Devotion

by Madeline Stevens

A captivating debut novel about a woman who falls into an overwhelming mutual obsession with the Upper East Side mother who hires her as a nanny

Ella is flat broke: wasting away on bodega coffee, barely making rent, seducing the occasional strange man who might buy her dinner. Unexpectedly, an Upper East Side couple named Lonnie and James rescue her from her empty bank account, offering her a job as a nanny and ushering her into their moneyed world. Ella’s days are now spent tending to the baby in their elegant brownstone or on extravagant excursions with the family. Both women are just twenty-six—but unlike Ella, Lonnie has a doting husband and son, unmistakable artistic talent, and old family money.

Ella is mesmerized by Lonnie’s girlish affection and disregard for the normal boundaries of friendship and marriage. Convinced there must be a secret behind Lonnie’s seemingly effortless life, Ella begins sifting through her belongings, meticulously cataloguing lipstick tubes and baby teeth and scraps of writing. All the while, Ella’s resentment grows, but so does an inexplicable and dizzying attraction. Soon she will be immersed so deeply in her cravings—for Lonnie’s lifestyle, her attention, her lovers—that she may never come up for air.

Riveting, propulsive, and startling, Devotion is a masterful debut novel in which mismatched power collides with blinding desire, incinerating our perceptions of femininity, lust, and privilege.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Literary Fiction, Audiobook

304 pages, Hardcover

First published August 13, 2019

About the author

Madeline Stevens is a writer from Boring, Oregon currently based in Los Angeles. Her first novel Devotion was released from Ecco Press in 2019. Devotion was also published by Faber & Faber in the UK and translated into six languages. Madeline holds an MFA from Columbia University and her stories and essays have been published in places such as The Guardian, CrimeReads, and Monkeybicycle. She teaches creative writing to adults and children through Catapult and Writopia Lab.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be honest and say that toxic female friendships are a guilty pleasure of mine in books. To see how nasty one woman can be to another all while under the guise of friendship in an effort to upstage or usurp the other is like book crack. I can't get enough.

When I saw Devotion pop up on NetGalley I didn't even hesitate to request it but oh wait? I can only wish for it? So wish I did and Ecco granted my wish which rarely happens to me. What luck!

Ella is a broke 26 year old woman living in NYC and sleeping with men solely to have a meal put in her stomach. Imagine her surprise when she interviews with a wealthy family for a nanny position and they take her on immediately with hardly any questions asked. She feels as if her life is suddenly taking a turn in the right direction.

She immediately becomes obsessed with Lonnie the mother in which she was hired to help. What you as reader are wondering with each flip of the page is: does Ella love Lonnie or hate her? Is she trying to be friends with her or is she trying to become her? Lonnie takes for granted everything she has where as Ella can only dream of such a lifestyle of leisure.

Needless to say things are going to get complicated.

I really wanted to love this book but it fell a bit short of my expectations. The comparisons to Social Creature had me so excited but this book isn't nearly as dark or shocking. In fact, after turning the last page I was kind of wondering what the point of this book is. If you want a birds eye view of a dysfunctional friendship then you will find that here but that's really it. There wasn't any type of shocking twist or any OMG moments. There was no I can't believe that happened or that he or she did this. It just sort of fizzled out into the ether. Still the writing is sharp and I was compelled to read to the end I just wish there was a bigger payout for getting there. 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for proving me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Felicia]

DNF

Cool cover though 😎

[Kim ~ It’s All About the Thrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out strong for me. It had a great premise- a weird, twisted relationship about a woman and her nanny. Their relationship was one of friendship, yet with a dark, obsession based theme that was fascinating. It was almost as if the women had a "frenemies" type relationship where they were in competition with each other.

When Lonnie and her husband James took on Elle as their nanny they opened doors to whole new world for her. As Elle had been struggling to make ends meet, she is now whisked into a world of fancy homes, vacations and parties that she would never have been privy to in "her world" outside of her job. As Lonnie welcomed her into their lives with open arms, she also gained a friend in her. She loaned her clothes, treated her to things that a normal employer what not. She made her a part of the family and saw her as a confidant and friend.

It seemed Elle was in complete fascination with Lonnie. It was bordering on a obsession as she seemed jealous of any attention that Lonnie paid to anyone except herself. I loved the crazy single white female vibe this was putting out.

As the ending approached, it fell a bit short for me. I was expecting much more from the continuous build up throughout the book. Without spoiling it for anyone, I personally felt like it left me with some unanswered questions, which of course was the intent but I was hoping for more of a clean cut ending. So the ending fell a little flat for me. Otherwise a great debut. I am looking forward to what the author comes up with next! 3.5 stars

Thank you so much to Harper Collins / Ecco for this gorgeous ARC.

[Bridgett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I somehow overlooked it, but this novel seems to be missing a point.

Devotion appears to be a story about absolutely nothing. Maybe it's a character study of female relationships, but honestly, even that seems a stretch. What it is, fellow readers, is a book full of plot holes, story lines which go absolutely nowhere, a total lack of character depth, and an annoyingly anti-climatic conclusion.

It's presumptuous, clichéd, unfinished, and ultimately boring. While the sentence structure and word choices were beautifully rendered, the cohesiveness was less than desirable. Trying to read the passages felt clunky and uninspired.

Because we learn next to nothing about Ella, it's nearly impossible to understand her motivations, or anything she's thinking and feeling. Is she a lunatic? I read the entire novel and I still have no idea. And what was up with Lonnie? Again, your guess is as good as mine. Devotion just meanders along, going nowhere fast.

Recommended? Not a chance. I'm honestly a little peeved I wasted part of my life on this one.

1.5 stars rounded up

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only thing I have to say about this one is that 2.80 rating????



I generally live for stories of obsession, but this sucker was a one way ticket to Dullsville. Is getting a book published a condition of obtaining your MFA? I'm not saying everyone with an MFA ends up writing terrible books, but the ones whose resume only seems to be that they have obtained their MFA sure do tend to tip the scales to the low stars side of things for me.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devotion is this summer's Social Creature, a propulsive 'poor girl meets rich girl' story set in Manhattan, chronicling the mutually destructive relationship between two young women, Elle and Lonnie. Elle is hired as a nanny for Lonnie's infant son, and soon her resentment toward her employer turns into an unhealthy obsession.

Despite the inevitable Social Creature comparison, Devotion isn't quite as suspenseful or climactic, and its protagonists left less of an impression on me. Even so, I had a hard time putting this down; for a slow-moving story it never really loses momentum, and it has that 'need to know what happens next' quality that mercifully doesn't feel like a cop-out when nothing ever really happens.

Madeline Stevens achieves this with pitch-perfect characterization of the novel's narrator, Elle, whose 'do I want to be her or do I want to sleep with her' dynamic with Lonnie is the morbidly compelling thread that holds this plotness novel together and keeps you turning pages. Ultimately: a quick, addictive read that doesn't offer much in the way of thrills or chills, but still has an eerie and unsettling quality that makes it impossible to look away, and which offers a deceptively nuanced commentary on living on the periphery of extreme wealth.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Krystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was anticlimactic.

Also kinkier than I was expecting.

It sets the scene like this: Ella becomes a nanny for a rich couple, and becomes a little obsessed with Lonnie. Ella has nothing and Lonnie has everything so Ella naturally covets Lonnie's life, and it begins to get a little creepy.

Now, firstly, we don't actually get all that much info on Ella. She's poor to the point of starving, yet we don't ever find out much about how she got to that point and it makes her character quite weak. I never really understood where she was coming from, because everything about her and her life was so vague.

Ditto Lonnie and James. Which is weird, because the book spends most of its time obsessing over Lonnie, but it's more about what she has and how she behaves. There's no history for any of the characters which makes them pretty bland.

In fact, the character building in general is kind of ... shallow. I never properly understood who I was dealing with, so it left me fairly detached from the story.

Ella's obsession with Lonnie is definitely unhealthy, and pretty creepy. She says some weird stuff, and it's evident very early on that she's going to cause some drama for the happy family.

Only ... she doesn't really?

Like, the whole premise of the novel seems to rest on Ella's unhealthy obsession getting out of control, but nothing ever really happens? Ella lusts after everyone and there is seemingly sexual tension in everything, but in the end ... nothing really happens. You expect there to be drama, but there is nothing. An eyebrow-raising scene that seems completely out of left-field, but overall not anything particularly exciting.

Honestly, I was waiting for a twist that would completely blow my mind, but all of my guesses could not prepare me for the absolute nothingness of the ending. This could have gone in so many crazy directions and instead it just tapers out. Pretty disappointing.

Honestly, the endings I created in my head were way more exciting, and probably made about as much sense.

