The Nanny

OMG! :) I am very very very glad I bought this book. I could not put it down! I stayed up until 4:30am to finish readinf because I could NOT wait to see what happened to Jo and Josh! At first I was upset..I wanted MORE, but than I felt that if there was a sequal, it would just reck the first book..so I am glad she finished where she did. It was an awesome book and I can even put it on my list of books I read over and over again!

This is the third Melissa Nathan book I have read, and I am always blown away by her remarkable wit and her wry sarcasm. Although not typically a fan of 'chick-lit', I was drawn to Nathan's previous books due to the Jane Austen angle, and I wasn't surprised to discover that I liked her with her own plotline. 'The Nanny' is a quick, enjoyable read that you'll find hard to put down. 'The Nanny' introduces us to Jo Green, a twenty-three year old woman from the English countryside, who is dissatisfied with her life but doesn't know what to do. Impulsively, she answers an ad for a nanny position in London and gladly accepts to work for the lovely but dysfunctional Fitzgerald family. Jo almost immediately regrets this decision - it's her first time away from home, she's in charge of three kids (aged 4, 6, and 8), and an entire house. Life looks better for Jo though, when she meets Pippa, a fellow nanny who teaches her how to rule the household, and not be ruled by them. Things take a turn for the worse however, when Josh, a son from the husband's first marriage, moves in and takes a dislike to Jo. The feeling is mutual, or is it? 'The Nanny' showcases Nathan's trademark wit and clever asides. Jo is a well-drawn character, although not entirely like her namesake (Josephine from 'Little Women'). Even though predictable and almost seemingly made for a romantic-comedy screenplay, Nathan rises above the vapid fluff of numerous chick-lit novels and sets the pace for some truly talented writing.

I'm as big of a chick lit fan as the rest of you, but this one bridges the gap - funny, full of relationships -but a better written piece of fiction than most chick lit. I've read Melissa Nathan's other books - and loved the Jane Austen twist and the cute plots and clever dialog. Liking those books as I did, I made a point to purchase The Nanny as soon as it came out in paperback. I was blown away by this book, this is in another class! Nathan's talent seems to have just exploded - this book is much more satisfying. It's still full of her trademark humor (a bit sarcastic and I love it - but it's not off-putting). The plot takes several wicked twists with all kinds of roadblocks being thrown up for our Jo, the nanny. But it's the complexity and the finesse of this book that really grabs you - it's just a darn good tale. Jo leaves her safe village and her safe (it seems) relationship with Shaun, her friends, her family to go off the London to care for three (sometimes more) children, the offspring of Dick and "Scary Spouse" (as her eldest stepson, the Hornblower look-alike Josh, calls her.) Well, obviously no good can come of this drastic move and soon Jo's world is completely turned over - as is everyone else's' in the book. All through, it's funny, sad, gentle, abrasive, silly, profound. Jo emerges a stronger and happier person at the end, as does pretty much everyone that you might care about in the book. You know that the ones you don't care about get what they deserve too - always satisfying! And best of all, although the ends aren't tightly tied up at the end, you also know it's all going to be OK for the good guys

This has to be with out a doubt the best book ive read! I wanted to laugh i wanted to cry and the depth of the characters is wonderful i felt i was there right beside them and i could see all the rooms! In fact this book is a first of Melissa Nathan's books for me and i want to read of of her books now, she is the best author around. A Must Read.

I've been working my way through a bunch of the chick-lit out there and was just starting to worry that I had already read all the good ones when I came across The Nanny. I loved this book! I really liked the way it concentrated on the entire Fitzgerald family and not just the romance between Jo and Josh. They were the center point of the book (and I loved their relationship), but the rest of the family made what would have otherwise been a typical book that I read then forget into one I'll reread and put up there among my favorites. Too often we're given a central story that we care about, only to have it ruined by side stories with not enough heart, that are there merely to fill pages. I can honestly say that this is not the case with The Nanny. Every one of these characters becomes important and adds to the already delightful relationship between Jo and Josh.