After Mary’s husband dies she decides to find the baby she gave away before her marriage. Using a search board she finds her daughter Cathy. They reunite and she introduces Cathy to her children from her marriage. Things begin to go missing and Mary thinks she has early dementia which her mother suffered from. Karen King does a great job of building suspense and finishes the book with not one but two surprising twists. This was my first book from this author but it won’t be my last. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I requested the book because 1) it's from Bookouture, and 2) it's supposedly a mystery thriller whodunnit topic (which I adore). Sadly, the second point isn't fulfilled.

Reading on, I had no idea what genre is the book. Rather than a psychological thriller (and or similar), it felt like a contemporary family drama. You have a long-lost daughter found by the mother, step siblings that didn't really like her, secrets from the matriarch and the rest of the family. Like, honestly, it was tiring.

The writing didn't help. A lot of adverbs were used and people's inner dialog/turmoil was written in a childish manner.

A disappointing read for the day.

Our main character Mary lost her mother at a young age and grew up with her strict father. She never really know love or the feeling of belonging somewhere. When she meets Robbie who is part of a motorcycle gang, she thinks she has found what she is looking for. He is nothing like her and everything she wants to be. wild, free, rebellious... but when she falls pregnant and Robbie ends up in jail her future shatters before her eyes. All alone and just 16 she gives birth in all secrecy. Her baby girl Hope is taken away from her. Fast forward 40 years later. Mary still struggles with leaving hope. When her husband dies, she decides it is time to look for the daughter she has lost.

This is a very slow burning book, where you feel from page one that something isn't quite right.
Especially Hope now called Cathy feels off from the very first time you meet her.
I wasn't to invested in the book until the very end. Because oh boy what a cliff hanger this book had! And that epilogue truly twist the whole tale!

Poor Mary…. on the heels of losing her dear husband unexpectedly, she decides to reveal a long hidden secret to her children and their families. Suddenly she is surrounded by ones who love her, ones who pretend to love her, and ones who do not love her. She questions her sanity as she is trying to sort through all the intents of the loving, evil, deceptive, and caring relatives. Karen King skillfully puts turns and spins on the story as the reader works through all the twists - but wait! There are even more to be revealed at the end.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this intriguing ARC.

This was my first Karen King read, and by the synopsis it sounded really good. I was interested right off the bat, but it soon became repetitive with Mary bringing up her past and her guilt. Everyone in the family has secrets, how far will they go to keep them? Was it a coincidence that all these strange things started happening once Cathy came into her life? This book really isn't something that is gonna keep me up at night, it was an ok read with LOTS of family drama. The big plot twist in the epilogue was shocking but not enough to fully redeem it in my eyes. After everything, you find out who was behind all of the strange thing happening, except who opened the bird cage and who deleted Paul's voice-mail on Mary's phone ( I'm assuming the voice-mail might have been Cathy since she found the phone?).

Thank you to Netgalley, Karen King and Bookouture for this ARC in return for an honest review.

This book was not my favorite for a few reasons: it was boring, the writing was elementary (and just.. bad), and the stakes were not high enough for a supposed thriller. Also, there's no need to advertise a plot twist. Just let it happen. And the plot twist had no bearing on the rest of the book, so..? I was so confused.. and ultimately, disappointed.

Thank you Boukouture, Karen King, and NetGalley for letting me read “The Family Reunion” in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting tale and I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen until the very end. I really enjoyed this one.

This book releases January 23, 2023.

After her beloved husband Paul dies, Mary finally feels she can begin searching for the daughter she gave birth to and abandoned when she was only 16. The daughter she never dared tell him, or anyone else, about. Mary is able to find her long lost daughter, and the minute she joins the family, things start going wrong.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read that kept me interested throughout, but I did feel that it was lacking in the suspense I would typically expect from a thriller. I would probably classify it more as a family drama type book. But, again, I really did enjoy reading it.

A big thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. Karen King, thank you for this enjoyable journey into the heart of the Hudson family and their secrets. I would definitely recommend this book.

The Family Reunion by Karen King is a fairly good psychological suspense novel, though there is lots of exposition, which sometimes is boring to read. I wanted more action to happen. The book did have a good ending.

Mary is hosting a family party. One that’s different from other celebrations. She's invited her secret daughter.
She never forgave herself for abandoning the baby, and after her husband passes away, she feels it's time to look for the baby and hopefully form a friendship.

The chapters had alternating viewpoints or focused on one character. The characters were okay; the story was also okay. I would check out other books by this author.

It was a pretty good story overall, and I would recommend it.

#TheFamilyReunion #NetGalley @bookouture

Well that was as twisty as twisty can be! And the ending,.. well I defy anyone to predict that one!!! A great read that had me staying up far too late, turning the pages and reading just one more chapter. Loved it!!!

Recently widowed, Mary decides to search for the child she had at age 15, a child she kept secret from her family. When reunited with her now adult daughter, the relationship is challenged by jealous siblings and questions as to the daughter's trustworthiness.

