This book was absolutely unputdownable! Proven by the fact that I stayed up for two extra hours so I could finish it and missed my bedtime! Robyn Harding does it again! I didn't care for any of the characters except for Eli. They were basically all terrible people but for him. But I guess that's part of the point; they have to be terrible so you don't know who is terrorizing them or why. Great storytelling. Interesting plot. I love the way Robyn Harding writes. The characters are always so fleshed out and the dialogue believable. Ms. Harding really got my anxiety going. Everything was perfectly paced. I will be highly recommending this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Perfect Family brings truth to the advice, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Although from the outside looking in the Adler family of four looks perfect with their expensive cars, perfectly landscaped yard, and nice home, each member of the family is struggling with their own serious, personal problems.. Throw each family member’s drama in with unknown perpetrators trying to cause harm to the Adler’s home, and you have an intriguing mystery with some twists and turns along the way.

Robyn Harding thoroughly develops and makes it easy to relate to each member of the family through short chapters told in each family member’s point-of-view. I was able to quickly relate to each character and wanted to continue reading to learn what was in store for each of them. What a wonderful book!

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed above are my own.

#GalleryBooks
#NetGalley
#ThePerfectFamily
#RobynHarding

Is there anything more comforting than an author you can always count on for a five star read? I love Robyn Harding's books, so I'm excited to share her newest book,The Perfect Family, which is out in a couple of weeks, with you!! I knew I would read it in one sitting, so I saved it for when I needed to get out of a reading slump. From the outside looking in, the Adlers are a perfect family. They have a beautiful home and a perfect family, but you and I both know that appearances can be deceiving. Each family member is hiding their own secrets. One night, someone eggs their house, which seems pretty harmless until more stuff keeps happening to their house at night, which keeps escalating and putting the Adlers in more and more danger. Everyone thinks they are responsible for the attacks, and as they try to find out who is behind the attacks, it gets harder and harder for them to keep their secrets hidden. What tangled webs we weave! You'll have to read it to find out what happens to the Adlers. If you haven't read a Robyn Harding book yet, you are missing out! *I got this book in a swap*

Thank you @gallerybooks and @netgalley for my digital copy.

A suspenseful and twisty story that builds in intensity. This four-person ‘perfect family’ is clearly anything but perfect! Each of the them hold secrets and have skeletons in their closet. So who is the target of their escalating assaults and why? The story kept me in suspense. My third Robyn Harding book and my favorite.

Robyn Harding has done it again! This book was absolutely unputdownable for me and I read it in a few hours. I’m so glad I still have two more Robyn Harding books to pick up soon. ⁣
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In this story we meet the Adler family- Thomas and Vivian and their teenagers- Eli and Tarryn. The Adlers seem to have it all…a beautiful house in a safe neighborhood, a happy marriage and two responsible kids. But as we know, no one truly knows what happens behind closed doors and this family has secrets…so many secrets. It isn’t long before someone begins targeting their family. What begins as mischievous pranks takes a turn to destruction of their property. Who is targeting their home and why? Will each family member have to come clean and divulge their secret to make this stop? ⁣
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Wow! This one took me on quite a ride. I loved hearing from each family member and seeing the way they interacted with one another. If you enjoy reading about families and all the crazy drama that goes along with a family unit- pick this up! Five stars for me. Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for sending me this ARC, I’ll definitely be buying a finished copy on pub day 8/10/21.

Thoughts: This domestic suspense novel had an easy to read writing style and good pacing. The narrative is told through multiple POVs which allowed me to follow the narrative through different perspectives. At times though, I did feel some redundancy in the text. While the characters were realistic, the storyline itself was not believable. Once secrets are revealed and things fall into place, it just felt far too coincidental. Honestly, I didn’t like (or feel sorry for) any of the characters and their circumstances. That said, because each of the main characters had dark secrets to hide, it made guessing the culprit tough (which I liked). Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

Brief Synopsis: The Alders have the perfect family. Recently they have been on the receiving end of some escalating vandalism. They can’t figure out who or why their family would be targeted. They increase their home security and also get the local police involved, but even this doesn’t detour the vandals. Everyone is the Alder family is harboring a secret, but whose secret is the darkest and worth killing over?

