Name: Cheri McElroy's review of The Au Pair by Emma Rous
Item: The Au Pair
Rating: 4
Author: Cheri McElroy

Emma Rous

"An addictive, highly commercial suspense novel featuring a grand estate, terrible secrets, and a young woman who bears witness to it all. If V.C. Andrews, Kate Morton, and Lexie Elliot had a love child, Emma Rous and THE AU PAIR would be it. Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother Danny were born in the middle of summer at their family's estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle. Now an adult, and mourning the recent death of her father, Seraphine begins to go through his belongings, when she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded by her husband and her young son, is beautifully dressed, smiling serenely, and holding just one baby. Who is the child and what really happened that day? Someone knows the truth, if only Seraphine can find her. The Au Pair" --

The Au Pair

Isabela L.

If V. C. Andrews and Kate Morton had a literary love child, Emma Rous' USA Today bestseller The Au Pair would be it. One of the most anticipated books of 2019 from Pop Sugar, Bustle, Cosmo, Parade, and Goodreads! Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother, Danny, were born in the middle of summer at their family's estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle. Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded by her husband and her young son, is smiling serenely and holding just one baby. Who is the child, and what really happened that day?

Cheri McElroy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Twisty plot, messed-up characters, dual-perective. Yes, please. You do have to suspend belief a bit at the end, and I guessed who done it(but not completely).

Lauren Tabor

*4.5
This was so good! I loved the atmosphere it gave off and the mystery and the drama. It was almost a 5 star, but the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped for. It also felt a little dragged out at the end. But all in all it was amazing

Thea Lizabeth

A delightful escapist read!

I really enjoyed the dual POVs of the Au Pair from 1991 and the daughter of the family who had the Au Pair in 2017. I love a good mystery that slowly unravels. The twists and turns were gripping, and the ending was appropriate for the circumstances.

Rita Wang

Compulsively readable and beautifully written. I feel like I always write mystery thrillers off as being trite and generally poorly written. It takes a lot of for me to be taken in by a thriller, and often times I feel like authors are just trying to make it out as the next success a la Gone Girl. I know that is pretty presumptuous and this book definitely made me change my mind about that. This book is fantastically written, beautifully descriptive, and filled with fleshed out characters that had their own motivations and felt realistically messy. There was no moment where I looked at a scene and thought that it would never happen or that it was too convenient. Everything felt like it lined up correctly, and this was also done through two different female narratives, while maintaining those individual voices. I thought the way these two narratives lined up near the end was very clever and the ending really managed to surprise me. I'm not an avid mystery thriller reader so perhaps other people might have been able to guess all the twists and turns, but this book really surprised me so much, it made it a truly enjoyable read. It's never fun to have suspicions throughout a majority of the book and found out you were right the entire time. However, as I was reading it, I remember thinking that even if I was right, I still wouldn't mind. The story and narrative was that entertaining that I just loved being lead down the path of seeing how everything played out.

I wouldn't say this book was anything revolutionary when it comes to the genre but it kept me gripped, without the narrative falling flat, or having the writing become boring or full of holes. I will say that I did feel the pacing droop a bit in the last 50 pages or so, the reveal coming at a stream of such quickness and then the cool down period being quite slow and quiet. I missed the punchiness that was present in the vast majority of the book and it almost felt like the reveal took the wind of the sails of not only the characters but the book as well. Despite this, I loved how the book wrapped up and the epilogue. I do recommend this as a fun mystery thriller to read and I am so glad I finally got around to finishing this! This is quite a fast read, given the pacing, and it's been such a long time since I've read, looked up, and realized I've been reading for two hours and have finished 40% of the book. It's a book that makes you hold your breath until the very end.

***NOW AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*** COSMOPOLITAN 'BOOKS OF 2019 TO BRING TO YOUR BOOKCLUB' 'Entrancing, compelling, atmospheric, reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier. A beautiful read that delivers a shocking and satisfying ending' Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs Parrish 'Delicious and spellbinding . . . absolutely absorbing and scandalous' Booklist 'Enthralling and addictive' Lisa Ballantyne, bestselling author of The Guilty One *** Seraphine Mayes and her brother Danny are the first set of twins to be born at Summerbourne House. But on the day they were born their mother threw herself to her death, their au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of a stolen baby. Now twenty-five, and mourning the recent death of her father, Seraphine uncovers a family photograph taken on the day the twins were born featuring both parents posing with just one baby. Seraphine soon becomes fixated with the notion that she and Danny might not be twins after all, that she wasn't the baby born that day and that there was more to her mother's death than she has ever been told... Why did their beloved au pair flee that day? Where is she now? Does she hold the key to what really happened? *** 'Don't just pick up and read Emma Rous' The Au Pair, dive into it and get washed away with it' A bookseller 'Filled with mystery and intrigue. I was gripped until the very last page!' Fiona Valpy, bestselling author of Sea of Memories 'This will keep you turning those pages. The characters are still playing on my mind' Jane Corry, bestselling author of My Husband's Wife 'One hell of a ride' New York Post 'Vivid characters, a magical setting and a tightly knitted plot . . . jaw-dropping climax' Bookpage 'Family secrets come to light in this compelling debut with a gothic touch and a shocking denouement. Enthralling and addictive' Lisa Ballantyne, bestselling author of The Guilty One 'A page-turner' Publisher's Weekly 'A juicy and compelling read by a promising new author' Shelf Awareness

