The woman in our House by Andrew Hart

Read before release for Netgalley

I requested this book from Netgalley as I liked the slightly spooky book cover and I seem to be into thrillers at the moment!

It begins with a husband and wife blessed by two daughters. Anna, the wife, wants part of herself back, in the sense of working. She loves her children but when she is told about qualified nannies and how great a part of support system they can be, she’s pretty much sold on the idea. There is naturally some guilt but it becomes outweighed by the feeling of being herself again, beta reading and almost immediately finds something that intrigues her!
The fun begins almost immediately by the introduction of someone deciding to replicate someone else. Why though? To what end?
Truth and lies become twisted and I couldn’t see the twists coming at all.
Very clever.

Throughout the book you learn from different points of view and why behaviours change others opinions. I loved how situations in the book made me think differently, time and time again! I was enthralled!

The characters were real characters, witty, cruel and that one friend everyone has.

If you enjoy twisty tales with a dark side this is the book for you. I really liked it.

2.5 Stars with rounded up to 3.0.

THE WOMAN IN OUR HOUSE was just ok....for me.

I REALLY liked the premise of the storyline....young well-to-do married couple with 3 1/2 and 9 month old hire live-in nanny so mom can resume job as literary agent in home office.

We all know going in the new nanny will probably have some personality quirks and dark secrets....she really does, but the voice and actions of the parents, oldest child and other characters, i.e. hospital personnel were unrealistic....as was the ending.

There are moments of suspense, but also unnecessary subplots and overall, so much is predictable.

***Arc provided by Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for review***

Great twisty plot. Writing style kept this book moving and interesting.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read.

This just felt too much like something I've read before and the quality of the writing wasn't there for me--too many things that didn't make sense and too many characters. I don't know why some writers think they need to throw a bunch of useless characters into the narration when it doesn't add anything and mostly creates confusion. Sorry, not a fan of this one.

I felt that the book started out strong, especially with revealing a twist so early. I liked the different perspectives that gave insight into the characters and their side of the story. However, the story quickly got derailed with too many subplots. The story became less focused, which made me start to lose some interest. And that ending? I'm not sure what the author was thinking but his social commentary along with completely implausible chain of events were somewhat of a mess. The story would have been just as thrilling without the extraneous subplots and the completely unnecessary white supremacist/racial angle.

The Woman in Our House could have been a 4-star rating as I liked the concept of the nanny stolen identity. Unfortunately, it dropped down to a 2.5 rating (rounded up to 3). The author tried to fit too many implausible ideas into one story and it just didn't work for me.

I enjoyed this one... there were a couple times I thought of putting it down but once I got to the half way mark I enjoyed it more and it started to move more quickly. Great ending...

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great plot twist in this mystery novel. I did not see it coming. Very good book.

Written in my favorite style of multiple point of views this thriller was a solid four stars. Started a little slowly but increased the anxiety as we moved along.. by the end I was rushing through - always a good sign!

Thoroughly engaging, once it got started and drew me in. True, the first several chapters were on the slow side, which I originally found tedious, but as the book progressed, I attributed that slow pace to a crafted entry, an intentional pace of quiet and lack of urgency. As the plot progressed [and several 'huh?' logic-lapse moments passed,] the story creates a fabulous draw-in, if not a dangerous undertow.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and I'm grateful to have been given the chance to read this stand-out in a genre that attracts Gillian Flynn-aspirers with a fresh take on the evil nanny story. The author put great effort into veering away from the most obvious clichés and comparisons, and once we get connected to his stride, it's a thrilling ride here. Very much recommend, and a chat-worthy story. There's lots to absorb here.

Anna & Josh go through all the steps to hire a live in nanny. The family meets the nanny, Oaklynn & instantly adore her. But not long after Oaklynn arrives, the children get the most puzzling illnesses and explainable injuries. When Oaklynn is there to comfort everyone, Anna can’t help feeling a little jealous & suspicious.

This book was original with the story, but not really exciting. It took a while to read the book through because I just couldn't drum up the interest.

I read The Woman in Our House in 2 sittings! From the very beginning we know the nanny is not who she seems to be, but how everything plays out is a twist you won't see coming! Not an entirely unique plot, but I immensely enjoyed this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC for my honest review.

