2.5 stars I was really excited about this book, but it didn’t really work for me. I struggled to connect with the characters and the pacing was too slow without a big enough payoff.

I loved this whole book! I love the international flair of it, the scary story and the flow of events. The author did a great job with this one!!

The Nesting is definitely my style of gothic tale. I loved the blend of the paranormal, real crime, and Nordic folklore. It gets quite far fetched in the end, but was a compelling, enjoyable read.

The Nesting is a novel that at first resembles Ruth Ware's The Turn of The Key, but if you stick to it you'll soon be in for a big surprise.  Some of the highlights of this book include Cooke's ability to build a suspenseful, gothic novel. The Nordic folklore sprinkled in the story was certainly a plus. The themes of ecology and preservation were also extremely appealing to me, as well as the descriptions of Norway's nature and landscape.

Unfortunately, this novel was the case of too many storylines that just were not well put together at the end. The story is told by an unreliable narrator, Sophie (aka Lexi), alternating with Aurelia's pov and diary entries. Halfway through the book, the story takes a turn and slows down significantly.

Although this book started somewhat interesting, the excessive number of plot holes and the slow pace of the book had me struggling to finish it. I found the ending rushed and too convenient.

I want to thank HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Nesting by C.J. Cooke is a 2020 HarperCollins publication. 

<b>Had potential, but missed the mark</b>

Lexi Ellis, recovering from a suicide attempt, is desperate for work a place to live. She manages to steal another woman’s identity- now using the name, 'Sophie', and lands a plum job as a nanny for two girls named Gaia and Coco. The girls’ mother died tragically, and their father is determined to complete the home they had begun building before her death. 

Despite her inexperience, Lexi quickly adjusts to her new job and forges a bond with the girls. Things begin to go awry when the girls claim to have seen a ‘Sad Lady’ and the other staff members may have begun to suspect Lexi is not who she claims to be.

This book should have been an easy win for me. Unfortunately, it fell flat. I did enjoy the Norwegian folklore, but the execution is quite poor, in my opinion. The story employs some wonderful Gothic plot devices, but the characters are dull and without enough depth or emotions to pull me toward them in any way- good or bad- not to mention the incredibly improbable situations, that even I couldn’t let slide. 

Overall, the folklore is the saving grace for this one. Everything else about it was a letdown. 

2 stars

Twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Ellis is almost out of options.  She has attempted suicide, her boyfriend dumped her, and she has little money and no one to turn to for help.  By happenstance, Lexi gets wind of a nannying job and makes a fateful decision. She appropriates someone else's name and resume in order to land the position.  Lexi, who now calls herself Sophie Hallerton, is hired by an architect named Tom Faraday to look after his two girls, the precocious six-year-old Gaia and her baby sister, Coco.  Tom's young and beautiful wife of ten years, Aurelia Faraday, died tragically a few months earlier, and the widower needs someone to care for his daughters while he builds a fabulous new home in a rustic and scenic area of Norway.  Lexi is eager to leave London behind, try something new, and acquire some desperately-needed income.

In "The Nesting," C. J. Cooke combines elements of psychological suspense, the supernatural, and domestic drama.  Much to Lexi's surprise, she grows to love Gaia and Coco, and works hard to ensure that they are happy, healthy, and stimulated.  Unfortunately, there are danger signs.  Lexi is having visions of otherworldly creatures that terrify her, and Tom is running into serious money troubles and logistical problems that could jeopardize his construction project.  Other characters are Clive, Tom's partner, and Derry, Clive's wife, an interior designer, and Maren, a housekeeper with an off-putting manner.

The author uses flashbacks and alternating perspectives to reveal that Aurelia, Tom's late wife, was clinically depressed in her final days, and that there are unanswered questions about her death.  Meanwhile, Gaia becomes attached to Lexi, who is surprised at how much she enjoys spending time with this adorable but exhausting youngster. Furthermore, when Tom makes misguided decisions concerning his work in progress, he becomes anxious and lashes out at those around him. This evocative, spooky, and atmospheric novel is lively and engrossing until Cooke wraps things up with a disappointing finale that is abrupt, muddled, and implausible.

