I really enjoyed this book. It was a great storyline with excellent characters. I would highly recommend this book as it was a great read.

I found this book to be rather slow paced but it was interesting enough to keep me engaged and curious about where the story was going. It really got me guessing until the very end. It was an enjoyable read.
Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins UK & the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Glossy appearances aren't always what they seem as Jackie Kabler reminds us in The Happy Family, an engaging read.

Not a bad book but not one of my favourites this year . it was quite a pleasant read but I found it a bit unbelievable that she didn’t check it was her mother, I don’t think many would have had that reaction if your mother suddenly turned up and I did unfortunately guess the ending too but it was still a 4 star read

A past secret that could ruin you. A missing person suddenly coming back into your life. And your hard-won life starting to unravel before your eyes. It’s not a new story. But The Happy Family had interesting characters that you could root for and a few surprises along the way.

We follow Beth, a single mother of two with a history she tries not to dwell on. Her mother left when she was ten, and Beth has a secret… the kind of dark cliché secret hyped up to the point where the reveal makes you go ‘oh’ rather than ‘oh!’.

Beth is likeable enough. She cares for her friends and will do anything for her children. She’s nice. Nothing too fiery or untoward about Beth. As protagonists go, she’s okay. She’s naïve, and both too trusting and ready to accept the worst about people at the same time.

Her blind acceptance of other characters was a little irritating, especially when she cuts herself off from her friends and doesn’t think to question things. Her saving grace is her development, and I like how she handles both herself and events towards the end.

There’s a lot of secondary characters: Beth’s children, her ex, her friends, and those returning from her past. You never get to know them (which works with the story), but they deserve a better friend in Beth.

As mentioned, the plot borders on cliché. We’ve seen a lot of these stories with the past coming back to haunt characters. It’s been done. It did, however, take a direction I wasn’t expecting and avoided some of the pitfalls I was anticipating.

The final third of the book was a lot stronger – due to the plot veering away from predictability. It threw in a few twists and upped the stakes. It stopped the book from falling flat, and gave me that moment of realising I didn’t want to put it down.

The writing is solid. It doesn’t make your heart race, but it presents a well-crafted story that keeps the reader engaged throughout. The pacing is slow and the middle of the book felt it was going through the motions. The characters needed more depth (and less naivety) to really jump off the page. Both of these elements, however, helped support the type of story it was: you didn’t know the characters to be able to trust them. It worked.

The Happy Family is a tricky review. For the majority of the book, I thought it was cliché and predictable. Until I realised I was gripped and hadn’t foreseen a lot of the twists. It was also a fairly quick read which helped it hold my attention. I recommend this!

My family has just been reunited. So who is trying to tear it apart?

A mother who disappeared…
This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension -  impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

A well written psychological thriller, well developed storyline, emotional.
A little slow though, it could have been fast paced it would have been more engaging.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing access to this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was enjoying this one at first but it lost me very quickly. It started to get a little predictable around the middle and I felt like I needed to keep skimming. Not a mind-blowing read but it might definitely appeal to other fans of the author.

Beth was 10 years old when her mother Alice disappears.
She has a great life now.
Then there’s a knock on the door.
Her mother has returned
Why did she leave
But all is not plain sailing strange things start to happen
Beth’s friends start to drift away from her.
Who is trying to destroy her
Thanks NetGalley

Oh this one will make you emotional !!! This is a story of a single mom ( divorced ) who’s mother simply walked out on her and her father - offering no explanation ! All she ever wanted was an answer as to why she left ! Ding dong ! Not expecting anyone - a stranger appears on her doorstep claiming to be her long lost mother ! As soon as mom comes into her life - everything seems to be out of control ! Her friends turn against her - she becomes forgetful and drinks like a fish ! What is happening ? Is this woman her mother who is so hell bent on making for lost time that she orchestrates her own daughters downfall just for the chance to have her all to herself ? OR is this woman out for revenge ?! Honest to goodness ! Talk about twisted !!!!! An absolute tour de force !!! Although I predicted early on the connections between the characters - I was none the less completely emotional and needed some time to compose myself !!! Thank you net galley and to the publisher for this masterpiece !

