3.5 What Is Real Stars
* * * 1/2 Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
We all have heard the saying, "If something seems too good to be true, it usually is." Well, Nanny Needed takes this to the extreme. We have a woman who has a number of situations being a financial drain. Her fiance' is also working to make ends meet so when a flyer for a position as a nanny is posted in her building, she decides to see what the deal is.

Does she have experience with kids, no...but how hard can kids be?

Does she know how to handle an upscale lifestyle, no ...but she will fake it till she makes it.

Do the people interviewing her care about any references, childcare experience, or all the other normal needs from an employer, nope.

They really like her and ask her to sign some paperwork, standard of course, and then she will be hired and receive an obscene amount that will help her dig out of debt.

This story is involved, layered, and takes you into a world that will have you wonder who you feel sorry for, who are you rooting for, and looking to see what exactly the outcome will be.

It’s been a long time since a story truly wowed me, and this one really caught me by surprise!

Sarah Larsen finds a notice for a job as a nanny, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. She and her fiancé are struggling to make ends meet while trying to plan a wedding, so when the opportunity for a huge bump in income comes along, how could she possibly say no? But the Birds aren’t your typical family. Mrs. Bird and her daughter never seem to leave their Upper West Side penthouse, and after observing some strange behavior from Colette, she begins to second guess accepting the job. But Sarah signed an NDA and has a contract to fulfill. Will she stick it out despite the eccentricities of this family, or will she break the rules and and break her silence to seek help?

This was seriously an enthralling read, and I couldn’t put it down! The suspenseful buildup was so well paced and kept me engaged from the very first page. And the bomb that is dropped at the end…wow! I didn’t not see that coming! Such a great book, and I highly recommend it!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4274387779

A very curious story that immediately intrigued me as soon as I started reading. However, while there were a few twists and turns that I did not see coming, I still feel there were certain parts that did hold much water. This book lacked a real edge that some of the best tantalizing thrillers do. While there was plenty of development and detail surrounding the posh, upscale Bird family, there was hardly anything extraordinarily significant about the main character. As the reader, it was hard for me to connect with her. With that said, if you like a light thriller that does have the potential to be turned into in a Lifetime move with enough sustenance, then you should still thoroughly enjoy this book.

Thank you Random House Publishing - Ballantine for sending me a copy!

Sarah is struggling financially. Along with her boyfriend, they are trying hard to make ends meet. She is tired of living paycheck to paycheck at a job that she does not exactly love. Out of the blue, she finds a notice for a nanny position that looks like it is too good to be true. She can't believe her luck when she gets the job since this might change her and her boyfriend's life. She had no idea how much she would regret it. Thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author for a free copy of this book.

First I want to say Thank You Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine /Bantam (my new favorite publisher) NetGalley and Author for this amazing chance to read and review this advance ebook copy. In return for an honest review! 😍

As soon as I seen Nanny Needed and read the description I knew in had to try!
And they made my month by accepting the request!.😘 I was thrilled to receive this copy as a wish granted on Netgalley!.

Nanny Needed by Georgina Cross is crazy good! And now I have new favorite thriller author 🖤
I was hooked from the first chapter finishing it in one day!
All the unexpected plot twists were so well written I was glued to the book!
The character development for each character were written with great details
This book was exactly what I was hoping for.... Intriguing, amazing characters, fast paced, thriller from hell!
I could keep going!
This story is a non-stop roller coaster of suspense.
It’s an edge of your seat psychological thriller, with a constant feeling of dread, that toys with one’s mind and emotions at the same time. 
The uniquely well written plot was just outstanding in every way possible.
It was one of those "I for real can not put my Kindle down" sorta things!
A tense, taut thriller that pulls you along with it right to the last page.

Thank you again for this phenomenal ebook! 😘😍

Oohh, this book was SO GOOD! Don’t let the title fool you like it fooled me! It is NOT what you would expect, it is NOT about an evil nanny who is hired who ends up having affair with the father/husband or who does something sinister or deadly. Trust me, you should definitely read this book! I need to be careful at what I say because I don’t want to give anything away, but just know that it is incredibly gripping and twisted, be prepared to be swept off your feet with this one. It is so easy to make guesses and predictions that may or not may be right, but there is always just one more thing you haven’t thought of that completely throws you. There are twists and turns, there are predictable and unexpected parts, and there are the most interesting and compelling characters that completely captivate your attention. I was hooked right from the beginning and the lure held strong throughout the entire novel. I absolutely loved it.

