If you are looking for a mother daughter psychological thriller, this one is for you!

From the beginning I knew young Stella was a very disturbed child but as the novel progressed I was back and forth debating whether her or Charlotte, her mother, was more unhinged.

The pacing ebbs and flows but there are dark twists throughout and I was reaching for more at every page.
Overall this was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pamela Dorman books for allowing me to read Clever Little Thing.
Publication date: January 14, 2025.

This read evolved from a slow simmer to a raging inferno. The story's mysterious elements captivated my imagination, encouraging me to continue reading. As the narrative unfolded, the experience transformed into a breathtaking journey that lasted until the end. A huge thank you to Penguin Group/Viking and NetGalley for the eARC.

Charlotte’s 8-year-old daughter Stella is an unusual child, she’s precocious, a voracious reader and consumer of facts, and extremely sensitive. But after a tragic event, Stella’s personality begins to change, becoming more docile and acting more neurotypically. Charlotte is convinced there is something seriously amiss with Stella, but her husband Pete thinks pregnant Charlotte is overreacting and just needs to focus on “resting and gestating.”

This psychological thriller is creepy, chilling, and so compelling that I could not put it down! I absolutely love thrillers about motherhood, pre- and post-natal depression, and whether mothers can trust their instincts, and Clever Little Thing has all this in spades! Charlotte is a perfectly crafted unreliable narrator; I was never sure if I should trust her mama bear instincts or if she was unhinged. The prose is taut and the pace is so propulsive that I read this in a single evening. I don’t want to say too much about the plot because I think it’d be too easy to spoil, but suffice it to say that I was riveted the entire time! Perfect for fans of The Push by Ashley Audrain and Where Are the Children by Mary Higgins Clark.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Viking Books, and Pamela Dorman Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Nothing like a creepy kid mimicking an adult to kep the twists coming throughout! I love when books have an narrator going head to head against others -or maybe I just like trying to figure out who is the sane character. I appreciated that Echlin wrote a neutotypical character and didn’t feel the need to put a diagnosis in the story. The ending was strong even though it’s a bit ambigious - I love when books have two schools of thought to debate (very Verity-esque if you will!)

This book was a tad bit slow going for me. I was very invested at first and then it kind of dragged on too long for me. This book is also very creepy, so check out the trigger warnings.

Stella is a very intelligent child but she’s also very sensitive. She enjoys weird things like dead birds on the beach and she starts mirroring her babysitter’s personality after her babysitter passes away suddenly.

Stella’s mother is pregnant and she’s trying to protect Stella but Charolette just comes off us psychotic to everyone who knows her. Even Stella’s father Pete is convinced his wife needs to be placed in a psych ward.

Overall, this was a decent read but some parts dragged on too long for me.

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for a chance to read this book for free in return for my honest opinion.

[3.75]

Charlotte's maternal instinct is fairly strong given she has an 8-year-old daughter and another on the way. However, after the sudden loss of their babysitter, her daughter, Stella, begins to behave oddly. Stella has always been an odd child - reading well above her age level, reacting negatively to normal situations, etc. - but is now acting the opposite of her normal self. In fact, Stella is acting more like Blanka, their former babysitter. Charlotte does not know what to think. Everyone around her is telling her that this is a good thing, but Charlotte knows that this is NOT her daughter. Perhaps, she's just overly tired from her difficult pregnancy. As time goes on, Charlotte begins to think that Stella could potentially be possessed by Blanka. But why? Did Charlotte do something to cause Blanka to seek revenge for something? Or is Charlotte just overreacting? With the help of Blanka's mother, Charlotte is determined to discover the truth. But first, she has to convince her husband it's not all in her head before it's too late.

I don't normally enjoy the "possession" plots of some books, but...WOW. This is what I hoped Baby Teeth would have been. The strange family dynamic with an "odd" child? Sign me up. I was second-guessing everything all the way through. Even at the end, I wasn't entirely sure what to think. I flew through the last 40% of the book because it was such a wild ride. I felt so bad for Charlotte, too. First, your child has a major personality change and then your husband determines you are absolutely insane? No wonder why she turned to an outside party to solve this mystery. If you are a fan of Ashley Audrain or Zoje Stage, pick this one up! You won't regret it! My only gripe was that the husband was so awful and it was painful to read his thoughts and opinions (which, of course, he had to be awful).

