Unfortunately I had to DNF this book. I was interested at first, but as I continued reading the writing was really bothering me. The dialogue was clunky and sort of melodramatic, and I just couldn’t get past it.

Thank you to NetGalley and HTP (Mira) for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was very difficult to follow and I feel like I read the plots for 3-4 different books at the same time. I’m willing to suspend disbelief to an extent but the way everything was connected was confusing, inconsistent and frustrating to keep up with. I also have trouble reading books where there’s no reason to root for the main character. Iris spends the entire book whining and being fearful and yet is willingly putting herself in these positions. And when her daughter is missing, somehow that’s less important to her than dealing with what she thinks people in the house are hiding. A final thing that I feel like was an issue is the dual timeline with no dates to split them up. I understand that it’s for the shock factor and to provide that plot twist but when lumped in with the rest of this book, the inconsistencies made it too difficult to work. I did like Sloane, she was honestly the best and most reasonable character in this entire book.

This was everything I want in a thriller. It takes a lot the shock me with how many thrillers I read but I was kept guessing throughout this one!

𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you love:
✨ Twisty thrillers
✨ Dual POVs
✨ Layered storylines
✨Revenge plots

Three years after her husband's murder, Iris finds herself in a dire situation. She turns to her new boyfriend, Hugh who offers to take her and her daughter in. Only, they won't be along. Hugh's mother, brother, sister-in-law, and sister will also be living with them in the under renovation family home.

This was such a twisty one. It took me awhile to get into it but after about halfway through I was flipping pages fast.

Here's what I liked:

Iris: I connected with her right away. She has such a tragic past that keeps coming back to haunt her. I was rooting for her and her daughter as they navigated this new low in life. She had me in a panic at times as she gets wrapped up in the mystery of what is really going on with Hugh and his family.

The house: I loved the setting of this. The house, especially since it was under construction, has this super creepy feeling to it. There are noises and things being moved around. It has this locked door feel to it that I loved.

The structure: there is a dual POV in this with Iris and runaway Ellory. Both stories keep you wanting to know what is going on and what is going to happen to both women. This book is really well laid out and I applaud Garner for how she organized this layered story.

All in all, this was a creepy and twisty thriller!

Thank you to @netgalley, the author and publisher for an eArc of this book!

#bookreview #bookstagram #thriller #newreleases #suspense #fivestarread

This was almost a DNF for me - I started a month ago and put it down because the premise started out so over the top. However, I came back to it and realized that the beginning had to be absurd in order for the coming twists and turns to work. And man, did those twist and turns fly at you! Iris and Hugh have only been dating for a short time when Hugh asks Iris and her daughter Ellory to move in with him. But the caveat - it’s with his family in their crumbling mansion. As Iris has few options left, she agrees. But upon arrival, she realizes there is a lot more to this family and the house than it seems.

As I said, the twists and turns that come in the final few chapters might give you whiplash, but they were ultimately propulsive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC of this title!

HOLY S*#! What did I just read?!?!?! I haven’t read a GOOD book like that in forever!!!! Okay without giving too much away, it’s dual perspectives (but with a crazy twist). Once I got to the end, every other page was:
“Oh my god!!”
“Wait, what?!?!”
“Wait, HUH??? Are you SERIOUS?!?!”

Read this book because I need someone else to get on this rollercoaster of emotions I’m on.

Iris is down on her luck. She lost her job, her home, not to mention her husband. She and her teenage daughter are grieving. She does have an amazing boyfriend Hugh. And when she confesses to Hugh of her bad luck, he, like the best boyfriend ever, asks her to move in... to his mother's house. With his siblings too! But what choice does she have? And that was so nice of him to offer her and her daughter a place to live, right? Maybe not...

This book gave me creepy vibes throughout but it gripped me in from the beginning. And once the characters got to the house I was completely engrossed! I'm a sucker for a creepy house story, especially one with a creepy family to go along with it! And the twists! The number of twists kept me wanting more! I didn't know what would happen next but it kept me on edge! This was probably one of the most twisted stories I've ever read. And I loved every minute of it! It makes me want to read it again now that I know just so I can go back and see how one could miss all of the little details.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I really enjoyed it!!

