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A review by nicolem_young
I'm Here to Help by Claire Lunn
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Book/Story: ⭐️⭐⭐
Book Cover: ⭐️⭐️⭐
Trigger Warning(s): Gaslighting
Manipulation
Sexual Assault/Rape
Grooming
Loss Of Parent(s)
Infidelity
POV: Dual, First Person
Series/Standalone: Standalone
First In Series: N/A
Trope(s): None
Spice: None
Genre: Thriller
Burn: Fast
Safe or Dark: Safeish
Release Date: April 11, 2025
Overview
When Frances Minetti gets pregnant, the pregnancy causes her to develop hyperemesis gravidarum. She very quickly realizes that she can’t do all the day-to-day things she normally could; that includes taking care of her three-year-old daughter Olivia. Her mother-in-law sets her up with a live-in nanny; Jasmine is her sister-in-law's best friend’s daughter. She’s also young, beautiful, and ambitious. Frankie isn’t as taken with her as her husband, Russell, and the rest of his family are, but once she sees how great Jasmine is with her daughter, she relents and agrees to give her a one-week trial.
The young woman quickly moves into the Minetti’s home, and the seven-day trial goes smoothly. Jasmine is helpful and attentive, not only to Olivia but to Frankie as well. Life with the live-in nanny is wonderful, until it isn’t. As Frankie watches Jasmine interact with Olivia and Russ, something starts to feel off. Is this twenty-something-year-old trying to take Frankie’s place within the family?
One day Frankie suddenly takes a tumble down the stairs that lands her in the hospital. The one thing she remembers before her fall is interacting with Jasmine. Did she accidentally fall or was she pushed? As Frankie’s suspicions build, she becomes certain that Jasmine wants her gone. Frankie turns to the one person who should believe her, Russ, except he doesn’t. Despite the gaslighting and manipulation running rampant, Frankie knows one thing for sure...
Jasmine isn’t who she claims to be, and she will kill to take over Frankie's life.
Pace/Writing Style
I appreciated two things about the book right away. The fact that things kick off and suck you in right away, and the short chapters.
The prologue starts somewhere in the middle of the story, and it made me all the more curious to see how things played out. Chapter one doesn’t disappoint either. We are taken back six months prior to the events that occurred in the prologue, and we get right into the heart of things. We very quickly understand Frankie’s family dynamic with her in-laws and the predicament she’s in. It’s definitely a fast-burn type of book. There is no filler prior to getting to the heart of things. I enjoyed that.
The chapters in this book are nice and short. Lunn’s writing style flows nicely but gives the readers a lot of information without being confusing. It makes it easy to read a lot in one sitting and fly through this book. While the chapters don’t always end on cliffhangers, they do end in such a way that makes you want to keep on finding out what happens next. Reading one more chapter very quickly turned into ten.
This was a roller coaster of a ride from start to finish, and I enjoyed being on it. There were times when I thought I knew exactly how things were going to play out just to turn around and find out that I didn’t. This rage-inducing story really threw me for a loop again and again. That was very fun.
Lunn does play on the predictability of the plot a bit before pulling the rug out from under you.
As mentioned above, this book made me RAGE. So, be prepared for that when diving into this.
Characters
I have to be honest; I didn’t like a single character in this book. I thought they were all awful. I just happened to dislike some more than others.
Frances “Frankie” Minetti - Despite being our FMC, I just couldn’t get behind Frankie. She was horribly vain, constantly talking about how her figure was ruined after having kids and commenting about her pre- and post-baby weight. She gave off serious woe is me vibes. I often found her to be very whiny and weak-sounding. Frankie definitely was not a strong female (and not just due to her hyperemesis gravidarum). She tried to come off as working to have everything under control but was often a pushover. She would give in just for the sake of giving in and avoiding an argument. She was often suspicious of Jasmine before even having any reason to be. She questioned Jasmine's and Russ's relationship more than once for no reason. She created problems where there weren't any. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like Frankie at all. The book is told entirely from her perspective, and that was difficult for me, but since I enjoyed the story in general, I just sucked it up.
