When something is too good to be true, it usually is. When their new neighbor’s house is destroyed in a raging fire, Mark and Mel do not think twice about inviting her to stay and lending a helping hand. Jade is also a qualified child care expert, which makes her just the person to babysit their two little kids. It’s a win-win for all parties…or not. This pretty, charming babysitter is not who she appears to be and she may just have some plans of her own.
The Babysitter is an enjoyable thriller from start to finish. Although you know the villain of the piece right from the word go, it’s chilling to read how a psychopath like Jade can methodically destroy a happy family. Thanks to Bookouture for the ARC!

I am not sure how I felt about this book. From the get go, you know who the bad guy is and I feel like I figured out all the things about her before they were revealed. I am not sure if it was supposed to be that obvious. I also found no redeeming qualities in Jade. I hated her every step of the way, and I feel like the villain should have something redeeming about them. As for Mel and Mark, there were so many things that could have been figured out had they just communicated better. The book was definitely intense and you and to keep reading just to see where the story went, but I honestly don't know that I can say that I liked it. But maybe that isn't a bad thing because it did make me feel things. I was angry most of the book. I finished it, which I wouldn't have done if I found it boring. So, I gave it three stars.

The Babysitter is such an innocent title for a book but don't be fooled, this is definitely not a “Mary Poppins a spoonful of sugar type read”! but never the less what a highly compelling read this turned out to be. A word of warning If you were thinking of hiring a babysitter anytime soon you may want to think again after reading The Babysitter or at least make sure they come with impeccable credentials as long as your arm! Jade miraculously arrives into the life's of Melissa and her husband Mark, they decide to welcome Jade into their home and give her a live in babysitter job to their two children. As Jade quickly ingratiates herself into their lives, the family begin to fall apart in the most spectacular fashion.

The Babysitter does touch on some subjects that some might find difficult to deal with loss and mental health issues around bereavement in particularly, although it never feels gratuitous, and in fact is pivotal to the plot. I do so love a character for one reason or another who can evoke strong emotions in me, and Jade certainly managed that! Highly unlikeable I find myself inwardly screaming at Mark and Melissa to “get her out” of their home and their life's . A master manipulator with a face of an angel you just know Jade is going to cause havoc and heartbreak for the Cain family. Although you don't have to be a genius to work out who Jade is pretty much from the off the “how and the why” Behind her motives are slowly revealed to the reader, as the tension mounts and Jades manipulative behaviour escalates the sense of foreboding sent shivers down my spine. I did have one small niggle considering Mark was a policeman I would have thought he would have done some background checks on Jade, but I'm splitting hairs here! and this is a fictional read after all.

Although The Babysitter isn't highly original plot wise Sheryl Browne has made the story her own with her own unique style of writing. It was interesting to see how a perfectly normal family could be torn apart by one persons manipulative behaviour, and even more scary is the fact it felt perfectly credible. As the reader is privy to Jade’s manipulation and the effects it has on the poor suffering Cain family, you can only watch in horror from the sidelines as the relationship between Mark and Melissa fractures in the most horrifying fashion. Sheryl Browne has written a tense psychological thriller with a chilling antagonist taking central stage, The Babysitter turned out to be a highly addictive read and one I would highly recommend.

Review maybe altered slightly and edited prior to publication on my blog

Whoah! this book was crazy good, talk about mind games! Wow I feel out of breath after reading this! Absolutely sucked me in, I was totally captivated and couldn't put this one down. What an incredible read it was fast paced had loads of twists and turns and just about blew my mind. This was a book that I just couldn't switch off from I had to keep reading for as long as I could because I just had to know what was going to happen next. An outstanding reading and deserving of 5 stars. Love it!

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC copy from Netgalley


I actually thought that this would be like the Netflix Original Movie, The Babysitter. I really love mystery and thriller novels for time to time. It depends on the story. I always see mystery/thriller novels about a woman as a protagonist. But The Babysitter is a thrilling ride.

Life is so happy with Mark and Melissa Cain, but the world just got so complicated when they invite Jade as a babysitter since she doesn't have anyone to live with because of a tragedy that took his parents' lives. Having the hectic schedule for Melissa's night class and Mark's surging investigation to a missing girl, they both put their trust to Jade to babysit their baby and daughter, Poppy. But Jade isn't just a pretty and angelic next door girl but she is a manipulative psycho who slowly creeps in to destroy Mark and Melissa's marriage and tear apart their family through lies and deception.

The Babysitter is a psychological thriller about family and trust. The story revolves around how one's story and point of view can manipulate lives and destroy relationships. It is a scary thing because it is all about trust and when someone or especially close to you broke that trust or in just tiny speculation, doubt comes in.

While reading this novel, I remembered the movie, Orphan . Come to think of it. It is scary as hell.

All in all, The Babysitter is a thrilling fun novel. I just read it for two sitting!

This is a fantastic psychological thriller from the first page. Mark and Melissa think they have found a great babysitter in Jade but she really is a psycho. Things start to go wrong within the family dynamics all thanks to Jade. The story has a lot of twists and turns and is a real page turner.

This reminded me of the movie the hand that rocks the cradle. This babysitter is even scarier and a very complex and interesting character. She has more issues that anyone I’ve ever read about. She comes into the lives of a couple who really need help so very timely....and she soon gets her claws into the home. She’s got lots of ideas on how to raise a child but also to get inside the heads of the parents. Boy does she have some plans.

This wasn’t a bookTrail book sadly but Farley village is fictional although it’s somewhere close to the Worcester Herefordshire border. Just as well, as when I checked it wasn’t real, if it had been I would have been straight on the electoral role to warm the family in question!

Much of this novel could be true - and that’s the scariest thing about it. Why I wanted to read on. It’s a head banging read, makes you want to shout some warnings at the couple ( they should really open their eyes at times) and trip that babysitter right up.

This is an explosive read that builds slowly for a few chapters and then THUNDERS along at break neck speed to a horrifying and breathless end.....thats all you need to know!
But seriously, you really don’t want to miss this book, it had me shouting, grimacing, shaking my head and then sighing with relief....and all within 30 seconds
The story is so much more than a baby sitter that causes chaos, oh she does, ten fold but as say there is soooo much more to the story
You think you have guessed the depraved lengths this babysitter will go to to get ‘her’ man......then she sinks even lower
The story revolves around a family, the dad Mark is a Policeman, he has dealings with the babysitter as s child....the child grows up, loses her baby and decides she wants to make good on Mark’s promise to her as a child.....and thats the start of this fast paced thriller, and it is thrilling, every page of it
From Melissa the poor wife’ as the realisation her life is slipping away hits her to Jade,the baby sitter, a cunning genius who revels in every second of it there is no let up on the tension or excitement
Add a sub plot of an evil Policemen who wants his desires fulfilled at any cost and wants revenge on Mark because he realises he is a bent copper and it all adds up to one of the best books I have read
Lets not forget missing children and an unwitting guy who is helping and it all comes together to a fantastic and shuddering ending that will have you saying, no shouting WOW
Can you tell I loved it? 😃
Seriously, pre order this book, you wont be disappointed
A fantastic read
10/10 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, everything was clearly flagged from the outset. Little in the way of surprises. On the other – I think the author created a tense narrative with solid characters and enough drama to sustain until the end. I particularly liked how she described the relationship between Mark and Mel, and how a drip feed of doubt can drive a wedge between even the closest of couples. There were a few inconsistencies that pulled me up short, but I felt her portrayal of Jade was good. No spoilers, but definitely worth a read.

It was such a shame that the title of this book was the biggest spoiler of all; straight off the bat you know that the babysitter has something to do with all the things that keep happening in this book, and so as soon as she is introduced within the first couple of chapters, you already know that all the nice and helpful things she is doing are not quite as they seem. Maybe a different book title might have made this SLIGHTLY less predictable a read. There was no element of surprise within this plot, thanks to the spoiler of a book title, so there's nothing to really shock you or create the suspense which I so love within a psychological thriller.