Everybody in the family has some sort of secret they're hiding. There was a crazy ending to the story that provided a satisfying conclusion, but seemed a bit contrived. Not a bad read, but not one that will stay in my memory for long.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

The Family Reunion had an interesting plot with potential to be a great book, but I struggled a lot with the writing and the repetitiveness of it. Just as an example, if feels like the sentence “Mary no longer felt safe here (in her home)” was repeated over and over again. The sentiments Mary had about missing her husband, her affectionate feelings about Cathy, her concerns about her own forgetfulness, and the regrets about not finding Cathy sooner were also repeated over and over again. I hate to express negatively towards an authors style of writing, but it felt a bit elementary and candidly made me struggle to get through the book.

On a positive note, the ending impressed me. There were some twists that I did not see coming, especially after feeling practically brainwashed in the first 80% of the book. I won’t spoil any of the plot, but the last 20% of the book was much better than the beginning.

Mary abandoned her when she was 16 with a note that simply said take care of Hope. Now, 45 years later, Mary reconnects with her daughter who now goes by Cathy. Cathy and Mary become fast friends and seem to fit seamlessly into each other’s live, but then strange things start to happen. Money goes missing, things are getting moved, and Mary’s beloved parakeet is let loose. When the whole family goes away for Mary’s birthday, shocking secrets are revealed, and when a gun man shows up – the family worries they won’t make it out alive.

I felt that this book was great in the beginning and middle but sort of fell apart toward the last 25-33% of the book. It got repetitive, to the point where I would read the paragraph, and wonder if I’d lost my page because I had just read it (I hadn’t). It was also like the writing style changed as well. It got choppier, and the writing felt more abrupt. I did enjoy most of this book and was really excited for the reveal even though it seemed obvious what was going on. The reveals weren’t huge but there were a few and they worked well together. Overall, this was a solid read, I just wish the last portion had stayed like the beginning.

Check this one out January 23rd. Thank you so much to @netgalley, and Bookouture, @bookouture, for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

What if life gives you a second chance?

The Family Reunion is a psychological thriller that shows a family dynamics with hidden motives and dark secrets. It's a slow paced novel with twists and turns that will keep you on edge. I binge read the whole book in one sitting because the suspension is killing me!

After the death of her husband, to relief the burden of being swallowed by regret & guilt of hiding her dark past, Mary decided to reveal the secret and search for her long lost eldest daughter.

But, weird and drastic incidents keep on happening around Mary since she reunited with Cathy--her eldest daughter.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for sending an e-Arc of The Family Reunion in exchange for an honest review!

My first novel by Karen King, 'The Family Reunion' is one filled with mystery and intrigue. From the beginning, we realise that all is not as it seems with Mary's family. A recent widower, Mary is still mourning the loss of her beloved husband, Paul. While she has her two wonderful children to see her through, she feels adrift and decides now is the time to reconnect with the daughter she abandoned when she was a young teenager. A shameful secret she never shared with anyone, she soon finds Cathy and does her best to integrate her into the family. Of course, tensions soon arise, and shocking twists come to pass, leaving readers reeling from the storyline.

For the most part, the plot was easy to follow; you know from the start that there are going to be lots of lies and secrets revealed. However, I must irrevocably state - Ms. King got me GOOD with that twist at the end! After reading enough of these types of books, it is quite hard to catch me off guard, but this author achieved the impossible!

My one issue with this novel, and it is more of a personal issue than anything wrong with the story, is that I disliked every single main character. Mary was way too naive for a mature woman, Jason and Joanne were just icky excuses for children, their spouses were just as awful, and do not even get me started on Cathy...

In the end, I give 'The Family Reunion' a rating of 4 out of 5 stars; while I really enjoyed the overall plot, I could not connect emotionally with any of the characters. If you are a lover of suspense, this one will definitely not disappoint!

*A great many thanks to Netgalley, Karen King, and Bookouture for this ARC. It is important to note that I was under no commitment to provide a positive review, and all opinions are undoubtedly my own.*

A great thriller, I was gripped, unsure where the story would end up. It centres around a family keeping secrets and what happens when the secrets are uncovered.

This was definitely a slow burning read, The writing was good and the storyline was interesting and the chardcters were well developed although most of them were unlikeable. I would have enjoyed it more iof the pacing was faster as I think it wlould have worked better personally.

Thank you NetGally for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was not really for me, I couldn't get to sympathize with the main character at all and actually all characters felt over the top. The ending had a good plot twist that I did not see coming, but other than that, I felt the book was very repetitive.
On January 23rd, the Family Reunion will be available.

Mary has a secret. Her late husband didn't know and neither do her two grown kids. She had a baby before she started her family and abandoned it in a telephone booth. Now, she's decided it's time to seek out the daughter she dumped and deserted.

Once this long lost daughter joins the family strange and unfortunate things start occurring. Was all of this a mistake?

This was really slow. Despite that I'm glad I kept with it. There were some pretty good twists and I loved hating Mary's two spoiled, arrogant children. I do wish this had picked up its pave though because I struggled with it. The ending was a shocking surprise.

after Mary 's husband dies, she decides to find the daughter she gave up, she tells her two adult children and they are shocked, the reunion doesn't go as planned.