Ivy Hon has one heck of a legacy!

Those little breadcrumbs Elle Marr leaves out for you to follow?….some of them don’t lead anywhere! You’ll be so excited cuz you think you know who the killer is and then the trail of breadcrumbs disappears and you’re left scratching your head about who to suspect next. GOTCHA. It happens again and again. You’d think I’d know after the first time, but…no. Hats off to Marr.

Also working for Elle Mar is her use of multiple points of view, her slow reveal of family secrets, her ability to dial up the tension and suspense as well as her keen sense of when to present readers with a fully loaded creepfest! She’s got a serial killer, The Full Moon Killer, on the loose and her protagonist keeps putting her eggs in the wrong basket! She doesn’t know who to trust; her family of strangers or the FBI. It’ll keep readers flipping pages longer than they’d intended.

Despite a few questionable parts, Marr was still able to juggle all the family members and Rock Island inhabitants and keep me entertained. That’s important to me.

I was gifted this copy by Elle Mar, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Adopted as a young child, Ivy Hon grows up feeling the odd one out in an exuberant family. Diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, adult Ivy makes the decision to connect with her biological family using a DNA databank but gets more than she could ever have bargained for.

The FBI show up and warn her of a possible danger from one of her new relatives who just happens to be linked to the notorious Full Moon Killer- a serial murderer terrorizing the Pacific Northwest.

A call from a cousin she’d never met sends Ivy on a voyage of discovery where nothing is as it seems. As the danger increases and a killer draws near, Ivy works with the FBI to find the truth before he strikes again.

This book is told in multiple points of view, Ivy’s, her mother Tatum before her death, and Samson, a young man with a fetish for violent strangulations. It was his chapters I found the most interesting. He’s a twisted guy but it all traces back to an abusive relationship he had as a child. The way people become monsters is sometimes sad.

I found parts of this book plodding and think the FBI should have had a more prominent role in the investigation, but otherwise an interesting read.

This book really was not for me. I had a hard time getting into it and my mine kept wandering. Maybe someone else will connect with this story.

What In The Blueberry Mother Floofin' Muffins?! 😳😯😳😯🤯

Fluffin' cotton balls! Spine-tingling! I am shook. I can honestly say I haven't ever done one of those DNA Ancestry tests, although family members I know, have. Now I'm even more sure I do NOT want one after reading this delectable, mysterious, thrilling novel! This plot was so original, so mind-fluffing-upping that I'm still reeling after finishing it. It makes you wonder about the dangers that can lurk even behind a good thing with good intentions.
DNA Ancestry testing has become all the rage. For Ivy, there's a deeper reason for having it done - she's adopted and knows absolutely nothing about her birth parents. And now with an onset of a chronic illness that doctors can't seem to name, this is her only hope. But she gets more than she bargained for when an FBI agent shows up and she's told she has some form of a relation to the notorious Full Moon Murderer who terrorized the Pacific Northwest. After receiving results & connecting with a cousin, she travels to a small town in Washington to find out more. But it's more than she bargained for when she finds out her parents suffered from a terrible fate, and the murderer is still on the loose starting up again. How far would you go to know your past?
Marr wasted no time jumping right into the suspense and crazy when you open this book. The view points you get from different characters amp up the suspense and keep you guessing; flipping faster! I was enthralled & that ending was insane on wheels! Thank you Marr, for instilling fear into & dissuading me about ever doing a DNA Ancestry test, LOL!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC.
Release Date: Out Now

I give this a strong 4 / 5 Lily's! 🪷

The subtle twists and turns that bring this book together is the bread & butter for readers. I consumed this book quickly and never had to force myself to turn the page. This book is well written and even when you think you have it figured out and think its predictable, Elle Marr shows her true cards. I highly recommend this book!

So I really wanted to love this one. I really did. And, yet, I just found it okay. I loved the premise, but I really didn’t like the characters. I found myself losing interest and had to force myself to keep going to see how it ended.

It was just okay.

Thank you #netgalley and #thomasandmercer for the eARC.