This book was crazy pants in the best way possible! The author did an amazing job fitting all of the pieces together and forging some truly amazing twists. The plot was faced paced, creepy, and tense and had me yelling at the characters in my head. I LOVED this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for access to this arc.

Although this had so many good elements for an engaging and twisty thriller, I couldn’t get into this one. I really enjoy Garner’s writing style and loved the creepy mansion setting, suspicious characters and dark secrets. However, I think my biggest issue was that there were so many things going on throughout the story, making it difficult to keep track of character connections and multiple plot twists. Although I’m a huge fan of alternating timelines, I feel it didn’t flow with this story. This one got so many great reviews so if you like a dark, family mystery- try it out!

Iris finally finds love after her husband is murdered right about the time her house is foreclosed on and she loses her job. Her new boyfriend, Hugh, asks her and her 18 year old daughter, Ellory, to move in with them and she agrees because she doesn't have many other options. He is living with his Mom and siblings to help her do some repairs to their family home which is all out creepy. Quickly she realizes that this family is weird and strange things start happening and Ellory runs away as she has done before. Iris' world starts to crumble and she is not sure who to trust as another person in her circle is murdered. This one is a little choppy because there are so many characters, angles and questions but Katie Garner puts a big red bow on the knot when she ties it all together and there is no way I would have ever predicted this one!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

The Family Inside by Katie Garner is a spine-tingling psychological thriller that keeps readers on edge from start to finish. Iris Blodgett, grappling with the unsolved murder of her husband, is living in the shadows of grief and financial ruin. When she faces eviction, her new boyfriend, architect Hugh Smoll, offers her a way out—by inviting her and her teenage daughter, Ellory, to stay in his family’s historic mansion while he works on its renovation.

At first, the move seems like the perfect solution to Iris’s mounting problems, but Ravencliff House, with its centuries-old walls, harbors more than just drafts and broken fixtures. Iris soon discovers that Hugh's family is far from what she expected. Instead of a welcoming haven, the mansion is a claustrophobic, tense environment where secrets run deep and unsettling occurrences unfold. As Iris digs into the house's history, she uncovers a chilling truth that connects her to the dark past of the Smoll family and begins to understand the terrifying reason she and Ellory were invited to stay.

Garner’s atmospheric writing heightens the suspense, as she masterfully weaves tension between family dynamics, long-buried secrets, and a house with its own sinister energy. The psychological unraveling of the characters, combined with the house's eerie, haunting presence, makes for an intense and unpredictable read.

The novel is an excellent blend of mystery and suspense, with plenty of twists and turns that leave you questioning who to trust. If you're a fan of family dramas laced with dark secrets and chilling suspense, The Family Inside is a book you won't be able to put down.

Wow, I'm not even sure that I know what to say about this book, other than "wow"! The Family Inside is one heck of a story, and with so many twists and turns, I think I might have whiplash! You just can't help but feel pulled into this story and hang on to every word as it all unfolds.

Iris is a widow, her husband, Jack, was murdered three years ago. Iris and their eighteen-year-old daughter have been living alone with their grief ever since. But now that Iris has lost her job, she can no longer afford the mortgage on the house that she brought Ellory up in. They have been evicted and Ellory is so angry at this and the world in general.

Iris has been dating a man that Ellory has not been supportive of and this man, Hugh, has invited them to stay in his mom's home as they make repairs and renovations to the estate. When they move in, they are introduced to Hugh's siblings and that is when things begin to feel out of place for Iris because she was not even aware that Hugh had siblings...

This was a very well-thought-out plot with lots of twists and turns to keep us on our toes. I really enjoyed reading this storyline and trying to figure out what was going on before it was told to us. I'm happy to say, that this author managed to shock me at every turn!


