My Review:
This book had a lot of promise. The synopsis drew me in straight away and it started off strong. But as the story progressed it just became a bit too unrealistic for me and too drawn out. It’s a shame as the ultimate twist in this one was a really great idea! None of the characters seemed particularly likeable. To me the main character Haley came across like a young teen, not the mid twenties woman she was meant to be. I’d actually say there were too many twists around what happened to baby Fallon. That many twists just felt like padding to the story and ended up detracting from the main decent twist. By the half way mark I’d lost a lot of interest. It picked up again right at the end but the psychology case extracts felt unnecessary.

Overview:
Haley takes on a nanny job looking after two twin girls during the summer to earn a bit of extra money. The first evening seems to go well until the parents arrive home and start asking where their third daughter is. With baby Fallon missing Haley has become the prime suspect but she’s adamant she was never told about a third daughter and has never seen Fallon.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

I was truly impressed by this book, as it surpassed all my expectations. The narrative revolves around a nanny hired to look after 9-year-old twins, only for the situation to take a surprising turn when the parents return home and inquire about a baby that was never mentioned during the interview process. What initially appears to be a case of a missing child unravels into a far more intricate and compelling mystery.

For readers seeking a quick and engaging read, this book delivers a fast-paced and enthralling experience. Once I delved into it, I found it impossible to put down. The culmination of the story was nothing short of perfect and undoubtedly brilliant, leaving a lasting impression long after the final page.

This book had some great twists and turns! It started out with a bang, and was consistently intriguing as the book continued. It went in directions that I wasn't expecting, and the ending was really good. I would recommend to other readers!

I have very mixed feelings about this book. The beginning drew me in, and I was really invested in the story for the first half. I just felt like the second half took a nosedive and went in a weird direction that broke the trust between the author and reader. As another reviewer said, there were so many twists that it became overwhelming and hard to keep track of.

There were also many, many grammar and punctuation errors, and even some factual errors (used the wrong character’s name once, had two criminal cases tried at once and had a witness’s lawyer question them on the stand instead of one of the defendants’ lawyers). This was an ARC, so hopefully these things will be changed before release.

I did enjoy the glimpse into psychology and mental illness, so that was a unique facet of this novel. Overall, this was a 3 star book for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in return for an honest review.

2 stars only because I did not DNF.

You guys, I am sorry but this was awful? It was so looooong, booooring, and drawn out. It almost felt like every possible twist that could happen was thrown in this book just so that there would be more unnecessary things to write about. Some convos were pointless, plot holes, so much. I truly think that the idea and the twists for this story were so promising but it should have been cut in half.

The first half of this book was interesting but after that I felt like I was really forcing myself to read this book just to see how it would end (and it truly never felt like it would end). I remember getting to 80% and just being like, how is there still 20% left?!

This book was just not my cup of tea.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC for my honest review.

The title of this book had me intrigued and the beginning started off really well and had me hooked.

However, the more I read, the more I felt you had to have a degree in psychology and bi-polar symptoms to understand what was going on. Don´t get me wrong, the book is really clever, but felt it got rather heavy towards the end, which slightly lessened my enjoyment of it.

Saying this, I think I will reread it again at some point in the not too distant future, and discover I really enjoy the complexity of it all. I´m sure other people will love it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy in return for an honest review.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for an early copy of The Perfect Nanny. This was not my cup of tea. A long boring read. The last fifteen minutes of the book was the Best, totally did NOT see that coming but the bulk of it was agonizing. I’m so sorry.

“My baby! You stole my baby!” Lara Smith is hysterical, her red lipstick smeared. A teddy lies abandoned in the empty crib. But I didn’t know the Smiths had a baby. I didn’t even know this nursery existed…

The Smith family is full of creepy assholes. I really liked this book. Lots of twists and turns and I had know idea how it was going to end. Well done!

This book has lots of unexpected twists and turns.Every time I thought I knew what was going on, things were switched up again. It was a bit over the top, but it did hold my interest.

4 stars

This book was amazing! I was never bored and the twist and turns keep me engaged. The ending was absolutely perfect!

I hated this. Too many characters, too many plot lines, too many “twists” that seemed like errors or mistakes, too much dialogue that didn’t go anywhere, too many loose ends or aspects that just didn’t make any sense. For example, there is a scene when Haley locks the apartment door with the chain lock, then takes the fire escape to leave the building. But when she comes home, she enters through the lobby and enters the apartment from the front door. How? With the chain still in place from before she left. When Haley sees the address of the Smith’s house she says something like “no way” but it’s never explained why she has that reaction. Is it just because they are rich? About 65% of the way in Haley says, “I was set up for this.” NO, DUH. I was able to predict the ending not because I’m good at that (which I am) but it’s the only explanation for why this story makes absolutely no sense. I gave this two stars only because the idea is so interesting and endearing….although that fell apart quickly.

Where has Shari J. Ryan been hiding? The Perfect Nanny had me gripped from the very first page and I could not put it down. Crazy, wild, unstoppable … that’s what this book was! I loved it and all the characters were fantastic! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy in exchange for my early review. To be published February 2024. Will definitely look for more books by this author. She was fantastic!

