This book just wasn’t for me. The writing is solid but I just couldn’t get into the plot. If you like a good slow burn psychological thriller then you’ll probably enjoy this. I prefer my thrillers to be a lot more fast paced.

Review of Nanny Dearest by Fiona Collins

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall I enjoyed this thriller, though it won’t go down as one of my favorites this year. It was slow paced at times and all of the characters are unlikeable in my opinion. My favorite part was the ending (I don’t mean that the way it sounds😂). It was a cool ending.

Quick synopsis: Annie is a devoted nanny to her charge Susanna. She loves her and dotes on her. She may be a bit too involved and obsessed and we find out why in the flashbacks to the past. The book starts in the present when the two have a “chance” meeting and reconnect. Susanna is at first thrilled to be with Annie again as both of her parents are deceased and she is in desperate need for love and attention. But she soon starts to grow concerned about Annie.

This one was 2.5-3 stars for me so give it a go if you want. It is out November 30. A big thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.

QOTD: did you ever babysit or have a babysitter? Did you have a close relationship? My mom stayed home so I only had a rare babysitter but we had an absolutely amazing nanny when I was working when my kiddos were younger. I babysat on the rare occasion because I didn’t have much time.

Dual narrators in a audiobook always works well for me and when one of those narrators is Brittany Pressley I’m all in. She’s such a prolific narrator, I’ve listened to SO many of her books and she’s amazing and I truly believe she saved this one for me. Pretty sure had I read the print copy my rating would actually be lower. Anyway, this one starts out a little slow with Sue reconnecting with her childhood nanny, Annie and you hear from Sue in present day and Annie in the past during her time as a nanny. I’m a sucker for all things obsession in a thriller and the author delivered with that aspect for sure, it was quite the unsettling story. Parts did feel slightly repetitive though and it kinda stalled the plot, but I stayed mostly engaged anyway. Towards the end things picked up a little and while some of the things that were happening left me scratching my head, I was entertained. The actual ending was kinda bat shit, but sometimes that’s ok with me. Overall this one was fine, nothing special but a decent listen for me ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Thanks @harperaudio for my copy.

This thriller looks at m illness, missing parents, and childhood memories and ends with a shock.

Sue Keller lost her mother and was raised by an overprotective father. So, when her father dies, she feels unmoored and sinks into depression. When she connects with her ex-nanny Annie, Sue finds a lifeline to cling to. She knows nothing about her time in the countryside when her mother was alive and Annie was her nanny. Annie can give her not only love but answers about her past. She soon learns that life back then was nothing that it seems and the present day is predicated by lies.

Flora Collins alternates between Sue's present-day and Annie's life in the '90s. These alternating views allows readers to truly understand and empathize with each character. While there are events in the book that are hands down wrong, Collins looks at motivations, bringing and psychology to create complex layers. This isn't some criminal mystery but a domestic thriller that unfolds itself slowly but adequately, giving the reader just enough to keep going.

Even if you think you know what happens at the end of Nanny Dearest: you don't. The book closes with a shock—a shock that keeps you thinking way after you have closed the book.

When Suzy was younger, she had a nanny named Annaliese, and many years later after her father passes, she runs into Annie on the street. Both women are eager to reconnect and desperate for the friendship.

This story started out slow and didn’t really hold my attention and then it just got weirder and weirder. I liked the dual timelines but they transitioned abruptly, leaving me confused at times for a bit.

Thank you to MIRA books and Netgalley for my copy and for inviting me to take part in this blog tour!

Sue Keller has recently lost her father and is now parentless and unsure of the world around her. With a meeting in a park from a nanny from her past, her world gets flipped upside down and she must decide what she wants next.

With alternating chapters from the past to the present, this book gave me the eerie feelings from beginning to end. With an inability to trust either woman, I had no clue where this book was going to go. I enjoyed how this author put together the story and it was very easy to jump back and forth with chapters labeled and narrator's voices being distinct, it was easy to read, but I was just second guessing myself and my thoughts on the future of the book the whole time!

I don't always have the patience when it comes to unreliable narrators, but the story itself was so captivating that I just kept reading and reading. I wanted to know how it was all going to come together, but I am not sure I would want another book with these two main characters.

A solid debut book and I would be intrigued to see what comes next from this author.

Wow, what an emotional and engaging read! I really enjoyed reading the alternating POV's in this novel. There are several shocking twists and revelations, many that I didn't see coming, especially near the end. Bravo Flora Collins on a wonderful debut! Big thanks to HTP + Netgalley for my gifted e-copy.

