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gracescanlon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
This was an intriguing novel, with lovable characters and multiple successful red herrings. I did see some of the twists coming, but I wasn’t always entirely correct about the particulars. That kind of twist - where I can guess that there is one, and can guess maybe something or things about it, but other things I didn’t expect are revealed later - is my favorite. It’s the best of both worlds: I get some of the satisfaction of guessing correctly, but also enjoy the surprises the author had in store for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Alcohol
growintogardens's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I figured most of it out, but I enjoyed it and liked Hal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have slowly been making my way through Ruth Ware's backlist, and I knew when I found this copy of "The Death of Mrs. Westaway" at a library book sale, that this would be next up on my Ruth Ware reading list.
"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" follows Hal: a young adult who has recently lost her mother and is in severe financial trouble. She has continued in her mother's footsteps and reads tarot for a living, but with the debt that her and her mother borrowed from a very shady source, she will never be able to repay them. She fears for her own life, until she receives a mysterious letter informing her that she has inherited a large sum of money from a woman named Mrs. Westaway. Hal has never heard of Mrs. Westaway and her mother always told her they had no extended family, but desperate, Hal attends the funeral in the hopes of getting some money to get back onto her feet. What she does not expect is to uncover family secrets that have been buried for decades.
This story was a trip. My heart broke for Hal and her situation. When her mother died, she was left with no one in the world, and all she wanted was a family. She is young and trying to survive but it feels like everything is against her. She does essentially con people for a living, and that is what she was planning to do to the Westaways, but she was driven to the decision out of desperation and devastating circumstance, which I think the reader can empathize with.
This story has a lot of twists, and just when you think you have the family figured out, something new is uncovered and new secrets are revealed. I ultimately did not see the ending of the story coming, but I was also left a bit unsatisfied by it. The people involved and those who helped to cover it up seemed to have somewhat unreasonable rationale for their actions. It all seemed way too dramatic to me for a secret that was not as earth shattering as they all believed.
Overall, this book was fine. It is not my favorite Ruth Ware, but it also did not put me off of her writing either.
"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" follows Hal: a young adult who has recently lost her mother and is in severe financial trouble. She has continued in her mother's footsteps and reads tarot for a living, but with the debt that her and her mother borrowed from a very shady source, she will never be able to repay them. She fears for her own life, until she receives a mysterious letter informing her that she has inherited a large sum of money from a woman named Mrs. Westaway. Hal has never heard of Mrs. Westaway and her mother always told her they had no extended family, but desperate, Hal attends the funeral in the hopes of getting some money to get back onto her feet. What she does not expect is to uncover family secrets that have been buried for decades.
This story was a trip. My heart broke for Hal and her situation. When her mother died, she was left with no one in the world, and all she wanted was a family. She is young and trying to survive but it feels like everything is against her. She does essentially con people for a living, and that is what she was planning to do to the Westaways, but she was driven to the decision out of desperation and devastating circumstance, which I think the reader can empathize with.
This story has a lot of twists, and just when you think you have the family figured out, something new is uncovered and new secrets are revealed. I ultimately did not see the ending of the story coming, but I was also left a bit unsatisfied by it. The people involved and those who helped to cover it up seemed to have somewhat unreasonable rationale for their actions. It all seemed way too dramatic to me for a secret that was not as earth shattering as they all believed.
Overall, this book was fine. It is not my favorite Ruth Ware, but it also did not put me off of her writing either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Pregnancy
laedybug's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
This is the third book by Ruth Ware that I have read and she has been consistently okay. Her books are enjoyable enough and, considering that I only spent a day reading it, worth the time. However, there's nothing really remarkable about any of her books, this one included.
Let's start with the characters: Hal, which is short for Harriet (something I spent a lot of time confused about, but that's just me) is a low-key con artist. From giving tarot readings she does not believe in to deciding to defraud a family out of an inheritance, she definitely does some stuff that might be considered morally grey. Unfortunately, Ware doesn't seem to want to let her live in grey-ness. Ware is constantly reminding the reader that Hal is acting like this out of necessity, that Hal would rather not be giving readings to her impressionable regulars. To me, this takes away some of the uniqueness of Hal's character, especially because it doesn't feel consistent. At one point in the novel, she considers telling a half-lie, and then stops and thinks to herself "No, that's still a lie. I've lied enough." However, when she gets to actually talking to the people, she tells the half lie. Straight up, no hesitation, no thinking to herself about what the consequences of this would be, not truly. I just think the idea of the con-artist, morally grey protagonist is SO promising, and Ware did not deliver.
After Hal, there's a medium sized cast of other Westaway family members (whose home she and the others have come to for the funeral/will reading Hal is trying to con her way into). Ware attempts to give the reader a good framework of how they are all related, so props to her, but some of these characters appear so infrequently and inconsequently that I have to keep flipping back and forth to remember who "Freddie" is. The adults are rather well characterized and easy to tell apart.
