Good morning!
After I read «In a dark, dark wood» last year, I wanted to buy pretty much every Ruth Ware I could find! I also have «The Woman in the Cabin 10» sitting on my shelves waiting for me to get to it.
As you know, this month hasn’t quite been kind to me, so it took me quite some time to read this 😅 Among with feeling tired and working so much.
I saw some bloggers praise it online, but I gotta say I went into this novel pretty blind; apart of the obvious death of Mrs. Westaway, I wasn’t too sure of what I should expect of the story.
4 / 5 stars
Something I really loved, is how much Tarot Reading were a constant in this book. Hal, preceded by her mother, is a tarot reader on a pier. We see her do some readings and how she explains the cards — but also, how she doesn’t particularly believes in the cards themselves as a way to tell the future, but as a way to make you think upon your intuitions; she does believe that they have their meanings. Tarot is a comfort thing for her, making her feel close to her mother – being reminded of what her mother used to say, of never believing what you say in a reading, and especially if that’s what you want the most.
Like it was the case with the other Ruth Ware I read, you have little “flash backs” in-between the story; this time with written pages of a diary, that we ignore who wrote them in the get go- of course you start to realize as the story progress. A little after the middle of the book, it loops around to thoses letters you just passed sprawled across the chapters; and finally all make sense! The character, and yourself, can now understand what’s going on. If that left me confused in «The dark dark wood», I thought it was just done beautifully in this one!
While it took me a while to get into it, as the start wasn’t *quite* into the plot of the story right away – we had a few chapters of introduction on Hal’s situations before we tackle what we were reading this for.. – I ended up really liking it and craving to just get onto reading so I can see what happens next!
Are you a fan of Ruth Ware books?
Which one is your favorite?
I’m reading this right now! I actually looked ahead to see if there was any exciting action coming up because I feel like the story is dragging along. 😬 I also really like how Tarot is such a big part of Hal’s life; it definitely adds an extra layer of interest to the story.
Iknow eh,, the beginning I was kind of not sure I picked a good book xD okay I was tired but it was meh.. which made it all harder to read ahah
It does!! Funnily enough, I have some tarot cards too, that my godmother didn’t wanted anymore. So it kind of make me wanna read them xd
I absolutely adored The Turn Of The Key and look forward to trying Ware’s other work! Glad you enjoyed The Death of Mrs. Westaway.
Ouhh now that’s one I still need to try!
I’m looking forward to reading this in October! I feel very much the someway about tarot so at least that part will be interesting for me!
I hope you enjoy it aswell! The tarot was really interesting for me too, as I do own tarot cards.
Great review! I hear lotta good things about Ware’s books.
And such a cute pic!! Your pup pup kinda looks like ‘seriously, ma’ about the hot dog. 🤣
Ahaha actually he was guarding it 😂😂🙈 his sister were coming close with her ball and he didn’t wanted her to approach.
I haven’t read anything by Ruth Ware yet but keep seeing her books around the book blogging community and the general consensus is that her writing is good so I’m keen to try them out. Glad to see that you liked this book and that you managed to get into it despite not feeling it at first!
I had just finished it and oh dear… the remaining 20% had twists I NEVER saw coming !! but it was a beautiful ending, I really liked it.