A hauntingly beautiful spooky tale about a ghost that haunts the women in a cursed bloodline. The curse serves as a beautiful metaphor for generational trauma, and the way each mother in the lineage tries to end the trauma with themselves. Consistently good quality throughout, pretty writing, great characterization. I enjoyed that we got to see a little bit of each generation’s story. Also loved that the main character was a lesbian and that it was never treated as anything but normal. Loved this one

I love multi-generational stories and They Drown Our Daughters totally delivered on it. The writing was beautiful and so descriptive and atmospheric that I felt as if I was on the beach of Cape Disappointment in the PNW right along with our MC.

Meredith is going through a divorce and despite her rocky relationship with her mother Judith, she returns home with her young daughter Alice. Judith has always kept the dilapidated lighthouse running in hopes of warding off a ghost who happens to be an ancestor and is haunting the water and set on taking every woman born into her family one way or another and becomes frantic about the lighthouse being relit upon their arrival. While Meredith knew the tragic history of her family, she never believed the ghost stories until both her and her daughter start hearing the voice calling to them from the ocean.

Gothic ghost stories are one of my favorite, so this one was a must read for me. If you liked The Lighthouse Witches, I think you’ll like this one too! Thanks to @poisonedpenpress and @netgalley for my review copy. They Drown Our Daughters is expected to be published this July. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you!

They Drown Our Daughters is about a small coastal town called Cape Disappointment that is rumored to be haunted. They say if you can hear the call from the water, it’s already too late. Meredith Strand returns to her childhood home on the cape in lieu of her impending divorce from her wife Kristin, with her young daughter Alice. Meredith’s mother suffers from Alzheimer’s and is convinced the stories told about the cape and the call from the water are real.

This book was so good! Such a unique book regarding family curses, legends, and generational beliefs. This story is multiple POV, told by women of 5 generations who are bound to the ocean. This book kept me on my toes, I genuinely had no idea what was happening and the twist at the end was perfect. The way the story was told made me feel like I was constantly at the beach, watching the events of the book occur. This is a fantastic thriller, with inclusion of the LQBTQ community. Pick this up when it comes out!

They Drown Our Daughters will be available on July 12th! Thank you to the publishers (@sourcebooks), NetGalley, and Katrina Monroe for this ebook ARC!

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This gothic horror has everything you could want. From queer representation to an eerie atmospheric setting to a generational family curse that is the focus of the story. Overall I thought it was pretty well executed with the exception of a few elements that definitely dampened my enjoyment a bit. I am a sucker for flashbacks/jumping timelines however I felt some of the chapters got muddled together and it was hard to keep track of all the characters. Because of this I found myself flipping back and forth to try and remember who was who, how they were related, and how they disappeared. I think this was in large part because, aside from the main character, Meredith, the character voices were not super distinct so the story could have definitely benefited with providing greater depth to some of the characters.

Despite those few elements, however, I generally enjoyed the story and I am happy I read it. I would recommend it for those who are into lighter horror that is situated around creepy atmosphere rather than actual scares.

I really enjoyed this book. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the chance to read this ARC. Can’t wait for more by author!

Meredith Strand returns to her childhood home, Cape Disappointment, with her young daughter to escape her failing marriage. The Cape, said to be haunted, is a tourist hotspot where they gather in search of shells and trinkets and in hopes of seeing a shimmering tail or dark shape of a mermaid. For Meredith, the coast brings back memories of curses, death, and a family history of women who are mysteriously drawn to the ocean and their death. As soon as she returns she begins to feel the pull of something dark calling her to the water...and it won't stop until it has what it wants.

They Drown Our Daughters is a haunting tale involving multiple generations of women who are cursed by something in the ocean. The women all avoid the water but like a siren's call many hear the voice that calls them to their death. It follows Meredith who returns home with her young daughter to a mother who appears to be suffering from early stages of Alzheimer's. Although this novel had many aspects of a good horror, I had a hard time getting into this one. I didn't care for any of the characters and the story just didn't pull me in as I had hoped. That being said it was an intriguing plot with a disturbing family history that many readers may enjoy.

A seaside-gothic perfect as a beach read.
A family curse, haunted water, and a string of deaths of the women in the family are the perfect combination for this book. I’m not a huge fan of beach settings, but this one kept me interested. It delves into the often complicated mother-daughter relationship, as well as tells a generational tale of heartbreak and death through the perspectives of several women in the family.
I’d recommend for people who like THE RING or BELOVED.

They Drown Our Daughters is a masterful take on family curses and mermaid legends. Told from the points of view of five generations of women bound to the ocean, this book reeks of salt air and dust.
What I really loved about this book was the atmosphere. The author made it feel like I could feel the ocean breeze and feel the sand between my toes. And I loved it despite hating the beach in real life. My only complaint is that it felt like there were gaps in the story in some places and some things could have been fleshed out better. Other than that I loved it, though. Definitely be on the lookout for this one.

This was a quietly creepy take on mermaid/sirens folklore. Who would think the beach could seem so scary-makes you think twice about holding a shell to your ear. And the “human” villains were a nice twist as well.

Sadly, while the pitch was interesting, I did not jive with the writing style and the plot did not catch enough of my interest for me to continue reading. I decided to set it down at 10%. Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was... haunting, atmospheric, eerie, and ended up being a borderline obsession for me. I couldn't put it down! It is, by no means, perfect. There were moments that felt swampy and sticky where I'd get tripped up and have to force myself through a paragraph or a page, but on the other side, it was well-worth it. Monroe is wonderful at crafting a feeling in the reader. I felt on the edge of my seat for a good portion of the time trying to figure out what's coming next.

