#The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

[fingertipsmp3]

Today on bad decisions, I started reading a really good ebook and was like “oh I’ll just knit at my grandma’s, I don’t need to bring my iPad with me.” Stupid. Stupid behaviour

[dead-by-tbr]

Day 22: Away From Home

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher- Mouse is away from home, both in distance and in beliefs.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware - It may take place in a home, but it is not the main character's home. And this is by far anything warm or cozy. Housekeeping in a haunted (?) sentient(?) super computer house that ends in a death. (Look up TW)

Wild by Cheryl Strayed - I mean, she literally leaves home and hikes the Pacific North Trail. Who needs a home when you need to find yourself?

#justonemorepage #jompbpc #june2023

[annelisreadingroom]

What's the last mystery book you read? Mine was The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware.

[whatcha-reading-today]

The Turn of the Key | Ruth Ware

I've read a lot of Ware's works and I think this is my favorite. Yes, it's definitely a version of Turn of the Screw, presented as an epistolary with letters from prison. I would argue that Ware's books fall into what I call the 'rollercoaster thriller' where the twists and turns are insane and can be very enjoyable but seem very silly after you get off the ride.

Format: Physical copy

Read in: 2022

[nats-reads-reviews]

Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware 5/5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this book! A suspense novel mixed with supernatural, murder mystery, technology, old history, dysfunctional family dynamics and the new nanny is at the epicenter of it all. Rowan, the nanny, is given a nanny job proposal that is impossible to turn down with all the benefits one could ask for. On top of it all, she’s desperate for a job and a place to stay so being a live in nanny at an amazing Irish countryside home seems like perfect opportunity. But Rowan is told very little about the home and the family before being left alone to care for 3 little girls, 1 angsty teenager, 2 dogs and home run by technology beyond comprehension. Rowan finds secret’s about the family along the way that leave her horrified and Rowan has secrets of her own that would have never gotten her the job if they knew her secrets, too. I really loved this book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new, refreshing suspense book! I’m definitely going to read more Ruth Ware in the future.

[docholligay]

Doc’s Quarterly Patreon Book Thing: Mystery/Crime

Okay, so, I’ve been trying to think about how I want to do this, which is basically letting my patreons force me to read a book. I have picked three genres I would say I do not read a lot of, but I know y'all do, and then the fourth quarter will be either open season, nonfiction, or as a children’s book for children, I haven’t decided.

SO. Nominations will be opened on the Patreon Apr 4th. RULES AND THINGS TO KNOW/HOW THIS WILL WORK:

It will be pitchless. You don’t need to pitch me! Just Title, Author.

One nomination per person. Your first nom will be considered your nomination, all others will be ignored.

Must be available in print

For this quarter, the genre must be MYSTERY OR CRIME (Nonfiction permitted). Below, I point out some fantasy novels I have enjoyed and negative-enjoyed, which’ll give you both an idea of what i like and what I might consider mystery/crime (A tough line). Just good faith effort.

Must think I would like it. You don’t have to think it’ll slay me and change my life, but this isn’t ‘let’s clown on Doc’. I am doing this in good faith and I assume you will nominate in good faith.

I will RANDOMLY DRAW FIVE of the novels. These five will then be PUT TO A VOTE on patreon. I will not read the comments so if you want to pitch, the comments on that poll will be a good place to do it.

Whatever wins the vote, I’ll read.

Okay, then, MYSTERY/CRIME BOOKS I REMEMBER TRULY ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, AS AN ADULT. (as the sections go on, this is getting harder for me, so be patient. I'm not going to be too crazy about what is or isn't a mystery/crime novel, as long as we're all trying)

The Witch Elm by Tana French

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

I'll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara (nf)

Provenance by Aly Sujo and Laney Salisbury (nf)

Catch Me if You Can by Frank Abagnale (technically nf but uh....fiction)

The Maltese Falcon by Hammett

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

MURDER/CRIME BOOKS I REMEMBER DISTINCTLY NOT-ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD

Anything else by James Patterson besides Kiss the Girls (which I would say is in that middle band)

Pretty much any true crime about serial killers

Anything by Janet Evonavich

The Butterfly garden by Dot Hutchinson

Anything by Sue Grafton

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware (full disclosure, I bought this under the presumption it was a paranormal book and my disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined)

(Yes I have read Holmes. It was fine.)

See?? Despite being an insufferable hater, I do like things! This list of course doesn’t include anything where I was like, “That was perfectly fine!” It’s made to show the highs and lows.

Does this make sense? I’ll put the nomination post on Patreon tomorrow!

