This is my first T.R. Ragan book and I have to say that it most definitely did not disappoint. It was very fast moving and engaging from start to finish. Although there really weren’t many twists and turns throughout, the intriguing part was trying to figure out the character connection.

As for the characters: I felt really sorry for Nora, Nora’s son AND the dog. Anytime there’s a family pet involved in a book I am always on edge. As for Nora’s husband… what a gullible fool! Same for Nora’s daughter… as they bought into all of Jane’s lies, and were enchanted by the myriad of niceties. In all reality what Jane was really doing was inappropriately overstepping her boundaries, and she felt she had justifiable reasons for doing so. Can we say nut-job?!

It was a riveting, page turning read that kept me wondering how it would all tie together. It had my full attention and kept me wanting more. I give it 5 stars.

**Thank you Net Galley, Thomas and Mercer Publishing and T.R. Ragan for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was an enjoyable and simplistic thriller which I read throughout the course of a day.

It was a little predictable and as it was peopled with mostly nice characters I felt that it was lacking in tension somewhat.

Nonetheless a reasonably exciting read and I’d like to thank NetGalley and publisher for this ARC.

Fun and fast paced family in danger type mystery where the readers are constantly thinking "Don't trust this person!" but the characters can't see what is going on. The book starts with a prologue involving a teenage girl who is drugged at a party and then we go into the main story which about the Harmon family. Nora and David are a happily married couple and the parents of two kids, Trevor who is 13 and Hailey who is 15. Trevor is still dealing with a near drowning at a family vacation, and Nora's father has been recently diagnosed with dementia. Nora is happy but kind of bored with her job and is very surprised when a woman named Jane Bell calls her with an amazing job offer. it's the old "If it seems to be too good to be true''edict and when she is wined and dined by Jane and offered double her salary, she can't say no.

Nora loves her new job except that Jane is just too much; constantly offering her gifts, insisting on meeting Nora's family and picking her daughter up from work and she always seems to be hanging around Nora's house. It further irritates her when daughter Hailey and husband David seem to fall for Jane's charm and keep telling her she is paranoid. As Jane continues to worm her way into their lives, we are hoping Nora can find out what is going on and get her family back. This would make a good Lifetime movie and I liked all of the characters minus Jane. I did guess the main twist but that never affects my enjoyment of a story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

TR Ragan never disappoints me. It was engaging and entertaining. From the first I read the Jesse cole series I knew this would a favorite author of mine and I’ve yet to be disappointed by their work.

Quick and easy read. Characters drove me crazy and story was predictable. I was waiting for a twist that never came

I read this book in one sitting. I enjoyed it even though I already knew from the start how it will end! The characters were just too ignorant. It was a struggle to take them seriously.
But after all is said and done I will be on the look out for more novels by this author!

Nora and her husband, David seem to have the perfect family. They both have successful careers, two beautiful children, a beautiful home. They recently returned from vacation with their children, Hailey and Trevor. They almost lost Trevor to a swimming accident. However, they are back home and back to their daily routine. Nora is pursued to take another job. The company CEO, Jane pursued her relentlessly offering many benefits and incentives for her to come work for her. After a few weeks Nora begins to realize things are not right. Jane seems to be pushing Nora out of the picture while she spends time with Nora’s family. Is Jane really the friend she claims to be? This book was a real page turner for me. I read it in just one day. I couldn’t put it down. There was plenty of mystery and thrillers throughout the book. The book builds to a shocking climax. The author does a great job building the characters and their relationships. You know fairly soon as to why Jane has pursued Nora and her family, but you won’t be able to stop reading. This was a very well written edge of your seat thriller for me. I highly recommend this book. This book was provided to me from Net Galley for an honest review.

Fluff & Stuff! 😳😯🤯

I loved how this was a very quick & super easy read without any frivolousness and constantly got to the point. The plot was beautifully done & flowed so well. I enjoyed the premise quite a bit. Perfectly paced, a real indulgence in a stuff-your-mouth-with-popcorn-watching-a-movie type of way. I loved the characters & the subplots along the way that tied in as a whole.

Mყ 𝐒ყɴ𝐨ρѕιѕ: Nora feels she's at the prime of her life with a great husband, two great teenagers and a job she mostly enjoys with financial stability. Along comes Jane, offering the opportunity of a lifetime to Nora with her software company. And she will not be deterred. Nora takes up the chance and very soon her boss tries to become her best friend and interlope into Nora's family. Her family thinks she's being paranoid that is until revelations soon unfold.

I have to admit, almost two-thirds of the way through the novel, I figured out the who and why, but I will say I didn't expect the ending. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more suspicion and almost felt too easy for the connections to uncover the ending. She definitely kept up the suspense though which I completely appreciate. Even with all that being said, I actually still enjoyed this novel more than I thought I would.

Thank you to NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for this ARC.
Release Date: December 6, 2022

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭: 3 / 5 Beach Waves! 🌊

2.5 stars
This is my first book by TR Ragan. It had promise but hopefully will go through another round or two of editing before the final publication date.
Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for this advance copy for review.

They say of it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

When Nora is head-hunted for a position at IMPACT, this is exactly what she thinks. A job which pays a salary almost triple AND with more time for her to spend with her family. But despite her natural instincts she takes the role.

Such a beautiful family is a captivating, if not sometimes predictable, thriller which will leave you guessing - what do these people really want from you?

3 stars ⭐⭐⭐

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Such a Beautiful Family is a tense psychological thriller by bestselling author T.R. Ragan and I am thankful for its e-ARC, provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review, to Thomas & Mercer Publishers.

