I really enjoy a domestic thriller especially ones which have an inlaw dynamic. The stroyline was gripping, with twists and turns and I enjoyed the build up of the quirky character dynamics.

Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Meet the Parents by Emily Shiner is an absolutely gripping, edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that kept me reading late into the night. 📖💥 From the very first page, the tension between Gina and her boyfriend Owen's family is palpable, and it only grows as the weekend unfolds, leading to a devastating conclusion.

What I loved most about this book was the complex, multi-layered characters. 😱👀 Marta, the overprotective mother, and Owen, the oblivious son, each have their own dark secrets, and the dynamic between them is intense and filled with suspense. Gina, the girlfriend with her own hidden agenda, is a fascinating character whose secrets and motives slowly unravel as the story progresses. The alternating perspectives kept the plot fresh and allowed me to delve into the minds of each character, all while I questioned who could be trusted.

The tension builds expertly throughout, and the twists and turns are relentless. 🔄🚨 Just when I thought I had figured out what was going on, another revelation took me by surprise. The atmosphere of the secluded house, combined with the growing sense of unease, made for a thrilling read.

If you're a fan of psychological thrillers with shocking twists, dark family secrets, and complex characters, Meet the Parents is a must-read. ✅📚 It’s an intense, fast-paced thriller that will keep you hooked until the very last page. Highly recommended! 👏💀✨

Good, dual point of view book.
You have Gina and her boyfriend’s mom, Marta’s POV. This helps the book move quickly as you go through the book.
The beginning sets you up for what’s going to happen.

The book is pretty good. Marta is a cringey boy mom.
The book has some plot holes but is overall a decent read.

I usually really love Emily Shiner's books, which is why this one was a tad disappointing for me.

The good: I LOVED the backstory in this novel. We know that something happened in Gina's past that has lead her to where she presently is, and we know that the Whitlock family is somehow tied up in it. Getting to see snippets of what happened in the past was definitely the good part of this book, as devastating as it is.

However, in the present, I feel like Gina was NOT a good Crime Junkie. She made so many mistakes it was hard to understand how she got away with anything. And while I wanted so much to root for her, I also found myself becoming increasingly annoyed with her.

And the father? I most of the time he kind of seemed like a bumbling idiot. Which maybe is the point, but it didn't really work for me.

I'm hoping Shiner's next novel will be better.

Meet the parents by Emily Shiner was published on August 28th 2024 was another fantastic book by this author. I have read so many books by this author so I was so happy when I got the chance to read another one.

Gina and Owen hit it off when they met. She is the girl of this dreams and he wants nothing more than to put a ring on it!
But when he takes her home to meet his parents, his mother, Marta is not too happy. She is not willing to step aside and let another woman into her son's life. She'll play nice but.....
Gina has her secrets and is playing nice as well. She knows more about Owen's family than she has let on.


This book was twisty and kept me reading late into the night because I needed to know exactly what happened. Thanks again Emily for such a great book!

I loved this book it was such a great read. Things the first from this author and I’ll be reading more in future.

Emily Shriner nailed it with Meet the Parents! Her writing provides glimpses into what could be to come, but leaves you guessing and wanting to read more. This page turner had all the makings of a great thriller with the ending one you'd never even think to happen. Great book that I'd recommend for any thriller lovers!

The desire to stop reading this book was pretty high. It took a lot longer for me to finish than normal because of how much repetition there was.
There was two POVs throughout the book - Gina, the girlfriend and Marta, the mother of the boyfriend. Gina and Marta started off on bad footing right from the beginning. They both had ulterior motives for getting under each other's skin. The amount of times that the reader read something that alluded to this became too hard to count. They knew something the reader didn't know yet and they really enjoyed reminding us.
The ending did provide some redemption. I think I would have given it 2 stars if it wasn't for the twist (twisted twist) we received if we made it that far.

This was such a great thriller to end the year!
I liked that it started off strong and ended with the twist!
I like it when a book starts strong and adds information throughout. It keeps me interested!
I liked how the FMC seemed like a sad, traumatized girl but then turned into a bit of a psycho in her quest for revenge.
I had a feeling about what the twist was going to be, so it wasn't super shocking.
It would have been interesting to add Wayne's POV as well.

This was a great book, and I definitely recommend it!

I liked the book's overall premise, but the plot dragged along until about 80%-85% of the way through. The last 15 percent of the book was highly action-packed and kept my attention, but again, getting there was a bit of a drag. I would have loved more perspective from Grant and Aunt Bethany throughout the book.

Emily does it again with another banger! I loved the wife in the photo and this one knocked it out of the park again. She kept me on my toes and kept me wanting more. There are twists and they will have your jaw on the floor. A must read if you like tense thrillers!

The plot twists were so well done that I had to reread certain sections just to process them. A brilliantly crafted thriller from beginning to end.

Loved this book, it was a real page turner and kept me so engaged. Can’t wait To read more

This book was a real page turner and kept me on the edge of my seat. It was fast paced and I found it wasn’t to predictable which helped massively to keep me engaged.

Thanks again for this opportunity

This sent me on a wild rollercoaster ride from page 1 all the way to the end! I continued to question everyone and couldn't predict what would happen next! Definitely recommending this book to everyone

A fast paced psychological thriller book which had me pulled in!
Meeting a boyfriends parents for the first is bound to be nerve wrecking, toxic!

this is not your typical twisty novel but enjoyed the read!

Meet the Parents

Twisty thriller I loved this!!!! Gina & Owen are loves young dream but there are a few dark secrets about to come out ….. did NOT know how this was going to end! A few days of rapid reading 🤩 Meet the Parents is my thriller of the year so far.

Thank you @netgalley and @authoremilyshinwer for the opportunity to read and review

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ a no brainer 5 stars

I personally feel this book could have been shortened, a lot of areas were drawn out, it might have been to make it longer, but it would have been an amazing short story! Other than that, the plot was good, and the pace was fine, just drawn out.

This was my first read by Emily Shiner. It had me hooked from the very beginning and I was INVESTED!!!!! I loved the character development and fingering out who everyone REALLY was. The ending seemed to leave questions unanswered or a lot of holes that I would have liked to be filled in but I still enjoyed the book.

This was unnecessarily long, convulted and incredibly stupid. The main character was coasting on luck throughout because she is the opposite of smart and none of her sleuthing ever resulted in anything. Also, the personality switch up was crazy. From comically inept to psycho maniac. It would have been epic if it were deliberate but it's just an unfortunate product of bad writing.

The twist at the end is so contrived and I saw it coming from a mile away. Word of advice, it a character in a psychological thriller keeps saying another character is innocent and wouldn't hurt a fly. Chances are they're the final boss.

This was so unoriginal but at least it's over. I received this via Netgalley and all opinions are my own.

I love a juicy psychological thriller, and so I was ready to love this, but it just didn't do it for me. The story, at its heart, is good, but there's so much repetition. I felt like the recapping in each chapter was overkill, pardon the pun. I also felt like some of the plot twists were revealed too early.
I'm sure this will absolutely hit the spot for a lot of people - there are tons of positive reviews. I didn't love it as much as I wanted to, but it still had me reading to the end, to find out what happened.