Skip to main content

THE NEW FAMILY



SYNOPSIS

Can you really trust the family next door?

Brooke is delighted when Oliver decides to rent her old family home with his three-year-old son Finley. Finally someone to bring happiness to the rundown house across the street. They seem like the perfect tenants, but Brooke is a little unnerved when they move in with just a single bag between them. Where are their belongings?

When Brooke asks Oliver about his past, he quickly changes the subject. Her best friend tells her to leave it, after all Brooke has been through enough trauma in her life. But Brooke can’t shake off the feeling that something isn’t right. Why aren’t her new tenants’ names listed anywhere online?

Then Brooke arrives home to find orange flames dancing in the upstairs windows. As her whole life goes up in smoke, she is convinced it wasn’t an accident. And when she finds Finley drawing a picture of an angry burning house with terror in his eyes, her blood runs cold. What is Finley so frightened of? And why does Oliver snatch the drawing away the moment he sees it?

Brooke is convinced Finley is in serious danger, but given her past, she’s not sure anyone will believe her. Is Brooke ready to face up to her own demons to save the little boy? And when the truth is finally revealed, who is really the one in danger?



Title: The new family
Author: Victoria Jenkins
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication date: November 16, 2021



Victoria Jenkins is an English tutor and former secondary school teacher from South Wales who has been writing for years and day-dreaming about becoming a ‘proper’ writer for the past decade. She have an MA in Creative and Media Writing from the University of Wales, Swansea, where she wrote a lot of poetry while planning a lot of plots she hoped she would once day write. Victoria lives in South Wales with her husband.


Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriajenkinswriter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicwritescrime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vicwritescrime/



Buy Links




REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Let me start this review by making one thing clear. Victoria Jenkins is a f*cking master at misdirection! I will never tire of recommending The Argument, a psychological suspense with one of the craziest twists I’ve ever read. Since I read that one a couple of years back I immediately became a fan, I have read all her following novels and she has managed to catch me unaware every single time.


I started The New Family without even reading the synopsis, and going over it now I noticed that it does not give away part of the plot so I will not go over it myself. I enjoyed it a lot without knowing beforehand about it so I’m sure you will too.


The story alternates Brooke and Christina’s chapters. At first one can’t help but wonder how, if at all, both timelines will tie up at the end. Although apparently independent, both timelines share a feel of isolation, one geographical and one self-isolation, but not in the sense of actual lockdown but that she has no one around to trust the secret that is destroying her live.


Although it is slow paced, especially at first, I found I could not stop turning pages and it ended up being a really quick read.


Once the link between both POVs is revealed halfway through, I thought I could formulate a plausible theory but oh boy, was I wrong! As secrets start to get revealed, the tension keeps ramping up leading to an ending that, although it required to suspend disbelief a little bit, was so good…and heartbreaking. It was absolutely disheartening.


Both main characters, Brooke and Christina, were very well fleshed out. They were both pretty flawed, but that’s what made them so interesting and real.


Another fantastic psychological suspense story from Ms. Jenkins. I can’t wait to see how she will trick me next time!


Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AN ESCAPE TO REMEMBER

  SYNOPSIS When Louise surprises her boyfriend by returning early from a work trip, safe to say she wasn’t expecting to see him in flagrante delicto with another woman. Heart-torn and vowing to stay away from men, when Louise’s next project involves restoring an ageing hotel in Italy, she leaps at the chance to get away. Managed by a crew of sextagenarians, the Grand Hotel del Monferrato needs all the love and care Louise can give it. But it’s hard to stay focused on the job when her thoughts keep straying to Vito, the reclusive and mysterious owner of the hotel. With his tragic past and her no-romance policy, Louise knows they can’t have a future. Yet something keeps pulling the two together. Title: An escape to remember Author: T.A. Williams Publisher: Canelo Publication date: March 24, 2022 I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I did languages at university a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to Italy for seven years as a teacher o...
Post a Comment
Read more

TERROR DE ESTADO

SINOPSIS Terror de Estado sigue la trayectoria de una secretaria de Estado novel que se incorpora a la administración de su rival, un presidente que llega al poder tras un mandato que relegó a Estados Unidos a un segundo plano en el tablero internacional. Cuando una serie de ataques terroristas dinamita el orden establecido, esta mujer será la encargada de aglutinar al equipo que descifre aquella conspiración letal, un plan calculado al milímetro para sacar provecho de un gobierno estadounidense débil y desconectado de la realidad. Título: Terror de estado Autor: Hillary Rodham Clinton & Louise Penny Editorial: Salamanca Fecha de publicación: 4 Noviembre 2021 RESEÑA VALORACIÓN: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gracias a Salamandra por el envío del ejemplar. Nunca había leído nada de Louise Penny ni de Hillary Clinton, y el thriller politico no es de ni de lejos unos de mis géneros habituales, pero “Terror de Estado” llamó mi atención desde que leí la sinopsis por primera vez, y tenía mucha curiosidad por ver...
Post a Comment
Read more

A ROYAL MURDER

  SYNOPSIS At the royal boat race there are beautiful barges, plenty of bunting, a handsome prince and… is that a body in the water? Lady Swift is on the case! Spring, 1923. One-time adventurer and now amateur sleuth Lady Eleanor Swift is attending the annual royal regatta with her new pal Tipsy Fitzroy. Tipsy has Eleanor trussed up like a debutante in a new dress, determined to turn her into a proper society lady. Even Eleanor’s favourite companion, Gladstone the bulldog, has a new outfit for the occasion. But the sparkling prize-giving ceremony is interrupted when the devilishly handsome host gulps his glass of champagne on stage and collapses to the floor. The victim is none other than the king’s cousin, Lord Xander Taylor-Howard. He was rumoured to be entangled in a rather dubious gambling ring, but did someone kill him instead of collecting his debt? Or was this simply an ill-timed tragic accident? Either way, a right royal scandal is afoot… Sir Percival, the head of the royal...
Post a Comment
Read more