This was an interesting story, though the ending fell a little short for me. It focuses on a family who moves into a home where another family was murdered 25 years prior. Nora and Keith, along with their 2 teenaged daughters, move from CA to NY for Keith's job. They are dealing with some marital drama and hope that the change of scenery will help them get back to a healthy place. The story is told from various POVs, alternating between Nora and oldest daughter Stacey, with some chapters narrated by a character named Jacob, whose backstory the reader does not yet know.

There is tension throughout the book, which makes it very fast paced. The chapters are short and I raced through them. You are trying to figure out what role Jacob plays, what secret Nora is keeping, and what is going on with Stacey's new boyfriend, Lennox, who is clingy and jealous. There were multiple red herrings and some good twists, the primary one in which I figured out early, but others that were a surprise. There were a couple things I found to be a bit unrealistic, but not enough to hinder my enjoyment.

The ending, however, didn't do it for me. It was abrupt and also left many questions still unanswered. I guess some of the tertiary storylines were written to detract attention from the primary story and provide the reader some uncertainty about what is really going on, but I found it unsatisfying that these loose ends were not tied up when the book ended. Until that point, I was pretty much all in.

All in all, I liked the book and found it to be a tense and fast-paced read; I just wished I liked the ending better. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Other Family by Wendy Corsi Staub
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Holy man . This book was absolutely brilliant.
My only complaint would be that I didn't feel satisfied with how Stacey ended it with Lennox ! I wish there was some closure on it. But other than that . I can confirm this is my first 5 star this #september2021

The story of a family who move across country, as if things arent hard enough, after this strenuous move. From California to New York. This is a whole new world . But then they meet their neighbors, and find out that their new beloved home isn't as perfect as they once thought. Now weird things are happening. Dark secrets are coming to light and no one is who you think they are. Remember. Trust NO ONE . In this fast paced , page turning novel .. you definitely can't trust anyone . But the secrets revealed will shock you . Thats my warning to you . DONT. TRUST. NO. ONE .

What and absolutely enthralling, captivating read . I will definitely be seeking out more from this author!
Thank you to @netgalley , @harpercollins and @wendycorsistaub for letting me read this #arccopy

Nora Howell is a stay at home mom and homemaker to her loving husband and 2 teenaged daughters. After their cross country move from LA to NY, they discover their home was the location of a triple homicide of a family of 3. I felt like this read was slow-paced, with many red herrings to throw me off and it worked! I was completely shocked by the twist. Read my full review on instagram @hilla_reads28

💭 Overall Thoughts: I enjoyed this book so much. There was so much to figure out and the author just kept giving you little pieces along the way but never revealing enough for you to quite guess the whole ending.

What I Liked:
👍🏻 Short chapters with twists in almost every one
👍🏻 The characters were well thought out and I could picture each of them as I was reading
👍🏻 The book kept me engaged the entire time, not wanting to put it down

What I Didn’t Like:
👎🏻 The next door neighbor/boyfriend - what a clingy mess he was. Being overly protective just because kinda threw me off. I was hoping there was some reason behind it

I was drawn in immediately and enjoyed how the author have us bits of info along the way. I do wish the ending had not been quite so abrupt as I felt there were were several things we're left not knowing that were pertinent.

Alright so this is a tough one to review honestly. I would have to give it a solid 3.5 stars and maybe that .5 is being generous. I wanted to like this book. Even when I felt it was dragging and taking It’s sweet time picking up pace halfway I was still rooting for the win at the end. Unfortunately it fell super short.

The story is told in multiple point of views. You have Nora who is hiding a secret and dark past and her point of view came out a bit jumbled. Then you have her daughter Stacey who is Nora’s eldest daughter and is supposed to be the angsty misfit teen. Then you have Jacob whose story comes out sloooow and you start off the first half of the book thinking who the f is this crazy person. All common thread is the interest in a triple homicide that happened in this house that Nora and her family has moved into. The synopsis gives off this vibe that all these creepy things happen and it made me think wow I’m going to run into a crazy mystery! But no. I did not. I ran into mostly self explanatory things that were a bit over fluffed and made it confusing. Then it ended without even really truly wrapping the story up. In a sense you get the overall truth but also left with questions like uhh but what happens next?

I really DID enjoy this read and the plot was so good but the execution unfortunately fell through.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

**3.5 stars rounded up**

I’d like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for so generously providing me a digital copy of The Other Family. All opinions are, of course, my own.

This was my first novel by this author but I’ll definitely be checking out her others after reading The Other Family. Told from multiple POVs, this thriller is set in Brooklyn, New York.

Nora and her family – husband Keith and daughters Stacey and Piper – have just relocated from Los Angeles to NYC for a year for her husband’s job. Once moving in and meeting some of their neighbors, they learn their home is the location of a triple murder in which the killer was never identified.

