The Wrong Family
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Wow This was so good! It crabs you & keeps a hold of you from the very beginning.
It's a unique story making you want to know more. You will not have it figured out either. Plus who doesn't love a Happy ending?
Thank you Netgallery for the opportunity to enjoy this great book!

What a great premise! The description reads, “He tells you he’s your father. He welcomes you into his family. And now you’re trapped…” SO MUCH could be spawned by this description. Nothing was. The description had absolutely nothing to do with the story. He didn’t tell her he was her father. She was never trapped. Because the description was a false premise, the book was a letdown. I sincerely wish that were the only disappointment.

The characters read as though this is a YA book. No one has depth or development. The characters are all incredibly immature. Hallie is supposed to be twenty-eight years old and acts like a fifteen year old. As for Logan and Natalie, they are supposed to be 21 and 20 respectively, but act more like 11 and 10. The characters were annoying and flat.

Hailey doesn't know who her father is. She submits her DNA to the company to see if she will get a match. In the meantime, she writes letters to ever Robert in the phone book. She knows this is his name and is determined to find him
Hailey gets a match. He owns a restaurant and invites her into his home to get to know each other
Then strange things start to happen. Of course, as a newcomer to the family, everyone thinks she has something to do with the mysterious mishaps that have suddenly begun to take place
Everyone in the family definitely has something to hide thou

🤩 Many thanks to Dreamscape, NetGalley, and Ellery Kane for this advanced copy of the book!
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My Review: I found the author’s idea of having the protagonist use an ancestry service to track down her father interesting. I haven’t read a book yet that had that kind of plot. Then I saw in the synopsis of this book that she embeds herself within her new family after meeting her supposed father. All sorts of happenings ensue, and then we learn that she isn’t really the daughter of the man she thought to be her father. The story is listed as a thriller and mystery online; however, I didn’t see it as such. It felt like a comedy, frankly. I found the characters quirky, and the storyline filled with so many secrets and family disputes that I think the only time it turned serious to me was when someone ended up dead almost halfway through the book. I found the protagonist to be bratty, unlikeable, and a bit hypocritical. Now granted, I know she had a rough upbringing, but she had a lot going on in her adult life, and I found it hard to accept her being upset with her new family’s secrets when she harbored so much of her own. Overall, there wasn’t anything spectacular about the book. Still, I do like the story's bones, finding your long-lost relative and trying to root oneself into a family to have a sense of belonging.

This book had so many subplots, which a lot of people may find as a deal-breaker but they all tied nicely and didn’t feel like a distraction from the main plot: Hallie and her newly found father.
It starts quickly with Hallie lamenting herself that she doesn’t know her father and grieving for her mother, all the while losing her place of stay and her job, and the book picks up from there and doesn’t lose its pace, very refreshing to see surprisingly in this year’s thrillers (at leat for me).

I really felt like this was written nicely and the structure is very well done, I was expecting a standard popcorn thriller but definitely got way more than I bargained for!This is a good introduction to full on mystery-thrillers for fans of cozy mysteries, it has the elements of found family and food that are so unique within one, but the elements of suspense and chills are still there.
If/When Ellery Kane releases a new book, I'll definitely give it a try.

This book kept me reading and I was able to finish it in a day. I really enjoyed the story but I wish there was a bit more suspense. The twists at the end didn't surprise me any.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

This book follows Hallie who is searching for her dad using an ancestry site.
Throughout the book we get letters from prospective dads who write Hallie to say they may or may not be her dad -
I enjoyed those, they added light entertainment and kept me wondering who it would be tho i was a bit disappointed that the book ends on a bit of a cliff hanger since we don't find out who he is.
Nick, was my favorite character, I enjoyed getting to know him and his story.
Imo this reads as more of a young adult book. The story was entertaining, but the writing was more for the younger crowd

Sorry a bit too slow paced for me. But still enjoyable. I liked the idea of using an Ancestor website as an avenue to find a parent.

