This book is definitely a slow burner, not much happens in the first half but the second half is explosive! I thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful, domestic thriller. It is really well written with fantastic characters, (most of them very unlikeable), good twists and an engaging storyline.
This is my first Emma Curtis read, I’m really looking forward to reading more from her now!

My first book by Emma Curtis, this suspenseful domestic thriller had me intrigued from the start. This was a juicy slow burner wrapped in layers of mystery. With each layer gradually peeled away, the darkness within is slowly and deviously revealed.

There is a sense from the off that there is something not quite right with one of the characters (or more than one….??) Each character is extremely well written. They leap off the page at you, with some being likeable, and others extremely unlikeable (which made me like them the best, of course!) It is obvious there are secrets - what has happened in some of the characters’ pasts to warrant such an extreme set of circumstances?? Oh, and those poor kids! Jesus.

At just around half way, I pretty much guessed the reveal but by no means was I disappointed! I am equally satisfied whether I can guess or not. On saying that, there was a nice devious twist at the end. Personally (as I thoroughly enjoy a devious twist) I would have liked to have seen this twist given a little more focus, as it felt a little rushed. This could have helped me understand Eliza and Martin’s relationship a little more. But it was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.

A compelling and suspenseful domestic thriller that slowly burns, gradually revealing its dark and devious secrets, with a chilling twist at the end. Recommended to all who love a suspenseful domestic thriller with fabulously written characters.

To the outside world Eliza has a dream life but under the surface all is not as rosy as it seems. She finds and ally in Dan but it appears he has secrets too. An intriguing read with lots of tension.

This book started off slowly and there was a lot of build up before any action happened. It is quite different to the other books I’ve read by the same author as they go straight to the action.

Dan Jones knocks on the door of a flat Eliza is just about to rent out and from that first moment, her life slowly unravels.

Despite the slow start, it kept me hooked and it’s well worth staying with it until the conclusion.

This is a slow-burn, domestic thriller that definitely hooks you in and keeps you turning those pages!

Told from Eliza's point of view, who apparently has the perfect life - wealthy, hard-working husband, two beautiful children, a live-in au pair, but is infact stuck in an abusive relationship with her disabled husband Martin. When she is looking at one of their properties one day, she opens the door to the enigmatic Dan, not knowing how much he was going to rock her life.

I won't say anymore, but after a very slow build up, you will soon be unable to put it down!

I went to start this today and it has disappeared from my kindle app with no way of resending it from Netgalley as that option has been removed so apologies but unable to read or review

Who would have thought a new tenant could cause so much chaos? Dan manoeuvres his way into their lives and nothing will ever be the same again
Interesting characters and an explosive storyline

Yet another unputdownable thriller from Emma Curtis. I was hooked from the very beginning. Eliza has an unexpected encounter with her potential new tenant before rushing home for lunch with her husband. Straight away the scene is set for a love triangle which will take several twists. This book will keep you guessing until the very end. Thank you NetGalley and Transworld Digital for the opportunity to read an advance copy of one of my favourite authors Emma Curtis.

Invite Me In by Emma Curtis held me spellbound. It is an incredible page turning, I can’t put it down and heart-pounding story!! I was amazed how a seemingly tame domestic environment could have so many twists and turns that kept you on the edge of your chair. The second half was so fast moving I could hardly read fast enough.
Loved the range of characters, their interactions and how they were carefully developed in a story that was complex but intriguing with so many different levels of suspense that keep you guessing even when you think you have an idea of what is happening and about to happen.
Highly recommended read.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Random House UK for a copy to read and review.

I read this in two sittings, as this was incredibly intriguing and compellingly, with a fast-paced plot set in a gripping and suspenseful atmosphere. I was pleasantly surprised at how great this was. This exceeded all expectations, and the writing kept me invested, eager to know how this was going to conclude.

The characters were written very creatively, and I couldn't help but like them, even the unlikeable ones. This was a great read for character analysis, but the mysterious element always had me guessing about what was coming next. There were plenty of twists and jaw dropping moments, and I can not prasie this enough!

This has become my favorite written by this author, and if you are looking for an exciting and thrilling page turner, this is the book for you!

