Thank you @htp_hive @hanoversquarepress @netgalley #partner for the gifted eARC of this one!

John comes up with the most wild and thought provoking ideas for his books! This one is no different. Stemming from overpopulation and not enough resources the UK has come up with a unique approach in trying to help tamp down the population. 👀 How? Well, glad you asked! For a monthly subscription cost you are given the chance to instead of raising a real life human to raise a virtual child in a metaverse accessed by a VR Headset. To make things more interesting a small subset of people are in a reality TV show where they are watched by the general public, voted on, liked, commented against on how they are doing as a parent. No pressure! 👀 At the end, if you win you could be in the running to keep your virtual child or risk everything to be able to have a real live baby at the end!

I will read anything this man writes and his speculative thrillers are my fav! I just cannot get over how unbelievably unique his stories are. I love that he drops Easter eggs in each book from his previous speculative books like The One, Minders and The Passengers. I think what I loved most in this one was watch the competition unfold and understanding what made each couple tick. The thought of having the universe tune into your life any second of any day was quite something! Can you imagine being sleep deprived, exhausted and knowing it was “just a virtual child?!” 😬 It may make you think differently than human flesh. How about getting way too attached the the virtual being and starting to hide things from others. Eek! He really covered it all. I just love that his books make me think! If you are a John Marrs fan, love a solid dystopian world, love futuristic ideas, and a book packed full of tension I just know you will love this book!

Great book! I love how the character plot was and the ending had me shocked! Would recommend to anyone looking for a thriller.

Review: John Marrs definitely found his niche. He does futurist novels with the AI theme well. I will admit, AI scared me in this book and I worry as we move into the future.

The book starts off in the future where there is a Metaverse that civilians join. A new reality tv show is set up in that metaverse where couples compete against each other raising a baby in that world. Viewers vote in their favorites, give them challenges, and have 24 hour access to the live feed.

As the book goes on, the couples secret emerge, their stories start to blend together, and the metaverse starts to get very messy. You start to see the couples true colors and how their backstories influence their motivations for the competition. It was so interesting to see how AI evolved in this future world (also terrifying).

While I loved the idea of the book and got into all the stories, it was so confusing at first. With so many couples, it took me a while to actually understand who was who. Also you have to be interested in AI and technology, if not this isn’t for you.

Overall a very unique and interesting read! Once you get to know the couples, it’s a fascinating read. Thank you to The Hive for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was very unique and an interesting/scary concept of the future with AI. I did find some parts confusing with everything going on and so many characters but it did get better. Some people that didn’t read the other books might not understand some of the references to “the one “, although you can still get through the book. Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

John Marrs is such an exceptional writer. This book is something I will think about for a long while. AI is becoming so ingrained in our future and this book takes a look at how far it can go. The dark secrets and sci-fi aspects of this book were so good!

The Family Experiment by @johnmarrs.author
Published by @hanoversquarepress @harlequinbooks
Publishes on 7/9/2024

Marrs writes some wild novels 🤯 You do not want to miss this one!
The Family Experiment is nothing like I have ever read before as it would be considered sci-fi/futuristic and revolving around AI theme but takes involves families both real and virtual. The universe this story took place in is set in the same one as his other novels The One, The Passengers, and The Marriage Act — I have not read either of these three yet but I was not lost at all!

While sci-fish books are not typically my jam as I find it boring he wrote this so well that I was sucked in and not boring! It included suspense and in true John Marrs fashion — twists galore that I never saw coming!

The family experiment was a good book, it was everything I’d imagine just from the synopsis I read before the book is published. The book took me longer than expected to read because I did not want to miss any details. The description of the characters and their emotions throughout the book kept me wanting to read.

Another excellent speculative thriller from John Marrs!

The Family Experiment is a reality TV show where contestants raise a virtual child from birth to age 18 (sped up to span just 9 months). The winner can elect to keep their virtual child or delete it and take home a sum of money to start a family in the real world.

I couldn’t put this book down as we followed the contestants lives and unveiled their secrets. Highly recommend for fans of John Marrs, dystopian or near-future readers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

✨𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀✨
• reality TV competition
• child abuse (not graphic)
• child trafficking (not se-ual)
• the power and ethics of AI
• flawed parents

✨ 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ✨
MetaBabies are virtual children not yet rolled out to the public, but contestants are placed in a 24 hours a day broadcast to try all the program and compete to keep their AI child.

✨ 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ✨
I watched The One a while back and always meant to read it so when I had the chance to advance read a book in the same universe, I did. It’s able to be read, stand alone with no spoilers. I was so engrossed in the idea of a virtual child for those who can’t afford one or conceive on their own.

Not only was the story about the MetaBabies, but it also wove in the chosen contestants dark backstories and secrets they thought they could hide. The best part was the idea of AI machine-learning, and the question of how ethical that learning is.

I recommend this to anyone interested or weary of the future and power of AI. The story dives into the ethics of how AI learns, which has been a hot topic lately.

