I really enjoyed this one. The characters were well developed and fleshed out. The husband was a little dry but he really was a side character so it was understandable. The atmosphere was a little confusing at times. It felt like the setting was in the UK but it was supposedly in the US south. Okay, I looked the author up, He was born and raised in the UK and moved to the US as an adult. That explains the writing style being slightly different. 

The overall atmosphere that the book makes you feel is ominous. You know that something is not right but you do not know what it is. The multiple narratives and third and first person narratives felt a little overused. I really did not need to know the inner thoughts of all the characters to be allow the story to progress. Normally it would be confusing but all of the different narrators have very distinct personalities which is a hard thing to pull off and impressive. 

The  plot was intriguing and as the reader, we know more information than the main character but we don't know everything and we are left guessing. I think it was the author's intentions for us to use the foreshadowing and extra information to build our own speculations. 

Logically the story is not very believable in real life for main different reasons but I can respect the authors creatively in bending believability enough to not make it stand out too much. 

Overall I was intrigued from beginning to end. I would recommend this to everyone. Especially if you like a psychological thriller. This one left me constantly second guessing my theries.


I
l
e

The Woman In Our House is my first read from author Andrew Hart. It appears this is a pseudonym and he is also known as A. J. Hartley.

This is a story of a mother, Anna, trying to get back into working as a literary agent, so she resulted to hiring a nanny for her two kids. Though her husband, Josh, is reluctant at first, he agrees and they contacted an agency that sent them Oaklynn.

From the title itself, it is obvious that there is something shady about Oaklynn. The book does not actually wait to long to show readers that. So, we are actually prepared for the darkness that follow.
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
I found myself initially loving the book, and then getting frustrated with how slow the pace was. I struggled with the side plots and found all the characters unlikeable except for the kids.

The book was redeemed by the last 20% and I enjoyed the plot twist. I was satisfied by the ending and it made this a worthwhile read after all.

☁ THE CRITERIA ☁

🌻 Blurb:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Heroine:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Support Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Writing Style:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Character Development:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Thrill Factor:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Pacing:⭐⭐✩✩✩
🌻 Ending:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Unputdownability:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Book Cover:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩

☁FINAL VERDICT: 3.4/5 ☁

The Woman in our House – Hart (6/18/19)
This had an interesting premise and was thrilling enough to keep me interested and turning pages, especially while reading it on a long flight.  As a mother, I did find it hard to believe that someone would let a nanny into their house to live and take care of her two young children without meeting her first. Glowing references are great, even a phone conversation, but I would still want to have face-to-face interaction. I wish there was a little more character development with Anna and Josh.
Overall, this was a solid read, and a good one to keep me engrossed, and there were a few surprises I didn’t expect.
#thewomaninourhouse #andrewhart #lakeunionpublishing

A brilliant thriller with many twists on the "usual" nanny stories. I was gripped from the start Excitement builds as the reader is continually thrust with another surprise! Cannot say much more without letting out a spoiler. Recommend !

One of this summer's best!

Many Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for a real rollercoaster ride !

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

In exchange for an honest review, I was provided a free eARC of The Woman in Our House by Andrew Hart courtesy of NetGalley.

Official Description (courtesy of NetGalley)
What happens when you open your home to the perfect stranger?

Anna Klein is ready to return to work as a literary agent for the first time since having children. She and her husband, Josh, decide to hire a live-in nanny with some trepidation, but all their misgivings disappear as soon as they meet Oaklynn Durst. She has stellar references, a calm disposition, and a natural way with children. Not to mention their kids simply adore her.

But not long after Oaklynn arrives, the children start to come down with the most puzzling illnesses and inexplicable injuries. When the maternal Oaklynn is there to comfort everyone, Anna can’t help feeling a little eclipsed. And suspicious. Her husband and friends assure her that her anxieties are getting the best of her—Oaklynn is perfect. But Anna’s not so sure…

As she delves into Oaklynn’s past, she discovers too late that the woman who has been living in her house is not at all who she claims to be. But Oaklynn’s not the only one who has been lying. And when everyone’s dark secrets are forced into the light, the consequences may just turn deadly.

My Thoughts
Wow. This book took some twists I was not expecting at all.

How the book opens, the reader gets a sense that something bad will happen to her eldest daughter of the main protagonist. Which, it does, but not what you'd immediately expect.

Once Oaklynn moves into the Klein household, the reader gets the feel that something isn't right with Oaklynn. I got the feeling that she had Munchausen by Proxy, which she kind of did. 

Then we start to see something is going on with Josh, Anna's husband, and Oaklynn has dirt on him. I got the feeling that Oaklynn would use this information to hurt the family somehow.

The story then takes a completely different turn and throws in a surprise antagonist. To be honest, I wasn't expecting the surprise antagonist, primarily because I thought this story would revolve around Oaklynn and something she ended up doing, because the title reads The Woman in Our House. 

The story was wrapped up nicely and I really enjoyed how the story twisted at the end.

