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THE ONES WE LOVE by Anna Snoekstra

How well do you sleep? Is there anything you wouldn’t do for your family? What do you actually know about your neighbors?

The prologue is intriguing and if that doesn’t hook you, the first chapter definitely will! It’s that quick to suck you in and the pages turn fast from then on.

Family drama, heavily weighted secrets, and never quite being able to trust your own self; it is easy to become invested in this family as they all attempt to do their best at life.

While I may have caught on, I never quite knew where the author was going to take us and it kept me invested from beginning to end.

Enjoy!

📚📚📚/5 (ARC)
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Thank you to Anna Snoekstra, Penguin Group Dutton, and NetGalley for this advanced read copy in exchange for my honest review. The Ones We Love has an anticipated publish date of May 6th, 2025
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When the Jansen family moves from Australia to Los Angeles, tensions begin to rise when the eldest daughter, Olivia, wakes with a blackout period of her memory. She is covered in bruises, her room is now padlocked, and her parents are acting strange.
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Each chapter begins to dissect the Jansen family; and ultimately the family next door. What we find is a thrilling and suspenseful revelation of truths. I did find that the pacing was inconsistent. The first few chapters had be hooked. I struggled from about 20% in to around the 60% mark where the pace really picked up again.
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I was pleasantly surprised at the twists and did not see them coming, which was a joy to me! The characters had good growth near the end, but a lot was left to be desired. They weren’t super likable in my opinion. Overall, once the suspense really started twisting I couldn’t wait to finish.
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For lovers of:
🔪 Dark Themes
😳 Shock and Suspense
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Familial Dysfunction
🤨 Mystery and “who dunnit” vibes

🔉Thank you to Anna Snoekstra, Penguin Group Dutton, and NetGalley for this arc of The Ones We Love, out May 6, 2025!

📜Quick Summary: When Janus has the opportunity to move his family from Australia to LA for a possible deal on a book he wrote, the family jumps on this. Kay, his wife and former ballerina now Pilates instructor, left her career when she became pregnant with their first child Liv. Liv is 20, loves fashion and wants to work in that industry. Casper is in high school and was hesitant about this move and what it could mean for their family. Like all families, there is drama and secrets and running from the past. When Liv wakes up covered in bruises and questions her parents, they tell her not to ask any more questions and forget about it. But forget about what?

❣️Initial Feels: This seems like a fast paced page turner and I am for all the family drama!

👀Trigger Warnings: murder, abuse

🌶️Spice Level: 🌶️

📖Read if you want: multiple point of views, dysfunctional family, twists and guessing games the entire novel

🙋🏼‍♀️Moving Character: Although I disliked each character at some point or another, I think Casper, the youngest child of Janus and Kay, really showed maturity and intuition throughout this thriller.

🗨️Thoughtful Words: “Change didn’t have to mean disappearance…”

💡Final Sentiments: Overall this was a well done “can’t put it down” thriller. It started out strong, but did fizzle in the middle for me. Things just felt repetitive and although there were many twists in discovering what truly happened that night with Liv, there were times where I was thinking, “Let’s get it moving!” The author did a great job trying to change your thoughts and opinions on what happened, who’s deceiving who, who’s got the bigger secret, etc and I enjoyed those parts! It did pick up again at the end, which I appreciated! I would definitely pick up another piece of work by this author!

🌟Overall Rating: 4 stars

This novel was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

The Ones We Love by Anna Snoekstra is a captivating psychological thriller that delves into themes of identity, love, and betrayal. The novel’s suspenseful atmosphere keeps readers on edge, while its complex characters and emotional depth add layers of intrigue. Snoekstra’s skillful storytelling and unexpected twists create a compelling narrative that will resonate with fans of dark, thought-provoking thrillers.

This is my first book by Anna Snoekstra and I really enjoyed it. It was a combination of mystery and suspense which made it hard for me to put down. If this is the type of book you like to read then I recommend this one.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this eARC.

A great read that I could not put down.
If you are a fan of mystery and suspense you are going to love this story.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton | Dutton for sharing this book with me!

