Scan barcode
erinreadstoomuch's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Really loved the way this turned into a thriller from the horror of a sleepy seaside town with too much history involved. Would make an excellent beach read, especially if you’re staying in a haunted light house
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Suicide
hollispaige's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.25
This book was good enough. The cover drew me to it and i really hoped to like it more than i did in the end. I did enjoy the style of writing and the way things were described almost felt poetic in the best ways.
The ideas were good, but the most interesting characters/plot lines were the older flashback parts (and those were few and far between). I found the main character boring at best and the final ending to be infuriating.
The ideas were good, but the most interesting characters/plot lines were the older flashback parts (and those were few and far between). I found the main character boring at best and the final ending to be infuriating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Suicide
Minor: Child death, Child abuse, and Abortion
geminisoul's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed about 90% of this book but I felt like the parts with Gena didn't feel quite as fleshed out as I wanted them to be which brought it from a 5 to a 4.5 for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Death, Pregnancy, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
mandi_lea's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Abandonment, Death, Trafficking, Suicide, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Kidnapping, and Child death
btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide attempt, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Medical content and Forced institutionalization
tinaclayton's review
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
An analogy for breaking generational trauma and the sacrifices of motherhood in the darkest, saddest possible way. If you need a happy ending or even a clear resolution this isn’t for you. I honestly liked it but the plot was way too slow, I had to force myself through until about halfway when it picked up a smidge.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Death of parent
gg2019's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child death, Self harm, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Alcohol and Abandonment
kay_shmitty's review
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
amandasbookreview's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you, Katrina Monroe, NetGalley, and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this book! It releases on July 12th, 2022!
“Everyone around here talks about the cape like it exists for the sole purpose of either killing or blessing them. Curses or Mermaids. They forget…” She sipped the vodka, willing it to stay down. “It’s all about the mothers.”
THEY DROWN OUR DAUGHTERS
I was so excited to be given an opportunity to read They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe because they said it is perfect for fans of Jennifer McMahon, whom I love! Be prepared for multiple perspectives and timelines, but the main timeline begins in the present when Meredith leaves her wife and heads home to Cape Disappointment with her daughter, Alice. There are rumors that it is haunted and Meredith’s family is at the center of the rumors. While Meredith doesn’t believe in ghost stories, her mother does. But soon Meredith hears the call from the ocean and suspects her daughter does as well. Maybe she needs to start believing in order to save her daughter from a cruel family fate.
There is a lot happening in this story. It is about multiple generations of women who endure trauma and can’t escape a family curse. It all starts with one mother who would do anything, even kill, to keep her children. But is that really what happens? At first, I thought I knew where this story was headed but I am not going to lie the last quarter of the book did lose me a little bit. The finale of the book is heartwrenching, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry–because I totally did. But the portion before the finale could have used a little polishing. It just didn’t flow as well as the rest of the story.
Many people will hate the different timelines and perspectives but I loved it. It really dove into the inner workings of the mother-daughter relationships within this single family. The quote above states, “It’s all about the mothers.”–and it is so true. We watch Meredith go from unsure and broken from being in a terrible marriage, not being able to connect with her mother, and doubting her abilities as a mother to knowing precisely what to do and to heal the trauma of multiple generations. This book is wonderfully gothic and eerie and I was not disappointed! I definitely plan to read more of Katrina Monroe!
There is a lot happening in this story. It is about multiple generations of women who endure trauma and can’t escape a family curse. It all starts with one mother who would do anything, even kill, to keep her children. But is that really what happens? At first, I thought I knew where this story was headed but I am not going to lie the last quarter of the book did lose me a little bit. The finale of the book is heartwrenching, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry–because I totally did. But the portion before the finale could have used a little polishing. It just didn’t flow as well as the rest of the story.
Many people will hate the different timelines and perspectives but I loved it. It really dove into the inner workings of the mother-daughter relationships within this single family. The quote above states, “It’s all about the mothers.”–and it is so true. We watch Meredith go from unsure and broken from being in a terrible marriage, not being able to connect with her mother, and doubting her abilities as a mother to knowing precisely what to do and to heal the trauma of multiple generations. This book is wonderfully gothic and eerie and I was not disappointed! I definitely plan to read more of Katrina Monroe!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
mothumn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
ARC REVIEW
They Drown Our Daughters is a story about a curse that is passed down from mother to daughters that fans of Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor may enjoy.
They Drown Our Daughters is a story about a curse that is passed down from mother to daughters that fans of Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor may enjoy.
While reading this I really enjoyed the setting of a foggy, small, east coast fishing town and I thought the concept of a curse that could be a more literal manifestation of the difficult relationship between mothers and their daughters and the experience of women was very interesting. The idea that only the daughters were impacted by this and not the sons felt very familiar in the way that daughters in real life often have to shoulder a lot that sons never will.
Unfortunately though, the story didn’t delve into this idea very deeply which I found disappointing because that was the main thing I found interesting. The focus was more on the characters and the different timelines which for me just didn’t work. I found that all the generations of mothers and daughters felt very similar and therefore had the unfortunate effect of being very repetitive and blended together. None of the women seemed to have any distinct personality to distinguish one from the other and I often would forget which timeline I was reading from because of this. I found it very difficult to continue due to me not being able to care about any of the characters. Not only were they all very similar, but I felt that they were all very flat and did not feel real to me at all, often the dialogue felt forced and robotic.
Despite this, I still was interested to find out the mystery of what was really happening and so I continued on. I found it dragged quite a bit and was extremely slow paced and could definitely do with being cut down a bit. Many of the timelines because the same thing was happening over and over again just got very repetitive and just felt like I was rereading the same thing with only slight variations. I found it slow and there were many parts that didn’t work for me but it was still okay until I got to the climax of the story. This part just came out of nowhere, to me it just felt like a completely different book all of a sudden. There wasn’t really any foreshadowing to explain or anything that made this make any sense. It just didn’t work for me at all, which was really disappointing. I had hoped the ending would bring everything together and make me like it but it just didn’t do that at all.
I can’t say I’d recommend this but if you’re interested in a horror book that is not really scary and more atmospheric then you might enjoy this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Suicide
Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, and War
More...