*Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, T.R. Ragan, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/such-a-beautiful-family/

Remember the adage “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” This is the theme of this thrill ride packed into a short novel.

Nora Harmon is an IT marketing whiz, living a very happy life with her beloved husband, David, and two teenagers, Hailey and Trevor. When the founder and CEO of IMPACT, a rising IT company, appears out of the blue and offers Nora the opportunity of a lifetime, a fantastic salary, flexible working hours and an exciting position, it seems too good to be true. Especially since she does not know how Jane Bell found her. And why is Jane so persistent that she take the job? After turning her down once, Nora realizes she would be crazy to turn down such an opportunity and leaves the job she has worked so hard for to start anew.

As Jane and Nora become closer, Nora suspects Jane is not all she seems to be. Described as beautiful and sweet with butter blond hair, she sounds like a dream. Jane seems lonely with no family of her own and is constantly inserting herself into Nora’s family, inviting herself over for dinner, buying the kids’ expensive gifts and flirting with David, her husband. Is she really just a lonely and beautiful woman or is there something more sinister going on? When work and home life pressures increase, she has little patience with Jane and makes a big decision which will set things into a spiral she may not get out of.

The prologue of the book has Nora going after her friend Allina, who is at a party and feels unsafe. At the party, she is given a Rohypnol and gets in an accident on the way home. The next time we see her, she is married with a family. We learn bits and pieces about the accident throughout the book but I didn’t make any connections until later on. I believe the connection between the prologue and the rest of the book is intentionally vague. Such a Beautiful Family has so many great characters but at various points in the novel, I just wanted to scream at them. David, Nora’s husband was annoyingly obtuse with Jane coming over every night and making them dinner. Haily, almost 16 in the book, was a typical teenager but brother, Trevor is a 40-year-old trapped in a 13-year-old body. This book is very fast-paced and a quick read. I was addicted from the first page and can’t wait to read more from this author.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. I did not find this to be the "riveting novel of psychological suspense" it was hyped up to be. Pretty easy to figure out who was behind things and why. Something about the word choice and tone just rubbed me wrong reading this book. Not a favorite.

I rarely read a book’s synopsis so I went into this blindly. And it is a used plot, it was riveting. Starting with a young girl getting roofied then jumping to current day with Nora, David and their happy family. Except there’s this woman… Jane that is seeming to infiltrate their lives. But why….? Definitely recommend for a fast and furious read.
Thank you netgalley for the ARC

SUCH A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY By T.R. Ragan

Nora Harmon has it all- a beautiful family, a fantastic stable life and a dream career. But she also a sad and horrible past that can destroy everything she has built.

😊What i liked -

✔ Thriller/Mystery.
✔ OMG this book had me in awe, shocked and frustrated all at once.
✔ My favourite character in all this was Trevor.
✔ This book was past paced, full of tension and a good read.

🤔What could have been better -

✔ Even though i was in awe at the same time i was in disbelief too.
✔ The could have been a bit shotter.

📚Who Should read :

Begginers
Thriller Lovers

📈My Rating : 3.5/5


Thank you, T.R. Ragan and Thomas & Mercer for a copy.

An exciting thriller about two very different woman and how they interact socially and professionally. Nora has everything that Jane wants in life. Will their worlds collide? This book is fast paced and gives twists that keeps the story going strong. Excellent storytelling.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this review copy, I received this review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was so excited when I was approved for this book!! I really enjoyed reading it. I’m a big fan of this author. The story was very well written. I never zoned out while I was reading it. It was a great thriller.

I’m a huge fan of this author and was delighted to start this new novel. Such a Beautiful Family is a chilling thriller that will keep the lights on well past your bed time. Extremely entertaining and a well written thriller.

This story revolves around Nora, who lives with her husband and two children. When Nora is offered a job, it seems too good to be true. Nora’s new boss, Jane, seems amazing, showing her and her family with gifts. But Nora quickly becomes uncomfortable and realizes that Jane is very “single white female”.

The plot of this story is fantastic, but it felt like the story took a long time unraveling. The last quarter of the book kept me on my toes and was super engaging. I give this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an e-ARC of this thriller. This was a quick read for me, and I was immediately hooked from the first chapter detailing a mysterious car accident. The story then shifts to Nora, a wife and mother who is being pursued heavily by Jane to come work for her at her tech company. Soon Jane's pursuit becomes relentless and off-putting as she weasels her way into Nora's family and life. After awhile, Nora's intuition begins to tell her something isn't right and at that point the plot comes to a head in a very dramatic way that left me turning each page to see what happened next.

I'm giving this one 4 stars - the story was engaging, it had a creepy factor that I enjoyed. I did find some of the characters hard to believe and way too gullible at certain points. But overall this was a good thriller and I enjoyed it!

Thank you Netalley for this ARC of Such a Beautiful Family by T.R. Ragan.

When Nora is recruited by a well known business mogul, Jane, she is hesitantly elated. Ready to take a risky new step in her career, she decides to take the plunge. And Jane could not be more of a dream to work for. She's kind, attentive, and oh so excited to have Nora aboard. But is it possible to get too close for comfort? Like coming home and finding Jane in her house making dinner for her family? With every step Jane takes into Nora's life, Nora has to ask herself, is she reading too much into this, or does Jane seem to have a creepy agenda?

The bones were there, but I just did not care for the style. I can't stand overdone dialogue and drama. Plus, it just wasn't believable. I'm all for a story with a creepy antagonist who will not go away, but most of this fell flat, especially the ending.

What a great thriller! Someone wants the perfect family but it already belongs to someone else. This book kept me guessing with all the secrets. It is non stop action and thrills. I highly recommend this book!

