I really wanted to love this book, the premise seemed very clever but unfortunately the execution fell short. The story was very cliched and at points unbelievable and I just wanted to be done with it.

initial thoughts: really enjoyed this fast paced thriller full of family secrets, told from multiple POVs.

the short chapters kept this book moving, and the multiple twists had you wondering how the book was going to end.

this was my first Robyn Harding book and definitely won’t be my last.

thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for the ARC.

This book was so good and I loved these characters, even though you can’t trust any of them. This family was so interesting and I had so much fun with this story!! Highly recommend it!

With a title like The Perfect Family, we all know going into this they are going to be very far from perfect which is all part of the fun!

The beginning of this story is the perfect amount of suspense, the build up is quick and sucks you right in..but then I feel like we never really got many answers with the ending, leaving there to be a bit of a desire still. I feel like I was taking on this big journey, expecting there to be an explosive ending and instead, everyone just sort of moved on, and it just sort of ruined the entertainment factor for me in the end.

A family suffers through a series of attacks of vandalism on their home and struggles to understand who would want to target them. As the individual members of the family deal with their secrets, they each also harbor guilt that they’re the reason why people want to hurt them. Author Robyn Harding is back with characters who spend more time inside their heads and less time actually solving a problem in her newest novel The Perfect Family.

On the surface it seems like Thomas and Viv Adler have it all. With a nice house in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, and desirable jobs, Thomas and Viv should be flying high. Their older son, Eli, is a soccer star and in college at a prestigious school; their daughter, Tarryn, is close to finishing high school. This close to being empty nesters, in theory they should be making lists of things to do and places to go once Tarryn is out of the house.

Except Eli comes home from school and announces that he’s dropping out. Tarryn’s mood seems to be stuck on “sulky teenager,” and nothing Thomas and Viv do can shake her out of it. And now someone has egged their house, and it’s freaking Thomas out.

As a high-earning real estate agent, Thomas knows he has to keep up appearances. Egg on the front door is not good for his image. If it was just the egg, he could clean it off and move on with his day. But the perpetrators come back, and the attacks start to escalate.

Smoke bombs go off; poop gets smeared on their front doorknob. When the tires of Thomas’s expensive car get slashed, everyone in the family knows things have gotten really bad. And all of them feel responsible.

Viv has been building her interior design business one client at a time, but she has a secret habit that makes her fearful that the next client could be her last. Eli knows he should talk to someone about the awful incident at college, but he doesn’t know how to do that without implicating himself or his teammates and they’ve made it crystal clear what will happen to him if he talks. Tarryn’s bad mood comes from her late-night activities, which her parents don’t know about at all. She doesn’t care about them or Eli anyway; the people she talks to at night are the ones who really get her.

Thomas, too, has a secret of his own, something that started simply as humiliating and has now become a situation that could destroy his career and his family. Every time he thinks about telling Viv, it doesn’t seem like the right time. It’s clear, though, that the group targeting the house isn’t going to let up any time soon, leaving all of the Adlers wondering whether it really is worth it to hold onto their secrets just to be the “perfect family.”

Author Robyn Harding brings a cast of characters who spend a great deal of time thinking about what they’ve done wrong and how guilty they feel about it. While some time is also spent on how their individual secrets affect everyone else in the household, for the most part the individual members of the Adler family really don’t talk to one another. Not of anything substantial, at least. Readers may find it frustrating waiting for the Adlers to come around to this simple way of clearing up misconceptions and keeping trouble and potential danger at bay.

Harding portrays the police in an uneven light. When the Adlers complain, officers dismiss their claims or try to convince them that nothing is that serious. When other characters bring up issues, however, the police seem to take them seriously. Readers might wonder why the Adlers are experiencing this kind of dismissal from law enforcement.

Where Harding excels is in the inner monologues of her characters. She gives all four of the Adlers time and space on the page to express their concerns, share their innermost thoughts, and lash out at the world. The psychological conflicts between Thomas and Viv and their children are nuanced, making parts of the book a compelling read.

Some of the plot elements don’t seem quite plausible, and the end might leave more discerning readers rolling their eyes. Those who don’t mind a fast thriller that skates on the surface of believability will like this one.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)

My thoughts: I love family dramas. I particularly loved this one, because every member of this family has a secret, told from their own POV. They’re being harassed, and as the events escalate, each member thinks they’re to blame.

This was an easy read (or listen, as I did listen to parts of it while working on my latest diamond painting). Definitely pick it up if you’re looking for something light, easy, and with a (mostly) happy ending.