A dead wife. Two motherless children. An isolated home in the cold, snowy woods. Ghosts. Any writer working with these elements will have a high bar to reach, with classic gothic tales such as Jane Eyre and The Turn of the Screw establishing the genre and still popular more than a century after publication. More recently, Ruth Ware’s The Turn of the Key proves that gothic plot points can work well in the most modern of settings. 

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I really enjoyed the combination of the gothic atmosphere, thriller/suspense vibe, the Nordic mythology component and the mental health aspect of this book. This story has something for a varied group of readers. I appreciated the intricacies of the characters and their relationships to each other. I also liked the suspenseful buildup to the conclusion. The other piece of this story was the addition of discussion of climate change and the building of a house that was more helpful to the environment than harmful. The descriptions of the setting in Norway were easy to imagine as well. 
Definitely worth a read. Very entertaining. 3.5/5 stars
#TheNesting #NetGalley #BerkleyPublishingGroup

I loved the legends and nature related themes in this book. As an avid reader of the mystery, thriller and suspense genre, I hardly ever see a book revolve around these themes and it was refreshing, I think the author did an excellent job of building suspense and tension in the story, and I loved that we were never sure if supernatural things were actually happening or it was all in the minds of these characters. I will definitely be checking out more of C.J. Cooke's work.

This chilling, gothic mystery kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish! While the core story wasn’t incredibly original, I loved the Norwegian traditions, values, and folklore that were interspersed throughout. It had a spooky vibe and I never quite felt like I knew what direction it would go considering all the characters felt untrustworthy in one way or another. 

The ending did feel a little abrupt but overall, I really enjoyed this one!

Very gothic/atmospheric read! Loved the scenery and the mythology. However, I felt like it was like a lot of other books and shows I've watched recently (nanny lying about who she is, employer with secrets). Liked that it touched on women's mental health after childbirth and how there really isn't enough support for them. Didn't like how quickly it was all sealed up at the end.

Lexi Ellis, who struggles with mental illness that includes depression and hallucinations, takes a job as a nanny under false pretenses for a wealthy widower’s two young children. His wife died under mysterious circumstances, allegedly by her own hand, but the eldest daughter’s talk of a “sad lady” and other mysterious happenings convince Lexi something more is at play. 

This was an entertaining, albeit superficial read. It has some great gothic elements and was equal parts suspenseful and creepy at times. Lexi is a wholly unreliable narrator which kept me off balance in a good way. 

That said, it’s not a great mystery by any means (the whodunnit was pretty obvious), and overall, the book seemed to want to tackle too many things. When I started reading, I thought it would dive deeply into mental illness – the stigma surrounding it, the difficulty in seeking and finding treatment, the road to healing and managing the day-to-day for someone with this particular struggle – but no. 

Though Lexi’s mental illness is used as the catalyst for the desperate circumstances she finds herself in at the beginning of the book, for the remaining chapters it is simply used as a plot device to make you distrust her ability to discern reality as events unfold. Using mental illness in this way felt disingenuous and there was no closure there – everything was wrapped up with a neat little bow by the end of the book, in a completely unrealistic way. 

The book also seemed to want to tackle climate change, which could have made for a really interesting discourse, but alas, this too was simply used as a plot device to further the story, which was a strange mix of domestic suspense and supernatural thriller. And again, it didn’t seem to know which it wanted to be, so it just blended the two together and called it a day. 

Lastly, I’ll say that I’m really over the trope of main characters who hate children taking jobs as nannies under false pretenses. This is the second book I’ve read recently with that particular plot device (the first being “The Turn of the Key” by Ruth Ware), and I’m over it. This annoyance is entirely personal, but I just can’t get over how insufferable I find it. I worked at a daycare for years to support myself through school, and I can not say it enough: if you don’t like kids, don’t work with kids! And having a main character who literally sees a job she has absolutely no qualifications for, and who says, “well I don’t like kids and have no experience with them, but how hard could it be?” makes me want to tear my hair out. It makes the main character instantly and irredeemably unlikeable for me. But, like I said, that’s just a personal pet peeve. 

Overall, the book kept me turning the pages despite some obvious flaws that I rolled my eyes through. It’s an entertaining, cotton candy-esque read, and if you like intriguing suspense where everything gets wrapped up nicely at the end, then you’ll probably enjoy this book.

