Andrew HartBesprekingen

This book follows Anna Klien. Anna has two children and she now feels it is time to get back to work so her and her husband start a search for a live-in nanny. From recommendations of a firm that has Nannies on their books, Anna hires an older woman named Oaklynn.

The story is told from multiple points of view, primarily those of Anna and Oaklynn. It doesn't take long for the children Veronica and Grace to adore Oaklynn, she is everything and more than Anna could want in a nanny. She is sweet and loving to the girls. She is almost too good to be true, making herself indispensable and makes life in the home almost too perfect. Then little things start to feel a bit off. Something just isn't right. Anna becomes concerned when both children have unexplainable illnesses and injuries. And then you learn very quickly that Oaklynn isn't who they think she is.

The characters are believable, Anna is relatable in some ways and is easy to picture, the plot isn't the fastest passed book but I did like the slowness of the pace, building up the suspense and letting it all fall into place all the way up to the conclusion.

For die hards of this psychological thriller genre the twists and turns may not come as shockers for you but even working out those before the conclusion didn't take away any of my enjoyment of this book but it might for some people. So my conclusion is this, this is a book that you need to read for yourself regardless of reviews, everyone of us are different and not every book is for everyone but this book is worth reading for yourself and making up your own minds. It might not have blown me away but it did keep me reading right up to the last page. I enjoyed it even if I did work it out what the twist before time.

A great read with relatable characters that will resonate with most parents no matter where you are from.

The Woman in Our House will be published on 18 Jun 2019 and is available for preorder now.
A big thank you to the author Andrew Hart, publishers Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest and independent book review.

I requested this book from the library because there were so many dazzling reviews online. Overall I enjoyed the premise, and the characters. This was a solid thriller with an interesting premise, and it was also a quick read. I really connected with Anna’s feelings about motherhood-the sense of guilt, isolation, and fear for your children that you feel. There were a few twists in the plot that I didn’t see coming, which I always enjoy. It makes the overall delivery of the story more impactful.

This book was a crazy ride that never slowed down. Early on I started to realize that something was off with the main character, Jan. Okay. Not all protagonists are heroes, right? But things get really complicated when all the other characters also start showing their true colors...and not all good. This is definitely the vacation from hell, but it made for an interesting and fast read. I enjoyed every terrible thing that happened.

I have conflicting thoughts about this book. The first 80% just seemed to drag on and on and on... it felt as though nothing was really happening. Then the last 20% sends you through a whirlwind of action, emotion and a good twist. So even though the ending was redeeming, it was a difficult book to get through.

2.5 stars

I received this Kindle book from a Goodreads giveaway .

I finished this book, but I have to say it was a struggle. I initially thought that this was going to be an easy read...a thriller, suspenseful ,but it really just wasn't that good at all.

Most of the characters were awful, and lacking development. I always expect there to be a character in a book without any redeeming qualities, but in this book it was all of them. And then add all the product name dropping, the terrible plot and weird ending and you find yourself shaking your head and wondering why you wasted the time reading it in the first place.

Ugh!!

Book source ~ Kindle First

Jan is reuniting with her “vacation friends” she and her ex-boyfriend Marcus hooked up with five years ago. They are rich and travel in much more affluent circles than her and Marcus, but Jan wants to recapture the fun. Except, was it as fun as she remembers?

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Jan is unlikeable, but the other two couples are worse. Well, ok, one of them is okay. I don’t remember her name, but she is the actress. The rest are terrible. Marcus is a decent guy. Jan is pathetic, but at least she knows she is. She comes through in the end, but otherwise, gugh.

Now for the writing. No. It’s awful.

The plot. Could have been really something, but the characters and the writing drag it down into the Pit of Despair.

There are current scenes and flashback scenes until it’s all current events. If the writing was better this could have worked out, but as it is, it’s annoying.

And as a final word, good lord, can these characters drink or what? Why would anyone think it’s fun to do nothing but drink? Especially when you’re vacationing in such a gorgeous spot as Crete? No. Just, no.