It did keep me entertained throughout and there were some clever phrases and things, but in the end it just seemed like such a pointless book. I never really felt anything reading it except maybe slightly uncomfortable here and there.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a hard book to review. The cover is cool and the author is from a small town not far from where I grew up so I want to be supportive! And for most of the book, I was pretty engaged with the characters, as unlikable as they were. But the ending was so disappointing that it tarnishes the experience of the entire book - one character disappears but not for the reasons they should have, many threatening things never resolve into mattering (which renders this strange story about a minister who killed women something just thrown in for... tone? and since it didn't end up being important in the story it starts to feel uncomfortably like the author just put that story line in there to show black people as dangerous to establish a "bad neighborhood.") And even though we see the story somewhat from Ella's perspective, we never really understand what is motivating her obsession. Lots of women are poor, it doesn't turn them into obsessive predators. So this really didn't end up working for me.

I received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss although I'm a bit belated in my review. It came out August 13, 2019.

[Louise Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ella is twenty six years old and broke. She gets hired by a rich couple to be their nanny. Ella is soon obsessed by the young mother, Lonnie. They are both the same age but their lifestyles are very different.

This is quite a creepy read. I did prefer the first part of the book. The second part seemed a bit lacklustre to me. It's also quite a slow burner. We are told the story round Ella's point of view. It covers some emotions like jealousy and loneliness. It didn't quite reach my expectations but maybe I expected too much. I did enjoy this story.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Faber & Faber and the author Madeleine Stevens for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[lady h · Rating 2 out of 5]

Devotion is sort of a cross between The Talented Mr. Ripley (which I haven't read) and Social Creature (which I have read). The basic set-up is this: Ella, a broke white woman living in Brooklyn, is hired to nanny for James and Lonnie, a wealthy Upper East Side couple. Ella, who's clearly very unstable, becomes obsessed with Lonnie, who to be honest seems like a perfectly nice, if privileged and somewhat unhappy, young woman.

I love a good obsession story, but I thought that this lacked depth. Ella very quickly begins doing very bizarre things because of her obsession, but we don't really get to learn very much about her or why she's doing these things. Has she done this before? She seems like an obsessive person, since she also latches on to the story of a neighborhood cult/serial killing (a thread that ultimately goes absolutely nowhere), but at the same time her interactions with everyone around her seem perfectly ordinary. I just really hate this trend in some literary fiction where characters are explicitly written to be weird and bizarre and unhappy for seemingly no reason. If you're going to write what is basically a character study, I'm gonna need a lot more character development.

The book moves very slowly, with a rather meandering plot that doesn't quite seem to know where it's going or what it hopes to achieve. The climax wasn't properly addressed or given the time it deserved to sink in, for the reader or for the characters. The side characters seemed to sort of float along on the sidelines. There were so many plot threads that seemed significant but just completely fizzled out. Ultimately this felt utterly pointless; there's no thrill or satisfaction to be had here.

What I did like about the novel is the writing; it's lush and descriptive, with lots of sensuous sensory details. At the same time, it flows nicely, which makes for a quick read.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured Devotion in short order- a beautifully descriptive prose sinks you into the life of Ella and her ever growing devotion to Lonnie her employer, both women are gorgeously drawn, ethereal and quirky in their own separate ways, when brought together things end up somewhat explosive.

The whole story has a strange, unearthly feel to it, you almost feel like these women haunt you as you read- the central theme deals with this odd attraction where two personalities almost become one. The supporting cast levitate around them, cause and effect giving rise to an ever growing sense that something will go wrong. It is a story of love bordering on hate, of obsession and consequence, of having versus not having and all the things we want that are beyond our reach.

I found it both clever and compelling, terrific literary writing and an utterly gripping tale.

Recommended.

[Anna Trahan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was probably one of the worst books I’ve ever read. The story line seems promising but in reality there was really no plot and nothing happened. The writing style was so boring and hard to follow. I almost didn’t finish it and towards the end I was just skimming pages. The characters were boring stereotypes. Don’t recommend at all.

[Jessica Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that isn’t sure what it wants to be, and that makes for an uneven reading experience that’s ultimately not as satisfying as it could have been.

Twenty-six-year old Ella has absolutely nothing going for her when she takes a job as a nanny and quickly becomes obsessed with the baby’s beautiful mother, Lonnie. Lonnie is the kind of person who is so beautiful and privileged that she can get away with eschewing all boundaries—in her marriage and in her friendship with Ella. As Ella immerses herself into Lonnie’s world, her boundaries slip away, too, and it’s clear that nothing is going to end well for any of them.

Is this a psychological thriller? A Bildungsroman? A dream-like plunge into unhealthy obsession and desire? Who is it really about—Ella or Lonnie? I’m not really sure. It also doesn’t help that this novel includes one of my number-one fiction pet peeves: writing within writing. (Lonnie is an aspiring writer, and we are often subjected to multi-page excerpts from her latest project. Why do writers do this? All it ever does is take me out of the book they’ve written. But I digress.)