It's been about a week since I finished this one and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. For starters, Snoekstra sure knows how to come up with a riveting plotline. I was hooked from the first few chapters and had a hard time putting this one down! I was impressed with the twists when I thought I had it all figured out, especially with what really happened with Liv on the night she blacked out.

My biggest struggle with this one was the pacing. While the first few chapters were incredibly suspenseful, I feel like they dragged out Liv's secret when it could have been revealed earlier without taking away from the story. I also feel like some characters, like Kay, deserved to be more developed, considering the role they ended up playing in the storyline. I also didn't understand why emphasis was put on some storylines compared to others (like I still don't really know why they had to move from Australia?) Because of this, the ending felt a little chaotic and a bit too far-fetched, even for a thriller. With a daughter of my own, I know I'd do just about anything for her but my goodness this one threw me for a loop. Thanks so much for the ARC!

Liv’s family have started their life in LA, the unexpected success of her fathers novel and the subsequent optioning of it as a film put their life on a new trajectory. That is until the night of the party.

Liv swears she had 2 drinks, but she can’t remember anything. Her parents are mad at her, and there’s a padlock on her bedroom door. What happened that night, and why can’t she remember?

At its essence, this story is about how far a parent will go to protect their child, even if the relationship with that child is more strained that it has been. Will they cover up a crime? Will their actions damage the relationship between the parents, the children, their friends?

Going into this, I thought I knew how it would play out, but man was I wrong. And I’m not sure if I was wrong in a way that I enjoyed? Occasionally reading something like this when the twist differs from my expectation you get that feeling of shock, of being blindsided. I didn’t get that here. Sure I didn’t see a lot of it coming, and that’s part of the problem, there were just a few too many reveals to make it all pay off.

At the end of the day, I made it to the end with a few more questions than I’d have preferred, and some moments of “was that really necessary for the story?”

I read this one in a day. While it wasn't the most gripping read, the mystery of what happened - the event that changed the course of everyone's lives - kept me intrigued. I just had to know what happened. There were a lot of twists, some of which made me dislike characters that I'm not sure I was meant to dislike. The ending, as a result, wasn't as satisfying as it could have been, but I still enjoyed the book overall!

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC! I thought this book was entertaining, mysterious, and darkly humorous. I liked the complex characters and the storyline. I would recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an hoest review.

The start had me instantly hooked and needing to know more. The first chapters were great but slightly fizzled out during the book.
Casper, Tye and Janus were my favourite characters. Liv and Kay I didn’t relate too much to, but this was a great story with a decent ending. Not mind blowing, but not too far fetched that it wasn’t believable.

This book is about the Jansen family. They relocate from Australia to LA when the father gets a chance to adapt his novel into a screenplay. When Liv the daughter wakes up after a party and her room is padlocked and she has no memory of the night and she is bruised then the story starts. There are lies and twists. This is a great emotional thriller.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to be an arc reader.
This one pulled me in right away with its eerie small-town vibes and messy family drama. I loved how the story unfolded through different timelines, keeping me guessing the whole time. The characters felt real—flawed, complicated, and sometimes frustrating in the best way. A few twists were predictable, and the middle dragged a little, but overall, it was a gripping, emotional read. If you love a good psychological thriller with family secrets at its core, this one’s worth picking up!

Janus has written a best selling novel and has moved with Kay, his wife, and their children, Liv and Casper, from Melbourne to Los Angeles where he is working on a screenplay and hoping to see his book turned into a movie. Liv, 22 years old and studying fashion design, wakes up one morning in pain and covered in bruises with no recollection of leaving a party the night before. She is in her brother’s bedroom and finds a padlock on her bedroom door.

So begins a mysterious, suspenseful story. Liv’s parents tell her she is locked out of her bedroom because mould has been found there but they wont tell her how she came by her injuries and her mother is furious with her. Liv earns a little money babysitting for the next door neighbours and so a new element is introduced into this intriguing book.

Kay, Liv’s mother, and Casper, her brother, are separately and individually having difficulties adjusting to life in America. Anna Snoekstra drops little clues throughout the story and I picked up on some of them, but I wasn’t prepared for the real answer to what was behind the locked door.