All-in-all I do not recommend this book.

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

So initially I thought this was a pretty good book. We follow Anna (a young mother who is attempting to go back to work and is looking for a live in nanny) and Oaklynn (the nanny in question). Then Hart decides to follow other POV's in this one (Anna's husband Josh, a neighbor of the couple, a police officer, and a FBI agent). Not all of the voices worked for this one. It also didn't help that the book went from being an okay thriller to just throwing in another plot that didn't really work and then the ending which made everything just work out great while denouncing Nazis. Yeah that happened. I am still just baffled.

"The Woman in Our House" follows Anna Klien. Anna has two children and realizes one day (during an eclipse) that she needs to go back to work. She was initially happy about staying home, but is starting to realize she needs more than to be home with her two daughters. Anna's husband Josh agrees and they then start a search for a live-in nanny. After a suggestion that Anna hire from a nanny firm in Utah, Anna apparently picks an older woman named Oaklynn.

Hard pause right here. Do people not interview potential candidates face to face? I have two friends who have live in au pairs and I know they went through a round of interviews with the agencies they used and also they met the young women prior to hiring who also met their kids. I thought the way Hart set up this part of the book was a bit unbelievable to me.

Anna has a lot of insecurities about her life and marriage and after Oaklynn moves in, things get worse. I did like the idea of Anna being a literary agent, but the whole thing with the reveal about the book she was reading didn't work and I rolled my eyes at it. It comes back into play at the end of the book and I wanted to ask Hart did he really believe any reader would be reading this book after what we find out about the author? Has he talked to readers before?

I also really needed to get a better sense of character development with Anna. It took until I think the 10-15 percent mark to even find out that she was Japanese American. Probably didn't help that she and Josh were not really described. The author chose to describe Oaklynn though so why he didn't talk about Anna more in terms of description, height, etc. was odd. Now that I think of it, it's eventually mentioned the kids look "Asian" by another character, but I don't recall specifically if they are described.

Also odd to me was the fact that Hart didn't provide more narration showing why Anna felt apart from things. Was it because she was a Japanese American living in the South? Were the neighbors truly welcoming? Hart plays with this a bit via a secondary character, but I wanted more there. I think it would have been interesting to have some comments about a stay at home mom deciding to go back to work when it seemed the neighborhood they lived in was predominantly stay at home moms.

I thought the initial plot point with Oaklynn was okay, but then it turned into a mess towards the end. I didn't like the character full stop and there were too many plot holes to even be remotely believable. I won't get into them here because I don't want to spoil for potential readers.

The other characters are not that very developed. Hart returns to the character of Josh a few times, but honestly I thought he was kind of an idiot and I loathe books where the married couple seem to all of a sudden not talk. Hart course corrects with this one eventually, but it got old reading about.

The writing was okay though some parts of the book felt so random. Hart interjects racism into this work not with one, but two characters, and at least with one of the character's, it felt unnecessary. And also a bit too cartoon villain as I was reading. The book was also repetitive at times, especially when you get to Anna constantly talking about being eclipsed by her children and Oaklynn. At that point I wondered why Hart and the cover artist didn't just chose a cover with the sun being blotted out.


The flow wasn't that great, but that is probably because the book jumps around via other characters narratives. if Hart had just focused on Anna and Oaklynn the book would have been much tighter and the final reveals would have been more shocking. Due to inviting in some of the POVs you already knew that one of the characters was not as they appeared to be and then we got enough clues about another one.

This book takes place in North Carolina and Hart describes basically beautiful neighborhoods, but people not really knowing what is going on under the surface with their neighbors. I wish that Hart had looked into the other neighborhood characters more besides Mary Beth.

The ending was not believable at all. I literally asked two friends in law enforcement and one friend who is an attorney who went, yeah, that's not going to happen.

