When Autumn Carpenter stumbles upon the social media account of the family who adopted her infant daughter years ago, she finds herself instantly drawn into their picture-perfect existence.
From behind a computer screen, Autumn watches Grace’s every memory, from birthdays to holidays to bedtime snuggles. But what starts as an innocent fascination spirals into an addictive obsession met with a screeching halt the day the McMullen family closes their Instaface account without so much as a warning.
Frantic and desperate to reconnect with her daughter, Autumn applies for a nanny position with the McMullens, manipulating herself into Grace’s life under false pretenses. And it’s only then that Autumn discovers pictures lie, the perfect family doesn’t exist, and beautiful people? They have the ugliest secrets.
Book Info: Print length: 338 pages. Publisher: Independently Published Publication Date: 9 Jan 2027
My Thoughts:
At the end of 2023 I read a few short story collections which are free on Kindle Unlimited (KU) and are a fabulous introduction to authors I haven’t read previously. One of the books was People Like Them (56 pages) and I thought it was FABULOUS, so you can imagine my joy to find out that Minka Kent has a back catalogue all available free on KU, and I immediately downloaded The Memory Watcher.
So, let’s discuss this book. The Memory Watcher is Autumn. She’s our narrator. A young woman OBSESSED by following the McMullen family on Instaface (a social media platform). We know the reason she is obsessed (it’s in the blurb), the McMullen’s have adopted her baby daughter and this is the only way Autumn can see Grace and feel a connection. However, when the McMullen’s shut down their account for no reason, Autumn won’t sit back, she needs to do something and so she manages to get hired as the couples nanny.
I’m not going to spoil any of this book by rehashing the twists and turns, but I will tell you, that NOTHING is what it seems. Everyone has a guilty secret and everyone has reason to protect their secrets at all costs.
Autumn is a fascinating unreliable narrator and whilst it’s heart-breaking to watch her watch her daughter from afar, it’s really uncomfortable listening to her inner-thoughts.
Overall, I found this a gripping, twisty and twisted tale and even downloaded the sequel The Watcher Girl, which unfortunately didn’t quite make it into my recommended books.