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this gifted eARC. I gave it 3 stars which means I liked it. As a thriller I was hoping for just a little bit more oomph. There were some trigger warnings I suggest looking up, especially if you are a mother. The themes in this book would be really hard to read, I think, as a parent.

Overall the storyline was an interesting one, and one that I’ve not seen before. The mental struggles the mother was going through during this book really pulled at the heartstrings, and it was fascinating seeing her relationship with the babysitters mother as well.

Oh wow, this went places I did not expect, in a good way. After the sudden and unexpected death of her babysitter, an 8-year-old girl named Stella (a super-smart and precocious child who may be on the autism spectrum) starts to take on the personality traits of the babysitter. This causes great alarm to her mother, Charlotte, who feels her daughter is turning into a completely different person—and to Charlotte’s husband, who thinks Charlotte is paranoid, depressed and in desperate need of mental health help. Charlotte tracks down the babysitter’s mom and together the two form a bond. Is it toxic or genuine? Is the husband right about Charlotte’s “issues” or does he have other motives? Helena Echlin does an amazing job at keeping you guessing and *really* ramping up the creepiness factor. Definitely makes me want to check out her backlist!

Thanks so much to Penguin and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy!

Release date: Jan 14, 2025 🗓️

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. This novel centers around Charlotte, a well-to-do young Londoner pregnant with her second child who becomes increasingly worried that something is seriously wrong with her first child, who is highly gifted and possibly autistic. Charlotte does not have much of a support system, with a husband that is never home, a recently-deceased mother, an odd babysitter, and a gaggle of other mothers who are largely interested in social status above all else. I love books that mix a possible supernatural bent with the disorientation of motherhood and pregnancy. This novel very vividly describes the heightened senses during pregnancy and its essentially solo experience. The twists were amazing but completely organic. You did not know they were coming, but they were smooth and satisfying when they did. I devoured this in two sittings.

Books about creepy children are kind of a dime a dozen these days, but I did ultimately like this. While it never got super eerie, I liked that the MC’s panic was palpable in the writing, I liked how it was unclear if she was crazy or something more sinister was going on. I found the ending to be satisfying, if a bit predictable. My only real issue is that it read very slow - it felt like forever before anything actually happened. I wish the story was a bit more eventful.

On a completely ridiculous note, I also learned about wedding bread capes from this book, which is something I’m now obsessed with. So there’s that.

Thank you to Pamela Dorman Books and Netgalley for this ARC. Clever Little Thing comes out 1/14!

3.5/5 stars

I enjoyed this book! I suggest it for those who want a different read! I have come to like the postpartum, kids with creepy vibes intertwined!

