the formatting on this book was weird. it made it hard to read but i still liked the intrigue this story brought to the table. check it out if you have the time to read something new and thrilling.

This very single white female meets the Perfect Nanny book was just what I needed at this time. A book that hooked me and kept me flipping through the pages in order to figure out how it all would end. Very well done.


Synopsis: Ella is flat broke: wasting away on bodega coffee, barely making rent, seducing the occasional strange man who might buy her dinner. Unexpectedly, an Upper East Side couple named Lonnie and James rescue her from her empty bank account, offering her a job as a nanny and ushering her into their moneyed world. Ella’s days are now spent tending to the baby in their elegant brownstone or on extravagant excursions with the family. Both women are just 26—but unlike Ella, Lonnie has a doting husband and son, unmistakable artistic talent, and old family money.

Ella is mesmerized by Lonnie’s girlish affection and disregard for the normal boundaries of friendship and marriage. Convinced there must be a secret behind Lonnie’s seemingly effortless life, Ella begins sifting through her belongings, meticulously cataloguing lipstick tubes and baby teeth and scraps of writing. All the while, Ella’s resentment grows, but so does an inexplicable and dizzying attraction. Soon Ella will be immersed so deeply in her cravings—for Lonnie’s lifestyle, her attention, her lovers—that she may never come up for air

Looking for something different? Not afraid to read about the darkness that lies within us all? Then Devotion is your kind of book! It certainly was mine. I loved every minute of this complicated book and absolutely recommended if you enjoy books that focus on characters and the darkness inside them.

This writer creates stunning work and can string together words and thoughts beautifully. I would like to compare her writing to Ottessa Moshfegh. Both authors capture complex relationships between individuals extremely well. I was wholly wrapped up in her writing, but the story itself left much to be desired. I have a feeling that is intentional but it left me feeling incomplete as I turned the last page. I look forward to seeing what she creates next.

A story of 26 year old Ella who's hired to be a nanny for a young mother named Lonnie. Lonnie and her husband are wealthy and introduce Ella to a life of parties, vacations and wealth that she's never before experienced. Soon Ella finds herself obsessed with Lonnie and her life. This obsession turns creepy and creates an unsettling feeling in the reader. I wish the pace would've been faster in the first half. While I found the characters unlikeable, I did wonder how it would all turn out so for that reason I kept reading. In the end, I was left feeling underwhelmed with the way the story ended.

I am not sure what that even was?!? It was extremely dark

I’m giving this 3 stars because the writing is excellent and the characters are unlike any I’ve ever read before! The story though is quite depressing and ultimately anticlimactic.

It seems as though this is a story of wanting. Everyone had things that were keeping them from being fulfilled and they busied themselves with self destruction versus any productive steps to find them.

There is sex and drug use and it is quite graphic so if that type of thing bothers you then you might want to pass on this one. The characters make odd choices and it is hard to feel any sympathy for them.

I didn’t love this story (bit unsettled by it actually) but I did the writing and pace and would try more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and HarperCollins Publishers for a copy in exchange for a review.

I am a big fan of creepy, female driven relationships. However, this book kind of fell flat for me. The first half was really good and had a lot of promise, but the ending really didn't do it for me. I loved the cover!!! And this was the main reason I picked up the book. I think Madeline Stevens is a great author and can't see what she comes up with next!

This was interminable. The writing was trite and repetitive and the plot went nowhere. The writing was at once flowing and descriptive, then devolved into crass profanity. This novel was trying too hard to be a thriller and sadly missed the mark.

I finished this last night and I'm still wondering what the hell I just read?? I keep thinking I must have missed something because I guess I just didn't get it...This book had no plot, no point and no real conclusion or ending. I guess when there is no plot there is no loose ends to wrap up. The entire story was a complete flatline for me. The characters had no depth and were not interesting in the least. BORING!! I'll pass on this one; however I would read another book from this author as the writing itself was excellent.

Devotion is an odd story. It's just weird and twisted and doesn't make much sense. I didn't like either woman. I don't think this is my type of book, and I'm not the right reader for it. Definitely didn't appeal to me.

Perhaps I somehow overlooked it, but this novel seems to be missing a point.

Devotion appears to be a story about absolutely nothing. Maybe it's a character study of female relationships, but honestly, even that seems to be a stretch. It's a book full of plot holes, story lines which go absolutely nowhere, a total lack of character depth, and an annoyingly anti-climatic conclusion.

It's presumptuous, clichéd, unfinished, and ultimately boring. While the sentence structure and word choices were beautifully rendered, the cohesiveness was less than desirable. Trying to read the passages felt clunky and uninspired.

