This dark thriller really embraces the #metoo era.

It starts off with Saskia coming back to the Elf House only to discover that her mother did not pass it down to family in her will. Saskia digs into why and the dark spiral of bad memories and realizations begins. Even the house adds to the creepiness.

I enjoyed the suspense toward the end and the explanations at the beginning, but the middle was really slow. I get reaching out to the other girls, but that could have been minimal and still had the same impact.

Snipets of Saskias mom's children's book were spread throughout giving a little more perspective. This book does jump between past and present, so hold on.

I enjoyed the narrator's presentation, but would have liked a bit more emotion to come through her reading. I wanted to get more of that edge of your seat feel.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

I LOVED The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale and was so excited to read this new book by her.

This one didn't disappoint! A dark family drama told in multiple timelines of MC Saskia's past (childhood) and present. Full of dysfunctional family dynamics and the pressure that is put on a child piano prodigy. The pressure to be perfect and please adults around her. The allure of a young woman to an older man.

Present day brings the passing of Saskia's mother and the reading of her will which brings more turmoil and shock. Why did Saskia's mom leave the family estate to someone else? Twists and turns wrap the two timelines together beautifully. Solid 4-stars for me!

The narrator was fantastic and story flowed well as an audiobook!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

Former child prodigy, Saskia, returns to her childhood home (a ridiculous mansion) after her mother's death only to find her mother has not left her the house. Instead, Mom left it to her colleague, Patrick, who just so happens to be Saskia's abuser. The story of Saskia's childhood that unravels is unsettling, and asks the ultimate question: what will happen to the house? Will Saskia get it? Will Patrick keep it? And will Patrick ever pay for his crimes?

I was looking forward to this ARC because I enjoyed Kapelke-Dale's The Ballerinas, and hoped the novel that followed would be equally as good. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The main problem I had with this was, well, the main character. Saskia is a spoiled, uber-privileged child who grows up to be very much the same as an adult. So it goes without saying (or maybe it doesn't) that Saskia is rather unlikable. That said, it is VERY hard to root for her when she keeps whining about how she's owed a house that she couldn't even begin to afford (afford as in the upkeep). Not only was she hard to root for, but she was also super hard to connect to because I know very few childhood prodigies who grew up in obscenely large mansions (probably none). Some may say that what happens to her is what makes her relatable, but I have to disagree. I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Stephanie Willis was a fine narrator.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audio-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

**This review contains spoilers.**

The Ingenue simultaneously tells the story of teenage piano prodigy Saskia, who is preyed upon by her mother’s colleague, and Saskia twenty years later, reeling in the wake of her mother’s unexpected death as she finds out that the old mansion that has been in her mother’s family for generations has been left to Saskia’s abuser rather than her.

This story had a lot of potential, but would have benefited from different pacing / organization. My rating is 2.5/5 stars.

It opened with an interesting hook, but the sparseness of the details made the hook confusing rather than gripping. (Saskia tells her father that Patrick is upstairs, and that she thought he’d be dead by now. Who is Patrick? A human? A dog? Who is he, and who is he to her?) It also led to confusion as the story progressed— I figured out fairly quickly that Patrick was Saskia’s abuser (after I decided he was a man and not a dog), but since in the opening, Saskia’s father seems to be ‘in the know’, to me, it followed that he would be ‘in the know’ from the start of the book since nothing is said to contradict this until much later in the book.

Also, when Saskia says she’s going to meet with Patrick on her own, her father seems worried for her wellbeing— this further solidified the idea for me that he must have known about their relationship, because why else would he be worried for Saskia’s safety around Patrick (to the point that Saskia reminds him she knows boxing)? This confused me more, because assuming Saskia’s parents knew about the relationship, why on earth would they act so blasé towards Patrick, an actual predator??

This confusion didn’t clear up until about 60% of the way through the book, and thus overshadowed the first half. Up until that point, the narrative moved slowly and lacked any sort of urgency or, to be blunt, purpose. Saskia kept moaning about her mother not having told her about the illness before she died, and how the house was supposed to be her legacy, but this was all done before any sort of context was given about why I should care about Saskia’s relationship with her mom, or why it should matter so much that the house was going to Patrick instead of her.

While the flashbacks to Saskia’s adolescence / the start of her relationship with Patrick were difficult to read (because of the subject matter), they provided important context that I think should have come a lot sooner. Or maybe the book should have been written in chronological order— either way, the organization took away from the narrative. I wasn’t invested until over halfway through, and found much of the first half to have been tedious and unnecessary. If this wasn’t an ARC, I probably would have DNF’d.

