I enjoy this a gripping thriller i couldn’t put down.
Love how easy it followed was a good read
The characters were interesting and some I really didn’t like the twist I did not see coming
Fast paced intense story

Name :- I'm Here To Help
Author:- Claire Lunn
Plot:- Claire Lunn delivers a chilling domestic thriller with I'm Here to Help, a novel that will make you question who you can truly trust in your own home. With an unreliable narrator, a seemingly perfect nanny, and a web of psychological manipulation, this book keeps readers on edge from start to finish. When an overwhelmed mother hires a new nanny, Jasmine, she feels an eerie sense of familiarity. But she brushes it off—after all, she needs help. At first, Jasmine seems like the perfect addition to their home, caring for little Olivia and winning over her husband, Russ. But soon, paranoia sets in. Is Jasmine just a helpful nanny, or does she have a hidden agenda? After a terrifying fall down the stairs, the protagonist wakes up in the hospital, certain that Jasmine pushed her. But no one believes her—not even her husband. As she fights to uncover the truth, she realizes she may have been wrong all along. And if she doesn’t escape soon, she and her children might not survive.
Likes and Dislikes:-
Likes:-
1 Psychological Suspense – The slow unraveling of paranoia and doubt keeps the tension high.
2 Unpredictable Twists – Just when you think you have the story figured out, Lunn delivers a shocking turn.
3 Unreliable Narrator – The protagonist’s emotional instability makes you question whether she’s imagining things or if Jasmine is truly dangerous.
Overall:- I'm Here to Help is a tense, gripping thriller that keeps you second-guessing until the final pages. With its mix of paranoia, family drama, and unexpected revelations,
My Rating :- 5/5

The storyline and caracters was very good. It was missing a little something but overall the thriller was amazing.

This was a great read of a thriller that kept me guessing to the very end of the book. This is a sad story about a poor woman who is suffering badly during her second pregnancy with very little support from her husband and her in laws. Everyone seems to believe she should be able to get on with things as she’s only pregnant but she is so ill she can barely get out of bed. As the family decide a nanny is the answer they install a young family friend in without her say so and she is railroaded into it but now it seems like she is trying to take her life and family away from her and is she in danger from this woman. The problem is she’s too ill to fight back and a fall down the stairs convinces her something else is going on!

Page Turner! This book gave me Freida McFadden vibes with its somewhat short chapters and mysteriousness. It was easy to read and kept me intrigued from beginning to end. Frankie is in the middle of a rough pregnancy with her second child and cannot keep up with her toddler. It is decided that help is needed, so they hire a family friend to become a live in Nanny. Jasmine seems perfect and sweet at first, but as the weeks go by Frankie can't shake the feeling that she is being lied to. Frankie uncovers a twisted web of lies, but who is deceiving her? I will definitely be following the success of this book and recommending to everyone.

This book tells the captivating story of a couple navigating the tumultuous journey of parenthood, beginning with the conception of their second child. As the mother grapples with an intense bout of nausea, the couple decides to hire a nanny to help manage the challenges that arise. However, the arrival of the nanny brings unexpected chaos into their lives, leading to a whirlwind of events that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.

The writing style and plot bear a striking resemblance to "The Housemaid," drawing readers into a world filled with suspense and tension. The author masterfully weaves twists and turns throughout the narrative, leaving my jaw on the floor with each unexpected development.
This book was so engaging that I found myself reading well past my bedtime, unable to put it down. If you're looking for a thrilling read that explores the complexities of relationships and the unforeseen consequences of trust, this book is a must-read!

Book/Story: ⭐️⭐⭐
Book Cover: ⭐️⭐️⭐

Trigger Warning(s): Gaslighting
Manipulation
Sexual Assault/Rape
Infidelity
Loss Of Parent(s)
Grooming
POV: Dual, First Person
Series/Standalone: Standalone
First In Series: N/A
Trope(s): None
Spice: None
Genre: Thriller
Burn: Fast
Safe or Dark: Safeish
Release Date: April 11, 2025

-Overview

When Frances Minetti gets pregnant, the pregnancy causes her to develop hyperemesis gravidarum. She very quickly realizes that she can’t do all the day-to-day things she normally could; that includes taking care of her three-year-old daughter Olivia. Her mother-in-law sets her up with a live-in nanny; Jasmine is her sister-in-law's best friend’s daughter. She’s also young, beautiful, and ambitious. Frankie isn’t as taken with her as her husband, Russell, and the rest of his family are, but once she sees how great Jasmine is with her daughter, she relents and agrees to give her a one-week trial.

The young woman quickly moves into the Minetti’s home, and the seven-day trial goes smoothly. Jasmine is helpful and attentive, not only to Olivia but to Frankie as well. Life with the live-in nanny is wonderful, until it isn’t. As Frankie watches Jasmine interact with Olivia and Russ, something starts to feel off. Is this twenty-something-year-old trying to take Frankie’s place within the family?