I love a good modern gothic thriller with a nanny trope and The Nesting did not disappoint. It was creepy, twisted, and full of surprises- everything I hoped it would be. 
Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Fun supernatural mystery set in Norway.  I loved the description of the locale and all the creepy occurrences.  I don't know that it made a ton of sense but I enjoyed the ride.  Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book took off to a very good start, it had all the right makings of a Psychological Thriller but in the end it took a turn into more of a Gothic Thriller and just didn't land where I was looking to go.

Lexi's character was sufficiently flawed and there were some good creepy elements, which i love. The author is a great writer and you really felt that gothic atmosphere feeling in the writing but pulling it together in the end - fell short for me.

I do think I would try another by C.J. Cooke.

I liked the characters and storyline of this book. I gave it only 3 stars because I felt like the ending could have been stronger. Overall, it was fun to read.

The Nesting 
By CJ Cooke

The Nesting by CJ Cooke is an amazing gothic thriller read I loved. This atmospheric read was so addicting that I could not put this book down and had this along with me wherever I went. This is a story about Norwegian architect Tom Faraday who built his isolated and yet ultra modern dream home where his wife Aurelia committed suicide. With his two young daughters, he hired Lexi Ellis as his nanny but some strange and mysterious goings on are happening in that home that leads to question whether Aurelia indeed committed suicide or not.

This was a fantastic read that I highly recommend.

This was an interesting book in that it wove a Scandanavian mystery with the environmental impact of destroying the land, and a little Norse folklore thrown in.
The main Character serendipitously falls into a job with the sneaky help of 2 women on a train who trust her. Lexi was in a bad place having lost her live-in boyfriend of 8 years, fired from her job, have her best friend move into her boyfriend's apt, and fails in a suicide attempt. This has loser written all over it! She interviews for the nanny job lying about her education and background, and get it!
The father that hires her is a widower whose wife committed suicide. He and his partner bankrupt
but they continue building this strange house on the side of a cliff.
Strange things begin to occur, and spirits seem to be taking a part in ruining everything attached to the house and the people planning and working on it.
This book was eerie, and brought in too many coincidences without resolving the issues - were they really damaging the environment, who was telling the truth and who was deliberately deceiving the others, I thought that the story was unfocused - what was the message (other than we should conserve the environment)? It was suspenseful but not well resolved in my mind. (less)

This was one of those fast paced, drama packed popcorn thrillers that’s very fun to read! I loved the setting and the plot, and enjoyed the book overall. I did feel like it was a bit unrealistic at times, which I don’t care for, but I still think it’s an entertaining read.

The Nesting by C.J. Cooke follows Lexi who becomes a nanny after a devastating break up and suicide attempt.  After a suicide attempt, Lexi's boyfriend dumps her and asks her to move out of their shared apartment.  While trying to figure out what to do next she overhears a young woman discuss a job opportunity as a nanny for a family moving to Norway.  Lexi then assumes this woman's identity, gets the job, and heads off to Norway to nanny for a widower's two young daughters.  Lexi is immediately drawn to the family and the two girls  who are struggling after their mother's suicide.  While in Norway, the widower Tom is trying to finish the family's home and Lexi begins to think there may be more going on with his wife's suicide than it seems.  For one, both the girls and Lexi are seeing strange apparitions and Lexi begins fear something is after the family.  

This was a perfect gothic horror/mystery for Halloween reading.  It wasn't extremely scary and most of the tension came from Lexi's own mental health and the sightings of elk and a mysterious woman.  This book is described as horror and I can see the how it falls under horror with the supernatural elements, but I think at the heart of it the book is more of a gothic thriller with a supernatural twist, which gives it a broader appeal than just as a genre horror book.  I would recommend this book to those who like gothic thrillers, ghost stories, or even just mysteries.  I really enjoyed reading this book and seeing Lexi come out of rock bottom to forming genuine relationships with the two girls.  I also thought the atmosphere was really well done in this book and the isolated environment and Norway really added to the spooky atmosphere of the story.  While I did enjoy the book, the unraveling of the mystery felt a bit slow at times, but that is also a trait of most gothic style books so I don't think it will have much of an impact on readers.