#the death of mrs westaway

[adrasteiax]

(...) her heart clutched again with the pain of loss, as if an old, half-healed wound had been struck.

Ruth Ware, from The Death Of Mrs Westaway

[fictional-llamas]

This was a great book to read in the fall! Kind of spooky, lots of mystery and tension. It follows the main character, Hal, as she pretends to be the granddaughter of the recently passed Mrs. Westaway in the hopes of getting an inheritence but finds that the family is hiding something. I loved trying to figure out what was really happening. Definitely suggest for mystery lovers.

[forsorrow]

friends. I need book recommendations please. I'm taking my Kindle away with me and I don't want to purchase books I already own as physical copies 💀

[catmint1]

I wanted to write in my diary—to do as I always do when things get too much—let it out onto the page, like a kind of bloodletting, letting the ink and paper soak up all the grief and anger and fear until I can cope again.

Ruth Ware, The Death of Mrs. Westaway

[khelinski]

...and they stepped inside, into the dark, breathing house.

Ruth Ware

[r41nbowrumpusp4rty]

idk y every1 always reccomends the turn of the key by Ruth Ware

cus its her weakest book imo

[mysteryloversbookshelf]

Some of My Favorite Mystery/Thriller Books Categorized by Tropes

Like every other book genre, mystery/thriller novels have several tropes that you either love or hate. I personally am a huge fan of mysteries involving otherwise normal suburbs, spouses where one or both have a secret, and locked room mysteries with complex puzzles. Here is a list of common tropes and books that I've read that fall into those categories:

Agoraphobia

The Woman in the Window - A.J. Finn

Book Within a Book

Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery Series - Anthony Horowitz

Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz

Creepy Children

Baby Teeth - Zoje Stage

The Only Child - Mi-Ae Seo

The Push - Ashley Audrain

Final Girl

The Final Girl Support Group - Grady Hendrix

Feuding Neighbors

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

Haunted House

The Death of Jane Lawrence - Caitlin Starling

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Heist

The Monsters We Defy - Penelope Leslye

Portrait of a Thief - Grace D. Li

House Sitting Gone Wrong

The Last Word - Taylor Adams

Lock Every Door - Riley Sager

Inheritance from Distant Relative / Stranger

The Death of Mrs. Westaway - Ruth Ware

Jane Austen Inspired

A Most Agreeable Murder

Kidnapped Baby

The Couple Next Door - Shari Lapena

Locked Room Mystery

The Mystery of the Yellow Room - Gaston Leroux

Secret Staircase Mystery Series - Gigi

Mistaken Identity

Are You Sara? - S.C. Lalli

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The Request - David Bell

Nomad Protagonist

Frankie Elkin Series - Lisa Gardner

Overbearing Mothers

The Favorite Daughter - Kaira Rouda

The Mother-in-Law - Sally Hepworth

Reality Show

The Golden Spoon

Return to Childhood Home & Unsolved Mystery

Fierce Little Thing - Miranda Beverly Whittemore

The Resting Place - Camilla Sten

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

Return to Summer Camp & Unsolved Mystery

I'll Never Tell - Catherine McKenzie

The Last Time I Lied - Riley Sager

Single White Female

Social Creature - Tara Isabella Burton

Sole Survivor of Family Massacre Seeking Truth

Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

Those Empty Eyes - Charlie Donlea

Time Travel

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle -

Wrong Place Wrong Time - Gillian McAllister

Snowed In

No Exit - Taylor Adams

True Crime Podcast

Girl Forgotten

The Sorority Murders

Unreliable Narrator

Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney

Wedding Gone Wrong

The Couple at the Table - Sophie Hannah

The Guilt Trip - Sandie Jones

The Guest List - Lucy Foley

You're Invited - Amanda Jaytista

[sharperandmoreprecious]

hiiiii holly .. did i send u numbers in the past probably but here are my own questions. what book would you recommend for a road trip. what book had a great concept but terrible execution. if you had to read the same book every week for 2023 which would it be. what book should i read next.

yall want to hear me talk about MORE books?? i am flattered, im cradling these asks gently in my hands road trip: the first that came to mind was peace like a river, by leif enger. it is a heartachey and magical journey that is unreasonably beautifully written. but if we're talking about audiobooks to play in the car, i have a crush on imogen church whenever she reads ruth ware's books, even when i don't love the ruth ware book. but i like the death of mrs. westaway and one by one. great concept, terrible execution: imagine a book pitched to you as "a couple struggling with their relationship goes on one last mountain hike to try and patch things up... but when their tour guide mysteriously dies, both believes the other person is responsible. and theyre determined to get the other to confess before they part ways." i heard that and went out and bought it immediately. its called fish swimming in dappled sunlight. and i had a real hard time with it.

