I didn’t like this book at all. The characters are not drawing me in. Not keeping my attention and not seeming to do much of anything for me. A nanny should not be so easy to impersonate. The parents would not, in my opinion, hire her without meeting her. A mother should have a better vibe about a nanny so meeting her would have been the first step. Not hiring the way this one was. It just did’t ring true for me. I did not finish this book because I was having a hard time finding it to be believable in so many places.

There are to many books to be read to settle for one I do not like. I think there may be others who will love this book. Others who also will not. I was a not.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

It’s only a 2 star for me.

I enjoyed this fast paced suspense story. I did find some of the storylines to be a bit unbelievable, but the writing kept me reading. We knew some of the twists early on, so I was surprised by the amount of twists included. Just when you thought you knew everything that was going on, the author threw in a new turn. I did find some of the story to be predictable, but I did enjoy the journey.

I really liked the premise of the storyline but the actions of the characters were quite annoying. There are moments of suspense, but also unnecessary subplots. And most of all it is so predictable! That makes me really sad and the ending is quite disappointing too.
I loved this books dynamic and that it is told from multiple points of views. This made this book into a page turner. I needed answers and wanted to know if there would be a surprise. In the end I enjoyed reading it, it was a lot of fun but plot and character wise it wasn't that mindblowing.

So, I just finished reading The Woman In Our House by Andrew Hart (aka A.J. Hartley) & I really enjoyed this dark domestic tale. It took me awhile to get on board as it started a bit slow for me, but once it got rolling - it kept me sucked in - and I was dying to see where it went. Below is my short - NO spoiler review !

I loved the literary side to this storyline a lot - the main character is an author agent - and readers get a book inside a book here- which I am a fan of ! Reading excerpts of the main character’s (Anna) clients book for me was brilliant and I wanted more! I love this concept and a peek into that side of the literary world is always great!

Also- there were some twists I didn’t see coming and for Moms, this can be a gut wrenching scary read at times! Trigger warnings for some!

There were some not so surprised moments and confusion along the way also for me. This book touches on Munchhausen by proxy and I wish it would have been a more prevalent topic as the storyline here just skims the surface and imo had no real reason to be in this book - although I see why it was! 🤷‍♀️

Overall, I always enjoy a thriller that touches on how dark humanity can be and so I did enjoy this book and would recommend it for a quick dark page turner!

Much thanks to Net Galley always for early an reading copy in exchange for this review ! Authors and publishers - I’m always a grateful reader ! ❤️Check this one out for sure - guys!

🌟🌟🌟.5 from me !

I really liked this novel!

Anna Klein and husband Josh have two daughters. Starting a family meant that Anna stopped working, but after 3 years out of the workforce, she wants back in. They decide to hire a nanny, using a service out of Utah to hire Oaklynn. Or at least, they think they’ve hired Oaklynn.

The reader knows early on that Oaklynn is not who she seems, that in fact, she is a different person entirely. Who have they hired and let live in their house? And what is this person hiding?

This book was suspenseful without feeling overwhelmingly frightening. There were just enough little signs to give the reader misgivings about Oaklynn, without shoving it right in our faces that something sinister was going on. The ending has a bit of a twist, which I liked.

Definitely recommend this one for thriller readers!

I really enjoyed this one. The characters were well developed and fleshed out. The husband was a little dry but he really was a side character so it was understandable. The atmosphere was a little confusing at times. It felt like the setting was in the UK but it was supposedly in the US south. Okay, I looked the author up, He was born and raised in the UK and moved to the US as an adult. That explains the writing style being slightly different.

The overall atmosphere that the book makes you feel is ominous. You know that something is not right but you do not know what it is. The multiple narratives and third and first person narratives felt a little overused. I really did not need to know the inner thoughts of all the characters to be allow the story to progress. Normally it would be confusing but all of the different narrators have very distinct personalities which is a hard thing to pull off and impressive.

The plot was intriguing and as the reader, we know more information than the main character but we don't know everything and we are left guessing. I think it was the author's intentions for us to use the foreshadowing and extra information to build our own speculations.

Logically the story is not very believable in real life for main different reasons but I can respect the authors creatively in bending believability enough to not make it stand out too much.

Overall I was intrigued from beginning to end. I would recommend this to everyone. Especially if you like a psychological thriller. This one left me constantly second guessing my theries.


