#BlogTour: The Nesting by C. J. Cooke @CJessCooke @HarperFiction @fictionpubteam @RandomTTours #TheNesting #CJCooke #RandomThingsTours #5Stars #Mustread

Book Synopsis:

It was like something out of a fairytale…

The grieving widower.

The motherless daughters.

A beautiful house in the woods.

Deep in a remote Norwegian forest, Lexi has found a new home with architect Tom and his two young daughters. With snow underfoot and the sound of the nearby fjord in her ears, it’s as if Lexi has stepped into a fairy tale

But this family has a history – and this place has a past. Something was destroyed to build their beautiful new house. And those ancient, whispering woods have a long memory.

Lexi begins to hear things, see things that don’t make sense. She used to think this place heavenly, but in the dark, dark woods, a menacing presence lurks.

With darkness creeping in from

But protect them from what?

The Nesting is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by visiting your local indie bookstore.

My Review:

The Nesting is a chilling, gothic novel which I found completely absorbing. The synopsis of this book really appealed to me as it involved a creepy house, supernatural goings on and it is based on Norwegian fairytales which I always enjoy.

Firstly the setting of this book was wonderful, with the author’s vivid descriptions allowing me to picture the setting in my mind. The natural landscape sounded so beautiful and has definitely made me want to visit Norway in the future. It had an almost otherworldly feel to it, where the family and the builders were stuck in their own magical bubble where anything could happen. I liked how the landscape changed as the book went on and develops alongside the story from lush green at the beginning, before things start developing, to brown when things start to get unsettling. I thought this was really clever and I helped add to the overall atmosphere of the story.

The characters were fabulous creations that I loved following through the book. They all go on quite a journey and my opinions of each of them kept changing as the story progressed. I often ended up having completely different opinions of them from when I started which I found very interesting. Lexi, for example, I started off finding very annoying but I warmed to as I saw how well she took to the nannying job and how much she obviously loved the kids.

The story starts off slow but soon becomes very gripping as things start happening at the house and we learn more about the characters. The story goes back and forth between what’s happenning now and what happened in the past which is told mainly from Aurelia’s point of view. This helped create a creepy, unsettling atmosphere which kept me on edge as I was never sure what was going to happen next. The tension slowly increases as the book goes on and I found myself suspecting everyone at some point.

The ending was brilliant and I was surprised how everything ended up which I always enjoy. I liked how the author keeps the story going for a bit longer after everything is solved so the reader can see how the family is after everything transpires.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Harper Collins for my copy of this book. I felt this was similar to The Snow Child, so if you liked that book I think you’ll like this one too!

About The Author:

C.J. Cooke is an acclaimed, award-winning poet, novelist and academic with numerous other publications written under the name of Carolyn Jess-Cooke. Her work has been published in twenty-three languages to date. Born in Belfast, C.J. has a PhD in Literature from Queen’s University, Belfast, and is currently Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, where she researches creative writing interventions for mental health. C.J. Cooke lives in Glasgow with her husband and four children.