supernatural psychological thriller with a pretty unsatisfying end. This book was a huge slow burn book. Just wasn't my cup of tea

Nordic folktales dances with gothic, claustrophobic vibes and waltzes with ghost stories. It’s a gripping, riveting, fast-pacing, astonishing page-turner even though it had some small plot holes and the beginning of the story has resemblances with Ruth Ware’s “Turn of the key”

The story starts Aurelia’s dying: we are in the dark and we are still not sure if she took her own life or somebody killed her.

And then at the next chapter: we witness a suicide attempt of Lexi: who is our other broken, fragile, traumatized protagonist .Thankfully she’s saved by her friend. But after living the hospital and going back to the house she’s shared with her 8 years long asshole boyfriend who kicks her out penniless, she finds herself in a train, using the asshole’s train card and witnessing a talk with two women about a job opportunity. She always wants to write a novel takes place in Norway because of her own ancestors. (She still doesn’t know the identity of her father but she still thinks she’s connected with Nordic culture) and surprisingly, too much coincidentally these two women talk about a job opportunity in a mansion located in Norway. The woman called Sophie shows her friend her resume and she is too close to click the send button to apply for “nanny” job. But her friend begs her not to apply and help her throughout her pregnancy process with doubled fee. Sophie says “yes and in the meantime Lexi murmurs: “Yes”, then as soon as two women walk away and ask her to watch out their computers, she cannot believe in her luck, copy the resume and apply the job with a different email address by stealing Sophie’s identity.

I know the beginning of the story is too coincidental and reminding you Rowan’s character who steals identity of her friend to be accepted for the job. But don’t worry. After the beginning there are not any resemblances. First of all: Lexi is easy to empathize and her characterization has more emotional depth. And thankfully she is not working for pretentious, smug society couple but she takes a job from grieving widow Tom to take care of her angelic little daughter: Gaia and Coco.

The story’s progression differs from “Turning of the key” as soon as Lexi flies to Norway and starts her job to share the house with Tom, kids and the caregiver Maden who was loyal employee of deceased wife. Tom’s partner Clive and his hyperactive, exaggeratedly spiritual wife Derry welcomes her at the airport.

At the beginning everything seems normal. Lexi tries so hard to adapt her role and decipher the enigmatic chores she’s dictated to help the children’s education. But she secretly awards elder daughter Gaia with Netflix time and little Coco with non-vegan treats. Her genuineness and friendly manners earn the hearts of the poor kids as Tom is mostly out of the picture, obsessed to finish the house dedicated to the memory of his beloved wife, working too much and getting more aggressive, obnoxious.

But as we start to read Aurelia and Tom’s narrations with flashbacks: we start to understand, their passion to build a dream house against the will of the nature ends with poisoning the animals and destruction which conflicts with the environmentalist opinions of Tom. It seems like nature wants its payback! And in the present time so many supernatural events start to be seen at the construction site.

In the meantime little Gaia suffers from nigh terrors and talks about a “Sad Lady” who reminds us Nordic version of Grudge’s Samara with her wet, hairy and scary presence! Interestingly also Aurelia sees the woman and she thinks she thinks her hormonal changes created her. Lexi also sees her but she thinks the sad lady is side effect of her depression. And finally Tom sees her but he thinks he’s suffering from sleep-deprivation..

And finally Lexi finds Aurelia’s diary in her room. Somebody left there. Who? And if the things are written were true, Tom might be the killer of her own wife. Could Tom be a cold blooded killer?

Our other questions are: So who is the sad lady? Did Aurelia really see those creatures belonged to the Nordic culture? Was Aurelia demented or was she telling the truth? Did she kill herself or somebody end her life?

Overall: I liked sarcastic, twisty, smart writing style and humorously witty depictions of the author. I enjoyed the characters and ending. Only things bugged me were the way of Lexi’s applying job (yes. Too good to be true, extra coincidental) and too many POVS distracted the main focus of the story. We started with Lexi’s story but till the last pages we didn’t know why she was suicidal and only in few pages her past was told haphazardly.

Maybe the flashbacks parts could be shorter which affected the pacing and tension of the story. And I have second thoughts about reading the POV of Tom because it doesn’t contribute much depth to the story.

I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars because of plot-holes but I adored the writing and some parts of the book are truly scary and entertaining so I decided to give 4 well deserved stars and added the previous works of the author to my scary monster TBR.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this gripping ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

I loved this book. The characters are enchanting. The setting is described in detail, you can almost feel yourself actually there.
There's Norwegian folklore in here. Stories that are dark that I hadn't heard before.
The characters are strong and the children are adorable. You get to know each character how they feel and think. You are invested in each one and in their part of the storyline.
It has a lot of emotional tragedy, you definitely feel for the loss of their loved one. Your heart embraces the children and what they are going through.
Awesome book!!

The nesting is a very slow moving book. The characters were very shallow. This was difficult to get through

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lexi is a suicidal young woman who borrows another woman's identity in the order to secure a nanny position. She cares for two little girls whose mother has recently died. Supernatural events coincide with real life evil to form the plot of this thriller.

I needed a book to distract me from the state of the world (actually USA) this week. This book did not disappoint. Although it is set in Norway, it is about Brits in Norway. Not truly a Nordic mystery, but it does include a strong Nordic folklore element.