When I read the synopsis of this book I was intrigued! I started reading and it was a bit slow at first but like any book or movie sometimes it takes time to get to the good parts. While this book did! Ivy takes you thru the mystery of finding out who from her family might be a serial killer. Although I figured out that part pretty quick the author does take the story on another surprising turn to a very thrilling ending. I have never read anything by this author and will definitely be looking at her books. Mystery with a bit of suspense. Perfect ! Absolutely would recommend this book!

Elle Marr knows how to get a reader hooked!!! I finished this book in one sitting and let me tell you, it was a wild ride. The short chapters really made me want to keep reading along with the storyline of anyone being the perpetrator. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of fast-paced books that will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I've found myself in a rut of sorts, only reading authors I have read and loved. So, I've challenged myself to read some new to me authors and Elle Marr is one of them. Well, now I know why I tend to read authors familiar to me. This book was not a hit for me, in fact, it came really close to a DNF. But, like a train wreck or a NASCAR crash you just can't look away. I didn't care for the writing style: multiple points of view and time period shifts made for some confusion at the beginning, but it was an interesting way to tell the backstory. The author was also all up in the main character's head and I much prefer action and interaction with other characters as the driving narrative in any book. Overall, I should have passed on this one.

Ivy Hon has been experiencing some medical issues that have her doctors baffled. Since she is adopted and her adoptive parents are both dead, she has no access to any family medical history, so she submits her DNA to a site hoping for some information. To say she opens a whole can of worms is putting it mildly. An FBI Agent approaches her and tells her she is related to a serial killer, the Full Moon Killer. She also discovers a cousin and a whole family in Washington State. The family is open to meeting her, but it is apparent that they are keeping secrets about her birth parents. Throw in a strange cult, the resumption of the serial killer after a long hiatus, Ivy playing armchair detective and this book just didn't work for me.

Strangers We Know by Elle Marr hooked me from the very first page. Adopted at two days old, Ivy is looking to reconnect with her birth parents. But of course, it can't be easy. The DNA test reveals a genetic link to a serial killer and . . . You will be flying through the pages too. There are two other POVs in the book, Ivy's bio mom in the '80's and Samson whose true identity is a secret for most of the book, and surprised me when it was revealed. Highly recommend!

After several months of battling mysterious health issues, Ivy Hon submits her DNA for genetic testing, hoping to determine the source of her flare ups and inexplicable bouts of pain. It's her only way of seeking answers since she's an adopted child. She's surprised to get a visit from an FBI Agent who is aware of her results before she is. But she's shocked to find out that her DNA reveals she is somehow related to the Full Moon Killer. This launches her into a journey to Rock Island where she hopes to find answers to the source of her medical issues and information leading to the unveiling of a blood-related serial killer.

This one is tough to review without revealing spoilers and there's so much going on. With so much buildup on the front end, you definitely want to avoid them to benefit from the ending payoff. The overall tone is eerie, and admittedly, one particular POV was especially creepy. The book starts off slow as the author takes great care with unpacking information and character introductions. The story slowly unfolds from multiple points of views and skips between the past and present. While I normally dislike repeated time jump in a book, the writing was fluid and flowed smoothly from one chapter to the next. There's a large cast of characters and multiple storylines happening at the same time with a few twists thrown in—some surprising while others are predictable. The slow-building pace found at the start does pick up speed around the seventy percent mark, and settles into a steady rhythm that had me turning the page to see how all the pieces would come together for the unveiling.

/I received an early edition of this book from NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book or content of my review./

3.5 stars

Hard to rate because while it read easily and quickly, keeping my attention with the storyline, there were some baubles with the storyline/writing that were detracting, inaccurate, or too far-fetched.

Told from 3 POV's with both past and present narration, the main character, adopted Ivy Hon connects with birth/blood family after doing genetic testing to try and figure out some health concerns. Hoping to get answers regarding her mysterious illness she's plunged into a decades old murder mystery that may be connected to a blood relative of hers.

Pros: easy to read, storyline pacing was good, kept my interest and attention, intriguing characters, writer had a way of revealing details to slowly feed key components of the story.

