Book Review: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
The Turn of the Key
Author: Ruth Ware
Narrator: Imogene Church
Published: August 6, 2019
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: November 1-12, 2020
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.
It was everything.
She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.
Jessica’s Review:
The Turn of the Key is my favorite Ruth Ware novel! I hope she keeps writing novels like this one of the gothic suspense genre! This one had everything to love: a mysterious house with a past of its own that has been transformed into a ‘smart house’ that may also be haunted, someone accused of murder and telling their story, a picture perfect family that actually isn’t , and things that go creak and bump in the night! I started this one just after Halloween, but it would have been a perfect read to lead up to Halloween, especially with parts of Imogene Church’s narration. As mentioned in previous reviews, I adore Imogene Church’s narrations!!!
We start the novel with Rowan Caine in prison awaiting trial for the murder of one of the children. Rowan was the newest nanny, though the family has gone through four in the past year, Rowan had seen this as an opportunity to not pass by. Rowan is writing a letter to the man that she hopes will become her new lawyer as she is not happy with her current one. Rowan’s letter is the whole novel and she is telling the lawyer Mr. Wrexham her side of the story.
I did not know what to expect with this one. The hose was creepy in so many ways: its history and just being a ‘smart house’. I know after reading this novel I do NOT want to live in a smart house of any kind! I did not know what to really believe from Rowan, but had no idea how the story was going to end. And those last twists that happened: I NEVER would have seen coming!
This is a creepy, character driven thriller that will keep you involved in the story all the way to the ending!
The Turn of the Key is very highly recommended!!
Book Review: One by One by Ruth Ware
One by One
Author: Ruth Ware
Narrator: Imogene Church
Published: September 8, 2020
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: October 18-30, 2020
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?
An off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?
Jessica’s Review:
One by One centers on a up and coming new social media app called Snoop, where you can do just that: Snoop on whomever you want and listen to the same music they are listening to at the exact same moment of time. (You can keep your information as private or public as you want). This app is supposed to be the ‘next big thing’ and has a possible high selling price, if the shareholders want to. And there are mixed feelings about selling the company.
A certain number of employees of the company attend a retreat at a chalet, but there is an avalanche and one of the members goes missing, and they presume this person is dead. There is also no power and things keep happening and well… others start dying and no one can really trust anyone. Everyone seems to have ulterior motives.
We have two POVs: Erin- the host at the chalet (and thus the one in charge of the people and her resort) and Liz- an employee attending the retreat. Through both of these perspectives we see the dynamics of this company and why everyone becomes a suspect.
Though the story is more of a mystery than a thriller, in fact it really is less than thrilling. When we find out who the killer is it wasn’t anything really earth shattering and I finished it to see what would happen. I think this was an instance of too many characters in one story. There was really no one to root and cheer for. It also became a story of who is going to die next and how? If you put all these people in one small place with no power, not much food, and nowhere to go of course paranoia will start running rampant.
Ruth Ware is an established author and I enjoy listening to her books. The narrator Imogene Church is wonderful as always. Ware and Church have become two names synonymous for me. (Such as Mary Kay Andrews and Kathleen McInerney- I also love that dynamic duo!) Some of Ware’s books have not been totally for me while I have really enjoyed others. This is an author I will keep reading!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Blog Blitz: Inside Voices by Sarah Davis
As a part of the blog blitz, today I share my review for Inside Voices by Sarah Davis. I awarded this one 5 stars! It is currently just .99 for Kindle! **There is also an international giveaway going on!**
Book Description:
The mind is a strange beast…extraordinary, unpredictable, protective.
Penny Osborn’s mind is no exception. In High School, Penny witnessed a massacre and lost her father to the same killers. She had seen it unfold before it happened, in a premonition, but could not prevent it.
A college research project at the edge of the Arctic is her chance for a new beginning. Struggling with PTSD, Penny’s therapy includes running, dogs, and guitars. Yet her fresh start is plagued by new premonitions, dark and foreboding, that coincide with a rising number of murders in the community. Her visions are vague, offering little to identify the killer.
When confronted with an orphaned polar bear cub, Penny risks everything to save its life. The deepening mystery of the murdered women, coupled with the exhaustive duties of caring for the small cub, draw her closer to her friend, Noah, and further from her sister.
Fearful for the serial killer’s next target, Penny discovers where her physical abilities can help her.
Will letting go of the past lead to healing? And can she stop the murders?
Inside Voices
Author: Sarah Davis
Published: June 30, 2020
309 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Dates Read: October 14-27, 2020
Jessica’s Review:
The way Inside Voices begins is a living nightmare of a terrible school shooting and then more. This was a day that changes Penny Osborne’s life forever. This novel shows us what PTSD and learning to deal with loss can do to a person. After the shooting, Penny and the rest of her family move to Alaska for a chance to start over and move on. But will they be able to?
From the book description I knew there was going to be a baby polar bear, and I was anxiously awaiting the cub’s arrival. Once the cub arrived things really got moving for me. Inside Voices is my first novel based out of Alaska and also the first with a polar bear cub and I absolutely loved it! Add in a serial killer mystery, a set of twins with psychic powers, and a bit of romance and you have just about everything you could want!
Davis has been a veterinarian for 20 years and she took what she knows with the character of Eelyn. Her descriptions of Alaska made me feel like I was there, I could picture everything perfectly.
I really liked Penny and she has more abilities than just telepathic communication with her twin sister Lucy. Thrillers are my main genre of choice, and the serial killer subplot is what drew me to this novel, but it is so much more than that! Once the serial killer events are solved there is still much more story that takes place: most of it dealing with Fjord. I adored Fjord, and it makes me thisclose to wanting a polar bear cub. (As long as it stays small and will not eat me….) Fjord became the whole reason for reading this novel for me.
There is an unexpected turn that makes we want to read the novel again. It was something I should have seen coming, but didn’t!
Thank you to Sarah Davis for introducing me to the state of Alaska, Fjord and the whole story of Inside Voices. This is one that I really enjoyed and will stay with me for a while. This one is definitely recommended!
Purchase Link: http://mybook.to/insidevoices
About the Author:
Sarah Davis is many things…wife, mother, veterinarian, writer. An avid reader, she enjoys stories that transport her into new and exciting lands. Having read more books than she could ever count, she has considered writing a novel for ages. It wasn’t until the idea for “Inside Voices” popped into her mind that she finally started pursuing that dream, with much encouragement from her family. She and her incredible husband share their remote home on the prairie with their three extraordinary children and one mostly human weimaraner.
Contact Sarah:
Website
Twitter @SarahDavisAuth1
Instagram:
Penny: @PennyOsborn10
Sarah: @sarahdavisauthor
Facebook:
Personal Page
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