One day Frankie suddenly takes a tumble down the stairs that lands her in the hospital. The one thing she remembers before her fall is interacting with Jasmine. Did she accidentally fall or was she pushed? As Frankie’s suspicions build, she becomes certain that Jasmine wants her gone. Frankie turns to the one person who should believe her, Russ, except he doesn’t. Despite the gaslighting and manipulation running rampant, Frankie knows one thing for sure...

Jasmine isn’t who she claims to be, and she will kill to take over Frankie's life.

-Pace/Writing Style

I appreciated two things about the book right away. The fact that things kick off and suck you in right away, and the short chapters.

The prologue starts somewhere in the middle of the story, and it made me all the more curious to see how things played out. Chapter one doesn’t disappoint either. We are taken back six months prior to the events that occurred in the prologue, and we get right into the heart of things. We very quickly understand Frankie’s family dynamic with her in-laws and the predicament she’s in. It’s definitely a fast-burn type of book. There is no filler prior to getting to the heart of things. I enjoyed that.

The chapters in this book are nice and short. Lunn’s writing style flows nicely but gives the readers a lot of information without being confusing. It makes it easy to read a lot in one sitting and fly through this book. While the chapters don’t always end on cliffhangers, they do end in such a way that makes you want to keep on finding out what happens next. Reading one more chapter very quickly turned into ten.

This was a roller coaster of a ride from start to finish, and I enjoyed being on it. There were times when I thought I knew exactly how things were going to play out just to turn around and find out that I didn’t. This rage-inducing story really threw me for a loop again and again. That was very fun.

Lunn does play on the predictability of the plot a bit before pulling the rug out from under you.

As mentioned above, this book made me RAGE. So, be prepared for that when diving into this.


Characters

I have to be honest; I didn’t like a single character in this book. I thought they were all awful. I just happened to dislike some more than others.

Frances “Frankie” Minetti - Despite being our FMC, I just couldn’t get behind Frankie. She was horribly vain, constantly talking about how her figure was ruined after having kids and commenting about her pre- and post-baby weight. She gave off serious woe is me vibes. I often found her to be very whiny and weak-sounding. Frankie definitely was not a strong female (and not just due to her hyperemesis gravidarum). She tried to come off as working to have everything under control but was often a pushover. She would give in just for the sake of giving in and avoiding an argument. She was often suspicious of Jasmine before even having any reason to be. She questioned Jasmine's and Russ's relationship more than once for no reason. She created problems where there weren't any. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like Frankie at all. The book is told entirely from her perspective, and that was difficult for me, but since I enjoyed the story in general, I just sucked it up.

Russell “Russ” Minetti - Frankie's husband sort of stood on the outskirts of things. He was a very busy surgeon, so he seemed to be absent from the home more often than not. He was an attentive father but seemed to undermine a lot of the decisions Frankie made within the marriage. Most of the time Russ would side with his family, who clearly didn’t care for his wife and got joy out of watching her squirm, just to make everyone (other than Frankie) happy and keep the peace. If I’m being honest, I disliked Frankie’s character more than Russ’s. Even though he made a lot of crappy choices and had the gaslighting skills of a champion.

Jasmine – The live-in nanny is a sweet, young lady; in fact, she’s almost too sweet. She’s almost too helpful. She’s almost too kind. She’s almost too much of everything. Jasmine enjoyed challenging Frankie. She had a game to play, and she played it very well. Jasmine knew what she wanted, and by God, she was going to do anything in her power to get it. She was always cool, calm, and collected even in the most uncomfortable of situations. I didn’t care for her at all. Not one bit.

Petunia Minetti – She is horrid. I hated her. If she were my mother-in-law, I just might go to jail for murder.

Other Thoughts

In the synopsis, it is said that when Frankie meets Jasmine, she can’t help but feel like she has met her before. However, when they do finally meet, nothing in Frankie’s dialogue or inner thoughts mentions any of that to the readers. She doesn’t even hint at having a weird familiarity with the young woman. 

I didn’t particularly care for the underlying “women aren’t attractive after having children” undertones in the story. It was mentioned more than once how Frankie was much more desirable before carrying two babies. 

Early on in the book, it is mentioned that Jasmine’s mom, Helen, and Russ’s sister, Amanda, are lovers disguising themselves as best friends. They use their friendship as an excuse to spend time together and explain their closeness to one another. The whole family knows there is something more going on but doesn’t bother to mention it. This dynamic doesn’t have any effect on the plot. At all. It has nothing to do with how anything plays out. What was the big deal? What was the point of making sure the readers knew about that? There wasn’t a reason for the detail to be shared.