rereading the same book every week in 2023: look you know i gotta say little weirds by jenny slate. she keeps me sane. or bone gap by laura ruby... i get catharsis from it every time. and for you?? hm. tell me your top 5 from last year and i'll have better recommendations... but salt slow, if you hadn't read it already. last true poets of the sea is a gay YA retelling of twelfth night that i loved. maybe why be happy when you could be normal by jeanette winterson, in terms of memoirs that split me open like jenn shapland's <3

[lucky-clover-gazette]

12 and 20 for the book ask meme?

long answers ahead because books

12. any books that disappointed you?

yeah, but that's okay! i'm sure some people loved each of these, and others hate my faves. here are a few i read during my bookseller era, fall 2021-spring 2022, from my storygraph log:

the death of mrs. westaway by ruth ware (1.5 stars) - i love ruth ware's mysteries and thrillers so much, but this one just didn't go anywhere interesting or surprising. disappointing because it's ruth ware, and her debut in a dark, dark wood is a 5-star novel for me

my sister, the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite (2 stars) - literally just my storygraph review: "I opened this book expecting a domestic thriller and got literary fiction. That's on me!" it's not a bad book by any means, just not what i was looking for. many many people appreciate this book for what it is, a darkly humorous lit fic about sibling relationships, and i'm genuinely glad it exists. my low star rating is not reflective of the book's quality, but my misinformed and therefore disappointing experience with it

nine perfect strangers by liane moriarty (3 stars) - the premise was so up my alley, because i love "things go terribly wrong in vacation or retreat-adjacent situations" stories, but hm. too many things bothered me here. the stakes were confused and the tone couldn't figure out out where it wanted to be, and a subplot involving teenage suicide (something i am admittedly very sensitive about) felt underdeveloped. this was my first liane moriarty and it didn't leave me itching to read more

i kissed a girl by jennet alexander (1 star) - this was my first attempt at reading a contemporary romance, because my coworkers at former bookstore job were/are avid fans of the genre and i wanted to understand their enthusiasm. and man... this is just not the genre for me. yeah i had some problems with this book specifically, but tbh i don't think it ever had a fair chance just being what it is. and being what it is, i'm sure many others absolutely adore it. i don't dislike the entire romance genre, though--biiiig fan of small-press lesbian pirate adventure-romance novels from the 2000s

i could list like a dozen generic domestic thrillers that just didn't pick up any speed, but i don't want to hurt any authors' feelings if they're looking for reviews that mention their names. point is, books are hit or miss, and i think it's interesting to analyze why something is disappointing with the same thoroughness i'd use for a book i love

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

still counting my bookseller era as the "past year," as i took a break from reading novels after leaving the job and have only gotten back into it in the past few months.

insomnia by sarah pinborough - i already LOVED this author's work (especially fond of her trophy wives murdering rich men and being gay thriller dead to her) and i got an advanced copy of her latest release because bookseller. so it was special and anticipated both because i adore her writing, and i got it early!! the book actually surpassed my expectations by taking a lot of the themes of her previous works and, like, really nailing them. here's a snippet of my review, written right after reading it:

"I'm definitely sensing a pattern in [Pinborough's] thrillers: a very strong foundation in the real world, dealing with tangible traumatic events, but with the slightest hint of the mystical and spiritual. There's always a little bit of the unknown at the end of each book, but it's not unsatisfying in the way other twist endings tend to be. Her novels, at the end of the day, feel like they all take place in the same twisted world, where magic is just a little more possible than it is in ours."

[halloweenvalentine1997]

A recommended reading list of books I own and have read

A Demon in my View by Ruth Rendell

A Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell

A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett

A Season in Purgatory by Dominick Dunne

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

A Spy in the House of Love by Anais Nin

All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Anthem by Ayn Rand

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Breaking Blue by Timothy Egan

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Carrie by Stephen King

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean

Dead Run by Erica Spindler

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Every Breath You Take by Ann Rule

Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fatal Flowers by Rosemary Daniell

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Garden of Shadows by V.C. Andrews

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule

Help the Poor Struggler by Martha Grimes

High Lonesome by Joyce Carol Oates

I Am the Only Running Footman by Martha Grimes

I Know You Know by Gilly Macmillan

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg

If You Really Loved Me by Ann Rule

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Just Kids by Patti Smith

Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Menfreya in the Morning by Victoria Holt