The Happy Family is a good read, has enough twists to keep you hooked and drip feeds you clues, even if the ending is pretty easy to figure out. It's a read that will keep you occupied for a few hours.

A psychological thriller that didn't surprise or shock me but kept me hooked enough to finish. The main is families and their interactions and issues. Definitely another mediocre thriller in a long line of mediocre thrillers. That being said I have loved all of Jackie Kabler's previous novels. The dreary main character and the instances of body shaming throughout the novel definitely added to the loss of points from me.

The Happy Family is slow burn domestic suspense that just didn't work for me personally. I DNF'ed at approximately 43%.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.

Beth’s mother left her early 3 decades ago, and then returned out of the blue. Beth was overjoyed and welcomed her into her home without verifying based on a tattoo. Heard of DNA?

Strange things started happening to Beth, first it was innocuous then devastating ones.

By now you should have guessed how the story would go, even if you were a non thriller reader. But darling Beth could not decipher or understand who could be behind the actions. Duhhh!!

Maybe Beth should have read this review. It would have made it easy to guess who was behind it all. But she didn’t. And the story progressed further.

Telling me constantly of one bad thing she had done as a teen made me guess the final reveal long before it unfurled. The mid section had repetitive actions where it had been written in so many thrillers.

Wow! This book is just amazing!

I’ve read this author’s previous books and I know how compelling they are, but this one just totally surpassed all my expectations. There is so much to tell you about this book, but I can’t, because there are so many layers and secrets in this story that I really don’t want to spoil it!

I really liked Beth, and couldn’t help but wonder what secrets she was hiding. When the truth is revealed it is pretty shocking, but I still found myself drawn to her as a character, and as her life begins to fall apart, I felt so sorry for her.

There is so much tension in this book, and even when I figured out what what happened, the tension continued, as I wished I could climb inside the book and warn Beth, as she hurtled further down the path to disaster.

This was the sort of book that kept me reading late into the night, and when I finally had to put it down, it was in the back of my mind, as I tried to unravel the secrets and the clever plot.

Absolutely superbly crafted, I enjoyed every page of this book, even when I was on the edge of my seat with the drama of it all! Cannot recommend it highly enough.

Solid, fast read that was easy to get into. It was quite predictable, but it was still enjoyable and there were still parts that kept me guessing until the end. The writing style was cut and dry, to the point, which I always appreciate. I did not love the protagonist, but it did not take away from her dilemma. I would recommend this as a quick mystery read, perfect for the summer!

This was my first novel by Jackie Kabler and I must say that I was impressed. In the beginning, I thought that I had read this story before, having read a lot of thrillers centred around dysfunctional families. But boy was I wrong. There are a lot of twists (some that I saw coming but still enjoyed them when they became true) and was a perfect story to escape in. I definitely will keep an eye out on Jackie Kabler and will definitely read her previous novels because her skillful storytelling can absorb anyone.

When Beth' has settled into her career, family and home after a divorce she receives an unexpected gift-the reappearance of her mother-who left Beth and her father decades earlier. Beth's mother, the beautiful Alice, left a gaping hole in her life that Beth and her father tried to smooth over. Beth is thrilled to have her mother back, introduce her to her friend's and children-all the while hoping her youthful, tragic mistake that she has kept secret for years is not discovered.

Then things change. Her friends act indifferent. Mysterious incidents occur at home-then the rumors start. Beth is on the brink of losing everything-including her children. Is the timing of Alice reappearing a coincidence-or more sinister?

Fans of Jackie Kabler will enjoy her latest release. The story is pretty fast-paced with some twists (some readers may see coming) in that classic Kabler style. Beth was a little frustrating as a narrator because she was very trusting and naive but overall a likeable novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

If you enjoy reading slow burning thrillers with great character development and some twists that keep you hooked. This one is for you.

Thank you NetGalley / Harper Collins Uk for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book a lot and i cannot tell you how many times I was almost screaming at everything that was happening to Beth with no one believing her, so let me tell you I got invested.
I did however guess both of the twists in this book, which put a bit of a dampener on as it lacked the element of complete surprise, but that was my fault entirely!