3.5 stars
This was an entertaining read that I did enjoy but found a bit slower paced. It took a really long time for something to happen, and I felt frustration with the lack of communication amongst the characters. I’m chalking this up to a me problem because I’m seeing lots of excellent reviews for this one. Try it for yourself.

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

"The Ones We Love" is a gripping suspense novel centered around a profoundly dysfunctional family. The story follows a family of four that relocates from Australia to Los Angeles, leading to dramatic upheaval in their lives. One morning, Liv awakens to find herself covered in disturbing bruises after a night of heavy drinking, yet she struggles to recall the events that transpired. Compounding her distress, her parents have padlocked her bedroom door. Among the characters, I found myself particularly drawn to the teenage brother, Casper, as the only sympathetic figure. The dynamics among the mother, father, and Olivia reveal their deep-seated issues. If you enjoy mysteries intertwined with family drama, this book will resonate with you.

i enjoyed this thriller. I felt like it had a very unique take on family drama while keeping you engaged. it was a quick read and I really enjoyed the authors writing. the characters were really well executed and had quite a bit of depth. I really liked the themes of parenthood and the lengths parents would go for their children. i did however have some struggles with the pacing. my interest was mostly grabbed at 70% and that was about it. I felt like it was really slow to start then we found out everything a little too early and were left with a rush conclusion with not much of a resolution. but over all I have a good time!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

If I had to describe this book with only one word that would have to be tension!

The Jansen family were presented an opportunity to relocation from Australia to LA when the father, Janus, has his first novel optioned and he takes on the role of adapting the book into a screenplay. The rest of the family consists of Kay, a professional performer who gave up her career when she first became pregnant, Liv, the 20 something daughter who wants to start a career in the fashion industry and Casper, who is in high school and misses how things used to be. Everyone but Casper thought the move was just they needed and things will be able to get better somewhere else. But like most dysfunctional families, running away from problems never really works out.

After Liv attends a party one weekend though, things have gotten really weird. She is covered in bruises, can’t remember anything, her room is padlocked shut and her parents are acting strange.

There is a large reveal about halfway though the book and at the time I thought it was strange we were been given such a large moment already but then during the last act, the twists and reveals really start to fly.

If you’re looking for a book full of twists that will keep you guessing right to the last moments, you should definitely add this book to your list.

This was such a good book! I love how you feel so conflicted in the beginning and throughout the book. Is the family and the friends acting out and acting weird? Or is it our main character? We cant tell immediately and we are kept on the edge of our seat waiting to find out, love it!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Anna Snoekstra's The Ones We Love was a haunting and thrilling story of what people do for those they love—and the consequences that takes on a family. The lengths these characters go to in an effort to protect Liv from herself is so heartbreaking and, frankly, terrifying. The things we do for love.

Super mysterious and enjoyable. I thought the book had creepy factors for sure! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Anna Snoekstra's "The Ones We Love" is the kind of thriller that gets under your skin and stays there. Picture this: a seemingly normal family moves from Australia to Los Angeles, and everything's fine until it's not. After one weekend, 22-year-old Liv is sporting bruises, her bedroom door is mysteriously locked, and her parents are acting like everything's perfectly normal - spoiler alert: it's not.

What makes this book so compelling is how it peels back the layers of the Jansen family like an onion that's been sitting in the sun too long. There's Janus, the dad drowning in his own regrets and a secret that's eating him alive. Kay, the mom doing that delicate dance between keeping her family together and facing the truth about her marriage. And then there's Casper, the younger brother whose curiosity about that locked door leads him straight into the heart of darkness.

Snoekstra knows exactly how to turn the screws of tension. Just when you think you've got it figured out, she throws another curve ball that makes you question everything you thought you knew. The story moves at a perfect clip, never rushing but never letting you catch your breath either.
Sure, the ending wraps up a bit too neatly - like trying to put a bow on a tornado. But honestly? The journey there is so gripping, with its web of family secrets and emotional land mines, that you barely notice.

This is the kind of book that makes you look at your own family dinner table differently, wondering what secrets might be lurking behind those casual conversations about passing the salt. If you enjoy thrillers that mess with your head while breaking your heart a little, this one's for you.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for sharing this brilliant mystery's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

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!