A whole lot going on for just one boat! We have personal items going missing, a mysterious death, and a plethora of suspects. Clue but on a boat anyone? Definitely don’t trust anyone, would be my advice.

This was a fun multiple POV, locked room type thriller. I had a few theories and enjoyed the twists. The narration was pretty good too. Nothing that absolutely blew me away, but I still really enjoyed this book.

I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert – 3.75⭐️

I did enjoy this book overall, it kept me hooked and I loved to hate most of the characters which is always a fun vibe in a thriller. That being said, there were a lot of POVs and sometimes I lost track of who was who, which pulled me out of the story here and there.

One thing that really annoyed me was how the characters constantly went on with stuff like, “I’m such a bad person, I killed this person because [insert totally valid medical negligence reason that wasn’t their fault at all]” or “I’m a bad person because [insert dumb reason].” That trope drives me nuts and it honestly ruined Sasha’s POV for me. She was incredibly annoying because of it.

Still, despite the POV overload and the “I’m such a terrible person” nonsense, I found the book really enjoyable. Messy characters, drama, tension, I was definitely entertained even if I wanted to roll my eyes a few times.

This one wasn't for me. I started out with interest in it being on a boat and how odd it was that the stewardesses looked like each other, but past that, I couldn't get into it. I ended up DNF'ing about halfway through. My first issue was the amount of POVs, especially with people who are similar to each other; so it was sometimes hard to follow. The author did do a good job of writing dislikable characters, but there wasn't really one I cared about too much to even mid finding out the twists and the ending, unfortunately.

Book length felt excessive and the large cast of characters who are unlikable made for a less enjoyable read despite the ongoing action. The epilogue had me in ahh.

Suspenseful and engaging below deck narrative with many twists and turns. Kept me guessing until the end. Strong characters and unique story lines.

I enjoyed this Below decks meets The woman in cabin 10 murder mystery thriller that takes place aboard a super yacht and sees a former deckhand sneaking back on as the mistress of one of the wealthy guests in order to find out what happened to her friend who disappeared last year. When the bodies start piling up again the stakes to uncover the killer become higher than ever!

Full of twists, secrets and a whole host of suspicious characters, this one kept me guessing til the end and I really enjoyed the Yacht setting. Good on audio with a full cast of narrators and perfect for fans of books like The lion's den by Katherine St. John. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Fans of Below Deck and crime mysteries will enjoy this one. I myself like both enough to stay entertained but wasn’t as enthralled as I had hoped to be by the description. I didn’t find it easy rooting for any of the characters, both the protagonist or victims. They were lacking in redeeming qualities, I think by design, in order to maintain that ‘whodunit’ guise. Still, it is filled with the entertaining drama you’re bound to find with a bunch of young, attractive people residing in close quarters in a luxury setting. I had the audiobook version and I appreciate the use of different voice actors to help narrate the different points of view. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Holy---POvs---BATMAN!!

I honestly don't know if I have read/listened to a book with more POVs than this! Audiobook is the way to go with this book. With each POV, you have a new narrator and accent, it helped a lot keeping POVs straight but when character's names were said I had no idea who was who. It does match with the theme of being Below Deck but with secrets and murder but there were sooo many secrets to keep track of!

This could have been similfied and some twists could have been taken out and it would have still need a solid book.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for an ALC of this book.

Sadly, this book didn’t really work for me. It truly could be just a me thing. I’m not Below Deck and there were so many references. More than that, there was just too many characters with too many secrets to be believable. I also think it was way too long. With that being said, it was well written and I will say I did enjoy the final chapter!

I Did Warn Her had all the ingredients for a tense, locked-room-style thriller—a luxury yacht, a small crew of glamorous but suspicious characters, and the promise of a body count. Unfortunately, for me, it didn’t quite deliver.

The setup was intriguing, but the pacing dragged in places and the plot leaned heavily on coincidences to move things forward. While the nearly identical stewardesses could have been an interesting device, they often blurred together, making it hard to connect with (or care about) most of the characters. The twists felt more convenient than earned, and by the time the big reveal came, it didn’t pack the punch I was hoping for.

As suggested, the cover and title caught my eye. I believe I have heard of the author, but not 100% sure.
I like suspense books, but this seemed to drag. I liked the narrator, so that wasn’t the issue, but I looked at how much time was left of the book and it said 4 hours. I was shocked. I felt it could have all been wrapped up within 30 minutes. There were twists and turns in the book, but nothing that surprised me.
This is not a book, I will recommend or use with my students.
It was a good book, but maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

Super yacht, locked room scenario, missing items and people situation!?! I'm all in! The story was thrilling and engaging enough, although at times it got bogged down with so many different characters to keep up with. The audiobook was ok to keep up with. I would rate this a 3.5 stars but round up in this case.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC for exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you Netgalley and author for earc a& audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I did a mix of audio and eARC for this one. I was excited for it after loving Sian Gilbert’s debut, but this didn’t fully land for me. Too many POVs made it hard to connect, and the characters felt too similar. It picked up at the end though, and I appreciated the humor sprinkled throughout.