Cons: plausibility (FBI agent at beginning seemed off and some of the other storyline components were kind of far fetched yet convenient for story,) consistency of story (this one was glaring: police come to house, knock on door and yell while Ivy is upstairs, a few minutes later Ivy leaves house...where did police go???)

Overall this was a decent mystery/thriller as it kept me entertained without being too irritated over the cons I listed above. I would read this author again.

Let’s just start at the beginning where an FBI agent randomly approaches Ivy in a coffee shop & dishes a little sensitive information…because FBI agents typically do that🙄🙄🙄 That was my first sign that this book probably wasn’t going to be a hit for me.

So we start out this book with Ivy who’s decided to pursuit not only her biological family (to find out about her medical history), but also a serial killer who may or may not be related to her. That’s a full plate for miss Ivy 😂

Fast forward to Ivy going to Washington to look into all of this new found information. Her character is missing the common sense many people have so she probably shouldn’t be out playing in serial killer country especially during the time when the killer is supposed to kill (full moon) much less be chasing them around with her little Swiss Army knife. Her interactions with her biological family she’s just met is so cringeworthy I was embarrassed for her. Also the entire book I couldn’t really picture her character, for me most the characters (but especially her) had a disconnect between what they should’ve looked/acted like & how they were represented in the book. While reading about her but I couldn’t visualize her how the author wanted her character to ‘look’ .. like a baby or animal that their name doesn’t fit how they look. I spent an entire book with Ivy and I hear her & I see her but Ivy doesn’t seem like Ivy🤷‍♀️ I felt like her character was an oxymoron.

There was so much going on in this book between the adoptive/biological angle, a serial killer that’s potentially a relative, a cult, and a bunch of characters (made it hard at times for me to follow)! It’s told in three points of view. Ivy the main character, her biological mother Tatum in the past, and Samson a messed up foster kid. I couldn’t stand Samson or his chapters, I know the author was trying to portray him in a certain way by how she wrote his POV but it was annoying to read.

I had an idea on who the killer was from early on but not all of it (can’t explain without spoiling). Towards the end the author put an interesting spin on things which I give her points for because I didn’t expect it! While I didn’t hate the ending or even the story, it was a lot going on for one story. Marr should’ve maybe led with the serial killer angle & made Ivy’s character a bit less ridiculous with some common sense/street smarts and it would’ve had the potential for a pretty good book.

Marr is no doubt a great writer & she had a good concept for Strangers We Know but there was too much going on in the story, that plus a simpleton of a main character made this book a miss for me.


Thank you to NetGalley as well as the publisher Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Would you ever get a DNA test?
What if that test revealed a dark family secret, with ties to a serial killer? Still interested?

In this new release, Ivy Hon does just that, in an attempt to better understand her medical condition. Being adopted, with no connections to her family history, I could understand her desperate need for answers. However, she quickly learns that her family's past may be one better off not knowing.

Despite the risks, she finds one family member through the DNA test and sets out for answers. Lottie Montagen, her cousin, is the first to provide answers about Ivy's mother, Tatum, who is believed to be dead. However, with each detail Lottie provides, the more questions Ivy has, and she quickly begins to ruffle feathers in this small community.

I thought Ivy was very brave, not backing down as the truths about her family begin to take a darker turn. It is clear if it wasn't for her, the Full Moon Killer would never be identified - it was definitely a shock to me. On the flip side, I think Ivy was too trusting at times, something that puts her at risk on more than one occasion.

This story also has a happy ending of sorts, something you don't often see in thrillers. But it made sense for this story and was much needed given the trauma Ivy incurs throughout. Overall, a well-paced thriller.

Wow I love a good serial killer novel and this one exceeded my expectations! Elle Marr is brilliant at delving into the darkness of a seemingly normal family, and by the time she pulls back the curtains on each character, the terror has built so excruciatingly, you just have to keep going till you find out every single thing—you’re afraid to know, but you have to know. Great characters, great storyline. I kept turning the pages instead of turning off the light! This is one intense, twisted, dark and addictive novel!