Thank you to Robyn Harding, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

You know how if someone says “we need to talk” or “I have to ask you a question” with no further context, your brain immediately goes into crisis mode? Every possible bad thing you might have said or done, no matter how big or small, suddenly flashes before your eyes and said person clearly hates you because they’ve found out about it (no, just me? Am I alone in this mess of anxiety?). Well, welcome to the Adler’s “perfect” family, where a series of pranks puts each family member into that same frantic crisis mode. Clearly someone has found out about his or her deep dark secret and is using it to torment them. Except of course, they are unaware every other member of the family also has a secret they are just as worried about having exposed. Soon the pranks go from harmless kid stuff like egging the house to unsettling and downright dangerous incidents. The Adlers no longer feel safe in their home and take increasingly desperate measures to protect themselves. Who is behind these pranks, which member of the family are they targeting, and just how far are they willing to go..?

This was a super quick read for me, I think my kindle clocked it at just over 3 hours. Part of this was I’m sure because it was a page turner, but also it has a very easy breezy style of writing. That’s not a bad thing, in fact it worked well with the plot, which also stayed fairly surface level and didn’t require much hard work from the reader. This will be perfect if you’re looking for a quick, fairly light read, but with some thriller adjacent excitement.

The good: I think the author was smart with the secrets. None were too outlandish or over the top, and while some were worse than others, none were bad enough to have you totally rooting against a character. The ratcheting up of anxiety was also really well done. As the pranks escalated and the characters got more and more unsettled, I too felt that anxiety and didn’t want to put the book down. There were a lot of red herrings and it was fun to jump from theory to theory as to who was behind the crimes.

The not so good: While I mentioned above that none of the secrets were bad enough to make you root against a character, I still just didn’t like any of them and had trouble caring or having too much sympathy. Part of this may be because there was a huge lack of distinction between character voices. A seventeen year old woman should not sound the same as her father. It never felt like they were real, individual people to me. I also found the police response to be entirely unrealistic. Eggs and apples thrown at the house, sure, they would just humor the rich couple from the good neighborhood. But by the end they’re “kids will be kids”-ing felonies.

The wait, is this good or bad?: I went from being annoyed at how things wrapped up at the end (especially Tarryn's portion which felt frighteningly unresolved to me) to finding it fun the way the author left things. Reading through other reviews, it seems to be quite the polarizing ending. I suppose you’ll just have to see whether you love or hate it, which you can do on August 10, 2021.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy of this title for review.

When you pick up a book with the title The Perfect Family you know this family is going to be far from perfect, right? The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding is a thrilling and suspenseful novel about one family that on the outside may seem perfect to others but have many many flaws and secrets galore between them.

Thomas and Viv Adler are the type of couple that enjoy their shiny, pretty things wanting to have the best house, the best cars and be the envy of those around them. Thomas and Viv also have raised two teenagers and believe that they will both be just as successful and happy as Thomas and Viv are themselves. Right, now for the truth.

One night the Adler’s have their home attack when eggs are thrown at the front window. Each of the family look to themselves as possibly being the reason the home was targeted. Thomas had a shady weekend with friends, Viv has been taking small things around town, Eli has returned home from college and is in hiding from his former teammates, and the youngest Adler, Tarryn, has a whole secret life. As the attacks continue to happen everyone does their best to hold onto their own secrets as their shiny, pretty world crumbles around them.

Addictive certainly was a good way to describe this book. It started off a bit like one of those family popcorn dramas that pull me in as I learn all about the family’s flaws while munching on some popcorn. The intensity did ramp up though bringing a more thrilling vibe as the author layered the story wonderfully and as a reader I began to peel back the layers. I would have almost scored this one a little higher but in the excitement and twistiness of the end I think not everything may have been fully uncovered but definitely worth the read regardless.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thomas and Viv have created the perfect family and the perfect home. Or, so it seems. As their family, their home, they image all start to fall apart, this family must find a way to come together or go their separate ways, even their kids are hiding secrets. No one knows who is attacking them and which family member it's a result of. Very interesting read with a tons of twists and turns.

Doesn't every family have it's own secrets?

Welcome to the Adlers! Thomas and Viv are married and give off the best impression that everything is picture perfect in their marriage. But, of course nothing is as it seems.

Their two children are keeping secrets themselves... that are just as dark.

The Adler's home starts to be vandalized at night and of course each family member has their own suspicions that someone else in the family is responsible.

The story is told for all four perspectives from the Adler family which I loved!! Each character is well developed and has their own creepy and dark secrets that unfold.

I am a HUGE fan of Robyn Harding and have loved her last two books. This one was just as fun, dark, and suspenseful. I'm counting down until we see another from Harding!

4/5 stars

Thank you so much to Gallery and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 8/10/21
Published to GR: 7/26/21.

