Her Perfect Family

Product Information

The Perfect Family”.... was perfectly what I was in the mood for. Being a little injured and frustrated that I’m needing to curtail my hiking - to heel - these days - Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released on: 8/10/21. I liked the emotional layers of this book. Some passages were hard to read cause the author didn't shy away from putting on paper the harsh realities of bulimia and the tough road towards healing. One day, their house is egged, and the harassment escalates to a smoke bomb, a fire endangering their home, an intruder who leaves a mutilated rat in their fridge, a wasps nest placed in their garbage bin, and other damaging or disgusting acts. The police dismiss all this as pranks played by naughty teenagers. Colbie is a senior in high school and when it comes to academics and piano, she is an all-star. She tried so hard to be perfect in every way, but when it comes to her family, she seems to be the family member that is cast aside. Growing up with 4 brothers who have all played football, she seems to be the outcast. To her parents and the rest of her family, football is everything!!! And you see just how much that statement is true!!

Colbie Chapman is an all-star student, but a no-star athlete and that has caused her to be entirely invisible to the rest of her family. Despite that her ambition and drive to be perfect and the best at what she does is operated from a sad and dark part of her life, I still admire it. Watching her spiral and then fight for balance in life was gritty and real. Issues are explored that others skim over, and its written in a way that's sensitive and soul searching. Beautiful!

Thomas and Viv Adler are the envy of their neighbors: attractive, successful, with well-mannered children and a beautifully restored home. I’m a big fan of Teresa Driscoll’s previous books as she can always be relied upon to write a riveting thriller. Once again she has delivered, crafting a fast-paced psychological thriller that sizzles with suspense and foreboding. The intricately woven plot is rich with dark secrets, lies and obsession, the truth hidden beneath layers of painful secrets, some of which have been kept hidden for decades. But the truth is always revealed, as they say, and that is certainly the case in this book as the investigation into Gemma’s shooting reveals that things aren’t what they seem for any of the Hartley family, the story getting curiouser and curiouser the more we know. And when all of the pieces were put together to unveil the final picture, it looked nothing like I expected, leaving my jaw on the floor as even my wildest guesses were proven wrong. The storyline showed a lot of promise. I enjoyed the different twists Driscoll provided, guessing who is the person at fault, who is the bad guy. The author did a pretty decent job of making the reader guess, which is big bonus points from me as it often is far too obvious from early on in the story.

Then we’ll learn how to ride the dragons and carry a flashlight. I don’t care what it means. I just need you to know I see you. I want you. Every perfection and every flaw. I love all of you equally.”

Other books by Teresa Driscoll

Her Perfect Family is a really good psychological thriller that makes a great addition to the series and that, in addition to being a fantastic whodunnit, it has a really interesting mother/daughter relationship at its core that adds a nice layer to the whole. Eli Paxton was all sorts of delicious and despite him allowing their relationship to bloom, he was indeed a stand-up man. His ability to see through her and give her the love she has always needed superseded any technical rule breaking that happened throughout their relationship.

