I think this book had a lot of promising ideas, maybe too many. Was The Nesting supposed to be a mystery or horror story? I honestly couldn't tell. Implausible storylines (the identity theft arc was incredibly weak) intersected with some poor writing (unnecessary alternating viewpoints, dangling plots, red herrings, etc.) made this book a tedious read.

Lexi Ellils, a young woman with no place left to go and no one left to turn to, impulsively steals another young woman's resume and applies for a job as a nanny. She'll be living in an isolated house in Norway, taking care of a widower's two daughters while he builds a high concept house hanging from a steep cliff. She knows that what she is doing is a bad idea, but she's immediately drawn to the two little girls who recently lost their mother.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Haunted houses always appeal to me and there are some chilling scenes with muddy animals prints in the house and an apparition one of the girls describes as "the sad lady."It includes an intriguing mix of environmentalism and folklore, along with the fact that Lexi is trying to determine whether what she sees is supernatural or a hallucination brought on by her mental illness. She's a likable character who took the job out of desperation and is doing her best to be a good nanny to the children. I did have a hard time accepting the author's description of the young children and the rigid academic schedule they're supposed to be keeping, to the point that I had to stop and look up whether 9 month olds can drink almond milk. (It's not recommended.)

A desperate woman takes a job as a nanny for two children in Norway where a man is trying to build his dead wife's dream house. The story alternatives been the first try of building the house when the wife was still alive and the present attempt. Meanwhile, the "nanny" has a whole other story line going on. I enjoyed this book very much. It was an Interesting mix of thriller, folk tale and the supernatural.

Ghosts? Check. Gothic? Check. Scandinavian? Check. Mystery? Check! This was a fun, if somewhat creepy, read, not that I have a problem with creepy! This was a haunting thriller of a novel. Lexi, under a false identity, escapes to Norway to be a nanny to two young girls, Gaia and Coco, after their mother, Aurelia's, supposed suicide. Husband Tom is determine to build a special home in her memory, calling it The Nest. Everything that could go wrong does, and Lexi begins to wonder what she is doing there, but cannot just leave her two young charges to the craziness. Enjoy! ~ Diane

If you like stories with a strong sense of place, this book will fit the bill. Aurelia has drowned in a Norwegian fjord, and now her widower is building the house he had promised her, an architectural masterpiece attached to a cliff overlooking the fjord. He hires Lexi to care for his two small children, but she is not who she claims to be. Neither are most of the other characters we meet.

This is a complex novel with environmental messages combined with Norwegian lore to add a sense of foreboding. How did Aurelia really die, and why? Seeking the answer kept me engaged even when I found some parts of the storytelling slow.

Review #21, THE NESTING by CJ Cooke and reviewing for Netgalley. A dark haunting fairy tale thriller. When your life is bad and you are homeless what do you do? Assume someone else's life! Set in the dark forest of Norway with lots of secrets. A new author for me that I will be returning to see what else they have in store. ★ ★ ★ ★ Four stars.

2.5 stars--somewhere between "it was OK" and "I liked it."

This book opens with a truly gothic scenario, which of course I love. (I'm always up for women in their nightgowns running through the forest!) I enjoyed the creepy folklore elements and remote setting of the book. A few times it was actually quite chilling.

However, I thought the characterization was muddled, and there were some plot holes that I couldn't forgive. If this book lost 30 pages or so, I think it could be a tight thriller. But as it stands, it's a bit bloated and jumbled.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

We were supposed to go to Norway this summer. For oblivious reasons, our trip was canceled. This book was a great alternative. I fell in love with with I Know My Name and really wanted to get my hands on this one.

Lexi has nothing left and is on the brink of the end. When she overhears and opportunity to start fresh, she changes her plan, name, and destination to masquerade as someone else. As the nanny for a widower who is hell bent on still building his wife's dream house, Lexi/Sophie soon wonders if all the tales she learns about are really true.

Very atmospheric, tense, and at times heart breaking. I only wish the ending was a bit more realistic. (You'll understand what I mean if you read it, so no spoilers here)! 4.5 rounded up!

It looks like this won’t be an entirely popular opinion, but this book didn’t really work for me. I love mysteries; atmospheric, brooding landscapes; interspersed folkloric elements to give a creepy vibe - I like all of that stuff, and so I assumed this book would tick all those boxes. However, it just really didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The book opens and goes on for quite a while building the background of Lexi and telling her story and her mental health, all to get us to the ultimate lie she tells to become the nanny in Norway. Great. However, that huge (looong) build up is essentially entirely abandoned for the Norway segment and all the craziness of that whole situation. Her character is nothing like the whole introduction - she’s just a totally different person! Sure, there are moments of, “Gosh, I hope they haven’t found out,” but they’re really flimsy insertions to the plot line. And the wrap-up with that was just rushed and nonsensical. And the rest of the book was just really dragging for something supposed to be building forward momentum for this murder mystery/identity fake discovery. The folklore was awkwardly placed and didn’t add to the whole. I think that part would have been much more effective with a faster pace and more of the dragging exposition shaved off. I just don’t get why we needed to be there for SO MUCH of Tom’s architectural issues. Mauren was just such a rich opportunity of a character whose storylines fell utterly flat.

This book was ultimately a chore to read rather than that urgent mystery-drive to finish.

A total “fast read, skim through, just get it over with” book for me. I did not enjoy and didn’t care about characters or plot.

