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.

This was okay. Because of the many characters narrating each chapter, it got a little confusing to keep track of who was who. I liked the story though. It may be better to physically read it.

A whodunit on the high seas.

A beautiful yacht, owned by a billionaire, and a full crew is crossing the Atlantic. The stunning stewardesses, Sasha, Jade, Imogen, Euphemia, and Lola. Lots of competition and gossip among them. The handsome deck hands taking care of the ship and the ladies don’t you know. The captain on his last cruise before retiring and the chief trying to keep the schedule. Everyone’s main purpose is to keep the two rich men and their female escort guests happy and satisfied.

But the boat and its occupants are keeping lots of secrets and definitely there’s a hidden agenda for this trip. Then one of the stewardesses is murdered. Jewelry and other items going missing. Everyone is suspicious of the rest and they are all held hostage and isolated on this yacht in the middle of the ocean. Who is doing what and to whom.

This was a locked room style mystery complicated by a large cast of characters who are skulking about, lying, and doing things they should not. The story is told in shifting point of view as each stewardess reveals her thoughts, motivations, and activities. They were hard to keep straight at first, especially with the all the other names bandied about. Eventually it became easier but be sure to note who is speaking at the beginning of each chapter.

I felt this was definitely like a reality show with all the expected misbehavior below decks and the way that the clients acted during the voyage. There were red herrings and twists, but the denouement was a bit anticlimactic. Definitely a lot of irrelevant side plots but everything was wrapped up in a tidy conclusion.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The production had a large cast of all female narrators and I definitely preferred some of the voices over others. The disappointment in the audio, however, is because there was not a single male voice to do those character roles so the voices of the men were not ideal. It would have been so much better had that happened. At times I had to stop listening and just read when I became annoyed at the sound of a particular voice. I do enjoy, however, the immersive experience of both listening and reading.

I love the setting of this book! I did have a bit of trouble tracking the many characters, but overall a fun listen.

I was so excited for this after DEVOURING She Started It. I was in a bit of a reading slump so I couldn’t get into the physical/e-book. I opted to try to audio. While the story was engaging and I was able to power through, there were way too many characters and I spent more time being confused that I did enjoying the actual story. This was a fun enough thriller. I would recommend this more as a palette cleanser than picking up and expecting it to blow your mind.

I really struggled with this book and wanted to DNF it many times in the beginning. The women are clones of each other physically, but they also weren't given enough distinction as people to keep them straight. The little I did get, I hated.
Loved the ending, that definitely saved the book for me and made me glad I finished.

thank you to NetGalley, the author Sian Gilbert, and HarperAudio for my ARC of this audiobook.

Junior stewardess Sasha is running from her past when she boards The Ophelia for an Atlantic crossing. Once on board, she realizes several things: all the stewardesses are nearly identical to herself, nightmares follow you wherever you go, theft is rampant onboard, and everyone on board has a secret! When a stewardess turns up dead, Sasha takes it upon herself to find the murderer.

This book had a good concept; a locked room mystery on the high seas. I found the constant changing of points of view quite confusing. I often lost track of whose story I was listening to, even with multiple narrators. I didn't form an attachment to many of the characters, possibly because of my confusion and possibly because most of the characters were just horrible people. I didn't care if most of the characters lived or died.

The book started off well but at certain points, it would get very slow and drawn out. The ending was also a corkscrew rollercoaster. Every time you thought the big twist had come, bam! Another twist. It was a little much for me.

This book is a Reader's Choice. If you're a fan of Below Deck and locked room mysteries, give it a go. I would suggest reading a physical or e-book as opposed to the audiobook so that you can flip back to track the different points of view. If you're looking for likable characters and non-stop thrills, you may want to choose a different book.

Note: I received an ARC of this audiobook from NetGalley and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.

I Did Warn Her is a deliciously dark, twist-filled thriller that had me flying through pages with a growing sense of dread. Sian Gilbert delivers a tense, layered story of jealousy, power, and the slow unraveling of a friendship that was never as innocent as it seemed.

From the start, I was hooked by the voice—sharp, observant, and laced with venom. This isn’t just a tale of two friends; it’s a slow-motion car crash of ambition, manipulation, and long-held grudges. The dual timelines and shifting perspectives kept me constantly guessing, and just when I thought I had someone figured out, Gilbert would twist the knife a little deeper.

The atmosphere is spot-on—claustrophobic, glamorous, and simmering with menace. It’s the kind of book where the setting becomes a character in itself, amplifying every unspoken tension. And the ending? Let’s just say it’s perfectly brutal.

If you love psychological thrillers with messy women, buried secrets, and an undercurrent of mean girl noir, I Did Warn Her delivers. It's smart, sinister, and utterly satisfying.

If you enjoy a locked room mystery this is for you. Lots of finger pointing in this who done it ride. Rich obnoxious people and a crew with all the secrets.

Thanks to Harper Audio & NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As was the case with the previous book by this author: great voice acting. There is one clunky actor who was mostly just narrating and not acting, and it probably wouldn't have been such a big deal except that she was blown out of the water (pardon the pun) by the other performers.

BIG drama. BIG mean girl vibes. Most of the male characters are creeps, even the ones that are coded as "nice guys." Pretty much every female on the ship (sorry; "SUPER YACHT") is a reprehensible bitch, except for one whose backstory is completely ridiculous.