All this aside, I didn’t entirely dislike this novel. It’s tense and readable and I enjoyed many of Stevens’ sharp observations—even some that ultimately felt random. It’s fun to read about toxic female friendships. There was a lot of potential here, but in the end I’m just not sure I get what the point of it all was, and that’s frustrating.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A "Single White Female" novel for the millennial age (with The Talented Mr Ripley vibes), Devotion is a suspenseful story of one woman's obsession with her employer.

Ella is 26 and unhappy with her life. She has unfulfilling sex with strangers and no money, but one day all that changes when she lands a job nannying for a rich young woman, Lonnie. Lonnie is the same age as Ella and everything that Ella is not - married, a mother, and has an enviable wardrobe and figure. Ella's behaviour quickly becomes stranger and stranger, and her and Lonnie's lives become intertwined throughout the novel.

I found myself a little disappointed on finishing Devotion, a kind of "is that it?" feeling, but equally found it hard to put down while I was reading. Although the plot is a little slow moving the pages flew by and the story was just suspenseful enough to keep me guessing.

Thank you Netgalley and Faber & Faber for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Alyssa Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

While I thought this would be the next IT book, guilty pleasure, NYC thirst-quenching book...it was not. It was really...wordy. Too wordy. Like Stephen King wordy. I wanted more glitz and glamour, less stalker, unstable behavior. I'm sorry, I did not enjoy this.

[it's ya boy harv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impossible to put down. Going into this novel expecting a twisty thriller is a mistake; it states its premise (Ella becomes obsessed with Lonnie) and then cranks that up to the extreme.

I listened to the audio book and really enjoyed Sarah Naughton's performance.

[Becca Madden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Praying William gets away from these people.

[Susan Cordeiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was creepy.... and I love it! Ella is hired to to work for Lonny. She is the nanny who becomes obsessed with Lonny and her family and lifestyle. After all they are the same age, so where did Ella's life go wrong??? Yes. This is a creepy tale of obsession that will keep you reading long into the night .... it will make you think before hiring a nanny too ... lol
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me this copy.

[Jennifer N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was meh. The premise was good. Ella is chosen to be a nanny for a rich couple Lonnie & James. She becomes obsessed with Lonnie who treats her more as a friend than an employee. The problem is that nothing really happens. I was waiting for a big reveal or a twist or something but it didn't happen. There was also zero character development. I know Ella was obsessed but no idea why and no idea what Lonnie was all about either.

[Tom Mooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gone Girl meets Donna Tartt, with elements of Big Little Lies.

Well written, moody and disturbing.

[OldSoul23 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Es de tan malo , que ni siquiera perderé el tiempo en explicarlo, es de las peores lecturas que he leído en este año,vaya pérdida de tiempo.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started this book, I thought I was really going to get into it but that did not happen. I just could not find anything I found about the two women that made me want to understand either one's reasons for doing anything. I wish I had. This was not for me but I am sure it is someone else's cup of tea.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious with sensory details ("The house smelled of lavender and something earthy, like modeling clay."), psychological momentum, and tense character development, this book focuses on an Upper East Side nanny whose resentment toward her privileged employer morphs into an obsession.

"Don't leave me with these people," I murmured when she returned. "I'm not like them." Who wouldn't want to know the boundaries of that dialogue in scene?

This book is a gorgeous character study with bubbling, taut tension; it's nuanced yet urgent, thrillingly mysterious yet relatable.

[ARQUI . LECTURA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Creo.. que... no vale la pena una reseña de este libro aburrido y monótono.

Simplemente nada sucede, nada plantea y nada aporta.

Lo acabé solo por mi obsesión por no dejar libros a medias..

😅

[Itzel Escopinichi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esta novela tenía tanto potencial y la autora simplemente no supo qué hacer.

Elle es una mujer que no tiene nada, ni siquiera para comer y por arte de magia es contratada para ser niñera del hijo de una pareja joven y asquerosamente rica de Nueva York. De repente, Elle se empieza a obsesionar con Lonnie, su nueva jefa. Va descubriendo los secretos de ella, se da cuenta que no es perfecta y su amor-odio crece sin parar.

Hasta ahí todo bien, una trama interesante. Sin embargo, la autora quiere venderte la idea de que Lonnie es súper misteriosa y fascinante, cuando en realidad es el personaje más aburrido y Elle, ella sí era interesante y se pierde toda la esencia de Elle intentando que te enamores de un personaje sumamente plano y que no aporta nada.

