I love Lisa Jewell, and I think she’s a brilliant writer, but this novel fell a little bit short for me. It begins with a bang and captures the reader’s attention right away. The author kept me intrigued throughout the novel until about three quarters of the way through. At that point, it began to feel repetitive and I started to lose some interest. Nevertheless, I really did enjoy this book. Lisa Jewell is a brilliant storyteller who keeps her readers captivated through an interesting storyline, drawing them deeper into the adventure of the novel. Even though the last little bit was disappointing, I would still recommend this book to any thriller enthusiast.

An enjoyable excerpt. I loved the description of the setting and the initial obsession and intrigue surrounding the neighbour. I’d definitely be interested in picking up the rest of the story, and imagine it would be one I couldn’t put down!

I thought this was the full book not just an excerpt. Waiting for the full novel from the library! I've heard great things and can't wait to read it!

This is the first Lisa Jewell book I’ve read, but it won’t be the last. Even though many of the characters are quite creepy I felt as if I could easily meet them in my everyday life as they are just normal people. It’s how they are seen by other characters which makes them interesting. I was hooked from the first page, right through to the very last (and quite shocking) last sentence.

I loved the excerpt and am in line for the entire novel. Love her and can't wait to get my hands on the real book.

As an avid reader of Lisa Jewell I look forward to reading the rest of WATCHING YOU.

She never disappoints and I have alerted my reader friends to her newest novel. So far, so good.

It would be lovely to have the chance to read the whole book as I only got few chapters. So far the books is interesting and makes me wonder what will happen next...

The review of the book is on She Treads Softly as well as on Goodreads, Library Thing, Amazon, and Barnes&Noble. I gave it my highest rating and Watching You was on my top ten books of 2018.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/12/watching-you.html
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/12/2018-books.html

This was only a preview, I thought it was the full book! Have not read the book yet, so can't give helpful feedback. Plan on reading it asap though and will revise this accordingly.

I loved the excerpt - I thought I had figured it out by the end of the few chapters I read, so I had to get it and see if I was right. I was. Which kind of bummed me out. Too many clues dropped too soon. Here is my full review of the book:

FLEW through Watching You - I mean, start me right off with a body in a pool of blood and some super shady characters, and I'm all in from page one! The twists, the clues, the questions in my head were flying off the pages. I felt like everyone was watching everyone! Anyone could have done this! Everyone's hiding something!

The plot of Watching You is fantastic. It's so well executed to hook you in and starts you right off questioning every single character. Joey is newly married, not conventionally though, she has only know Alfie a few months after meeting while partying in Ibiza. They've moved in with her doctor brother and his wife, and she is having a fairly hard time trying to be a grown up and make something of her life. She's got no job, no real skills, and has always just been 'wild Joey' with no real goals or ambitions.

But Joey certainly has some ambitions to get to know her new neighbor Tom, a headmaster at a local school. Tom's son, watches the town from his window, and questions the motives of this new woman on his block who has been watching his father. Jenna, a student who also lives nearby, thinks headmaster Tom has a shady past and questions his squeaky clean image. Jenna's mom is looney tunes - which makes for a fun and interesting character, and several other players in this mess of a neighborhood, add to roving uncertainty as to who is crazy, who is sane, and who is a murderer. Everyone is suspicious of everyone for their own reasons, before the murder even occurs! I LOVE when everyone appears equally batsh*t crazy and you just have no idea who killed the person introduced in the opening scene!

BUT... the clues that are dropped throughout, although cleverly weaved to reveal some really interesting stories and twists, unfortunately I think were revealed too soon. Much to quickly - and I solved the whole thing halfway into it. I still think it was a great story, but after one clue - I just predicted and anticipated everything afterwards.

There were a few minor surprises at the end, that I didn't see coming, but the whole big shocking 'who-dun-it' that I crave in stories like this, was just revealed way too soon for my taste. I wish it had been held on tighter and not so easily and quickly uncovered. A good story though - I'm happy I read it.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an excerpt of this book. I plan to purchase the book in it's entirety and leave a final review.

The title is exactly what the book is about. This is an intense book that you wont regret reading . I couldn't put this book down. Cant wait to read more of Lisa's books.