This book will take you on a ride and you won't know where you are going!

Nora's new boss Jane seems nice. So generous! Always giving and helping out. Her son thinks it's weird and I started to think that as well. Doesn't Jane seem a bit too cozy? Doesn't it seem like she is over stepping? Maybe she is just lonely.

This quick paced book will have you guessing till you know the twist. I didn't see that one coming! It's also a very fast and easy read. You can dive right in!

Thanks to netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for the arc. TR ragan will be among the new authors I will be checking out in the upcoming year.

Please note: I read an arc of the book and perhaps maybe some of these issues were resolved before publication.

I had hopes for this book. But the characters seemed incredibly dense and the writing annoyed me. Overall the book felt like it had been written for a basic creative writing class and was never edited or altered before publication. References are made to places in detail that just doesn't matter (like that the sushi place is on P Street but this isn't important to the story), Nora's boss spells out in detail the value of attending a trade show, at one point the items included on a charcuterie board are listed, and towns are mentioned over and over again. We know Nora's parents live in Whispering Pines. Why? Because it is called out 37 times in a 284 page book. We know the name of Nora's real estate agent because her first and last name are fully included twice in the same paragraph. I feel like these things might make sense in a rough draft where the author or trusted beta reader would go through and make sure there aren't any discrepancies but then the multiple repetitious references would be removed. Needless to say, as a book that is theoretically ready for publication, reading all this was annoying. And all this was happening alongside Jane throwing multiple red flags that the other characters completely ignored while the plot was very obvious.

I loved the book COUNT TO THREE by this author. It was a riveting thriller that kept you one edge all the way through. This one is another. While I knew what the characters were going to be to each other I had no idea exactly how. I had no idea what was coming other than it was not going to be good. It was going to be very intense... It certainly was too.

Nora is a wife and mother. She lives in a nice home and makes a decent living. She's married to the love of her life, David. Her children, Hailey who is almost sixteen and Trevor who is thirteen and a computer wizard. That boy can do anything on a computer. This family is very close and they seem to have the perfect life. Then Nora meets Jane. Jane Bell.

Jane has a company and only has the best of the best working for her. She wants Nora to come to work and offers her a huge incentive to quite her job and come on board with her crew. It takes Nora a bit but for twice the pay who wouldn't? Things are great. Until they aren't. The old saying "if it's too good to be true" fits here. Nora's life is about to take a huge turn and not necessarily for the best.

This book will definitely pull you in and hold you hostage through the end. There is one thing that bothered me and that was the let's not talk about it part. I mean who really does that? That was a bit unbelievable to me in a way. But it worked so who am I do question it right!! This book keeps you on edge in so many places. You will turn the pages quickly to see if your guess is correct or not. I don't think the author intended to fool you as too who the main characters are. I think she knew that would most likely be a given in a way. But there are a few twists and turns along the way that will baffle you. Or it did me. It is very cringe worthy reading. I even cried a bit in a couple of places.

It's basically told from Nora's voice and in a few places goes back in time a bit to give you some insight as to what happened and why. You get a good look at Nora and her life. She has a great life. She has a very strong marriage and two wonderful children. She seems to have it all.

Thank you #NetGalley, #TRRagan, #Thomas&Mercer for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

5 stars and a huge recommendation.

Thanks to NetGalley as well as Thomas & Mercer. This book was a known plot but I enjoyed the writing style off the book. It was quite unique in places and the ending wrapped up well.

Although I felt like I had read other books similar to the plot of this book it still kept my attention. The ending was surprising and unique.

Hi everyone! Today I'll be reviewing Such a Beautiful Family by T. R. Ragan.
A businesswoman named Jane makes Nora a job offer that seems too good to be true. Without hesitating, Nora accepts and, soon, this mysterious woman starts to get suspiciously involved with Nora's family, and it looks like she's trying to steal it... After all, it's such a beautiful family...
This is the second T. R. Ragan novel I've read and I think it's a pretty good book in general. I liked the story and I felt the characters were fairly well written, and although it has some inconsistencies throughout the plot, I found it quite entertaining. Some points of the plot are quite predictable, so don't expect an overly complicated mystery.
If you're looking for a fast-paced and quick-to-read thriller, you might want to give this one a go.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I spent WAY too much time yelling at the main character in this book.

I cursed at her, I told her to grow a spine, and I cheered her when she finally did.

All this is to say that I was VERY invested in the entertaining book.

Sure, after I read it, I found I had questions. There were a couple of things that I really didn't understand. But I also didn't care because the book was so much fun!

Would read the author again!

OK so this is a book that I cannot stop thinking about.
I don’t know if it should be a movie or a limited mini-series.
It’s my 1st read of T.R. Ragan and it will not be my last!
A page turner, so very hard to put down if only to catch some zzz’s.
There were so many twists, turns, secrets, suspense, crime, a true psychological mystery and more. I absolutely Loved this book!!

Read this ASAP!

It was my 1st ARC from Netgalley, thank you so much!

Nora Harmon has a lot to be thankful for: two great kids, a stable marriage, and now, a dream career. Software consultant Jane Bell wants Nora on her team. She’s offering a fantastic salary, flexible hours, and a chance to travel the world. It sounds too good to be true, but Jane won’t take no for an answer.
Jane acts more like a friend than a boss, and Nora’s personal and professional boundaries begin to blur. Jane is smitten with Nora’s perfect family—particularly her daughter—and far too attentive to Nora’s husband. Nora can’t help but feel insecure and unsettled.
Maybe Jane is everything she says she is: a lonely woman in need of feeling the love of a kind and decent family. Maybe Nora is just being paranoid.

This was a very gripping read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.