3.5 ⭐

A really interesting story on how grief can cloud our judgement and how revenge is blinding.

Easy to predict but that did not hinder my enjoyment.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Sophy Pemberton is used to an easy life. However, once the baby comes along, Sophy starts to struggle with the baby and all it brings to the home. Sophy meets Liv at a parent group while Liv is nannying for another family. When things go south this that other family, Liv asks Sophy if she would like some help and offers to become her nanny. Sophy agrees immediately and is so relieved that she will start getting the help she needs, contrary to what her husband and mother-in-law think.

However, there is a secret..... Liv is not who Sophy thinks she is. Liv is certain that Sophy is responsible for her brother's suicide several years ago and wants revenge. Sophy is living the perfect life, with the perfect husband, perfect house, perfect baby.

But, there are many secrets in this book, not just Liv's and as the twists and turns unfold - it leaves you wondering - how did I miss that????

This was DoNotFinish for me. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get into the writing of it all. The premise was good, just lacked a lot of interest for me personally.

I started this book on Monday and finished it on Wednesday morning…I just couldn’t put it down! A fast, twisty, turny book about the lengths women will go to for revenge/children.

There isn’t much I can write without giving the plot twists away (of which there are plenty) however I can say some were expected others came as a surprise.

I can ask tell you that some of the characters in this book were just bloody awful! One of them in particular was truly vile but I will let you decide which one that is!

If you are after a quick easy to read thriller that you can read on your holidays then I recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Everything you want in a thriller and more cannot wait to read more from this author all the twists and turns you expect from a thriller and some you never would!!!

A real page turner, fast paced and exciting ~ I’d recommend this 100% to anyone who enjoys an exciting read.

A twist filled domestic thrlller. Though I did not connect with the characters or the story, it was a fast paced and easy read.

I loved this book. It has so many twists and turns you won't see coming. You think you know who's guilty but you don't. I loved the ending of the book too. Thank you NetGalley and HQ Digital for the advanced reading copy of this book, I enjoyed it.

i really didnt enjoy this one. I felt like it wasnt what I was expecting from reading the description and it really didnt deliver.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ, for the ARC.

This is an excellent psychological/ domestic thriller which begins in a rather sedate, suburban sort of way, set around a wealthy neighbourhood of St Albans, with doting mothers and babies - then gradually and rather insidiously it becomes intense as the main protagonist (Liv) puts her plan into action.

Liv Granger is Nanny to Evie, Clare and Gary's daughter, when she finally gets to meet Sophy Pemberton - the woman she blames for destroying her family 16 years ago. Sophy has a good life, lovely home, and a TV Executive husband Dom. However she's a total mess: she's permanently exhausted, forgetful, misplaces items and can't resist going to sleep. Her mother-in-law Elizabeth has taken to looking after her son Finn more and more. She yearns to be her old self but views herself as a bad mother. She jumps at the chance of having a friend in Liv but Liv is actually calling the shots as she engineers entry into Sophy's home and her life by becoming Finn's Nanny.

But, although Liv sets out to destroy Sophy's life, she does actually begin to feel sorry for her in some ways. Elizabeth is hell personified and Dom has crises at work and can't spend time with his wife. Then things happen which Liv knows aren't her doing - who else could be out to get Sophy?

.......................

Told from several points of view, this story has some strong characters and believable dialogue. There's lots of twists to keep the reader guessing and I thought the Epilogue rounded-off everything nicely.

Excellent Read.

Karen Clarke and Amanda Brittany are on of my favorite author duos, so I was extra excited when I was granted the ARC for this. After reading the description, I thought I had an idea of how this would go, and at first, it did. This starts off the way so many other domestic thrillers do but quickly turns into something completely unexpected. I did not expect where this story went. I was glued to each page wondering what could possibly happen next. This had several twists in it that kept me guessing but also did lead to me to figure out the final twist with too much hinting around one of the suspicious characters. Although, looking back there was quite a bit of suspicion around another character I didn't see at the time but now see that it was obvious she was at the crux of what was going on. I found all of the characters quite compelling in this and loved that there was so many red herrings that kept me wondering who I could trust. I loved how Sophie and Liv's relationship developed. I particularly loved the epilogue and thought it was a very fitting end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 8/10

“The Perfect Nanny”
By: Karen Clarke & Amanda Brittany

Ulterior Motives Top Nanny’s Resume

New mother Sophy Pemberton appears to have it all in Karen Clarke and Amanda Brittany’s labyrinthine psychological thriller, “The Perfect Nanny.”

