The story was ok-it dragged a bit at parts. I disliked the narrator and that may have impacted my view of the story.

Thank you #parter @macmillan.audio for the #gifted ALC to read and review.

Talk about bingable! This book was a wild ride with twists that took me way too long to see coming 👀 I absolutely loved it!

This was my first book by Sarah Pekkanen and I was pleasantly surprised by just how quickly I was invested in the characters. Enough to stop and send a message to my friend and tell her that I felt like I’d been punched in the gut at 4% 😅

Expect —> psychological thriller, childhood trauma (past and present), Twisty, Complex Characters, child advocacy

Stella’s job is to observe a child in their environment and recommend best solutions to the court when there are custody disagreements. Her current clients are a puzzle that grow increasingly dangerous. While Stella tries to figure out the what Rose needs, she discovers carefully crafted lies and that everyone is a suspect.

I loved how this book was written. The current storyline with small glimpses into the past. I’m a huge fan of advocating for those without a voice so Stella’s whole job is pretty incredible. This story kept me on my toes and I suspected… everyone. Every single person 😆😆 It was a fabulous ride that I couldn’t put down (turn off). The narrator did an incredible job keeping me hooked.

Thank you Netgalley, Sarah Pekkanen and MacMillan Audio! This book was everything I want in a thrilling mystery. I changed my mind a million times about what was going on and I was wrong most of the time which was refreshing and fun. I felt so connected to the characters in this book and couldn't stop listening to find out how everything would turn out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook ARC. Your heart goes out to the MC right out of the gate her life is a hot mess and she gets thrown into this case with a family that is just so bone chilling and creepy. Everyone is so shady but I don’t understand why all this falls on a child lawyer and not the police. Why is this investigation on one person. I had no idea where this was going so I give the author credit for that! My complaint is Squirrel rehab is questionable and a weird sympathy inducing source. Another forced choice seemed like the unnecessary ending romantic interest Finally,The final plot twist was a little overkill at that point in the story. Overall it was pretty good but it needed probably a little more plotting out timing wise so it wasn’t so much info dumping at the end.

I have always enjoyed Sarah Pekkanen books but I think that this one was definitely my favorite! Wow I didn't want to stop listening to this! It was sooo good! I will be recommending this to everyone I know to read this! It pulled at my heart with this poor little and everything that she'd been through. I enjoyed the main character, Stella, development was great in that what she was going through with Rose helped her to dig into her past and discover new things about herself.
I don't want to give away any spoilers but 10/10 read this! Wouldn't change a thing!

3.5 stars, rounded upwards.

Author Sarah Pekkanen is known for writing psychological thrillers, and her newest novel, House of Glass, is a real page turner. My thanks go to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the invitation to read and review. This book will be available to the public August 6, 2024.

Our protagonist is Stella Hudson, and she works as guardian ad litem, which is a professional whose job it is to represent the best interests of a child when he or she is the subject, or an important participant in, a court case. Stella’s father figure and mentor is a judge, and a case has come up that he feels Stella is uniquely qualified for. It’s a divorce case, two wealthy individuals squabbling over a child. The child, Rose Barclay, has experienced a great trauma that has left her mute. She saw her nanny fall (be pushed?) out of the attic window and die, and she hasn’t spoken since. By convenient coincidence, Stella also experienced the same condition after a childhood trauma of her own; this is why Charles, her mentor, has asked her to serve.

I’ll tell you right now, I am not terribly impressed with this book. A protagonist who’s been traumatized in ways related to her task at hand is fast becoming a trope, and I’m ready to be done with it. Rose is a prodigy, brilliant in every way, which is also overused, and very convenient for an author that doesn’t want to deal with developmental stages even though the child is a major character. Also, Stella’s job does not require her to solve the nanny’s murder, that’s the job of the cops. Yet the book leads us to believe that this is part of a guardian ad litem’s work.

But the most annoying facet of this mystery is that I had it solved before the 20% mark. That’s just straight up ridiculous. If I had solved it because I am so darned clever, that would be one thing, but I feel as if my cat could probably have done the same. First, a suspect that’s identified very early in the story is almost never the killer, and then of course, the person least suspected by the other characters is often the one that did it. And so at first I waited hopefully for some new spin or plot twist that would make me change my mind, but it never damn happened.

