If V. C. Andrews and Kate Morton had a literary love child, Emma Rous' 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, 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.
 

I usually write my own plot summaries, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't come up with one as succinct but evocative as the one that appears on The Au Pair's back cover.  The professionally-written copy captures the book perfectly. 

You know I love me a psychological thriller, especially one with Gothic vibes that hints at dark family secrets coming to light, so this one definitely appealed to me from the moment I heard about it.  And you know what?  It delivered.  With an intriguing premise, complex characters, and a tautly-plotted storyline, the novel kept me riveted throughout.  Although I saw some of the twists coming, I didn't figure everything out until the very end.  Even if The Au Pair gets a little predictable, it's still an engrossing read that I could not put down.  This is Rous' first novel and I cannot wait to see what she does next!

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of books by Carol Goodman and Kate Morton.  Also a little of In the Shadow of Lakecrest by Elizabeth Blackwell.)

Grade:

Traditionally, January and February are slow months for me as far as scheduled reviews go.  Not so in 2019!  My winter calendar is already bulging with books that need to be read and reviewed.  All of these are new (and new-ish)  releases and yet, there are still more bright, shiny 2019 books that I'd like to get to in the near future.  I'm going to hit you with a list of 10 (okay, 12) in just a sec, but first ... If you want to join in this week's Top Ten Tuesday fun (and you totally do), click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, read up on a few TTT guidelines, make your own list, and spend some happy hours visiting other people's blogs to peruse their lists.  It's a good time!  Not to mention a great way to discover new blogs, drop in on old favorites, and of course, add great-looking books to your TBR list. 

Okay, here we go with my Top Ten (Ahem, 12) Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2019:


1.  The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner (available March 19)—I'm actually almost finished with this dual timeline novel about an 81-year-old woman with Alzheimer's who's desperate to find and thank an old friend she met at the Crystal City, Texas, internment camp during World War II before her disease erases all her memories for good.  It's an intriguing novel, although it actually reads more like a memoir.


2.  Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill (available March 5)—In the same vein as Meissner's WWII novel is this one about an Italian-American teen who falls in love with a Japanese-American boy.  A romance between them would be scandalous, not to mention illegal.  When the boy is sent to an internment camp, his hope is kept alive by letters from his secret girlfriend, whose not so subtle support of Japanese-Americans could get her into some big trouble.


3.  Lovely War by Julie Berry (available March 5)—I enjoy Julie Berry's books, so I'm excited about her newest which concerns four young people torn apart by World War I.


4.  The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff (available February 5)—Jenoff's World War II novels are excellent.  This based-on-a-true-story novel about a ring of female secret agents who operated during the war sounds thrilling.


5.  Inheritance by Dani Shapiro (available January 15)—As a genealogy buff, I'm intrigued by stories like Shapiro's and the questions they raise.  This memoir is about the shock Shapiro receives when a DNA test she takes on a whim reveals that her father is not her biological parent and her subsequent search for her true identity. 


6.  The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (available January 15)—This novel, about a troubling sleeping disease that descends on a California college town and the chaos that follows in its wake, sounds riveting.


7.  The Bell Rang by James E. Ransome (available January 15)—I love historical MG novels and this one, about a slave family whose son runs away from the plantation, sounds intriguing.


8.  Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams (available January 15)—As the adoptive mother of a bi-racial child, I'm always interested in books like this one.  It's about a young girl who struggles with her chaotic family life, the fact that her skin's not as light as she would like it to be, and her own journey to find out who she really is. 


9.  The Storm Keeper's Island by Catherine Doyle (January 22)—Another MG novel, this one concerns a magical island and the brewing fight over who will inherit the power to control it.


10.  The Current by Tim Johnston (available January 22)—I'm always up for a good murder mystery/small town secrets novel and this one sounds like just the ticket.  The story revolves around an "accident" that kills a young college student.  The incident bears an uncanny resemblance to another murderous event from the past, which propels a young woman to investigate both—to her own peril.


11.  The Lost Man by Jane Harper (available February 5)—I enjoyed both of the books in Harper's Aaron Falk series.  Her newest is a standalone, which is a little disappointing but still intriguing.  The plot summary on this one doesn't give away much, but it looks like another murder mystery set in the Australian outback.  I'm in!


12.  The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye (available January 8)—This historical thriller centers around a white woman from New York City who is on the run after an illicit deal gone wrong.  When she befriends a Pullman porter, who helps her find refuge at a blacks-only hotel in Portland, Oregon, she finds herself in the middle of a dangerous, racially-charged situation that will leave her smack in the middle of another tangled mess.

There you go, twelve new releases I'm excited to read.  What about you?  Which 2019 books are you looking forward to?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor.

Happy TTT!