On to the plot-- it was awesome! It felt the same way as watching a pretty good horror film that also goes mostly for the atmospheric. Kind of like "It Follows" where the tension builds and not much 'action' happens but still it's so engaging. The way the novel buries and unburies the mother-daughter relationships, the way society views any type of failure within those relationships, was expertly done. What would you give for your child? What would you give for YOURSELF? I keep repeating the tension and the atmosphere, but the novel hinges on crafting a certain vibe successfully. This one does.

It's a great dark nautical novel! Monroe has really done something special here, and I will be recommending it and gifting it for the holiday season.

4/5

This book is written so well, and I did like the main character(s), but I found the plotting to be so repetitive with its central device and flashback/point-of-view chapters that it was hard to keep reading by 120 pages in or so. I skimmed a bit from there, and I will say that a twist DOES certainly happen, but...it was not my favorite twist, to put it mildly. It was kinda hilarious as a twist, but it really didn't work for me in terms of either the gothic vibes of the book or the overall world/magic. It was ok, and the end was certainly something, but the book didn't live up to my expectations. (The gorgeous cover didn't help with them being sky-high...)

Pitched as part modern gothic, part ghost story, They Drown Our Daughters follows Meredith as she returns to her family home at the supposedly haunted Cape Disappointment with her young daughter. This was beautifully written with a chilling (no pun intended) atmosphere both in and out of the ocean. I don't think I've read a book before that explores the relationship between generations of mother's and daughter's with such outstanding depth.

"Like her father and her husband, he knew what was best by virtue of his gender. Grace aspired to be so confident in her ignorance."

Although I absolutely loved the first two thirds, the last third threw me out of the story a bit with its change in tone/pace. The ending did cause some mixed feelings and at the time I wished it had ended on a different message but I do understand the choice behind it.

"Could a person see with their soul? Hear with their heart? She believed so."

This was a queer, feminist story of grief, heartbreak and the love that binds families together set around the chilling power and beauty of the ocean. Although there was some parts that didn't work for me I will probably be checking out Katrina Monroe's future works.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced reader's copy.

DNF at 48% ~
I feel as though I cannot rate this accurately as I chose not to finish this book, but I will give you an honest review.

The premise of this book spoke to me so loudly, hence why I requested this from NetGalley. Women for generations within a singular family have been drawn to the water of Cape Disappointment, but they keep dying or going missing. They have a calling from the water, a girl who can speak to them through a pink shell. Sounded so fun and interesting, but.... This book travels between timelines in every chapter to the different women throughout the generations and honestly it just confused the heck out of me. Even at nearly halfway, I am confused about who is whose mum/daughter/sister, and how they died or disappeared. This has made for a very strained read for me, hence the decision to DNF.

Don't get me wrong the writing was great, the story was leading up to something good it seems, but I couldn't continue knowing I was just going to keep being confused and not enjoy it to its fullest. If you are able to articulate the constant time jumps, then certainly give this a read!

They Drown Our Daughters follows Meredith Stand and her daughter, Alice, who return to Meredith’s childhood home on Cape Disappointment. Legend says that Cape disappointment is haunted by a malevolent force, but Meredith believes that it is more haunted by regret than anything else. But her mother Judith is convinced that the ghost stories are real, and she will do anything to keep the dark figure in the water and the voices in the wind from coming for her granddaughter.

We Drown Our Daughters is a queer gothic horror novel that examines family ties and what it means to be a good mother. While the book had a lot of potential, it ultimately fell short for me. The story, which includes multiple timelines and a number of different character POVs, is all over the place. There is a lot of repetition, and the different timelines and points of view were often indistinguishable. This book also blends a number of different genres, and I felt like it was trying to be too many things at once. However, I really liked the creepy atmosphere.

This was disappointing. I liked the beginning, but most of the time it was boring and I didn't really care about anything that was happening.

3,5/5 Stars

They Drown Our Daughters is a book that tells the story of a family and the curse that seems to follow them through multiple generations. The story takes place across multiple timelines, with the mothers and daughters of the family being the focus.

Following multiple women in different times trying to figure out how to get rid of a curse that makes their lives miserable was really thrilling. Throughout the chapters, more and more information about the curse and the family is revealed to the reader and the characters but the book still keeps you guessing for quite some time.

My biggest problem with this book was the pacing. The prologue was super thrilling, but then the pace got really slow, which on its own doesn’t bother me. What bothered me was that the ending in turn felt really rushed. Things were building up quite slowly and then ended very abruptly. And maybe that’s the reason why the book felt about 200 pages longer than it actually was.

Apart from that the book was really enjoyable, and I had a good time with it. It definitely kept my attention for the most part, it just wasn’t quite as thrilling as I’d hoped. I would recommend this book specifically to people who don’t mind a slow-burn mystery with a supernatural twist and a focus on mother-daughter relationships.

With all of these glowing reviews, I hate to be the voice of dissent. I ended up DNF this a few chapters in. There was clunky exposition, jumping from one thing to another, which took me completely out of the story. Unfortunately, after a few starts to try again, I finally gave up. The concept of the book was fascinating, so I do hope for those that don’t have my same problems, truly do love this -- and find it spellbinding and engrossing as other reviewers found it!

When I saw this was pitched for fans of Jennifer McMahon and Silvia Moreno-Garcia with gothic themes and Sapphic rep I was sold.

This multi-generational story unfurls slowly, and hauntingly. Women are front and centre as they tackle a long-standing curse before it takes them all.

The different time periods work well and complements the complexities of each woman’s story. The writing and atmosphere was incredible and created such an eerie tone overall.

Thank you Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance.