Fun, clever read about a family of con artists, and the de facto leader, Jillian, who is determined to go legitimate. Members of her family aren't so keen, and are willing to (possibly) kill her to stop her.

With twists and turns, and a number of allies, Jillian needs all the help she can get to turn this family to the straight side.

A little slow in places, but a fun read overall.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

This was a quirky fun read with a storyline that you don’t see often. It was a bit slow in parts but overall a good read if you are looking for something light.

*Thank you Netgalley & Avon/HarperCollins for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review

very enjoyable book! I couldn't anticipate what was going to happen next and it kept me guessing!

thank you to the author and publisher for providing this ARC on netgalley for me to review

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed the book. Usually I can guess what is going to happen next. With this book I did not. There were twists and turns that I did not see coming. I loved the character of Beck. He kept me intrigued throughout the story. Everyone needs a Beck in their life !

Clever story full of characters and family and what not. I enjoyed it but felt it could have been edited a bit better. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!!

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for this eARC.

The book revolves around Jillian Moorewood, heiress to her mom's fortune, returns home from prison to her con-artist family. She's trying to make them stop conning, and go legit, but they're stuck in their ways and trying to kill her for her fortune. The synopsis also talks about a partnership with a crooked but lovable great aunt, and mysterious hot body guard helping her get her own life and family back in order.

Synopsis and cover are fun, but the actual book fell very flat for me. This book was described as hilarious, and "Knives Out and Ocean's 8 meets The Nest". Personally, I've only watched Knives Out and it's nothing like Knives Out and it's also unfortunately not at all funny.

Up until 70% of the book, nothing really happens. It's all background and not even fun background, just like family drama background. When I think about a book about a con-artist family, I want to at least read about some cons they pulled off, but this doesn't give any of that. For me, the book didn't really pick up until 70%, which is disappointing. There are also too many characters with similar names (Astrid and Anika?) which made it confusing because I honestly didn't care enough to remember who is who. Also, this book might have been more interesting written in first person perspective of Jillian, Anika, and Aunt Patrica instead of third-person (limited(?) sorry haven't taken an english class in a while) of Jillian and Anika.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

I was hoping for a classic-style mystery along the lines of The Maid by Nita Prose, but I didn't connect with any of these characters from the start. The plot somehow seemed to drag a bit, even though the action was high, so I'm not sure why I wasn't hooked right away. I'm sure some readers will love it, but it just wasn't the writing style (POV style)/character type I could get into.

There were a lot of fun antics in this book, and quite a cast of characters too. I do love a good caper, but in my opinion, this one left a little to be desired. There were some really slow parts, but the exciting bits did come close to making up for those. I tend to prefer a little more romance in the books I read, but to each her own. This was an enjoyable book, especially if you’re a fan of creative twists!

Thanks to the Publisher for an ARC of this book.
It took me a while to get into the story-- there were a lot of characters and the POV would change and throw me off. It felt like a lot of chaos, and while I can usually appreciate twists and turns, it didn't feel right and purposeful enough. Plus it also has a cheesy romance, which I'm usually good with, but it felt one dimensional. I also felt at times like this was a sequel, like I was missing backstory that was casually mentioned. The last portion felt more engaging than the first, but overall, just a three star rating.

If there is one word to describe this book, it would be “fun.” Right off the bat, I loved the authorial voice: It flowed easily and drew me right in with the funny remarks and quick immersion into the plot. The idea of the story was intriguing and unusual. It set up a lot of anticipation as to who, how, and what was going down. Because make no mistake, our heroine was going to see that the bad guys (her family) were, indeed, going down.

We meet Jillian, fresh from 39 months in prison, ready to literally and spectacularly descend upon her unsuspecting family who put her there. She debarks from her helicopter on the family mansion’s spacious grounds in the midst of a party where they are laying the groundwork to swindle and con their latest victims. They are not happy. But Jillian is less so. They had promised to go straight in return for Jillian taking the fall for them with the FBI. Now she’s back, she has their number, she holds all of the cards, and she’s had 39 months to contemplate her revenge. And maybe, just maybe, set them on the straight and narrow. Nah. Not happening.

It turns out that her family are not only professional grifters and con artists, but that in an emergency they will not stop at murder. And Jillian’s arrival is definitely an emergency. If some may balk at murdering a family member (that would be against the family rules) they won’t hesitate to send her back to prison. Enter Beck, a very grumpy, sexy, and intimidating bodyguard, hired by one of her loyal allies.

Although the romance is nice and provides a topper to the satisfying ending, the main focus is the battle of wits between Jillian and her family. In the process, we also get the occasional point of view of one of her half-sisters. There are, of course, some twists and turns and surprises. Some of her family are revealed to be truly perfidious, others not so bad. The book did seem to lose a little steam about halfway through as we learn that Jillian is not quite so “together” as she first appeared. Having Jillian gaining insight and having to work on her own issues provided some depth and layers to her character. But it did seem to stall the narrative a bit. I missed the implacable focus of her mission to teach her family the lesson they so richly deserved to learn.

Fortunately, the sensational set-up was matched by a strong conclusion and the book regained most of the momentum it had lost towards the end. All in all, it was light and entertaining and I enjoyed it.

4/5 ⭐️

If a book starts with the FMC landing a helicopter on the lawn of her family’s estate after getting released from prison, I’m immediately going to be hooked.