Hayley is very dedicated to finding her father and sends out letters and e-mails to all the Robert Thompsons that she can find. Before long the company has a match !

Her family welcomes her after receiving her letter. He invites her to come live with his family at the summer home. Neither really give it much thought and she becomes the older sister to a younger brother and sister Hayley has lost her family after the death of her mother and longs for acceptance.

She has a great interest in cooking and after insinuating she has finished culinarily education and left a promising restaurant position, she becomes a cook at Robert’s restaurant.

Things change as she is implicated in some minor vandalism but things are not the way they seem . The family tree is close to toppling over.
Thanks to the author, bookoutre and NetGalley for this ARC

It starts with an interesting premise and the promise of dreams come true and takes you on a twisting, suspense-filled ride through your worst nightmare of DNA matching gone bad! So good! This is my first Ellery Kane read, and it won't be my last! Also, the narrator was spot-on for an enjoyable listen.

Great book. Great characters and also great story line. There was a lot of build up in the beginning but then it just exploded into this awesome book and all you want to do to read and figure out this story. I admit, I didn't have it figured out. I got it wrong. I would recommend this book

I read this book like I was binge watching a Netflix series! The suspense is real, I loved our protagonist and enjoyed the other characters as well, and the ending (though perhaps a little predictable) was still very satisfying. This was the perfect book to start my spooky reading season with!

Genealogy + Murder

Hallie Sherman has been looking for her father when suddenly she has found a match and receives an invitation to meet her father and his family. I really liked Hallie, she has struggled a lot living with her mom, and she is willing to do anything to survive.

While at times I felt like the story struggled with pacing the narrator, Madeline Pell did a wonderful job at keeping me engaged and trying to figure out the mystery puzzle. This was a delightful listen with a satisfactory ending.

The Wrong Family follows Hallie as she finds herself. Unfortunately she also finds herself in circumstances that make her feel trapped with a family she thought was her own.

This is a quick read (or listen). The pacing got me a bit because Hallie went from the house to the restaurant and back and forth so much. We do meet Nick, who works at the restaurant, and I enjoyed getting to know him and his story.

Hallie’s possible family had all sorts of issues. The dad was awful and put too much pressure on his son while letting his daughter act like the spoiled brat she’d become. I detest these social media, rich, spoiled, word-vomit characters in books these days. The mom was someone I consistently overlooked.

Throughout the book we get letters from prospective fathers who write back to say they’re not Hallie’s father or that they could be. I loved that. It added some light entertainment that kept bringing us back to the reason for the book—for Hallie to find out who her dad is. We didn’t see the fruits to that labor. The book ends on a bit of a hanger where we don’t find out who he is.

All in all the book reads as more of a young adult book. The story itself was entertaining, but the writing was more for the younger crowd. I look forward to seeing more from this author.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for my honest review.

The Wrong Family by Ellery Kane and Narrated by Madeline Pell
3.5 ⭐ rounded up

If you like family drama with a bit of mystery, this book may be for you. After reading the synopsis I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book as this genre is right up my alley. Ellery Kane starts us off with an exciting premise of finding your lost family, but nothing is as it seems.

Hallie has had a rough childhood, and never knew her father. So when her mother passes she sends in her DNA with the hopes of finding her Father. When that doesn't seem to get anywhere she looks up every Robert Thompson and sends them each a letter in hopes that someone will recognize her mother's name and submit a DNA sample
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Her life is a mess, she loses her job, her apartment, and has no where else to go when suddenly she gets a match. Her new found father invites her to come and stay with him and his family for a few weeks so that they could get to know her. It seemed like the answer to all her problems so she excitedly accepts. Trying to fit in she paints herself into something she isn't, but Hallie isn't the only one keeping secrets. When things quickly take a turn, Hallie finds herself wondering what she has gotten herself into. None of these people are what they seem.

The Narration by Madeline Pell was wonderfully done and easy to listen to.

