I love a good locked room mystery set on a boat in the middle of the ocean. This one did not disappoint! There were many layers to the mystery and a lot going on. The multiple POV chapters kept the pace fast and moving forward. The characters were easy to keep track of (even though they all look the same). The ending was suspenseful, thrilling, and unexpected. I could not put this one down!

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow | William Morrow Paperbacks for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a great and fun story. It was thrilling and suspenseful. I was hooked from the first page. I highly recommend checking out this book.

A drama filled read that read like a chapter from Bravo's below deck. An enjoyable fast paced read that left me wondering what would happen next.

This was like Clue and Below Deck had a baby. Tense and filled with twists and turns! I was shocked by the different surprises.

It always feels weird when my first instinct is to call a thriller, fun but that’s exactly what this was! So many secrets, so many miles from land, and so much murder. Short chapters with alternating POV makes this a quick read. Salacious and wildly entertaining, this will make the perfect summer thriller, just hope you aren’t on a boat when you read it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Wow! This book was one heck of a wild ride! I honestly did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Part One started a bit slow with multiple POVS from all the stewardesses. The author introduces them one by one, giving us some insight into their personalities and backgrounds. And boy, were they detestable! I didn't like ANY of them. I thought, oh no, I am not going to be able to read this. I'm glad that I stuck with it though. Once I hit Part Two, chaos abounded, and the intensity shifted into high gear and remained until the end. There were so many secrets and lies, and different mysteries taking place all at the same time. I didn't know who to suspect for anything. Most of the cast were awful and had something to hide. This book rocked with action and excitement. I ended up really enjoying it. I would definitely recommend.

Huge thanks to William Morrow for granting me a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

I Did Warn Her is a sleek, twist-filled locked-room mystery that delivers danger, secrets, and deception—all set against the glittering backdrop of a billionaire’s yacht. If you loved She Started It, this is another cunning thriller that will pull you in and keep you guessing until the very end.

The Ophelia is luxury at its finest, but beneath the polished surface lies a tangled web of secrets. The all-but-identical stewardesses—Sasha, Jade, Imogen, Euphemia, and Lola—each carry their own baggage, lured to the yacht by the promise of high wages and a chance to outrun their pasts. But when jewelry starts disappearing and whispers of a previous death resurface, paranoia sets in. And then, the real nightmare begins: one of their own turns up dead after a night of lavish partying.

Suddenly, the opulent escape becomes a claustrophobic prison where every guest and crew member is a suspect. The question isn’t just who’s hiding secrets—but who’s dangerous enough to kill?

This is a whodunit that thrives on its voyeuristic thrills and sharp character dynamics. The atmosphere is taut, the tension razor-sharp, and the twists relentless. It’s the kind of read where every chapter leaves you second-guessing who to trust and what’s lurking just beneath the surface.

If you’re a fan of locked-room mysteries, morally gray characters, and thrillers dripping with dark glamour, I Did Warn Her is one you don’t want to miss. Just be warned: once you’re aboard The Ophelia, there’s no getting off until the final, jaw-dropping reveal.

This book is the story of a super yacht and the staff and guests aboard. They all have secrets and suspicions arise when someone dies during their last trip of the season. I really liked this author’s last book She Started It and similarly, this book made me think of Mean Girls as well. The characters all have secrets and all seem to mostly be out for themselves. The story line kept me interested and wanting to know how the secrets come together and what was going to happen. I would recommend this book to reality TV lovers including Below Deck and people who love to hate book characters.

Sian Gilbert is back with her second novel, "I Did Warn Her." Her debut novel "She Started It" was an amazing read and this one was just as good.
The story unfolds aboard The Ophelia, a luxurious yacht owned by a billionaire, where the crew’s sole mission is to keep the wealthy guests satisfied—no matter the cost. Enter Sasha, the newest stewardess, a tall, blonde, gorgeous addition who blends seamlessly with her beautiful peers. But beneath the sleek veneer of The Ophelia, trouble brews: a stewardess from a previous charter died mysteriously, expensive jewelry keeps vanishing, and tensions among the crew simmers. When the owner brings aboard his best friend and two enigmatic women—each hiding their own secrets—a night of partying ends with a crew member dead. Suddenly, everyone’s a suspect, and Sasha finds herself at the center of a deadly game of trust and betrayal.

This book has nonstop action, and I loved the twists and turns that it delivered. Sian Gilbert is a brand-new voice in the thriller genre that is here to stay!

This read was incredibly juicy and I loved following the dark super yacht drama. A large cast of characters but easy to follow along and each with their own unique secrets. Right away you know something is off when you learn that all the stewardesses are basically clones of each other in appearance. How suspicious. That sets the tone for a fcked up voyage into the abyss.

if you are looking for a 'locked door' thriller that takes place on the open sea, then I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert is for you. This story is fast paced as you speed through the book to see who the culprit is. Everyone is suspect and no one can be trusted. The twists and turns and multiple viewpoints leave you questioning everything. This is a great thriller.
Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A super fun summer thriller! For fans of Below Deck (which is even mentioned a few times in this book), this superyacht thriller will have you guessing until the end. Very entertaining.

