Be Sure - words that, if I had the audacity to do as much, tattoo on my body in flowing gothic calligraphy.

I'm never SURE about anything. Oh I can be certain, based on knowledge and experience. I can even know, based on the information in front of me.

But sure? No, that's a bone deep belief. Something central to who you are. A trust you follow because it feels right.

McGuire's Wayward Children books explore how being sure is both positive and negative. The consequences of trying to both be sure and not trust that surety. More then a promise, Be Sure is a warning because once you're are, there is no going back.

Cora is a different kind of student. She begins her entrance into this series like the others - struggling to find just what her Door wants from her to Be Sure, but after the events of COME TUMBLING DOWN (when our merry band of misfits break the one rule Eleanor hopes will protect them - that is, they go on a Quest), Cora hasn't been able to feel...safe.

The shadows haunt her, whispering and terrible. They seek to steal her and she is terrified she will bring ruin to the world beyond her door. So she chooses instead to let go. Unlike Kade who can't return, or Sumi who won't return until its time, or Jack who exiled herself to protect her sister, Cora decides it would be better if she forgot and never returned.

This, friends, is where the OTHER school that has been alluded to comes into play...and where Cora learns that "Be Sure" isn't just a promise or a warning, its a foundation to anchor yourself and find who you truly are.

Where the Drowned Girls Go was a fantastic continuation of this series! In this installment, we follow Cora, who has been hearing voices calling to her, voices she wants gone. To do this, she opts to transfer to a different school, a school where students must learn to be "normal" again after their trips through their doors. But Cora finds that this school is a lot more sinister than it seems, when she meets the other students and staff. What will she do? Will she have help? I loved this installment, and I am excited for the next one!

Where the Drowned Girls Go follows Cora the erstwhile mermaid after her misadventure on the Moors. I tried to find a summary of Come Tumbling Down to refresh my memory of what happened to Cora there, as it’s been a while since I read it, but I wasn’t able to find one. I only remembered that she got pulled in by some sort of dark, dangerous creatures of the water and was rescued by her friends.

In this book, we find out that she has been haunted by dreams of the Drowned Gods ever since. Her trauma in the Moors has turned the water – which due to her time in the Trenches, she had previously associated with home, love, and acceptance – into something horrifying and terror-inducing. And when Cora realizes that Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children can’t offer her the help she feels she needs, she turns to a rival institution – the sinister Whitethorn Institute. Where Eleanor West’s embraces the memories of the worlds that children traveled to in hopes that they will find their door again, Whitethorn teaches them to forget.

It takes time, but Cora finds her strength, and learns that her trauma doesn’t have to control her. I loved that strength in her, and I loved her friendship with Sumi and the other kids at Eleanor West’s. I also really liked seeing Regan again. Overall, I think this is one of the better stories in this series so far, and as always I’m excited to see what Seanan McGuire comes up with next.

Representation: fat girl as main character, transgender side character, people of color as main and side characters

CW: Fatphobia, bullying, eating disorder, mention of attempted suicide

I did not realize this was the 7th in a series. It does feel right to give this book a review without the context of the first six novels. I’ll go down the middle.

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire is a fantastic addition to the Wayward Children series, and to my heart in general. Each of these books has a child I hold so close because I can’t help but fall in love with them, and this novella is no exception. The book follows Cora, who, not recovering from her door in a quick enough manner, makes the decision to transfer from Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children to the other school. Only this one has rules that are much different, and there’s something strange going on with the headmaster.

The writing is whimsical and dreamlike, perfect for a fairytale about children going through doors to magical worlds. It portrays both the innocence of childhood, and the way that innocence has been both preserved and altered by going through the doors. Some of these children have seen too much, and some by coming home are in a place of unhappiness forever.

The book, like all of them, broke my heart. It is childhood encapsulated, and how each of us has different experiences that alter us, so too do the children with their doors. McGuire writes masterfully, and each time we change POV, it is more than obvious which child we are following. They are all distinct and fully formed.

Thank you to netgalley and tordotcom for a copy of the ARC in return for a review.

Written in 3rd person multi-POV, past tense, WHERE THE DROWNED GIRLS GO was a fast read, clocking in at 160 pages. I love shorter books, because sometimes I just want to go on a quick adventure after dinner and be done before bedtime.

