Happy Release day!
It dragged towards the end of the book, but it was pretty good other than that. Gothic and intriguing, I can’t say I had a bad time.

They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe is not the usual genre that I read. I am sure there will be a following for this book, but it wasn’t for me. There were many characters to keep track of and there were multiple time periods as well. The subject-matter and themes of this novel were very dark. I would say this is more about me than the book so I encourage you to judge for yourself.

I thought the story was intriguing. I love tales of ghosts lurking among the waves, ready and waiting to pull you in. Love that! And the history that was built inside these pages was perfectly crafted.

This demonstrates, in healthy and unhealthy ways, the lengths women will go to protect their daughters. This is told through generations of women of the seaside Cape Disappointment and the different relationships these mothers and daughters had.

For generations, there has been something ghostly waiting among the waves, pulling girls to its watery depths. This was floaty and atmospheric and I couldn’t put it down. There are twists I didn’t see coming and betrayals I felt hard. This book totally pulled me in.

I was wondering why reading this felt unbearably long until I saw that it's 300 pages. Much of it revolves around generations of women obsessing over the sea and each other. Overall I liked it but couldn't help feeling that it was a bit draggy in some chapters.

Holy... I loved this book. The plot, the intrigue, the mystery, it was amazing. This book kept me up at night, turning page after page to see what happens next.

Definitely will be recommending this to others.

Locals say Cape Disappointment is haunted. With a name like that, how could it not be?

Lighthouses aren't just stunning to look at, they serve a purpose. They are used to warn ships of dangerous shallows and rocky coasts. They light the way for safe sailing. Can they also be used to keep other kinds of danger at bay?


Told in different timelines, They Drown Our Daughters is chilling and atmospheric with strong gothic vibes. Meredith and her young daughter have come back to Meredith's childhood home. Her mother is in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease believes the stories are real. She doesn't just believe it, she knows it. She can hear it in the seashell. She knows it is becoming her granddaughter as it has beckoned every woman in their family for generations.

In the past, we see the lighthouse ever vigilant as it sets the stage for what is to come.

This book touches on many things: mothers and daughters, relationships, family legacy, and tragedy. Part ghost story, part mystery, part supernatural, part fantasy. This book jumps around in time but is never confusing. There were things that I wanted more of an explanation on, but overall, this was an enjoyable gothic tale.

The author even included questions at the end for discussion.

Atmospheric, gothic, chilling

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sucks you in right from the beginning, this story was a difficult one to put down at the beginning but unfortunately there are some slow moments at about the 25-75% mark. It’s an intriguing ghost story with multiple points of view between the past and present. Each point of view focuses on a different woman and how she is affected from a curse in their past. It’s an interesting read but again, it does drag a tad which could probably have a little to do with the darker subject matter.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

They Drown Our Daughters follows the stories of mother, Judith, and daughter, Meredith, as they contend with the haunting secrets of their home, Cape Disappointment. After years away, Meredith returns to Cape Disappointment with her young daughter, Alice, after separating from her wife, only to face all of the old ghost stories that her mother has been telling her since she was a child. But the more time that Meredith spends at the Cape, she realises that the stories that her mother may have been telling her weren't stories at all.

I really enjoyed this multigenerational modern gothic novel. Not only did the worldbuilding and setting around Cape Disappointment really intrigue me and gave me chills in the best way, but I found the relationship between Meredith and Judith very compelling. The author had a keen eye for describing the events faced by Meredith and Judith in a haunting, beautiful way but also being able to succinctly getting to the point of the story. The lighthouse as a metaphor and the literary threat of the water created a visceral, powerful story. At the heart of the story, in my view, was this beautiful, real, honest relationship between mothers and daughters, the secrets that exist in family, the resentment that children hold onto, and this bone-deep, brutal instinct of mothers to protect their children. This was an incredible book.

This book started out really good, but as it continued it felt like it dragged on a lot for me. I mostly wanted to find out what the ending was which is why I continued slogging through it, and the end delivers well. It’s also about generational trauma and that’s always pretty neat. I’m not a huge fan of flashbacks, and I’m not sure how I Personally Feel about the mother/daughter relationships in these books. IDK! We’re going to go for three and a half stars for this fantastically unhelpful review, rounded up for Netgalley/Goodreads.

This was a really unique story about several generations of women haunted by their family’s past.