I shall now present you with some quotes, taken from around the 40% mark. Keep in mind, at this point they've had 5 conversations maximum, have known each other for a month, and have made out two times. :) And now somebody or a group of random vandals may know their secrets and harass the family! It start with throwing eggs, smearing poop, puncturing tires, throwing smoking bombs! Police thought it was work of a few mischievous kids! But when somebody tried to burn their house down as they sleep inside, things get more escalated than they thought. As we begin reading this recent Harding installment, the Adler family presents as the perfect family; nice house, nice cars, flawless yard, completely beautiful on the outside. Certainly the envy of the neighborhood, and for that reason alone I was not surprised one bit that this family had enemies. Almost immediately, it is made very clear that someone holds a horrible grudge against this family and torments them almost nightly, throwing eggs at their house, in fact a variety of produce meets it's end against the Adler's property, but surely after some time this nightly torment will end?! That is certainly what the Adlers tell each other, but just when it seems things have slowed down the assault suddenly escalates, taking a much darker path! For goodness sake, why is this happening?! I desperately needed to know who it was that hated this family so much, and why! I was chewing my nails, tapping my foot repeatedly while I read this, imagining all sorts of different scenarios as to why these events were happening! Eventually we find out that each family member has a secret (some definitely bigger than others) that they don't want revealed, and I was furiously scratching my head trying to peace together the smaller side mysteries so that I could get a better idea of who / what / why the assaults on their property was occurring! Boy, was I incredibly wrong in pretty much all of my predictions! That being said, this one really kept me guessing up until the very end! If you can believe it, this book did read a bit lighter than her previous work (although I do believe it read more in the vein of her debut, The Party), so even though there were plenty of incredibly tense moments throughout, in my opinion it wasn't quite as suspenseful or thrilling, but it was still incredibly enjoyable for me. As with any other Harding read, the characters in this novel were complex and interesting, and incredibly human. I really enjoyed every members of the Adler family for different reasons. They were all incredibly different in their own way, and while they were very flawed there were positive aspects to them that outweighed the negative, IMO. This is my favorite book of Robyn Harding‘s so far. I’ve read Her Pretty Face and The Party, but not The Swap or The Arrangement (yet). Now someone is happily watching this "perfect" family falling apart. Someone who thinks the world would be a much better place WITHOUT them.

Teresa Driscoll

Everyone seems to love Thomas and Viv Adler. Happily married for twenty-two years, the Adler's appear to have it all. They are attractive and successful. They have a beautiful home. To top it all off they have well adjusted and wonderful children. Their loving family is happy and healthy. Overall, it’s a good read although a bit uneven. I really like this series but it can very easily be read as a standalone. We are left guessing as to who is the criminal - is it Gemma's jilted boyfriend (Alex), is it Ed's unstable ex-spouse, is it Gemma's creepy tutor, is it the strange woman who appeared from time to time to unnerve Rachel or is it someone else on the periphery...?

Rachel and Gemma Hartley, mother and daughter, survey their graduation outfits, the navy is too safe thinks mum while the pink is too vivid thinks Gemma. It should have been the best of days but instead it becomes the absolute worst. Thank You to Gallery Books for the gifted ARC, provided through NetGalley! It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!Eli is the new guy in town and Colbie’s new English teacher. Their first meeting did not go that well, but as time went on these two grew closer. There was certainly an instant attraction but being her teacher they both had to put those feelings aside. Until they no longer could. Eli was everything that Colbie needed but never expected. And I think the same goes for Eli. He sees her in a ways that no one else does. He sees through her and sees the pain that she is carrying with her. He wants to be there for her and help her, even though he knows that he is crossing a line or two. But despite the obstacles they face, these two can’t stay away from each other./. There is a bond and connection that cannot be broken. Being together comes with a big risk, but is it one they are both willing to take? In the first chapter we read that Gemma is shot during her graduation. She is in her coma as other characters need to unwind the secret of who the attempted murderer is, and what the reason of this committed crime. Along the way we find out about certain hidden secrets that relatives and family members have kept from others. The secret extends as characters begin to think whether these old secrets are associated with the current attempted murder. There are some dubious activities from various characters, before the secret is solved. The story is wrapped up in a genuinely fulfilling way. The loose ends are tied up, and the motive of the crime is clarified. Each character has their own specific challenge to confront, Whether it be a secret from the past or a current adversary. Every one of the characters is likeable and intriguing. Each offers a potential answer for the secret, which is the thing that keeps us speculating and enjoying. I love this author. I love this trope. But, it’s definitely the final product that is the true test. Fierce and forbidden, Author Stephie Walls penned what is now one of my favorite student-teacher romance novels. Meet the perfect family - the parents are Thomas and Vivian Adler and they have two children, son Eli is 20 and daughter Tarryn is 17. Thomas is in real estate and Viv does interior design when she can, otherwise she ‘stages’ houses that Thomas is selling to make them look more attractive. When the story starts Eli has come home from college for summer break but he has no intention of returning because of something that happened there. Tarryn is a bratty teen with few friends and a chip on her shoulder and a secret life.