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

My Sweet Audrina by by V.C. Andrews

Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin

Night Gaunts by Joyce Carol Oates

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard

Over Tumbled Graves by Jess Walter

Pearl in the Mist by V.C. Andrews

Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews

Pursuit by Joyce Carol Oates

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Ruby by V.C. Andrews

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb

Slenderman by Kathleen Hale

Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule

Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

Suicide Blonde by Darcey Steinke

Summer by Edith Wharton

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag

The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

The Anodyne Necklace by Martha Grimes

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh

The Butterfly Girl by Rene Denfeld

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Cutler series by V.C. Andrews

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

The Deer Leap by Martha Grimes

The Doll Master by Joyce Carol Oates

The Elizas by Sara Shepard

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

The Female of the Species by Joyce Carol Oates

The Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The Hudson series by V.C. Andrews

The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

The Logan series by V.C. Andrews

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

The Old Contemptibles By Martha Grimes

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Prince of Lost Places by Kathy Hepinstall

The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence

The Right Hand of Evil by John Saul

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Shining by Stephen King

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

The Stand by Stephen King

The Strange Beautiful by Carla Crujido

The Sundial by Shirley Jackson

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

The Third Twin by Ken Follett

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Screw & Daisy Miller by Henry James

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Vanish by Tess Gerritsen

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Wait for Me by Sara Shepard

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

[jxrm]