Once I was invested, however, the story started to pick up— the exact moment I’d say everything ramped up was when Saskia uncovered the photos and discovered why exactly her mother had willed the house to Patrick. After that, Saskia’s character really began to develop, and we got so much more insight into her history and her relationship with her mom. The story actually felt like it was getting some movement then.

Now, the things I did really like about the book:

Over the course of the novel, I liked how Saskia and her mom’s relationship continued to shift even though Evie was already dead. I loved how Saskia’s understanding of her mom changed once she uncovered the photos, and how the unfinished Persephone/Demeter book tied into that sacrifice and relationship.

I also liked how Saskia’s relationship with her dad changed at the end, and the way that her understanding of her relationship with Patrick totally shifted as she looked back on the past with new eyes. Her acceptance that it had been predatory and that she was a victim was really heartbreaking, but I also appreciated her empowerment as she began to take control of the narrative.

A few other things I’ll mention:

What was the point of making 9/11 part of the story? It added nothing and just felt unnecessary.

I wish all mentions of the boxing friend hadn’t suddenly dropped off the moment she stopped being a convenient analogy for Saskia and Evie’s relationship. I can’t even remember the friend’s name because she wasn’t even really brought up after around the 65/70% mark.

While the audiobook narrator had a lovely voice, her narration was often overacted and suffered from the tendency to exactly recreate dialogue as written— by this, I mean practically whispering when a piece of dialogue is written as being spoken softly. every time that happened (which was often), I pretty much completely missed what was said because the narrator’s voice got so quiet I couldn’t hear her!

Overall, I think this novel had the potential to be really powerful, but fell a bit short due to its narrative structure and organization.

*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account."

"What's one more performance...one more pretend?!"

Reading those words from a 15 year old piano prodigy who's been living a lie for a long time isn't only heartbreaking but infuriating and demonstrates how powerful the words are in the #metoo psychology thriller The Ingenue by ingenius author Rachel Kapelke Dale.

There are many parts to Saskia's life. We meet her coming home to her family's estate she left years ago. She will inherit it now that her author mother Evie has died but "nothing in life prepares you for a moment like this." Regardless of their tumultuous relationship, she feels a profound loss with her mother's death.

When Saskia finds out she will not inherit the estate but instead it will go to "family friend," Patrick, an art photography professor, she knows something is very wrong. After all she has known Patrick all her life; intimately since she was 14 and he was 37.

All the anger you feel from that last sentence is magnificently displayed by narrator Stephanie Willis as Saskia realizes, as an adult, the horror of what Patrick did to her but even more consequential is when she awakes to the fact that, "Patrick didn't love her despite her age; he loved her because of it." This means when she grew up he found a younger version of her. She wants her home back, her innocence back but most of all she wants payback from Patrick.

I loved the beginning of the chapters that are snippets from Evie's books, Fairy Tales For The Little Feminists,
"...the Beast turned into a prince."
"Wait a minute. People don't just poof! Change...For months, you have treated me with... abuse."
"...she pulled a dagger and struck it through his heart...Now," Beauty said, "...about that library. .."

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Saskia returns home to attend her mother’s funeral and discovers that she has left her family’s home to someone from her past.

I wasn’t expecting to like this one as much as I did! After a slow start I became fully invested in the story. The mood is a very dark and there are several trigger warnings.

This audiobook was everything I love in a thriller!!!

Great narrators voicing multi-faceted characters weaving their way through the fast-paced story.

I really enjoyed this one from start to finish!

This audiobook took me a minute to get into, but once I was, I was in deep. I felt a little confused at first with the characters and what was going on, however I was packing up my house to move across the country so I may have been a little preoccupied. The writing was truly wonderful!

I was drawn to this book because I am from Wisconsin, so I saw Milwaukee and knew I needed to read. The premise seemed interesting and sort of unique, however the story ended up being extremely boring and slow. It didn't really make much sense and was all over the place. This was a disappointment.

3.5⭐

Featuring ~ dual 3rd person POV, multiple timelines, underage student/teacher relationship, manipulation

Saskia is back home after her mother's death. There are some shocks when the will is read, so Saskia sets forth to get what's rightfully hers.

