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3.13k reviews for:

Drowning

T.J. Newman

4.12 AVERAGE

larissalyann's review

5.0

That was so good but I might cry myself to sleep now. It was supposed to be suspense and a thriller but it was so much more
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itsrachswan's review

4.5
challenging sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated

jchigh's review

5.0
emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

kbylenga's review

4.0

Wow this was a RIDE! Love a good fast-paced thriller. Giving it a 4 just because I felt like many (most?) of the characters were a little shallow, but STILL I could not put this down today!
emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A slow burn that really fuels your adrenaline. I think the backstory of Chris and Will really added to the story as did the character's and how they developed during book. I was close to tears with the last few chapters so it is safe to say it was an emotional and heart breaking read.

Quote/

'Life is measured in birthdays. Graduations. Weddings. First steps. A first crush. A first kiss. Firsts, not lasts are the tallies on a life's scorecard. The life of a child is about firsts. The life of a parent is about lasts.'

'A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets.' (Re-quoted from Titanic).

'Kit marveled at the human capacity not only to endure, but to find joy in the midst of suffering.'

'And that was all life was. Shifting the balance, every day, to make room for joy and Grace in whatever circumstances you've got before time runs out.'

'Time is luck. You grab it. You hold on tight. And you be there. You have to be there for it. It's going, with or without you. And no one knows for how long. No one knows.'

cadillacsaville's review

3.25
emotional reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

_theinkedreader_'s review

3.0
emotional sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A short sad (because it is true) story:

A woman (me) whose only phobia in life is going on a plane (like full-blown panic attacks with snot running down my face) decides to read a book about a plane crashing into the ocean. Said woman (still me), then proceeds to cry like a 1-month-old baby throughout the audiobook at every. single. small. event. 
The woman cries more listening to this than any other book she's read in the past five years (and trust me she's read a few). Then the book ends and the woman dries her tears and goes: "Well, that was just all right, I guess?"

The end.


Honestly, this type of book is not my genre. For obvious reasons.
Why did I decide to do this to myself? Your guess is as good as mine.

My biggest critique? The soon-aborted diver suit solution (trying to remain as spoiler-free as possible here). I think giving up on that solution so quickly was a bit nonsensical and done only to continue with another few hundred pages of drama. In real life, you don't stop an entire rescue operation that is actually working on the counts of an idiot (Andy) making a mistake. If you are at the zoo and near the lions' den see a sign "DO NOT CLIMB IN" and then an idiot does indeed climb in and gets eaten, you don't close the whole zoo, do you?! (We'd probably kill the poor lions though because we suck) You just write a bigger sign!

I liked Will and his family background story (cried like a fountain) yet upon finishing this (and setting aside the fact that I had been hysterical throughout) I was thinking why only 3 stars if you cannot pinpoint anything wrong with it? 
I guess it's more a personal preference when it comes down to limited settings stories. At the end of the day, many things are predictable in a story like this. It's going to take place in a crashed plane, and we can safely assume that what happens for the next hundreds of pages are these people trying to get out of there. Some will die, your protagonists probably won't and that's it. Like even the things that kept happening were quite predictable- it's like watching Final Destination, you know what will happen and some might enjoy watching it happen; I'm more someone who likes to have no idea where the story is going if it makes sense.

I know the author has another book about a plane getting hijacked but I think it is safe to say THAT WOULD BE A VERY BAD IDEA for me to read. 

*quick FYI: I have a booktube channel! You can find me at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKINi_gWxRVjojxMeKtKi1Q*
emotional sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

bells_n's review

4.0
emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes