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The Au Pair Emma Rous Review The Wednesday Issue

The Au Pair by Emma Rous | Audiobook Review

July 10, 2019

I was scrolling through Audible when I came across The Au Pair. I decided to pick this one without reading any review so I really had no idea what to expect. The narration of this book is amazing. From the moment it started, I was hooked. The book opened with Seraphine and you could hear the curiosity and anxiety in the narrator’s voice. The mystery was brought to you right at the beginning of the book. Who is Seraphine? 

To give a little bit of background, Seraphine Mayes just lost her father. While she was clearing her father’s office, she found a photo of her parents, her brother Edwin, and a baby. This picture piqued her curiousity; where is her twin brother, Danny? Seraphine had doubts now. Did her parents really only have one child? Is she not her parents’ daughter? The problem is, she couldn’t ask anyone her mum died the summer she and her twin brother were born. 

Seraphine decided to get to the bottom of this by contacting Laura, an au-pair who used to work for her parents during that summer. However, contacting Laura wasn’t the easiest. Somehow, there are people who didn’t want Seraphine to meet Laura. 

The book was divided into two POVs. One is Seraphine’s, the other one is Laura’s. In Laura’s POV, we were brought back to the summer of 1992, when she worked for the Mayes family. In her POVs, we learned about the relationships between Laura, Dominic and Ruth Mayes, and a friend of the Mayes, Alex. Ultimately, the question becomes what really happened in the summer of 1992?

The Au Pair is Not That Simple

Since I listen to the audiobook, I don’t know how the reading experience would be. However, the narration in this audiobook will make you curious. You just want to know what happened. 

To me, the storyline of The Au Pair is layered. While the ultimate question might be what really happened in the summer of 1992, there are more secrets than you probably imagined. Some of it were really easy to guess, but nevertheless, it was still something that to me adds more to the story. It helped you understand why things were the way they were. I don’t think I can say much without spoiling the story but I have to say that these little secrets make the story more interesting.

The Dual POV Makes The Au Pair More Interesting

If you’ve read my other reviews, you’d know that I enjoyed multiple POVs in books. They often add great layers to the story. As a naturally curious person, reading multiple POVs quench my thirst for knowledge – of what each character is thinking and their own thoughts on the unfolding stories. 

In The Au Pair, the POV between Seraphine and Laura flowed really well. The whole time I was listening to the book, I felt like I was being pushed back and forth; between the past and the present but somehow the story meets right in the middle effortlessly. Overall, it was an enjoyable listening experience!

More Drama Than Mystery

I have to say that I didn’t get my mystery/thriller fix with The Au Pair. It has good drama if you are into them, but as someone who initially picked this book because it was categorized as mystery/thriller, I was disappointed. I wish there were more mystery aspect to it, but a lot of the secrets were not surprising and easy to guess – at least to me. So, if you were thinking of picking up The Au Pair for the mystery, you might want to think again. 

The Au Pair by Emma Rous

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 beautifully dressed, smiling serenely, and holding just one baby.

Who is the child and what really happened that day?

One person knows the truth, if only Seraphine can find her.

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  1. Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir | The Wednesday Issue says:
    October 8, 2019 at 3:26 pm

    […] the previous two audiobooks, Sadie and The Au Pair, I decided to pick up the next audiobook right away. This time, I chose Book of Essie by Meghan […]

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NETGALLEY

Professional Reader 25 Book Reviews 80%

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  • *BOOK REVIEW*

There are many stories that hit you once in a while and The Book of Essie is definitely one of them.

The story may start at a slow pace however the writing is suspenseful and will definitely keep the readers engaged and captivated. I couldn’t stop listening to the audiobook, hoping to quickly uncover the truth about the Hicks.

The Book of Essie is very well-written and emotionally driven. I was surprised at how the book just pulled you right in and how invested I was in the story. I was immediately invested in Essie and really rooting for her to get out of the hellhole that is her family.

You’ll learn that there are no secrets that stay in the dark; the truth will always come out in the end. Unfortunately, the Hicks’ truth is the embodiment of the ugly side of human nature. It highlights the ugly truth about this supposedly perfect, loving, and godly family. Their downfall? They put fame and fortune before the wellbeing of their family members.

On the other side of the coin, the story also shows us how the truth can set you free. Through Essie, Rourke, and Liberty Bell stories, we see how much some people are willing to sacrifice and to bring the truth to light in order to set themselves free.

All in all, The Book of Essie is a compelling story. It will stir your emotion and raises questions about our obsession with reality TV and how truthful pop culture actually is.

Full review is up on the blog! You can read it through the link in the bio 🤗

Have you read (or listened) to this book?
  • Happy release day to The Play!

The Briar U series by Elle Kennedy is one of my all-time favourite new adult series. I’ve been reading since the Off-Campus series and my love for these hockey guys have been non-stop ever since. Can’t wait to lock myself in my room and read about Hunter & Demi 🙌🏻 On another note, I talk about my love for new adult fiction on my blog. Link is in the bio for those who want to read. Do you read new adult and do people judge you for reading it?
  • “I want to believe that there’s more. That we could be more. Hell, we could be heroes.” Never have I read a book where the characters are both heroes and villains. In life, one can be both a hero and villain, depending on whose story we’re listening to and I think Vicious did a good job in showing us that through its stories and characters.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab is an interesting read. It  feels like a puzzle and the more you read, the more things falls into places. There are depths in the characters; not always through their words but also actions and interactions.

I believe that Vicious can be the perfect fall read, especially during Halloween season 🎃 👻

#vicious #veschwab #viciousbook #kindle #halloweenreads #bookstagram #bookblog #instaread #bookish #bookaholic #booklove #kindlebooks #thewednesdayissue #autumnreads #fallreads
  • Starting October with a non-fiction 🤓
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One of my reading goals in 2019 is to read more non-fiction. We’re 10 months into 2019 and I haven’t reach my goal yet. I find it hard to find a non-fiction that I really want to read as I use reading as a way to escape to fictional worlds.
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If you can recommend me one non-fiction to read, what book do you think is a must-read? 🤗

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