This novel by Lara Finch is a page-turning psychological thriller about a young mother Lucy who is gaslighted by a 'friend' turned nanny Taylor Love. Lucy Bliss thinks her marriage to Sam is rock solid, but then this nanny begins to try to take away Lucy's family and peace of mind.
Who will win this ongoing struggle? There are many twists and turns before the resolution to the story.

Wow, just wow. This book had more twists and turns than the magic roundabout in Swindon. I honestly had absolutely no idea about the way things were going to go until the last chapter! This thriller was certainly thrilling! Taylor had so many layers, and was super well written. I loved the juxtaposition of chapters being written between the past and the present, with different characters experiences and point of view. Lucy may be damaged, but I certainly felt for her! Melody is a wonderful friend, truly wonderful, and Evie experiences an absolute avalanche of emotions and information throughout the course of this story! I don’t want to let any spoilers out, as this book isn’t out until the 16th of July, but I thoroughly recommend picking up a copy!! Super grateful to Netgalley and Storm publishing for letting me have an ARC of this, and very excited to read Lara’s future novels! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Mia shouted - something that had never happened before. 'Do not lie to me! Do not lie!'
Feeling reckless, Evie snapped back: 'Why not, Mama? Why not? You lie to me!'"

This domestic thriller has an intricate plot full of secrets and lies. After Evie's mother dies in Mexico, she discovers among her possessions a cache of newspaper articles about murder(s) in the wealthy neighbourhood of Little Venice in London in 1999 (when she herself was three years old, too young to remember much). The story interweaves chapters in the present and past, together with transcripts of police interviews.

The tone was more serious than I expected from the title/cover - the book is more than just a fun, twisty ride. The characters and their anxieties and griefs felt real. There was a sprinkling of great lines and vivid conversations throughout, which showed off Lara Finch's talent as a writer, and made me think she is an author I'll look out for in the future.

A random note is that in chapter 52 (in the 1999 timeline) it says: "Teenager stays in the waiting area. She's texting someone." My memory of the 1990s is that few young people had mobile phones yet - this didn't feel quite right for the era, especially after the pitch-perfect Mr Blobby reference.

Many thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Lucy is a young, overwhelmed mother. Her husband is not her strongest supporter.
Meeting Taylor seems like a godsend. Lucy has an adult to talk to who is a great friend, and her daughter Evie has a fantastic nanny!
Is Taylor too good to be true????
This story is filled with toxicity and manipulation.The twist at the end is great!
What the Nanny Said follows two timelines and multiple
Roy's.
Things begin a bit slow, but the pace picks up quickly.

just finished What the Nanny Said and my brain is still spinning 😵‍💫 this is one of those twisty domestic thrillers where you don’t know who to trust—and everyone has something to hide.

the nanny’s gone, the family’s hiding secrets, and the neighborhood is full of whispers. it gave serious behind-closed-doors vibes and kept the tension high the whole time.

fast-paced, drama-filled, and perfect if you like thrillers with a side of suburban secrets 👀

I’ve just finished “what the nanny said” by Laura Finch which will be released on the 16th of July.

This book being right up my alley Genre wise; thriller / mystery and true crime. The last one I don’t really get since it isn’t based on true events but still, this book was a page turner!

Lucy is a stay-at-home mom, taking care of two-year-old daughter Evie in a very luxurious home with the most extravagant communal gardens. That’s where she meets Taylor, a young woman and very easy to talk to. It’s like they’ve known each other for a very long time.

Lucy’s home live isn’t really something to write home about, Sam, her husband is a journalist for BBC and works and travels a lot. He likes to be in the Spotlight so when he’s home there’s almost always a work colleague with him, friends… Live can get lonely for Lucy.

With her and Taylor becoming fast friends and Taylor egging her on to go back to work and find her worth again, that being in family law: Taylor pitches the idea of becoming Evie’s nanny on Lucy’s work days, when everything is set in stone and Lucy has gone back to work, things seem to escalate pretty quick.

Lucy is quite the alcoholic and uses Valium to zone out. When Sam finds a stash of Valium and other pretty heavy medication, he draws a line. Surely, she isn’t fit and capable to safely care for their daughter? He asks her to leave, without Evie.

Within a short timespan Sam seems to be head over heels for Taylor who is manipulating him but he can’t see it. Things just keep escalating until one winds up dead and two seem to have vanished of the face of the earth.

The storyline above takes place in the year 1999, but there is also a present timeline happening where Evie is an adult.

When visiting her mom something terrible happens, Evie’s mom Mia complains of a headache and heads to bed for a lie-down. Not much later Evie hears a shrill scream and runs to her mother’s bedroom, but she’s to late. Her mom died of a severe stroke. Overcome by grief and sorting some stuff out, Evie finds a box with old article clippings of a murder that has taken place in 1999.