Jade is a young girl who is welcomed into Mark and Mel's family home almost without question, and given a huge amount of responsibility straight away. Any sane and careful parent would at least do their checks first or ensure that Jade was safe. This irked me about the plot. Also, the ending felt rushed and a little too over-the-top.

DI Mark Cain and his sculptor wife Melissa have a great marriage - having tragically lost a baby years earlier, they are now proud parents of two little girls. When a young neighbour, Jade, suffers a house fire and moves in temporarily with Melissa and Mark, it seems only natural - indeed heaven sent - for Jade to stay on as live-in childcare. After all, Jade seems perfect. Or is she? Well, no.

Meanwhile Mark and his colleague Lisa are investigating the case of a missing child, and Mark is also struggling to deal with a corrupt officer who’s out to bring him down.

I couldn’t escape the feeling throughout that we’ve seen this story so many times before... a malevolent stranger (usually an attractive young woman) insinuates herself into the middle of a previously happy family and proceeds to wreak havoc. Mark’s detective skills seem a bit lacking when it comes to what’s going on under his own roof and Jade is able to very successfully sow discord between husband and wife. Both seem a bit too ready to believe the worst of the other and it never occurs to anyone that the new person on the scene could possibly have anything to do with it. There’s no mystery here for the reader, we know exactly what’s going on and who’s responsible - even the missing-child situation becomes apparent quite early on. The only questions are how far will Jade go, what will the consequences be and will anyone figure it all out in time to stop her.

That said it is a good read and particularly towards the end the tension really ramps up, to the point where I stayed up late reading it. Jade is a complete monster - probably a psychopath - capable of literally anything to get what she wants and entirely lacking in any doubt or remorse about her actions. If you can suspend disbelief there’s a rollercoaster ride to be had especially in the last part of the book.

(It did seem a bit strange that everyone, including herself, kept referring to Jade as a “babysitter” - even on one occasion a “qualified babysitter” - rather than a nanny, which is surely closer to the role she was carrying out. I’ve never heard of a babysitter who lives in the house. It seems petty but it jarred a little.)

Ultimately I did enjoy reading it but felt the story was marred by a lack of originality and believability.

You trust her with your family. Would you trust her with your life?

Mark and Melissa Cain are thrilled to have found Jade, a babysitter who is brilliant with their young children. Having seen her own house burn to the ground, Jade needs them as much as they need her. Moving Jade into the family home can only be a good thing, can’t it?

As Mark works long hours as a police officer and Melissa struggles with running a business, the family become ever more reliant on their babysitter, who is only too happy to help. And as Melissa begins to slip into depression, it’s Jade who is left picking up the pieces.

But Mark soon notices things aren’t quite as they seem. Things at home feel wrong, and as Mark begins to investigate their seemingly perfect sitter, what he discovers shocks him to his core. He’s met Jade before. And now he suspects he might know what she wants …

Mark is in a race against time to protect his family. But what will he find as he goes back to his family home?

My thoughts:
Never trust this babysitter ,ever, she's just plan out crazy , and dangerous. So know you know my thoughts about the babysitter let's know them about the actually story it's self, while it does pull you in and keep you hooked ,so much so that you have to know what's going on , it can at times feel a little slow pace then it spends up then goes back to feeling slow, it's told in the different views of the characters ( Mark, Jade, and Mark's wife plus one other). It does how ever have that thriller type feeling to it , the one that makes you want to stay up all night long just to see what happens next, it also makes you wound about why she's doing the things she doing , to find out who ,you have to read the book with that said I would like to think Netgalley for letting me read and review The Babysitter in change for my honest opinion. Can't wait to see what else this author comes up with.

This was a cracking psychological thriller that had me turning the pages late into the night, There were truly horrifying moments and the fact that we realised who the babysitter was early on didn't take away from the story for me. I felt perhaps it was slightly too long and could have been tightened up a little. Never the less, it was a great read.

