👩‍🍼 I generally enjoyed this domestic thriller, but I did have a few issues.

👩‍🍼 There are two major twists in the story. The first one comes quite early, and I honestly saw it coming a mile away, so it fell flat for me when it finally happened. But I was still intrigued enough by the situation to continue.

👩‍🍼 The second twist was a little more impactful, which made me more concerned about the characters and involved in the story. However, the cause of the “twist” was resolved so easily that it was ultimately dull.

👩‍🍼 The ending was the main issue for me. It was way too perfect and neat. For a thriller, I was very underwhelmed. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it a thriller now that I’ve read it. It is much more like women’s fiction.

👩‍🍼 All that said, I did appreciate the dual perspectives about what was going on, and there are some interesting themes in the book that I think were handled well – particularly regarding mental health, infertility, and motherhood. If those themes interest you, I think you might appreciate this book.

Thank you @NetGalley @SimonandSchuster for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Jake and Marisa rent a room to Kate in order to make ends meet in their new house. Marisa and Jake have been trying very hard to get pregnant and that process isn’t helped by Kate’s intrusion into their relationship. That’s part one of the book - then comes the Big Twist, which did surprise me.

The book veered back and forth between Marisa feeling insecure and put upon and Kate feeling insecure and put upon. Jake just tried to please everyone (but especially his domineering mother) and did what he was told to do by the women in the book. This is not a thriller and not suspenseful but I did want to know how it turned out so I kept reading. The ending was actually a little wimpy. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I thought that were both just OK.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

She has almost everything. The rest she’ll take.

Single White Female meets The Perfect Nanny in this taut, psychological suspense novel about a perfect couple and their seemingly perfect roommate—that is until she threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create.

Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple, and Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate--and not just because her rent payments will give them the income they need to start trying for a baby. Except no one is perfect. Sure, Kate doesn’t seem to care much about personal boundaries and can occasionally seem overly familiar with Jake, but Marisa doesn’t let it concern her. Kate will soon be gone, and it will just be her, Jake, and their future baby.

Conceiving a baby is easier said than done, though, and Jake and Marisa’s perfect relationship is put to the test through months of fertility treatments and false starts. To make matters worse, Kate’s boundary-pushing turns into an all-out obsession--with Jake, with Marisa, and with their future child. Who is this woman? Why does she seem to know everything about Marisa and Jake?

In her quest to find out who Kate really is, Marisa might destroy everything she’s worked so hard to create: her perfect romance, her perfect family, and her perfect self. Jake doesn’t know the half of what Marisa has created and what she stands to lose. Magpie is a tense and twisting novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

My review: honestly this one is a hard one to review, I felt that in the beginning I liked it and was intrigued but I started to loose my interest about half way through. So I would probably have to give this a 3.5 because I was probably a 4 in the beginning and a 3 at the end.

An unforgettable story with a wild twist that will have you racing to the last pages to see how it all ends. Marisa and Jake meet and get right to the point. Both are looking to start a family immediately. They move in, and things are going well, until one day Jake's job is no longer as stable as it once was. Next thing you know, they decide to take in a lodger, Kate, but not only does she move in to their house, but also moves in on Jake. What comes next, you'll have to read it to believe it. Excellent and kept me interested until the very end.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

Creepy, creepy, creepy but in such an amazing way! Take all of your worst fears about a relationship and money and put them together - tempest in a teapot time!!

A story that starts out like a nice novel of nice people getting along and helping each other through tough times...until it turns into an intense read about confused identities and mean intentions. Who the heck is Marisa, really, and who is Kate? The novel is tough to sort out, which is the best reason to keep turning the pages.

This book felt like it started out to be about one thing and then took a major left turn into territory that had nothing to do with the original premise promised to the reader. There were some really nice surprises -- Annabelle's take-charge attitude when Marisa breaks down, for example, was a change from other books in this genre. However, What started as thriller kind of morphed into a family drama. It was confusing and disappointing all at the same time. And at the end, I was left wondering why on earth the book was named _Magpie_. Other than a couple of appearances of the bird, it didn't seem to bear much weight -- literally or metaphorically -- on the story at all.

This didn't really do much for me at all.

I really enjoyed this one but I will say it took me awhile to get into it. There was something about it that despite the interesting plot and good writing that just did not suck me in right away. That being said I still recommend Magpie if you enjoy thrillers/mysteries.

Elizabeth Day gives a well-written voice to the sadness of infertility, the misunderstandings surrounding mental health and the stereotype of evil mothers-in-law. The book stalled in places, but the audiobook version made the lags tolerable. The shift in voices, from Marisa to Kate, are confusing, but ultimately truths, or at least as they personally interpret them, are revealed.

Premonitions abound from the beginning. A creepy house. A tenant without boundaries. Dealing with infertility puts the principles on edge. The pull of motherhood, the failure of IVF treatments. The narrative moves just at the right moment. What remains is a story with depth and insight.

This book absolutely floored me. I did not see any of the twists coming and they just kept coming. Elizabeth Day does a fantastic job of introducing you to these characters and making you understand them and then immediately turns everything on its head. This is one of the best thrillers I have ever read, and I highly recommend it.

Okay now that's a twist!!! FUN!!!
I didn't think I was going to like this book as much as I did. I was expecting lots of musing about motherhood (and there was lots of musing about motherhood) but there was so much more. A fascinating protagonist. A weird little love interest. A compelling villain. That's all I can say without spoiling. What a fun time!