This book is smart, puzzling, intense, entertaining, and absolutely the best work of Harding! The story is complex and plays mind games with us on our journey thru the story, It was a real guessing game to figure out who the real perpetrator really is. Just when you think you know Harding throws a twist.

Her writing is smooth and seemingly effortless, and I loved getting to know the characters and their juicy, dark secrets. The suspense ramps up as we learn more and more, and the story is expertly told from the four POVs of the family. At times wicked fun and other times disturbing, I was here for it!

I absolutely loved The Perfect Family. It was a fantastic, thrilling read with so many twists and turns. I did not know how this would end and I stayed up late to finish it and find out.

Wow, Robyn Harding does it again. This book was just a rollercoaster of drama and it was epic. I definitely caught on to the ending about halfway through. It was great regardless.

The Perfect Family is a very domestic thriller. Everyone has something to hid in this book. It starts off pretty good. Their house is vandalized, they are harassed and stalked. However, the ending and how the secrets are revealed feel a little anticlimactic. Also felt like the characters were a too self-aware and there was a bit too much misdirecting. The pacing was good, and I was curious to see what would happen next throughout the book. Overall, I think if you like domestic thrillers you’ll probably enjoy reading this one.

I really love Robyn Harding’s writing style! Her stories suck me in right at the beginning and they just keep getting crazier as I turn the pages. I think I could have read this in one sitting if I had the time!

This perfect family is far from perfect, but from the outside looking in, they might seem to be. Perfect house, nice cars, married parents… the American dream family. BUT each of them has a secret - and those secrets could get them killed.

I loved how the story was told by each of the family members so we can see their perspective on things.

I also loved the sheer suspense of what was going on.

What I didn’t love was that the story seems unfinished. There are unanswered questions and cliff hangers. Is there going to be a part two? If so, then this is forgivable. If not, I am left feeling dissatisfied.

I really did love the book until the very end and probably would have given in 4.5 or even 5 stars if it weren’t for that ending!

3.5 Stars
The book is written with multiple points of view and every meme we of the family presented their secret. Not one of the characters is likeable and I would hate to belong to a family like this!! The plot is interesting and the book is an enjoyable read. The ending solves the mystery of who is vandalizing the house but it left me wanting more.

3.5 stars rounded up. This family is by no means perfect and is plagued by secrets. This is a quick, fast paced read that I quite enjoyed. The only thing I didn’t like was the unresolved issues

When I first started this one, I instantly thought this was going to be another domestic drama, the ones I constantly get sucked into and end up not enjoying all that much, so if you are similar, keep going. I felt this one went much deeper and further than the norm and I really enjoyed it. I still would classify it as domestic drama, but it was a good one. Very quick read too.

**5/5 Stars**

Let me start off by saying I am a BIG fan of Robyn Harding’s books. I’ve read them all, and it’s impossible for me not to be hooked by the end of page 1. Her books also make me never want to have teenagers EVER in my house, and make me want to ship my pre-teen children off to my parents once they turn 13. Harding’s stories involving teenagers and the many ways they can get their entire family in trouble are **that** terrifying.

Harding’s latest book, The Perfect Family, is another book that involves teenagers and parents making terrible decisions that put their entire family at risk. The entire family looks perfect from the outside save for their teenage daughter, who has trouble fitting in at high school. But then strange, disturbing incidents start happening at their house.

At first, these incidents seem like stupid teenage pranks. But then they escalate to the point everyone in the house fears for their lives. And everyone in the house has a reason to be concerned, because they are all leading secret lives.

There’s the teenage daughter who has an alter ego and X-rated side business once her parents are asleep. There’s the college drop-out son, who was once a star athlete enjoying a scholarship at a prestigious university. There’s the neurotic mother and wife who is an amateur pickpocket. And there’s the successful realtor and father and husband, who went on a bachelor party trip that went awry and is now haunting him.

Thanks to Harding, I will never look at a doorknob the same. I’ll leave the surprise for readers to discover because you need to read this book!

Thank you to Robyn Harding, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of The Perfect Family!

2021 is off to a wonderful start with this NEW BOOK COMING OUT! One of my favorite authors just announced her new novel and I am already eager and anxious to read it!
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The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding comes out in August and is described as exploring, "explores what happens when a seemingly perfect family is pushed to the edge by cruel, vindictive, and increasingly dangerous attacks."
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Will you be adding this to your #TBR list? Its on my @Goodreads "2021 Books I Can't Wait to Read" list!
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