Really enjoyed this book. Great plot and engaging, believe characters. I was drawn right into the story. Would definitely recommend.

This was a really good read! I was surprised and impressed. I am not someone who is really geared towards family type suspense reads, but this one really hit a spot with me as a younger sister who always lived in the shadows. This was such a easy, quick read where the characters were very relatable, believable. The family drama was something I was not entirely expecting!

Wow! I don't know why I waited so long to read this book. It's been on my TBR for awhile, and it's absolutely gripping. A mother goes missing. A father is off the grid. An aunt who doesn't understand children takes them in. It's one twist and turn after another, and I couldn't put it down.

This book was good but I was used to romance and this was more a family suspense so I was surprise but read it and was surprise that I liked it along my reading, the mystery plot was very well developed and I can’t wait to know the truth about the story. Was different from Emilie richards other books but in the end was pretty good!

A Family of Strangers is the first book I've read by this author.

This story is about Ryan who has always held a distance from her sister until that day she receives a call from her asking for help.

Twists and turns make this a very interesting mystery.

How have I never heard of Emilie Richards prior to now? She will be my go-to when I am in need of a Family Drama fix! Excellent read! Very detailed character and story development.

This is a women's fiction genre novel, with some undertones of romantic mystery.

There are some nice thoughts about family, values and what an unconditional love is - but unfortunately, the internal logic of this novel is weak and many key factors are absenting (for example the real police work). Also, certain white-and-blackedness takes out from the believability factor - there is a very bad character and all the other ones are the candidates for sainthood (also they are described like very naive people blindly seeing only what they want to see for the longest time). The unrealisticness makes this a more wishful thinking than real slice of life or murder mystery.

This is a character-driven book that will pull you in and have you invested in the story. There are secrets and a mystery as well as a bit of a romance which make this a perfect book to read while lounging by the pool or on the beach. I loved the relationships and the family dynamics. There weren’t too many big reveals but the detail put into developing the characters makes up for that. How much assumption do you make about those in your family and life? A family story that leaves pieces of the puzzle sprinkled throughout that leads you to a satisfying conclusion.

Thank you NetGalley and Mira for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I really loved this book in a new to me author. The characters and location really and to the story. I can't wait to read the next one. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

Ryan has always fell in the shadows of her older sister Wendy. Until now Wendy has always been in her shadow. Ryan needs her sister during a time when she is the most vulnerable. Secrets, family drama and so much more unfold within these pages. At times family can be complicated but what else do you have when they are gone?

This slow burn connected with the characters in a way that made you want to keep reading. It didn’t matter that it was dragging a little, you let going because you were invested in the storyline and character. So much happens within a family and you can never foresee how things will end.

This is the first book I have read by Emilie Richards and it won’t be the last! I was so invested in the characters and what was going to happen next that I couldn’t put it down. I’m excited to see what she comes out with next!

Thank you so much to the publishers, author and netgalley for the gifted review copy. All opinions are my own.

Ryan was young when her sister got engaged to Bryce. Ryan is part of a crime pod cast. Ryan's father has heart problems. I kinda like the name Ryan for a girl. Wendy is a navy wife and Ryan's role model. Wendy is suspected of murder and needs Ryan to watch her kids. I thought Ryan's nieces could be brats. I didn't like that Ryan referred to Wendy as basically a single mom. I know military spouses are away alot but it's not the same as being a single parent. It feels disrespectful to the military spouse to refer to it as that way.i liked the mystery of what was going to happen to Wendy and her family. I thought some parts were slow.

An interesting story, a bit too long for my liking but an easy read. It was a little predictable, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable either. Just an average 3 stars for me.

A family of Strangers is an intriguing twist on a family mystery. I really felt for everyone involved and didn't know what would happen.

I loved how the sisters were in such different places, but one was able to step in for the other because love can help us do many things we think are impossible. To find her sister's perfect life in such shambles, Ryan became a heroine that you rooted for. She was trying to be a good aunt, but also the mother that her nieces obviously never had, all the while figuring out what could possibly have happened to her sister and the man she might have killed.

I really enjoyed the ending as this book was resolved in an unexpected way.

As other people have said, this book really needed editing. I don’t need to know that the main character’s niece likes mac and cheese. The story itself is interesting and there was a twist I didn’t see coming.

3 stars.

An easy and comfortably entertaining family drama full of hidden secrets.

Ryan Gracey receives a call from her sister, Wendy, asking a life changing favour. Could Ryan come back to her hometown to temporarily care for her two young nieces while Wendy sorts out a major issue - she may be wrongly accused of murder! Ryan packs up her work and a few personal items to move into Wendy’s townhouse to take on the role of parenting her nieces while their mother tends to this secretive and mysterious situation.

I liked Ryan - her character was strong and independent, yet sensitive. I admired her loyalty and strength to do what she thought was “right”. The effort she put in and the relationship she built with her nieces was touching.

I liked this story and found it an easy read, one that I could pick up and put down in between other more addictive and suspenseful novels. Some of the plot was predictable and some was cliche, yet I remained curious to see how everything would play out. I felt the novel was lengthy and could have easily been reduced by 50+ pages which would have helped to keep the suspense and intrigue stronger.

Overall, this was an entertaining read that I enjoyed but wasn’t my cup of tea. There are many reviews that give a higher rating than mine, so be sure to check those out!

Thank you to HarperCollins for sending me a physical ARC to read and review!

