Welcome to Litsy!

Pretty okay…. Kinda figured out most of it pretty early on. The cast of characters could‘ve been fleshed out a bit more… utopia to see what the book group thinks about it. Definitely like that narrator.

Ware draws a sinister and gothic setting well but her characters were rather flat and the main character is far less perceptive than the reader is told she is. Also large portions of the plot are completely obvious long before they should be. 🤷‍♀️ Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2023/10/review-death-of-mrs-westaway-by-ruth.ht...

The last 90 pages something happens. The rest….nothing. It was boring.

Buddy read with @BookKenz

We guessed a lot of it pretty early, but the storyline made us question ourselves a few times.

Lots of fun and very different from the other one I've read from her ( In a dark dark wood- I enjoyes it too 🙂)

Looking forward to reading more from this author!

Next adventure.

Good thing I brought multiple books for the flight. 😉

This has been on my bookshelf for AGES and is my September #bookspin pick! Starting today!

#unreadbookshelf #bookspinbingo #23in2023
@TheAromaofBooks

My September #bookspin and #doublespin

For the rest of the year, I‘m trying to finish challenge prompts and just read books I own. 🤞🏼

#dontgetdistracteddontgetdistracted

Thank you for hosting, @TheAromaofBooks Looking forward to a great September!

I‘m going with a pick because I liked the characters & the premise. Interloper who inherits a fortune to the chagrin of the family is a classic for a reason. But I feel like there is one thing I am fundamentally confused about that should have impacted the story in a significant way… & where it recurred in the story… the reaction didn‘t make sense to me. Did I miss it? Did the MC miss it? Did the author miss it? I don‘t know.
#20in4 #authoramonth

Finished my first book of #BacklistReadthon and my third for #AuthorAMonth for April.

This was the most enjoyable of the books I have read by Ruth Ware, and worked really well as an audiobook. Quite a long read but tells the story of a woman who pretends to be a descendant of a family in order to get an inheritance. Turns into quite a family saga, with many twists and developments along the way.

@Clwojick @TheAromaofBooks @@Soubhiville

I definitely preferred this one to the first title I tried for #AAM but still a low pick for me. The characters were more likable and believable in this one, but it was even easier to predict all the plot twists, and I didn‘t find it very tense for a thriller. @Soubhiville

The author did a great job of creating the gothic atmosphere and writing a cast of colorful, interesting characters! It kept me turning pages. The outcome of the mystery, though, was pretty predictable. I had guessed numerous "plot twists" before I was even halfway through the book. The "clues" just aren't very subtle. Regardless, it was an enjoyable read.
This April #AuthorAMonth gave me my first Ruth Ware experience. @Soubhiville

I started #BackListReadathon by listening to the tagged book by Ruth Ware.

Enjoying it so far.

@Clwojick @TheAromaOfBooks

#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

@ElizaMarie very kindly gifted me this book❤️
I‘m enjoying the premise so far! Maybe I‘ll have better luck for #authoramonth with this novel. It Girl was just ok.

It took me a long time to finish this audio book. My commute is only 20 minutes each way and I wasn‘t interested in listening at any other time. It is my first Ware and likely my last. I did like the MC Hal but it felt too long to get to the big finish. It does ticks some challenge boxes.

#AuthorAMonth #Bookspin #52books #withanimheritance

The magpies are back.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

This book took me a long time to get into, but once I did, it turned out to be good. The twists, although I saw a few coming, were really good. Harriet gets a letter about an inheritance. She believes it to be a case of a mistaken identity, but she's broke and has a loan shark breathing down her neck. So she heads off to collect anyway.
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
#WickedWords #wreck @AsYouWish

I found this one to be quite engaging, partially because I actually liked Hal, which is more than I can say about other Ware MCs that I have read haha Not a lot actually happens here and it seemed like I should be bored, but instead I really did want to find out how Hal was connected to this family. Not a book I will read again, but a one-off I really enjoyed.

#WeeklyForecast includes some April reads, woohoo!! I started the tagged book yesterday and it's good so far. Not pictured are this month's buddy reads: The Once and Future King, Life of Pi, Agnes Grey, and On the Shores of Silver Lake. I have some shorter books coming up so hoping to get through a few this week, but I am also really addicted to Horizon: Zero Dawn right now so...what can you do? 😂
@Cinfhen

I really liked the ending and the characters. Got me in the mood for more family thrillers.

I guessed the lineage early on, though (but that didn't distract from my enjoyment). I enjoyed how she infused Tarot into Hal's personality and the way she navigated through her life. Making this a #HalfAudioHalfPrint kicked up the ability to finish it.

This COVID recovery period has now given me spurts of energy to read (but not do much else).