I
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The Woman In Our House is my first read from author Andrew Hart. It appears this is a pseudonym and he is also known as A. J. Hartley.

This is a story of a mother, Anna, trying to get back into working as a literary agent, so she resulted to hiring a nanny for her two kids. Though her husband, Josh, is reluctant at first, he agrees and they contacted an agency that sent them Oaklynn.

From the title itself, it is obvious that there is something shady about Oaklynn. The book does not actually wait to long to show readers that. So, we are actually prepared for the darkness that follow.
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
I found myself initially loving the book, and then getting frustrated with how slow the pace was. I struggled with the side plots and found all the characters unlikeable except for the kids.

The book was redeemed by the last 20% and I enjoyed the plot twist. I was satisfied by the ending and it made this a worthwhile read after all.

☁ THE CRITERIA ☁

🌻 Blurb:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Heroine:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Support Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Writing Style:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Character Development:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Thrill Factor:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Pacing:⭐⭐✩✩✩
🌻 Ending:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
🌻 Unputdownability:⭐⭐⭐✩✩
🌻 Book Cover:⭐⭐⭐⭐✩

☁FINAL VERDICT: 3.4/5 ☁

The Woman in our House – Hart (6/18/19)
This had an interesting premise and was thrilling enough to keep me interested and turning pages, especially while reading it on a long flight. As a mother, I did find it hard to believe that someone would let a nanny into their house to live and take care of her two young children without meeting her first. Glowing references are great, even a phone conversation, but I would still want to have face-to-face interaction. I wish there was a little more character development with Anna and Josh.
Overall, this was a solid read, and a good one to keep me engrossed, and there were a few surprises I didn’t expect.
#thewomaninourhouse #andrewhart #lakeunionpublishing

A brilliant thriller with many twists on the "usual" nanny stories. I was gripped from the start Excitement builds as the reader is continually thrust with another surprise! Cannot say much more without letting out a spoiler. Recommend !

One of this summer's best!

Many Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for a real rollercoaster ride !

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

DNF @ 20% - no rating and not included in 2019 reading challenge.

I'm not caring for the vibe of this book at all and I have struggled to make it this far. I peeked at some spoilers and I feel safe that I am making the right decision. Moving on!

It shouldn’t be hard when you decide to hire a nanny and go back to work right? In this story Anna is looking for a live in nanny. Easy right? Well you have to read this book to know more about this juicy plot. The only thing that I didn’t quite like was the subplots but I feel as though the Author did a good job in building up suspense and making me want to continue on. I felt as though the characters were developed well and I liked how the author linked the characters all together. That was nicely done. If you enjoy suspenseful reads I recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my complete and total honest opinion. I will read more from this Author.

This book is a thriller that took me on a journey of what may happen if they invite a nanny who is a stranger into my home. It makes you stop and think.....
I could not put this book down.

Anna and Josh live in a very nice home in Charlotte, North Carolina. Anna had been a literary agent in New York before their move to North Carolina where she soon became a mother. Josh works in finance. They are parents to Grace, 9 months, and Veronica, age 3.

Anna wants to go back to work out of her home and needs a nanny. After much research, she thinks the Nurture agency out of Utah sounds like the best place. Most of their nannies are Mormon.

Oaklynn is a Mormon woman who had worked for years with the Nurture agency as a nanny. She has just gotten married and she along with her husband are moving to Japan to be missionaries. Oaklynn’s good friend, Nadine, is helping her with the move and all the details involved with it. Now, Nadine has taken over Oaklynn’s name, identification, and using Oaklynn’s past work time with them, has put in to be a nanny with Nurture.

Soon, Anna and Josh offer a job to Oaklynn who accepts and seems to be a good fit for them. She settles in well and the girls like her. But, before long, some unexpected illnesses and injuries happen to the girls and Anna is puzzled as to how they are occurring.

In the meantime, Edward Flanders is looking for Nadine and is coming up cold for leads. Where could she have gone and why if he looking for her?

This book has some very slow parts that made me struggle to stay with it. But, it picked up and came to a very shocking ending. That’s what saved this story for me. There are some things I question in the story that seemed to be glossed over in the book. For instance, why would you have a cell phone that does not get a signal in your house? I’ll let you read the book to see if you are left with the same question. Enjoy.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a interesting, fast read. However, if you are looking for any mounting suspense and surprises in a storyline you won't find it here.