I love media that takes place in one location, and seeing how authors/filmmakers can create a dynamic environment with a very small setting, and what better place than a Bellevue Abe mansion? Reading all about the schemes Jillian’s family gets into within those gilded walls was FASCINATING and I stayed up way too late reading so I could learn who sent Jillian to prison and how she was going to get her revenge.

I pride myself on being able to figure out mysteries and twists in books, but this one took me by surprise!

This book was an overall delight and I need about a million more books with the Moorewoods.

Unfortunately the cover and blurb may be the best part of this book. I was so looking forward to this, and it just didn't work. It was so slow. Wanted to like this much more than I did. Writing is too repetitive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I enjoyed this fun, mysterious, swoony tale of Jillian Moorewood.

It was so fun to see such an absolute chaos filled bunch of dysfunctional cast of characters (and they are all related)!!

And to have a bodyguard trope (fast becoming a favorite) with Beck.

I knew I was going to like Jillian’s character from the beginning. It started off strong and kept my attention for a while. I loved the concept of the book. I did feel like there were a lot of parts that were drawn out, like it could have been shorter or there could have been something more involved.

When I finally got to sixty-seventy percent of the book, it really got my attention. Storyline started moving quickly, and at that point I had to rad on through to finish the book.

The romance portion was a distraction, but that part felt too fast while everything else took a long time to explain or plot out.

Overall, there were some really exciting and funny parts to the story. It was easy to read. It got me interested in the author’s other work.
Thank you ARC for your generosity and allowing me to read it early.

I ended up DNFing this book very early on, about 10%. It didn't capture my attention, and I had very little interest in following the characters. I couldn't tell the difference between half the characters because they didn't seem to have unique voices or motives, and it was very flat.

Jillian Moorewood is the black sheep in her family. The rule follower, the responsible one, the one who went to prison to cover up her family’s history of cons, schemes, and lies. But now Jillian’s free, and she’s determined to straighten her fleecing family members out once and for all. With the help of a great aunt (who may or may not have murdered her cheating husband) and a bodyguard who gets hotter the more he lets down his guard, Jillian sets out to change the family legacy - and maybe get a little revenge while she’s at it.

If a telenovela and a heist movie had a book baby, it would be MOOREWOOD FAMILY RULES. This was so fun to read! It was dramatic and over-the-top, often laugh out loud funny, but with some meaningful background layered in to explain the characters’ motivations. I kept trying to untangle the web of relationships, and to guess who was really at fault for myriad cons and assassination attempts. I would love to see a movie adaptation of this book! Personally I would’ve liked to see a little more of the conning from when the family was in its prime; I think that could be a cool prequel idea @helenkaydimon 😉. For fans of KNIVES OUT and OCEAN’S 8.

NOTE FOR THE EDITOR: there are a few mistakes with the numbering of the rules. Rules 17, 37, 39, and 40 are not given. Rule 29 is given twice: first in chapter 13 (“Rest when you can but never on a job”) and then in chapter 26 (“Never let anyone outtalk or outcon you”).

Moorewood Family Rules is about a lady named Jillian who was tossed in prison despite her attempts to fix her scheming family. With the time she spent locked away she comes up with a fail proof revenge against those who plotted against her. As her story unfolds, she hires a grumpy bodyguard named Beck who finds himself deeper than he intended. Alliances are shifted around and there's a rat in the group, will Jillian's plan work or will she go under all over again?

I give this story three stars out of five because, while the concept of the story was really great, the first half of it dragged for me. Some of the chapters didn't really contribute and some of the background of the characters being constantly explained was a bit over kill. After the first handful of chapters the characters were established enough that it wasn't necessary.

Once sixty-five percent of the story came up the pacing picked up and was much more fun to read, more interesting.

For the spice I give this story one chili pepper out of five, the sexual tension felt kind of forced, there was no make out or sexy scenes. The relationship between them didn't transition as smoothly as it could have .

The entire time I trusted virtually no one until the end. lol Because of this and the way it ended I hope there's plans for a second book in the series.

I liked the relationship / friendship that slowly developed between Anika and Jillian and how things were handled with Emma and Gregory.

The huge revenge plan was exciting and perfect!

Overall I'd still give book two a chance and recommend it if you're looking for a clean heist story.

The very definition of "dysfunctional family" - the Moorewoods. This crime-family drama reminds me of a lighthearted, modern version of Agatha Christie's whodunnitness mixed with the glamor of crime life from shows like White Collar, all wrapped up in the humor and lightheartedness of a Hallmark flick. Jillian Moorewood attempts to influence her family into "going straight," despite their best efforts to not only sideline but murder (spoiler??) her. Other reviewers have suggested the ending is dissatisfying, and I have to agree; but it does leave us wanting more of the Moorewoods (a sequel, perhaps?). Overall a cute read!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!! It was a fun one.

this was a great read! fun and easy to follow with the perfect mix of plot, crazy characters and a sprinkle of romance! there were so many twists and secrets and it kept me guessing the whole time. i took off a star because at times the writing felt a little flat and the characters weren't super well developed. but overall a good read that i would definitely recommend! especially if you liked crazy rich asians and counterfeit then this is for you!

review to be posted on amazon, barnes & noble website, and instagram closer to pub date.