I used to enjoy living alone. I did it for 10 years. However, life changes and now I live with a tall, handsome man whose company I enjoy. In a few months, we might have other people join us. But guys, I fear nannies. It might sound silly but social media is awash with secret footage of nannies gone bad. Might be something that happens this side of the world but I have seen those videos. I know they are good nannies out there but I still have my fears. This book made me even more wary.

Anna is a stay at home mum who decides to get a nanny to help with the kids and hence allow her to go back to work. It sounded perfect at first and all worked out well initially. But… who exactly is the new woman in Anna’s house?

I loved the intensity of this book especially in the first chapters. I was so curious about the nanny. She had secrets and I wanted to know them. As the mystery grew, I became more nervous than curious. I was worried about Anna and her family. I didn’t trust the nanny and then Anna began receiving a manuscript which seemed written by a crazy person with very dark ideas. I usually don’t mind dark narratives and I secretly admire authors who harbor such dark ideas. However, I wouldn’t want to read a dark narrative where the characters and events sound so close to home.

This was a crazy ride but unfortunately, the ending didn’t work for me. The buildup was fantastic but the reveal failed to wow me. Some of the events just didn’t make much sense.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would. That premise and story-line are too insane and captivating to miss. I just wish that the wrap-up was as good.

I enjoyed this domestic thriller. It was a little slow paced and predictable but still was a good read for me on the beach. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters but that was ok. The ending was unexpected and a lttle creepy.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was brilliant. This author was brand new to me, but I have heard a little buzz before receiving a copy. I have told all of my friends about this book. Looking for a fast pace thriller, this is your book! Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review! Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

I thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. This author was new to me and I was not let down. It was a great story and very well written. The characters were easy to relate to and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend this to everyone!!

This was a quick pace thriller that kept my attention all the way through. The author did a good job with a couple unexpected twists and all questions were answered by the end. I will definitely look into reading other books by this author.

If you are in to thrillers, definitely give this one a chance!

The Woman in Our House by Andrew Hart is yet another thriller that takes readers on a journey of what may happen if they invite a nanny who is a stranger into their home. Now does one ever ask why do the rich or celebrities get away with hiring help but regular folks get the nannies from h*ll? Makes you wonder now that I mentioned it, doesn’t it? LOL Well Andrew Hart has come up with his own version that definitely kept me glued to the pages.

Anna Klein begins to think it’s about time for her to return to work even though her children are both still young. In order for Anna and her husband to work though they will have to bring in some help in the form of a nanny. Well after a friends recommendation Anna chooses Oaklynn Durst from a service in Utah. Wouldn’t you know everything is perfect for a while but then suspicious things begin to happen.

Now, The Woman in Our House is mainly told from Anna’s point of view however there are multiple others voices in the story too. Through these the reader is given just enough to know things are definitely not right but it takes tons and tons of twists and turns along the way before getting to the final conclusion. The thing that has me at 3 1/2 stars with this is while it was completely engaging the wrap up seemed to leave some holes along the way that didn’t add up to me. I questioned whether this one was a case of maybe one or two twists or red herrings too many while trying to stand out from the crowd.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I couldn't finish this title and had to slip it on to my TBR.
I got lost in the chapters flipping between past and present, and overall dull characters. I set it down about 1/3 of the way in, hoping to find the pulse and energy of a thriller. There was too much repetition of "as I did this, so and so did this," followed by more "As I..." sentences. I really hope this was an ARC copy, but the edition I read felt rushed and in need of another good copy edit.

🤯 Such a well written book! I had my ideas of “the bad guy” from the beginning but didn’t find out the truth until the very end! This book definitely kept me guessing! But in the end.....
“So I hold on to what I value all the tighter, grip it closer to me, and in spite of all the fear, that is also an act of defiance, faith, and even love.”

When Anna goes back to work, she brings a young woman into their home to help care for the children, but things seem to be spiraling out of control. No matter how many things she points out, she is told that its all in her head. But something is definitely off about Oaklynn.

I think this is the first Lake Union book that I just didn't fall head over heels in love with. The writing was great, but the storyline just stalled for me. While there is real potential for a fabulous book, I just felt that too much was missing.

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