What a cool storyline! What would i do? Is the money worth it?

I was given an advanced copy of this novel by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun read. Nothing special here, but a good escape for a couple hours. I'll definitely read more of Cross' work.

Thank you Net Galley for a copy of Nanny Needed by Georgina Cross. Wow! What a great book to read in October. I'm not going to ruin this book for anyone by its about Sarah who applies for a nanny job, gets it and after that the book is thrilling! Read it!

OMG, wowzer, Nanny Needed by Georgina Cross absolutely rocks! I was so drawn in, I read the whole book in one day. I love New York and I love peeking in the lives of the Manhattan Elite and this book did not disappoint. I couldn't put it down. I won't give away any content, but this book is a very suspenseful read! Thank you for the ARC!

A young woman with financial hardship takes a position as a nanny in an unusual family situation. The more time she spends with the family, the more her personal life comes under fire until she questions everything. Author Georgina Cross plans a variety of well-timed plot twists with weak characters in the fun thriller Nanny Needed.

Sarah Larsen is hanging on by a thread. She and her boyfriend, Jonathan, want to get married, but they’re living hand to mouth in New York City. They both work in the same restaurant and try to pick up as many shifts as possible all while talking about their dreams and what they want to do someday. The problem is that “someday” costs money, and that’s the one thing they don’t have enough of.

It seems like fate, then, that Sarah sees a help wanted ad in the lobby of their apartment building for a family that needs a nanny. The ad states that certain special conditions apply and that discretion is paramount. The address, on New York’s Upper West Side, makes Sarah jump at the chance. Anyone who can afford to live in that part of the city will definitely pay top dollar for a nanny.

Despite her lack of experience, the Bird family hires Sarah right away. Her eyes nearly pop out at the salary, and she doesn’t think twice about signing the nondisclosure agreement. The penthouse comes with a full-time housekeeper and chef, and her main employer, Collette Bird, seems more like a potential friend and less like a boss. The contract states she’s required to stay on for a minimum of three months; Sarah thinks she’s in for a cushy job.

What she’s not counting on is a dark secret that she’s now required to keep for the Birds. Sarah can’t quite get her brain wrapped around the truth of the family’s situation. Worse, she can’t even share the details with Jonathan. He’s her true love and her only family, ever since her parents died in a car accident and her Aunt Clara succumbed to an illness. She’s always told Jonathan everything, until now. If she shares the family secret, however, she’ll be sued within an inch of her life.

Every time Sarah thinks about leaving, the family steps in and makes the choice more or less impossible. When she wavers, the Birds interfere in her life to get her attention and it works. Now Sarah’s backed into a corner, and the only way out is to betray the Birds’ confidence. She’s just afraid that she’ll lose everything in the process.

Author Georgina Cross sets up a fantastic premise for this thriller. At regular intervals, the stakes get higher for Sarah and she finds herself tied more and more tightly to the Birds. With a little suspension of disbelief, readers will find themselves on a fun ride.

The book doesn’t quite do justice to all of its characters, however. While Sarah comes across as having a great deal of agency, other characters are passive to the point of being nonexistent. One character is tied to a major plot twist, yet they hover in the background for most of the story before that point. Sarah spends a great deal of time worrying about certain members of the Bird family, but her worry looms larger than those actual characters.

The lack of character presence makes it harder to buy into the climax and the avalanche of reveals that come. While the book hits many of the right notes of the genre, readers might find their patience tested by some of those reveals. Those who don’t mind a book a little over the top will enjoy this one.

When Sarah Larsen sees the poster for a nanny needed, she thinks this could be the job for her. After going to meet with the family at their penthouse in New York City and learning she would only be caring for one child, it seems like a dream come true.

Does the pay justify signing a contract with some odd terms and nondisclosure agreement , though?

Something is strange about the mother, Mrs. Bird, and everyone who works with her, and even after being hired and her first couple days on the job, Sarah has yet to meet the child.