Today is the day where you can ask any questions of me pre-nomination

[the-forest-library]

August 2022 Reads

Half a Soul - Olivia Atwater

The Lord Sorcier - Olivia Atwater

The Latch Key - Olivia Atwater

My Imaginary Mary - Cynthia Hand

Inheritance - Katharine McGee

Trick - Natalia Faster

The Fixer Upper - Lauren Forsythe

Thank You for Listening - Julia Whelan

Where It All Lands - Jennie Wexler

Would You Rather - Allison Ashley

Mad About You - Mhairi McFarlane

Seatmate - Cara Bastone

Just Haven’t Met You Yet - Sophie Cousins

Luck and Last Resorts - Sarah Grunder Ruiz

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Bandanna

When a Scot Ties the Knot - Tessa Dare

So Happy for You - Celia Laskey

Mika in Real Life - Emiko Jean

Misrule - Heather Walter

Alias Emma - Ava Glass

The Turn of the Key - Ruth Ware

On a Sunbeam - Tillie Walden

A Career in Books - Kate Gavino

Cornbread & Poppy - Matthew Cordell

I’m Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy

Nothing Like I Imagined - Mindy Kaling

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - Lori Gottlieb

Vagina Obscura - Rachel E. Gross

Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig

No Cure for Being Human - Kate Bowler

Crying in the Bathroom - Erika L. Sanchez

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter - Scaachi Koul

I Might Regret This - Abbi Jacobson

You’ll Grow Out of It - Jessi Klein

How Are You, Really? - Jenna Kutcher

Rough Draft - Katy Tur

The Social Anxiety Cure - Frank Steven

All That She Carried - Tiya Miles

The Lazy Genius Kitchen - Kendra Apache

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts:

Julia Whelan is an audiobook narrator who became an author, and her second book (which she narrates), Thank You for Listening, features a fun and heartfelt plot about the world of audiobooks. It’s super-meta and a good time. 

Best discovery of the month is Olivia Atwater (thank you @freckles-and-books for recommending her books!). I don’t normally like fae stories, but Half a Soul was just delightful. 

Since my life this year has been a quagmire of weird medical mysteries, it seems that all I do is stay home and listen to audiobooks. And, yeah, I’ve been getting through a lot of them. I increased my Goodreads Goal to 350. 

Goodreads Goal: 272/350

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads |

2022 Reads

[cosmobrain00]

42. Favourite book(s)?

hihi tysm for the ask<3 im gonna be honest I have a lot but here r a few of my favs off the top of my head:

the willows by algernon blackwood

the secret history by donna tartt

frankenstein by mary shelley

the haunting of leigh harker by darcy coates

broken harbor by tana french

the turn of the key by ruth ware

...can u tell i have a fav genre LMAO

[cheshirelibrary]

7 Gothic Novels for Fans of ‘Rebecca’ 

[via BookBub Blog]

Like du Maurier’s classic Rebecca, these clever tales feature creepy, atmospheric settings and characters with dark, twisted secrets. If you loved Rebecca, you are sure to find a few more books to add to your to-be-read pile with this list.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

...

Click through to see more titles.

[the-haunted-office]

Slewfoot by Brom

Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector. The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil. To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help. Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan – one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake. This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen of Brom’s haunting full-color paintings and brilliant endpapers, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the home’s cameras, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman. It was everything. She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder—but somebody is.

Man, Fuck This House by Brian Asma

Sabrina Haskins and her family have just moved into their dream home, a gorgeous Craftsman in the rapidly-growing Southwestern city of Jackson Hill. Sabrina’s a bored and disillusioned homemaker, Hal a reverse mortgage salesman with a penchant for ill-timed sports analogies. Their two children, Damien and Michaela, are bright and precocious. At first glance, the house is perfect. But things aren’t what they seem. Sabrina’s hearing odd noises, seeing strange visions. Their neighbors are odd or absent. And Sabrina’s already-fraught relationship with her son is about to be tested in a way no parent could ever imagine. Because while the Haskins family might be the newest owners of 4596 James Circle, they’re far from its only residents…

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.   Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.   But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…

Books of Blood, Vol. 1 by Clive Barker

In this tour de force collection of brilliantly disturbing tales, Clive Barker combines the extraordinary with the ordinary, bringing to life our darkest nightmares with stories that both seduce and devour. As beautiful as they are terrible, the pages of this volume are stained with unsettling imagery, macabre humor, and visceral dread. Here then are the stories written on the Book of Blood. Read, if it pleases you, and learn....

[verthu]

ask game thing!

thank you @khadijah551 for tagging me hehehe

fav color?: as long as its dark, i think id like it 🧟‍♂️

currently reading?: the turn of the key, by ruth ware. my friend randomly got it for me a while ago 🤟

last song you listened to?: sunflower - tamino 🌻

last series you watched?: ga-rei: zero, it was eh unfortunately

sweet, savory or spicy?: all of them together would be very delishis actually

craving?: always boba 🧋

tea or coffee?: i like both 😔

working on: taking a chill break to generate more creative juice 🧘

i taggggg @literalite @moodnamars @astralsi @castawavy @sadnesshotline @itsmariejanel @pleuro in fact i tag everyone rn pls do it i like reading stuffs abt everyone plse blease pls bles

[bookclub4m]

Episode 172 - Domestic Thrillers

This episode we’re talking about Domestic Thrillers! We discuss lies, stressful reading, spoiling endings, characters who are not great people, and whether we’d read other books from this genre.