The article talks about a nanny who has been interviewed claiming she was there when it happened. The 3-year-old girl has vanished with what looks like one of her parents and the other has been murdered. Evie does the math; the little girl was named Evie as well and has the same date of birth. Vanished around the time that Evie moved to New Mexico with her mother Mia. Her mother never wanted to talk about Evie’s father or their time in London.

The only thing she can remember her mother saying to someone was ‘that was in my Melody era’ Melody being Lucy’s best friend… Was Mia ever her mother? She wants answers, so she’s going to London to find out what happened. Who is Mia really? And what happened to her father? Does she have living relatives?

Definitely a ⭐⭐⭐⭐,5 read!

Every now and then you encounter a book that just sings to you. For me this is it, a psychological thriller it's told from different viewpoints and is as captivating as it is emotional. Really involves you in the narrative, it's exactly what I wanted from a novel.

Initially promising to be a compelling psychological thriller, this quickly turned into a "he said/she said" drama and before long I had a pretty good handle on where it was headed. Which is not usual for me. I found the nanny just as annoying as the detectives did.

This story is set in dual times, the late 1990s and the present day.

In the current day, Evie lives in Mexico and is going through her late mother’s things. She finds documents relating to her life before Evie, and there are articles about things that seem to tie in with Evie’s early life. She returns to London to investigate.

Back in the ‘90s, in London’s Little Venice, Lucy is struggling. She has a beautiful home, a high-flying husband, and plenty of money, but is feeling helpless at dealing with her little girl, Evie, and this adversely affects her mental health. Lucy then meets a lovely new friend, Taylor, who gets close to her and becomes Evie’s nanny, but it seems that Taylor wants more than just a job.

A gripping read, highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

What The Nanny Said by Lara Finch was such a twisty and ddictive read! It starts with a nanny who shows up to help a struggling mom and her little girl, Evie. She seems perfect at first, and then things slowly start to feel off. Twenty five years later, grown up Evie finds some old newspaper clippings hidden in her late mother’s stuff. They talk about a murder and a missing child with her exact name and birthday. If you love thrillers with lots of long buried secrets, definitely add this one to your list. I couldn’t put it down!

This had all the potential of a great psychological thriller:
A toxic relationship ✅
A devious young person ✅
Troubled pasts ✅
Blackmail ✅
Murder ✅
Suspense ✅
Sadly, it was let down slightly by the pace, which was woefully slow. My patience, however, was rewarded in the final third, thankfully.
The story is told over two timelines, 1999 and present day.
With the exception of Evie, none of the characters are likeable, but this is actually a positive. The nastier their behaviour, the more I wanted to read on. 🗡
So there you have it folks, a slow burn psychological thriller, crammed with tension, suspense and toxicity. 🗡
Thanks to Storm Publishing and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

WHAT THE NANNY SAID - A bit wordy, but an average, interesting read with good characters and good story lines. Easy to figure out everything and I liked what Evie decided in the last part of the final chapter. Source: Netgalley. 3*

Lara Finch delivered a gripping debut! “What The Nanny Said” centered on the lives of mother and daughter, Lucy and Evie. Lucy, who was struggling with stress and paranoia. She hired Taylor, a beautiful and seemingly ideal nanny for Evie. However, Lucy soon became dismayed by Taylor’s increasingly possessive behavior, and so it appeared, Taylor wanted more than just the job, she wanted Lucy’s life.

I appreciated how Finch narrated this story through alternating timelines between the past and present as well as telling the story through Evie, Lucy, and Taylor’s perspectives. This dialogue built a gradual sense of unease and had me guessing throughout. I also appreciated the complex characters Finch fabricated. As a mother myself, I found Lucy’s character the most relatable. Lucy was a privileged and fragile mother. She struggled with postnatal anxiety, marital tension, and a growing sense that she was losing control. Contrary to Lucy, Taylor was the abstruse nanny who appeared to be the “ideal nanny”. She was calm, efficient and nurturing. And lastly there was Evie. She was the unsettled daughter. Evie was guarded, introspective and determined to uncover the truth about her family when she was older. I loved how these women’s lives intertwined in a gradually unearthing of the devastating effects of deception, obsession, and identity theft. It was engaging. All three were bound by secrets — but only one of them knew the full story, and it was up to Evie to untangle it.

Along with the elaborate characters, gripping themes were comprised. The ones that stood out the most to me were identity & self deception, obsession & control, and motherhood & protection. Each of these themes lead to the salient question of this story-“What happens when the roles of mother, child, and stranger are blurred beyond recognition?”

