I know in her author’s note she said that the amount of requests coming through from fans is what drove her to write this sequel to ‘The Family Upstairs’. She doesn’t like writing sequels and didn’t want to. I’m not sure who was writing in these requests as I felt Jewell ending the original book perfectly. My bold statement is, The Family Remains is the sequel no one wanted but we loved anyways. 

That’s my two cents. I didn’t need a sequel, but I’m sucker for ‘not knowing’ so I ‘had to know’ when I heard that another book was being released. 
      This book is the longest epilogue in the history of epilogues. So long, in fact, that the publishers said, heck! why don’t we make it a novel? I say this as a compliment, believe it or not. It did really feel like I was reading an epilogue. It felt ‘quick’. It felt to the point, yet there was still a story I was being tricked into reading and following. 
     It flew by and you know, I ended up really enjoying it. Again, did I need another book? No. Did I think Jewell properly zipped up the first book AND this second book? One hundred percent yes. I hope she doesn’t get pulled into a third, but ya know what, I’d read that too.