Thank you to the author, Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA, and #NetGalley for allowing me to read #TheFamilyInside and offer my honest opinion.

I struggled with this novel initially due to its unrealistic elements and major red flags that the characters just seemed to ignore. The story centers around Iris, who, after the tragic loss of her husband, she meets Hugo, a charming stranger at her best friend's coffee house, and their connection grows quickly. Within a couple of months, Iris, facing tough times, decides to move in with Hugo, accompanied by her teenage daughter.

As the story unfolds, Iris soon discovers that Hugo has been keeping secrets. Iris finds out that Hugo has an entire family living with him, including his adult siblings and elderly mother.

The book was interesting, although it isn’t one of my favourites. The novel improves toward the end, with several plot twists that shed light on Iris's behaviour and provide a deeper understanding of her character.

I really enjoyed this book- I was certain I had the twists and turns figured out, but I was wrong. There are a few different timelines to follow, but all converge in a spectacular way! Garner's style is similar to that of Modglin's, whom I am a huge fan of. There were parts that seemed to jump from one scene to another rather quickly, which I did find confusing at times. But all in all, this is a psychological thriller worth reading! Secrets, denials, revenge, all the makings of a great story! Thank you to #NetGalley and #HarlequinTradePublishing for the ARC of The Family Inside!

Iris is a single mother who’s lost everything—her job, her home, and her stability. Her teenage daughter, Ellery, is spiraling, grieving her father, drinking, and pulling away. Then along comes Hugh, Ellery’s boyfriend of two months, with an offer that seems too good to be true. He invites them to move into his family’s massive, crumbling estate, a place in desperate need of repair. But once they arrive, things start to feel off. Hugh has siblings he never mentioned. Ellery doesn’t trust him. And Iris begins hearing noises in the attic, discovering things that make her question everything. The deeper she digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes.

This book had me from the start. The tension? Immediate. The pacing? Relentless. The sense of dread builds perfectly, keeping you completely engaged. If you love thrillers where the house itself feels like a character—full of secrets, history, and hidden horrors—you’ll eat this up.

That said, about three-fourths in, things got... a lot. The story within a story trope? Love it. A story, within a story, within a story? It's good in Mexican telenovelas, but here it was too much. It started feeling artificial, like the author was stacking twists just for the sake of it. The ending was twisty and wild, but I found myself re-reading to parts just to keep up.

Still, the vibes were on point. If you’re into unreliable narrators, family secrets, good for her revenge arcs, and that creeping “is she crazy or is she not?” tension, this one’s worth a listen.

Although this had so many good elements for an engaging and twisty thriller, I couldn’t get into this one. I really enjoy Garner’s writing style and loved the creepy mansion setting, suspicious characters and dark secrets but I think my biggest issue was that there were so many things going on throughout the story, making it difficult to keep track of character connections and multiple plot twists. Although I’m a huge fan of alternating timelines, I feel it didn’t flow with this story. This one got so many great reviews so if you like a dark, family mystery- try it out!

This book was full of twists and turns and threw me for a loop on multiple occasions. As soon as I'd think I figured out what was going on the writer would throw in something else that I didn't see coming. While that can be a good thing sometimes, it was a little overwhelming at times trying to keep track of the different plot lines and characters.
The ending was very satisfying to tie up loose ends!

Big thanks to NetGalley, Katie Garner, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing the ebook. This was an exceptional psychological thriller! It kept me on the edge of my seat, constantly questioning who could be trusted, and wondering if multiple characters were unraveling. A truly mind-bending read—absolutely loved it!

4.25⭐️

This book took me on such a wild ride! 🎢 Incredibly suspenseful from the very first page until the end. The twists and turns were shocking and threw me off balance. I really enjoyed this one!

3.5 stars

This is an absolutely unhinged story that turns into a veritable nightmare – but in the very best way. So many twists and turns made it impossible to guess the ending, and I loved the house in the story which almost felt like a character in itself. It’s a little over the top, but I was entertained.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.