A review by lilmooniex
The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding

Did not finish book.

spoiler filled description:

The book revolves around an intelligent woman named Lee who ended up homeless, living out of her car. Doug had given her a blade because of her being out in the open on her own. One day she wakes to two men on either side of her car looking in to see what to steal and possibly worse. One shattered the window and stole her purse, it had all her valuables and money. We find out that the reason Lee is homeless is because she went into business with someone named Damon and when covid hit her restaurant closed down causing her to go bankrupt. Damon was not understanding and he hit her hand with a mallet and threatened to break a finger a week causing her to flee. Lee needs a cash advance from her boss Randy bc of the broken window but he is not budging, says if he has to do it for her he has to do it for everyone. Vincent, the frycook, knew she needed a new phone after the robbery and hooked her up with a street phone from his friend. Lee and her sister have some unresolved trauma from the last time they spoke, leading me to believe Lee stole from her. Since Lee's car is broken she has been sleeping in a nice rich neighborhood, one night as she was sleeping in her car by the ocean she noticed a woman apologizing to no one and diving into the freezing ocean, trying to kill herself. She ended up saving her but said she wishes Lee hadn't, saying her husband is a defense lawyer and is very abusive and sadistic and she can't live her life like this. She finds out the drowning woman is named Hazel as she came back the next morning with breakfast and an expensive figurine that she could see if she felt up for it as a thank you. Hazel says she has to be come by 6:30, saying it is similar to master and slave with her husband Benjamin. Jesse, one of her patrons, invited Lee on a date he was very sweet and took care of her when she fell asleep during it - waking up in his bed. He gave her food and wanted to try another date when she was well again. Lee wanted to exchanged numbers but he said," I know where to find you" giving me a kind've bad vibe. Lee and her sister Teresa stopped talking because her fiance was cheating on her but instead of telling her right away she was planning on blackmailing him, getting the money, then telling her sister. He confesses before any of it can happen and makes Lee look like the world's worst sister. Hazel meets up with Lee again and she told her that her husband Benjamin and her were in a dom/sub relationship but then she eventually stopped enjoying it and Benji did not give a fawk and enjoyed how uncomfortable it made her. He even has a soundproof room to lock her up in if she acts out of line.  She is only allowed 20 mins on the beach. Benjamin is a powerful lawyer so she can't leave without him threatening to kill her. Lee has been seeing Jesse and flirting and I have to say I do NOT trust him. He seems quite shady and seems to ask a lot of personal questions about her home life and family (casually) but I feel like for a reason. Hazel offered to get Lee a whole new identity when they hatch an escape plan, wanting to run away from both of their problems. At this point I trust no one, not even Lee. Hazel giving a little Shady but I give her a lil credibility bc I see the chapters change perspectives at some point. Lee sees Hazel in a shop while trying to look up both Jesse and Benjamin but Hazel was acting brand mf new acting like she didn't know her and gave her $50, humiliating her while she was with her two rich friends. I feel like there's little hints being dropped about Jesse even his apartment is scarce. Lee is a thirsty girl just wanting some sort of sexual contact/ human contact and finally bangs Jesse. Jesse could be hazel's son ? He mentioned an abusive parental atmosphere. Also later when he sees her again he did a quick hump and dump against the car before darting off which was weird and so mf sudden ?? Hazel feels guilty for acting posh and says it was her husband's friend's wives that she was with and that they were not her friend and ends up buying her a spa ticket for the day - she got her a bikini wax, mani pedi, and a massage. I almost feel as though she's going to he caught bc Hazel obviously won't be smooth downstairs but is paying for this extra service, she can always paint her toe polish. Lee went thru the works and the visit was not paid for but Hazel comes rushing in with a black eye, an apology, and her debit card. Lee and Hazel swapped places, Hazel thought Lee looked just like her after the spa treatment and wanted her to go to her home and make it look like it were her so Hazel could get a two hour headstart with her new identity and then they could both leave before Benjamin came home. Everything went as planned, the 50k was in the drawer along with Lee's new identity except when Lee went into Benjamin's office, she found Jesse dead in the chair. Jesse and Hazel had known each other, he was hired by Benjamin as her personal trainer when he began to hate her body. They had an affair and he knew about her controlling husband, trying to help her escape - but ever since finding out about Lee the plan was for her to go down for murder using the knife in her house to make it look like she was stealing and murdering from the clean nice rich lady. Hazel's friendship to Lee was all a sham set in motion basically by Jesse. Lee is a little confused on who to trust after seeing her knife and the netzuke egg is gone from her area. Lee ends up breaking into Jesse's house and realizes Hazel and him were actually together and that Jesse may not have even been his real name - it could have been Carter. She dips when she hears excessive banging on the door, stealing his notebook. In the notebook Lee digs and finds a number before she could hang up he called her by her name, asking where she is - I wonder what the hell is happening. Lee finds Jesse/Carter's brother, Sean, and breaks the news to him letting him know he was murdered. Since they were in a lot of legal trouble, Hazel's wife Benjamin had been the one representing Carter/Jesse - all the pieces falling into places and many enemies on his back. Benjamin asked Lee for a meet up after he called her on Hazel's phone, saying she was the one that was actually evil and plotting. Lee ended up with 75k after Ben bribed her to leave because he wanted her out of the equation.

 

DNF, I got bored.