Her baby boy, Finn, is a ginger-haired cherub; her television executive husband, Dom, is movie star handsome; and their home in St. Albans is situated along The Avenue—the village’s most desirable residential neighborhood.

Yet, following a traumatic emergency caesarean delivery, Sophy’s physical and emotional health is wrecked. She's not even bonding well with her newborn son. To make matters worse, her domineering mother-in-law makes her opinions perfectly clear that she believes that Sophy is a negligent mother to her child. Even Finn’s new nanny, Liv, is distrustful of Sophy’s abilities because of her constant tiredness and frequent confused mental state.

Is Sophy struggling with postpartum depression or is someone gaslighting her to make her think that she's losing her mind? When baby Finn disappears from the family home while Sophy is napping, she's the first accused of malfeasance.

“The Perfect Nanny” is a multi-layered, multi-point of view mystery thriller that will keep you off-kilter until the creepy twisted ending that you will not see coming. I figured out several parts of the book in advance; however, those are only smoke and mirrors—innocuously delicious red herrings. The true culprit isn't perhaps who or what you think, and that's why this book is fantastic. Readers, you must persevere until the end, otherwise you'll be missing out.

=====================///=======================

The Book Maven’s Journal—Reviews for Word Connoisseurs

STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Perfect Nanny”
Author: Karen Clarke & Amanda Brittany
Genre: | Mysteries & Thrillers | General Fiction (Adult)
Publication Date: 30 March 2021
Publisher: HQ, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

With Sincerest Appreciation to NetGalley, Authors Karen Clarke & Amanda Brittany and HQ, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd., for Providing this Advance Reader’s Copy for Review.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I loved it! I’m definitely going to find more of her books to read. I curled up on the couch with a blanket, a fire in the fireplace, and a cup of tea during a snow storm and finished this thriller in almost one sitting. Lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing and definitely entertained!

The Perfect Nanny isn't really so perfect after all. The story was good. Even though I know how it was probably going to end was still a great book. I would give it 4.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and HQ, HQ Digital for the copy of this book. This was a fast and easy read but I never really connected with it. I knew what had happened early on, and the characters were not great. I think if you are new to this genre you would like the book, but I have read so many books that were written better it was just okay for me.

Great story. Kept me gripped until the end. Characters are believable and you will care about what they doing. Great twist too!

Not a bad read but not a brilliant read, I just can't seem to find the right book at the moment.
The book had two good main characters and lots of twists, but some were not really believable and I guessed quite early what would happen - for me not plausible so only 3 stars.

To avenge her brother's death, Liv takes on nanny positions to be close to the person responsible.... Chaos ensues.

This book kept me guessing throughout, with all of the uncertainty involved in new motherhood. I couldn't decide on my feelings about Liv. Did I sympathise with her or despise her and her singlemindedness? Jury's still out a little on that one...

While I guessed Sophy's situation pretty quickly, I couldn't work out quite who was and wasn't involved, and I didn't see the final twist coming at all! This was a 3.5 star read for me, rounded up with no hesitation to 4

Overall, I liked this book. It had two good main characters, many twists, and it kept me interested. However, I had guessed pretty early on what was to come and there were a lot of little things that either didn't fit or were not plausible.

I wanted to read this book for soo long and was excited when I got round to it.

Sophy is a new mum and just can’t seem to find the energy to engage well with her baby, no matter how much sleep she has she always feels tired.

It becomes a bit of an issue at home when things appear to be lacking in her care for her son, her husband is worried about her and rightly so. Or is it?

She employs an nanny to help with the care for her son and things seem to go from bad to worse, with a parent’s worse nightmare happening to this young couple, how will the family deal with this?

Definitely a 5* book and I definitely would check out more of this author’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions my own.

#ThePerfectNanny #NetGalley