Clever Little Thing by Helena Ecklin, the book is about mom, Charlotte and daughter eight year old Stella, who I believe we’re supposed to assume is on the spectrummm; she doesn’t like cuddling, is obsessed with reading, and doesn’t like to be touched, especially by water. Due to their latest babysitter, Blanca quitting out of the blue in Charlotte impending pregnancy she stops doing her etiquette blog and starts being a stay at home, mom she caters to Stella‘s every wish and want and would do anything for Stella not to have a meltdown episode. Dad Pete, on the other hand is basically clueless not just to Stella‘s overall needs but to her likes and dislikes. Stella is afraid of water great I’ll buy her a boogie board and teach her how to surf. Soon, however, Charlotte finds out babysitter. Blanca is dead. Something they keep from Stella as to not upset her. right after Charlotte learns about their babysitter, she starts seeing slight differences with her daughter. Stella goes from an unruly girl who seems to always get in trouble at school to a good girl who listens and follows the rules, but the weirdest change of all in the one that most irritates Charlotte is when Stella answers a question with “oh, yes,“ Stella even start keeping a diary something Charlotte really wants to read, but for privacy say tries not to. When she goes to visit Blanca‘s mom Irina this starts a tentative friendship because Stella doesn’t act with anyone the way she does with Irina. when Charlotte tries to talk to husband Pete about it, it only makes her look crazy, but this doesn’t stop Stella from continuing to change until Charlotte realizes she is taking on the characteristics of Blanca. Has Blanca possessed her daughter and if so, what can she do about it? I really for the most part really liked this book but the things I didn’t like was it felt as if the whole thing with the oil bread was heading in a different direction and then just poof that storyline was gone. It also felt as if the author couldn’t decide if Irina was a good person or a bad person not to mention Charlotte’s horrible parenting skills I found many contradictions in the book. For example, in the book it said they got Stella private swimming lessons because she didn’t like the noise of other children but a few chapters later, it said Emma was picking up Stella at swim class because she went to the same one as her daughter Lolo. There were many others, but I digress from what I put it sounds as if I didn’t like it, but oh no, I absolutely did. nothing takes me out of reality more than something unbelievable and this is a great fantastical story with an overtone of horror, but a major thriller plotline. I can’t say I absolutely loved the ending, but it served its purpose and I definitely recommend this book. #NetGalley,#PenguinGroupViking, #HelenaEcklin, #CleverLittleThing,

The first 70% of this book feels like walking along with our main character into the descent of madness. While there are some 'supernatural' elements to this story, it fits with the story in the end and fit in nicely with the feeling of what is real and what isn't. When things start to be revealed, I could not stop reading! The characters were well defined, the story was propulsive and the horror elements were subtle but still terrifying. With themes of motherhood, perfectionism, neurodivergence, and relationship challenges, there is a lot to digest here and I really liked this novel!
Thank you to Viking/Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC.

Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin is a creepy, hard-to-categorize book.. The premise centers on Stella (who likely has Autism Spectrum Disorder, but mum refuses to have her tested) begins to adopt the personality of her deceased babysitter. Suddenly, Stella is acting like a well-adjusted, neurotypical child. What follows is a bizarre and creepy book prompting readers to wonder: has Stella been possessed?

What I liked about the book:
-The author did a great job of giving authentic voices to the Eastern European characters.
-I appreciated how Stella’s mum embraced her daughter’s her quirks and remained relentless in finding answers when Stella’s entire persona changed.
-The suspense was compelling throughout the book - leaving reader’s guessing if this a psychological drama or a supernatural horror story.

What I didn’t like:
-Mum’s character was a bit frustrating and cringy at times.
-Dad was a total arse.
-Not all questions were answered

In the end, Clever Little Thing is an entertaining read, but I don’t anticipate that it will win any “best of” accolades this year.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Recommended: sure
For motherhood psychological thriller, for a slightly unreliable narrator, for a story that could be paranormal or could be hormonal, for a focus on slowly building clues and context

Thoughts:
This is a pretty solid addition to the "motherhood thriller" style of books that exist. There's enough clues to be able to figure out the "twists" at the end as well which I always appreciate (and you'd better bet I guessed one that was admirably subtle and felt very smug when I was correct!).

Plenty of background is given through the book. Maybe too much, to be honest. By halfway through I was getting a bit impatient waiting for one of the many clues we'd seen to start to matter in some more sinister or urgent way, but honestly that didn't really come. Maybe the last few chapters had that, but overall it was a lot of establishing vaguely creepy or weird scenarios without them adding up to much that mattered.

If you've got a pet peeve of stories where a woman is gaslighted because she's "hormonal" or because she's pregnant, recovering, etc. then this is definitely not for you as that's basically the crux of it. Is Charlotte right, or is she just unstable and imagining these weird things that are way out of context? I didn't mind it but it can definitely be tough to read. There's really no other driving conflict so be aware of that before coming into this.

One thing that did annoy me though is that Charlotte goes back and forth three or four times with Irina (Blanka's mother) on whether she's great or terrible. She loves her, she tells her to fuck off. Then she apologizes, then changes her mind and tells her to fuck off again. Then she just goes totally off the rails, but it got tiring to see the same things happen over and over. I understand it was being used to show that Charlotte didn't know what to believe or who to trust (even herself), but boy it got a bit tedious.

