Member Reviews
I was thrilled to get this audiobook ARC through Net Galley! This is the third installment of The Housemaid series. Is this series going to end as a trilogy? I hope not!! If it is a trilogy, this author saved the best for last. I loved it!!
Millie moved her family into a new neighborhood. This is her dream home. Millie soon discovers that some of her neighbors cannot be trusted. Soon the paranoia starts to fuel her imaginative mind with some crazy speculations.
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Millie is no longer a housemaid. Enzo believes Millie deserves to have a housemaid for their new home. But Millie’s criminal past continues to haunt her causing her to project those fears onto others.
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Freida McFadden is best known for her psychological thrillers. Often times the surprises and twists can get over inflated on many levels. This is one of those times where the twists and turns kept on coming at you from all directions. Freida used all the tools necessary to create this thriller, yet I couldn’t help growing tired of the same formula for discrediting a character. Millie’s criminal background kept her an unreliable source of information driving her fear and paranoia to reach absurd heights
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Two narrators: Lauryn Allman and Ina Marie Smith. I listened using the Netgalley app. In my opinion since audiobooks have been available I’ve become obsessed with them. I would rather listen to an audiobook rather than read it myself. I’ve grown spoiled by voice actors who have the talent to create a great listening experience. Over the years the availability of narrators has grown allowing authors a wider range of skills and talent. I’m not familiar with either of these performers work, but I did enjoy both voice actors skills.
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This book is a solid three stars due to the way this story spent too much effort to make everyone seem dishonest or suspicious in the eyes of Millie. These types of storylines are too commonplace and I’m tired of reading or listening to them. In some ways they are predictable do to the number of books I’ve read with these plot lines.
*CRACK* That is the sound of Freida McFadden knocking it out of the ballpark!!!!! The Housemaid Is Watching is an addictive, riveting, tense, and thrilling page tuner in the Housemaid series! I had a hard time putting this book down as I was completely dazzled by the story! I loved the drama, the mystery, the doubt, the secrets, and the lies! Plus, there is the warning "Be careful of your neighbors" . Nothing feels more welcoming than being told to be on your guard!
Fans of the series are going to love this book! I also highly recommend reading the first books in this series (The Housemaid and The Housemaid's Secret. That way you have all the background on the characters. Having said that, I do feel that this book would work as a stand-alone but again, read the first two books. They are fantastic!
Millie, Enzo, and their children Ava and Nico have moved into a home in a nice community. This is HUGE for Millie as she used to clean people's homes for a living. Now she has her own home. With it comes neighbors. There is one odd one who watches all her neighbors from her living room. Then there is Suzette and Jonathan Lowell. They have a beautiful home and you guessed it, a maid who is giving Millie strange looks. Enzo is also getting some looks from Suzette who can't keep her eyes off her handsome and buff new neighbor. Millie is not very happy about the attention Suzette is giving Enzo, but Suzette promises to help Enzo get new customers.
Oh boy! This book kept me on my toes and turning the pages. Just when I thought I had this book figured out, Freida McFadden threw in some twist and had me rethinking my theory. I had so much fun with this book. I was lucky enough to have both the book and audiobook versions of this book which made for an incredible reading experience. If you enjoyed audiobooks, the narrators of this book were fabulous.
Freida McFadden is a brilliant author who has a knack of placing me right in the heart of the book. I felt as if I were a silent observer in all the scenes. The characters were fantastic. There were likeable ones, some questionable ones, and ones I loved to hate. This book was such a fun and dramatic read!
A brilliant addition to the Housemaid series!
I have loved this series and was so excited to get this book! Unfortunately I’m quitting at 30% because nothing has happened (is there a story here?) and I’m very bored.
I would have hoped for a story or an exciting event to have happened by now but all I had is hearing about Millie’s two awful neighbors and that she hears an odd noise in the house. Sorry not for me! Thanks for my ALC
Freida McFadden doesn't disappoint. Her new adventure takes the reader eleven years later where we left things with Millie and Enzo. Married, older with two children one a sensitive, mature, sweet smart daughter Ava and an energetic sporty son Nico named after Enzo's family. The offer on a house they never thought they would get is accepted and they now own their dream house living as suburbanites. Millie is jumping in excitement to build a new life in a big house she still has questions about how they bought under its value even though they have to work harder to pay the mortgage. She is also excited to make new friends with her neighbors but unfortunately one of her neighbors cannot keep her hands off her husband, shamelessly flirting with him as the other woman who is health-obsessed and also a noisy busybody who likes to watch each step she takes from her house and make her uncomfortable. In addition to that, Enzo makes a jest to hire their neighbor’s maid Martha: the same woman she keeps giving her scrutinizing looks as if she knows her criminal dark past. Suzette and Jonathan Lowell live across the street and it appears Suzette has her eyes on Enzo, who is extremely handsome and Millie is used to other women staring at him, but Suzette takes it to another level. In this book we are met with several different story-lines and Freida has intertwined them so perfectly. The twists and turns we are presented with will have you turning the pages faster and faster. Just when you think you have it figured out, in true Freida fashion, she throws in another curve that will leave you reeling. Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley.
