Hmmmm, I’m still unsure of my opinion of the book. None of the characters were likeable but the plot was good. Full of twists and turns that keep you guessing and reading to find out more.

Dark, twisted and creepy with a cult element, it keeps you on your toes and guessing to the very end.

Told by 3 different narrators it disjoints the book & doesn’t flow as well.

I didn’t hate it though, I’m very conflicted abour it.

Thank you to Netgalley for a ARC of this book

I thought this book had good promise and did keep me guessing about what had actually happened the night Gavan died.

However I found it very slow and long winded, although the twist at the end was good, I was so bored with the story by the time I had got there that it didn't really have an impact on me. I have taken a few days since finishing the book to consider everything and I feel its a good start and a good end but the journey between is just two long and slow for my liking.

This was a bit mental actually to be honest, loved the mother/daughter duo and the storyline was crazy, joining a cult to help your financial situation.

Thought it was a really creepy book with a lot of suspense and tension throughout, had me covering my eyes in parts as you just knew it wasn’t gonna end well for them when they joined!

Really good book I ripped through it in just one sitting, more please.

A thrilling book about Laura and her daughter Tilly who are struggling financially.....and join a kind of cult. It’s thrilling, exhilarating and I really enjoyed it! Highly recommend!

This is another great book by Louise Jensen. It felt like a bit of a slow start at first, but I think thst actually added to the appeal of it in the end as I could not put it down! So many twists and turns that I definitely wasn't expecting!

An absolutely brilliant read - well paced and full of twists and turns. All of the characters are well written and dialogue flows brilliantly. A book that is very hard to put down once you’ve picked up.

The family has so many twists and turns, it make you want to turns those pages faster to find out the outcome.

This is the first book I've read by Jensen, and wow will I be sure to seek out her other books!

In The Family we meet Laura whose husband has died unexpectedly. Struggling to cope with her grief and that fact that she is now a single mother to teenage Tilly she is becoming desperate to make ends meet. As the insurer is delaying paying out her husbands death claim, Laura has come to the harsh reality that running her small florist shop is not going to make the bills. 

When Saffron comes to the shop offering help, Laura thinks that all her prayers may be answered. Saffron invites her and Tilly to live with her on a farm with her brother and a small community who produce Oak Leaf Organics. In exchange for working on the farm, Saffron and her brother Alex will take care of everything for the wrought Laura. From the bills to making sure that her husbands insurance money comes through. 

When Laura senses that more is at play than initially thought, she tries to get Tilly to leave with her. However Tilly is well and truly under Alex's thrall and is besotted with the farm and its inhabitants. 

Told from Laura's, Tilly's and Alex's point of view in alternating chapters you quickly realise that all 3 have secrets that they would rather not get out...

I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked and loved reading the story from 3 different points of view. I became invested in Laura and Tilly who were at such loggerheads for much of the story only because they didn't communicate with each other. It was so frustrating! However they were both grieving and Tilly in her teenage angst wanted to be independent so much that she forgot to look at the bigger picture. 

I initially thought this would be a book about a cult, but how wrong I was! The cult element is there for sure, but this story goes so much deeper than that. It makes you question just how far you would go to protect those you love. 

A 4 star read for me. 

I would like to thank Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Great book, great story and very believable. Interesting and likeable characters. Well worth reading and deserves a space on your book shelf.

Welcome to the lives of Laura and Tilly, There is tragedy, trauma, tears and tantrums. Lots of twists and turns with a humdinger of a turn out at the end.

I found myself immersed in this book and it keep me guessing until the very end.

Can't wait to read more from this author.

In The Family we follow Laura who is grieving after the sudden death of her husband along with seeing the effect this has had on their daughter, Tilly. Laura is in limbo and beginning to suffer financially when an offer of help is made. Is it too good to be true? Now, that is the question!

Tilly and Laura have an interesting mother/daughter relationship, there are misunderstandings but also a closeness that is being threatened. As the past is slowly revealed you really do get a growing sense of unease. I’m trying to be as vague as I can regarding the plot because I do think it is better going in knowing as little as possible. What I will say is that Louise Jensen has written a story that kept me on my toes! There is definitely a sinister undercurrent running throughout this book as the reader knows that something is off but the characters are determined to do things their way!

The Family is also very moreish even though it is a slow burner I still found myself turning the pages as quick as I could especially near the end. I had to know how it would all turn out!

The Family is a book filled with secrets, lies and manipulation.

When you are feeling really lonely and mourning a tragedy and trying to cope with one difficulty after the other, the smallest gesture of kindness, even from a stranger can fill you with gratitude.
That's exactly what Laura feels. Having to face a tragic loss without any family attending by her and unsure how to get back the closeness she had with her teenaged daughter, she doesn't know whom to turn to when faced with financial troubles too. And that's where she learns about a farm where people live like a family, as if in some sort of commune.
The guy running it, Alex, draws everyone in with his charisma and both mother and daughter are charmed into not just visiting but staying. With no connectivity via television or internet or even their mobile phones to the world outside, their world shrinks to within the walls of the farm.
But there is a feeling of unease underneath the gratitude for being saved. Is this utopian place really what it seems?
The feeling of creepiness is prevalent in the story and you feel suspicious of just about everyone and everything so that the twists do come as a surprise.
Like all of Louise Jensens's books that I have read, this one was a page turner too.

Like some of the other reviewers said, bit of a slow start, but pleased I persevered- I was gripped. Great story

The slow start of this book almost put me off but I'm glad I persevered. It turned into a clever and gripping story which I would highly recommend. Excellent. Thank you #Netgalley for the chance to read it. #TheFamily @Fab_fiction

A good read which kept my interest to the the end. I did find Tilly a little annoying in parts but this did not spoil my enjoyment of the story

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this title in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Family tells the story of Laura, who has recently suddenly lost her husband, and her daughter Tilly. Finding themselves in financial difficulty, they are invited to stay with a local community, Oak Leaf Organics. It is soon clear that all is not as appears, and told from the point of view of Laura, Tilly and Alex, who runs Oak Leaf, we discover that everyone has their own secrets they are trying to hide.l.

This book for me was a bit of a slow burn - I was not sure at the beginning if I was going to enjoy it, and but persevered and ultimately it was definitely worth it . What the author does brilliantly is set the scene - the descriptive writing creates a creepy atmosphere that ramps up the tension as the book progresses. Add to that the twists and turns along the way that keep you guessing right up till the end (though ultimately there was perhaps one too many coincidence for me towards the end) and this adds up to a dark thriller that I enjoyed and would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very intriguing book, it is clear from the start that our characters Laura, Tilly and Alex all have secrets that they are keeping not only from each other but everyone else. When Laura's husband dies after falling off scaffolding and the insurance holding up paying out she is faced with loosing her buisness and her home. With no money coming in she is offered help from Oak Leaf Organics, a local commune who offer her and her daughter a home until things get settled and sorted out.

Life in the commune is run by Alex, I instantly thought of it being very cult like - ridding yourself of all the modern world has to offer, like technology, clothing etc. But the more I read on I actually quite liked the idea of what Alex was trying to build upon with Oak Leaf, though I couldn't see myself doing it.....

As Laura and Tilly settle in life on the outside is slowly ticking by like a bomb waiting to go off, and when it does go off the secrets that Laura and Tilly have been keeping from each other come to an explosive ending. Not only that the secrets that Alex is keeping will twist the knife in ways I never saw coming.

This was good thriller that has many secrets, twists and turn that I couldn't stop reading.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
The Family by Louise Jensen has a complex storyline around the concept of family, there are many twists and turns to the story some of which are predictable and others that are very clever psychological twists. The main characters of the story are mother and daughter, Laura and Tilly and the other characters that appear and disappear are secondary to the story but also integral to the plot.
A very complex psychological thriller

Poor Laura, not only has her husband just died, leaving her struggling for money but her daughter is now being bullied at school. All this is pretty tame compared with life with “the family”. Sometimes it was genuinely creepy but spoilt by “coincidences”. Another supposedly intelligent woman who turns into a gibbering wreck, believes everything and is just irritating, pretty much like her daughter, Tilly! Liked the cover and thought the idea was intriguing but it didn’t turn into a bite your nails type of thriller which might have something to do with most of Tilly’s sections being a rerun of Laura’s - ie same conversations and actions. I did enjoy most of the story.

Another great book by Louise Jensen, could not put it down once you had started and it. So many twists that I definitely didn’t see coming!