What is really going on in the Bird family?

Loved. It. Seriously started this book yesterday and woke up this morning, eager to reach for my Kindle to find out the ending! What a twist! This author sure does know how to suck in a reader, and I loved how it wrapped up in the end. A plot that sucks you in and keeps you engaged throughout!

Not your typical nanny story.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

I literally (get it?) FLEW through this book! I devoured it in one morning! Georgina Cross knows how to write a book that holds your attention from the first word through to the last! I really liked Sarah and kept cheering for her. I never knew which direction she would be pulled or pushed and oh my gosh was she pushed and pulled!
I never knew whether Colette was truly crazy or if she was just really manipulative. As always, I freaking loved the first person perspective. I absolutely loved being in Sarah’s head!
All of my theorizing did zilch to prepare me for the crazy bombs that dropped one after another toward the end. Now I need to go back and read Georgina’s previous books! I’ve already bought one!

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for my gifted eARC.

What a perfectly creepy domestic thriller!

I almost never say this, but I recommend going in almost completely blind. This is all you need to know: 20-something Sarah Larsen is a struggling server in NYC when she answers an affluent family’s job posting for a nanny.

I really enjoyed this one! It’s not the darkest thriller I’ve ever read, but I got seriously creeped out early on (that’s a plus in my book — it only adds to the enjoyment of a thriller for me). It’s a quick read, and if you love domestic thrillers I highly recommend it. It’s really the perfect read to add to your thriller stack for October 🔪💀🔮🩸

What a ride this book was! A fast read, because you can't put it down!
Sarah takes a job as a nanny for a very wealthy family in NY city. She has to sign a contract for the position, but fails to read the entire contract. Sarah thinks this job will help her and her boyfriend with their bills, and give them the financial freedom they want. But, she didn't read the fine print!!! Over the first few weeks of work, Sarah realizes that something is quite wrong with this family. She can't get out of the job or say anything because of the contract. Why didn't she read it all??? A spine tingling, heart pounding thriller I couldn't put down!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC .

One-sentence summary:
Sarah Larsen is struggling to make ends meet in NYC until she is offered the position of Nanny to a glamorous woman who lives in a penthouse on the Upper West Side, but by the time Sarah begins to learn the dark secrets of her employer, it’s impossible for her to escape a job that may very well destroy her.

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This psychological thriller pulled me in from page one!

It was such a treat to read this after a string of upcoming releases I’ve read, over the last few weeks, that didn’t manage to grab and hold my attention.

You know what I mean: the types of books that make you feel like finishing them is a chore, and you’re tired after a long day, so you skip the book, go onto social media and scroll through all the posts that come up after you’ve done a search for #brianlaundrie. You get me, right?

Anyway, long story short (I know, too late), for me, this book was pure pleasure. I never wanted to put it down at all. In fact, I most likely would have read it in one day if I didn’t have work and other unfair ‘lifing’ obligations that got in my way.

First of all, and perhaps most importantly, I LOVED the unique premise of it.

Secondly, I really enjoyed the main character. She may not have made the best decisions, but the circumstances surrounding her -- like a desperate financial situation -- helped to lend her choices some solid believability. Overall, I found her very likeable and easily got on her ride.

In fact, the character of Sarah, and the desperate situation she finds herself in, reminded me quite a bit of Riley Sager’s LOCK EVERY DOOR, which is also set in NYC and happens to be one of my favorite psychological thrillers EVER.

Anyway, there’s very solid thriller plotting here, and the story has a good number of twists and shocks that should keep mystery and thriller fans happy. As an added bonus, it has a nice creepy factor that is perfect for the month of October.

This comes out today!

Thank you Bantam and Random House for the ARC!

This mind- bending novel had me hooked from page one. Sarah Larsen is living in Manhattan with her fiance, happily in love but also trying to make ends meet. In order to pay off her debt and save for her wedding, she takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy Upper East side couple, the Bird's. "Special Conditions Apply" was listed on the flyer. Sarah naturally assumed discretion was needed because of their extreme wealth. Oh, how very wrong she was.

