This audiobook wasn’t for me.

The amount of pettiness and fighting between the characters was a big turn off for me. It was bickering back and forth for the majority of the story. Had it been cut in half, the audiobook would have been cut in half. I was not rooting for a single character and didn’t care about any of them. It made me entirely uninterested in the story.

The narrator was good, I listened at 1.75x.

The beginning of this was great. But after a while I started to get bored and I didn't care about these characters anymore.

Thank you so much for my gifted copy

Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio for allowing me to listen to this ALC!
I read Sian Gilbert's debut novel as an audiobook as well and was so happy to get to listen to this one.
The first lines definitely hooked me, and I really liked the setting of this mystery, it had great potential!
But honestly, the petty drama between the characters wore me down. There were just too many of them, and I think the story would’ve been stronger with a tighter cast. I listened to the full-cast audiobook, which helped keep everyone straight, but even then, I found myself rolling my eyes more than once. It was entertaining for a bit, but overall, this kind of drama-heavy mystery just isn’t my vibe.

Narration:
Speed: 1.75X
Narrators: Fiona Hardingham; Imogen Church; Emma Fenney; Karen Cass; Sara Novak; Jodie Harris. I'm a huge fan of Imogen Church's voice! So I may be biased. I loved her tone the most. The narrators truly elevated the story, flawless pacing, expressive tone, and just the right emotional depth.

“I Did Warn Her” is what happens when “Below Deck” gets possessed by “Clue” and everyone’s a suspect. It's like watching a true crime doc on a boat while sipping Prosecco and realizing halfway through that everyone might be a psychopath. You’re on a billionaire’s yacht, surrounded by suspiciously similar-looking women, long-simmering secrets, and the kind of rich-people problems that usually end in murder.

Sasha takes a job as a last-minute replacement stewardess on the Ophelia, which sounds glamorous until you realize it’s basically a floating cult of hot, dead-eyed blondes who all seem allergic to honesty and basic human warmth. Things go off the rails fast, and instead of supporting each other, the crew starts acting like they’re auditioning for a backstabbing reality show set at sea. Alibis, side-eyes, secrets — it’s less “teamwork” and more “don’t get pushed overboard.”

Also, fun little detail — a stewardess disappeared on this same yacht last year. Just vanished. Never solved. Totally normal. No one’s really talking about it, but Sasha can feel it. That electric, skin-crawling sense that history’s about to repeat itself and she might be next. The Ophelia doesn’t just have secrets. It has memory.

The boat’s opulence is giving murder Barbie dreamhouse. Stolen jewelry. Mysterious backstories. Party girls who may or may not be con artists. Everyone’s lying. Everyone’s young and beautiful or rich. Everyone’s casually traumatized. It’s incredible.

We hop between different perspectives like a gossip-fueled game of hot potato, which can be disorienting but also delicious. You start to feel like you’re eavesdropping in real time, except the conversations are all secrets, threats, and low-grade panic. Nobody’s clean. Everybody’s spiraling. It's a reality show, but someone dies for real.

Gilbert nails the tension and the setting. You can practically smell the salt air and the panic sweat. The pacing is tight, the atmosphere is claustrophobic, and the vibes are immaculate. But the sheer number of characters? It gets messy. You might need a corkboard and string just to keep the cast straight, and at times it’s hard to tell who you’re supposed to care about. (Spoiler: probably no one.)

It’s juicy, it’s chaotic, it’s exactly the kind of morally swampy thriller you want to read when you need your rich people drama with a body count. It’s messy in ways that work, and messy in ways that could use a life vest. Still, the emotional whiplash was worth it. For me, it lands at a slightly seasick but satisfying 3.5 stars.

Whodunity Award: For Making Me Suspect Every Single Blonde on Board

Big thanks to HarperAudio Adult and NetGalley for the early listen — and to Fiona Hardingham, Imogen Church, Emma Fenney, Karen Cass, Sara Novak, and Jodie Harris, who fully brought the story to life. Nothing like hearing a mystery unfold in six distinct voices while slowly losing trust in everyone.

Audiobook Review 🛥️🔪🌊
Thank you so much partner @williammorrowbooks and Harper Audio for the gifted copy + audiobook!

I Did Warn Her
by Sian Gilbert
Narrated by Fiona Hardingham; Imogen Church; Emma Fenney; Karen Cass; Sara Novak; Jodie Harris

About the book 👇🏽

The Ophelia is your typical billionaire yacht: ridiculously luxurious, owned by a ruthless money man, and staffed by a crew whose only job is to indulge the guests’ every wish.

Model-gorgeous Sasha is a last-minute hire for a weeklong Atlantic crossing. She joins fellow stewardesses Jade, Imogen, Euphemia, and Lola. The Ophelia’s stewardesses are almost identical—blonde and model-gorgeous—and all were lured to the Ophelia by high wages and a chance to leave their problems behind when they set sail. But despite its sleek opulence, the Ophelia isn’t as heavenly as it seems. A stewardess on the previous charter died under mysterious circumstances, the guests’ expensive jewelry keeps disappearing, and the crew grows steadily more and more suspicious of one another.

Then the yacht’s owner brings aboard his best friend and two more women, also beautiful. Also hiding something.

When a crew member turns up dead after a night of partying, everyone on the yacht is a suspect. Who is the jewel thief? Who is the murderer? What will happen when the lights go out, and the crew and the guests are finally on equal footing?


🛥️ My thoughts:

Oh man was this fun!! I gave She Started it five stars in 2023 and I Did Warn Her did not disappoint! The entire cast of narrators did an incredible job of keeping me on the edge of my seat. It was twisty and addictive, making this the perfect poolside or beach binge. And even better… a binge you won’t feel guilty about. I love a good locked room mystery and this one was done so well. Drama, secrets, and MURDER, what’s not to love? I highly recommend giving this summer thriller a read or a listen, it’s worth it! I did warn her is out 6/17/25! Add it to your cart and your TBR, you don’t want to miss it.

Happy reading 📖🛥️🔪🌊

So I LOVED "She Started It". So I was so happy to to be able to listen to "I Did Warn Her". Sasha gets a job on a billionaire yacht. She has something from her past she is leaving. All the other people on the yacht are not very nice and the stewardesses all look the same. This was a locked room mystery with a lot of lying and blaming others. People disappearing in the past and people dying or being hurt in the present. Who is doing it?
I had some issues with too many POVs and it got confusing. Also there was not a big difference in the audio of voices for the characters so that did not help either. I feel like the book could have been edited down as it dragged in some places. Then there some places were the twists so good and I did not want to stop listening. Overall it was a fun read and I look forward to the author`s next book. I give it 3.5 stars but rounding up to 4.