Not a riveting page-turner, not a gripping mystery. Instead this is an examination of a selfish group of people, all in one family, who have little redeeming qualities, think only of themselves and their own desires, and have little tolerance for anyone (in this case, a soon-to-be ex-spouse) who sees things differently. The story only skims the surface of convoluted family dynamics and instead of being riveted, I was pretty bored through most of it, feeling like the same actions were explained, explained again, revisited, rehashed. Very little actually happens and what does is fairly surface. Sorry, this one wasn't for me.

Hailey’s soon-to-be ex-husband dies while they’re in the middle of settling their divorce. She’s not formally accused of the crime, but the public does think she’s the one to blame- she did hate him, after all. The story is told between POVs of herself, her mom, her father and brother. It explores their family dynamic and I’d say it’s more of a family drama with a thriller as the back drop. The character development was one of my favorite parts, I am a sucker for good character development!

I would read another book by this author. 4.5 ⭐️

People pleaser meet overbearing family… In order to deal with an unexpected @nd contentious divorce the protagonist, nicknamed Sunshine, moves to be back with parents @nd family and bad goes to worse. This literary fiction/thriller is well written, but some of the characters were too unlikable for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read a ARC of this book. The idea of this book really caught my attention. The beginning was really able to draw me in with character building. However I felt the book shifted to be more family drama than thriller. I felt like the book dragged on and unfortunately it took me a long time to finish it. The ending also felt really abrupt, even though the book could have been shorter, the ending just seemed to be in a random place. There were also a few spelling errors throughout the book to fix before publication.

The characters were forgettable, the plot and dialogue was very heavy handed, and the whole scheme was far fetched. We were suppose to understand this family that didn't like each other would do anything for each other, which seemed unrealistic. It was also a very slow moving book for a thriller.

Thank you Net Galley and Tova Mirvis for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.
This book was full of family drama based mostly on Hailey who is in the midst of a very messy divorce. In the middle of the divorce her ex husband is murdered and she is the prime suspect. Her mother is overbearing in the way she is so involved with her daughter and this divorce. Hailey is the little princess in the drama with two brothers. I enjoyed this book and I want to check out the other books she has written.

Hailey's marriage has turned out to be not a happily ever after one, but she's still shocked when her husband, Jonah, tells her he wants a divorce. It's bad enough to be divorced, but she'll be stranded in Binghampton, NY, where they moved 3 years earlier for Jonah's job. And then there's the pressure she's getting from her mother, Sherry, for them to move home to Florida. And then....Jonah is murdered.
Sherry has never known boundaries in doing what she feels is the right thing for her family (but, in most cases, really for herself). This has continued into the lives of her children, who are well into adulthood.
We Would Never is a combination of themes of dysfunctional families and divorce/custody disputes. The main characters seemed to be very stereotypical: overbearing mother, distant father, needy son who becomes a doctor to get his father's approval, and the daughter who's the princess of the family. The first 3/4 of the novel moved very slowly for me, and while there's some resolution at the end, it really only address part of the mystery. Adam's story was never really developed and that, perhaps, might have given some added balance to the family story.
The author has a very interesting background and I especially liked her memoir, The Book of Separation. On the Beautiful Side podcast, I learned that the loose inspiration for the story was the murder of a friend of her ex-husband where his wife's family was implicated.
Thanks to Netgalley and Avid for the opportunity to read We Would Never. I received a complimentary copy of this book and opinions expressed are completely my own.

We Would Never by Tova Amir was inspired by a true crime story the author found very interesting.This story details a family and their motives.Hailey and her husband are fighting a bitter divorce and custody battle.He dies and public opinion says she is responsible.The book details Haileys family who I h includes her parents and brothers .The character development is very well written although I would have liked to know more about the estranged brother Adam.This book is a who done it but more a family drama .I enjoyed this book and thank Simon and Schuster Avid Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC for my review.

Of course you would never. No one in such a respectable family would be capable of killing off the soon to be ex-husband. Yet when he is murdered the family is the first people that the cops look at. Hailey had a tenuous relationship with her husband at best. In fact, he was holding everything against her and claiming that her family was behind every action she did. So, when he dies of course the family is going to be suspected. Yet everyone seems to have a solid alibi. Yet the more that is revealed about the family the more it looks like someone is lying.
This is a lovely story filled with twists and turns. The husband is horrendous, but at the same time the more you learn the more it seems like he may have some validity for his actions. Readers are going to be swept away trying to figure out which family member is lying.
Thank you so much to Avid Reader Press for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

This beautifully written novel (based on a true story) illustrates how the water can be quite murky when it comes to family. So many questions swirling here. What are we willing to do for the ones we love? How do we define "love?" What if we feel like we don't belong? Do we care more about the appearance of things than the truth?

As a mother, wife, and daughter, I can relate to the main character, Hailey, in so many ways. Youngest daughter is in a sticky situation with her husband, and her family wants to help, but they can't agree on what is "right." Hailey feels trapped both in her marriage and with her family. Her manipulative mom is almost TOO much, but then again, don't we all have a family member like this?! Sherry is so scared to be alone or to be seen in a certain light that she does almost anything to protect her reputation.

I feel like the character development was on point, especially with Nate, Hailey's brother, but I couldn't help but want more from her other brother Adam's point of view. I feel like there's a whole story right there waiting to be written!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tova Murvis for the opportunity to indulge in this book! Definitely recommend and I look forward to digging into some of her earlier work!

