The Turn of the Key
Written by Ruth Ware
Narrated by Imogen Church
Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
Released Aug 27, 2019
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
12 hours

When Rowan stumbles across an ad for a live-in nanny, she's looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—with a staggeringly generous salary. And when she arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious "smart" house fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.

 

What Rowan doesn't know is that she's stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and Rowan in prison awaiting trial for murder.

 

Writing to her lawyer from prison, Rowan struggles to explain the unravelling events that have led to her incarceration. It wasn't just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, 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 children, 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, Jack Grant.

 

It was everything.

 

Rowan 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. Which means someone else is.

 

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware's signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

 

** I received a free kindle ebook from Simon & Schuster Canada via Netgalley in exchange for a review**

From the very start, we believe this woman's name is Rowan the Nanny who is on trial for murder. We don't know who was murdered but when she retells her story to her solicitor she has to go into detail with her side. It was a nightmare but the character building was formidable as I was drawn in and felt very close to the important characters which IMO were the children. Always the children ho-hum. Brats. Yes. They were brats. The only exception, 5 yr old Ellie ultimately. She was adorbs ♥

Heatherbrae House wasn't a "smart-house" if a young child could manipulate it AND from an older phone on top! UGH! I could never live in a house like that! I am not one who trusts technology enough for my life to depend on it. The house was wired up and could function on an app called Happy as it didn't even have doorknobs or light switches.

Still, creak...creak... goes the sound of something in the attic.

Admittingly the suspense was killing me but when the attic was finally opened up there were still the unexplainable open windows, the lost or stolen necklace, the sudden music disturbances and most importantly the history. Why would all the hired Nanny's tuck tail and run? The Turn of the Key is a well-written murder mystery/haunting but I felt I was deceived with all the hidden secrets. The main one being about who Rowan actually was.

I can't imagine what the girls had been through. Was it because of their father? What disturbed them so much? They kept repeating that they hated her and she should go away. Why? Was it not because of what their father made them do?

The strange poison garden seemed exciting but I was disappointed that nothing really became of it. All we know about the history of the house is that it used to be called Struan House and that Dr. Kenwick Grant planted rare poisonous plants nowhere else found in all of Scotland. His daughter died from ingesting some of those plants and he and his wife also passed away there. I wasn't convinced the house was haunted though *shrugs, even though it was meant to be believed as such.

Not particularly fond of the end. Too many loose ends.

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox

Lydia Montrose sure made an impression but at times it read like a sad lamentation of her sorry state in life. But, I am a sucker for HEA's and that is what The Witch of Willow Hall delivered. 

I liked that Lydia was a good person and she would be a good witch. She didn't know she was one for certain until 80% of the way through even when she had inklings and hints of the power residing in her bones. Her older sister Catherine was a real bitch. Wow. Lydia's relationship with her only reminded me of my relationship with my sisters. At least I could empathize and roll my eyes at both of them. Emaline, the younger sister was a doll but what bothered me was how distant and absent the parents were or maybe it only felt that way because of the way it was written from Lydia's POV. (IDK) I wasn't sure if their mother was catatonic but it sure seemed that way. I couldn't help but wonder what happened to them back in Boston that forced them to move out to the country. Their brother Charles(?) is an absolute mystery also. What happened to him? Where was he? Is he dead? I must have missed that part.

All's I know is he had to have been pretty close for Catherine to love him so much. I mean really? I was glad she lost the baby, one less thing to worry about and for Lydia to bear anyway. It is so sad that Lydia and Catherine did not like each other or could not be friends let alone sisters. I can relate though. Jealousy on the part of Catherine, for wanting what Lydia had, ruined everything. Honestly, it's a good thing Catherine was not a witch. She would have been a wicked and evil one, probably. I loved John Barrett. He warmed my heart. Cyrus? What a nightmare. I admit I sometimes was bored and couldn't keep my attention on the words I was reading but all in all I would read it again just as I anticipate the next book: The Widow of Pale Harbor.

Shadow of the Fox is amazing! I love Yumeko-san the Kitsune. Kitsune is a Fox with magic abilities that mostly trick people into seeing things that aren't there. They are demon like but Yumeko isn't a bad kitsune, she doesn't use her powers to harm anyone. She is useful.
The books intrigue begins and ends on a mysterious note surrounding a very young and seemingly ordinary servant girl named Suki, who lived and died in the royal palace chambers of Lady Sitome, the king's concubine, who is also a powerful blood witch. In fact, she kills Suki for insubordination. Now Suki is a ghost aka a Yurei, who sticks around for reasons unknown, probably because she wasn't ready to die, and she wants vengeance on Lady Sitome. It appears the ghost succeeds when the very same handsome flute player she meets, in the beginning, ends up stabbing Lady Sitome in the heart. I thought Shadow of the Fox was so well written, I never saw that coming.

The story takes us on a journey of sorts with Yumeko-sans being entrusted with a piece of a Dragon's Prayer in the form of a small scroll. It is an important piece of paper because Legend has it, that every one thousand years, a mortal is given the opportunity to summon the Dragon and ask to grant 3(?) wishes for good or bad, only the person's heart has to be pure, otherwise the dragon will tear its soul to shreds. Or something like that lol.
There are evil beings who are trying to find the 3 parts of the Dragons Prayer for themselves as well.

Anyway, Yumeko is given specific instructions by her Monk Master to find a certain man in the feather temple in a city far away. He will give her what information she needs, and where to take the scroll. I can't remember the exact names and places off the top of my head, so you just have to bear with me :)

Yumeko encounters lots of trouble with weird creatures who would kill and destroy her. She knows she is being followed. She also meets a couple of travelling companions, who unbeknownst to each other have their own agenda for accompanying Yumeko along her way. Her companions are quite remarkable and if I am not mistaken one of them is the flute player guy that Suki met? I could be wrong. I haven't checked but I am almost certain he is.

Julie Kagawa is a great author. I've had Shadow of the Fox on my kindle that I received from Netgalley as an e-arc for awhile. Recently it has been made available on Audiobooksync for FREE, so if you are looking for a fantasy title you can listen to, I'd get it there while you can. I love the story so far as I am only at 22% but the protagonist is quite impressionable.

Description
by Julie Kagawa | Narrated by Joy Osmanski, Brian Nishii, Emily Woo Zeller
Published by HarperAudio
One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos. Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

I did not finish it. I can't. There are better books to read and I don't want to continue reading this book after putting it down more than 10 days ago. I am quite disappointed and mad about it.