Aside from the elements I appreciated, there were a couple that I didn’t care for. Most of this story was fast paced with the exception of the middle portion, and perhaps that was because some of the plot elements seemed a bit far fetched. Moreover, Finch left the story with an unresolved ending. The ending was quiet but lingered on a haunting note. Does this mean there will be a sequel? I guess we will have to wait to find out.

As a lover of psychological thrillers and debut authors, I’m so happy to have found a new voice in the psychological thriller-mystery genre. Lara Finch delivered a chilling twisted tale that was filled with obsession, buried secrets, and blurred identities. I recommend “What the Nanny Said” to those that appreciate a suspenseful atmosphere, unreliable narrators, and readers who have enjoyed Lisa Jewell and Shari Lapena books.

Thank you to Net Galley and Storm Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Read in 2 hours and 29 minutes.

You’d think that this rather popular plot is another Mrs Parish mimic but this is much more than this; it’s a tense book with hidden depths of mental illness, domestic violence, morality and- most importantly, a mother’s love.

Throughout the entire book, Lucy has the blessing of never doubting that the woman who raised her did so with fierce love- but now she’s dead and her identity is questioned.

Actually, the identities of both women are murky with confusion as Evie discovers that she was actually a missing toddler from a posh part of London, and the police are still searching for her- and for her father, the accused killer of the woman believed to be her actual birth mother.

Dislodged from her world by this identity crisis, Evie flees to England to find answers about her past but the more she learns, the harder the truth is to stomach.

Who was the nanny that weaved her way into Evie’s childhood, and what did she really want?

This book is surprisingly mournful and the plot dwells heavily on the isolation and pain that young mothers- especially those with brain health problems- face.

The money that floats from the leafy greens around them can’t cushion the blow of uncovering your family’s darkest secrets, but it certainly helps grease the wheels of injustice...

The author coaxed me into picking up and cradling this emotional baggage and now I’m doomed to wander the streets, cursing the atrocities of Taylor Love and her ilk.

Sadly, Bliss and Love is left in the wreckage, but I can’t wait to see what this author pulls from the rubble next. O

2.75/5

This story follows two timelines, past and present, following Taylor arriving as a nanny for Lucy's daughter Evie. But everyone is weird and kinda sus.

More rich people drama (which I'm always here for), a garbage husband, a return to a childhood home to uncover secrets, and unlikable characters.

I found the pacing of this to be very strange, especially at the end. It just kind of ends, there's no real crescendo. That was kind of strange.

I also found the formatting and timelines confusing. And I really did not like any of these characters, yeah, they're supposed to suck. These are rich, entitled people with lame problems, but they had nothing redeeming about them. Even if the point of your story is that everyone sucks, you still need to make me root for someone. Give me a side to root for or something interesting about the characters so that I care what happens to them. Because I didn't. I really didn't care what happened to them at all.

So much potential!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

What happened to Lucy? Did her husband murder her? Did he take their daughter Evie and run? If so, why has Lucy's body never been recovered? Who really is Taylor? There are so many questions that you need answered! From the very first pages you are hooked!! The author makes sure you not only are deeply involved in the mystery but makes sure you can't figure out what's going on! The twist at the end is perfection! Read this book but plan on staying up all night reading!

Possible spoilers

3.5 ⭐


Oh goody! Not one, but two unreliable narrators.
I was left not knowing who's word to trust, or which, if any , version events was even partly true
Taylor was quite the character, I enjoyed her a lot.
Evil too, digging away to find the truth.
An enjoyable read.

This is an emotional thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire read. It follows multiple perspectives, one of which is an interview with the police. As you progress through the novel you will start to second guess who is a reliable narrator and who is has actually been lying the whole time. Just when you are sure you know how this story will end, there’s another twist. If you’re looking for a sophisticated physiological thriller set in London, this is the book for you!

A lonely housewife named Lucy befriends a lovely girl named Taylor who quickly becomes her trusted confidant. Taylor becomes her nanny so that Lucy can get back to work part time. Lucy struggling with her own mental health issues is hoping this will be a fresh start. Things quickly unravel when Taylor wants to take over her life including her husband and daughter Evie. When disaster strikes who is alive and who is it? Better yet who is behind all of this? I absolutely loved this book. It was a wild ride and I didn’t want to stop reading. I loved the different view points of what was happening between the characters. You would read one point of view and think you had it figured out only to read the other point of views and realize there was more going on then meets the eye. I highly recommend to readers who like psychological thrillers with some mystery.

This is a fascinating look at deception and mystery. It involves a murder trial and a family with a nanny who is more than she appears to be! In the present we see a woman on trial and then we backtrack as we witness everything that leads up to this incredible mystery that is convoluted and well-planned. It's one of those novels that has your head spinning until the bitter end!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!