I liked that this was written with a multiple timeline that took us through Saskia's childhood, which led us to why the house was not left to her. She took matters into her own hands in a big way and I liked the reasoning behind why of why her mother did what she did. Wasn't loving Evelyn's 'fairy tales for little feminists' stories at the beginning of the chapters.

There's an inappropriate relationship between 14 year old Saskia and her much older teacher, Patrick, that some might not enjoy reading about.
Being a mother with a daughter around the age of when Saskia was being manipulated might be reflecting on how I feel about this one. The story was well written, but that's a tough topic to read about for sure.

Narrated by Stephanie Willis for 12 Hours, 18 Minutes, 56 Seconds, easy to follow at 2-2.5x. It is on the longer side, but she did a good job keeping me listening. I was growing annoyed with the way she said Evelyn Harper Kreis though.

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you'll do anything to get there?

World renowned pianist Saskia has just returned home to Milwaukee following her mother's death. With expectations of living in the Elf House, she is fast made aware that not everything is how it should be. Her late mother has left the house to someone she would never have expected. But finding out the inner workings of her mom's decision and getting back her families home may be more than Saskia bargained for.

The Ingenue is a captivating audiobook, narrated by Stephanie Willis, and written by Rachel Kapelke-Dale. Told in the past and present point of view, readers are taken on a journey through Saskia's life and choices that allowed her to become the pianist that she is. The feminist fairytales sprinkled throughout kept my interest and I was curious as to how they fit in at the end. I'd recommend this read to anyone seeking out a contemporary fiction read.

This book was definitely not what I thought it would be! The cover kind of fools you into thinking it's just about a piano-playing virtuoso. And it is but it's about so much more!
Saskia Kries has lost her mother to a rare disease. A rare disease that Evelyn Harper Kreis never told Saskia about. She also left the beloved Elf House, a premier family beer dynasty home that has only EVER gone to family, to Saskia's former lover and Evelyn's former colleague, Patrick. But why? What has happened to cause such a rift? Is it simply because Saskia left behind a promising piano career and Julliard? Saskia is forced to examine her own past (and the complicated mother-daughter relationship) for answers in order to claim her heritage.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio.*

Having a child with a wonderful gifted ability often makes parents, sometime feel that the child is their ticket to a glorious future. However, in the case of Saskia Kreis, a vulnerable young girl, her life becomes one of abuse, sexual manipulation, and desire. The story begins as Saskia returns home to attend her mother's funeral. She finds out that her beloved home Elf House, is bequeathed to the man who abused her. Why was this done? Saskia then takes matters into her own hands and is determined to capture that home for herself.

The story is interwoven with feminist reworkings starting each chapter with fairy tales, written by her mother Evelyn. This starts us onto levels of teenage angst, and a belief that an older man whom she thinks she loves and who starts sexually using her at fourteen, is divided between the past and the present. We can understand the child Saskia is and as she matures, she begins to see that she is not the prodigy she once was. As an adult, she knows her talent seems to be interrupted by her supposed love for Patrick, the sexual manipulator. She had been a child searching for acceptance and love and as teenagers so often do. Perhaps, once ourselves, we knew the feelings that we thought were love, but nothing more than acceptance, supposed care, and a newly budding sexual desire.

However, the bottom line, was why would Evelyn give the Elf House to Patrick, the abuser?

This complicated story really portrayed the tenuous relationship a child if often in when in relationship with an older man. She becomes a pawn in the search for love and her immature idea of what it constitutes. At eighteen, Patrick ends the "affair" and Sakia returns to her passion for the piano. Patrick is an abuser and when she commits an offense, she confesses to her beloved father, the chain of events. Saskia has taken control of her life, and as Her father rages against the past happenings, perhaps things will spiral out of Saskia's control.

Can Saskia find someone who can love her who doesn't know about her being a prodigy? Is her former skill what made her lovable or is there something else within that makes her worthwhile? She can always retreat back to the Elf House, but can she face life and live up to reality? Can you face the fact that there were others who are better than you, and you are no longer remarkable?

Thank you to Rachel Kapelke-Dale, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this well written book that might revel some of our own hidden memories.

This story was an intricate weave of the main character’s past and present, as she works through the implications of her first love, and the power of family. Rachel Kapelke-Dale does not disappoint with this book. It is so well written, so strongly feminist, and delivering important messages to all women. If you read and enjoyed her story, The Ballerinas, you definitely want to read this story!