In Conclusion
I love a good mystery/thriller and The Woman in Our House was a good one. I give this story 4 stars!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely loved reading 'The Woman in Our House'. I honestly couldn't put it down.  A bit predictable in some areas, however finding out the plot twist involving Oaklynn/Nadine not being the one harming the children did throw me for a loop.  I found all the characters to be quite interesting and even began feeling attached to a few of them.  My only complaint would be the last few chapters seemed a bit rushed and in my opinion didn't leave the book with a very good ending

DNF @ 20% - no rating and not included in 2019 reading challenge. 

I'm not caring for the vibe of this book at all and I have struggled to make it this far. I peeked at some spoilers and I feel safe that I am making the right decision. Moving on!

It shouldn’t be hard when you decide to hire a nanny and go back to work right?  In this story Anna is looking for a live in nanny. Easy right? Well you have to read this book to know more about this juicy plot. The only thing that I didn’t quite like was the subplots but I feel as though the Author did a good job in building up suspense and making me want to continue on.  I felt as though the characters were developed well and I liked how the author linked the characters all together. That was nicely done. If you enjoy suspenseful reads I recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my complete and total honest opinion. I will read more from this Author.

This book is a  thriller that took me  on a journey of what may happen if they invite a nanny who is a stranger into my home.  It makes you stop and think..... 
I could not put this book down.

Anna and Josh live in a very nice home in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Anna had been a literary agent in New York before their move to North Carolina where she soon became a mother.  Josh works in finance.  They are parents to Grace, 9 months, and Veronica, age 3.

Anna wants to go back to work out of her home and needs a nanny.  After much research, she thinks the Nurture agency out of Utah sounds like the best place.  Most of their nannies are Mormon.  

Oaklynn is a Mormon woman who had worked for years with the Nurture agency as a nanny.  She has just gotten married and she along with her husband are moving to Japan to be missionaries.  Oaklynn’s good friend, Nadine, is helping her with the move and all the details involved with it.  Now, Nadine has taken over Oaklynn’s name, identification, and using Oaklynn’s past work time with them, has put in to be a nanny with Nurture.

Soon, Anna and Josh offer a job to Oaklynn who accepts and seems to be a good fit for them.  She settles in well and the girls like her.  But, before long, some unexpected illnesses and injuries happen to the girls and Anna is puzzled as to how they are occurring.  

In the meantime, Edward Flanders is looking for Nadine and is coming up cold for leads.  Where could she have gone and why if he looking for her?

This book has some very slow parts that made me struggle to stay with it.  But, it picked up and came to a very shocking ending.  That’s what saved this story for me.  There are some things I question in the story that seemed to be glossed over in the book.  For instance, why would you have a cell phone that does not get a signal in your house?  I’ll let you read the book to see if you are left with the same question.  Enjoy.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a interesting, fast read.  However, if you are looking for any mounting suspense and surprises in a storyline you won't find it here.

This book was not easy to get into at first, partly because I have to be in the mood for a thriller and I just wasn’t. I did eventually get engrossed in the story and wanted to see what happened next.

I’m still not completely sure how I feel about the book, however. On the surface, I enjoyed it and the climax was not what I expected. But digesting it after, a lot doesn’t hold up. The ending just absolutely does not make sense. The descriptions of all characters, except Oaklynn, are superficial and I struggled with anything more than a superficial connection to the characters. The creepy factor was there for sure, but there were also times reading Oaklynn’s point of view that were just so off they jarred me out of the story.

This is a book with a lot of action, but requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief. I really enjoyed Mr Hart’s book Lies That Bind Us, but this one just didn’t compare. This is a 3 1/2 star book for me.

This is a thriller that makes you think about who you bring into your home, especially if you have kids.

I found the story very slow to take off but started to enjoy it when it did.  I appreciate  that you hear from different voices so have an advantage the characters themselves don't have.  However, unfortunately, that's where it started to go downhill for me.  I found none of the characters likeable, and therefore didnt really care what happened to them. I began to get irritated at characters for silly reasons, such as one saying "cripes" and "Jiminy Christmas" way too often - this was probably intentional but whereas in some books I enjoy having characters to dislike or who annoy me, in this case I just found it irritating and distracting.   Some of the character reactions generally are just not believable, and all the sub plots just made it feel messy and disjointed.  

All in all, a well written thriller but one that really didn't work for me personally.  No doubt, however, other people will find it really enjoyable, and I wouldn't let my experience put someone off.

I received an arc of this book but my review is independent and honest.

The Woman In Our House is a thriller that could have thriller so much more if Random sub plots hadn’t been in my view unnecessarily added.
Anna Klein has decided to return to work, Josh her husband is supportive of this and Anna decides to get a live in nanny for their two children, Anna has a lot of insecurities, one of them now being she must hire the nanny that will not make Josh stray. Now I don’t know much about nannying but I’m pretty sure you have rigorous interviews with people from the company that the nanny is with whilst looking for work not just a few written lines and a photo, but what do I know?
The storyline would have been great had it not gone off on a different track and not really add anything to the story eg, Josh’s trouble at work. On the whole though it was enjoyable and although it didn’t make me pick it up I did enjoy it for the majority of the time when I did.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars I found The Woman in Our House to be rather slow in the beginning. I'm glad I stuck it out though because I was considering putting it aside. The story was interesting, but I just wish it had moved along a little quicker.