Thanks to NetGalley for opportunity to read and review.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book. I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book but I ended up falling in love with it

What a page turner! The setting of Norway was wonderful and some folklore sprinkled throughout was really cool. Each of the characters was well written and I liked how many of them were a bit ominous in their own way to keep you wondering what REALLY happened the night Aurelia died. It was all wrapped up rather nicely although I do wish Tom had done right by the body that was found. This was a phenomenal book and I highly recommend it.

This story was a good idea but just not well executed. The writing is mediocre and the plot grinds to a halt about 40% in. The story is centered on Lexi who is a depressed, suicidal woman who fakes her way into a nanny role in rural Norway. Creepy things start happening but then the story just fizzles and goes nowhere. I didn't know what I was continuing to read for.

Oh. My. Stars. I loved this book! I started out thinking it would be a standard Norwegian domestic thriller and as the story grew darker and creepier, my heart soared. The pacing is fantastic and I loved the back and forth of the dueling POVs. I really kept me guessing. Gaia and Coco were so wonderfully sweet and eeeee! I will be shouting about this from the rooftops!

I regret to say I tried reading this and was unable to finish it. I just was not at all drawn into the story which is strange because I grew up reading gothics and thought this would be a good read. Gaia and her sister are cute characters, but I am just done with the unreliable female narrator.

Kep me scared and interested the whole time. I could not wait to see what would happen next and that is due to the compelling characters. One minor drawback is it took a little bit for the story to get going, but it is way worth it!!! I love this book.

Lexi isn’t doing very well, to say the least. She’s highly emotional, recovering from a suicide attempt, her boyfriend is breaking up with her, and she has no where to go and nothing to do. So when she finds a way to take a job in Norway as a nanny, she jumps right in and “fakes it until she makes it.” The two little girls that Lexi oversees are adorable, and they all bond instantly. And just when Lexi thinks she has found a purpose and a bit of happiness to go with it, she realizes that there are somethings going on in the house that just don’t make sense. Is it haunted, or is someone trying messing with her head? This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and although it had some holes and the ending didn’t add all the way up, I still enjoyed it. I found it hard to put down, and that’s always a good sign. If I could only do half-stars here, this would be a perfect candidate for 3.5.

Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book takes you on s journey of self discovery with twists and turns you would never see coming. With the perfect blend of Nordic folklore and the supernatural, sometimes you wonder what is and isn’t real. You find yourself wondering who to root for and who might have alterier motives. This is a must read for fans of The Only Good Indian and thrillers alike.

I went into this hoping to really like it, but to be honest I just couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. The writing was only okay and the pace seemed incredibly slow for me.

"The Nesting" was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The author has done a great job of creating a novel with a strong gothic feel to it. While I had some familiarity with Norse mythology and folk tales, I was unfamiliar with Norwegian folk tales prior to reading this book, but the use of the Nokk/Nokken or water sprite/spirit was a good choice, enhancing the gothic aspect of the story. I also liked the story of Grete and the Elk, which the author may have invented, but certainly fits the spirit of a folk tale.

The book focuses on an ambitious architectural project in Norway and the mysterious complications faced by the builders and the architect's family. Tom and Aurelia Faraday wanted to build their dream home in Norway, which is where Aurelia's family had its origins and where she had idyllic childhood memories of visits with her grandparents. Tom hoped that this home, which would be as environmentally friendly as possible, would help put his architectural firm on the map. However, in order to build their dream home overlooking a fjord, it was necessary to cut down trees and divert a river. Mother Nature did not appreciate these changes and the river fought back, finding a new course that ended up undermining the foundation of the house, which was destroyed in a storm. In addition to the loss of the house, Aurelia commits suicide (or does she?). Aurelia's death occurs in the prologue, so this is not a spoiler.

Into the picture comes Lexi, who finds herself at loose ends after her latest suicide attempt is followed by the loss of her job and then by her long-term boyfriend ending their relationship. With little money and no place to go, she is riding a train when she overhears a young woman named Sophie talking about a nanny position in Norway. Lexi is intrigued because she is fascinated by Norway and is writing a novel set in Norway. When the opportunity arises, she surreptitiously obtains the information about the job and applies for the job using Sophie's name and resume. She is invited for an interview in London, makes a great impression with the Faradays' little girls, Gaia and Coco, and soon finds herself on the way to Norway to serve as the girls' nanny as the new house is built, this time on the side of a cliff overlooking the fjord. Not only is Lexi/Sophie in over her head, as she does not have some of the skills and training possessed by the real Sophie, but Tom, the housekeeper Maren (who is not very good at keeping house), and Tom's business partner Clive and his wife Derry, who spend a lot of time at the house or in the area, are all a bit strange in their own ways. Lexi/Sophie, who is predisposed to hallucinations, begins seeing and hearing strange things in Granhus, the old house where the family is living while the new build is taking place, and she begins to wonder whether Aurelia's death was really a suicide.

The book has interesting and compelling characters, good plot advancement, the strong mystical and gothic element, and plenty of surprises. Among the things I liked about the book is that the author does a good job of portraying the internal turmoil faced by Tom in trying to build the dream home and cope with the loss of his wife. Tom is an ardent environmentalist and wants the new home to be as environmentally friendly as possible, which leads to him making decisions that result in the build being more complex and costly, but yet his actions, especially diverting the river, have sizable, and at times catastrophic, impacts on the local environment. I would definitely recommend this book.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.