Told through alternating first-person narratives, both in past and present as the timeline comes together, 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑊𝑒 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 follows Ivy Hon, an adoptee who discovers through a DNA test that she’s related to a serial killer.

While slow at times—and yet another murder-mystery in which an MC takes law enforcement into their own hands—I found this one increasingly tough to put down. The story is both captivating and intriguing, and Marr manages to weave a massive web of deceit that spans decades.

Thank you to Megan Beatie Communications, NetGalley, and Thomas & Mercer for the gifted eARC.

𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑊𝑒 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 releases May 1, 2022!

would like to thank netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book

ohh a dna book....when ivy hon knowing she was adopted and also suffering from illnesses that the doctors couldnt quite put their fingers on, she did a dna test and with fingers crossed was hoping that she would get some answers

but what she got was a whole heap of trouble

this book was so promising but i get really annoyed when a crime or crimes are committed and the police or the fbi cant figure it out and along comes someone with no real skills in detective work can solve a case that has kept the police force flummoxed for years...and yes i know the arguments that more people open up to others that are not in the police

so though i finished this book to find out who the killer was i was also glad to see that ivy didnt arrest the perp herself once it was all revealed

Ivy's medical problems are bad enough but then a DNA test, meant to identify relatives who could shed light on the issues reveals that she related to the Full Moon Killer, an evil serial murderer. The FBI enlists her help. she travels to meet a cousin, and finds herself in harm's way. It's twisty with an intriguing premise. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fast paced read.

Ivy Hon, now in her late 20s, was adopted when she was just days old and her adoptive parents are now deceased. She recently started suffering from debilitating headaches as well as aches, pains, fever, etc., the cause of which doctors can't diagnose. Hoping to locate members of her birth family and get some answers, Ivy submits a sample for DNA analysis. The FBI become involved when the analysis indicates a genetic link to the Full Moon Killer, a serial killer who had been active decades earlier. Ivy connects to a cousin in Rock Island, Washington, and makes the decision to travel there to meet the cousin and other relatives.

The story is told in alternating chapters by Ivy, her birth mother Tatum in the time after she gave Ivy up for adoption in the late 80s, and Samson who is very creepy. The writing is smooth, the pages went by very quickly and I was quite entertained until about the 70% point when everything kinda went south, Ivy's armchair detecting was OTT and she made some dumb decisions. Just after my update wondering what had happened to the FBI, they reappeared briefly but once again left it to Ivy to call if she learned anything. The pace did pick up again, the ending was surprising and many of my questions were answered. Although not a favourite of mine, I enjoyed it more than some of my recent reads.

There are many 4 and 5 star reviews for the book so if it appeals to you, you should go ahead and read it.

I was invited to read an uncorrected proof of this novel by Amazon Publishing via Netgalley so my thanks to them as well as Thomas & Mercer, the publisher, and Elle Marr. All opinions expressed are my own.

Publication May 1, 2022

Ivy Hon was adopted when she was two days old. In the present day she's struck with an illness doctors are struggling to diagnose. She does a genetic DNA test in the hope it may reveal some answers from her birth family and she gets way more than she bargains for. The test alerts the FBI as it reveals a genetic link to the Full Moon Killer, can Ivy lead them to finally catch the killer of over thirty years? Ivy connects to a cousin in Rock Island, Washington and heads north. Has she placed herself in danger?How far can we trust the strangers we know?

This novel pulls you in from the start. Ivy's perspective and story is excellent but to add to the intrigue we get Ivy's birth mother Tatum's story from the 1980's and that of Samson whose narrative is extremely chilling. Each one of these gives an additional layer to the plot, drawing you further into the storyline and desperate to figure out the identity of the FMK as well as getting answers for Ivy. Along her tortuous route to the truth, it starts with off notes and things that don't chime, progressing to shocking finds and discoveries including a cult called One Family, she's threatened and has narrow escapes. The tension and suspense escalates and the plot cleverly twists and turns. I do figure out part of it but by no means all! You do have to suspend a bit of disbelief towards the end but it is enjoyable and that's all we can ask from fiction writers!

Overall. I really enjoyed this entertaining and fast paced page turner!

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Thomas and Mercer for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.