There are so many SUPER YACHT stewardesses that it's tough to differentiate them at first (thank fuck for the ensemble cast), and the fact that they, for some reason, *all look almost identical* does NOT help. Also, what an odd choice? It put me in mind of Fembots, TBH.

There is one twist that exists merely to move the plot in a particular direction and it kind of destroyed my already-tenuous suspension of disbelief. The plot is also kind of convoluted. Lots of misunderstandings and assumptions, '70s sitcom style but without the laffs.

Still, it kept my attention and I wanted to find out who dunnit, so I kept at it; hence: 3 stars. Probably 2.5 more accurately.

While I haven't watched Below Deck, I've been around enough ships to have an idea of what goes on amongst the crew. "I Did Warn Her" takes the cliques and competition and backroom shenanigans to an extreme when one of the stewardesses turns up dead. Add to that a new stewardess who was a last-minute replacement, a guest companion searching for clues about her friend's disappearance a year earlier from the same ship, and secrets the dead stewardess supposedly knew about her crew mates and you have the makings of a twisty story. Every character has something to hide, and just as you think you know who did what, you discover you're wrong. The first few chapters move a little slowly, mostly filled with tension and pettiness between the stewardesses, but the action ramps up quickly.

The full-cast narrators do a wonderful job with handling the alternating POV's with each chapter, though at first it was a little confusing when different narrators would voice the same character differently (even with completely different accents), but this seems to be a flaw in general for full-cast narration, and it doesn't take long to adjust to it.

Thank you to the author, Harper Collins, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide an unbiased review.

I enjoyed this audiobook, but must admit that my enjoyment was dampened quite a bit by how terrible everyone was. If you wanna read a pacy locked-room mystery with shallow, back-biting characters, this is the book for you. 3/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for inviting me to listen to the audiobook.

I'm a big Sian Gilbert fan, so going in I knew I would enjoy the book. That said, a few too many characters muddled the plot just a bit, and the fact that they were all meant to look alike didn't help. Still a good read, just not my favorite of hers.

Completely bummed is an understatement. 😩

I loved Sian Gilbert’s debut She Started It because it was twisty, sharp, and totally my kind of thriller, so I went into this one with high hopes… but unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.

There were so many characters-- like, SO MANY-- and I constantly found myself wondering who the heck was who. Real names, nicknames, and aliases all tossed around made it nearly impossible to connect with anyone or care what was going on. I wanted to be hooked. I wanted to be shocked. But instead, I just felt overwhelmed and kind of… bored.

This book had all the makings of a solid thriller, but it was just too much-- too messy, too many threads, and by the time the ending rolled around, I was more relieved to be done than surprised. 😬

I really wish I felt differently, and I know a lot of readers might still love this one-- especially if you’re into character-heavy stories but for me, this was a miss.

With a limited number of people all on a private yacht together, this had a locked room mystery feel. This is usually my fave, but the execution of the story didn't seem to play out very well. Even though there weren't a lot of characters, most of the characters looked and acted the same and it was hard to distinguish between them. The characters were also very unlikeable. Sometimes this played well into the story, but other times their cattiness got old. The narration did make this story a little more enjoyable with all the different voices.

This twisty locked-door mystery unfolds aboard The Ophelia, a billionaire’s lavish yacht with a crew of model-gorgeous stewardesses harboring secrets, rivalries, and a history of suspicious deaths. Sasha is a last-minute hire who quickly finds herself caught up in missing jewelry, shady guests, and a murder that turns everyone on board into a suspect.

Told through multiple POVs, it offers plenty of intrigue and some great twists I didn’t see coming. The audiobook has different narrators for the various perspectives, which I appreciated in theory, but in practice, their voices sounded quite similar, making it tough to keep track of who was narrating at any given time. Still, if you love a closed-circle mystery in an ultra-glamorous (and dangerous) setting, this one delivers plenty of drama on the high seas!

Below Deck + murder = a book I can get down with. This was a fun one that moved decently quick and had an interesting cast of characters, many who are unlikable. I enjoyed seeing all of their terribleness come out as they tried to cover their own secrets.

Below Deck meets Murder Mystery = AMAZING combination. There is nothing more gripping than reading about how the other half live and the people who work for them. I found myself listening to this audiobook every single second I could fit it in, and flew through it in 2 days. The narrators were the perfect fit for each character. I wish I could reread this for the first time! Thank you Netgalley, Sian Gilbert and Harper Audio for gifting this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Calling all fans of privileged chaos, locked-room mysteries, revenge-fueled twists, and nonstop suspense—this one has it all.

As a devoted Below Deck viewer, I found this story just as addictive. It has all the secrets, drama, and social tension—complete with mean girls, scandalous moments, and, thanks to Gilbert, a murder or two to really turn up the heat.

Told with a voyeuristic lens and steeped in atmosphere, this sharp, fast-paced thriller delivers the ultimate escapist experience. The characters may not be likable, but that only adds to the intrigue in this deliciously entertaining, high-stakes ride.

4.5 rounded up! I absolutely loved this thriller! It was below deck meets murder mystery and I had a fun time! I found it to be super layered because even though the story is “locked door” and only takes place on the yacht, there was a lot of background information that came to light regarding the previous charter and it enhanced our plot. I love an audiobook always, but I wish the narrator did a better job of distinguishing the different voices. Not only did everyone look alike, but I found that the characters sounded alike too and it made it confusing to follow who’s point of view we were listening too. Definitely will be recommending this to family friends and followers