While this might so far sound like I'm just complaining, this book was fine overall. It didn't blow me away or anything, but I mostly enjoyed reading it (when I wasn't impatient for something to happen). The ending was also okay, so if this doesn't sound like something you're interested for the clues and build in the lead up, don't expect the ending to make up for it. The strength here is definitely establishing atmosphere, because it had that uncanny creepiness nailed, and I genuinely didn't know what to make of Irina either.

Overall pretty decent, the ending was when I enjoyed, but the middle section felt a little slow. By halfway through I was wondering when something would actually happen because it felt like a long time to establish the main crux of the issue.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pamela Dorman Books / Penguin for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.

A chillingly haunting domestic horror story about a mother who believes her gifted child has been possessed by the spirit of her dead babysitter. This book gave me tons of Ashley Audrain's Push vibes with a mother not trusting her child or herself. It's full of guilt, gaslighting and a mother fighting for her children't best interests when the father tries to make her out as crazy and suffering from post-partum psychosis. Is anyone else tired of how often men get away with institutionalizing women against their will and branding them as crazy?? Sadly it happens WAY too often. Good on audio and recommended for fans of Ashley Audrain. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

CW: rape, infidelity, suicide

Clever Little Thing was certainly a strange, twisty ride split between a slow decent into insanity, and lies and betrayal.

Charlotte and Pete have a daughter, Stella, who shows early signs of high intelligence. Teaching herself to read at just three, Stella’s interests aren’t like other kids her age making it difficult to make friends and get along with others. While Charlotte loves this about Stella, her husband Pete feels her bond with Stella is a little too intense and he fears she makes problems where there aren’t any.

Afraid of suffering another miscarriage, Charlotte currently isn’t working and is trying to rest as much as she can while also being a wonderful and engaging mom to Stella. To help, a babysitter was hired but that babysitter sadly died. When Charlotte tried explaining this to Stella, Stella showed little emotion.

In an attempt to learn more, Charlotte reaches out to the babysitters mom, a woman named Irina. Before long Irina becomes a daily presence in their family and Stella immediately loves Irina - something very outside of Stella’s usual behavior.

As more time is spent with Irina, Charlotte sees Stella exhibit strange and unsettling behaviors. Trying to get to the bottom of it, she’s frustrated when no one listens to her concerns; not even her husband.

When Charlotte goes into labor at 30 weeks, everything comes to a head drastically altering the lives of those involved.

As I said, this was definitely a strange and twisty tale that I rated three and a half stars, rounding up to four stars. If you enjoy books about possible unreliable characters and the potential of a character slowly losing their mind, I would definitely recommend checking this one out!

“Clever Little Thing” by Helena Echlin was a thrilling and imaginative mystery that I could not put down! The story revolves around an eight-year-old girl who is somewhere on the spectrum in an unusual way. Her babysitter dies suddenly, and the child suddenly takes on all the characteristics of the babysitter’s personality to the extreme degree. The Mom knows something is not right, but because the child was so difficult before taking on the babysitter’s characteristics no one else sees it! The twists and turns are propulsive, and I truly had no idea where this story was going. It’s a mystery, a thriller and ventures into the paranormal. Clear your calendar because it’s unputdownable! Loved it!!

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Rounded up from 3.5 stars. I was in the mood for a twisty thriller and this definitely delivered. I felt like I couldn’t get enough at first. But I didn’t love the ending. The more ghostly vibes just felt off to me and it felt too easy of a wrap up at the end. That being said, it is still a very original storyline and one that kept me on my toes throughout the book. I liked Irina but at the same time, it felt odd at times to have her be apart of the main characters. I also feel like I wanted to see more of Stella at the end.

Finally! A psychological thriller that actually thrilled me! Clever Little Thing is clever and creepy and left me guessing what was real. Such a wonderful debut - I can't wait to see what Echlin writes next.

Thanks to Pamela Dorman books for the copy to review.