book log - 2019

my kind of perfect by hannah ellis

not the girl you marry by andie j. christopher

the wedding party by jasmine guillory

sweet venom by tera lynn childs

obsession by amanda robson

the proposal by jasmine guillory

maybe in another life by taylor jenkins reid

the last librarian by brandt legg

exit west by mohsin hamid

the water cure by sophie mackintosh

the broken hearts' society of suite 17c by leighann kopans

royal holiday by jasmine guillory

the good samaritan by john marrs

fuck marriage by taryn fisher

christmas with friends by hannah ellis

the death of mrs. westaway by ruth ware

gabi, a girl in pieces by isabel quintero

swipe right for murder by derek millman

#therealcinderella by yesenia vargas

shutter island by dennis lehane

the wedding of rachel blaine by amy cross

pieces of her by karin slaughter

these witches don't burn by isabel sterling

a spark of light by jodi picoult

the friend by teresa driscoll

frankissstein by jeanette winterson

how to hang a witch by adriana mather

the bride test by helen hoang

just one bite by jack heath

the babysitters coven by kate williams

blame game by c.j. cooke

about the night by anat talshir

wreckage by emily bleeker

our house by louise candilish

just what kind of mother are you? by paula daly

the other ann by amy cross

in a dark, dark wood by ruth ware

spare room by dreda say mitchell

jar of hearts by jennifer hillier

without remorse by tom clancy

the amateurs by liz harmer

exhalation by ted chiang

the astonishing color of after by emily x.r. pan

all the beautiful lies by peter swanson

batman: year one by frank miller

go by kazuki kaneshiro

the bird and the sword by amy harmon

q is for quarry by sue grafton

guilt by amanda robson

blame it on bianca del rio by bianca del rio

size 14 is not fat either by meg cabot

the banker's wife by cristina alger

a good enough mother by bev thomas

someone we know by shari lapena

the man i thought you were by leah mercer

radio silence by alice oseman

the butterfly garden by dot hutchison

in twenty years by allison winn scotch

what happened at the lake by phil m. williams

the thinnest air by minka kent

you know me well by nina lacour

the waiting room by emily bleeker

sleeping murder by agatha christie

we were mothers by katie sise

bunny by mona awad

the one by john marrs

losing leah halloway by lisa reganby devney perry

the song of achilles by madeline miller

daughters of the lake by wendy webb

remember me? by sophie kinsella

the birthday list by devney perry

a curse so dark and lonely by birgid kemmener

spindle by e.k. johnston

the babysitter by sheryl browne

a serial killer's daughter by kerri rawson

the ex by alafair burke

the meryl streep movie club by mia march

watership down by richard adams

every ugly word by aimee l. salter

the rhythm of blues by love belvin

killman creek by rachel caine

undead girl gang by lily anderson

the turn of the key by ruth ware

smart girls gets what they want by sarah strohmeyer

girl gnoe virals by arvin ahmadi

the perfect roommate by minka kent

brother by david chariandy

that time i loved you by carrianne leung

lock every door by riley sager

the zen man by colleen collins

stillhouse lake by rachel caine

daisy jones & the six by taylor jenkins reid

once upon a river by daine setterfield

the good widow by liz fenton

sadie by courtney summers

dead girls by tim kizer

half past by victoria helen stone

the woo-woo by lindsay wong

ender's game by orson scott card

smoke by catherine mckenzie

the favorite daughter by kaira rouda

xo by jeffery deaver

whiskey in a teacup by reese witherspoon

the truth lies here by lindsey klingele

save the date by morgan matson

i am wathcing you by teresa driscoll

the last time i lied by riley sager

alex and eliza by melissa de la cruz

little fires everywhere by celeste ng

the long deception by mary mccluskey

fast forward by juliet madison

emergency contact by mary h.k. choi

two weddings and a fugitive by donna joy usher

the rules of magic by alice hoffman

i dream of johnny by juliet madison

friends like these by hannah ellids

the perfect mother by aimee molloy

a beautiful poison by lydia kang

girls with sharp sticks by suzanne young

the other woman by sandie jones

from twinkle with love by sandhya menon

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid

instant mom by nia vardalos

finding claire by lisa regan

the silent patient by alex michaelides

hidden bodies by caroline kepnes

playing with matches by hannah orenstein

the last resort by marissa stapley

robin by dave itzkoff

the perfect child by lucinda berry

sugar run by mesha maren

the afterlife of holly chase by cynthia hand

bright side by kim holden

convenience store woman by sayaka murata

the perfect mother by nina darnton

rush by lisa patton

girls' night out by liz fenton

the tattooist of auschwitz by heather morris

the power by naomi alderman

bird box by josh malerman

all we ever wanted by emily giffin

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson

this is how it always is by laurie frankel

eligible by curtis sittenfield

the better sister by alafair burke

an anonymous girl by greer hendricks

educated by tara westover

nine perfect strangers by liane moriarty

the good neighbor: the life and work of fred rogers by maxwell king

harry potter and the philosopher's stone by j.k. rowling

five feet apart by rachael lippincott

the seven deaths of evelyn hardcastle by stuart turton

harry potter and the chamber of secrets by j.k. rowling

verity by colleen hoover

the wedding beat by devan sipher

harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban by j.k. rowling

boy swallows universe by trent dalton

the polygamist's daughter by anna labaron

harry potter and the order of the phoenix by j.k. rowling

starstruck in seattle by juliet madison

harry potter and the goblet of fire by j.k. rowling

13 minutes by sarah pinborough

harry potter and the half blood prince by j.k. rowling

the silver star by jeannette walls

harry potter and the deathly hallows by j.k. rowling

the girls by emma cline

the sun is also a star by nicola yoon

[tjprd]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Ruth Ware Mystery Novel Book Bundle Gifts Book Club Suspense Fall Winter.

[aetheros]

why are all Ezras utterly insane

finished reading ‘the death of mrs westaway’ and ngl I definitely found Ezra hot in the end

[rantsintechnicolor]

i love books; what I read in 2023

The State of Affairs by Esther Perel (everyone who is married/partnered or wants to be should read this book) (also, read it at the tale end of last year, finished it this year)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Things I Should Have Told My Daughter by Pearl Cleage

The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman (reading it again, and am again fully transported, incredible book)

Over My Dead Body; Unearthing The Hidden History of America's Cemeteries by Greg Melville (highly recommend)

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware (another reread)

Nimona by ND Stevenson

The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

Big Friendship by Amitatou Sou and Ann Friedman (e-book via Libby app and my library card)

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

The Wandering by Intam Paramaditha

Hercule Poirot Short Story series by Agatha Christie

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Volume I, II and III by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audio book via hoopla and my library card!) (so is this three books? I'll just call it one)

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Egyptomania by Bob Brier, Ph.D.

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb by Agatha Christie

The Mummy! by Jane C. Loudon (it is extremely amusing to read science fiction written in the Victorian Era, but also infuriating, but also hilarious)

Lot 249 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle via Antique Freaks and Terrible Book Club podcast (read to me, you glorious queers!)

The Mummy's Foot by Theophile Gautier via Antique Freaks and Terrible Book Club

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens, Volume 1

The Haunted Man & The Ghosts Bargain by Charles Dickens

Straight by Chuck Tingle

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria

BOOKS FROM BEFORE. So, I didn't used to document all my reading so well. These I have read sometime in the five years previous to 2022, and just ran across the title and remembered reading it:

The Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

Gods of the Upper Air by Charles King

[khelinski]

Hal's heart seemed to slow insider her chest, a great stillness settling over her. She should have been panicking. But it was as though something had hold of her inside, and was squeezing...squeezing...

Ruth Ware

[cherylmmbookblog]

#Blogtour Zero Days by Ruth Ware

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Zero Days by Ruth Ware. About the Author Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs Westaway, The Turn of the Key and One by One have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times. Her books have been…