soon finds out he may have murdered her Mother who he was treating through mysterious notes her Mother left in a book. Her Mother also named the herb he may have used. Her life is in chaos and she is in shock. 
.   She begins sleepwalking  from stress and wakes up.over his murdered body unable to remember what happened. Is she being set up? Who really murdered him? The plot gets better and better and the last few pages had me rivited. This is absolutely one of the best thrillers I have read this year.  Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinions are my own. I highly recommend this book for all who enjoy a thriller with twist and turns to keep you guessing and turning pages into the night.