The Woman In Our House is a thriller that could have thriller so much more if Random sub plots hadn’t been in my view unnecessarily added.
Anna Klein has decided to return to work, Josh her husband is supportive of this and Anna decides to get a live in nanny for their two children, Anna has a lot of insecurities, one of them now being she must hire the nanny that will not make Josh stray. Now I don’t know much about nannying but I’m pretty sure you have rigorous interviews with people from the company that the nanny is with whilst looking for work not just a few written lines and a photo, but what do I know?
The storyline would have been great had it not gone off on a different track and not really add anything to the story eg, Josh’s trouble at work. On the whole though it was enjoyable and although it didn’t make me pick it up I did enjoy it for the majority of the time when I did.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars I found The Woman in Our House to be rather slow in the beginning. I'm glad I stuck it out though because I was considering putting it aside. The story was interesting, but I just wish it had moved along a little quicker.

I didn't really warm to any of the characters and I'm not sure why, but perhaps it was just me because the book I read just previous to this completely wrapped me up in it.

There is definitely suspense, family drama, and secrets ~ OMG secrets. Reading this will make you doubt your judgement about who you have around your children, that is for sure. I found myself siding with one character at times and then suddenly wanting the other person to be right and in the end I did enjoy the ride.

Thank you to the publishers, author and Netgalley for approving my request for an ARC. All thought in this review are my own and freely given.

This book was very hard for me to get into. There were moments where the book had a hard time keeping my attention and then other moments I couldn't put it down. It seemed to rollercoaster on that for me thru out the book. Once I figured out the plot of the story it lost my interest again. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. They seemed to all have a similar dynamic which I would have to go back sometimes and try and figure out who was talking.
For me this book was just ok. But I think a lot of people may enjoy it, with so many books written about people being in their homes that they don't really know, I think it would be a favorite among that particular group of books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

The Woman in Our House by Andrew Hart is one of those books that feels like a bit of a slow burn but when you get to the end, BAM things get crazy. This is my first time reading a book by Hart, but it will surely not be my last.

What it's about: Anna Klein has taken some time off from her career as a literary agent while she's been raising her 2 girls. Now she is ready to get back to work but she needs help in order to work at the house. With some trepidation, Anna and her husband Josh decide to hire a live-in-nanny to help with the girls so Anna can work in her home office and not have to worry. At first, when Oaklynn Durst arrives things are perfect. She clearly loves the girls and is very helpful around the house, but after a while when strange things start happening to the girls (illnesses/accidents), Anna starts to wonder just how trustworthy Oaklynn actually is. But while Oaklynn may have secrets, she isn't the only one. As everyone's secrets are brought out into the open, the consequences are anything but what Anna could have expected.

The Woman in Our House felt like it was a quick book, but it still took me almost 6 hours to read it. It is definitely a slow burn, and overall has very unlikable characters. I couldn't really connect to anyone in the book at all, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Some things you are already aware of right away in the book, and a couple other things I predicted easily, but I definitely didn't see the ending of this one coming. The ending does get a little gruesome and made me cringe a bit, but overall the book itself was more chilling than gruesome.

I thought the plot was interesting and although some people might consider the end to be a little out there, I was fine with it and it made for a chilling conclusion to this book.

Song/s the book brought to mind: This was a no-brainer, Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler (it's mentioned in the book).

Final Thought: The Woman in Our House gave me the creeps more than once, especially towards the end, and I found myself getting startled by every noise I heard. I love when a book can do that to me, and if you do too then I highly recommend this one. It's a little different than other things I have been reading lately which made for a nice change of pace.

In the past I haven't read many suspense/thrillers in the past and I don't know why. If all suspense/thrillers are similar to this book, I've just expanded my reading life by another genre. I really enjoyed A Woman in Our House. The premise is something that a lot of people have experience with, having someone live in and care for their children. You do your best to hire from a reputable agency, fully vet the references and have confidence in everybody doing their due diligence along the way. Once they move in you want that person to be a part of the family and love your kids like you do. When strange things start happening, I would think the first response would be to suspect the nanny.

I liked the character development of Anna and Oaklynn, and would have liked to know more about the neighbors and Anna's husband. The plot moved quickly and kept me turning the pages until the very end. I try hard when I read books to just read the book, try not to guess the ending and let the book take me on an adventure so I was surprised by the ending.

All in all, a very enjoyable book that I'm glad I read.