Freida McFaddenThe Housemaid Is Watching

My mom Recommended me this book and it was great , I loved everything about there was so many plot twist you'd never know what should happen next. I Seriously Recommend this book for anyone who likes a little mystery and a little romance. Such a great series!👍

Ugh can Millie and Enzo ever get a break? This woman has been through the ringer in life. Every time she tries to improve her or her now Famlies situation based on her “instinct” something always goes horribly wrong. For the 3rd book, I was hoping to read more of a HEA - even knowing Frieda doesn’t specialize in that type of genre. For Millie she deserves it though. From the first book when I read why she was in prison to the second one where she was being framed, I just wanted her to have w big pay day, marry the man of her dreams, start a family and be exonerated from all past “crimes”. What she did was protecting others and self defense. Why would she go to jail or even have a record? (Especially since she was technically a minor). Anyway, this story begins with Millie’s excitement of finally owning a home in the suburbs “on” Long Island. She and Enzo are married (about time!) and they have two beautiful children. Millie is a social worker & Enzo has a landscaping business. Ada age 11 and Nico age 9. This is their first real home that has a backyard and bedrooms the kids don’t have to share. They got the home below ask in a coveted area with top notch public schools. Yet the house is still over their price range, Millie just wants the very best for her kids. The kids are very close in age and share a special bond. I love that Enzo taught them Italian so they are bilingual. Millie is reminded over and over how handsome her husband is by the childless neighbor across the street and the single mom who keeps her son on a leash. Suzette is nosy, she’s condescending, and clearly after Enzo. She has a husband but he is more of a napkin personality. No one cares is he’s there or not. Suzette can’t help but take digs at Millie any chance she gets. She is younger and dresses provocatively. Yet while the audacious and ridiculously flirtatious neighbor may burn Millie’s butt, I have to give her so much credit!! Millie never lets it get to her! She expresses concern to Enzo but to others who make comments, she still stands by her man even when she has every reason to suspect he is not being as honest as she thought he was. The story has some good twists to it. Millie comments how neither of their children look anything or act anything like her as Ada is quiet/bookish dark hair and eyes beauty and Nico is non stop energy full speed ahead. But something happens and Nico is acting out with his fists. Millie knows something is off yet Enzo believes it’s just a boy being a boy. Ada is extremely protective of her brother and she is able to get him to confide in her. I loved the family dynamic as well as having Ada’s POV. Turns out the Apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree as one of Millie’s kids is more like her than they even know. If there is ever another book with the Accarrdi family I hope it’s a very happy one 🤞🏻

I loved the first two books in The Housemaid series, so I was really looking forward to this one—but The Housemaid Is Watching started off incredibly slow. I got halfway through and still felt like nothing was really happening. I almost DNF’d it, but I decided to switch to the audiobook just to get through it faster.I’m glad I did, because the twist and the reveal were really good—probably the best part of the book. It just took way too long to get there. Overall, I’m glad I finished it, but it definitely didn’t hook me like the first two.

I loved the series. The first and third book were great. I have loved the characters and story lines! Having Millie have a family was a wonderful addition to the final book!

There’s a line in the book, told with a wink, about how a third novel in a series is never as good as the first two. Not true in this case. This was just as good as the other Housemaid novels.For background on Millie and Enzo, it definitely helps if you’ve read the first two novels. This one is set a decade later, in which Millie has 2 children, and is no longer a Housemaid. She’s a social worker, which - though maybe a bit unrealistic given her prior years in prison- is a perfect job based on her willingness to help other women in need.The first half of the book is somehow both fast-paced, and also a slowish burn. I felt there was some repetitiveness in Millie’s thoughts about Enzo’s secrets, especially his possible infidelity. It’s exciting to read, but just when you think the plot’s going to really move, the author pulls back, and it only inches forward. Normally building this type of suspense is great, but I think the author did it a few too many times.The other thing I found a bit puzzling was the hesitation between Millie and Enzo to communicate with each other about what they were separately doing. If you’ve read the other 2 books you know that, both separately and together, Millie and Enzo have done a number of criminal things (even though they were done to protect themselves, or others). Their unwillingness to truthfully communicate - mostly from Enzo’s side - after having gone through so much together, felt a little out of character.Those two areas are why I gave this book a 4 instead of a 5.Otherwise, this book was terrific. An attentive reader might guess some things, but would be unlikely to figure it all out. As the book progresses, the pages fly by. You can’t stop reading. Millie is, and always has been, a very likable and sympathetic character. Enzo is more of a mystery, but also very likable (and apparently VERY hot, which contributes to driving the plot). And Millie’s 2 very different children, Nico and Ada, are written realistically, with the mix of doubt and happiness that children aged 11 and 9 normally have.If you’ve read and liked the previous Housemaid books, you’ll like this one. If you haven’t, go back to read the first 2, and then come back to this one.