This was only a short excerpt but it was gripping and well written and I will definitely be buying the book to read on!

I enjoyed the excerpt and it enticed me into buying the full novel. So, mission accomplished. Jewell explores the relationship between two neighboring families and the people who surround them. One of them is a murderer, but it isn't who you think it is. WATCHING YOU is a study on our the stories we tell ourselves and our misperceptions of others can have devastating effects.

I love psychological thrillers and Lisa Jewel is just one author I will continue to read and buy. She writes with such picturesque details, that I feel I’m in the book right there standing next to the characters. The opening scene had me so intrigued in finding out who was murdered and why that I was racing through those pages as fast as I possibly could.

EXCERPT: My Diary, September 20, 1996
I don't know what to think. I don't know what to feel. Is this normal? He's an adult. He's twice my age. There's no way ... No. There's no way. But, OH GOD. I wish there was.

Dear diary, I think I'm in love with my English teacher. . .

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…

MY THOUGHTS: This was such a good read, a great read. Lisa Jewell always manages to suck me in, plays with my mind, has me suspecting everyone but the right one, and she has done it again with Watching You, which turned into something very different from what I was expecting.

There is a wonderful cast of characters - Tom Fitzwilliam, the man everyone loves, except for one or two crazy ladies. . . His wife Nicola who never quite fits in, anywhere. . . their son Freddie, in training to be a spy and who chronicles the movements of all the neighbours; Josephine who feels that perhaps she wasn't quite ready for the marriage she made to Alfie and who develops a crush on Tom; her brother Jack, eminently successful surgeon and expecting his first child with wife Rebecca, and with whom Joey and Alfie live. Then there’s Tom’s pupils, Beth who also has a huge crush on Tom, and her best friend Jenna who may just be showing signs of the paranoia that afflicts her mum. What a wonderful melting pot!

If there was ever a case to be built for the adage 'until you have seen it with your own eyes, don't believe it', it is here. Jewell has, as always, written a superb page turner that kept me hooked from beginning to end.

💖💕💖💕💖

THE AUTHOR: Lisa was born in London in 1968. Her mother was a secretary and her father was a textile agent and she was brought up in the northernmost reaches of London with her two younger sisters. She was educated at a Catholic girls’ Grammar school in Finchley. After leaving school at sixteen she spent two years at Barnet College doing an arts foundation course and then two years at Epsom School of Art & Design studying Fashion Illustration and Communication.

She worked for the fashion chain Warehouse for three years as a PR assistant and then for Thomas Pink, the Jermyn Street shirt company for four years as a receptionist and PA. She started her first novel, Ralph’s Party, for a bet in 1996. She finished it in 1997 and it was published by Penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best-selling debut novel of that year.

She has since written a further nine novels, as is currently at work on her eleventh.

She now lives in an innermost part of north London with her husband Jascha, an IT consultant, her daughters, Amelie and Evie and her silver tabbies, Jack and Milly.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Atria Books via Netgalley for providing me with a digital extract ARC of Watching You by Lisa Jewell. I was so engaged in the story I acquired the audiobook version narrated by Gabrielle Glaister, published by Random House Audiobooks, which I listened to via OverDrive. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

Joey is trying to get her life together. She married her vacation crush and works at a job that she believes she can do better than. But it pays. And then she sees a her neighbor, who has a certain mystique. And so the story begins. The first four chapters provide a good set-up for the story to come and I am definitely interested in reading the remainder of the book.

The book I recieved was a preview of the first 3 chapters. Can not wait until 12/26 to read the entire book. So far it is a great read!

While this was only an excerpt, my interest was quickly peaked and now I’m waiting ( not so patiently) for the remaining chapters.
Lisa Jewell has quickly become a MUST READ author for me. Her timing, writing, buildup, and unraveling of a story is engaging and seamless.
Looking forward to reading the rest of this novel.

This author is a favorite of mine that I discovered through Net Galley and the publisher. i was thrilled to review this short introduction to her upcoming new release. This is a short read but a very exciting one ! The book promises to be excellent from this introduction. I love the plot, the charcters and the suspense building over each page. i cannot wait to read the entire book. Thank you for this introduction to her next book. i highly recommend Watching you !
My opinion is my own.
Thank you for the ARC.