In my opinion this was just an okay read. In fact, I ended up skimming through the last half. The story was very predictable so there weren't very many surprises. I find that if I feel I know everything at the half mark of the book them there isn't much of a desire to keep reading.

Edge of your seat reading. Ann and Josh decide to hire a live in nanny to help with their small children while Ann goes back to work.  Oaklynn comes with raving reviews as a nanny.  But is there something more sinister going on with the perfect nanny?

I wanted to like this book based off of the description, it sounded like a fast passed, good, read. Unfortunately, I found the writing mediocre, using excessive descriptors to try to help enhance the story. The story was predictable at best and I just did not enjoy this book.

3.5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union publishing for the EARC in exchange for an honest review. 

This was the first book I’ve read by Andrew Hart but it won’t be the last. I enjoyed the book. It kept me engaged and I flew through it. Some things I figured out but there were plot twists that I never saw coming. Kept me guessing that’s for sure.

This book starts a little slow, building the characters and their back story that make it much better later on.  As the story develops, it picks up with the character stories moving forward at the speed of rumors in a small neighborhood.  The story seems a familiar one then turns a corner and becomes an entirely different picture of a mother's worry for her children while she works.  How can she be sure the nanny is good to her children?  How can she be sure her children still need her?  What is going on?  It's a much different story than you'd think by reading the cover.  Much, much different and much better as a mystery/ thriller.

The Woman in Our House got an interesting plot, the subplots, not much. Still, I easily find it a solid thriller despite being predictable at times. It was told in multiple POVs but mainly focused on Anna's. And with that, early on, readers are let in on a secret that Oaklynn's not who she claimed to be. But we're left guessing about her intentions. Most of the characters are unlikeable, even Anna, that made it hard to fully sympathize on her plight. While all throughout, there's a lingering suspicion towards Oaklynn. And it would have been nice if there's more about her past.  Overall though, it is a well-written thriller.

The Woman in our House begins as a domestic drama and quickly escalates to an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Andrew Hart, the author, is a pen name for A.J. Hartley. Anna Klein, a young wife and mother of two young daughters, decides to return to her job as a literary agent. It is clear that Anna will need help with the children and proceeds to meticulously research recruitment agencies in the search for a reliable nanny. She chooses Oaklynn Durst, a mormon woman from Utah who has excellent recommendarions and she quickly moves into the family home and the children take an instant liking to their new nanny. Soon, Anna notices odd behaviour: her otherwise healthy children begin to require visits to the ER where Oaklynn basks in the sympathy she receives from the medical staff. The rest of the story will be divulged when you read this cringe-worthy novel. Creepy only begins to describe what happens. Highly recommended. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts
The premise of this book was intriguing enough for me to request it on NetGalley to read and review. However, the execution of the story fell a little flat for me. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros

- I’ve always been drawn to stories like this where a nanny or another house guest disrupts things, sometimes irrevocably. The theme is kind of a play on the home intruder type stories, only this time the intruder is invited. It can make for a very unsettling story.
- There were enough little cliffhangers at the beginning of the book that I maintained sufficient interest to keep reading.

Cons

- The book was written in first and third person with multiple points of view. I personally found that distracting and odd.
- The story felt a bit overwritten and padded. There were a lot of weird subplots that didn’t contribute to the story at all and slowed down the pacing of the entire book.
- Oaklynn wasn’t really weird enough or scary enough for me to stay engaged. None of the characters were developed much and I didn’t really connect to any of them.
- I figured out every single “gotcha” well before they were revealed.
- The ending of the story got really strange and a bit implausible and ultimately tried to make some kind of oddly placed statement on racism that simply didn’t jive with the rest of the book in my opinion.

Summary
This was a slow-burn thriller that ending up being too slow and not very thrilling. Everything was a little too pedestrian to be effective or engaging and overall it felt a little messy and erratic. I don’t think this will be a very memorable book for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my word!-where to start! This is the first book I've read by Andrew Hart and it certainly won't be the last. This is a real slow burner, inexorably drawing you in to the lives of the Klein family, Anna , Josh and their two children Veronica and Grace. They have a lovely home in a prime location and appear to have it all. Yet Anna , who worked as a literary agent prior to becoming a mother, is feeling unsettled and in her words "eclipsed" , needing more than motherhood to fulfill her needs. Enter the Nanny! I don't want to reveal any spoilers as this book is a journey. Like me , I'm sure you will have come up with several different scenarios and outcomes but guarantee you won't ever suspect the right one! This story builds layer upon layer of tension til by the end I could scarcely breathe! It is very cleverly crafted, totally original and completely absorbing. I highly recommend you get hold of a copy immediately and be prepared to check out of your life until you've finished reading it as I guarantee you won't be able to put it down!

I loved this one! It was one of those thrillers that I had a hard time putting down, and finished the book in two days. I thought I had the plotline figured out (although a twist at the end proved me wrong) but even though I "thought" I knew what was happening, I was still entranced. 

* Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A story about guilt, trust and insecurity with doses of chilling terror.

There are references to eclipses as a motif for the unknown, being in the shade or blocked out as the central character becomes isolated after she hires a nanny. There is no prior meeting between the family and the children's nanny, she is employed simply from an agency based on excellent references. Early on the nanny is revealed as a fake. The rest of the book looks at why she is an impostor and what she has to hide, and what secrets the other characters are hiding.