When Sarah begins the job, it soon becomes clear that this family is hiding a massive secret, one that can never leave the family, for fear of serious repercussions. Also, something just doesn't seem quite right with Mrs. Bird. She rarely leaves the house, and instead is kept in her gilded cage, largely looked after by Sarah and the housekeeper, Pauline. When Sarah finally begins to understand the depth of the secret that they are hiding, she is stunned. However, the Bird family has no intention of letting Sarah leave. Not until she has fulfilled her contract....

Sarah is soon stuck in a nightmare, and it is about to become much worse. Sarah's fiance, Jonathan, becomes suspicious about the family's secret. If Sarah won't get answers, Jonathan is determined to. But at what cost??

This was definitely a page turner, and while the ending was a tad bit unrealistic, it certainly surprised me, and not many books can do that nowadays. Fast-paced and intriguing, I highly recommend this read by Georgina Cross.

I completely devoured Nanny Needed! I literally read the entire book in two days, and I might’ve read it in just one if I hadn’t had an extremely busy week handling clients for my full-time job. The chapters were short (literally two-three minutes according to the Kindle app), so it was so easy to keep reading just one more… and one more… and one more!

A mystery and thriller, Nanny Needed follows main character Sarah Larsen who is heavily in debt and working at a restaurant, barely able to make ends meet week to week. Sarah finds a job notice in her lobby for a nanny with “utmost discretion.” After her initial interview, Sarah feels like she won the lottery. The job is a dream come true working for a fancy family in a glamorous penthouse, and the salary would allow to put a dent in her debt! But as Sarah dives into her new role as a nanny, she begins to realize nothing is what it seems.

I try not to include any spoilers in my reviews, so I’m not sure there’s really much that I can say about this book! It was a total page-turner and every chapter added a new layer to the plot twists, but I don’t want to give any of them away.

I really liked Sarah and related to her so much. I, too, moved to NYC on a whim to follow my dreams and definitely found myself struggling to make ends meet, so I loved how real the characters were. NYC can be the most magical, incredible place full of so much possibility, but it is definitely also an expensive one and it takes a lot of grit to succeed.

NYC was the perfect setting for this story. It’s, of course, entirely realistic for a rich family on the Upper West Side to have a nanny even if the mother is home, but it’s also the kind of city where people mind their business. It’s not uncommon to see random arguments or meltdowns on a street corner or the subway, and it’s generally forgotten by the observant bystander by the time they get home. The Bird family is very discreet and private, but while they have to maintain their reputation, they can also benefit from the anonymity of the city.

This was not all fluff and charm, though. Nanny Needed explored some really heavy, devastating twists with a significant theme of grief and loss throughout the entire novel. I cannot imagine living through some of the scenarios that the characters dealt with and the story definitely shook me a bit.

While I can’t elaborate too much about Nanny Needed for fear of giving something away, what I can say is: READ THIS BOOK! This book is hands-down my favorite binge-read of 2021 and I’m definitely open to chatting more about it if you’ve read it too!

Holy page turner ! Sarah, our main character is drowning in debt and needs to do something, fast. She sees an ad for a Nanny on the Upper West side and decides to go for it, despite her lack of experience. She is somewhat shocked when she is asked back for additional interviews and eventually hired. She doesn't even think twice when she signs an NDA, nor does she ask for a copy, when things get weird, she can't get away, hence the NDA. just what are the Bird's hiding! Read to find out!

When Sarah sees an ad in her apartment building for a nanny job, she jumps at the chance to earn some extra money. After all, she is swimming in debt after paying for her Aunt Clara’s medical expenses and she and her fiancé, Jonathan, have been putting off marriage because of those expenses. When she gets the job it all seems too good to be true, but there are strings attached strings that not even she knows about up front. Secrets she must keep or there will be consequences, deadly consequences! The Bird family is not your typical family and neither is this particular nanny job! With a creepy vibe, this was a fast paced read with an unexpected ending.

This is definitely a creepy story. What started as a dream job is turning into a hellish nightmare. Sarah gets hired as a nanny for a four year old but it doesn’t take her long to realize something is very wrong. She is not getting to meet the child. Getting continued excuses why she cannot see the child. Why does everybody in the household lie to her. This is the kind of book that will keep you guessing till the end. The conclusion is twist you don’t see coming.