An enjoyable read that will keep you on your toes.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When a DNA site puts Hallie in touch with the father she's never known, she's thrilled to immerse herself into his world. But since she meets his family, strange things start to happen.

Wow this book was so captivating! I listened to the audiobook and was hooked as I listened and found everything I thought to be true, completely not! There were twists aplenty in this one and I was all in for it. Great narration and very addictive!

The Wrong Family
Ellery A. Kane
Hallie was a child when her mother died in a car accident; she was passed from one foster home to another. As a young adult Hallie turned to DNA testing in an effort to find her father. She sent letters to every Robert Thompson she could locate asking if he could be her father. She received many answers to her letters, some were “don’t contact me again”, some wished her good luck in her search and a few offered hope. Then she was contacted by Family Ties DNA Testing telling her they had found a paternal match. When Robert Thompson received a similar email, he contacted Hallie and asked her to come for a two-week visit. Hallie was thrilled and desperate for her father, his wife and two children to like her and accept her as part of the family. Hallie exaggerated her life in an effort to impress the family; she was terrified they would discover she lied to them. The family wasn’t as perfect as it appeared on the surface. The wife doesn’t trust her and told her so. The daughter and son were jealous and had some deep-seated problems. Strange things are happening at the home, a burned photo, a slashed photo, a missing necklace and then a death. Who is the stranger in the woods? Why is Nick constantly staring at his phone? Why does her new step-mother constantly have a wine glass in her hand? Is her new step-sister really an influencer? Is her new step-brother on her side? Everyone in this family has secrets.
The Wrong Family is a delightful, intense read. I loved every minute of it and listened to it in one sitting. I liked Hallie but don’t think she made some bad decisions early in this tale. I didn’t like most of her new family. Robert was the most likable and it was obvious he made a real effort to befriend Hallie. Sister was a real piece of work; I didn’t like her or her mother from the beginning. I liked Nick, the chef.
I was unfamiliar with Ellery A. Kane until I picked up this book. I will be watching for more of his work.

This one was a little less like a thriller and way more like sitting back and watching the most ultra-dysfunctional family implode. It was like a train wreck that you just can’t take your eyes off of. When Hallie, with all her secret issues, connects with her biological father, it seems like all of her dreams have come true, but the more I read, the more secrets there seemed to be. I have never read about so many secrets and lies told by everyone yet it didn’t feel overdone.

It did start out a little slow for me, but the pace built as the story progressed. And with a full cast of characters, I am not sure I liked any of them. As soon as I had any connection to one of them, they either did something undesirable or one of their secrets came to light. While I suspected quite a few, but not all, of these secrets before they came out, I was still very interested to know if I was right. And after rereading the synopsis, I’d suggest avoiding reading about this one and you might be more shocked about the twists.

If you like to read about family drama to make your life feel normal, this is definitely your book. With all of my quirks, this one had me feeling like I was quite ordinary.

I did this as at times an immersive read/listen while also switching back and forth between the book types as my schedule and availability allowed. Madeline Pell did a good job of narrating the book and allowing the plot to shine.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was an awesome audiobook and book in general. Well written, fast paced and full of suspense. The ending was a complete surprise to me and not something I would have predicted. Several likable character and then some not so likable character like Natalie.
Great job by the narrator as well.

This story was great and had the potential to be an absolute banger. Everyone is using sites like 23 and Me and I loved the way the author explored this. The characterizations were great and the book was well-plotted.

However, the book description gives away FAR too much and it ends up crippling the twist which is really too bad because it's a great one.

Also, some of the worst narrating I've heard in a long time...the voice was actively irritating.

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy. It is my pleasure to write an honest review.

Oooooh goodness! This was a great slow burning thriller that will keep you guessing. Enjoyed the storyline (hello family drama) and the plot twists…especially because the twists were not confined to the last couple of chapters (like some books). The only downside were the repetition of information and NATALIE. Kudos to the narrators as they helped make the book come alive! I easily devoured this audiobook and definitely look forward to reading previous books by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted ARC (audiobook)…as all opinions are my own.