TLDR: AN ENTERTAINING THRILLER WITH A FUN TWIST!

As always, please remember that reading is subjective, and that’s what makes it so great. 😊

I would like to thank Bookoture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

This is my voluntary, unbiased, and honest review.

This is a really well written thriller that pulls you along from the start. I loved the twists and the thoroughly unlikeable characters. I read it in one day it's that good!

This is a dark family drama thriller and is a book that really catches the reader by surprise.

The characters are really unlikeable but that said I was ripped by the drama and the suspicions of them.

I could not wait to get to the end and was shocked with the twists.

Brilliant..

This. Book. Is. Rage. Inducing.
It’s a masterclass in gaslighting, so hold on to your hat as your head spins!

I have to admit I had trouble sticking with it at one point, because of how mad it made me. It’s not like I could put it down though, being drawn into the web.

I was in for the epic conclusion.
And it was good. You’ll probably think you know what’s going on. But I doubt many will actually figure it out.

*I’m not usually one for TWs but I can see where they could be necessary here for some.

That aside-I’m Here to Help is a solid read I can recommend, landing somewhere in the 4-4.5* range for me.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advance digital read.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a little far fetched, and had unlikeable characters but we're not always meant to like them are we? The husband, well him and his mother were just awful. It was a good read that kept me hooked for a few evenings.

I’m here to help was an excellent debut thriller which I absolutely love this author is very talented . The book had me gripped from start to finish I could not put it down. I love everything about it the gripping story how well the characters were written the suspense throughout and the many twists and turns. Overall it was amazing psychological thriller which I will be recommending to everyone and can’t wait to see more from this author. Thank you to hetgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this great book.

First, thank you for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Doctors have it all, right? Maybe not. This story twists and turns until the very last page. You think you know, and you do..... sort of. Then the story twists again and packs a punch at the end. It's a very well pieced together thriller and the ending tied it all up in a nice little bow.

This was my first book by this author, but rest assured, I'll be reading any and all of them.

this book was pretty good! it was entertaining, it was creepy and eerie. I like the buildup of fear and suspense. It was thrilling and it was filled with so many twists and turns. It was so good!!

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

What a roller coaster! I kept going back and forth on emotions with this one. While I was ultimately satisfied with the ending, I was ready to put this down many times throughout. The gaslighting, the narcissism…. it’s dripping into every page. If you’re a fan of that in domestic thrillers, this is for you. I found out hard to get through since I didn’t care for any of the characters or their actions. Round up to a 2.5 star.

I'm Here to Help is an excellent debut novel. It tells the story of Frankie, who together with her husband Russ has to hire a nanny to look after their daughter Olivie due to Frankie's complicated second pregnancy. Russ's controlling mum, Petunia, helps them hire Jasmine, the sister of a family friend. Frankie feels safe in the hands of someone in her inner circle, but strange things start to happen that make Frankie think Jasmine is not only after her husband but also her life. Frankie never listened to her mum when she told her every woman should have a secret bank account with money just in case. She told herself that could never happen to her, but now it's happened and she has no money to run away. Frankie finds enough evidence to confirm Russ is having an affair with Jasmine, and oh, Jasmine may be trying to poison her. She has to pretend everything is fine as she hatches an escape plan from her husband and her nanny...

The first part is told from Frankie's POV as she navigates her difficult pregnancy, from the moment she (or better put, her mother in law) hires Jasmine to when she finally finds enough proof that that her husband is having an affair with the nanny. The second part introduces Jasmine's POV and starts eight years before she sets out to infiltrate Frankie's home....

Cancel all your plans before you start reading I'm Here to Help because you won't be able to put this one down!

Not a bad first book. I thought it was going to your typical jerk husband falls for the preying nanny. But that is not what this book is about. Some
Disturbing things but the warning at the front lets you know! Didn’t expect the ending at all but a good wrap up.

Good book with plenty of action. Never trust a nanny. Do not start this book if you have anything else to do. Once you start it you will not be able to put it down.

As soon as I opened the book, I was dragged into it. I loved the storytelling and I thought I was clever this time in thinking I knew how the story would develop. I was convinced I had seen through all the scheming and knew, very early on, what the outcome would be. 

Well, how wrong I was in thinking I knew it all. For a while the book goes indeed in the direction I had in my head, but instead of it being a road that took me straight from A to B, I suddenly braced myself. This was not what I had expected and that made me smile.

I love it when an author can take me for a ride and surprise me with an outcome I never imagined. 

Some things I could see coming from afar, other were uttery and deliciously surprising. Great book. I am looking forward to more stories by this author's hand. 5 stars

Thank you

Are you in the mood for a thriller read? Try I’m Here to Help bh Claire Lunn. I found this book to be very entertaining.