I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. In the Wrong Family Tarryn Fisher provided the reader with an interesting, tension filled and twisted psychological thriller. The story introduced the reader to Juno, a retired therapist, and Winnie Crouch. Juno is looking to live the rest of her life in peace, so when the opportunity to live with the Crouch’s presented itself, she did not think twice. On the surface the Crouch’s appear to be the perfect family, but then she learns they had more imperfections than the moon had craters. At first, she had no intention in interfering in their domestic squabbles, but then she overheard a conversation, which led to her making assumptions which were not always correct. These assumptions ultimately led to a dangerous outcome. The characters featured in this story were unreliable, unlikeable, and clueless. Told from the POVs of Juno and Winnie, the reader had a front-row seat into the warped minds of these individuals. Juno has a history of getting deeply involved in her clients, which went beyond a professional relationship. Her need to interfere in situations she perceived as being threatening came to light at the revelation of the Crouch’s secret. If only she had not been such a busybody. Winnie rubbed me the wrong way. Not only was she controlling, she proved to be a selfish and insensitive individual. The revelation of her secret did not put her in a good light either. Nick struck me as someone who lacked a backbone. The one person I felt sorry for in all of this craziness was Winnie, and Nick’s son, Samuel. This was my second experience with the author’s work, having read her previous book The Wives, which I enjoyed. I had high expectations for her latest release. Even though I enjoyed the Wrong Family, it fell short when compared to The Wives. I struggled with the story in the initial stages. It moved at a slow pace, which was one reason I failed to connect with the story until around the fifty percent mark. It was at this point the story took a turn which made me eager to know the events would unfold. There were no dramatic revelations, but then Fisher ripped the rug from beneath me and the story took a tragic turn which I never saw coming. Conclusions/Recommendation Overall, despite this not being in the same category as The Wives, it was twisted enough to appeal to the author’s fans and readers who enjoy psychological thrillers. This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

Update: After discussing this in the book club liveshow, and realizing how problematic this book actually is, I think my original 2 stars rating is too generous. There are so many issues with this book, I simply can't let it stand. Original review: This was sadly not my cup of tea at all. This book really lives off the reader liking the characters, and caring about them, and since I didn't, I really just didn't see any point in this. Had this not been a book-club pick I probably would have dnf'd it, and even though the last few chapters were pretty good it didn't make up for the boring first parts of the book. I did not care for any of these characters, and I also did not sympathize with any of them, which really made me not care about anything that happened in this book. Very sad that I didn't like the book, though! :(