Dr. Laina Landers is a successful therapist who becomes hugely popular after she talks down a man who is holding his wife at gunpoint threatening to kill her. On the scene is reporter Cal Murray who takes an instant liking to Dr. Landers, both professionally and personally. Dr. Landers soon becomes a media sensation... and soon her patients begin receiving gifts with a note saying "I'm watching you".

Points for originality and definitely kept me guessing, but the ending just wasn't really satisfying. I also much prefer first person POV and think that, and coming more from Laina's patients rather than her perspective, would've worked well. Overall fun and unique read!

Privacy by Nina Sadowsky is a twisty psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the end. Laina Landers is a therapist whose patients' lives begin to unravel further under the watchful eye of an unknown stalker. There's Franny, whose cancer diagnosis reveals the lengths that her father will go to in order to prolong his daughter's life. There's Michelle, the young Catholic school teacher whose secret is too painful for her to reveal until a mysterious "gift" is left at her door. There are Peter and Clare, whose high profile marriage comes to a shocking end in a violent standoff on their lawn. And there are many more...

The characters in this suspenseful, thought provoking novel will leave a lasting impression on readers. Truly an unputdownable read!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Privacy.

The premise sounds intriguing but the narrative and the characters left much to be desired.

This read as more of a cheesy romance and the plot was filled with stereotypical trope characters.

Laina Landers is hot, Cal Murray is hot, they have instant chemistry, they hook up and soon fall for each other.

The writing isn't great, nor is the character development.

There are some silly scenes, like when Cal approaches Laina's ex-lover and soon to be ex-business partner, Harley, and gets in the man's face, protecting Laina's honor or whatever you want to call it.

Despite the creepy stalker's perspective, I felt no urgency or suspense about the motives behind this individual, nor did I ever feel tense or scared about what was going to happen next.

I also guessed correctly who the identity of the stalker was. It was obvious when you think about it.

I'm not sure I'll read the author's next book but I'm grateful for the opportunity to review Privacy.

When Dr. Laina Landers receives and urgent call from one of her patients that he is holding a gun to his wife’s head, she races to deescalate the problem. Soon, she is rushed into stardom and her other patients start receiving mysterious gifts with a note attached that simply says “I am watching you”.

This book hooked me right off the bat and then died pretty suddenly. My favorite parts of the book were the watchers point of views. Their narrative gave the book depth and that great thrill capacity that I was craving. But once it was from the other POVs it just faltered and didn’t hold me any longer. Laina is likable, but not lovable. Her secret past keeps her hidden and blocked off from others. Cal easily becomes obsessed with her from his short seeing of her. The twist is a bit predictable but not fully.

My thoughts are all over the place on this one — it started SO strong, then lost my interest, picked back up with some big twists. Buuuut the ending where the Watcher was revealed left me so letdown. Their identity just didn’t seem to work with how the entire book was set up.

If you enjoy thrillers set around therapists and their patients — think The Golden Couple or the Good Lie by A.R. Torre — you may enjoy this one.

Thank you to @netgalley and Bantman for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

⏰ publishes June 14, 2022
📚 272 pages

3/3.5 stars.

Dr. Laina Landers thinks she's beginning to make great progress with her patients when suddenly one of her patients goes off the deep end in a very public way. Then rumors of a mysterious package being the spark that started things begin to circulate. Aided by an up-and-coming journalist (and potential love interest) Laina investigates who may be behind the package, when suddenly, other patients report receiving weird packages. Someone's obviously watching Laina and her patients, but who is it - and why?

I'm kind of torn about this one. It kept my attention, but It wasn't my favorite. The storyline was pretty interesting as a concept, but I don't know that it worked out as good as it could have. But it was still a pretty good, interesting book.

The mystery was interesting and there was a lot of suspense regarding what was going to happen next in regard to that; there were several things going on with the main mystery at the same time, so there were a bunch of ways things could have gone. I liked the suspense of it all and the stories of the patients and the tension between Laina and her practice partner, it all added up to a good story.

Where I think things went a little off the rails was that there was too much focus on the romance storyline and the ending was a little wishy-washy. I don't want to give too much away, but It felt a little flat for me. I kind of was like, "really?" I can't give away too much, but the concept was OK, but again, the execution wasn't there.

Overall, read with caution on this one.

This book should not be picked up if you have something else you need to do, because you won't be able to put it down!
Laina Landers is a therapist who cares deeply about her patients. When Laina is contacted by a patient who is being held at gunpoint on the front lawn by her husband, she immediately goes, de-escalates the situation, and saves her patients life. The media is covering the story, of course, and up and coming journalist Cal Murray captures everything. Laina becomes an overnight media wonder, and Cal convinces Laina to do an interview with him.
After the interview it's clear that there is an attraction between Laina and Cal, so they decide to go to dinner, but Laina has never been in a relationship with a man of color before and she isn't sure if she will act on her true feelings for him.
Since the interview, a number of Laina's patients have been getting strange gifts with a card that says I'm watching you attached. Bad things are happening with and to these patients, so with Cal's help, Laina tries to figure out who is trying to sabotage her and her practice with her partner Harley.
As the investigation gets closer to the truth, things keep going wrong with Laina's patients. Can they figure out just who is trying to destroy Laina before it's too late, or will the mysterious watcher cost Laina her practice and maybe her very life?
I enjoyed this book immensely and I never figured out the ending, the twists and turns just kept coming!
My rating of 4 stars is due to two reasons, #1 is because the book made numerous references throughout about Cal and his struggles as a man of color, and about relationships between races. I take no issue with either of these, but this was not mentioned in any of the descriptions of the book. Since this played such a large part of the book, I feel it should have been mentioned. #2 there were 2 characters in the book named Cal, one was referred to as cop Cal. I found this annoying as any other name could have been used.
I do recommend this book, it is a real page turner!

