This was not my favorite download. I finished this, but I would not buy. I don't think I would give the author another chance with a different book. 1 star

3.5 stars rounded up. I flew through this domestic suspense novel wanting to know the ending.

Laura goes from being a single woman to a wife and stepmom of two kids when she marries Peter. His first wife dies by suicide….maybe. Whoa! Talk about drama! Peter is messy, and Laura is passive. Throughout this story, we get to see Laura become less passive and start to speak up for herself. That part I loved! The storyline was full of drama, and I loved that too.

The suspense building in this novel was great. Traymore wrote the plot in a way that pulled you in and kept you wondering what was going to develop. The narrative is told from dual POVs with Laura and Peter taking turns. Laura was the star in this book, and I found myself rooting for her.

The twists in this book were good and believable, which I appreciated The only con I had was the alternating 1st and 3rd person writing. It was slightly confusing. Overall, this was a good read, and I am awaiting book 2 in the Silicon Valley Series. I am a new Bonnie Traymore fan.

Thank you NetGalley and Pathways Publishing for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, the characters kept me on my toes and cannot wait to read the next book in this series.

The first in the Silicon Valley Series, The Stepfamily delivers in the psychological thriller department. Motives are questioned, secrets are being kept, and all you can wonder is what’s going to happen next? The suspense and points of view from Laura, Peter, and Shep keep me intrigued and the pages turning. The complexities of a stepfamily are well written - the tension, secrets, rivalry and jealousies. However, the twist felt flat, and the ending could have been better. Regardless, I enjoyed this and look forward to what the next book in this series brings. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This book was just ok for me. The story was difficult to swallow as I felt the main character Laura was a bit too complacent. That and the writer seems to change the point of view in theor writing a number of times throughout the story. Personally I think the book would be better with separate chapters for Laura's thoughts, Peter's thoughts, and short chapters for the PI. Overall I didn't get much psychological thriller from this one it was a mystery sure but I definitely put the pieces of the puzzle together in this story long before the ending. I thought maybe another shoe would drop in last bit of the story but it didn't. I'm going to give the authors second book a chance before ruling her out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this arc.

I enjoyed this interesting, fast paced psychological thriller. It’s my first book by the author and I can’t wait to read more. Definitely recommend.

The main character is Laura who’s married to Peter, a widower with 2 kids who are already out of the house. Laura has always felt like an outsider but now that the kids are older, Peter and her have successful careers and things are finally looking up.

Then Laura begins to have a series of strange accidents which freak Peter out and rightfully soo, his late wife died in kind of a freak accident herself. Since the police aren’t doing much, he hires a PI and as the PI starts to investigate, we find that Peter’s been keeping things from Laura. When Laura ends up in the hospital, she is convinced somebody is out to get her. The entire story is about trying to figure out who it is and why.

The author does a good job at portraying the complexities of stepfamily life – the tension and secrets. The storyline and twist were okay. I did find the book repetitive and as a thriller it felt a little flat for me. I was expecting a better ending but understandably so, the book is the beginning of a series, and I should have expected the cliffhanger.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

3.5 stars rounded up. I flew through this domestic suspense novel wanting to know the ending.

Laura goes from being a single woman to a wife and stepmom of two kids when she marries Peter. His first wife dies by suicide….maybe. Whoa! Talk about drama! Peter is messy, and Laura is passive. Throughout this story, we get to see Laura become less passive and start to speak up for herself. That part I loved! The storyline was full of drama, and I loved that too.

The suspense building in this novel was great. Traymore wrote the plot in a way that pulled you in and kept you wondering what was going to develop. The narrative is told from dual POVs with Laura and Peter taking turns. Laura was the star in this book, and I found myself rooting for her.

The twists in this book were good and believable, which I appreciated The only con I had was the alternating 1st and 3rd person writing. It was slightly confusing. Overall, this was a good read, and I am awaiting book 2 in the Silicon Valley Series. I am a new Bonnie Traymore fan.

Thank you NetGalley and Pathways Publishing for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the idea and the plot but for a thriller, it didn't keep me at the edge of my seat like I had hoped for. I liked the characters and their dynamics but I wasn't rushing to the next chapter to see what was going to happen. The main character was a bit too whiny and annoying for my liking. The ending did intrigue me and I think the author might have a second book in mind but not sure.
It was alright but not my favorite thriller.

An intriguing read, This book had a bit of everything; It had suspense; murder; mystery; and twists and turns to keep you interested.

A physcological thriller with drama, secrets and lots of suspense. The family drama is the focus point in this case.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a great read! The characters and storyline were well done. The short chapters made this a quick and fun book. Highly recommend

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of The Stepfamily by Bonnie Traymore from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. LOVED this and read it so quickly as I was unable to put it down. This had lots of twists and turns and kept me up late into the night waiting to see what was going to happen next. Do yourself a favor and read this ASAP!

Laura's life is going great, everything is good and she is on the up when strange accidents start to happen. She thinks they are coincidences at first but then, things get so strange that she cannot help but start doing some digging and she doesn't like what she finds. Its a bit far fetched an ok read. Not one I was rushing back to but it was ok.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

Apparently this book is the first novel in a new series surrounding Silicon Valley. Indeed, it does involve a family living in Silicon Valley, so I'm guessing future novels will take place here as well. In this story, Laura has married widower Peter and settled into his Silicon Valley home helping raise his two children. All seems well until freak accidents start happening and it appears they cannot be all a coincidence. Laura begins to wonder if someone is out to get her or if it's even related to Peter's former wife. This was my first book by this author and it was definitely an interesting one!

A fast paced thrilling read, with short chapters to make an easy read. There are twists that keep you on your toes guessing the truth.

Disliked: The narration.
The narrator seemed to change mid-chapter and there wasn't any spacing or indication to tell you it was switching, so you read along and all of a sudden, you realize that you're reading from the other character's perspective.
Liked:
I really enjoyed the short chapters and I found that at one point or another, I was suspicious of every single character.

This was an interesting storyline that kept me entertained throughout! I would read more books by this author!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy

I really enjoyed this thriller, and living in the bay area made it so more real to me. When Laura met Peter, she immediately fell for him. Peter's previous wife had passed away in an "accidental" manner and had two young children. When Laura joined the family it took awhile for her to build relationships with the children. Laura never really felt at "home" in the house she moved into. So when Laura's breaks were cut, she immediately felt unsafe, which lead her husband down a PI rabbit hole and his secrets begin to spill out. Strong characters, confusing at times figuring out what perspective we were following since it jumped back and forth. But overall, I really enjoyed and look forward to more from her!

Right from the very beginning, I was enjoying this story. This is a short book, and it kept me wanting to read more. the characters are flawed, but not to where they're unlikeable. There were a few twists, and for the most part I didn't see coming. The ending lacked, but still overall a great book! Thank you NetGalley.