Book Title: The Perfect Nanny
Author: Shari J. Ryan
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: February 9, 2024
My Rating: 4.5 rounded up
Pages: 374

Haley Vaughn is completing a PhD Program in Childhood Psychology with a focus on Childhood Behavioral Health Counseling, she has one year to go. She has been working at the Children’s Rehabilitation Center, however the Center merged with another clinic and she’s without a job. She knows it is important to have experience in child development so decides her only option is to find a summer job as a nanny. So she puts out a post advertising her availability.
She gets a call from Lara Smith who was impressed with her post and states she need someone to take care of the children during the weekdays this summer. She wants them outside and off their devices. Madden and Blakely are nine year old twins. She also states she a needs someone this Friday as she and her husband Corbin have a Charity Gala to attend.

When Lara and her husband return from the gala at 10:00pm, Lara checks on the children and immediately starts screaming, “My baby! You stole my baby!”

Lara’s husband - dials 911 and states: “The babysitter has taken our baby girl.”
Haley didn’t know the Smiths had a baby!
And the story begins . . . . .

I liked this story immediately as I liked Haley
When the truth started to come out, I was stunned!
I often say the story was a surprise but in this case I truly was stunned!
I was reading as fast as my eyes would focus.

This is my second Shari J. Ryan] book when I read "The Homemaker" my comments was, why does the book title indicate ~ “An utterly unputdownable psychological thriller packed with heart-pounding twists”.
I rolled my eyes ~ “Hmmm it seems publishers can come up with another teaser - this is used ALL the time!
When I finished - I said ~ Okay! This was an utterly an unputdownable psychological thriller!
Ditto to “The Perfect Nanny”!

Now I am looking forward to Ms. Ryan’s next totally unputdownable psychological thriller!!

In Ms. Ryan’s ‘Acknowledgements’ she states- “Writing this was another wild ride4 in the world of psychological thrillers!”.
I agree 100%

Want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for this early uncorrected proof.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for February 9, 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This book exceeded my expectations. The storyline is centered around a nanny who is hired to care for two 9-year-old twins, but upon the parents' return home, they inquire about the whereabouts of a baby that was never mentioned during the interview process. I won't divulge any spoilers, but what initially seems like a case of a missing child turns out to be much more complex. 🤯🤌🏽

This is a fast read if that’s what you’re looking for. I couldn’t put it down. The ending was perfect/brilliant.

I will be reading more books by the wonderful Shari J Ryan.

This book comes to kindle unlimited Feb 9 2024 :)

What do you do when you just want an easy and straight forward nannying job for the summer and you think you’re only responsible for 2 children, but the parents come home saying they’ve had 3 children this whole time and accusing you of kidnapping the 3rd child….

Wow.. just wow… I literally did not trust ANYONE in this book and I could not turn the pages fast enough to get to the ending and found out who did what!

The book had me hooked from the first line and then kept me interested throughout the entire story.

This is my first book from this author and it will not be my last!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this free eARC.

This book had me gripped from the very first pages, full of drama and plenty of twists and turns.
I just knew there had to be more to the disappearance of baby Fallon and that there was another side to Haley.
A really fast paced unputdownable read.

Some of the twists came out of nowhere, no build up, just delivered and I feel that they took away from the fantastic plot a bit. I had already guessed a lot of it and so they weren’t really surprises but the way the ending was delivered was brilliant and terrifically written.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

This was an absolute wild ride - I think I spent the last 15 minutes of this audibly cursing and saying 'what the hell?' Out loud. Given it's a thriller, I was expecting plot twists but hoo boy...these were Plot Twists.

Haley is a student trying to finish out her PhD, and she advertises herself as a nanny to make some money over the summer. She gets hired to care for some creepy twins, but things go bad when she's accused of kidnapping their baby daughter...a baby she didn't even know was missing. As you might expect, there's a LOT more going on than what's on the surface and it was fun to ride it all the way to the end.

I will say that this read a little young sometimes, which was odd, and you definitely need to suspend your disbelief. There's some wild stuff that happens that isn't believable, but then the whole premise is just bizarre anyway.

It was a quick read, and I did enjoy it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

When Hayley takes a job babysitting 9 year old twins, she is excited to have it lead to a nannying job for the summer. However, her plans are shattered when the parents return from their night out. Hayley is accused of kidnapping their one year old baby. Nobody told Hayley about a baby. On the days following Hayley finds everything she knows fall to pieces.

Wow! I’ve just finished this and can just about breath again. This was one heck of a book. It pulled me in straight away and I immediately sympathised with student Hayley over the almost perfect and rich mother Lara. Best friend and the potential boyfriend were incredibly convincing. They were warm and everything Hayley needed them to be. I enjoyed the teasers of thirteen years ago too.

This one has one hell of a twist too it. Without giving away spoilers, everything I thought I had figured out was turned on its head. The ending was explosive, fast paced and a little bit confusing. I feel the confusion aptly fitted the conclusion of the book through and therefore was appropriate.

Highly recommend this!

Five spine chilling stars. This book starts off at breakneck speed! A missing baby, what could be more suspenseful. Did the baby really exist? How could the babysitter not know there was another child. This book takes you deep into a twisted turning tale with a finale you won’t see coming. Every page brings something new and no one is what they seem. By the end of this book I was stunned. There are very few books where a plot twist is so crazy that I don’t see it coming. A literal explosive ending. My mind and heart were still racing after I finished the last page. This was an epic read that will keep you flipping pages because you have to know what happens next

I’ve enjoyed other books by Shari Ryan, but unfortunately this one didn’t work for me. Some parts seemed a bit rushed, others read more like an YA book, and the solutions / reveals were a little too convenient or far fetched. I look forward to trying the author’s next book.