The woods are creeping in on a nanny and two young girls in this chilling modern Gothic thriller.Architect Tom Faraday is determined to finish the high-concept, environmentally friendly home he’s building in Norway—in the same place where he lost his wife, Aurelia, to suicide. It was their dream house, and he wants to honor her with it.Lexi Ellis takes a job as his nanny and immediately falls in … and immediately falls in love with his two young daughters, especially Gaia. But something feels off in the isolated house nestled in the forest along the fjord. Lexi sees mysterious muddy footprints inside the home. Aurelia’s diary appears in Lexi’s room one day. And Gaia keeps telling her about seeing the terrifying Sad Lady. . . .
Soon Lexi suspects that Aurelia didn’t kill herself and that they are all in danger from something far more sinister lurking around them.
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I finished The Nesting by C.J. Cooke that I received from NetGalley and I have mixed feelings about it.
This book opens with Aurelia running through the woods and finding herself on the edge of the cliff. Her last thought as she falls are of her children. This part sucked me in. But I have to say it wasn’t enough. Aurelia has died leaving her two children, Gaia, 6 and 9-month old Coco. Sophie becomes their nanny and moves to Norway while their father, Tom is building a new house. The scenery is beautiful and Sophie’s first glimpse of Norway is written and so picturesque. There is a lot of Norse folklore throughout the story. Sophie becomes suspicious of Tom because she has found Aurelia’s diary. While Tom is building the house, unexplained accidents keep happening and the workers, who are all Norwegian and superstitious, have second thoughts about working on the build. There was a “THEN” section, that was Aurelia’s story, after Coco was born and leading up until she died. I found this story to not hold my interest. I was bored with her story and I really didn’t care about her. I felt the ending was rushed through. There were some deals made that weren’t upheld and I felt like there should have been a little more consequences. I didn’t find this to be much of thriller, suspense or a mystery. I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Berkley and CJ Cooke.
The Nesting by CJ Cooke is a gothic noir novel that draws on elements of Nordic folklore and Scandinavian mystery traditions. The book also pays homage to Rebecca and Jane Eyre, with many allusions obviously made toward those estimable works. Unfortunately, The Nesting is a bit of an over-ambitious mess, with some serious flaws that detract from what might have been an interesting blend of conceits. Lexi is a troubled young woman whose recent job loss, relationship breakup and subsequent suicide attempt has left her looking for a new home and direction for her life. Aimlessly riding in circles, she overhears a woman on a train talking about turning down a lucrative job opportunity as a nanny. Lexi can hardly believe her luck when the woman asks her to look after her computer for a moment, and she sees this as a sign that she was meant to seize an opportunity. Lexi decides that she will impersonate the qualified candidate by stealing her personal information. The job includes looking after two young girls on a trip to Norway with their father, an architect who has recently lost his wife. Incredibly, Lexi manages to convince her new employers that she is a certified nurse with years of experience, an expert in the Montessori Method and a vegan chef, to boot. Assuming the persona of “Sophie Hallerton,” she accompanies the family to a temporary home bordering a fjord and deep in the wilderness. Even though the matriarch had presumably died of suicide, strange occurrences and a secret diary makes Lexi suspect that the death was no accident. The novel then throws so many things into the mix that the reader is left lost wondering if this is a ghost story, a monster tale, a murder mystery, the hallucinations of a mentally unstable protagonist, or nature’s revenge run amok. Such unresolved ambiguity would be problematic on its own, but the book also suffers from several dropped plot points and a distinct lack of logic in terms of character, time and setting. Noises in the basement are mentioned to but never explained, the children are not depicted with age-appropriate attributes, and several characters survive circumstances that are not even slightly believable. The abundance of calamities that befall the characters becomes numbing and inevitable, even predictable. Some of the best parts of the book are the sporadic folk tales that are abruptly sprinkled in. Cooke attempts to take an overabundance of ideas and incorporate them all into one story, and it just doesn’t hold together. The Nesting is ultimately disappointing with its lack of focus and failure to inspire real thrills despite its many sources of laudable inspiration.
Thanks to the author, HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Interesting ghost story. The thing in the water was cool. Get this for a creepy, scary story.
The Nesting
By CJ Cooke
The Nesting by CJ Cooke is an amazing gothic thriller read I loved. This atmospheric read was so addicting that I could not put this book down and had this along with me wherever I went. This is a story about Norwegian architect Tom Faraday who built his isolated and yet ultra modern dream home where his wife Aurelia committed suicide. With his two young daughters, he hired Lexi Ellis as his nanny but some strange and mysterious goings on are happening in that home that leads to question whether Aurelia indeed committed suicide or not.
This was a fantastic read that I highly recommend.
The novel cleverly blends the folkloric with the psychological. The lead character is likeable as are the two little girls she cares for. It is my second C.J. Cooke novel and I would definitely read another
Give me all the gothic books!! I know we just pushed over into December but after hearing so many good things about The Nesting by C.J. Cooke I knew I had to read it. I felt so bad for our main character Lexi, and I don’t blame her for what she does in this book. Little does she know, the job of nannying is going to become so much more! I loved the creepy, claustrophobic vibes and that the book switches between three viewpoints. There is Lexi’s “now” POV, a “then” POV which is told from Aurelia’s viewpoint, and there are also Aurelia’s diary entries. This style kept me interested the entire time, but I especially loved once we got to the creepy, supernatural suspense parts.