I enjoyed this book overall. I thought the author did a god job of keeping the true culprit hidden until the last bit of the story. Hailey is a character that many people can probably relate to. A young mother who is going through a rough divorce. A woman who is trying to figure herself out and learn how to deal with her emotions and to not be a pushover to please other people. Sherry is a character that you could love or hate. I thought she was a good character in the beginning, but after a few chapters I could tell that I wasn’t going to like her. Her willingness to do bad things and justify those things with being a good mother just didn’t work for me. Perhaps others will disagree, but Sherry will forever be the true villain of this story in my mind. Nate wasn’t here nor there for me. I think he’s a good character and he plays a crucial role in the story, but I wasn’t connected to him, he wasn’t relatable to me beyond being the caretaker for his family when he didn’t want to be. I enjoyed Adam, though he wasn’t as prevalent as the other characters. His reclusive personality and his strong sense of boundaries is something I think people will find relatable. The plot was well done and thought out. The writing was smooth and easy to follow. There were no parts that I got caught up on or that I needed to reread to understand. I will recommend this book to people who enjoy a “who done it” or a family drama genre.

I liked this book! I was immediately captivated by it. I was waiting and expecting more of a shock and a twist throughout the story. Would recommend!

We Would Never by Tova Mirvis is a heartfelt and engaging dive into the complexities of family, loyalty, and self-discovery. With a perfect mix of humor and insight, Mirvis explores the intricacies of relationships with a sharp eye for the little moments that make life both challenging and beautiful. The characters are so relatable, you’ll feel like you’re eavesdropping on a close-knit family unraveling its secrets. It's a charming, sometimes messy, but ultimately uplifting read for anyone who's ever wondered if they're doing life right—or if anyone really does!

A slow burn family drama about a seemingly perfect family who will go to whatever lengths are possible for each other. When Hailey and Jonah start divorce proceedings, things quickly become contentious, descending into a bitter separation and a messy custody battle. But when Jonah is murdered, Hailey becomes the prime suspect. I liked the back and forth between Now and Then, and Hailey's relationship with her brother, Adam. A family drama with a bit of a mystery exploring loyalty and betrayal, although I will say it was quite a slow burn without as much suspense as I would typically read.

A controlling narcissist enabled by an emotionally distant husband manages to destroy her “perfect” family. It took a while for me to become truly involved with the story because at first the author manages to have the reader believe the family really is almost sickeningly perfect - and then the interesting truths slowly and become visible. The ending was a great unforeseen twist. My only objection was that the first half was slowed down by the rather repetitious and effusive descriptions of the characters that definitely sped up once there was less descriptive narrative and the characters became much more multifaceted in their actions and dialog. I am sure there are some readers who will recognize similarities to their own experiences and will again be reminded that they were lucky to come out alive.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
Expected publication date - Februrary 11, 2025

Thank you, NetGalley and Avid Reader Press, for this eARC for review. All opinions are my own.

As Hailey and Jonah are battling through a bitter divorce, Jonah ends up being murdered. Hailey's close-knit (dysfunctional) family rallied around throughout divorce proceedings, even trying to urge her and her daughter Maya to move to Florida with them. With Jonah out of the way, what could stop them now?

I enjoyed this story. There was a lot of hidden family drama, but I found the ending to be too abrupt.

I found We Would Never to be an odd book, especially so, as it is based on a true crime story. I think the author was too sympathetic to all the participants in that she portrayed an upper class family were were plotting to have in-law murdered. I can't say this book worked for me. None of the characters were relatable and most were unlikable. The always-joking son was annoying, the absent unforgiving middle sibling puzzling, and the passive younger sister very frustrating, and the non-emotionally engaged husband/father rounding out this dysfunctional family. Maybe the real-life event made more sense, but this book just didn't click for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I absolutely ate this book up–finished it in a day-and-a-half, which is pretty good for me because I rarely read for hours at a time. This book explores family bonds and public perceptions. It opens with the death of Jonah, Hailey’s estranged husband, and naturally, the police consider her a suspect. Then we have flashbacks showing her upbringing with an emotionally distant father and a way-too-involved mother, as well as two constantly fighting brothers. Her mother is so involved in her children’s lives to the point of stifling them. The family dynamics in this book are portrayed quite well.

One thing that I didn’t like about this story, which was based upon true events, was the switching from first person to third person, as well as not labeling the flashbacks with a year, because they did jump around a bit. It wasn’t terribly confusing because I was carefully reading for clues, but I could see how some readers might miss that.

The whole time the story was unfolding, I was thinking to myself that I had the murder figured out, and I forged ahead, adjusting my thinking as the plot thickened. The ending was not all that surprising, and really, it’s the only way it could have ended, but I wish there had been a few more pages of resolution. I felt like it just–ENDED.

I think anyone interested in a family story with a dark undersurface of mystery would enjoy this book. Four stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

What a fabulous whodunnit book! Filled with mystery and intrigue from the very beginning and kept me guessing right up until the very end! If you enjoy books about close knit families with complex relationships filled with secrets, then this book is a must read! Well written, and a real page turner! Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for providing me an advanced read copy of this book in exchange for my review.

family drama, secrets & a murdered husband. i absolutely ate this thriller up- from the very beginning i was hooked. even though i kinda figured out the plot twist i still enjoyed this one.