I didn't really warm to any of the characters and I'm not sure why, but perhaps it was just me because the book I read just previous to this completely wrapped me up in it.

There is definitely suspense, family drama, and secrets ~ OMG secrets. Reading this will make you doubt your judgement about who you have around your children, that is for sure. I found myself siding with one character at times and then suddenly wanting the other person to be right and in the end I did enjoy the ride.

Thank you to the publishers, author and Netgalley for approving my request for an ARC. All thought in this review are my own and freely given.

Anna Klein thinks she's ready to return to work. To do so, she and her husband Josh opt to hire a nanny. Hiring a live-in nanny is a little worrisome, but they've talked to others who say the arrangement works beautifully. They're recommended a Mormon agency based in Utah.



When Oaklynn Durst arrives, she's better than Anna and Josh could have imagined. Not only is she delightfully warm and caring, but she's eager to show the family just how hard she's willing to work. She's soon cooking their meals, catering their parties, and doing far more than imagined.



When their girls start ending up with unexplained illnesses and experiencing "accidents" that require hospitalizations, Anna begins to worry that Oaklynn is not the Mary Poppins-like nanny they've imagined. She starts to fear that Oaklynn has a very dark side that is putting her family in danger.



The Woman in Our House started out strong. As the story progressed, there were things I couldn't decide why they were included. Anna's a bit hard to like. I get wanting to jump back into her career, but I also wondered why a live-in nanny was really necessary given the time she spent out of her home office checking on the girls or joining the nanny and girls in activities. A babysitter a few days a week would have sufficed.



I had real issues with the neighbor. She's not likable, and honestly, her role in the story was minimally important at best. I could have done without her. Certain parts of the story were never explained. I don't want to give away any plot, but there were things that happen that when everything came to the climax, I still found myself asking "why did that part back there happen, then?"



In the end, I liked this story. It had great potential, but some of it fell flat and then the ending was easy to predict. For that reason, it wouldn't make my keeper list.

This book was very hard for me to get into.  There were moments where the book had a hard time keeping my attention and then other moments I couldn't put it down.  It seemed to rollercoaster on that for me thru out the book.  Once I figured out the plot of the story it lost my interest again.  I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters.  They seemed to all have a similar dynamic which I would have to go back sometimes and try and figure out who was talking.
For me this book was just ok.  But I think a lot of people may enjoy it, with so many books written about people being in their homes that they don't really know, I think it would be a favorite among that particular group of books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

The Woman in Our House by Andrew Hart is one of those books that feels like a bit of a slow burn but when you get to the end, BAM things get crazy. This is my first time reading a book by Hart, but it will surely not be my last. 

What it's about: Anna Klein has taken some time off from her career as a literary agent while she's been raising her 2 girls. Now she is ready to get back to work but she needs help in order to work at the house. With some trepidation, Anna and her husband Josh decide to hire a live-in-nanny to help with the girls so Anna can work in her home office and not have to worry. At first, when Oaklynn Durst arrives things are perfect. She clearly loves the girls and is very helpful around the house, but after a while when strange things start happening to the girls (illnesses/accidents), Anna starts to wonder just how trustworthy Oaklynn actually is. But while Oaklynn may have secrets, she isn't the only one. As everyone's secrets are brought out into the open, the consequences are anything but what Anna could have expected. 

The Woman in Our House felt like it was a quick book, but it still took me almost 6 hours to read it. It is definitely a slow burn, and overall has very unlikable characters. I couldn't really connect to anyone in the book at all, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Some things you are already aware of right away in the book, and a couple other things I predicted easily, but I definitely didn't see the ending of this one coming. The ending does get a little gruesome and made me cringe a bit, but overall the book itself was more chilling than gruesome.

I thought the plot was interesting and although some people might consider the end to be a little out there, I was fine with it and it made for a chilling conclusion to this book. 

Song/s the book brought to mind: This was a no-brainer, Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler (it's mentioned in the book). 

Final Thought: The Woman in Our House gave me the creeps more than once, especially towards the end, and I found myself getting startled by every noise I heard. I love when a book can do that to me, and if you do too then I highly recommend this one. It's a little different than other things I have been reading lately which made for a nice change of pace.

Would you invite a stranger into your house to live and take care of your kids?  That's the question at the heart of this book.  

I liked that the book was written from alternating perspectives, Anna's and Oaklynn's, including flashbacks.  There were several twists and turns throughout the story.

Anna has been a stay at home to her two girls, who are 9 months and 3 1/2 years old, since they were born.  She decides that she wants to go back to work so they hire a nanny to live with them and take care of the girls.  She starts looking through employment agencies and finds Oaklynn.  Oaklynn accepts and moves from Utah to the families home in North Carolina.  The girls instantly love her.  Anna is a little more hesitant, but tells herself she's just being paranoid until things start to go terribly wrong.