The tone was slightly different in WHERE THE DROWNED GIRLS GO than in the preceding books in the series, with far more time spent in the “real world.” Initially, I was a bit bummed. I love visiting the lands on the other side of the doors, because the world-building is fabulous and dreamy. But there was A LOT of tension in the story, so it was still a page turner, even if you were stuck in the mundane world.

You would definitely need to read a few of the other books in the series before diving into this one or it won’t make sense. I don’t think it’s necessary to read all of them. Although you should because they’re AWESOME!

If you love portal fantasy, high tension stories, and have read at least one other book in the Wayward Children series, then you will love this book!

I received a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is another excellent novella in the Wayward Children series. Desperate for a change, Cora asks for a transfer to a much stricter school, and we learn what her choice means for her and her new schoolmates. Happiness is not guaranteed, no ending is truly final, and the choices we make make us who we are.

I loved this book, and recommend it.

Where the Drowned Girls Go is a powerful story about finding power in your own mind, finding the strength to know your own worth. It takes a lot to decide our bodies are our own. Even as an adult, I struggle with this truth. As Cora finds the will to fight the monsters in her head, she gains the willpower and strength to fight the monsters in the halls of the Institute. Not only that, but she uses this insight to help those around her, pulling them into their own truths. It is a stunning, achingly beautiful story that means the absolute world to me.

I've followed this series from the beginning and each book is better than the last. I love how they all have a different story, with different characters, but fit together like a puzzle piece.

Cora is a strong character from the beginning. She only wants what's best for herself, but doesn't know how to go about doing it. She places herself in a school for wayward children, a place that could help her forget the door she had gone through and the things that happened on the other side, but things aren't always as they seem.

Strange happenings are going on in the school. So strange, Cora is convinced going back into the door is a better option. If only she can convince the other students to help her escape.

I loved this book. Another wonderful read by McGuire.

I absolutely adore all the wayward children series except for the last one, across the green grass fields because I felt like nothing really happened of any significance and I was hoping this wouldn't follow that but it did.

I feel like we saw a mediocre plot that was forced in just to make another book when there were other already set up plot lines that we could have followed and would have felt much less shoe horned in.

Despite my lack of love for the plot, I do always enjoy Seanan McGuire's writing which is always incredibly beautiful and unique. It always comes across well thought out and I feel like it adds a lot to the reading experience.

Overall im not a fan of the concept of this book and I hope to see more from future books instead of 80% set up leading to 20% of an anticlimactic ending!

Where the Drowned Girls Go is a darkly magical turning point for the Wayward Children series; we start to see insidious forces at play with huge ramifications for future stories. We follow Cora, a girl who became a mermaid after walking through her door. After walking through other children's doors while on a rescue mission, Cora is haunted by nightmares of eldritch sea gods from the Moors. Desperate to get better, she leaves Eleanor West's school in favor of attending rival school Whitethorn, a school that promises they can make her forget, make her "normal" Cora's journey is one of self-acceptance and inner strength; watching her grow to stand up for herself and her value as a person is absolutely wonderful. Whitethorn was as strange as any of the portal worlds we have visited; I often forgot we were still on Earth and not on a world filled with dark magic. While some volumes of this series have been touted readable as standalones, I would suggest that readers be familiar with Cora and Regan's stories before picking up this volume.

"Where the Drowned Girls Go" lived up to my expectations of the Wayward Children sereis. I was excited to see this one go in a different direction than the "other" school ones by being able to see inside the Whitethorn Institute.

Hints about what the Whitethorn Institute was like came up in the previous books, and I enjoyed reading about that eerie place once our main characters for this novel were there. I knew almost immediately that this was going to be an escape/heist story and I was so excited to read it.

This book is a tricky one to review because it's so short that it's hard to talk about a lot of it without spoiling anything, so I will say that I loved this book just as much as I love the rest of the series as a whole. (Although I will say I still love books two and four the best. I think I prefer the actual portal fantasy books to the school ones, but the school ones are still super enjoyable to read, especially with the diverse, expressive set of characters we are given.)

Cora really shines in this book as we get to learn even more about her. and her struggles from her previous adventures and her life before her door.

We also meet a new group of girls at the institute whose worlds we hear about very briefly, and McGuire is always so good at giving you little hints of things you absolutely want more of.

This book's ending left me satisfying and waiting for the story to go on at the same time. It was another great installment, as I expected.