Consequently, I was prepared to give this book a rating of 3 stars, which is lower than my average, but one thing stopped me. I noticed that, however cranky I felt about this transparently obvious mystery, I didn’t want to stop reading it. I could have quit at the halfway mark, skimmed the ending to be certain I was right, and then written my review, yet even though I knew exactly how it would shake out, I still wanted to see/hear the rest of the story.

I was fortunate in having both the digital review copy and the audiobook, and the narrator, Laura Benanti, does a first rate job. That’s worth something, too.

Because of the fact that Pekkanen’s mysteries are beginning to feel formulaic, I am probably finished with this author, but I also think there are a great many readers that will like it. Nevertheless, my recommendation to you is to get it free or cheap, rather than to pay full cover price.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. The story starts with a nanny plunging to her death and 9 year old Rose may have been a witness to this horrible tragedy but no one knows for sure because Rose is so traumatised that she refuses to speak. Stella is appointed to act on behalf of Rose which she is not too happy about as she never takes on clients under 13 yrs old as it reminds her of her own tragic past. Stella reluctantly agrees as it is her mentor who is requesting this of her.

Stella notices that this case is quite strange and so are the members of this family. The parents are going through a divorce and everything in the house is plastic. There is not one piece of glass anywhere and no sharp objects

As Stella tries to get Rose to open up and trust her, strange things begin to happen and she wonders if Rose is the reason that the nanny fell to her death and now she feels her own life may be in jeopardy as well. This was a great read and Sarah Pekkanen did it again!!!! Enjoy!!!

Sarah Pekkanen never disappoints! This is another winner from this author, and it it my new favorite!

Stella Hudson is a BIA - a Best Interest Attorney. A judge, Stella’s mentor, asks her to take a case of a young girl whose parents are divorcing and who has also witnessed a traumatic event. Her name is Rose, and the trauma has taken her voice. This is something that Stella has personal experience with. Stella enters the world of the Barclay Family where she has to make decisions that are in the best interest of Rose. She also has to spend time in the Barclay home, and the home itself has its own secrets.

Everyone in this story has secrets. This is one of the most character-driven stories I have read in a long time, and it made the story even better! You get to know everyone, and that really helps to challenge the perceptions the reader makes about the mystery at the heart of the story. I really liked Stella a lot. She has her flaws, but she gets up every day to fight for her clients. Rose is also a fascinating character. She has secrets of her own, but you really feel for her and her struggles.

Stella unravels this mystery methodically. I was glued to the book when I wasn’t listening to the audiobook. Laura Benanti does a phenomenal job with the narration of this one! There are so many twists and turns throughout the story, and there were chapters where I swear I had to remind myself to take a breath. I loved the ending of this book - it was perfect!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read and listen to this marvelous book! It releases on August 6th - preorder it now! I highly recommend this one - it is the mystery/thriller you are looking for, and you won’t be disappointed!

House of Glass was a gripping thriller/mystery about Stella, an attorney assigned to represent the interests of a young girl, Rose, as the court determines custody in her parents’ divorce. As an added complication, the girls’ nanny recently fell to her death at the house with no explanation. As Stella gets closer to the family, she finds reasons to suspect every family member had involvement in the crime, even Rose, who hasn’t said a word since the incident.

I was captivated during this entire book and read it over just two days. The red herrings really kept my guessing and the ending was so satisfying. I also really enjoyed the narrator for this book and thought it was a perfect choice for a quick summer listen.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I really enjoyed this book! Sarah Pekkanen never disappoints keeping the listener engaged and wondering what in the world is going on. The narration was spot on and this is a title that I will be purchasing for my library in many different formats. Thank you.