Russell “Russ” Minetti - Frankie's husband sort of stood on the outskirts of things. He was a very busy surgeon, so he seemed to be absent from the home more often than not. He was an attentive father but seemed to undermine a lot of the decisions Frankie made within the marriage. Most of the time Russ would side with his family, who clearly didn’t care for his wife and got joy out of watching her squirm, just to make everyone (other than Frankie) happy and keep the peace. If I’m being honest, I disliked Frankie’s character more than Russ’s. Even though he made a lot of crappy choices and had the gaslighting skills of a champion.
Well, I liked him more than Frankie for the first 75% of the book. After that I HATED him.
Jasmine – The live-in nanny is a sweet, young lady; in fact, she’s almost too sweet. She’s almost too helpful. She’s almost too kind. She’s almost too much of everything. Jasmine enjoyed challenging Frankie. She had a game to play, and she played it very well. Jasmine knew what she wanted, and by God, she was going to do anything in her power to get it. She was always cool, calm, and collected even in the most uncomfortable of situations. I didn’t care for her at all. Not one bit.
Well, I didn’t care for her for the first 75% of the book. After that I LOVED her.
Petunia Minetti – She is horrid. I hated her. If she were my mother-in-law, I just might go to jail for murder.
Other Thoughts
Book Cover: ⭐️⭐️⭐
Trigger Warning(s): Gaslighting
Manipulation
Sexual Assault/Rape
Loss Of Parent(s)
Infidelity
POV: Dual, First Person
Series/Standalone: Standalone
First In Series: N/A
Trope(s): None
Spice: None
Genre: Thriller
Burn: Fast
Safe or Dark: Safeish
Release Date: April 11, 2025
Overview
When Frances Minetti gets pregnant, the pregnancy causes her to develop hyperemesis gravidarum. She very quickly realizes that she can’t do all the day-to-day things she normally could; that includes taking care of her three-year-old daughter Olivia. Her mother-in-law sets her up with a live-in nanny; Jasmine is her sister-in-law's best friend’s daughter. She’s also young, beautiful, and ambitious. Frankie isn’t as taken with her as her husband, Russell, and the rest of his family are, but once she sees how great Jasmine is with her daughter, she relents and agrees to give her a one-week trial.
The young woman quickly moves into the Minetti’s home, and the seven-day trial goes smoothly. Jasmine is helpful and attentive, not only to Olivia but to Frankie as well. Life with the live-in nanny is wonderful, until it isn’t. As Frankie watches Jasmine interact with Olivia and Russ, something starts to feel off. Is this twenty-something-year-old trying to take Frankie’s place within the family?
One day Frankie suddenly takes a tumble down the stairs that lands her in the hospital. The one thing she remembers before her fall is interacting with Jasmine. Did she accidentally fall or was she pushed? As Frankie’s suspicions build, she becomes certain that Jasmine wants her gone. Frankie turns to the one person who should believe her, Russ, except he doesn’t. Despite the gaslighting and manipulation running rampant, Frankie knows one thing for sure...
Jasmine isn’t who she claims to be, and she will kill to take over Frankie's life.
Pace/Writing Style
I appreciated two things about the book right away. The fact that things kick off and suck you in right away, and the short chapters.
The prologue starts somewhere in the middle of the story, and it made me all the more curious to see how things played out. Chapter one doesn’t disappoint either. We are taken back six months prior to the events that occurred in the prologue, and we get right into the heart of things. We very quickly understand Frankie’s family dynamic with her in-laws and the predicament she’s in. It’s definitely a fast-burn type of book. There is no filler prior to getting to the heart of things. I enjoyed that.
The chapters in this book are nice and short. Lunn’s writing style flows nicely but gives the readers a lot of information without being confusing. It makes it easy to read a lot in one sitting and fly through this book. While the chapters don’t always end on cliffhangers, they do end in such a way that makes you want to keep on finding out what happens next. Reading one more chapter very quickly turned into ten.
