A Family of Strangers by Emilie Richards

A Family of Strangers by Emilie Richards

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A Family of Strangers by Emilie Richards

Pub date: June 25,2019
Mira - Harlequin
Fiction
Rating: 4/5

I received a digital copy of this ARC from NetGalley and Mira/Harlequin in exchange for an unbiased review.

3-1/2 stars I rounded up to 4, the writing and story structure were solid although somewhat wordy at times. Parts of the story seemed to drag before it all pulled together.

It can be lonely to feel like the odd one in your family. Sometimes difficult to grasp that your somehow don’t fit it. You can be made to feel like a stranger in your own family.

Ryan Rose Gracey lives in a duplex in Del Ray, Florida managed by the Gracey Group where she produces a podcast series called, Out in the Cold, based on investigations into unsolved crimes. She had started her career as an intern working for the Seabank Free Press doing an investigation following the murder of Becky Drake. It was a frightening confrontation with the alleged murderer, John Quayle, that motivated her move 4 hours away from her hometown.

She maintains an awkward relationship with her family which seems to suit her until she receives a disturbing phone call from her older sister, Wendy. Ryan had never felt close to her family especially her sister given her earliest memory was receiving an alligator nightlight when she was 4 years old. Wendy was living at college and eventually married Bryce Cartwright and settled in Connecticut when Ryan was a child.

Wendy calls Ryan asking her to resume care of her daughters, Holly and Noelle, who are being cared for by their parents. Wendy has been working to eventually take over the family real estate investment firm when her father needed open heart surgery.
She happened to be “waiting out a situation” while her husband, a Naval Officer, worked on a secured submarine and unable to fly home. Their mother, Arlie, was a nervous wreck after Dayle’s surgery and caring for two young kids so Wendy begged for Ryan’s help.

This was the first time her family seemed to reach out to her for assistance so she packed up and drove to the Gulf Sands gated community in which her parents lived. Ryan would soon learn more about her family and secrets that lay hidden for years as well as new ones which seem to be preventing her sister from coming home. With the help of her podcast co-producer and administrative research assistant, Sophie, she begins to unravel more than just cold cases for their new podcast season. Soon, Ryan reunites with Mateo “Teo” Santiago who was the K9 officer and his dog, Bismarck, who saved her life back when she an intern. She was hopeful to resolve the pains and guilt from the past.

This story explores a complicated family who chose avoidance as a manner of coping with difficult situations. Avoidance and denial have never made reality cease to exist or for the truth to be ultimately unfurled. When does family loyalty cross the line into protecting a criminal? How does one come to terms with the reality of who people are and not what we want them to be?



View all my reviews