Read this one as part of a TBR Potluck in my online book club, The Reading Cove. I had it in my TBR pile for years and years so was happy to finally get to it.
That's where the happiness ended. It started out promising with Congressman Gordon Anton and his wife Ellie hiring Theresa Santiago as a 'mother's helper' while the family vacations in Cape Cod.
Then it became somewhat suspenseful as you try to figure out what Theresa's up to. Is she a plant by Gordon's political rivals? Is she a calculating and sly blackmailer?
Well, the unfolding to the end was so contrived, manipulative, and anti-climatic that I can't give this book more than a C- and that's generous, LOL.
It feels like it was written for a bad Lifetime movie adaptation. I can't recommend it, and I'm not interested to read anymore from the author unless it's a group pick or very highly recommended.
That's where the happiness ended. It started out promising with Congressman Gordon Anton and his wife Ellie hiring Theresa Santiago as a 'mother's helper' while the family vacations in Cape Cod.
Then it became somewhat suspenseful as you try to figure out what Theresa's up to. Is she a plant by Gordon's political rivals? Is she a calculating and sly blackmailer?
Well, the unfolding to the end was so contrived, manipulative, and anti-climatic that I can't give this book more than a C- and that's generous, LOL.
It feels like it was written for a bad Lifetime movie adaptation. I can't recommend it, and I'm not interested to read anymore from the author unless it's a group pick or very highly recommended.
A great suspense book.
Some people can't help serving as mirrors of other people's failings and fears, and babysitter Theresa Santiago plays just that role vis--vis her WASPy employers in this tautly paced thriller. Although the title suggests the story is about Santiago, Diamond (The Trophy Wife) actually paints a vivid family portrait of political superstar Gordon Acton, his pedigreed wife and the couple's two bright and photogenic children. Acton is campaigning for a Massachusetts congressional seat, and it looks like he'll win. With his political profile in mind, he asks his wife, Ellie, to hire a Hispanic mother's helper. Ellie does so, but reluctantly, believing that the young woman will be ostracized by the mostly white population of Cape Cod where the family plans to spend the summer. Ellie hires the babysitter despite her misgivings, and Theresa turns out to be the perfect helper aiding Ellie with her doctoral thesis and winning over the children and even many of the snobbish and racist members of the Actons' club. Yet from the start it's clear that Theresa isn't exactly what she says she is. It's hard to know what is fact and what is fiction, especially when the Actons begin to suspect that their babysitter may be blackmailing them.
great book has it all mystery, romance, scandal
Good book.
IS SHE A DREAM COME TRUE......
Gordon and Ellie Acton are the ultimate power couple: beautiful, rich pillars of New England society. As a congressional candidate, Gordon is on the verge of political triumph--and too well aware that his wife longs to escape the spotlight's relentless glare, if only for the summer. Hoping that voters will be even more impressed by his concern for the underprivileged, he hires a young woman from a poor background to baby-sit the children at the Actons' summer home on Cape Cod...
.....OR THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE?
Theresa Santiago appears wise beyond her years; she's alluringly attractive and self-assured. After a drunken tryst with Theresa, Gordon finds himself in hot water, scrambling to protect his reputation. And Ellie, who has gratefully accepted Theresa's help in writing her dissertation, receives letters accusing her of plagiarism and worse. Now what seemed like the answer to their domestic needs and political aspirations appears to be a threat to everything Gordon and Ellie hold dear. But who's setting up whom? And how far will one family go to protect their privileged lives?
Gordon and Ellie Acton are the ultimate power couple: beautiful, rich pillars of New England society. As a congressional candidate, Gordon is on the verge of political triumph--and too well aware that his wife longs to escape the spotlight's relentless glare, if only for the summer. Hoping that voters will be even more impressed by his concern for the underprivileged, he hires a young woman from a poor background to baby-sit the children at the Actons' summer home on Cape Cod...
.....OR THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE?
Theresa Santiago appears wise beyond her years; she's alluringly attractive and self-assured. After a drunken tryst with Theresa, Gordon finds himself in hot water, scrambling to protect his reputation. And Ellie, who has gratefully accepted Theresa's help in writing her dissertation, receives letters accusing her of plagiarism and worse. Now what seemed like the answer to their domestic needs and political aspirations appears to be a threat to everything Gordon and Ellie hold dear. But who's setting up whom? And how far will one family go to protect their privileged lives?
What and who they thought were the enemy turned out to be nothing but mind games - great plot twist at the end.