This was a roller coaster of a ride from start to finish, and I enjoyed being on it. There were times when I thought I knew exactly how things were going to play out just to turn around and find out that I didn’t. This rage-inducing story really threw me for a loop again and again. That was very fun.
Lunn does play on the predictability of the plot a bit before pulling the rug out from under you.
As mentioned above, this book made me RAGE. So, be prepared for that when diving into this.
Characters
I have to be honest; I didn’t like a single character in this book. I thought they were all awful. I just happened to dislike some more than others.
Frances “Frankie” Minetti - Despite being our FMC, I just couldn’t get behind Frankie. She was horribly vain, constantly talking about how her figure was ruined after having kids and commenting about her pre- and post-baby weight. She gave off serious woe is me vibes. I often found her to be very whiny and weak-sounding. Frankie definitely was not a strong female (and not just due to her hyperemesis gravidarum). She tried to come off as working to have everything under control but was often a pushover. She would give in just for the sake of giving in and avoiding an argument. She was often suspicious of Jasmine before even having any reason to be. She questioned Jasmine's and Russ's relationship more than once for no reason. She created problems where there weren't any. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like Frankie at all. The book is told entirely from her perspective, and that was difficult for me, but since I enjoyed the story in general, I just sucked it up.
Russell “Russ” Minetti - Frankie's husband sort of stood on the outskirts of things. He was a very busy surgeon, so he seemed to be absent from the home more often than not. He was an attentive father but seemed to undermine a lot of the decisions Frankie made within the marriage. Most of the time Russ would side with his family, who clearly didn’t care for his wife and got joy out of watching her squirm, just to make everyone (other than Frankie) happy and keep the peace. If I’m being honest, I disliked Frankie’s character more than Russ’s. Even though he made a lot of crappy choices and had the gaslighting skills of a champion.
Jasmine – The live-in nanny is a sweet, young lady; in fact, she’s almost too sweet. She’s almost too helpful. She’s almost too kind. She’s almost too much of everything. Jasmine enjoyed challenging Frankie. She had a game to play, and she played it very well. Jasmine knew what she wanted, and by God, she was going to do anything in her power to get it. She was always cool, calm, and collected even in the most uncomfortable of situations. I didn’t care for her at all. Not one bit.
Petunia Minetti – She is horrid. I hated her. If she were my mother-in-law, I just might go to jail for murder.
Other Thoughts
In the synopsis, it is said that when Frankie meets Jasmine, she can’t help but feel like she has met her before. However, when they do finally meet, nothing in Frankie’s dialogue or inner thoughts mentions any of that to the readers. She doesn’t even hint at having a weird familiarity with the young woman.
I didn’t particularly care for the underlying “women aren’t attractive after having children” undertones in the story. It was mentioned more than once how Frankie was much more desirable before carrying two babies.
One afternoon while both Jasmine and Russ are out of the house, Frankie decides to snoop in Jasmine’s room. She finds a dress on her bed and very quickly realizes that it’s one of hers. Frankie has no idea how it got there. She didn’t know if Jasmine had taken it from her closet or if Russ had given it to her. The author made sure to point out that detail, and it’s never brought up again. We don’t hear about it anymore after that. Why even bother having it in the story?
Early on in the book, it is mentioned that Jasmine’s mom, Helen, and Russ’s sister, Amanda, are lovers disguising themselves as best friends. They use their friendship as an excuse to spend time together and explain their closeness to one another. The whole family knows there is something more going on but doesn’t bother to mention it. This dynamic doesn’t have any effect on the plot. At all. It has nothing to do with how anything plays out. What was the big deal? What was the point of making sure the readers knew about that? There wasn’t a reason for the detail to be shared.
TLDR: AN ENTERTAINING THRILLER WITH A FUN TWIST!
As always, please remember that reading is subjective, and that’s what makes it so great. 😊
I would like to thank Bookoture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.
This is my voluntary, unbiased, and honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting