Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade publishing for the Arc!

4/5 stars from me. This was my first book by J.T. Ellison. I liked the story line, the plot and felt it was a quick read. However, the multiple story lines did get a little hard for me to follow at first.

Overall good story with a lot of awesome build up but then the ending felt really rushed. It was a solidly interesting ending, it just didn’t seem to get the time and effort of the rest of the story, which was very disappointing. I loved the pacing right up until the end, that’s what brought this from four stars to three for me.

I really liked the layout of the story, with the perspective shifting to someone else for each chapter. Their lives were so intertwined that it was easy to keep the characters straight, and there wasn’t much overlap, so each person furthered the story rather than just widening the path of information. Shifting perspectives kept it moving at a quick pace without feeling rushed.

The part I struggled with the most was the vocabulary. I like when books use words I don’t know, learning new words is always good but this book felt like they picked random words throughout, looked at a thesaurus and picked a more complicated synonym to stick in there. The vocabulary was fine most of the time but then would throw out weird words that I’d look up and think, why didn’t you just put the simpler word? One example is “Park thunders downstairs, glancing out the front door transom as he does.” A transom is “a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar”. So he looked out the window over his front door on his way down the stairs, just say that.

Olivia and her husband, Park, have been trying to have a child but Olivia has had several miscarriages. One day they get a knock on the door that links Park's DNA to a murder, it may not be his DNA directly, but that of a child he had. The thing is they have no children together. Olivia learns that Park donated his sperm while attending graduate school and now has 28 children. Who is the child committing these crimes?

Wow, this was a wild story! Each chapter has a different point of view from the characters and one is from murderer himself. IT'S ONE OF US had me on the edge of seat. I have never read anything quite like this book, so for me it gets all 5 stars. Brilliant in every way!! I would highly recommend IT'S ONE OF US and I will be telling all my friends about it.

TW: Infertility/Miscarriage

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted on my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

All Olivia has wanted is a child. After many disappointments, it’s just not happened. Then the police arrive with shocking news.. her husband, Park, fathered a child in the past, and that child is not a suspect for murder. The problem? Which child.

This was a pretty twisty story. I enjoyed the short chapters and different perspectives. Every chapter was looking at a different person in the story. I found them all of equal entertainment. It’s one of those stories where you think you know what’s happening, and then yet another twist comes. TW: infertility is a large part of this story. Be sure to read the author’s note at the end for why.

“There’s no way to keep it quiet. The waves are getting bigger, crashing further up the beach. They will be swept out with the tide if she’s not careful.”

Secret Lives comes out 2/28.

Such a good and twisty read!! I really enjoyed this one! I love books when so many of the characters have something to hide.

CW: infertility, miscarriage and abortion

Olivia and Park have been trying to have a baby for quite a while when detectives visit to tell Park that the murder of a local person could only have been committed by his son. When it turns out that Park has a number of children via donation when he was in college, Olivia isn't sure what to do, especially because she has secrets, too. Olivia and Park become wrapped up in the investigation as their marriage disintegrates.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

Wow, this was a WILD ride. So.many.twists!! Sooooo much happening but yet it didn’t feel too rushed or like the author was trying to cram too many story lines in. This was truly a fantastic thriller with a lot happening at all times so even if you may predict something, you probably won’t see what’s coming next!

Add this to your TBR, preorder and recommend to your library! This is one of those books that you can’t wait to get home to finish. One of those “ponytail to work today so I have time to read” kind of books. You know, THAT kind? ☺️

To avoid any spoilers or hints, here’s my three sentence synopsis. Murders are inexplicably connected to a couple struggling with infertility. The couple is shocked to discover the husband has multiple bio kids from being a sperm donor while in college. Everyone has secrets and try to catch the killer.

It starts off so creepy! Very ominous and dark. Then we start to meet the MCs and we’re off to the races! There’s a ton going on in this book and I’m all about it. So many characters and different POV but it somehow manages to work without ever being confusing. Complex without being complicated.

I didn’t love the reveal, nor the ending. I wanted it be someone else! But any book that I gobble up in less than a day because I literally can’t put it down, is a win for me.

Definitely stick around for the Author’s Note at the end. Really cool for her to share such private details. Gave me a different appreciation for this book and storyline.

Thank you JT Ellison for another page-turner! Thank you #NetGalley and #MiraBooks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

**Trigger Warning: infertility, abortion, miscarriage

This review may contain spoilers.

