Book Description:
Could one mother’s mistake cost her daughter everything?
ONCE YOU’RE IN, THEY’LL NEVER LET YOU LEAVE.
At Oak Leaf Farm you will find a haven.
Welcome to The Family.
Laura is grieving after the sudden death of her husband. Struggling to cope emotionally and financially, Laura is grateful when a local community, Oak Leaf Organics, offer her and her 17-year-old daughter Tilly a home.
But as Laura and Tilly settle into life with their new ‘family’, sinister things begin to happen. When one of the community dies in suspicious circumstances Laura wants to leave but Tilly, enthralled by the charismatic leader, Alex, refuses to go.
Desperately searching for a way to save her daughter, Laura uncovers a horrifying secret but Alex and his family aren’t the only ones with something to hide. Just as Laura has been digging into their past, they’ve been digging into hers and she discovers the terrifying reason they invited her and Tilly in, and why they’ll never let them leave…
My Thoughts:
The story alternates mainly between Laura and her seventeen year old daughter Tilly. They are both trying to deal with the loss of Gavan, husband and father. I really felt for these two women who had been dealt with a devastating blow. Laura especially is trying her best to stop the rest of their lives from unravelling but sadly isn’t having much luck.
Luck seems to come in the form of a small community who live on a farm and offer Laura and Tilly a place to stay. The community has an almost cult feel to it with the handsome Alex at the helm. Alarm bells started to ring as soon as Laura and Tilly find themselves there and I just knew things weren’t going to end well.
Along with the sinister feel at the farm, Laura and Tilly seem to both be hiding secrets. My mind went into overdrive trying to figure out what exactly they were both keeping to themselves and holy moly, when the secrets start to come out, boy do they come out! It was almost like a big wave coming that just kept knocking me over of which I hadn’t quite recovered from one before I was hit with another one. My heart was literally beating ten to the dozen!
The Family is a suspenseful read that really gets the adrenaline flowing. It will have you on the edge of your seat throughout and even knock you off it a few times with the unexpected twists! I love Louise Jensen’s dark side as she proves what a powerful writer she is in the psychological genre. I for one can’t get enough of them!
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