Magpie is cleverly-plotted story about with three women who are involved in the surrogate birth of a child. Kate is Jake's girlfriend. The couple would like to have a baby, but Kate is unable to carry an infant to term. Marisa is a woman in her twenties who (spoiler alert) decides to stop taking her mental health medications when she becomes the surrogate for Jake and Kate. Annabelle is Jake's mom who takes in Marisa to care for her during the pregnancy. So, there are three females, all with different agendas, surrounding Jake, a guy who just wants to be a dad. Kudos to Elizabeth Day for crafting a good page-turning novel who has readers wondering who the crazy person really is. Slightly similar to Julia Fine's The Upstairs House, but each book shows pregnancy and mental health in a different way.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This book has some serious twists and turns, and quite a dark side once it comes out.

Marisa and Jake are starting out their lives - they have not known each other long, but are moving in together to save money and start their family. Marisa does not have a family anymore and hopes that this will help her with her feelings of loss. Jake is there to support her and is a great shoulder to lean on. As they try to conceive, funds become tight in the house and they agree that they should rent out the extra room.

Kate moves in and "takes over the house." Marisa starts becoming resentful of Kate and lashes out. However, all parties are not who you think they are.

It is hard to post a summary about this book without giving away the major twists that happen. There were some issues with the back and forth; however, it was a very interesting concept and I would read another book by this author.

The book in one word, was crazy! In all honestly in delves into mental illness at the heart of it so maybe crazy isn’t the exact word I would want to use. But once you start listening to Kate’s point of view in the second half of the book you really start to wonder who is in their right state of mind.

Overall I liked this book, the writing was good and so was the storyline!

***thank you Netgalley for and ARC copy in return for an honest review***

The Magpie by Elizabeth Day

Published: May 3, 2022
Simon & Schuster
Pages: 332
Genre: Psychological Fiction
KKECReads Rating: 5/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Elizabeth Day is an author, journalist, and broadcaster. Elizabeth is a columnist for You magazine on the Mail on Sunday and a feature writer for numerous publications in the UK and US, including The Telegraph, The Times, the Guardian, New York Magazine, the Observer, Vogue, Grazia, and Elle. She is a contributing editor for Harper's Bazaar. Elizabeth grew up in Northern Ireland, and her first job was for The Derry Journal. She won a British Press Award in 2004 for Young Journalist of the Year and was Highly Commended as Feature Writer of the Year in 2013. She has a ginger cat called Huxley who approves this message.

“Anger always wins.”

Marisa is looking forward to the next chapter in her life. Moving in with her dream partner, starting a family, and just being happy. Kate wants to start a family, and after years of trying with no success, she and her partner decide they will have a child via surrogate. They never expected things would get so chaotic.

I loved how this story was told. The narration was so well done. The storytelling was flawless! The twist is bananas and not at all what I thought it would be.

The characters were all well done, especially with how the story is told. You see such a complete picture of who everyone is, and it’s fantastic.

I like that this novel handled infertility with care and ease while accurately describing the emotions that come with the weight of being infertile. I found the whole situation respectfully and thoughtfully plotted.

This was a roller coaster ride of emotion, twists, and moments that make your jaw drop. I enjoyed this book a lot. The writing style was easy to read, and the story hooked me from the beginning.

I loved how the raw vulnerability was presented in all situations. This was a brilliantly crafted book, and I highly recommend it.

The story deals well with the constant hoping and heartbreak of dealing with infertility, and infertility treatments, as a couple makes their way down the line of options for a baby they desperately want. We see the first part of the book from Marisa's POV and then we change to another POV and the story is blown wide open. I enjoyed both POVs for the most part but the intrusion of the evil mother in law flattened my enjoyment of the story. No one needs help from that meddling witch. This was a 3.5 read for me but rounding down for evil MIL and an ending that seems too rosy for several reasons.

The book starts out from Marissa's viewpoint - telling the story of her and Jake's new relationship and their desire for a child. When Jake suggests getting a lodger to share expenses and quicken their plan, Kate moves in. Once the viewpoint switched to Kate, things seemed to not be as originally thought. It was a weird transition that left me thinking there was going to be another switch. I felt disappointed at the end, expecting so much more.

I think I was just mostly...confused? It felt so slow paced that it was difficult to keep track of characters - but once it finally did pick up, I was already a bit lost and confused. I just wasn't grabbed in anyway. Part II started off with a bang - but because I had already spent time with the characters...and wasn't invested...even the wild twist couldn't keep me engaged.

It’s intense when you really want to have a baby, but there are hurdles to overcome. Whether those hurdles are physical, financial, about timing, or don’t fall into any of those categories, it can be hard for women to silence that biological clock that just keeps ticking. And many women, will stop at nothing until they hold their cherished newborn in their hands.

Jake and Marisa are expecting a baby, but have taken on a lodger, Kate, in order to make more money. It’s a bit peculiar to me. Having had three children, the last thing I can imagine wanting to do is to have someone I don’t know staying in the house to witness all the crazy. Not only that, but Kate kind of becomes a problem and Marisa is super confused about what to do.

This is really one of those books I can’t say too much about. But I can say that three’s a crowd and just wait until Jake’s mother gets involved….

Special thanks to Netgalley and and Simon and Schuster for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review.