I Did Warn Her
by Sian Gilbert
Pub Date: June 17, 2025
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
A luxurious yacht, a gorgeous crew with secrets and rivalries...and murder! I Did Warn Her is a cunning locked room mystery set on a billionaire’s yacht, by the author of last year’s sensation She Started It.
After reading the author’s debut novel “She Started It”, which I absolutely loved, I couldn’t wait to read this newest release. While I did enjoy this book, I think I’ve just gotten to a point where I’m a little tired of locked room (yacht) mysteries. This story had many POV’s to keep track of (which was fairly easy once the story took off), but then I felt it started to drag on through the middle. Now, I will admit that I didn’t read this book as fast as I usually do.
If you like locked room mysteries, with lots of finger pointing 🫵- then this is the book for you! Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the author’s debut, it was still a fun read and I think many who are new to this genre will enjoy it even more than I did.

When I was first offered this novel, I was excited because I had been fortunate enough to read Gilbert's debut She Started It before it was released-- and had been riveted.

Everyone knows that the sophomore novel is the most challenging (for obvious reasons), but I have to say, for an oversaturated genre, Sian was able to put her unique fingerprints all over this one. She takes a common premise (murder on the water) and ratchets up the intrigue with not just any boat, but a superyacht, not a run-of-the-mill staff, but instead, modelesque stewardesses, a flurry of red-herrings, intersecting plotlines, multiple murders, and one big fat mess of a catastrophic disaster.

Will people complain about any or all of the above? Sure, but they are missing the point-- we are reading for an escape, not for believability here and I for one am happy to escape from the world for a bit to get a fictional peek behind the curtain of what it's like to live on deck a superyacht serving the elite without a second glance, just as I am equally happy to close the book afterwards, not having to have experienced their tragedies!

At times there might have been a tad much going on, but overall it kept the pacing and kept me turning the digital pages. Gilbert is going on my auto buy list from now on.

I would like to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited when I saw Sian Gilbert had a new book coming out. I loved her previous book. Multiple characters that act and look the same stuck on a yacht in the middle of the ocean. Sounds like a great setting!

Sian Gilbert has a way of making you hate almost all of the characters. And the multiple POVS make it somewhat more difficult in figuring out exactly what’s going on. There were moments when it felt slow… And I had expected more from the ending especially with how her previous book ended. However the twist in the epilogue was not one I saw coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A locked-door mystery which takes place on a yacht; the characters all look- and even act- alike. Sasha is starting her career as a stewardess on a billionaire's yacht, where a year ago one of the stewardesses was murdered. It doesn't take long for another murder to occur. The stewardesses/coworkers all look alike, the same beauty, the same long blond hair, same high cheekbones. We need to learn who killed the recent person and the past one. It is a typical locked room mystery with several suspects, all pointing the fingers at each other.

They are kind of awful to each other, none of them are people you are really rooting for. The characterization in this novel was really lacking, once the killer was revealed I wasn't surprised, it was a bit of a letdown. It is definitely very readable, but not very interesting. I didn't like any of the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book to be published June 17, 2025.

4.5 big stars! If this is what the show Below Deck is like, then I need to start watching! A deliciously fun whodunit on a superyacht with lies and deceit. What a fun book!

A book about murder on a yacht, what more can you ask for? It started out slow and eventually worked its way to the murders. The book was told from many different points of view and there were many characters on the super yacht. The characters were not that charming and the women were pretty catty. There were several different parts to the book and it wasn’t until the third or fourth part that things started happening. I would give this 3 1/2 stars because it had a satisfying conclusion. It just took a long time to get there.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for my ARC book. I enjoyed Sian Gilbert’s first book better than this one. But I will read her books again.

After reading the author’s debut novel “She Started It”, which I absolutely loved, I couldn’t wait to read this newest release. While I did enjoy this book, I think I’ve just gotten to a point where I’m a little tired of locked room (yacht) mysteries. This story had many POV’s to keep track of (which was fairly easy once the story took off), but then I felt it started to drag on through the middle. Now, I will admit that I didn’t read this book as fast as I usually do because of other life activities going on, so I’m not sure if that affected how I felt each time I picked the book back up…

To briefly sum this story up, we have Sasha who gets a dream job on the billionaire yacht ‘Ophelia’. Sasha thinks this job as a stewardess on the yacht will be an escape from her past. Little does Sasha know that she has walked into another nightmare.

Upon arriving on the ‘Ophelia’, Sasha meets all her coworkers/stewardesses, and amazingly they look exactly like she does. Sasha no longer stands out as being blond and beautiful, because the other stewardesses are blond and beautiful as well. They are exact replicas of each other. Saha also finds out that these other women that she works with are not very friendly, and they are very cutthroat. How will Sasha survive this journey in the middle of the Atlantic ocean when women and items go disappearing almost daily?

If you like locked room mysteries, with lots of finger pointing 🫵- then this is the book for you! Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the author’s debut, it was still a fun read and I think many who are new to this genre will enjoy it even more than I did.

Many thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow, and the author for a DRC of this book in which I had the pleasure of reading. All opinions are my own.
Publication date: June 17, 2025

interesting and twisty thriller! there are a TON of twists and the vibes are interesting. the characters are fun too! 4.5 stars, tysm for the arc.