3.75+ stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. I definitely noticed commonalities between this novel and the writer’s last one, and in both cases, although I did enjoy the books, I didn’t *love* either one as much as I’d hoped I would. The story was in-depth and interesting, though, and I quite enjoyed the snippet of feminist-revisionist fairytales at the beginning of the chapters. I like the writer’s style, but going into her next one, I just need to remember that her stories tend to be heavier than I expect.

Side note: the cover design is gorgeous!

The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Narrated by Stephanie Willis (12 hrs 18 min)
Women's Fiction - Audiobook Review - 4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

The Ingenue is a dark suspenseful tale with plot twists told through Saskia's present day events and the actions and excerpts from her mother's feminist fairy tale retellings. Although it includes fairytales, it is gritty, heart-wrenching and haunting.

I highly recommend the audiobook version, narrated by Stephanie Willis. Her brilliant narration captures the essence of each character and takes you directly into the story. It may not be suitable for everyone. Be sure to check the trigger warnings before proceeding.

Synopsis:
Saskia Kreis, a former piano prodigy, returns home to Milwaukee after her mother dies, expecting to inherit the Elf House estate. The discovery that her mother's will left the Elf House to a man Saskia shares a complicated history with forces her to reexamine her own past. He was the romantic relationship that shaped her future. Her mom's decision has left her searching for answers. Will digging too deep destroy her or can she claim her heritage while keeping her secrets hidden?

On December 6th, The Ingenue will be available.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sharing this book with me. Listening to it is a pleasure. It left a lasting impression on me.

#TheIngenue

Interesting premise. It kept you guessing about what was going to happen. I am a little disappointed as I thought it would be secrets about the house and it’s history. It is a horrible thing that happened to her and other but not what I was expecting. Very well written.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the new novel by Rachel Kapelke-Dale, beautifully narrated by Stephanie Willis - 4.5 stars!

Saskia, a former piano prodigy, returns home to Milwaukee from NYC after her mother's death. She expected to inherit The Elf House, a mansion passed down to the women in her mother's family. However, she finds out that her mother's will left the house to someone in Saskia's past and she is both devastated and livid. She begins digging into the reasons for her mother's bequest while in turn exploring her own past and secrets.

I really enjoyed the author's debut novel, The Ballerinas, and found this one very intriguing. Each of the chapters begins with an excerpt from Saskia's mother's feminist fairy tale books, which were very relevant. We go back into Saskia's past to explain her present frame of mind. There's lots to delve into in this book - family secrets, mother/daughter relationships, how being a prodigy with all its expectations does to a child, the people who take advantage of that, and the "MeToo" movement are all explored. The narrator did a wonderful job voicing all these characters and I loved listening to this one too!

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

I was so caught off guard by this book. The way this story is built, the way it plays out… I was just stunned.

Former piano prodigy Saskia returns to her childhood home after her mother’s sudden death. The house she grew up in, the one that was always supposed to go to her, is instead given to someone else in her mother’s will, causing a whole spiral in Saskia’s life. The new inheritor is someone from Saskia’s own past… someone she begins to reconcile her history with. Discovering her own truths and realizing the way her time with this man shaped the person she has become, Saskia is now hellbent on making him answer for what he has done.

There was a lot in this book that could have been triggering to myself if it had been written differently. I saw similar experiences in our protagonist, Saskia’s adolescence as my own, experiences I wouldn’t wish on any young girl… any young person for that matter. And I felt a connection to her. Rachel Kapelke-Dale wrote a really empowered character in Saskia even when she is questioning her truths.

This book speaks on past trauma, demonstrates the manipulations predators use, shows a really intense and unique family dynamic and more. I thought every single word was compelling. I listened to the audiobook and it was great. Not once did I not feel fully IN this story. The narration was done wonderfully.

I really enjoyed The Ingenue. It had a great feeling of drama and deep, dark emotion. Especially listening. Stephanie Willis did a great job narrating, minus Patrick's voice, I think she went a little too creepy with it, but still great narrator. Loved the cover art! Like with The Ballerina's, it's what drew me in. I actually think that it fit the mood of the story.
I'm going to give this one a 3.5 stars (round up to a 4). There were parts of it that I thought were just way too repetitive and added nothing and also moments where Saskia was annoying and I didn't quite understand what it was that she wanted. Also, I feel like there was a disconnect about who she was in the past and who she became. I don't want to give anything away, but there was a small part that didn't make sense. BUT, with that said, I thought Rachel Kapelke-Dale created a mood and carried that mood throughout the book. I found myself listening any moment I could to find out what was going on. Great job!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the arc.