Invite Me In is a domestic suspense read and a very slow burn. At the beginning and through the first half of the book I wasn't sure what I was reading about: an abusive relationship? Or Eliza's affair with her tenant?
The second half though, is captivating and worth the wait, it turns from a read that I wasn't very keen on getting to, to an unputdownable one!
I loved Emma Curtis's writing style, she really masters her characters and, although not a single one of them is remotely likable in this book, that's exactly how I think she meant them to be. The plot is clever and well thought and the end is breathtaking.

Thank you to NetGallyey and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This one certainly kept me turning the pages but almost all the characters absolutely infuriated me! Why on earth did Eliza let herself become such a doormat to her husband? Yes she had secrets in her past but if in my eyes not anything damning enough to let him get away with such horrific behaviour. The charming Dan suddenly appears in her life and manages to complicate things even further. I liked the aspect of her alcoholism and how it was used to exploit her. The reader is not sure who is on Eliza's side and who is out for revenge. I think my criticism would be there was too much going on, too many themes which over complicated things making it pretty far fetched in a lot of places. When Eliza ended up letting a couple of the characters practically take over her house I felt that was stretching credulity too far!

A slow-burning domestic thriller, Invite Me In is a brilliantly plotted and tense read full of toxic relationships that you spend 400 pages trying to escape from.

Although you expect early on that something is suspicious with the stranger that has been “invited in”, this in no way weakens the suspense as you still try to piece together their motive and connection. The first half is admittedly quite slow, but the revelations that soon come make this a difficult book to put down.

This is my first book by Emma Curtis but I love her writing. She crafts her characters impeccably and I really got a feel of each of their personalities. And because it’s difficult to know who to trust, you have to keep a close eye on them all to try and spot any clue as to who’s behind Eliza’s torment.

Eliza’s situation, especially, feels very intense, knowing that asking for help could result in an even worse situation. And although she certainly doesn’t help herself a lot of the time, you still hope that somebody will believe her. She is definitely flawed, but I also sympathised with her at the same time which is what kept me so engaged.

By the end, this book had me absolutely hooked and I will definitely be checking out Emma Curtis’ previous titles.

Starting off rather sedately this builds into a book that from a certain point becomes impossible to put down.

Although you may know from early on who a key character is going to be at no point did I guess anything further about how they are involved, and what links or motivations there could possibly be.

We get the story told from Eliza's viewpoint and she is a rather complex character and doesn't have the simplest of lives at all as is evidenced as we learn more of her back story.

This is a book that had me gasping in places, and hooked in others and I just knew I had to keep turning the pages to see how it might unfold. And Emma Curtis certainly didn't let me down.

It's another cleverly thought out and well plotted book that had me captivated,

Thank you to Black Swan and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

What did I learn from this book? NEVER trust good looking charming men who knock on your door and never invite them in!! They are BAD news!

I initially struggled to get into the story. I struggle to connect to the characters and I can honestly say I didn't like any of them. I found them all flawed and at times irritating although I can sympathize with Eliza because of everything that happened to her as a child. I still didn't really like her which in a way is refreshing because we don't always want to like everyone in the story because that is not real life. Although I found the first half of the book a bit slow  I thoroughly enjoyed the last half and finished it very quickly. In the end, it was a highly entertaining read.

"There are events in all our lives that trigger change. Sometimes it’s a tiny thing; a missed connection on a journey. Sometimes it’s huge; a car crash, a death. You can wake up in your bed, yawn and glance at the clock, get up and put the kettle on, not knowing that at some point on this ordinary day, life will take a different course." True story!

Thank you to NetGalley and  Random House UK, Transworld for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Emma Curtis is such an auto-buy of an author for me. You know you’re going to be in for a ride. And that’s what Invite Me In is.
A middle aged woman stuck in a toxic and abusive marriage to a man in a wheelchair, unable to leave because of her secret that her husband holds over her, she embarks on an affair with her charming new lodger. But she’s not the only one with secrets...
This was a stellar read, albeit a slow first half. The second half really kicks off and I devoured the rest in one breathless sitting. A few characters are stereotyped, such as the pouty French au pair, and there are a few psychological thriller tropes such as selective memory due to drinking in the case of the protagonist with an alcohol issue. But that all aside I really did enjoy this one. The tensions, the sense of place, and the interactions between the characters. I did find the dialogue heavy-handed at times and a bit on the nose for my taste, and a few plot points were predictable. Nonetheless this was binge-able and once it got going it had me hooked.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc. I highly enjoyed a previous novel written by the author called When I Find You. That plus all the glowing author quotes from some of my favourite writers intrigued me.