Because we learn next to nothing about Ella, it's nearly impossible to understand anything she's thinking or feeling. Is she a lunatic? I read the entire novel and I still have no idea. And what was up with Lonnie? Again, your guess is as good as mine. Devotion just meanders along, going nowhere fast.

Would I recommend this? Not a chance. I'm honestly a little peeved I wasted part of my life on this one.

1.5 stars rounded up

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.

Ella is a broke woman who sleeps with men in exchange for food and a warm bed. But life takes a sharp turn when she meets Lonnie--a privileged woman the same age as Ella. Lonnie hires Ella to be the nanny for her son, and soon Ella is embroiled in Lonnie's personal life. It doesn't take long before she becomes TOO involved. She starts rifling through Lonnie's diaries and copying the passages word for word, as though she might uncover some secret code to explain Lonnie's luck.

This was a strange book for me. On one hand, the writing was strong and engaging; and the characters were complicated enough to keep my interest. On the other hand, the ending felt a bit anticlimactic to me. Maybe I've been brainwashed by the constant onslaught of domestic thrillers that have flooded the market since Gillian Flynn published Gone Girl. This wasn't that kind of book at all. The characters were strange, yes, dysfunctional, sure, but they weren't exactly dangerous. I was expecting a violent act at the end, and when that didn't happen--I don't know--I guess I was a little disappointed, though I probably shouldn't have been. It would have been so cliche for Ella to go Single White Female on Lonnie.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Devotion reads like Talented Mr Ripley lite.
Ella or Elle as she is dubbed after she is hired as a nanny Elle had come to New York with no real goals and had been sleeping with men in exchange for a meal to keep from starving when she answers an ad for a young couple wealthy couple James and Lonnie. She is surprised at how trusting they are, they hire her based on their sin William giving her a hug.
From the beginning Elle develops a love/hate relationship with Lonnie. She wants everything she has - her confidence, her wealth, confidence, the men in her life but st the same time she despises her for how she takes everything for granted.
I did not dislike the book as others seem to have but I found it unsatisfying how Elle never came to realize how terrible what she did was. I don’t get the impression that she ever came to understand that Lonnie was as broken if not moreso than she was. In the beginning I could feel some empathy for Elle but she was truly an awful person except for how she cared for William. All the men on Lonnie’s life were unlikeable.
I would be interested in a short story on Lonnie,, it really was though provoking. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for a free ebook in exchange for my opinion.

This story had dark characters and was quite twisted and weird. Not a book that I would typically read. I hate to say that I put it down after only about 30%.

When I started this book, I thought I was really going to get into it but that did not happen. I just could not find anything I found about the two women that made me want to understand either one's reasons for doing anything. I wish I had. This was not for me but I am sure it is someone else's cup of tea.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy.

Another nanny novel. Which is fine but I’m kinda burned out over this storyline. The beginning really caught my attention but that stopped after that.

While I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this Kindle ARC of "Devotion," I didn't finish the book, as it wasn't what I expected and I wasn't enjoying it enough. I finished about half the book and decided that I wasn't interested in the ending.

Devotion by Madeline Stevens reads a little bit like Single White Female meets The Last Mrs. Parish meets The Talented Mr. Ripley...it's an odd story, kind of twisty, about a nanny (nearly bankrupt) who is hired by a wealthy couple to be a nanny for their child. The nanny soon finds out that the although the family hired her so that the mom could pursue her career as a writer, there is not much writing going on. As she is watching the goings-on of this family as an outsider (longing to be an insider), they begin to pull her into their lives, for which she is happy to go along.

Early in the book it is revealed that it is not going to end well...the book just describes a slow train wreck that follows the mildly obsessed nanny who yearns to learn more/idolize/fantasize/lust after...her employers...

This was an excellent novel, but comparisons to Social Creature may give readers expectations that will leave them disappointed. While both books feature narrators in toxic and obsessive relationships with a female friend, Social Creature was clearly building towards a dramatic conclusion from the first page. Devotion is less plot driven and excels instead as a character study of its protagonist and a deeper analysis of class and privilege. Elle is a superbly crafted and yet enigmatic character, and the level of development of the other characters is based on how interesting Elle finds them; some are labeled and dismissed easily, others, like Lonnie, seem unknowable no matter how intensely Elle fixates on them. The ending felt perfect for a character like Elle and for this specific story. It’s very different from the trajectory of Social Creature but the two novels are equally successful- readers simply need to keep in mind that they are very different works. This book is beautifully written and I enjoyed it immensely!

A story of dysfunctional friendship. Ella , a broke 26 year old woman , gets hired as a nanny for a wealthy family . She quickly becomes obsessed with Lonnie , the mother she was hired to assist. The writing was excellent even if the story seemed a bit familiar . This book was graciously provided to me by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.