The Au Pair by Emma Rous

Happy Weekend Friends!! I hope you all are living the dream this weekend. You know the one that includes a book and wine!!

Gripping, twisted & captivating!

THE AU PAIR by EMMA ROUS is an engaging, dark, mysterious and gothic tale of suspense that immediately piqued my interest and took me on a thrilling and bumpy roller coaster ride. I definitely found the premise of this book quite appealing and totally embraced the feel of this novel. I felt all those dips and curves while I was reading this story but then the ride took a drastic turn near the end to leave me feeling quite perplexed and spent. 

EMMA ROUS delivers an atmospheric, entertaining and well-written read here with a great mystery to unravel. I absolutely loved all of the many secrets and lies that there was to uncover along the way that definitely made this quite the page-turner. Even though I thought I had some of those secrets figured out there was absolutely no way that I was ever going to guess the actual reveal of the who and why.

The story is told in dual timelines by Seraphine (love that name) in the present and by Laura, the au pair from the past. I thoroughly enjoyed both timelines and perspectives equally.

The Au Pair started off strong for me with a few elements I love to see in a story. It has those entertaining and intriguing elements that keep me turning those pages as fast as I could. It had a gothic feel to it that added some tension and suspense for me. I was really enjoying the unique storyline here with the family secrets that left our main character Seraphine questioning who she was. Her search to find some answers left me questioning a few things in this story myself and I enjoyed trying to figure out those secrets. However, just after the halfway point, the story took a turn for me and it felt like all those elements I was enjoying became murky and muddled.

The ending left me convicted with my thoughts and I wished it had gone a bit better for me. I wish Emma Rous would have kept it simpler in the end.

A gripping, atmospheric and jaw-dropping read!

This novel follows the Mayes family, whose history holds many secrets. Seraphine Mayes is grieving the death of her father. While helping to clear out her father’s vast estate, she stumbles across a photograph that leads to some unrelenting questions. Seraphine knows that on the day of her and her twin brother’s birth, their mother took her own life, leaving the family in complete devastation. She has always harboured countless questions about that time, never receiving explanation from her father or grandmother. Laura, the au pair living with the Mayes family during that time, fled that same day, never to be heard from again. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the unfolding of this engrossing mystery. The pace was perfect, the dual perspectives were excellent, the flow was seamless. I absolutely loved the “feel” of this story. It was a thrilling ride that had me itching to click on that 5 star rating, until the last 20% when the story lost some steam. There was too much drama at the end and I felt some storyline twists were over-the-top. I do recommend this novel as the writing, the characters and the atmosphere are all unforgettably exceptional, just be prepared for a lot happening at the conclusion. 

Thank you from all of us to Edelweiss, Berkley and Emma Rous for our copies to read and review

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Intriguing, gloomy and a fitting representation to storyline. I actually quite like the scenic artwork to the cover.
Title: The title immediately intrigued me and definitely enticed me to read this book. 
Writing/Prose: Well-written, entertaining, and engaging. 
Plot: Engrossing, suspenseful, atmospheric, interesting, complex, fast-paced, and entertaining with some over-the-top elements.
Ending: Convoluted, dramatic and complicated that left me feeling a little blasé when everything was all revealed. 
Overall: Even though I was a little bit disappointed in the end it was still a worthwhile, pleasurable and entertaining read and I enjoyed the ride! Would recommend!

Have you read this one? Do you agree with the Traveling Sister? Want to read it? Drop us a comment! We would love to hear from you!