The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

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Millie lives in the confines of her car. Her tough life is somewhat rewarded when she gets hired by Nina and Andrew Winchester to be the caretaker of their palatial home and also their daughter, Cecelia. Millie can't believe her luck that she has landed herself such a good job. Most importantly, she would not have to sleep cramped up in her car anymore. 

Immaculately dressed and well behaved Nina and Andrew come across as a wonderful couple. Over the next couple of days, Millie comes to realize that something is amiss and not everything that meets the eye is great. Nina is high strung and diabolical. She is sweet on some days and horrible the very next minute. Millie seethes but holds on to her job as she finds Andrew a little more understanding.

A twist in the story changes the entire plot. Sometimes, I was pushed to agree and thought it served the characters right...but as the story progressed, I was frustrated how the characters were so blind sometimes to not catch the red flags. 

What is Millie's story? Why has she been living such a vagabond life? Are the Winchesters what they portray? Read or listen to this book to get to the bottom of it!

I don't like closed spaces and I don't like relationships that don't allow me to breathe freely. I don't like bossy & manipulative people. The Housemaid book had all the things I didn't like. And then there the goings on in the house and characters who I could not make out, as to who was more sinister than the other. I kept doubting one character and made excuses for another. 

I'm late to the party, but finally got to this book, which was an easy read. Chapters are short and it kept me awake as I wanted to know what the hell just happened and what the hell was going to happen next. I could not decide if it lived up to the hype of the book, but I'm guessing it was fairly good. I listened to it in three days! Narration by Lauryn Allman was good. Millie's story gave me a "Little Fires Everywhere" vibe but obviously, the maid characters across these books were different, with a different motive and a different personality.

Overall, it's a good book and I will want to read the series.





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