Thriller about a family who move to LA from Australia. But things don't go as planned. The father is struggling to produce a viable script for the movie to his book. The mother is finding it hard to fit into LA life. When the daughter turns up with bruises and her bedroom door is padlocked, the son attempts to find out what has happened to her and why his parents are acting weird.

This was a good page-turner with interesting characters and a few twists.

I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I love a good dysfunctional family read and The Ones We Love was exactly that! I could not put it down and I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Highly enjoyable read. There was a good amount of intrigue and nothing was revealed too quickly. A couple of red herrings throughout regarding the situation but not anything that felt too contrived or obvious. My main critique when it comes to most mystery genre novels is the wrap up happening too quickly and being a little too obvious. This fell slightly into that trap. I wish some of the ending was less convenient or leaned a little bit edgier. I like the parents in the novel hinting at their now "open" relationship, and the almost dark sounding twist to the daughter and neighbor relationship at the end. I wish the novel, as a whole, turned more this way tonally (gradually) so it didn't feel like an afterthought.

This book had my favorite things! Dysfunctional family, secrets, multiple POV, and very plot driven. This book started off strong and slowed down a little in the middle but by the end things were on FIRE! Each chapter revealed a piece of truth so it was easy to just keep saying ONE MORE CHAPTER. Awesome book for mystery and family drama lovers!

A dysfunctional family with a big secret 🤫
Thank you, Dutton Books,  for the gifted copy of The Ones We Love {partner}

Genre: Mystery
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date:  5.6.2025
Pages: 336
Star Rating: ☆☆☆

The Ones We Love is one of those stories that needs to be read by the right reader at the right time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the right reader at the right time. It was still a good story that I did finish; it just wasn’t what I had hoped it would be. 

I did think the story started strong - those first few chapters were addicting. A daughter wakes up covered in bruises without any memory of what happened, and her parents are obviously hiding something. But what?

Each chapter slowly peeled back a layer of truth—one misguided decision after the other, one dysfunctional family member failing to communicate the truth. The feeling of slowly revealing the truth was enticing and kept me reading, but unfortunately, I figured out the direction of the story fairly quickly and wasn’t blown away by the path the author took to get there. 

Maybe if the characters had been more likable? It’s one of those things that the characters weren’t likable because of what they were doing, making the story more exciting, but it was also hard to find redeeming qualities to cheer for. The only character I did love was Casper, the younger brother/son (and I rarely ever like POVs from a child narrator). 

Read if you enjoy:
😬 Dysfunctional family
🗣️ Multiple POV
👏🏼 Character development
📖 Multi-layered

I recommend reading The Ones We Love if you enjoyed reading Everyone Here is Lying.

Small typo on page 77. Brain instead of Brian.

Too many characters, very hard to keep up sometimes. Casper is a great character though. I’m having trouble articulating why this book didn’t work for me. Maybe it was because of how long the build up was. Maybe it was because it seemed like there were 40 different plots going on, and it was a really good story, but I feel like we should’ve just focused on Liv and Helene. I don’t really think I needed Kay to be unfaithful or rude to her husband. I don’t think I needed Brian to be an abuser, and the scene at the end where she is arrested is good, but I just did not like everything that came after it. Will give the other books a try, thank you!

Family drama and secrets. Deliciously riveting. The mystery was laid out in the first chapter and I had a million and one questions. This book was so clever with its twists and red herrings.

The Ones We Love is a gripping psychological thriller that keeps you guessing from start to finish! 🕵️‍♀️ The Jansen family is hiding some dark secrets after a mysterious party weekend leaves 22-year-old Liv with bruises and locked out of her own room. As her parents behave oddly and her best friend goes silent, you can feel the tension building. 📉

Janus, the father, is consumed by guilt over his dreams of making it in Hollywood, while Kay, the mother, struggles with her sacrifices for the family. Meanwhile, youngest son Casper senses something's off and decides to uncover the truth behind the padlocked door. 🔑

Snoekstra expertly weaves together suspense, family dynamics, and the weight of secrets in a way that kept me turning the pages. This book is a haunting reminder of how love can complicate the darkest truths. A must-read for fans of thrilling family dramas! 📚✨

This was brilliant. I have previously enjoyed Out of Breath by this author. This is one of those books that will stay with you for a long time. The twists were shocking . Highly recommend.

Big thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! What a book! This book had my attention from the beginning. Full of twist and turns and I liked the ending! Add this to your big TBR pile lol

The Jansen family has relocated from Australia to LA so Janus could adapt his horror novel to a screenplay. But not everyone in the family is happy with the move. The daughter Liv is trying to make her way in the fashion world. When she wakes up after a party covered in bruises and with no memory of the evening, she struggles to find answers. Then she finds her bedroom padlocked because of a supposed “mold problem” and her parents acting strangely and avoiding her. Her brother Casper is miserable in LA and now he is concerned about what is going on with his family. His mother Kay and father are acting very suspiciously and Liv is not herself. But someone definitely knows what is going on with the Jansen family and is demanding money in exchange for silence. This was a twisty read that I really enjoyed with an ending I did not see coming!

What a surreal experience! Snoekstra leads you down one path only to shock you with another !

When Liv wakes up after a weekend party she finds horrible bruises and scratches. Their is a padlock on her door for "safety" and she is told to room with her brother until the mold is cleared out. This is a strange scene and becomes stranger as we get to know the rest of the Austrialian family that has moved to LA for father Janus' screenplay dreams.

Snoekstra keeps turning the screws and slowly adding ingredients to up the tension. Great thriller!
#penguin #theoneswelove #annasnoekstra

Teenager Liv wakes up with bruises but can't remember how she got them. Her parents are acting strange, and her little brother is clueless about the three of them. When he and a buddy decide to investigate the mystery, they find that everyone has been keeping secrets.

If you enjoy seeing how deep a hole dysfunctional and non-communicative families can dig themselves into by trying to protect one of their own, this is the book for you. I found what the parents did to hide a crime a bit far fetched but it did make for a suspenseful book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book was so suspenseful I found myself up at 3am to finish it. Being able to get all the families point of views and thoughts during this thriller truly added so much character depth. I loved Casper’s character and how he actively investigated on his own, and the twists that happened truly shocked me and weren’t predictable at all. It was a delight to read and I’ll definitely be recommending this to others

This book was a pleasure to read. Multiple twists and turns that had me staring at my screen wondering what I just read. There were definitely some layers going on in this family!!

This book reminded me why I do not usually pick up domestic thrillers. Everything seemed very anticlimactic and unbelievable.