I haven't read all of the books in the series, but I've read most of them. This one is a top 3 for me. The plot isn't that hard to work out, but the characters are so relatable and make for a very enjoyable read. While it helps to know who the side characters are and their histories, you can read this one out of order from the rest. Recommended!

The seventh book in the Wayward Children series does not disappoint! While different from other books in the series, it retains the same mood as previous books set in the school. I really enjoyed the reappearance Regan, the girl who lived with centaurs, while also following previous characters Clara and Semi. This novella brought just the right amounts of creativity, whimsy and melancholy and I've come to expect from Seannan McGuire. There were tons of wonderful details about different worlds new characters visited, while still mostly remaining grounded in the "real" world. I only wish these were full length, and not novellas, but they are the perfect length to keep you wanting more!

*4.25 stars*

The seventh installment of the Wayward Children series takes us to Whitethorn Institute, a boarding school for children who wish to deny their portal worlds/doors.

Cora is suffering severe trauma after her “adventures” in the fifth installment, Come Tumbling Down. She thinks that the best way to get over this trauma and save herself is to transfer to this school against Eleanor’s advice. Along the way, we also have Regan (from the sixth installment, Across the Green Grass Fields) as a side character, where we come to grow more attached to this character that seemed so random as the main character in the sixth novella.

I think this was a great installment, and gives McGuire a lot of options for subsequent books - I actually think this would have been a perfect book to introduce Regan, and then the sixth book could have been the seventh.

We are introduced to a bunch of new characters, each with their own exciting worlds we can explore later on as well! If you love Sumi, Cora, Regan, or just dark academia vibes with a controlling boarding school with strict rules, you’ll love it. I’m just glad this wasn’t another quest novella!!

**Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!**

Thanks to Netgalley and Tordotcom/Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series! I really don't know how the author has all these amazing stories in her head from all of her different series and the ability to get them into words so well. I wish I had 10% of her talent!

Anyways, on to the story. Cora has gone through her door and back again, and then through other doors and back again on quests, and now she's in trouble. The Drowned Gods of the Moors have their eye on her, and want her for their own. And she's scared. So she makes a decision. It's time for a change - and she's decided to go to...that other school... the one Eleanor West tries very hard to be different from... The Whitethorn Institute is a very different place. They are rigid and structured and any talk of quests or other worlds is strictly forbidden. It's a rehab facility and a prison, basically. So Cora must figure out whether or not she wants a normal life or to accept her place in another world and fight against the Drowned Gods. The problem is... her new school isn't quite welcoming to the idea that she gets a choice.

I loved some revisited characters in this one, and I really enjoyed the new setting and new characters. The new school felt very realized and detailed, without spending too much time with overly long description.

Pick up this series, but start at the beginning. The beginning might just be YOUR door.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis:
This instalment in the Wayward Children series follows Cora and her struggle to regain normality in the real world after travelling through doors which were not her own. The story takes place at Whitethorn Institute which is not at all as friendly as Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

Thoughts:
I loved this book! I’ve had varied ratings for the books in this series but this is one of my favourites I think. Learning more about the whitethorn institute was so intriguing and seeing the girls band together was just wonderful! Honestly it’s just magically as per usual and I love seeing characters from previous books appear throughout the stories too even if they’re not the main part. Definitely recommend as with all the others in this series! I can’t wait for the next one!

Recommend? ✅
Reread? ✅

Seanan McGuire has one of the most imaginative minds ever. She can created fairy tales that will hold up over the test of time. I love her other series, and this book had remnants of One Salt sea to me. If you put a mermaid in a story I will read it. While this does introduce another school, there is the familiarity of past books in Wayward series.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

If you are a fan of the author and other books in this series, I am confident you will love it! I didn't realize it was part of a series, so I was a little lost. It is well written and an enjoyable story!

Thank you to #netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my review. This is the seventh book in the series Wayward Children. I have done all the others on audio.

Drowned Girls focuses on Cora the mermaid and her struggles being back in the real world. She is having a hard time living with the Drowned Gods haunting her dreams every night. She cannot take it anymore and wants to transfer to the other school for kids who have gone through their doors. This is where the story picks up and introduces the reader to a whole new cast of characters and a very different way of helping kids through their struggles coming back from beyond their worlds.

This book did not flow for me the way the others in the series did probably because I read it. When the audio comes out I will go back and listen. The story is a good one and different from the other books. If there are more in the series I will definitely read them. My rating 3.5⭐.