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

The Serial Killer’s Wife by Alice Hunter

Recipe for a Perfect Housewife by Karma Brown

The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers

Bad Fruit by Ella King

Glasshouse by Charles Stross

At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha

Other Media We Mentioned

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Big Little Lies (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

Archie Meets KISS by Alex Segura and Dan Parent

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

All the Rage by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers

The White Coat Diaries by Madi Sinha

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Links, Articles, and Things

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss (Know Your Meme)

Gaslighting (Wikipedia)

White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) (Wikipedia)

Commuter town (Wikipedia)

Unreliable narrator (Wikipedia)

Abortifacient (Wikipedia)

"that which will cause a miscarriage"

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (CO)

r/AmItheAsshole

Chinese Indonesians (Wikipedia)

Panopticon (Wikipedia)

Portuguese man o' war (Wikipedia)

10 Domestic Thrillers by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

The After Party by A.C. Arthur

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

The Three Mrs. Greys by Shelley Ellis

And Now She's Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier

The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson

Spare Room by Dreda Say Mitchell

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, April 18th when we’ll be giving our Spring 2023 Media Update!

Then on Tuesday, May 2nd we’ll be discussing the non-fiction genre of Economics!

[crimeculturepodcast]

All the books mentioned in episode 254

(I will make a separate post for the books recommendations based on horror movies)

Hippolytus by Euripides

Parallel Lives by Plutarch

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe

Horns by Joe Hill

The Shining by Stephen King

My Heart Is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

The Necromancers by Robert Hugh Benson

Burn Palace by Stephen Dobyns

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Boy’s Life by Robert R. McCammon

The Library of Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

Campfire by Shawn Sarles

Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

Who Goes There? By John W. Campbell Jr. & William F. Nolan

The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney

Anything by H.P. Lovecraft

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes by Karin Slaughter

Good as Gone by Amy Gentry

In A Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

One By One by Ruth Ware

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Brother by Ania Ahlborn

The Troop by Nick Cutter

The Deep by Nick Cutter

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland by Amanda Berry & Gina DeJesus

Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings by Michelle Knight

Hide by Kiersten White

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

The Long Walk by Stephen King

Penpal by Dathan Auebach

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

The Others by Sarah Blau

[slipsthrufingers]

2, 3, 24 for the book asks please!!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Yes, a few things for work (The Crucible, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Handmaid's Tale) and a few things for fun reasons: (Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Gideon and Harrow the Ninth, The Stand)

I also reread A Court of Thorns and Roses thinking that maybe this time I would find it good because I have seen so many people gushing about it but no. I was right the first time. It's not good.

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Not ranked because that would require more thinking from me that I want without having finished my reading for the year, but these five are definitely up there:

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Three Body Problem series by Cixin Liu

Passing by Nella Larsen

Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

Yes, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I'd loved The Night Circus but I just could not get into the repetition in her writing style. Where in TNC it had been cutesy and twee this time I found it obnoxious and wanted some more tangible plot to hang onto. I was 2/3rds through and still didn't feel like I knew what the plot was so I gave it up.

Ask me more reading asks!

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

September Wrap-Up

These Twisted Bonds (Lexi Ryan) ★★★1/2

Jada Sly, Artist & Spy (Sherri Winston) ★★★★

I’m Glad My Mom Died (Jennette McCurdy) (audio) ★★★★★

The Priory of the Orange Tree (Samantha Shannon) ★★★★1/2

The Family Upstairs (Lisa Jewell) (audio) ★★★1/2

A Marvellous Light (Freya Marske) ★★★★1/2

The Dead Romantics (Ashley Poston) ★★★★★

The Turn of the Key (Ruth Ware) (audio) ★★★★1/2

Blood Like Fate (Liselle Sambury) ★★★

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (Sangu Mandanna) ★★★★★

We Were Liars (E. Lockhart) (audio) ★★★1/2

Find me over on Goodreads for more detailed reviews!

[books-and-cookies]

i would LOVE some thriller recs! i’m always caught between two minds of whether i should pick up fiction or non fiction so we were liars was a spur of the moment decision but i was surprised i much i liked it because i thought i didn’t like fiction? so i would love some thriller recs with a similar vibe!! you’re the best💚

Okay, give these a try:

* Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

* Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

* The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

* Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

* Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

* The Sundown Motel by Simone St James

* The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Let me know if you need more ❤️❤️