Ryan has always grown up thinking her sister is perfect, and her parents doted on her. Ryan was the surprise child, the one who wasn't healthy and was "difficult. What happens when you discover that your sister is not as perfect as she seems? Ryan runs a popular true crime blog, and is brought back to her hometown when she gets a mysteriously call from her sister that she cannot return home, she might be a suspect for murder and she has to find evidence that she wasn't the killer? This was a great read, lots of plot twists and so many hidden secrets in one family!

Diving in with another new-to-me author and my go-to genre, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Emilie Richards’ novel A Family of Strangers. Featuring family drama on the backdrop of a mystery, with a nice Florida setting to give everything a vacation destination feel where you’d think nothing bad would ever happen.

Ryan Rose Gracey is journalist who is now a producer and host of a popular true crime podcast which covers cold cases. Her much older sister Wendy has always been an example of what Ryan will never be: perfect, golden haired, popular, in demand. But when Wendy calls Ryan out of the blue, asking Ryan to drive four hours across Florida to care for her two young daughters while she’s away, Ryan knows that something is wrong. Wendy would never ask something like this of her eighteen years younger sister, but since their mother is busy taking care of their father who is recuperating from heart surgery, Ryan figures that Wendy has no one else to turn to since her husband is on his submarine at sea on active duty.

The longer Wendy stays away from her family and the family real estate business, the more suspicious Ryan grows. And when Wendy wants Ryan to dig into someone that could have committed murder and framed Wendy for it, Ryan is shocked by what she uncovers: about Wendy, about their family, about herself. Secrets can only be kept for so long until they explode.

Ryan was a really likable character. Being so much younger than her sister Wendy, she’d always felt like her parents were too tired to do much in the parenting department. It was like they’d given all they could to Wendy, so there was nothing left for Ryan. When Ryan was met with something that would destroy a normal person, she soldiered on, even though she knew that she was destroying her chances with someone else. But she got over her fear and reconnected with ex-boyfriend Mateo Santiago, no longer a K9 police officer but now a dog trainer. I really enjoyed their budding relationship, and their chemistry was very real.


I give A Family of Strangers a four out of five. I found this book to be intriguing, nicely plotted with well-fleshed out characters. The pacing flowed well throughout, but it did bog down a little bit in spots. Mostly focusing on family drama and what happens when a family chooses to avoid dealing with problems by ignoring that they exist in the first place, the mystery of what happened to Ryan’s sister took a back seat for a lot of the book–and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I really enjoyed Ryan’s relationship with her nieces, especially as she built a relationship with the two young girls who weren’t as connected with their mom as they could have been. There were several plot twists that I didn’t see coming since I was just so caught up in the story, and I loved that I was surprised. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes family dramas and mysteries.

First off, I can’t believe I waited so long to read A FAMILY OF STRANGERS! It is by far the best book I’ve read this year, so far. The twists and turns just kept on coming and hooked me from the very first chapter! Ryan Gracey left Seabank, Florida following an intense incident where she almost lost her life and the man she was beginning to fall in love with, was shot. Ryan soon learns on her return trip, her family isn’t exactly as she always thought they were. None of the characters are truly who they seem to be on the surface when they are first introduced in A FAMILY OF STRANGERS.



At first, I truly thought I knew why things were happening, but boy was I wrong! Trust me, once you start reading A FAMILY OF STRANGERS you won’t be able to put it down as Emilie Richards takes you on one heck of an emotional roller coaster ride! This is an intense story that never slows down. The Graceys have two daughters: Wendy who is married with two daughters and Ryan, the much-younger sister who is single and hosts a true-crime podcast. The compelling characters pull you into the carefully crafted world of the Gracey family. Once you are immersed into their lives you just want to keep coming back for more. Emilie Richards steps out of her comfort zone of women’s fiction and weaves a tale that includes suspense and intrigue and is fantastic.



I loved the person Ryan is right away. A FAMILY OF STRANGERS is a great romantic mystery story that had me up late one night trying to finish. I just had to know what was going on with Ryan’s sister and why. After you read what she had to endure and why, you won’t believe it! I still can’t believe it took me this long to read this amazing story, I’m kicking myself……..if you haven’t read A FAMILY OF STRANGERS yet, you need to read it very soon. You won’t be sorry and then you can kick yourself for waiting so long! Haha

A clever and suspenseful family drama. Much unexpected turns of events as the main character, Ryan, digs deeper into her family, particularly her sister's past. Very well built up, laced with love, relationships, finding one's self, growing emotionally and tying loose ends. Thank you NetGalley for the e-reader copy. All opinions are my own.

MIRA and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of A Family of Strangers. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Ryan Gracey gets drawn into her older sister's drama when Wendy calls out of the blue. As Ryan digs into Wendy's issues, all the while taking care of her sister's two daughters, the answers lead down a rabbit hole into the past. Can being back in her hometown help Ryan to fix the poor relationship that she has with her mother? Additionally, will she be able to put right one of Ryan's biggest regrets?

I was so excited to read A Family of Strangers because of the strength of author Emilie Richards previous novels. I am usually drawn in by her character development and rich stories, but this book failed to capture my attention in a meaningful way. Not only is the story transparent, but the novel itself is around 200 pages too long. It seems that all of the characters have personal issues and these side plots overwhelm the main story. A Family of Strangers was a miss for me, but I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.