The Nesting actually reminded me a lot of The Woman in the Mirror, and it definitely had similar vibes, so if you read one or the other, you might like them both! I thought this one was less creepy, but it was definitely still suspenseful and at times chilling. I listened to the audio and I loved Aysha Kala who is the narrator. This book is set in Norway, but our main character Lexi is from the UK, and even though Kala has an accent I could understand her perfectly and I felt like listening to the audio brought a lot to the story.
I don’t know if I was entirely satisfied with the end, but this was still a solid 4-star read for me. It is said to be horror, but I found it to be more supernatural suspense, and even that is pretty scarce. If you are looking for a creepier, gothic read The Nesting would be perfect, and I highly recommend the audio! I was reading slowly but once I switched to listening I flew through it.
3.5 Star Review
C.J. Cooke had me on the edge of my seat while reading The Nesting. Lexi took a job nannying and now she must protect the children at all costs. As she starts to hear noises, she sees ghosts that haunt her, and knows secrets that could cause her harm; she knows that nothing else matters but the children in her care do matter. The Nesting is a thriller with twists and turns that kept me turning pages and hoping that all would end up okay by the end.
The flashback of Tom and Aurelia were sometimes confusing, sometimes added extra detail to the story, and sometimes was so long that I got lost in the text of what I was reading. I did not feel like the flashbacks were an overall good addition to the story, but I did not let it detour my reading.
I expected to love The Nesting by C.J. Cooke. The marketing sound bites and the book synopsis really grabbed me. I love gothic mysteries, folklore, and suspenseful thrillers, so I had high expectations for this book. I wish I could say that all my expectations were met.
I loved the Norse folklore that was sprinkled throughout the book. Those stories definitely had a dark edge to them and presented the deepest feeling of foreboding for me. The remote forest location in Norway was the perfect setting for a creepy tale. The imagery was vivid. Ms. Cooke’s addition of the local superstitions set the perfect stage for a chilling novel. However, for me that is where the chills ended.
I liked the story enough to finish it, but I had too many issues with the characters and the plot for me to become enthralled with the book. The characters could use more development and backstory. None of the primary {adult} characters seemed to have a moral compass. I presume that some characters’ stories weren’t revealed as a way to make them more suspicious, but I’m not sure the author got the desired effect. I struggled with Lexi going from suicidal, gaunt, unbathed and homeless to successfully convincing someone that she is an experienced and highly thought of nanny. Lexi’s questionable mental health is supposed to make her an unreliable narrator, but I don’t think that was achieved.
There were plot points that went nowhere or didn’t sync with later plot points. The pace of the story was fairly slow through much of the book, and then the end felt rushed and somewhat convenient. Actions against nature had huge consequences while actions against humans had almost none. The author’s messages (veganism and conservation) could have been more subtly crafted into the story. I think the questionable characters, the folklore, the apparitions, and the copious number of problems and set backs were supposed to add to the suspense, but for me, it made the story seem unfocused and over ambitious.
Overall, the premise is great and there are some good themes and symbolism, but between the loose threads and the genre identity crisis, I felt that I was reading an early draft, not a honed final edition.
2.5 stars
The Nesting by C. J. Cooke is a suspenseful, supernatural mystery packed full of twists and turns. Once I started this book, I could not stop reading it.
I love supernatural suspense, and I was thrilled by the paranormal elements in this book. Based on Norwegian folklore, this story is set deep in the woods of Norway in the dead of winter. The story was intense (but not too intense) and full of action. Lies, secrets, and murder are only part of the story. When you add in river demons and forest creatures, you have a stellar novel.
I will admit that, at first, I didn’t care for Lexi, the main character. Her life was a wreck, and she made many poor decisions. However, it wasn’t too long before I was cheering her on. She really developed as a person, and I like that the author had her fail a few times before she succeeded.
This book was full of twists and turns, but the ending did an excellent job of wrapping everything up.
The Nesting by C. J. Cooke is an outstanding and very satisfying read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.
A wonderful dark nordic tale, filled with twists and turns.
Creepy forest, creepy river, creepy history, creepy location, creepy dark things lurking, muddy foot prints, grabby things, lies, bad omens, dark tales and several mysteries. Yes, it was creepy, dark, and twisted. The setting was amazing, perfect for the tale, Norway’s deep forested Fjords. The children were read Nordic tales, which only added to the creepy level and made me question if it was supernatural or not. The scenery was so intriguing I looked up several places the author wrote about I had to see more of them.
This was my first read from this author. I really liked it, loved the pacing the two time lines and the ending was a shocker. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
I was gifted a copy of this book for an honest review
A rambling story, with many interesting twists and then there are the spots that just don’t follow through. There is a supernatural note, but mostly a twisted pattern of darkness and abuse that doesn’t always make sense, other than with regard to the main character of Lexi. Not a bad read, but there should be a rewrite with regard to things that happen in the beginning and how the book ends.