The Housemaid is Watching is book 3 in a series by Freida McFadden featuring main character Millie, a spitball with a spine and a past, and her now husband of 12 years, Enzo. One of the things I appreciate about all McFadden novels is her tone in her diaglogue. I feel like I'm listening to a genuine, sarcastic character and my assumption is that is all Freida's personality being expressed. I could probably have a beer with this author and laugh a ton.
That said, I hate to say book 3 makes me hope there is no book 4. I can imagine authors, and publishers, love to continue a series because the established readers buy the books to find out what happens next. It must be much easier to start out selling when a bandwagon is standing nearby. I LOVED book 1, The Housemaid. I enjoyed book 2, The Housemaid's Secret so, when invited to listen to the audio arc of book 3, it was a no-brainer.
This one feels different from the first two. Millie is now years into parenting, working her career, and is settled in life. The purchase of a new home which taxes their finances, an upper scale neighborhood with a neighbor or two I wanted to punch, made the first half of this novel great. It was the set-up to an established genre plot line for a good domestic thriller. Then it got dark. Darker than I was comfortable with, and in a way in which I cannot say more or it will completely spoil the novel.
Do you need to read books 1 and 2 first? No, I don't think that's required in this series because the change in feel for book 3 is so drastic.
Will I read a book 4 if it's written? Of course. I'm on the bandwagon just like everyone else.
5 stars
I unapologetically love this series, even when Millie should know better and catch all of the signs that the rest of us are catching without having been in the same kinds of repeated catastrophes, and while I thought the third book may not live up to its predecessors, I was pleasantly surprised!
Millie, the titular housemaid, is unstoppable. She loves to remind readers of her past, and I suppose this may be useful to those who are newer to the series, though I cannot recommend skipping the earlier installments. IYKYK, Millie has had quite the exciting life, so it's almost comical to find her married with 11 and 9yo kids in the suburbs. Don't worry; she still knows how to find trouble.
As always, the fun with these books is to experience the reveals and to find out how Millie will react to them, so I recommend starting this book with as little info as possible.
When and where accessible, I highly recommend the audiobook. I am absolutely obsessed with the narrator who voices Millie, and I always get so much more out of these when I listen to them (vs. simply reading by sight).
It's my great hope that there are dozens more of these to come.
This is book three in the series and the book I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I loved book one and am happy to say that book three was everything I hoped it would be. Mellie is now married to Enzo and they have two children and house on Long Island. She meets the neighbor Mrs Lowell who is quick to flirt with Enzo and make fun of Mellie so I instantly hated her.
Mellie tries to be friends with the neighbors but Mrs Lowell and Janice do not like each other and keep warning her to stay away from the other neighbor. She wonders if she made a mistake moving to this house. The stress on the family is overwhelming and now they are having financial trouble. Now, a neighbor was murdered and this could destroy her family.
This has the fast pace and twists that you have come to love. I flock to Freida books as they are addicting ,funny and unpredictable. I was so happy to get this book that I cleared the day and binged it instantly.
Add this to the TBR list you will be so glad you did.
What a fantastic ending to this series! We catch up with Millie and Enzo 10+ years after the last Housemiad book to discover they have a family. After moving out of New York City, a new mystery reveals itself. Who are the Lowell’s? And what really happened to that little boy they keep hearing about?
I love this wrap up to the series!
I was stunned to receive this ARC and couldn't wait to listen to it! I read it and listened to it, and I do have to say i preferred the print. The narrator for Millie put me off a bit as it wasnt the tone I had imagined for her at all
However, in both forms I was immediately drawn in, and I was surprised of how humorous I found this book. I think part of it was having the history with Millie and Enzo. I was just so invested in their story!This book was so well written and I was thoroughly shocked by the twists throughout. This is a must read! I need another housemaid book!
I was lucky to be chosen for an early copy of the audiobook through NetGalley. I am a huge fan of Freida McFadden books and the Housemaid series.
The Housemaid is Watching did not disappoint. I was curious to see how the third installment would compare and fall in line with the previous 2 books. It was amazing! It definitely incorporated the previous books and kept me on the line throughout the entire book.
I will definitely be rereading the physical copy once I am able to get my hands on it in June! A must read for fans of the Housemaid series.
The housemaid is watching is so, so good! I would say it is the perfect final installment of the series. I would disagree with Ada in that in THIS series the third book is just as good as the first two. I think it might be my favorite one! Freida, you have done it again! Thank you to NetGally and Poison Pen Press for allowing me the opportunity to listen to this ARC audiobook!
Wow! I can't tell you how many feelings this book made me feel! I was intrigued, frustrated, mad, I cried, I cheered and sat on the edge of my seat. Was such a good book. Loved checking in some of my favorite book characters.