Thank you to #netgalley and Gallery Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! A family that looks perfect from the outside but with so many secrets they can’t tell which direction their torment is coming from. I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t wait to see how it turned out. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

While this wasn’t my favorite thriller, I was definitely entertained the whole time reading this. I had no clue what was going on, or who to trust, as everyone had a motive. Overall, the twist did fall a bit flat for me. I really enjoyed the neighborhood setting and the family drama. I was constantly second guessing my guesses as I was reading and that kept it fun!

This book was fast paced and kept me turning to the next page. It revolves around a family that appears perfect from the outside but on the inside things are far from perfect. In the midst of the family issues someone starts threatening their safety by assaulting their house. Each family member thinks that they are the cause and keep wondering what they can do to stop it. Are they right? How do they stop someone who they don't know? This book keeps you wondering up until the very end!

The Perfect Family reads like a novelization of a Lifetime TV Movie, sadly. I had no problem with the author's writing style (as opposed to My Life Is A Chainsaw which I had finished previous to this), but the storyline is so cliched: (SPOILERS, but not really because you learn all this at the beginning of the book) Ooh, the teen daughter is a secret cam girl, the husband abused a hooker, etc.. We've seen these "family secrets" a million times before. And the lack of imagination finally made me throw in the towel on this book.

“The Perfect Family” is chock-full of secrets. The Anders family is not as perfect as they look on the surface, and now they have all become targets. But when the secrets finally come to the surface, will all of the puzzle pieces fit?

The exposition was terrific, and the follow-through was okay. Unfortunately, with all of the secrets floating around, I thought the climax would be far more impactful. The final reveal seems so underwhelming. Also, I feel like there are loose ends that are never tied up.

The more I learn about myself as a reader, the more I find that I fully expect a mystery to give me the exposition again but with a new perspective or clarity on the characters. I guess Agatha Christie has spoiled me after all.

I love multiple POV’s and characters with lots of secrets. It’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together for me. And what a joy when all these character’s secrets come together . The first half of this book is very edge of your seat suspenseful. I loved being taken through so many different directions in this story .

What a family! Full of "stuff", secrets, intrigue and twists and turns!
I did not see some of the plot twists coming and I enjoyed the ride this well written book took me on.
While the characters were not the most likable, I still found myself immersed in their stories.
Great, quick read! Thankful for the ARC!

This domestic thriller was a really refreshing read for me because I've read A LOT of domestic thrillers and they tend to all fall within the same set of storylines. This one was a bit unique in that it didn't center around any one particular character, but instead told each family members story and slowly unraveled each's side of the story. No one character seemed more suspicious or guilty than the other. In fact, they all seemed guilty as hell and I had a hard time figuring out who could be the source of the mayhem. I really loved how this jumped between each characters POV and how each narrator was unreliable and unbelievable so you were constantly second guessing yourself. The ending was like a perfectly tied bow. I felt quite satisfied with it until that very last line, which I the had to go to Goodreads to figure out why the heck it ended with that line. After reading other readers thoughts, I agreed that it was a good ending after all. Overall, I found myself interested in this from beginning to end and really liked all of the characters despite their massive flaws. I look forward to more from this other.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good read for October. It reminded me of things that would happen on Mischief Night (except all the time for the Adler family!)

Looks can always be deceiving. Viv and Thomas have been consumed with portraying the perfect family but what you see on the outside isn't always the same on the inside. We follow the Adler family, Viv and Thomas along with their two kids, Eli and Tarryn when they awake one morning to find the front of their beautiful home covered in eggs. But, who would've done this? We go through the twists and turns of each of the Adler's lives and see just how imperfect they really are.

I absolutely love that this was told in the perspective of each character. I was not expecting so much character development considering, we get four point of views. But there was, and it was excellent!!!! Amazing read.

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

The prologue really grabbed me and kept my interest to see what happened. Unfortunately, the rest of the book was rather slow with a lot going on. It is told from four different POVs. It left me guessing and questioning everything throughout but I think that is most likely why it felt like it dragged on too. Overall an interesting read.

What starts out as what seems to be a prank escalates, the Adler family's fear also begins to rise. However, their own secrets might just be fueling their fear...

I wasn't fond of Thomas and Viv, but I think that helped to fuel the overall mood of the story. I love the twists and unfortunately, stayed up far too late as I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

This one is another slam dunk from Robyn Harding.