Moorewood Family Rules
Women’s Fiction
April 25, 2023- Avon
ARC
Review by Angela
I’m not sure what I expected when I picked this book up, and after having read it I still don’t know what genre it should be classified under. Maybe WF? Maybe like WF with a touch of mystery? I’m not really sure. I will say this is a fast, fun, light read even with the darker elements that are layered in.
When the book first opens it introduces Jillian Moorewood, fresh out of prison and surprising her family by helicoptering into the family estate right in the middle of a society luncheon. She’s pissed and has some surprises up her sleeve on how she plans to handle her disreputable family and their shenanigans. This is a family of conmen who can’t seem to go legit, not that they really want to, and Jillian is done. They’ll clean up their act, or be cut off.
I zipped right through this novel, the pacing stays steady, with shorter chapters, and it was so easy to keep flipping pages until I reached the end. Jillian is the main POV, but several chapters have her cousin as the narrator, which means you never quite know what’s going on or who the culprit out to end Jillian really is. Despite the lightness of the dialogue, there are some deep themes throughout, with huge revelations of Jillian’s mother’s backstory toward the end. It’s kind of a shock to the senses when you read it. Yes, I knew these were horrible people who had done some horrible things, but I guess the admission of just how Sonya died surprised me, as well as the flippant way it was brought up in conversation by Jillian’s family.
There is a romance, with some closed-door love scenes. But it’s pretty light, and there isn’t a whole lot of lovey-dovey romance between Jillian and Beck, who also happens to be her bodyguard. They fall for each other while he’s protecting her, which I didn’t really buy into, but appreciated the potential HEA for at least one of these characters.
The ending was quick, and weirdly enough without a huge amount of drama, which I had expected. I enjoyed it, but didn’t love. Although, I do think readers looking for a lighter suspense novel, with dysfunctional characters will be interested.
Grade- C
Content notes- Mentions of- cancer, suicide, off-page death of family members, murder, PTSD
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Angela. At first I wondered why the woman on the front cover had a white beard, and then I took a second look!
@Angela: it is still the case that a commenter cannot get notified of further comments on a singular post.
I haven’t seen any WP settings that allow me to do so, but I’m still looking. They keep updating so I’m wondering if in an update this setting changed. I’ll continue to try and figure it out.