It is definitely a slow burn. It took a while to get going and through that time, the characters were both sympathetic, pathetic, and utterly detestable. I didn't like them, but I felt sorry for both the protagonist and antagonist in turns. It wasn't particularly thrilling or suspenseful - I guess I like a bit more speed at times - but I was left questioning what was wrong with people by the end and I didn't see every "twist" coming my way. Entertaining in its own right despite the slow pacing, and let's just say I'm glad I don't have a nanny to come haunt my future and play on my frailties.

Nanny Dearest is Flora Collins' debut thriller, taking a deep dive into the world of domestic suspense. Fans of this genre will appreciate what this book has to offer.

When her father passed, Sue Keller was legally an adult. Yet, she still felt lost by it all. Without any family to turn to, Sue reached out to the one person she felt she could lean on. Her childhood nanny.

Though perhaps saying she reached out would be a bit of a stretch. Yet Sue didn't hesitate to let Annie back into her life, as she craved the comfort and structure that this woman offered. Yet the longer Annie stays, the more aware Sue becomes of the past. Including the reasons why Annie was sent away in the first place.

Nanny Dearest is a slow-burning thriller that will keep you turning the pages. At least, that's how it worked for me! I couldn't look away from the wreck that I saw happening. All told, the mystery of the nanny was quite compelling.

This story alternates between two points in time. The past (1996) and present day. I know that not all readers enjoy this format, but I personally love it (especially when it's done right). In this case, it worked well to help build the tension, slowly revealing the truth – and all the reasons for concern.

Flora Collins writing style is extremely compelling – I can see her thrillers making the top of the charts with a bit more time and experience. This is a thriller author to keep an eye on, that much I can promise you!

This is a delicious dark debut that had me turning the pages as quick as I could read them to find out what happens next!!!!!! I highly recommend this book.

Flora Collins’ debut novel, based loosely on a babysitter her family used when she was a child according to her, pulled me in at the beginning and had me waffling between 3 and 4 stars. I landed on 3.5.

Sue Keller has spent her past year wallowing in depression after the sudden death of her father in a car accident. He has been her only parent after the death of Sue’s mother, having moved them out of their upstate New York home when Sue was only five. Sue doesn’t remember much of her time upstate until she happens to run into her former nanny Anneliese who has recently moved in with her sister to watch her niece and nephew. Anneliese recognizes Sue immediately and convinces Sue to stay in touch.

In the alternating chapters from Sue’s POV now and Anneliese’s POV 20 years ago, we learn how their relationship developed, how Anneliese came to love Sue in what was her first nannying job. I made plenty of notes about my suspicions along the way — thinking that Anneliese had ulterior motives regarding money, that maybe it wasn’t really her, that she was a stalker who had spent her life looking for Sue, even that she had been romantically involved with Sue’s father or even killed her mother to “replace” her. In an effort to avoid any big spoilers, I won’t tell you if any of these are true or not. 😉 They’re just the things I thought of as I was reading the book.

Throughout the story, we see Sue and Anneliese becoming more and more intertwined in each other’s lives. Sue begins to take an active interest in Anneliese’s niece and nephew, she begins to come out of her depression, she begins to paint again (something she had stopped doing after losing her dad). Anneliese’s presence allows her to remember some of her childhood and talk about her mom. But I never stopped being suspicious of Anneliese’s motives, which is what kept me reading.

I have always heard that the most formative years for a child are birth to age 5. It is easy to believe the influence that Anneliese has over Sue in the present day because of her presence in Sue’s life when she was just a toddler and lost her mother. Having lost my husband just over a year ago (and with a then-15-year-old daughter who had lost her dad) and my mother just over six months ago, I know that grief and depression can wreak havoc on your life, so Sue’s demeanor and interactions with her friends are completely believable.

I kept reading this story to see which, if any, of my suspicions were correct. I kept reading to figure out what was finally going to happen between Sue and Anneliese. Would Sue learn enough about their past to figure out why Anneliese disappeared from her life 20 years before?

I rooted for Sue, I was thrilled for Sue at the end, and then I was disappointed. I don’t want to give away the ending because it IS unexpected, but I just didn’t believe that it would get to the point it did. Despite the grief and the depression combined with the information that Sue turned up, her actions were a bit of a letdown for me.

Reviews have been mixed on this one. Some reviewers have hated it, others gave it 5 stars. I’m going with 3.5 because it doesn’t strike me as being on par with other novels I have rated 4 stars, but I don’t think 3 would do it justice. This is a solid debut by a young author who deserves a chance. I’ll be looking for her next book.

What I Enjoyed

What a mixed bag of thoughts and emotions I have toward this story. Overall, I have to say, I look forward to what stories Flora Collins comes up with in the future. The writing flows, and the dialogue feels natural, so I can easily see great stories in the future. As to this story, there are positives, and then there are “buts,” so I will just get into it.