It it a very slow start and tedious in places, especially the first chapter (which seems very long). A mother wants to hire a nanny so she can go back to work. A paragraph is all that is needed to express this not the long chapter offered. But as the tension increases the chapters become shorter and snappier. The nanny is too perfect. She has ways of looking at people, as if she knows things and she smiles too much. This is very well done and quite creepy.

When strange things appear to be happening within the family - or maybe not - the tension increases and the story moves along quickly. Anxiety and paranoia are depicted well.

There are a few loose ends and some new ideas that appear towards the end as if an afterthought. This leads to a fairly disjointed ending not really in keeping with the tone of the story. It is however, quite a gripping thriller.

#NetGalley #TheWomanInOurHouse

Interesting book. The suspense was not very intense for me. There were some interesting plots in the middle. The ending also had a weird twist I didn't see coming.

This was a gripping, entertaining, edge of your seat novel that will keep you on your toes and leaving you flipping through the pages wanting to know more. The main characters Anna, Josh and Oaklynn are such diverse characters and they are have their fair share of secrets, lies and personality quirks that make for a very dynamic and entertaining read.

Anna and her husband Josh agree to hire a live in nanny to care for their two young girls so Anna can return to work as a literary agent. At first things are going well. Their two children seem to really adore and get along well with their new nanny Oaklynn. Oaklynn seems perfect - she is great with the girls, and is like a second mother to them. Anna suddenly becomes suspicious of Oaklynn, as many strange and unexplainable things begin to happen not only to the girls but to others around them. Add to that the jealousy that Anna begins to feel, as well as the guilt, when the girls grow increasingly closer and closer to Oaklynn. Anna feels Oaklynn is overstepping sometimes and Anna becomes frustrated as she is the parent, the mother... not Oaklynn.

Is everyone who they say they are, or are some keeping their true selves hidden from everyone else? This book is packed full of shocking twists and turns of events that will leave you guessing and wanting more.

A great novel that I recommend highly for your summer read this summer!

I felt a bit confused and lost in the beginning of this book. I felt like there was too much going on but I'm glad I stuck with it though! It was twisty and great!  I'll be careful who I let in my home! You just never know. I'll look for more from this writer. #NetGalley #TheWomanInOurHouse #AndrewHart

I didn’t like this book at all. The characters are not drawing me in. Not keeping my attention and not seeming to do much of anything for me. A nanny should not be so easy to impersonate. The parents would not, in my opinion, hire her without meeting her. A mother should have a better vibe about a nanny so meeting her would have been the first step. Not hiring the way this one was. It just did’t ring true for me. I did not finish this book because I was having a hard time finding it to be believable in so many places. 

There are to many books to be read to settle for one I do not like. I think there may be others who will love this book. Others who also will not. I was a not. 

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

It’s only a 2 star for me.

I enjoyed this fast paced suspense story. I did find some of the storylines to be a bit unbelievable, but the writing kept me reading. We knew some of the twists early on, so I was surprised by the amount of twists included. Just when you thought you knew everything that was going on, the author threw in a new turn. I did find some of the story to be predictable, but I did enjoy the journey.

I really liked the premise of the storyline but the actions of the characters were quite annoying. There are moments of suspense, but also unnecessary subplots. And most of all it is so predictable! That makes me really sad and the ending is quite disappointing too.
I loved this books dynamic and that it is told from multiple points of views. This made this book into a page turner. I needed answers and wanted to know if there would be a surprise. In the end I enjoyed reading it, it was a lot of fun but plot and character wise it wasn't that mindblowing.

So, I just finished reading The Woman In Our House by Andrew Hart  (aka A.J. Hartley) & I really enjoyed this dark domestic tale. It took me awhile to get on board as it started a bit slow for me, but once it got rolling - it kept me sucked in - and I was dying to see where it went. Below is my short - NO spoiler review ! 

I loved the literary side to this storyline a lot - the main character is an author agent - and readers get a book inside a book here- which I am a fan of ! Reading excerpts of the main character’s (Anna) clients book for me was brilliant and I wanted more! I love this concept and a peek into that side of the literary world is always great! 

Also- there were some twists I didn’t see coming and for Moms, this can be a gut wrenching scary read at times! Trigger warnings for some! 

There were some not so surprised moments and confusion along the way also for me. This book touches on Munchhausen by proxy and I wish it would have been a more prevalent topic as the storyline here just skims the surface and imo had no real reason to be in this book - although I see why it was! 🤷‍♀️

Overall, I always enjoy a thriller that touches on how dark humanity can be and so I did enjoy this book and would recommend it for a quick dark page turner! 

Much thanks to Net Galley always for early an reading copy in exchange for this review ! Authors and publishers - I’m always a grateful reader ! ❤️Check this one out for sure - guys! 

🌟🌟🌟.5 from me !

I really liked this novel!

Anna Klein and husband Josh have two daughters. Starting a family meant that Anna stopped working, but after 3 years out of the workforce, she wants back in. They decide to hire a nanny, using a service out of Utah to hire Oaklynn. Or at least, they think they’ve hired Oaklynn.

The reader knows early on that Oaklynn is not who she seems, that in fact, she is a different person entirely. Who have they hired and let live in their house? And what is this person hiding?

This book was suspenseful without feeling overwhelmingly frightening. There were just enough little signs to give the reader misgivings about Oaklynn, without shoving it right in our faces that something sinister was going on. The ending has a bit of a twist, which I liked.

Definitely recommend this one for thriller readers!

Enjoyed this book. Kept me interested all the way through. Would recommend to a fellow reader.  Love the cover.