Phew that was a journey. I can not tell you how impressed I was with this book. I am so bad with words but I read it all in one day. And thats rare for me. Thank you so much.

Who is “The Watcher?” Can you figure it out before it’s revealed? It kept me guessing which I found enjoyable as I usually figure it out at the beginning.

Follow Dr. Laina Landers, Cal (the reporter), and “The Watcher” through this twisted tale of deceit, betrayal, creepiness, and desire.

I recommend this story if you’re looking for an outside of the box angle.

Oooh yes yes yes. Definitely enjoyed the ride on this one!!!! I look forward to reading more form this author. Definitely like the writing style. Thanks for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Privacy is the latest book by Nina Sadowsky. The two main characters, Cal and Laina, meet by chance. He is an on air TV reporter who happens upon a story in which Laina is involved. Sparks fly between them, and he discovers some of her patients are being targeted and begins an investigation. Although Privacy is a little slow at times I enjoyed the story and trying to figure out who was behind the odd occurrences. I want to thank NetGalley and Bantam Books for an early copy to review.

Thank you NetGalley. LOVED this book. Laina Landers is a therapist. Unfortunately, some one is watching her patients and upending their lives. Cal Murray, new reporter on the block, is in it for the story. As he digs deeper, secrets come to light and not every thing is how it appears. This book comes out in the Fall, plan on curling up and reading all night

Thank you netgalley for this book! I really enjoyed the premise of this book and it started off strongly. I was not really a fan of the ending but I would still recommend!

WOW!! What a fabulous & wild read! Let me tell you, you’ll never guess the perpetrator but you’ll enjoy the entire trip to the end of this book & conclusion of everything goin on! Five complete stars!! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ooooh. This book. 😳

I can’t say much without giving major spoilers, but this story had me guessing/engaged until the end and evaluating my definition of privacy. Oof.

If you’re a mystery/thriller person, this is definitely an intriguing read that will leave you going 😨😨😨.

I was really looking forward to this (props to the cover artist-- it looks awesome!) but beyond the central plotline around Laine's two central patients, I simply didn't care. The romance storyline fell flat, and I never felt connected enough to the characters to push towards the revelations.

I enjoyed the book and the characters. There was a lot going on at the beginning, not a book to start late at night. Good story line, captures your interest immediately.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, the story just fell flat for me. Even from the first chapter, I was not interested in the rest of the story. Thank you.

This is the first novel that I have read by Nina Sadowsky. I love how this novel started out, it really drew me in with the first few chapters. First we meet a mysterious person at the beginning of the novel that has been watching people which adds an element of excitement and really helps drive the title of the book home. Then, a very dramatic hostage scene plays out that entangles our main characters. We meet Laina Landers who is a psychiatrist with several patients all with unique needs and quite interesting personalities and you start to get a sense of how much Laina really cares for her patients and helping them through their problems. Next we meet Cal Murray, a reporter who is annoying, persistent, and intrusive (all the traditional reporter traits), and is trying to chase this hostage story and be the first to break every single piece of related news. Throughout the novel we meet some other interesting characters like some of Laina’s friends, her business partner Dr. Harley Weida, several of Laina’s patients, a police officer also named Cal, and we meet Cal’s camera man Mike, to name a few.

I commend Nina for adding diversity to her book. I read a lot of thrillers and it is always the same description of main characters and no diversity so that was a nice change. I would add though that it would be nice to have more descriptions for BIPOC characters and not just something that says they are black or brown because everyone has descriptive features that help paint a picture of what a character looks like! Also, some of the race related conversations in the book were a bit unnecessary, but again, I very much appreciate seeing diversity within a novel and for a main character as well.

I have mixed feelings in some areas of this book. As I mentioned before, I was drawn in by the immediate situation that happened at the beginning, but that story kept widening and more and more characters were introduced which makes it a little harder to keep up and understand. However, It made a lot more sense the closer we got to the end. There was also a lot of romance in this book, and I don’t often read romance novels so some of the scenes were a little cringy for me since I am not used to it, but again, diversity, cross genres,...in my opinion it all really adds to the appeal of the book and the author.

Overall, this book was a nice introduction to the author for me and the ending was actually really good. I read so many books where the whole book is good and the ending is bad but this book had a great start and a fantastic and well thought out ending. I would consider this a slow burn but I would say give this one a chance! Trying to figure out who the watcher was throughout the novel kept me intrigued!

Thank you Random House publishing Group- Ballantine and NetGalley for providing a copy to review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an advance copy of this book to read in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This book will grip you from the very first page and will keep you guessing (even though you think you know what's going to happen) until the very end. The ending will take your breath away. Great read! Can't wait to read more by Nina!