Reviews

A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson

tuckeralmengor's review against another edition

4.0

Many thanks to Celadon Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

”Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. -Romans 12:9”

You know that moment when your entire family is yelling at each other and you think Wow, my family is so far from normal and you wonder if your family will ever be normal. If you have, read this book. Because I can guarantee that your family isn’t nearly as f**ked up as the Sandell family.

A Nearly Normal Family follows the not so normal Sandell family. They may appear normal(ish) at first sight. A pastor, lawyer, and pretty daughter. What’s to criticize. But as many of us know, even the prettiest families have a skeleton or two in the closet.

➵ Stella - I say it every f**king time and if you know me well enough, you know what I’m going to say. I clicked with this character the most. Sassy and rebellious, Stella is an average teenager, or is she? Now, I can’t relate to the rape, drugs and other messes that she gets herself into, for which I am so grateful. I have enough on my plate. What I did relate to was her relationship with her parents and her mental condition. Throughout the book, we get to see every dirty and sometimes happy detail of Stella, Adam, and Ulrica and how they treat each other. Stella goes through what most teenagers do, which is hating their parents. I just wanted to reach into the book and whisper to tell her that she would be okay. (well, as okay as you can be after being tried for murder). I do wish her ADD & slightly psychopathic tendencies had been explored and more blown open than it was but this was a thriller after all.

➵ Adam - Adam Sandell is an Atheist turned Christian. He is now a pastor. He is overprotective and, in my opinion, annoying and self-righteous. I understand helicopter parents and why they are so helicopter-y. That said, I really couldn’t force myself to like him. He just kept digging himself deeper and deeper into the hate section of my heart. Soo


➵ Ulrica - I really don’t have much to say. No, scratch that.

Ulrica was very, very annoying. I don’t really remember anything specific that she did to annoy me but the character has a very bitter taste inside my brain. I got nothing else to say about this b*tch


Let’s go back to Adam for a second. Okay, not Adam. I don’t wanna talk about him anymore. I want to talk about CHRISTIANITY

I love talking about my faith because it used to make me so insecure but now I DON’T GIVE A SH*T ABOUT WHAT OTHERS THINK. What’s that? You don’t like me swearing?

Anyway, now that my silliness is out of the way... (Just kidding. It’ll never leave.) I really liked the inclusion of faith in this. It’s not something you see often if ever in thrillers. Now, I know there are tons of books that do have Christianity in them. They’re called Christian fiction and, not to offend anyone, but... They suck. Not all of them but most of them. They have a certain feel to them. Kind of like tofu. Anyway, we can talk about CF later. I really loved how the author handled the religion. There was absolutely no shade or disrespect, even though it did feel like the author wasn’t totally for the religion (I may be totally wrong but that’s how it felt.) Now, I poke fun at my faith all the time. And I’m fine if other people do too. I’m always open for discussion but occasionally, people will go past joking and discussion into plain disrespect. That pisses me off. So thank you, M.T. Edvardsson, for being respectful and brilliant in your discussion of religion.

On the note of culture, I really loved the setting being in Sweden! I have never been there but now I kind of want to go. Though it didn’t overall feel that different, there were a ton of small details (like the currency or slang terms) that made the book feel so much more clever inventive!
I also really loved the discovery of what it means to be a family. And while I didn’t like the ending (I’ll go into that in a minute), I still loved that aspect because it always complements the sadness of a thriller so well. Kind of like sweet and salty.

Finally, I want to discuss the mystery/whodunnit aspect. I’ll be honest. It wasn’t anything special. That’s not to say it wasn’t good. It was splendid! But it wasn’t anything I haven’t read before. I think that it was like the bread of the sandwich while the Swedish culture, family and religion were the meats, cheeses, and mayo.

Before I go, I want to discuss the ending.

Spoiler

When I listened to the last chapter and then closed the book, I left thinking two things:
1) What the f**k just happened? I actually had to re-listen to the last hour again so as to understand what happened. I think that Stella and her friend, whose name I don’t remember killed Chris but Ulrica was in on it too???! I’M STILL REALLY CONFUZZLED
2) I felt like the main takeaway was: Do whatever it takes, even if it’s covering up murder, to protect your family. WHAT??

Overall, this was a really great thriller. I can’t wait to see what this author has planned for the future.

Bottom Line:
4 Stars
Age Rating: [ R ]
TW: Murder, Eating Disorder, Rape
Reps: [Rape Survivor, Mental Illness]
Cover: 4/5 ~ Characters: 4/5 ~ Plot: 4/5 ~ Audio: ⅘
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Publisher: Celadon Books, An imprint of Macmillan

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jasminevtnguyen's review against another edition

1.0

Finished this, but it was against my own will.

nabasdag's review against another edition

4.0

3 unreliable narrators, love it! It was also really interesting reading the story from the father's POV. The ending/murderer was not a huge surprise, but I still appreciated reading the story told through different perspectives.

paristexas's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Middle of the road

jenlengland's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Confinement, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use and Infertility

smilesgiggle's review against another edition

5.0

Grooming shown through various points of view. So many red flags in Chris' narcissistic personality. Predator. A 30something pursuing teenagers.
Told via Stella and her parents' perspectives - the slow build to murder. What really happened on that night. Do the police and prosecutor have enough to convict?
So well done.

jenpaul13's review against another edition

4.0

Every family has its secrets, but determining how far you would go to protect the secrets of your loved ones serves as the focus in A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson.

To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.

Accused of murdering a wealthy yet shady businessman fifteen years her senior, eighteen year old Stella Sandell stands trial for this crime. With her father, Adam, a respected and honest pastor and her mother, Ulrika, a well-established criminal defense attorney, questions arise as to how Stella could possibly know this man, let alone kill him, as her family has a good reputation. As evidence comes to light and potential motivations are established that strongly tie Stella to the crime, her parents realize that they might not know their daughter as well as they thought they did, but they still feel compelled to protect her, convinced that she could not possibly have committed this murder. With their respective plans of defense rapidly unfolding, Stella's future is squarely in the hands of presenting reasonable doubt.

Told from the three perspectives of the family - the father, the mother, and the daughter - the story unfolds, revealing new tidbits of information that color the reader's understanding of what actually happened as each character progresses the narrative. A courtroom drama, with the suspense heightened as the reader awaits how things will play out as each of the characters finally determine their actions, the dysfunction of the Sandell family is highlighted, demonstrating that the same underlying issues facing their family can manifest in immensely differing ways for each of them while demonstrating a realistic dynamic for the family unit. The narrative is a compelling slow-burn that sparks at the climax in a most intriguing way that plays into the psychology of each of the family members.

jen77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thefickleinkdrinker's review against another edition

5.0

So good! Be sure to read to the very last page ;)

i_attri_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0