I enjoyed the pace of the last 40% of the novel. The pages just flew by, and I found the story to be compelling and delightfully disturbing. BUT the first 60% is such a slow burn that I had trouble staying focused on it. Now, if you’ve read any of my thriller reviews, you know that slow-burn pacing is very frustrating for me as a reader. This is a personal thing, as I know many of you enjoy an excellent slower pace

I enjoyed the mystery of trying to diagnose the mental health disorders at play, BUT I don’t know that I had enough information for a differential diagnosis, and that is part of the fun for me in Psychological Thrillers that are told through the perspective of someone who is suffering from a disorder. I don my counselor hat, and I’m off. I’m just not convinced that there were enough details for what the main character, Sue Keller, shows outwardly and feels emotionally. I would have loved for her character to be developed a great deal more than she is. Though I think Annie the Nanny is developed more than Sue, she could have also used a bit more love.

The story is told in two different timelines with a different point of view for each. The current timeline is told through Sue in first-person narration. The past timeline of the 90’s when Annie was Sue’s nanny is told in third-person narration but focused on Annie’s point of view. This manner of telling the story is very clear and provides the back story and the current story when Sue and Annie have re-found each other. Sue could very well be considered an unreliable narrator, especially since the ending is so obscure.

Characters

Sue Keller is a grieving adult orphan who recently lost her father in a car accident and lost her mother to cancer when she was young. She is in a job that doesn’t make her happy and is generally feeling lost.

Anneliese Whittaker, or Annie for short, just loves children and was so happy to be given the position as Sue’s nanny. And she is happily minding her niece and nephew while her sister is at work in the current timeline.

What I Wish

There was one point in the book where I thought, “I’m not going to continue.” I recently watched an interview where an author said the best advice he had been given is to never kill the pet. I would say never kill pets or children. There is absolutely a horrible scene concerning the beloved family pet, and I just must reiterate what should be a golden rule for thrillers, “Never, ever kill the pet.”

Trigger Warnings
Oh, so many: Animal Cruelty and Death, Miscarriage, Child Abuse, Euthanasia, Death of a Parent, Terminal Cancer

To Read or Not to Read
If you enjoy a slow-burn psychological thriller, you do not fall prey to many triggers, and you have enjoyed books by Gillian Flynn, BA Paris, or Megan Abbott, this is a book that should be at the top of your TBR pile.

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Flora Collins for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sue Keller is mourning the loss of her father when she is reacquainted with a blast from her past, her former live-in nanny, Annie. Having lost her mother at a young age, Sue immediately re-bonds with Annie because she gives her the mothering she's been craving for years. Before too long, they become inseparable. Sue makes a discovery one day while watching the two children currently in Annie's care, and it makes her question everything, and she begins to uncover the truth about who Annie really is.

I really enjoyed the alternating narrators in Nanny Dearest. We hear both from Sue in the present day and Annie when she lived in the Keller residence in the late 90's. Unfortunately, that's largely where my enjoyment ended for this one.

It took quite a while for the plot to get rolling, and once it did I found I wasn't particularly interested in what happened anyway. Additionally, Sue is about as unlikeable as they come and I wanted to smack her for her complete naivety.

Though I didn't love this one, I am still looking forward to read Flora Collins in the future.

A page turner where the suspense ramps up slowly. Sue is in a dark place after the death of her father when she has a chance meeting with Annelise, who was her nanny when she was three years old. Told in dual time line, it's the story of Annie's year with Suzy as her mother fades and how, in the present she's the catalyst for bringing Sue back to life. Ah, but what's the catch? It's not exactly what you think it might but then, no spoilers. I liked that it's told from both perspectives and while others might quibble about it. that there aren't any glaring issues, only a slow burn. And Beth, gotta love Sue's BFF Beth. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I'll admit that I liked this a lot more than I expected I would because Collins has created two really strong characters. Great read.

Sue is floundering after her dad dies. Until she meets up with her former nanny, Annie. As they grow close again, Sue starts to learn about why Annie left her so abruptly all those years ago. And is Annie really safe to be caring for her new charges?
Good suspense with satisfying build up and ending!

OoOoOOoO this debut domestic suspense novel has been wanting to REALLY like it but finding myself a bit puzzled on how I actually feel overall. The first half is pretty slow but had my interest enough to see where it was going to go... and I already had a feeling, which turned out to be right, so at a certain point it was a matter of seeing HOW we were going to get there.
I love obsession, bat shit crazy, domestic reads and this one is definitely that. But the crazy one isn't just the antagonist here. Now, I've said it over and over again... I loooooove to hate on some characters. But uff, I just couldn't get into what was happening or WHY Suzy was acting as she was. I did enjoy the dual timelines and the slow showing of the how and whys... even if they didn't *quite* make a whole lot of sense. BUT, I also kinda like how wicked it was and how this very interesting relationship affected Suzy so much. Hrm... I question everyone in this dang book except for maybe the taxi driver at the end. Maybe.