This was an absolutely ripping yarn and fans of mystery and suspense and spot on characterisations are going to love it. Thank you, Anna Snoekstra, for a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

Published by Penguin.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 20%-From the early reviews, it looks like like I might be in the minority, but this one despite setting up a good "what happened?" story line, after reading to about 20% into the story, I frankly didn't care. This story was messy and the entire family was completely unlikeable. The dad with writer's block, the mom who is a retired dancer and now a Pilates instructor, and then their two children....just painful reading for me. None of this worked for me, so I'd rather move onto the next book on my TBR list.

Thank you for the ARC. This was my first book by this author. I enjoyed it. I tried to guess a few twists and was definitely wrong. Once the book hit about 60%, I couldn’t stop reading. I had to find out all the details.

I received an ARC from NetGalley

This book was a roller coaster of events. I was pulled in from the first day I started reading. Each new chapter had me wanting more, trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

Highly recommend this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this advance reader’s copy, in exchange for an honest review. “The Ones We Love” has an expected publication date of May 6, 2025.
And check out all of my reviews at my Raised on Reading (www.raisedonreading.com) blog site.
I’ve seen several reviews referring to this book as a “gripping suspense novel.” I’d agree the suspense was present in spots. But gripping? Nope, can’t go there. I’ll explain.
The Jansen family – father Janus and mother Kay, and their daughter Olivia (Liv) and son Casper – have recently relocated from Australia to Los Angeles after Janus’s best-selling book was optioned for a screenplay. Beyond culture shock, their lives rapidly spiral out of control following a weekend party Liv attended. She wakes up in her brother’s bed (he’s away at swim camp) feeling sick and covered in bruises. And she can’t remember anything about the night before.
Liv’s confusion is magnified when her mother admonishes her, saying, “We’re not going to talk to anyone about last night.” But she doesn’t tell Liv what happened. Her father, Janus, becomes distant and evasive. Her brother Casper, who returns from swim camp two days later, is caught up in the mystery of why everyone is acting so strange. And the clandestine atmosphere is heightened when Kay puts a padlock on Liv’s bedroom door, claiming there’s a mold issue.
From there the narrative plods along. Ever so slowly, through backstory and breadcrumbs dropped along the way, we come to better understand the main characters and what may have happened the night of the party – but it moves at a glacial pace. Then, around three-quarters of the way through the pace quickens and the narrative becomes more readable, even if not fully believable. I mean, sleepwalking into a neighbor’s house where you babysit, waking up, and the son takes you out for pancakes? That’s a stretch.
The story does demonstrate how poor communication can tear people apart. Coverups, literally attempting to bury the bad and make believe it never happened, don’t work. They’re temporary fixes at best. Eventually, as happens in this book, the lies catch up, and more often than not they lead to someone’s undoing.
That doesn’t happen here, however. And the result is an ending that not only loses steam, but it also becomes implausible. Surely, someone must pay, right? Well …
I give “The Ones We Love” three stars, mostly because once it got going, it wasn’t too bad. But gripping it isn’t.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC.

This was my first book by this author, and the intriguing premise of a padlocked door and family secrets hooked me. The pacing allowed for character development, and while I predicted some twists, I enjoyed them. Although the sporadic pacing created tension, it felt jarring at times.

I appreciated the different perspectives of each character, both those that were sympathetic and those that were not, as this contributed to a more authentic portrayal. The meta narrative exploring the writing process, particularly through the father character who perhaps serves as a parallel to the author, was engaging.

Although the plot's dependence on communication breakdowns occasionally appeared contrived, the domestic thriller successfully established tension about characters I was mostly invested in. Overall, I enjoyed the read.

The ending, though a bit rushed, was satisfying, especially the final line. I recommend "The Ones We Love" and look forward to exploring more of Anna Snoekstra's work.

This book started off really good and kept me engaged while I was reading but I noticed when I wasn't reading it it wasn't constantly on my mind that "I can't wait to finish reading that" but overall I did really enjoy it.