Nora Harmon’s near perfect life—with a doting husband, couple of beautiful teenaged kids, and the quintessential family dog—gets even better when she lands a job that is too good to be true. The work is fulfilling, career growth prospects are excellent, and the salary is beyond her imagination. Above it all, the CEO and Founder of the buzzing software firm, Jane Bell, adores Nora and quickly becomes more of her friend than boss. Jane—young, beautiful, and rich—has had a traumatic childhood that has made her unable to make friends easily; but Nora’s idyllic family life seemingly soothes her heart and she wants to be a part of it. Soon, Jane starts to get involved so much with Nora’s family—bonding with the fifteen-year-old Hailey, spoiling her with expensive gifts, and insinuating herself into the family’s intimate moments—that Nora starts to feel that there is some ulterior motive to Jane’s actions. But Nora’s apprehensions are not shared by her family, except for her twelve-year-old son Trevor and Tank the dog, and her own mental balance becomes suspect when she decides to take certain abrupt actions to keep Jane away. Nora’s efforts to find if she is reading too much into the behaviour of a harmless, lonely woman looking for affection or there is something truly sinister about Jane puts everything she has into peril.

Such a Beautiful Family is the first book by Ragan that I have read and I am not averse to reading her previous works. It is fast paced, with short chapters and a suspenseful plot, and the characters and their interactions are quite realistic. Ragan builds up the tension gradually towards the action-packed climax and a satisfactory conclusion. As much as I enjoyed reading it, I felt that the story was predictable for the most part and certain scenarios were a bit unrealistic. Such a Beautiful Family, though not extraordinary, would surely appeal to readers looking for a quick Sunday read and loyal fans of T.R. Ragan, and I would rate it 3.5 out of 5.

Nora has the perfect life and perfect family. Now she’ll have the perfect job. Her new boss Jane seems perfect, too. T.R. Ragen doesn’t disappoint with her newest physiological thriller. A little slow at times as Jane tries to ingratiate herself into Nora’s life. But it all makes sense in the shocking end. Entertaining read from start to finish!

*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

A fast paced and enjoyable thriller. Read this in two days. Liked this one as well as her others.
Looking forward to reading more of books.

#SuchABeautifulFamily #NetGalley
Awesome. 5 ⭐.
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. Maybe not.
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for giving me an advance copy.

Another good mystery by Ragan but I did pick up on what was going on early on in the story. But definitely worth a read. She is a terrific writer and draws you in and makes you want to keep reading. Thanks for the opportunity to review

Well, that was a surprise. A little gem of a book. A relatively quick read, with a fast paced story that’ll keep the pages turning. I found it held my attention well and the author is clearly accomplished in his writing. Very impressed with what was delivered, would definitely recommend. Thank you to the publisher for my arc.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

You ever have a person that you really don’t like but everyone else around you is captivated by them? That’s how Nora feels about Jane. Jane seeks Nora out and offers her a position at her company. Jane is reluctant at first because she is dealing with the aftermath of her son’s near-drowning, and she’s become increasing paranoid about everything in the months since the incident. Jane starts slowly working her way into every nook and cranny of Jane’s life, way overstepping both professional and personal boundaries. Nora’s family is enamored with Jane, so Nora tries to look past her suspicions, writing them off as paranoia. But the more and more Jane infiltrates Nora’s life, the more she feels something is off. She begins to suspect Jane isn’t who she says she is, and Nora’s son grows suspicious of Jane as well…

I really enjoyed this story. There weren’t necessarily many twists, and I was able to (partially) catch on to the connection Jane has to Nora’s past, but I still didn’t have it all worked out. I just knew there ~was~ a connection but the couple of theories I had for exactly what the connection was were not correct.

The pacing was fast with quick, short chapters that kept me saying “just one more.” I was reading this while sitting at a bar eating dinner. I had told the bartender (a friend of mine) the summary of what had happened so far, and she kept coming back to ask “what’s happening now??” and I would update her. I ended up staying til close to finish the book and give her the final update 😂

I received an ARC of this book from Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley for review.

This book was phenomenal! I read it in two sittings and could not pull myself away from it. Bits and pieces slowly adding up and finally exploding at the end. I finished the book in tears. One of my top reads this year!

Nora begins a new job at Jane’s company. Jane comes to Nora’s home too often because she has such “a beautiful family.”

This was an enjoyable quick read; some characters you don’t like nor can you understand how or why they acted that way. This phrase occurs often “fearless, unwavering, ferocious.” You develop a sense of foreboding.

Many thanks to Netgalley for permitting me to read this.

Thereʻs always something fun about seeing your hometown featured in a book or a movie- those little moments of recognition that make you point and go, “Hey, I was just there!”

When said book is a fast-paced thriller, the little moments of recognition are met with just a few extra peeks over your shoulder and an extra pep talk or two to shake off the shivers.

After a lightning-quick opening, “Such A Beautiful Family” follows Nora Harmon- a happily married mom of two teenagers, and in search of a new career move. Enter Jane, who is offering Nora everything she didn’t know she wanted- a raise, a chance to travel the world, and all the flexibility she needs to finally spend time with her family. But if there ever was a human representation of “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” it’s Jane Bell.

I breezed through this in a single day, partly because of it’s lightning-quick pace, and partly because I couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of all the red flags popping up every time Jane entered a room. While I found the writing to be reminiscent of a screenplay - with short, formulaic sentences - it did help to make the read that much quicker and it added an extra feeling of tension to an already uneasy situation.