The Nesting is a great, classic Gothic page-turner. Take one part Rebecca, one part Norse mythology, and a "will she get caught in her lie" protagonist and stir. Yes, it doesn't do anything really new in the genre, but it does it all very well. I got up in Lexi/Sophie's story right away and was rooting for her to succeed. The flavors added in by setting most of the story in bleak, snowy Norway only added to the deliciousness.

I am a big fan of gothic fiction, and I loved the setting of The Nesting. I enjoyed the reading experience enough to give it a four-star rating, but months after reading have found it mostly forgettable.

I enjoyed this book. It was different from a lot of the other types of books that I read. The paranormal aspect of the book is something that I usually don't read about and it added a lot to this story.

I read an advanced digital copy of this novel courtesy on the publisher through NetGalley. Review available on goodreads.

Very odd and creepy story! For that alone it lived up to the hype for me, but the setup of the land was a bit confusing and referencing both. Otherwise a great thriller!

The Nesting by C.J Cooke is a gothic thriller set on a Norwegian Fjord. It is creepy, atmospheric, and filled with Norwegian folklore, an interesting and compelling read!

While this novel starts off sounding extremely similar to Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key, it stands on its own feet with the twists and turns it leads the reader through. The Nordic feel of the thriller adds a distinct element that many will enjoy, though the ending is a bit confusing.

This was an interesting thriller. I liked it for the most part. It got a little strange with the legends, and it was a bit hard to follow with the hallucinations, and I really disliked how abrupt the end was, but overall it was enjoyable.

Great writing but the book was rather slow for me and the book felt longer than it needed it to be. Lexi is a great character with lots of layers. I also loved the atmospheric elements of the book. The author does a great job of describing this beautiful place in Norway. 3.5 stars.

What a page turner! The setting of Norway was wonderful and some folklore sprinkled throughout was really cool. Each of the characters was well written and I liked how many of them were a bit ominous in their own way to keep you wondering what REALLY happened the night Aurelia died.

2.5 stars I was really excited about this book, but it didn’t really work for me. I struggled to connect with the characters and the pacing was too slow without a big enough payoff.

I loved this whole book! I love the international flair of it, the scary story and the flow of events. The author did a great job with this one!!

The Nesting is definitely my style of gothic tale. I loved the blend of the paranormal, real crime, and Nordic folklore. It gets quite far fetched in the end, but was a compelling, enjoyable read.

The Nesting is a novel that at first resembles Ruth Ware's The Turn of The Key, but if you stick to it you'll soon be in for a big surprise. Some of the highlights of this book include Cooke's ability to build a suspenseful, gothic novel. The Nordic folklore sprinkled in the story was certainly a plus. The themes of ecology and preservation were also extremely appealing to me, as well as the descriptions of Norway's nature and landscape.

Unfortunately, this novel was the case of too many storylines that just were not well put together at the end. The story is told by an unreliable narrator, Sophie (aka Lexi), alternating with Aurelia's pov and diary entries. Halfway through the book, the story takes a turn and slows down significantly.

Although this book started somewhat interesting, the excessive number of plot holes and the slow pace of the book had me struggling to finish it. I found the ending rushed and too convenient.

I want to thank HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Nesting by C.J. Cooke is a 2020 HarperCollins publication.

<b>Had potential, but missed the mark</b>

Lexi Ellis, recovering from a suicide attempt, is desperate for work a place to live. She manages to steal another woman’s identity- now using the name, 'Sophie', and lands a plum job as a nanny for two girls named Gaia and Coco. The girls’ mother died tragically, and their father is determined to complete the home they had begun building before her death.

Despite her inexperience, Lexi quickly adjusts to her new job and forges a bond with the girls. Things begin to go awry when the girls claim to have seen a ‘Sad Lady’ and the other staff members may have begun to suspect Lexi is not who she claims to be.

This book should have been an easy win for me. Unfortunately, it fell flat. I did enjoy the Norwegian folklore, but the execution is quite poor, in my opinion. The story employs some wonderful Gothic plot devices, but the characters are dull and without enough depth or emotions to pull me toward them in any way- good or bad- not to mention the incredibly improbable situations, that even I couldn’t let slide.

Overall, the folklore is the saving grace for this one. Everything else about it was a letdown.

2 stars

Twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Ellis is almost out of options. She has attempted suicide, her boyfriend dumped her, and she has little money and no one to turn to for help. By happenstance, Lexi gets wind of a nannying job and makes a fateful decision. She appropriates someone else's name and resume in order to land the position. Lexi, who now calls herself Sophie Hallerton, is hired by an architect named Tom Faraday to look after his two girls, the precocious six-year-old Gaia and her baby sister, Coco. Tom's young and beautiful wife of ten years, Aurelia Faraday, died tragically a few months earlier, and the widower needs someone to care for his daughters while he builds a fabulous new home in a rustic and scenic area of Norway. Lexi is eager to leave London behind, try something new, and acquire some desperately-needed income.

In "The Nesting," C. J. Cooke combines elements of psychological suspense, the supernatural, and domestic drama. Much to Lexi's surprise, she grows to love Gaia and Coco, and works hard to ensure that they are happy, healthy, and stimulated. Unfortunately, there are danger signs. Lexi is having visions of otherworldly creatures that terrify her, and Tom is running into serious money troubles and logistical problems that could jeopardize his construction project. Other characters are Clive, Tom's partner, and Derry, Clive's wife, an interior designer, and Maren, a housekeeper with an off-putting manner.

The author uses flashbacks and alternating perspectives to reveal that Aurelia, Tom's late wife, was clinically depressed in her final days, and that there are unanswered questions about her death. Meanwhile, Gaia becomes attached to Lexi, who is surprised at how much she enjoys spending time with this adorable but exhausting youngster. Furthermore, when Tom makes misguided decisions concerning his work in progress, he becomes anxious and lashes out at those around him. This evocative, spooky, and atmospheric novel is lively and engrossing until Cooke wraps things up with a disappointing finale that is abrupt, muddled, and implausible.

A dead wife. Two motherless children. An isolated home in the cold, snowy woods. Ghosts. Any writer working with these elements will have a high bar to reach, with classic gothic tales such as Jane Eyre and The Turn of the Screw establishing the genre and still popular more than a century after publication. More recently, Ruth Ware’s The Turn of the Key proves that gothic plot points can work well in the most modern of settings.

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I really enjoyed the combination of the gothic atmosphere, thriller/suspense vibe, the Nordic mythology component and the mental health aspect of this book. This story has something for a varied group of readers. I appreciated the intricacies of the characters and their relationships to each other. I also liked the suspenseful buildup to the conclusion. The other piece of this story was the addition of discussion of climate change and the building of a house that was more helpful to the environment than harmful. The descriptions of the setting in Norway were easy to imagine as well.
Definitely worth a read. Very entertaining. 3.5/5 stars
#TheNesting #NetGalley #BerkleyPublishingGroup

I loved the legends and nature related themes in this book. As an avid reader of the mystery, thriller and suspense genre, I hardly ever see a book revolve around these themes and it was refreshing, I think the author did an excellent job of building suspense and tension in the story, and I loved that we were never sure if supernatural things were actually happening or it was all in the minds of these characters. I will definitely be checking out more of C.J. Cooke's work.

This chilling, gothic mystery kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish! While the core story wasn’t incredibly original, I loved the Norwegian traditions, values, and folklore that were interspersed throughout. It had a spooky vibe and I never quite felt like I knew what direction it would go considering all the characters felt untrustworthy in one way or another.

The ending did feel a little abrupt but overall, I really enjoyed this one!