Lexi Ellis has just survived a suicide attempt, a breakup with her boyfriend, and a betrayal from her friend. While on a train, she overhears a conversation in which a young woman is considering a nanny position for a British family that will be living in Norway while the husband builds a cutting edge eco-home.. She manages to hijack the email exchange, assume the identity of Sofie, and become the nanny to two very young girls whose mother recently died. This thread of the story alternates with that of the deceased mother, Aurelia.

There were just too many parts that didn’t ring true. The husband and wife wanted to create a model home that respected nature and was as green as possible, but in one of the first conversations, they nonchalantly cut down old growth trees that obscured the view. This was for starters. Lexi was an emotional mess, but was able to fake being a Montessori teacher and vegan chef with almost no difficulty.

I enjoyed the book, although I did find the middle to be a bit slow and the ending was rushed and disjointed. It did the job of distracting me from the misery of the world this week, but it was not the powerhouse read I was expecting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the eARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This was an enjoyable read (if suspenseful mysteries with supernatural elements can be considered “enjoyable”); perhaps “engaging” or “compelling” would be better.

When I first started the book, I had to ask myself if imposter nannies and haunted houses are currently all the rage in the UK, because I had recently read/listened to Ruth Ware’s “The Turn of the Key” and was worried this was going to be too similar to feel unique. However, my concerns were unfounded, as Cooke has a completely different plot with a fresh setting, interesting characters, and well-written storyline that drew me in. Definitely recommended as a read-alike with out the feeling of deja-vu.

Lexi/Sophie was a more sympathetic protagonist than I anticipated. Normally, I grow frustrated with naïve, helpless, overly-emotional characters who get themselves stuck in difficult situations because they can’t seem to cope with daily life. While Lexi starts off in a seriously messed up situation, she soon remedies it and makes the best of her new position as the Faraday’s nanny. She consistently demonstrates an ability to make good decisions for the benefit of the children, and manages to keep her inner turmoil to herself. She also makes great personal strides in improving her own mental/emotional health over the course of the story, which I greatly admire. Also, the reason she’s a hot mess at the beginning is later revealed and brings about greater understanding and compassion for the character.

I felt like Lexi and Gaia were the only fully developed characters in the story, with the rest of them (mostly adults) being somewhat less complex. This is likely due to the first-person narrative from Lexi’s perspective, but even the third-person glimpses into the past don’t feel as insightful as I would have liked in order to fully understand Aurelia, Tom, Maren, or Derry (let’s face it, no one really cares about Clive). More nuance in these characters and greater interaction between them and Lexi would have helped, but likely would have also taken away from the sense of isolation that is pervasive throughout the story.

The best part of the book was the setting. I may be a bit partial to this, as I have a former exchange student daughter from Trondheim. But I found it fascinating to learn about Norwegian folklore and the approach to nature conservancy. I also found Erik and Dag’s characters to be endearing and would have enjoyed more time to get to know them, maybe in the guise of learning more local history and folklore, as well as details about the house and the land it sits on?

Overall, a good book that I enjoyed reading - yes, I said it again!

Good suspense novel. I would have rated this book higher except the ending didn't feel true to the story line without something else happening before the end. ***Spoiler alert*** Between Sophie being sent home and her becoming a guest in the mansion it feels like something had to happen besides proof that Derry witnessed Aurelia's death.

Yikes! I guess I didn't read the book description carefully, otherwise I would never have chosen to read this book. I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. I expected a suspenseful whodunit with a twist, but what I read was a supernatural psychological thriller with an unsatisfying ending. After reading other readers' glowing reviews, I came to the conclusion it's not the book, it's me. Just not my kind of story.

I admit I was intrigued by the premise -- just the sort of book I like to read, full of mystery & twists. However, I only read the first 4 pages & was appalled by the awful language in just these pages (the "f" word was used in nearly every sentence. I didn't finish the book simply because of the unnecessary use of so much language. If the author will replace or remove that language the book would be SO much better.

I requested The Nesting because the plot sounded interesting but I still thought it would be just another suspense book. I was happily surprised when the book also turned out to be a gothic, mystery and ghost story set in Norway, Lexi , very unhappy in her life takes over the identity of a stranger ,Sophie, so she can become the nanny to two little girls who recently lost their mom. They’re all in Norway because their father is an architect and building his wife’s dream house on the side of a fjord to pay homage to her. So much goes wrong with the project, and with the other people in the house, but Lexi has never been happier caring for and loving the two little girls, except for the ghost she keeps encountering. A terrific page turning plot with tons of red herrings that kept me guessing right up to the end. Once started I couldn’t put it down.

Lexi Ellis has a brand new job as a nanny to Tom Faraday’s two little girls at a gorgeous home in Norway. The house may be beautiful, but it has a rather grim provenance. Faraday, an architect, built the house to honor his dead wife; it was built in the place she died. If you think there are going to be problems for Lexi, you’re right, as things begin to go bump in the night and the dead wife’s diary keeps showing up in Lexi’s room. Suddenly, it seems clear that Aurelia didn’t kill herself and that Lexi and the children may be in terrible danger. A fun, literate ghost story