It’s always so easy to judge and question why a parent would allow a “stranger” into their home and lives. But this family did everything the right way. They thought they had hired a professional, caring nanny to care for their children. OBVIOUSLY, things start to happen to make them question the nanny. But what happens? Who is this nanny? Why are people looking for her, and who are they?! And most important, will the children be okay?!
There are some slow chapters, but stick with it. It’s a great thriller.

*Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in return for a fair and honest review.
I was a nanny in a swanky part of Massachusetts for six years, so novels about nannies always interest me. However, I was not the kind of nanny found in this book; Nadine steals the identity of a former nanny, a woman with impeccable childcare references. She knows how to fire a crossbow, is great in a medical crisis, and can cook like a dream. So why does her employer believe she's harming the children? This was a well-written thriller with a twist at the end that I didn't see coming (and I pride myself on seeing them coming). A good quick read.

I did not enjoy this novel.

There were to many Points of View from characters that I did not feel added anything to the plot.

The drama just seems to unlikely and I got the scenario very early on.

Rich family hire a nanny. Mummy starts feeling threatened by the nanny, and the reader already knows that the nanny is not who she says she is. Drama’s start happening with the children and mummy blames the nanny.

The nanny has a history and someone who is looking for the nanny finds her.

Just wasn’t engaging enough for me, so much so I started skim reading.

Wow what an ending!! Not what I expected at all.
This book tells the story of a nanny who goes to live with a family with two young children. But all is not as it seems. The children start having unexplained accidents and the finger is pointed but are they right?
This had me gripped until the very last word. I read the last couple of chapters really fast desperately trying to find out what happens.

Absolutely loved this domestic thriller! Excellent character development, exciting dialogue and fascinating plot. What more can you ask for?
Highly recommended.

This was one of those books where you wonder how anyone could have a stranger come live in your house to watch your children. Because the woman who seems so perfect for the job has an underlying reason for being there. You think throughout reading the book that she was an evil person. Only to learn that there were extenuating circumstances causing her to do the things she did. It was a book that kept me reading and wondering. And in the end, it was satisfying to know the truth.

This book had the perfect amount of suspense. The ending kept me guessing multiple outcomes, and i was surprised with what actually ended up transpiring. Loved it!

The Woman in Our House is a fantastic thriller that is written well and has great characters. I enjoyed this book and hope to read more by this author.

I’ve often said that books like these are a bit like junk food and there’s nothing wrong with that. Junk food is what we all need from time to time and no matter what people say, we all love junk food. The more the better. A Woman In Our House is exactly what I love in a good thriller. It ticks off all the boxes that make a book like this a good, but predictable read and I swear the writers of these must have a checklist tacked up somewhere so they hit all the right spots. The important thing here is the characters. They are the glue that holds these books together, and the plot may be predictable, but it has to connect with the reader somehow. Without the connection, and the characters it’s not going to work. That connection makes or breaks the book and that is the key to a good thriller.

Hart has written a book that follows the blueprints of other suspense thrillers which sounds bad because you know how it’s all going to turn out. What we have is a novel that taps into the fear all parents have and that’s leaving our children alone with someone you don’t know. Anna’s fears towards the last half of the book are of course warranted but there’s a bit of a twist, and a weird one, but this time I didn’t see it coming. Hart does a bit of misdirecting here which saves the book a little. Is it still predictable? Yep, it is, but the overall pace of it all and the characters are the driving force of the novel. We almost see what's coming, we know that in the end, things are going to end badly, but the getting there is what makes it all worthwhile

The story has been done before, and Hart knows this so he throws us a curveball. Is Oaklynn as bad as we think? For the answers, you have to read the novel. Yes, there’s a lot here you’ve seen before on the Lifetime network. Decent suspense thrillers love to make us fear something we usually trust and this one is no different. The genre is good because it’s predictable, and gosh darned it, the authors keep pulling us in because they know we love the stuff they churn out. We can’t help it and the genre thrives because it’s like junk food and we eat it knowing it’s not good for us. Despite all of its flaws, there’s a bit of a twist thrown in that make this worth reading. Is it a masterpiece? No, but it’s still something you could read on a warm summer day, or on a bitterly cold winter day when you feel like crashing on the sofa with some munchies and a decent book. It ticks off the right boxes that keep the suspense novel alive, and that's not a bad thing at all.