El libro fue una montaña rusa. Unas partes me atrapaban demasiado y otras no tenían pies ni cabeza, se me hacían indiferentes y no logré conectar con nadie.

Igual la parte de tensión sexual entre Elle y Lonnie tenía mucho que dar y si alguna de las dos hubiera presentado más problemas de sus facultades mentales, la historia hubiera sido mejor. Las dos no eran ni muy buenas ni muy psicóticas y que se quedaran en el medio fue lo que degradó la historia.

[Cassie (book__gal) · Rating 3 out of 5]

{#partner @eccobooks} I just recently finished Devotion and it was a delicious little break in my usual picks of books. It’s not a thriller, but it’s also not lacking in suspense, in fact, I’d say the whole purpose of the book is suspense. I gotta give kudos to Stevens because she had me gnawing at my thumb nail and speed reading to figure out what the heck these neurotic, love-to-hate-them kind of characters were going to do. However, as tension-ridden as it was, I didn’t feel the payoff lived up to the hype I had created in my head. Perhaps I was expecting some wild twist? But at the same time, I’m glad the story didn’t revert to a cheap plot twist just to get an ending out of the characters. ⁣
⁣
Stevens has some really sharp awareness of the interactions between men and women and even more so, between women and women; how power dynamics can often have a sexual and dangerous quality about them, how women so easily slip into a kind of Freudian obsession with other women. The relationship between Lonnie and Elle made me think about how women interact when they work together - how are boundaries made when it’s so easy to slip into friendship with a coworker, or in this case, a boss; are women inherently competitive to have what other women have? Is jealousy normal, or when does jealousy take on a creepy nature? Is Elle jealous, creepy? Or just devoted? The book itself is almost a kind of concept study on the intersections of desire, femininity, and privilege. These insights are the real star of the book. Thank you @eccobooks for allowing me to shake up my summer reading with this one 💖⁣

[Elena✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestamente estoy a unos días de haber terminado este libro y la verdad es que sigo igual de confundida que cuando lo empecé, me costó mucho identificarme con algún personaje, sentía que pasaba de un lado a otro sin un sentido en específico y sentí muy vacía la historia.
Y podemos hablar de esa amistad tan tóxica y tan creepy?????? Literalmente me tenia demasiado confundida en algunas partes y la mente de la protagonista me hacía sentir muy incómoda cada dos paginas, nunca termine de entender la historia o el origen del personaje principal y no le encontré mucho sentido a los personajes, creo que la trama tenía potencial pero sin duda como que se resumió en algo que no tenía sentido y le faltaban muchas partes.
Y por último, ese final?????? Literalmente no entendí nada, no es algo que volvería a leer además hubo una escena en donde me quede muy incómoda porque siento que las escenas “spicy” no la supo manejar bien la autora y simplemente ma causó extrañeza y sentimiento de que ni si quiera había consentimiento de la situación.
Le había dado dos estrellas pero escribiendo esta reseña la dejo en uno.
Honestamente tenía una pinta muy buena, intrigante y oscuro pero simplemente no logré ni conectar ni encontrarle sentido. 😟

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Devotion' was a truly fabulous read which I loved and adored for its creepiness. It helped that I've developed quite a weakness for psychological thrillers which are heavy on themes of obsession, jealousy and delusion.

I had a difficult time putting this down as, for a relatively slow-moving story, it never really lost momentum and it certainly had that ‘what happens next’ quality. Madeline Stevens achieved this with perfect characterisation of the novel’s narrator, Ella. Although some have compared 'Devotion' to 'Social Creature', this morbidly compelling, plot-less novel had a style all of it's own and kept me turning the pages. This début novel of suburban noir was a quick, addictive read that had an eerie and unsettling feel, making it unthinkable for me to look away.

An extremely worthwhile read and worthy of its five stars!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Faber and Faber via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank You NetGalley and Ecco Books for the digital galley of Devotion.

Ella takes on a nanny position to care for Lonnie and James' son, William. Ella becomes completely, dangerously, morbidly, obsessed with Lonnie.

This book.
Sometimes you love a book so much, that you really don't have the words for it.
For me, that is this book.

It's beautifully written.
It moved me.

I have nothing negative to say.

It's everything.

[Sammu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this on a whim, thinking this would be a thrilling, fast read. It was quick, that’s for sure, as the early half of the book kept me on my toes, kept me wanting more.

By the time the characters make it to Southampton, the book shits itself and continuously made me question, “What’s the point?” This novel left me unsatisfied with its crash-landing ending and anti-climactic “closure” between Elle and Lonnie.