I spent a cosy afternoon tucked up warm with a cuppa enjoying this creepy story. Clunky pacing in parts but the last third more than made up for it. An entertaining read but one I probably won’t remember in all honesty.

Absorbing, suspenseful and atmospheric it is a decent psychological suspense that can be easily devoured in an afternoon.

A haunting tale of self discovery with a number of twists scattered throughout. Spellbinding writing kept me enthralled.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This was boring and slow and vague. The ending was clever and all the pieces fell into place, but the pacing didn’t pick up until the 80% mark and by then it was too late for redemption.

I think I got sucked in by the secretive marketing of this book when I requested the ARC from Netgalley.. It has my biggest book pet peeve in it: a female character who may or may not be losing their mind, and I don’t think I would have picked this book had I known.

There was a lot, too much, going on in this book and I almost DNFed it several times. I skipped many pages and I still figured out what was going on pretty easily and early on, although there was one element I didn’t see coming exactly.

The writing was good, it was just a bit much and too slow for my taste. If you like books where you aren’t sure of the protagonist’s mental state, you would probably like this book.

Great thriller, could no put it down through all the twists and turns. Would highly recommend to fans of this genre.

I struggled getting into this one, which could be a me problem rather than the book one. I think it boils down to I wasn't really 100% invested in this book and I was just really waiting for it to end.

This author is really great. I really loved this book. This tale was highly engrossing and highly recommendable!!

The Cuckoo by Sophie Draper is a creepy psychological thriller with a slight fairytale element set in an isolated house.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I was intrigued by the secretive marketing of this book but was a little disappointed by the execution. It started intriguingly but became a bit slow moving.

Unfortunately despite trying to get into this a few times, I didn't finish this one and more than likely won't go back to it. Thank you for the opportunity to read it!

I liked the promise of this book perhaps more than the deliverance. A spooky old house and the villagers seem to be opposed to Caro who is sorting out the home of her late Mother. I didn't find it as gripping as I had hoped, perhaps a bit of editing is needed but the ending was twisty and made me read to the end.

Unfortunately I read this book a while ago and seem to have missed it when writing reviews. - sadly I cant remember enough detail to give a full review.
However, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC :-)

I loved this book, it was so spooky and the perfect read for being tucked up in bed on a cold winter's night. I liked the plot and the characters. Would love to read more by Sophie Draper.

Caro has come home to her stepmother’s funeral. She and her sister, Steph, have not spoken in over 10 years. They decide at the funeral to try and mend fences. Steph goes back to NYC and Caro stays in her hometown to help close out the estate. As she goes about her daily shopping, the townsfolk seem to hate her. Weird things begin happening in her family home. Is she going Cuckoo or is it something else?
I enjoyed the premise of this book but it did seem to drag in a few spots. I also was reading an advanced copy, so maybe another sweep of editing fixed some of my issues. An overall easy read.

Caro returns to her childhood home after her stepmother's death. The house stirs up memories of a pitiful childhood, unloved by her stepmother, abandoned by her older sister, never quite fitting in.

She has just escaped a bad relationship and with nowhere else to stay the farmhouse could be a new start for her. Can she also rebuild her relationship with her sister Steph.

She is unsettled by vivid dreams or are they memories. She finds solace in the arms of the attractive neighbour Craig but is that enough to stop her torment.

This is a dark story laced with fairy tales and has a gothic feel about it. The story builds slowly and has you gripped and I swear I could even hear the pear drum when I was reading it!

The ending was great, leaves you feeling a bit uneasy very reminiscent of the Tales of the Unexpected endings (for any of you old enough to remember them, how good were they! It was a spooky treat for me as a child. For anybody who doesn't know Tales of the Unexpected were short sinister stories written by Roald Dahl with a twist to the endings, which were made into a TV series in the late 70s early 80s)

This is a perfect Halloween read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for the ARC

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review. Can you keep a secret? I loved the mysterious nature of this promotion. Who doesn’t want a secret book?
Cuckoo by Sophie Draper follows Caro who meets her sister after many years at their stepmother’s funeral. Her sister, Steph, isn’t interested in the inheritance and asks Caro if she wants to stay in their old home to pack up the things. Caro who’s strapped for cash agrees. But living alone in her old home causes painful memories of her childhood to resurface and people in the village are acting strange...and then there’s the unexplained, creepy things happening in the house...
I loved the writing and atmosphere. Draper conjures a claustrophobic feel with lots of references to fairy tales. However I did find the story slow moving and not much happens in the first half of the book, which was quite repetitive. Things do pick up in the latter half of the novel with lots of twists and turns. This wasn’t a perfect read, but it was creepy enough to keep me going and I’ll definitely keep my eyes open for her next book.
It’s 3/5 from me.