I suppose what the book really is touching on is how nurture, in any form, can absolutely make a difference in a child's life. And how grief is such a hard emotion to roller coaster through. Who is really dependent upon who and why is everyone around that knew what was going on just so damned complacent? I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT ALL OF THIS.

Very mixed feelings here but I can say that I'm a Collins fan and can't wait to see where her writing goes from here. As a debut, I like it! Let's see what else she was for us readers - I really can't wait.

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for my e-arc in exchange for an honest review! NANNY DEAREST comes out November 30, 2021!

When I read the synopsis of this book, I was immediately intrigued. What happened with the nanny? Why has she come back into Sue’s life? What kind of stuff is going to be revealed?

What I thought was going to be an intense thriller, turned out to be more of a mystery? I’m not sure what I would classify it as, but I don’t really think thriller fits the bill completely. Was there murder and death and suspicion? Yes. Maybe it’s because I’m a seasoned thriller reader, that this one just fell a little flat for me. One part near the ending was probably the most intense part, and I found myself wishing there were more parts like that sprinkled throughout the book.

It does show two different timelines. One present day with Sue, and then in the past with the nanny and her life growing up, and becoming a nanny. I enjoyed seeing inside the nanny’s head, and learning what made her do what she did.

This book does a great job of how one person’s actions (in this case, the nanny) can really affect a family for the rest of their lives. The obsession the Nanny has, really sets the stage for how, an already grieving family, now has to learn to live their lives.

I would still recommend this to people who are newer to thrillers, or people who don’t like a lot of “gore”

Nanny Dearest is a twisted story of Sue and her childhood nanny Anneliese. Sue lost her mother when she was three and her father very recently. She is withdrawing from her friends, got her boss to agree to let her work from home, basically she has no reason to leave her apartment. Then she sees Anneliese one day and is excited to get to know her again.

As Sue and Anneliese reconnect secrets from the past are uncovered. The story is told both in the present and when Sue was three years old. With an extremely unreliable narrator, this story is uncovered but what you believe is the trick. In the present Anneliese is living with her sister taking care of her kids. In the past Anneliese is Sue's nanny.

Nanny Dearest is a very good psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end!

From the description, I thought this would be a really good psych thriller. I mean, who doesn’t like a psychotic nanny plot? Unfortunately, I was put off almost immediately by the style of writing and a lot of unnecessary details that were frankly just gross (the smell of used tampons…really?). I couldn’t tell if the author was trying to underline Suzy’s mental distress by her inappropriateness or if it was just for shock value. But there were enough instances that I didn’t care for Suzy at all. This made it difficult to feel sympathetic to her situation with Anneliese. There were also times it seemed like the author used a thesaurus to find a word (“she imbibes the whole room” and a character reaching into her pocket to light a cigarette are two examples). Granted, this was an ARC, and the editing process may catch these things, but it made the writing seem stilted. I wish I had liked it more because I think it had promise – it just didn’t do it for me.

2.5 stars, rounded up

Soooo
This one is a very, very slow starter. It features two timelines, one from the 1990s where Anneliese is Suzy's nanny, and one from the present day where the two of them reconnect. There are hints that this book isn't as straightforward as it seems, but it isn't until probably 60% into the book that things actually start to come together into a semblance of a suspenseful thriller.

At 80% I pretty much knew where everything was going, but I was still interested enough to finish. And when I finished I was shaking my head saying "what on earth did I just read?"

I had quite a few problems with this book, one main one is that I didn't like any of the characters. I thought they were all either mentally ill or narcissistic or sociopaths, and none of them believed that anyone else had their best interests at heart. For a bit I thought that Sue/Suzy was pulling herself together, but she kept going off on weird tangents of violence and bizarre behavior. I wish that the narrative had been a bit more straightforward, because the core story here isn't too bad, but I kept getting distracted by strange behavior. Like why would Sue believe this stranger over her best friends? Every page it seemed like she was getting drunk and passing out or falling asleep at Anneliese's apartment, taking her clothes off for some odd reason. For a while I thought there was something sexual going on between Sue and Anneliese, but that didn't seem to be what was happening so it made it all the more bizarre.

That said, if you can get past the first half of incredibly slow build up, the second half is much faster paced and has some surprises. This is Flora Collins's debut novel, and I do see promise in her writing and look forward to seeing what she can come up with next.