This is narrated from the POV of 30-something year old Eliza. Eliza is married to Martin. He buys properties and renovates them and she helps. The couple have two children, too. The opening scene starts off with Eliza, finishing up work on a flat she’s brought, and is due to go on the market for rent, when the doorbell rings and a charming stranger appears, eager to see the property and confident that he’s going to be the tenant. A few days later Eliza is mugged in broad daylight, only for a stranger to save the day. It’s the same guy. The eager tenant named Dan. Before she knows it Dan insinuates his way into Eliza’s life...
Eliza’s life is also complicated by her toxic wheelchair-bound husband.

At first I wasn’t sure what I was reading. A woman stuck in an abusive marriage having an affair with her tenant? A woman who holds secrets of her own? Furthermore the first half was such a slow burn, and then there was melodramatic arguments and tensions. Until the twist two-thirds of the way through. After that I was hooked, unsure of what was happening and who the antagonist actually. It was an enjoyable read, but a conflicting one. I did find Eliza to be annoying and didn’t see any growth in her characterisation. By the end she’s exactly the same and doesn’t responsibility for her actions. Also some of the characters, especially Martin and Isabel, were complete caricatures. All these gripes aside this was a decent domestic suspense read.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Transworld Publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Invite Me In’ by Emma Curtis in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was certainly a tense domestic noir. I also joined the online group read hosted by The Pigeonhole that enabled members to swap insights and comments as we read the daily staves.

Its protagonist is Eliza Curran. Like many women in these melodramas, she appears to have the perfect life: two adorable children (and a live-in French au pair to take care of them), a stunning home, and a wealthy husband, who appears to adore her. The key word is ‘appears’, as behind closed doors Martin Curran is extremely controlling and Eliza is miserable.

Martin is in a wheelchair following a motorcycle accident some years previously and he also knows secrets from Eliza’s past that could destroy any chance of her retaining custody of their children if she leaves. So she stays and longs for freedom.

Then one day as Eliza is putting the finishing touches on the latest flat in their property portfolio, the charming Dan Jones knocks on the door enquiring about the tenancy. Suddenly, life is looking a wee bit brighter. Oh Eliza!

No more details in order to avoid spoilers, though suffice to say that the plot takes some surprising directions that kept me glued to its pages in anticipation of what happens next.

I did find Eliza difficult to empathise with as she seemed very immature and her own worse enemy in allowing Martin to bully and disrespect her in front of their children. Still, though Eliza was at times exasperating Martin was vile and vindictive; he would have felt right at home in a Victorian penny dreadful.

There is no doubt that ‘Invite Me In’ was a gripping psychological thriller/domestic noir. Even though at times I wanted to jump into the book and give Eliza a good talking to - that level of engagement demonstrates that I was clearly invested in both its characters and storyline. It definitely was a bit over the top though no less entertaining for that.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great storyline with excellent characters. I would highly recommend this book as it was a great read.

I have read previous books written by Emma Curtis which have all been exceptionally good psychological thrillers and I was not disappointed with Invite Me In which was as good if not better than her previous books. I was entirely engrossed from the very first page until the book reached its conclusion. Eliza Curran is married to Martin, they have a fantastic home, 2 lovely children, In short an idyllic life. However Martin is wheelchair bound having been involved in a RTA some years previously. He is a successful businessman, loved by his sister, a well respected member of the community, however behind closed doors all is not as it seems in this perfect marriage. Martin is a manipulative bully, a control freak who insists Eliza does exactly as he says, even so far as having an app on her mobile so he can track where she goes. If she disobeys him he make sure she is brought to heel. The Curran’s own a number of rental properties, a tenant called Dan Jones takes on the tenancy of one of their flats and slowly inveigles his way into their lives. and that of their nanny Isabelle. It soon becomes clear Dan has his own agenda. and surely but subtly begins to play a dangerous game which impacts hugely on the lives of the Curran’s and their close family.. The author has created well drawn characters who you can visualise but who I found difficult to like or empathise with, the story and character development are excellent. The plot is cleverly written, the suspense carries the story along until it’s breathtaking end, only a skilful writer can do this and hold the readers interest throughout. I highly recommend this book especially for those who like a good domestic psychological thriller. My thanks to NetGalley, Random House U.K. for this much appreciated ARC in return for my honest opinion.