Fast-paced, multiple POVs, and a locked-room thriller on a luxury yacht? Yes, please. Everyone on board is running from something, which means trust is off the table and secrets are everywhere. The women are stunning, petty, and mean just for sport—exactly the vibe I want in a summer thriller. Some twists I saw coming, others totally surprised me, and it kept things fun all the way through. Quick, juicy, and perfect for poolside reading.

I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert is a thriller about a young woman who takes a job as a stewardess onboard a super yacht amongst a group of women who all look mysteriously similar to her. This is a locked room mystery in which one woman dies and everyone on the yacht becomes a suspect.

This was my first time reading a book by this author and it certainly won’t be my last. I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked into the story immediately.

I enjoyed the short chapters and the flow of the story. It was fantastic to have the story told through multiple character points of views and it helped to gain insight into each individual. There are quite a few characters in the book so at times I did get a bit mixed up.

The full cast narration was fantastic. It was wonderful to have a different voice and personality to portray the different characters. The audiobook quality was fantastic! I would definitely recommend this book!

After making it about a quarter of the way through this novel, I couldn't seem to keep going. There were so many characters to keep track of and the premise of having all of these look alike staff members who were treated poorly with this rich cast of characters galavanting about... something about it all put a bad taste in my mouth. I am so grateful for the opportunity to get to read novels prior to their release, yet this one was not for me.

⭐️ 3‑Star Review – I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert

Genre: Mystery Thriller | Setting: A billionaire super-yacht, The Ophelia 

⸻

📚 Brief Synopsis

Sasha, a former nurse starting fresh, joins the crew of the luxurious yacht Ophelia as a last-minute stewardess hire. She soon discovers that all stewardesses—Jade, Imogen, Euphemia, Lola—are blonde and model-like, identical by the yacht owner’s design .
But this glamorous setting quickly turns sinister: crew members die, expensive jewelry vanishes, and paranoia mounts as everyone becomes a suspect on this floating locked‑room mystery .

⸻

✅ What I Loved
• The high-stakes, social-asphyxiating yacht setting hooked me early.
• Multiperspective narration created suspicion in every chapter.
• Twists and reveals in the final act pulled me back in after a slower middle stretch, delivering a satisfying ending despite my mid‑book drift.

⸻

⚠️ Where It Slowed Down
• Pacing dragged toward the middle—some chapters felt overly detailed and repetitive.
• The numerous POV switches and visually similar stewardesses occasionally made it hard to keep track (a common observation from other readers too)  .
• The revelation threads (jewelry theft, insurance fraud, predatory behavior) occasionally felt convoluted or convenient.

⸻

🧠 Personal Viewing
• The premise intrigued me immediately, and I stayed engaged through most of the ride.
• Midway, I found my focus waning—character voices blended, and the tension plateaued.
• But the final quarter pulled me back in hard with emotional stakes, sharp revelations, and connecting threads that tied everything together—exactly the jolt I was hoping for.

⸻

🎯 Overall Impression

A dramatic, glamour-filled thriller with strong atmosphere and tension. While the plot occasionally trips over itself, the unique yacht milieu and character entanglements deliver enough intrigue to feel worth the investment. If you enjoy slow‑build mysteries with ensemble casts, this one is worth sailing through.

I will post my review of this book on my instagram Friday 8.2.25

Sasha joins a super yacht as a stewardess, and she realizes she is one of many. All the girls are basically carbon copies of each other. The boat is sailing across the Atlantic. And when everyone is holding secrets, what’s really happening?

It was a lot at first, as we read as many characters, so it starts off a big hard differentiating each character. But as the story unravels it makes it easier to differentiate. A locked room, stuck at sea thriller. Who is telling the truth, and who is responsible for all of the terrible things happening upon the boat?

Below Deck, that’s all you had to say to catch my attention. Then you + murder and that equals a book I can get down with. This was one that moved quick and had an interesting cast of characters, many who are unlikable. I enjoyed listening to all of their madness come out as they tried to cover their own terrible secrets.

The narration was nothing to write home about and I wasn’t a fan of the voices if the male characters at all. They sounded terribly fake and unrealistic.

I give the book a solid three stars because I did like the ending.

I really enjoyed this! This was the first by this author for me. It was giving Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware vibes. I absolutely love Imogen Church too, so I was super excited to hear her in the audio. I liked all the Barbie-esque stewardesses and their constant back-stabbing. In the end, I think the motives of the bad guys were a little weak, but I genuinely enjoyed reading this.