The Woman in our House begins as a domestic drama and quickly escalates to an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Andrew Hart, the author, is a pen name for A.J. Hartley. Anna Klein, a young wife and mother of two young daughters, decides to return to her job as a literary agent. It is clear that Anna will need help with the children and proceeds to meticulously research recruitment agencies in the search for a reliable nanny. She chooses Oaklynn Durst, a mormon woman from Utah who has excellent recommendarions and she quickly moves into the family home and the children take an instant liking to their new nanny. Soon, Anna notices odd behaviour: her otherwise healthy children begin to require visits to the ER where Oaklynn basks in the sympathy she receives from the medical staff. The rest of the story will be divulged when you read this cringe-worthy novel. Creepy only begins to describe what happens. Highly recommended. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure about this book to begin with. I didn't like the main character and wasn't really sure about the quality of the writing. I persisted though - there was something about the story that was intriguing. It wasn't a page turner, maybe more of a slow burn. I'm glad I did keep going because it was actually well written and an interesting story.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that I have been unable to put down - it took a little over 2 weeks for me to read this, but I am a slow reader, so this was quick for me!

The book is set in Crete and recounts the reunion of 3 couples who met on a holiday 5 years prior. Something happened while they were on that holiday but the main character, Jan, is unable to recall exactly what. This forms the premise of the story: trying to piece together the previous holiday - all while being chained to a wall because of something that she has no recollection of.

Each chapter alternates between the events leading up to being confined and the events after. The fear and desperation of the situation really shines through, the author did a terrific job of setting the scene.

Jan has a fairly critical character flaw that, when it was revealed, initially made me hate her as a character but by the end of the book I was able to overlook it and was desperate for her to succeed.

I have a love of Greek myths and they are intertwined with this story so that may have helped me enjoy the book as much as I did. The references are few but come back to a recurring theme.

I really enjoyed this one. I couldn’t put it down. Much like many others popular now with an unreliable narrator, but I found it right for me right now!

In general, I really enjoyed the story. It was super interesting and kept me guessing the whole time (which I happen to love while reading a novel). I felt as if I knew the characters and went through everything with them (which I also happen to love). Generally speaking, when a book gives me those two things, I'm raving about it to everyone that'll listen! Unfortunately...

I was a little put off by the opening of the book, and not just because the main character lies about almost EVERYTHING. There seemed to be too much description and not enough story over the first few chapters. Oddly, dispersed between the over describing were places that I felt could have been flushed out a little more. Thankfully, this wasn't something that happened throughout the entire book and once I was past the first 3 or 4 chapters I could barely put it down!

Most surprising to me was that I actually found myself relating to Jan! Despite being a pathological liar, she is actually quite sympathetic and you can't help but love her. (full review on jesscombs.com)

Cleverly writter psychological thriller set in Crete. Three American couples meet on holiday in Crete in 1999 and five years later, the wealthy Simon and Melissa invite the other two couples back for a renunion. Jan broke up with Marcus her partner after their return but decides to go anyway as Simon and Melissa are paying. Relations are strained all round, especially as inexplicably Gretchen, a school friend of Melissa has been invited too. Eventually Jan discovers the terrifying reason for the reunion. Clever dynamics between the characters and comparisons with Cretan history.

Despite the fact it's taken me a few weeks to sit down at the computer and write my thoughts, it's not the fault of the book or the author. I broke my patella a month or so back, and my computer sits in a location at my home quite inconvenient to wiggling in with ambulation aids. I am loathe to do much on my iPad or phone, because I make so many typos anyway, and that number multiplies on those devices. It's really vanity speaking, because I like Andrew Hart and enjoy the few conversations I've had with him when he's used his other name, so don't want him believing me to be a total dullard. Ah vanity...
As to the book, I truly enjoyed it. A good suspense novel engages the mind and grabs the attention. This also seemed to grab my fingernails, because several are now mere nubs, when I am sure I had a full set at the start of the book. I loved the weaving of mythology and location into the story. Mr Hart blended a intriguing tale of friendship, betrayal, and regaining of trust, along with the additional element of danger. The tension ramps up pretty quickly, especially after the fatal flaw of the main character is revealed.
Bottom line? Read the book. You'll get a good yarn, and might just learn something in the process.