I didn’t realize that The Family Experiment was part of a series of other books written by John Marrs set in one world when I requested this title. However, it did work well as a stand alone and I never felt lost even though I could tell it would be better to have read the others for a richer experience.

If you like sci fi, this was an interesting one! I liked the topic of AI and whether it can replicate real life experiences and I found myself engaged and interested for the entirety of the story. At first it was a little tricky keeping everyone straight but the author did a nice job dropping little reminders of who was who into each chapter until the reader got it down.

Overall, I’d recommend this one. It was a fast read that kept me guessing!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc!

I enjoyed this book very much! The characters were well developed and the storyline kept me engaged the whole way through. I’d definitely recommend this book to others.

The Family Experiment takes place in the same world as The One, and The Marriage Act, but it is not necessary to read the first two novels in order to enjoy this one. There were some references to Match DNA from The One, but in my opinion it's not enough to affect a reader's understanding of the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Family Experiment, but if I'm being honest it's not my favorite out of the three novels set in this "world." The storytelling follows Marrs's typical style of multiple point of views, I believe we get at least five or six POVs from couples/families in The Family Experiment, with a few others thrown in that I won't elaborate on to avoid spoiling anything.

The premise of The Family Experiment is that several couples, and one single dad, are competing in a reality show by taking care of virtual (AI) children. Whichever contestants are still standing or are the favorite at the end will then be rewarded with the option to keep their virtual child, or terminate the virtual child and instead receive money to help them start a real world family. BUT if you are a fan of Marrs then you will know by now that everyone is always hiding something!

I really enjoyed the underlying storyline that was at work here more than the couples competing on the show, and it was fun to see it all unravel at the end!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

It’s written in crack format like the rest of his books. If you like John Marrs youll like this, if you haven’t read John Marrs though they are all stand alone reads I recommend going to read The One first

I enjoyed this One but found it very formulaic to his other novels. It did make me think about ai and its implications more than I have before

The Family Experiment is the fourth John Marrs book I’ve read, and his third speculative thriller I’ve read, and I remain impressed by him!

The plot was incredibly creepy and chilling because with the state of technology currently, with AI, deepfakes, etc., this reality he’s written doesn’t seem too far fetched.
There were quite a few characters to keep track of, in true John Marrs fashion, but they were mostly coupled up so weren’t too hard to keep track of. Each character has their own troubles and secrets that added to the already complicated storyline which was a whole new level of thrilling since nobody is who they seem to be. The end of each chapter left me needing to read on to learn what was happening.
I enjoyed how everything linked together at the end and was explained, everyone’s shocking truths came out and surprised me one final time.
I also really love how this world is all connected and you get Easter eggs from past books.

I’m becoming a huge fan of John Marrs, and especially his speculative thrillers. I’m really excited to see where he’ll take this crazy, futuristic world next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and the author for this ARC.
Publication date 7/9/24

Another winner from John Marrs! Such a creative and thoughtful look at a potential future that’s not too much of a stretch. My main gripe are that there are so many different characters that it was tough to follow and also made me slow to get invested in the story. I was constantly thinking “which one is this again?”. Otherwise, this was just realistic enough to be chilling and brought up some great ethical questions. I highly recommend… especially if you’re already a Marrs fan.

John Marrs does it again with his speculative fiction! A.I. Children! I literally couldn’t put this book down! I have been an admirer of John Marrs for quite some time, but this is my first book of his set in this world of The One, The Marriage Act, and The Passengers, so I cannot say if you have to necessarily read them in order. All I know now is that I cannot get my hands on his back list fast enough!

The Family Experiment in a live-streamed reality show where several families who can’t afford to start their own families, have the opportunity to raise an A.I. child from birth to 18years over a 1 year period. At the end of this period they get to choose to either keep the AI child or take the money they win and start an actual family in the world and terminate the AI child.


Wow this book was full of surprises and twist and turns throughout nearly every chapter!! While every family playing has secrets to hide, I literally inhaled the pages until I was done!

If you love speculative fiction or the ethics of AI, this book is definitely for you!!

Thank you Net Galley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Hanover Square Press for the opportunity to read this novel early for an honest review! You have made me a John Marrs fan for life!

5-Stars! 👏🏼

John Marrs proves once again he's the master of speculative fiction. In The Family Experiment he takes us into a world adjacent to ours, where AI plays a much bigger role. Perhaps we should be heeding the warning. People are chosen to have an AI generated child in the metaverse as part of a 24/7 reality show. The winner will get a sum of money and can choose to keep their 'child' or delete it forever.

We follow the families as they are faced with challenges of parenthood and pieces of their pasts that come back to haunt them. The book is propulsive and addictive. Highly recommend!

Engaging, timely, and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where grounded sci fi is popular.

Man, this book is nuts in the best way. AI terrifies me, and I feel like this book explored potential without sending me spiraling. The idea behind this book is that, through AI, people could start families in the Metaverse. It’s told through multiple perspectives that weave together. I also like the additional of news clippings and social media feeds to tell the story in “real-time.” It’s at times disturbing, but never so much as to want to turn away. Thank you to Marrs, NetGalley, and MacMillen for the ARC.