#ReadMyRoom #BookSpinBingo
@TheAromaOfBooks @AkashaVampie @jb72 @Bookworm54 @AsYouWish @CocoReads

I found this one on Libby in audio. So now I can do a combo #ReadAndAudio while I use my eye masks and shower off the fevers. My nurses keep sleeping on the job. #DogsOfLitsy #PugLife

Enjoyable read, 4/5

Not started yet but this will be my next nonfiction read.

#AlphabetGame #LetterD
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I really ended up enjoying this one. The main character Hal learns the secrets behind the family she never knew she had. I like that it wasn't obvious to me what the mystery was. The author did a good job throwing in a few misdirections i think. For some reason I kept forgetting that it wasn't set in historical times until they would mention cellphones or online searches. If you're looking for a good mystery without being too creepy check it out.

For some reason with this book I keep thinking it's set in the past. It just seems like Victorian times until someone mentions cellphones, text or Google.

Read this one a while back, really enjoyed it! Hoping to re-read it soon.

BRB going to go order every single book she‘s written that I haven‘t already read

I enjoyed this mystery novel. There isn't a ton of action, but I enjoyed the suspense and it kept me engaged until the end which became much more exciting. Ruth Ware tends to follow a certain formula, as most writers do, but there is nothing wrong with that if the story is engaging.

So frustrating. I‘m not even going with a bail, tho I did not finish it. It deserves a 👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽 so so so long, nothing ever happens, there‘s very little ambiance, and ooft, I did get to the twist at the end and at that point I did not care. Yikes.

This was another slow burn to the good stuff, but honestly the chaos at the end was super fun to read through.

I finished this near the beginning of February, so here‘s to more reads in this month! 🍻

#thedeathofmrswestaway #ruthware #mystery

This is the 4th novel by Ruth Ware that I‘ve read. She does tend to follow a formula, and her main characters can tend to be annoying and/or unlikeable, but I was sucked in nonetheless. I read most of this on audio because, well, Imogene Church, but I ended up finishing via hardcover because I was snowed in and didn‘t want to wait to get back to it in the car. I had some of the plot figured out, but other aspects were a surprise.

An atmospheric family mystery, good twists and turns and well written characters. I enjoyed this but not my favourite of her books
3 ⭐️

Book 11

This one felt like adult Clue. I really liked it. The characters were messed up but likeable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ • Has atmospheric Rebecca vibes, but not as good. I liked better than Cabin 10 and was a fine spooky season read.

I could not put this book down. It‘s twisty and turny and I thought I knew the answer and I kind of did but it was an awesome time getting there. #teamslaughter

Last year's spooky book exchange gifted me this and I'm diving in.

🎧 Hal is a great character suffering from poor writing?

Hal‘s mother was hit by a car & died. She was penniless so she had to take up her mom‘s fortune-telling/tarot card reading store front.

She is notified of an inheritance she knows isn‘t hers. Loan sharks want money she‘s borrowed. She plans to use her fortune telling skills as Madam Margarita to get the inheritance money & run.

⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4 👇🏻

Thank you @BookwormAHN I love everything!
#fallingforfallswap

Book with mixed reviewed but I enjoyed it. Hal Westaway received a letter indicating that she needs to go to Trepassen, she is one of the beneficiaries mentioned in her grandmother‘s will. She knows she is not related to this family but her precarious financial situation and debts threats made her to go as an impostor? Is she related to this family? Will she be safe in that house? A slow pace reading at the beginning but then it has twists. 3.8⭐️

Another Ware that I thoroughly enjoyed. I must admit that I guessed the ending at pretty much the earliest it could be guessed. I considered other options as red herrings appeared but I felt pretty sure about my guess. I believe it's easier to guess the twists when it's a physical book vs audio. Still super enjoyed watching how it unfolded though!

I've been devouring this book. Not sure why it took me I think 2years to get to it lol.
I've even chosen to sit outside on break in hopes of finishing it. I think today feels just lovely...though not sure I'll feel that way later during my 2 hr run lol!

The cards (tarot) do not predict the future.

This little passage about reading is the closest I've come to agreeing with a work of fiction about the tarot.

Mystery. Thriller. Intrigue. Death. Family. Secrets. Mistakes. On a day like any other Hal receives a letter, telling her about her inheritance, only problem - the letter was given to the wrong person. Hal needs money so she finds herself on the way to a funeral and caught in the web of a family she desperately needs to blend into, if she is going to pull off the greatest lie of her life. Highly recommend!!

🏯🏯🏯🏯🏯

In this gothic thriller, Hal is a lonely, broke orphan who makes her living by reading tarot cards. She is being harassed by a loan shark who she borrowed $500 from that has turned into a $3000 debt. Then she receives a letter stating that she‘s entitled to a huge inheritance from a dead grandmother. She believes the letter is in error but, she really needs the money, so she heads to Penzance fully intending to fake it so she can get the money.