House of Glass has a very intriguing premise, that unfortunately had a few extra plot lines that really derailed the story. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney who has recently been hired to evaluate which parent Rose Barclay should live with after her parent's divorce. Beth and Ian are going through a divorce after Ian's affair with Roses' nanny was exposed which happened at the same time she fell to her death out of an attic window at the Barclay's home. Rose witnessed this tragic event and has been experiencing traumatic muteness ever since. Stella can relate deeply to Rose as she also went through the same thing after she experience a tragedy as a child. I enjoyed the main plot and the narrator did a great job adding to the drama of the book with her voice work. The parts about Stella's past, her personal divorce, and her mysterious father figure Charles were the plot Iines I felt really took me out of the story and could have done without. 3/5 for plot and 5/5 for propulsive and entertaining read!

House of Glass has a promising start with the "was it an accident or murder and is the little girl involved" locked-room storyline and all the creepy people living in the creepy old house that keeps you guessing. Unfortunately, the story bogged down for me every time the death of Stella's mother came up since it threw the focus off the mystery that I was there for and didn't really add to anything once we got past the fact that Stella had faced a similar trauma as Rose that led each to stop speaking for a time. The level of description in this book was also a lot, and not in a good way a. lot, more like a fill up space way. I truly loved Pekkanen's last book and am sorry that this one just didn't do it for me. Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the early listen in exchange for my honest opinion. Rounding up 2.5 to 3 stars.

Creepy, spooky and very suspenseful, House Of Glass, was the perfect audio book to listen to on a very long car trip. Stella is an attorney charged with getting to know the wealthy Barclays family to determine which parent, Ian or Beth, should retain custody of their daughter Rose. After their pending and bitter divorce. The child has witnessed the murder or was it an accident?.) of her nanny, Tina ,and has remained mute ever since. A la Agatha Christie, Sarah Pekkanen, creates a scenario in which every character has a motive to want Tina dead. But whodunit? And how can Stella make a good determination of parental fitness when she too was traumatized as a child and also suffered from selective mutism ?

All glass has been removed from the house as Rose seems to have a penchant for sharp objects. Her behavior is sinister as she watches and waits and seems filled with rage. Ian had been having an affair with Tina. Did he want her to just go away, any which way? What about Beth? The aggrieved wife has plenty of reason to despise Tina. Grandma Harriet, ever present, meddlesome and controlling might not simply be a loving grandma, Or did Tina just accidentally fall? So much to unravel. It was hard to figure this one out. Some twists and turns later all is revealed.

Listening to an audio book is very dependent on the reader. In this case she did a great job with pacing and using great voice enhancements for each character.

My only issue was there’s a bit too much focus on the lawyer’s past. Comparing that to Rose’s situation again and again rang a bit false. Nonetheless, Pekkanen writes a great thriller. Not my first experience with her books and definitely won’t be my last. Four well deserved stars for a very eerie story that will keep you hangin on until the end. Publication date in August 6, 2o24. You’ll want to read this one. My thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Creepy kid
LGBTQ rep
Eye catching cover
Unexpected twists

I went back and forth with this book between reading it with my eyes and listening. I got to listen to this book as a part of the Macmillan Audio Influencer Program. Thank you so much to @macmillan.audio for this ALC copy and St. Martin’s Press @NetGalley for my eARC!

Stella works as a best interest attorney and is appointed to make a parental custody recommendation in the case of Rose Barclay, a 9 year old girl who is struggling with traumatic mutism after witnessing her nanny, Tina, die from falling out a window. As part of her job, Stella must get to know Rose’s family and she quickly starts to notice strange happenings with the Barclays. Stella begins to suspect everyone in the Barclay household of having something to hide, but were any of them involved in Tina’s death? Stella needs to make sure that Rose isn’t in danger, but what if Rose is the dangerous one?

I was really into this book for the first ~40% where it focused majorly on the main plot line of the suspicious death of Tina, Rose’s nanny. I was super interested as Stella did her job to investigate and learn more about the Barclay family in order to determine who Rose should live with as her parents are going through a divorce. So many books that I’ve read lately have amateur sleuths trying to solve a murder, and I’m kind of getting sick of this trope where random people are putting themselves at risk, oftentimes in order to “solve” a case that has nothing to do with them. But in this book, it 1000% made sense that Stella was looking into the strange circumstances around Tina’s death because it was her job to ensure Rose’s safety. I was invested in the dirt that she would dig up on the super rich Barclay family and could not wait to get to the bottom of who (if anyone) killed Tina.