The story kept my attention and it’s definitely fast-paced and I loved the twists. My main complaint was the ending. There were some loose ends I would have liked to get tied up like:

**********************************SPOILERS**********************************

What happened with Lennon? Was he just toxic and codependent?
Did Jacob die? Was Jacob even bad?
Nora’s friend Ellie accidentally ODed?
How does her family react to her when she tells them the truth?
Is Jacob Stacey’s father?

There’s a lot of baggage and drama that comes with this family, and this house, as well as with the new, pushy neighbors. This story is told by several different characters, all of whom are keeping secrets but someone is keeping a secret that could get them all killed.

This book left me speechless. It started as between 3 to 4 starred psychological thriller but a few chapters later I was absolutely drawn into mystery, flawed, unreliable characters, big secrets, lies, mob connections and the short and fast paced chapters ending with cliffhangers increased the tension. I kept reading by canceling everything in my life! There were so many intriguing elements mashed up triggering subjects such as abuse, drug addiction, mental health, manipulation, gaslighting.

But when I reached the end: I thought I received the wrong copy : there might have more chapters and more pages to conclude the entire story properly.

I’m still curious why the author chose to finish this book so abruptly because after the bomb landed on the family’s room, I expected more confrontations. This is not open ended conclusion: this was truly half ending ! We need an epilogue and Stacey’s additional POV!

The plot was spooky, interesting, mysterious: a happy family of four moves to 104 Glover Street Brooklyn/ NYC from LA because of Keith’s job but at least they still have hope to return back to West Coast in one year!

But when the house they chose is a haunted place where unsolved triple homicide have been committed 25 years ago and a 1800’s bizarre portrait of family posing with their corpse daughter hanged on their living room give enough vibe to scare the daylights of the family.

Nora in her mid forties, introvert, ex horticulturist, stay at home mom and wife startles when her entire family finds out the ugly past of the house during their dinner with new family of four they’ve meet! But their new friends ( Heather- in marketing business married with musician Jules who is recovering addict, their children Lennon, Courtney are at same of Nora’s girls : Stacey and Piper) are too nosy and ultra friendly to intrude into their lives. And Lennon might be too interested in Nora’s socially distanced daughter Stacey!

As soon as they learn the truth about the house they’ve moved: Stacey who is addicted to read about true crime novels becomes obsessed about last inhabitants of the place: family of three who has been possibly targeted by mobsters. And their killers have never been found. Could they still target Stacey’s family?

Poor girl catches a shadow watching out their house through binoculars. Her mother already thinks she’s delusional and her new boyfriend Lennon believes that their house are haunted by ghosts of people who have been killed there!

One of the family members keep more secrets that hold the key of entire events! But who and why?

I’m shutting up before not giving so much away!

I liked the blurred vision the unreliable characters created for us! I enjoyed twists and surprising revelations. I was so close to give five stars but sudden ending with too many unanswered plot holes made me disappointed.

I’m still rounding up 3.5 stars 4 because till the last chapter the book kept me on my toes! It was truly disturbing! I hope the author decides to add a few chapters at the end to give better closure to the characters!

Special thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This was a scary tale of a family making a fresh start in a beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn yet discovering that a homicide took place in it, and the victim is someone they might know… A fascinating tale and a great writing style!

I have read every book that this author has written and have loved all of them but I had a problem with the format of this book. Each chapter was about a different character and to me that makes for a disjointed story. It just does not flow. Also, there were unanswered questions at the end of the story

I loved this book!!! Definitely a solid thriller with tons of twists and turns and nail biting suspense. The writing is well crafted and keeps you both interested and wanting to read more. This was a first for me from this author, and I definitely want to read more from her. Highly recommend!!!

Solid thriller with lots of subplots and really interesting premise- the reveal itself is not totally what I was suspecting, which I enjoyed. However, some of the subplots felt completely abandoned at the end. They were never addressed and the book ended abruptly with a lot of things left unfinished. This is not to say I need every loose end tied up in a book- no way! But it seemed like a lot was just left unfinished. Would have liked a less abrupt ending?

I have loved Wendy Corsi Staub since I was a teenager. This book just may be her best to date! What a great psychological thriller.

Really enjoyed this, I think it was the first from this author for me. Will definitely try more!
Nora and her family have moved from LA to NYC for a year, into a house that is maybe too reasonable for the area. The family subsequently learns about a murder that took place, in which the killer was never found. I do wish that the other family had been more developed, as I think that would have been really interesting. Maybe another book??

Another winner by Wendi. I absolutely love this book and couldn’t wait till the last page to find out what happened. One of the best thrillers I’ve read all year.