I was a little concerned that we were told at the beginning of the book who Jade was, and her evil intentions were clear from the start, the mystery being how she intended to achieve her goal. I have read and enjoyed this story format before and The Babysitter licked along at a cracking pace. The main negative for me was that I was told far too much, rather than it being revealed in actions and there was a lot of repetition concerning how Jade felt about various characters. A satisfying, quick read.
Thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Babysitter by Sheryl Browne is a psychological thriller that I enjoyed. Mark and Melissa who have two young children take in a neighbour Jade who has been left homeless after a fire at her cottage. Melissa is finding it hard to cope and employs Jade to look after the children. It's obvious from the beginning that Jade is there for reasons of her own and that is to get rid of Mark's wife and take her place at any cost. This is a dark and disturbing story that I read in a day. I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publisher, Bookouture for this review copy given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Kim from Bookouture for organising the Blog Tour!

Mark and Melissa Cain’s neighbour, Jade’s house has burnt to the ground. She has nothing other than the clothes she was wearing and her cat. They offer her a room for a few nights, but soon proves invaluable with child care and emotional support. Mark is a police officer and Melissa runs her own pottery business and, after seeing how well Jade gets on with her two children, they offer her a job as a live in babysitter. Soon, the happy home starts to become not so happy. Jade appears to be the one keeping the family together, but is she everything she seems to be?

The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover! I mean, just look at it!! It really attracts you with the colour and design! Secondly, the blurb sounded great! As I started to read the book, the film The Hand That Rocks The Cradle sprung straight to mind! The story isn’t a ‘whodunit’, you know exactly what is going on from page one. It’s obvious who Jade is and why she is there – that’s the whole point of the book! The story gets you hooked on the suspense of what she’s going to do and how she’s going to do it.

Whilst Mark is a policeman, his job isn’t dwelled upon too much, and similarly with Melissa. What the story bases itself on is the emotions that are building up throughout the house, and how Mark and Melissa are totally oblivious as to what is going on. I have to admit I did want to shout out at Mark and Melissa for not checking Jade’s references. I’d like to think I would never let someone look after my child or even live in my house without checking them out, but with rushed lives and job and child care responsibilities I suppose it’s easy for someone to jump at the chance of a ‘perfect’ built in nanny!

A great psychological thriller, worthy of its own film or TV program! Moral of the story – don’t trust anyone!

i wanted to love this book i really did but this book in a nut shell was a bad take on a lifetime movie.
i dnf this book at 23% it was just really predictable and liked i said it was like watching a bad lifetime movie but reading it

Excellent book with a brilliant storyline and great main characters. I would recommend this book.

I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Babysitter’ written by Sheryl Browne in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Detective Inspector Mark Cain and his sergeant Lisa Moyes are looking for a missing child, Daisy Evans, but Mark’s greatest concern at that time is caring for his wife Mel and their children, seven-year-old Poppy and newly born Evie. When the house of their new neighbour is severely damaged in a fire Jade tells Mark and Mel she’s a qualified babysitter. Mel offers her a live-in job caring for the children but as soon as she moves in Mel’s depression makes an unwelcome return and Jade takes over the running of their household. Mark can’t believe how lucky they are to have such an able person as Jade taking care of everything especially as he works long hours, but DS Lisa Moyes thinks there’s something not quite right and starts to dig into Jade’s past.
What a fantastic job Sheryl Browne has made in writing such a breath-taking psychological thriller. ‘The Babysitter’ is tense, well-written and will keep you up all night. Though disturbing, the story is enthralling and had me gripped from start to finish. The final pages were so shocking I had to read them twice to confirm what I’d just read. I’m so relieved there won’t be a sequel as I’m not sure how much more excitement my heart can take!

My first book by this Author. A busy couple with two children invite a young woman whose house has just burnt down to move in and help with the children. This was the babysitter's plan all along. There is no secret as to her intentions. An intense read that could have ended much differently. Thanks to NetGalley, Bookoutre and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.