But then we got really deep into the subplot, which I felt was unnecessary and it distracted me entirely from the main plot. I wish that the book had continued to focus more on the Barclays and less on Stella’s personal life and her past. Looking back at my notes I took while reading, there was a lot of information that I wrote down regarding characters in Stella’s life that actually had no weight on the story at all. I felt like we kind of dropped off of the main plot and just went into an entirely different storyline that did not add to the book. At one point, I actually had to check my phone and make sure that I was still reading the same book… The conclusion of the main plot in itself is satisfying, however, it was delivered in the midst of the subplot, and therefore I kind of even forgot that we were waiting to find out who killed Tina.

Laura Benanti as our audiobook narrator did a great job throughout the book and I certainly leaned more towards listening on audio when I started to lose interest during the subplot parts of the book. Laura’s narration was able to keep me listening and engaged through the end of the story. Her voice fit my idea of Stella as a character and the pacing throughout the book was perfect. Production quality was great overall.

Thank you NetGalley for the prerelease copy of this audiobook! I’m a big fan of this author so I was excited to have it. I enjoyed the story, the plot was interesting and engaging. There was a lot of backstory that I felt wasn’t entirely necessary to the plot line. I appreciate the effort to make this book more than just a “cheap thriller” but I’m not sure the effect was fully realized. The characters and list of suspects were balanced and hard to pinpoint. The twist will probably surprise you! I would definitely recommend you give this one a read!

I received a free Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.

Two suburban sisters' seemingly perfect lives begin to unravel after tragedy strikes and long-buried secrets come to light. In this engaging suburban drama, Pekkanen crafts an insightful look at the fragility of family bonds and the importance of truth. While the plot developments are occasionally predictable, Pekkanen's deft character work and exploration of complex sisterly dynamics make House of Glass a compelling, emotionally resonant read. Her authentic depiction of the challenges of modern womanhood and the sacrifices of motherhood elevate this novel above typical domestic fiction.

Super twisty and turny. I got kind of bogged down in the beginning, but the last third blew by. I thought I had the ending pegged but wasn’t anywhere close. Great choice if you want a suspenseful whodunit.

This took a bit to get going and then once it did, I really liked it. The beginning was pretty slow and repetitive, it made me nervous that it wasn’t going to get me very engaged since too much repetition makes me zone out. I’m happy this got a lot better.

I love how everyone was a suspect in this book, including the daughter. It made for a very difficult puzzle to figure out.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely DEVOURED this book! So addictive I couldn’t stop listening! A great audiobook. I was on the edge of my seat. It was utterly creepy and suspenseful, a perfect thriller in every way with non stop twists and shocks that at times I guessed and at times I didn’t. If you’re a lover of thrillers you’re going to want to read this! 100% recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for the ALC!

House of Glass was one my most anticipated books to read this summer because I am a HUGE Sarah Pekkanen fan & let me tell you-- it did NOT disappoint!!⁠ 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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I was lucky enough to receive this audio book as a part of the Macmillan Audio Influencer Program! Thank you SO much @macmillan.audio & @sarahpekkanen! You're the best!⁠ 🖤
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Just so you’re aware-- creepy kids scare the crap out of me. As a kid that watched ALL the scary movies with no problem, Children of The Corn literally traumatized me. So let's just say when this book featured a creepy kid that has no friends & stashed sharp objects in her coat pocket, I was sold.⁠ 🫣
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In this summer must-read, Stella is tasked with the job of recommending who 9 year old Rose should spend most of her time with after her parents divorce. The problem is that Rose isn't your typical 9 year old. She dresses very formal, has no friends, doesn't go to school, just watched her nanny fall to her death from the window in the home, & now has stopped speaking.⁠
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The nanny's death was ruled an accident-- but Stella isn't so sure. Is the person Stella is supposed to protect, someone that everyone else needs to be protected from?⁠ 👀🔪
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CHILLS!! ⁠😳