A spellbinding mystery full of dark family secrets

Karen Shimek

3.5 stars- it is a good book, once again marred by an implausible coincidence.

This was my first Goodreads giveaway ARC! :)

For whatever reason, I just didn't find this book terribly compelling. I was curious about what would happen, but I was never excited to pick it back up again and continue so I could actually find out. All the main characters were just okay, I didn't get attached to anyone nor did I hate anyone. There were some side characters who were randomly mentioned and not mentioned again for most of the book until it was convenient, so I didn't remember who they were or why they were important. Ultimately, I think the book suffered from having a few too many characters, as it made the plot more convoluted than it needed to be.

The plot itself was interesting, and I do enjoy when a book alternates between past and present. I think this book did that pretty well, though I did feel like there were some filler chapters. Rest under a spoiler just in case: (view spoiler)[It all came together fairly nicely towards the end, but I found a lot of the behaviors of the characters to be annoying in how they reacted. The characters were so focused on blood relations that they totally ignore how fortunate they are to have two nice houses, plenty of money, and a close familial relationship despite the issues presented in the novel. Comparing the Mayes family with Laura, I felt pretty disgusted on her behalf. (hide spoiler)]

And now for the big spoilers: (view spoiler)[I think the reveal of the twins and Seraphine was done decently well, though you have to suspend your disbelief a LOT to believe that Laura wouldn't have shown with TWINS just because she gained a bit of weight all over from not swimming anymore. Also, I found her and Dominic hooking up totally random. There was no buildup between them like there was between Ruth and Alex (or Laura and Alex). It felt shoehorned in just to explain where the twins came from. The biggest question mark I have though is why Vera was so hellbent on keeping it a secret that she potentially killed her own daughter, son-in-law, and attempted to kill Laura. But what really grinds my gears is that you don't KNOW for sure if she did or not? If she did, I think the motive is weak as hell. (hide spoiler)]

One nitpicky note, I thought the book was decently well-written for the most part, but the author WAY overused the phrase "he/she said eventually." It's a bit clunky anyway, but it really starts to glare when it appears over and over.

Overall, it was a decent debut, but I didn't really connect with the story and I think the plot needed some fine-tuning.

Amy Bremner 

An easy read with a good story line however, it didn’t blow me away. Some of the characters decisions throughout the story were questionable but it did keep me guessing until the end. I was expecting a little bit more from this one. 3.5 stars

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received an e-arc of this book. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Au Pair

Author: Emma Rous

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 1/5

Publication Date: January 8, 2019

Genre: Mystery

Recommended Age: can’t recommend as DNF

Publisher: Berkley Books

Pages: 360

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother Danny were born in the middle of summer at their family’s estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle.

Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded by her husband and her young son, is beautifully dressed, smiling serenely, and holding just one baby.

Who is the child and what really happened that day?

One person knows the truth, if only Seraphine can find her.

Review: I had to dnf this book at about halfway through. I just felt like the story was really uninteresting and the writing really lazy when memories and such just spring to mind at the perfect time. The book also jumps back and forth between several timelines and it can be hard to keep track of it. It just didn’t captivate me.

Verdict: It wasn’t for me but it sounds good?

Megan Leprich

On the day that Seraphine and Danny are born their mother kills herself. Their older brother Edwin's nanny mysteriously decides to leave the same day. Twenty some years later when their father dies, seemingly in a freak accident, Seraphine starts feeling like she doesn't belong in the family and starts digging into her past. When she starts receiving threats to stop looking Seraphine knows there's something off about her family, she just has no idea how off it really is.

This book took me quite a few days to read only for the fact that certain parts of the book were super slow and couldn't keep my attention. I loved the storyline and I loved the plot and I was in no way prepared for the ending. I loved the character of Serpahine and how hard she tried to figure out what was wrong in her family, even when she kept getting pushed away. I also liked how the book jumped back and forth between the au pair's point of view back before the twins were born to the current day point of view with Seraphine and her two brothers.

Not a terrible book and I did enjoy reading it. 4.5 stars for me!

Isabela L. &
The Au Pair by Emma Rous

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