The "twist" in the story is interesting because it both came out of nowhere and could be seen from a mile away. It was easy to figure out if you have any degree of familiarity with thrillers or mystery novels, but there was not (in my opinion) as much groundwork laid as there could have been. I was a little disappointed that the final confrontation ended in
something beyond Hal's control. The novel is heavy on Hal making choices (making the choice to go to the funeral, making the choice to leave, making the choice to come back) and yet the climax was her incidentally being saved by nature.
By far my favourite part of this book was whenever it would talk about tarot or would show Hal using her cold-reading skills. In the context of the readings, it was fun to hear how she would lead the conversation based on the cues she picked up, and in the context of day-to-day it was super cool to see how her skills translated to her conning them instead of just being told she could lie really well.
This novel is a fine mystery thriller. It's the kind of thing you would read on the beach or in a hammock after you find it at a garage sale or thrift store for $1 or less, but not (to me) a book you would buy new on the day of release. As long as you go into it expecting a novel that is just okay, you'll be pleased!
Let's start with the characters: Hal, which is short for Harriet (something I spent a lot of time confused about, but that's just me) is a low-key con artist. From giving tarot readings she does not believe in to deciding to defraud a family out of an inheritance, she definitely does some stuff that might be considered morally grey. Unfortunately, Ware doesn't seem to want to let her live in grey-ness. Ware is constantly reminding the reader that Hal is acting like this out of necessity, that Hal would rather not be giving readings to her impressionable regulars. To me, this takes away some of the uniqueness of Hal's character, especially because it doesn't feel consistent. At one point in the novel, she considers telling a half-lie, and then stops and thinks to herself "No, that's still a lie. I've lied enough." However, when she gets to actually talking to the people, she tells the half lie. Straight up, no hesitation, no thinking to herself about what the consequences of this would be, not truly. I just think the idea of the con-artist, morally grey protagonist is SO promising, and Ware did not deliver.
After Hal, there's a medium sized cast of other Westaway family members (whose home she and the others have come to for the funeral/will reading Hal is trying to con her way into). Ware attempts to give the reader a good framework of how they are all related, so props to her, but some of these characters appear so infrequently and inconsequently that I have to keep flipping back and forth to remember who "Freddie" is. The adults are rather well characterized and easy to tell apart.
The "twist" in the story is interesting because it both came out of nowhere and could be seen from a mile away. It was easy to figure out if you have any degree of familiarity with thrillers or mystery novels, but there was not (in my opinion) as much groundwork laid as there could have been. I was a little disappointed that the final confrontation ended in
By far my favourite part of this book was whenever it would talk about tarot or would show Hal using her cold-reading skills. In the context of the readings, it was fun to hear how she would lead the conversation based on the cues she picked up, and in the context of day-to-day it was super cool to see how her skills translated to her conning them instead of just being told she could lie really well.
This novel is a fine mystery thriller. It's the kind of thing you would read on the beach or in a hammock after you find it at a garage sale or thrift store for $1 or less, but not (to me) a book you would buy new on the day of release. As long as you go into it expecting a novel that is just okay, you'll be pleased!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Incest
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Out of the 3 Ruth Ware books I’ve read, this is easily my favorite and also her most like-able characters so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Alcohol, and Classism
gm3116's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
The book kept me entertained while I snowed in during a snow storm but it wasn't amazing. The pace was a bit slow and I was not a fan of the ending. Also why did no one acknowledge the fact that Hal's mother and father were relatives ??????ick
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death and Car accident
gabriellewaldron's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Ok twist at the end that I didn't see coming, however the fast paced thriller aspect didn't start until the last 100 pages, so the first 300 pages felt very slow and repetitive. However I did have fun reading this, had good ominous ambiance but the reaction at the ending by the main characters was a bit under played as surely they would be more surprised about who her dad ended up being!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
oakleylynch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence, Car accident, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Infidelity, Racial slurs, and Alcohol
I saw another review where they tagged a Racial Slur use! I do not remember this but just as a warning I added it.lia5trawberry's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
carissa230's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Hal's life is not going to plan. She has no money, she can barely afford to eat, and there are collectors after her. She has no idea what she's going to do when a letter arrives stating her grandmother has passed away and she is needed at the reading of the will. Hal knows that is impossible as her grandmother has been deceased. Sadly Hal has no family so there is nobody to help her figure this out.
Hal decides to go and see if she can get any money to help her solve her problems.
Once Hal arrives it becomes clear that there is something going on under the surface. Mrs. Westaway was not loved by her family. She wasn't even liked by her family. Things get even stranger when Hal spots her mom in some photos they have.
As things become more confusing and Hal realizes she cannot continue to deceive those around her.
The book was very slow to get to the point. It felt a little too long.
Hal decides to go and see if she can get any money to help her solve her problems.
Once Hal arrives it becomes clear that there is something going on under the surface. Mrs. Westaway was not loved by her family. She wasn't even liked by her family. Things get even stranger when Hal spots her mom in some photos they have.
As things become more confusing and Hal realizes she cannot continue to deceive those around her.
The book was very slow to get to the point. It felt a little too long.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Murder and Pregnancy