Olivia and Park live a privileged life. Olivia is a successful interior designer While Park is a teacher on sabbatical who has turned ghost writer. Olivia and Parker are currently going through infertility treatments.

We also meet Darby and her daughter Scarlet. Darby conceived two children through artificial insemination.

This book takes on a journey on how all these people are interconnected well also dealing with a potential murderer.

I am going to rate this book as three stars. For me it was an easy read I was able to sit down and and follow the storyline easily. I enjoyed reading the book. It was a good story line, I thought that it was a unique premise. Personally for me I think this was a good thriller for those that are just getting into the thriller genre maybe not quite ready for the full intensity of a darker thriller. I feel like this is a good book for those that are just getting into thrillers.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

This book was so good I couldn’t put it down. From page one, the story takes off and doesn’t slow down until the end. It has so many twists and turns that I kept trying to figure out how it would end..and failed. I can’t wait for my friends to read this book so we can talk about it. The only part I didn’t like was the epilogue. It was not only unneeded it felt like trying to put a bow on a story that was too all over the place.

If you enjoy twisty thrillers with unredeemable characters, then It's One of Us by JT Ellison should be in your TBR. With some hairpins turns in the plot, I really enjoyed this novel. The writing is well paced and the tone is consistent. If you love a tidy ending, with no left over plot strings, this is your novel.

Olivia designs beautiful home interiors that satisfy the most picky clientele. She has deep wishes to be a mother after having fertility problems. Just when she is at her lowest she learns that her husband is a murder suspect. He donated sperm- so how many kids does his husband potentially have? What is her responsibility? Love the multiple points of view and the characters are so delectable. It really makes you think what would happen if this was me? What would I do and why? So good- loved it!

I found the premise of It's One of Us to be enticing: an infertile couple learns that their husband not only fathered numerous children (using sperm donation), but that one of the progeny is a murderer.

What happens next is a complicated situation as Olivia and Park come to terms with the fact that they have been holding secrets from one another for a long period of time and now one of those secrets could be the cause of their own demise.

This was my first J.T. Ellison reading experience. I am searching her back catalog and adding to my TBR!

Well, give yourself plenty of time to sit and finish this when you start. The whole thing just gets wilder and wilder and if it is late, you will lose sleep. Poor Olivia. Leaves you with lots of questions about how sperm banks are run and the possibility of human error or worse.

WOW - I really enjoyed this thriller by J.T Ellison. #ItsOneofUs has a lot of twists and turns. Once I got started I didn't want to put it down.
I will say trigger warning alert - if miscarriages are an issue for you.

Thanks to #netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

If you are looking for a thriller, I would suggest this book for sure.

I enjoyed this thriller of a woman Olivia who wants more than anything to be a mother. Then circumstances come to light with her husband that make her rethink how she feels about him, children and many other things. I enjoyed the twists and surprises in this novel. I have personally never struggled with infertility but wonder if this book may be triggering for those that have...but overall this a a great suspense novel!

Rating: 4.5

As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I was immediately intrigued. I thought I knew where the story was going but oh my gosh, was I surprised with the direction it took. The author’s writing style was unique and will draw you in from the first page and hold your interest throughout. I loved that the book was in third person but followed multiple characters as the story was being told. I was never once confused and if anything it helped keep the pace and made the story feel like it was constantly going. By that I mean, there was no repetition and no time spent on waiting since the story then followed a different character who knew more than the characters we originally followed.

Oh my, this book was fantastic and I would definitely recommend it! I hope they make a movie of this one because it’s written perfectly for the screen. I will warn you, it is a longer book but it’s so good! I read it over three days and each day I was excited to keep reading and I never got bored. It’s a book that will make you think and look for little details. I want to say a lot more but you should definitely go into this book blind. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Thank you so much for the gifted copy on #netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The twists in this book! Ellison makes you think the entire story that you know the answers to everything. And then it twists even more. A great read.

This is my first J.T. Ellison book. I really enjoyed it. I didn't guess any of the twists. It was a little challenging to keep up with all the characters and their similar names: Perry, Park, etc. I really enjoyed the end of the book and the author's discussion of fertility.

Very compelling story made even more so by its relevance to the author. The different points of view make this an authentic, twisty, exciting read. The topic of infertility laced with the extensive lies people tell kept me interested. Great book.