Cape Disappointment seems like a bit of an ominous name for a town, but for Meredith Strand’s family, there is some truth to the rumors that surround her childhood home. When she returns with her young daughter after a split from her wife, she is determined to not let the haunting stories affect her or Alice. But her mother, Judith, is beginning to show signs of Alzheimer’s and believes the ghost stories are true. She knows there’s something in the water, watching and waiting. Once you hear it’s mournful call, it may be too late.

This story explores the lengths women will go to protect themselves and their daughters, and how one brave mother could end the curse that has plagued their family once and for all.

Highly recommend!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing a copy of this book to review.*

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4815780480

They Drown Our Daughters didn't really work for me. I thought the premise was interesting, and I love the idea of a curse following a family down generations, with snippets from different timelines.

They Drown Our Daughters is about a family in the present (grandmother Judith, mother Meredith, daughter Alice) dealing with a family history of female suicide, with women walking into the sea. Many of the women have visions of a strange half-girl half-creature beckoning into the ocean. The book flashes back to previous generations of women going through the same thing.

I liked the first few chapters, but I found by the middle of the book that nothing was really changing in the characters, and no new information was coming to light. It seemed to be repeating the same story over and over.

I enjoyed the atmosphere, and some of Monroe's observations about the relationships between mothers and daughters. But she never quite drew me in emotionally.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for my review copy of this book.

'They Drown Our Daughters' really drew me in from early on. I liked the multiple POV chapters that gave glimpses into the different women's lives and the strong theme of strained mother/daughter relationships. I was intrigued by the idea of a multi-generational curse and was excited to see where the story would go.

Unfortunately, the story barely goes at all for the majority of the book. The story starts off well but then it just drags on for chapter after chapter after chapter. I considered DNFing multiple times but I was genuinely interested in how the curse would play out so I kept at it...and at it...and at it.
In the end, I jumped from dialogue to dialogue just so I could know the outcome.
The ending was objectively interesting as well but I was too worn out by the drawn out bulk of the book to really appreciate or enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Katrina Monroe for giving me a free digital copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

They Drown Our Daughters is captivating from beginning to end! Katrina Monroe is a wonderfully gifted writer, her lyrical prose accentuating the complexity of her characters and plot. I've seen some reviews complaining about the different chapters focusing on different women, but I actually wound up loving it. I thought it was a clever, effective way to show how the curse and the trauma it induces really is intergenerational. More than anything, though, I wound up being surprised by how much I loved Judith's chapters of her youth the most. While the present day story with Meredith is interesting, Judith's story held my interest more intensely, and I particularly cherished her characters.

I don't know how I feel about the big twist that happens about 65%ish into the book. I didn't see it coming, which I enjoyed, but I also think the plot could have worked without it. The big final twist that Meredith realizes toward the end of the novel wasn't as big of a surprise, as I'd hypothesized it earlier in the book, but that doesn't mean it was any less delightful or clever. (I always love being right, so I relished that!)

Overall, They Drown Our Daughters is a gorgeous horror novel and one I highly recommend!

A haunting tale of a curse.
Beautifully written, this novel will capture the hearts of readers who love family dramas, moody characters, heavy atmospheres. Every word here is drenched in sea salt and evokes the ocean at its most dangerous. The sea is another character, looming and terrifying.
I really enjoyed all those aspects of the book. Sadly I wasn't very drawn to any of the characters. I found them unlikable and unapproachable. Unlikable because they did nothing that could make them be people you want to know better and be friends with, and unapproachable because of the writing style. That's a choice of course, but it meant I was very detached throughout my reading and kept switching off, which is a shame because the atmosphere was spot on. This is very much a case of a good book, with great ideas and themes, but just not for me. I hesitate very much on what to rank it, as I didn't enjoy it, but I could see how good it is for people who are more into literary works of fiction.

I really enjoyed this slow-burn, gothic, ghost-story. I found Meredith Strand to be a compelling protagonist, and I think that Monroe rendered Meredith's trauma and her complicated relationship with her family and her family's history really well. I've read a lot of excellent horror/speculative fiction books like this one which focus on the ambivalence of motherhood and all the conflicting feelings it brings to the surface. It's a trend I'm really enjoying!

Monroe handles the complexity of a novel that takes place across multiple generations very well. I think that having the majority of the story set in the same location (Cape Disappointment) and having the story focused on a single familial line of mothers and daughters helps to anchor the narrative and the reader. I never felt confused or thrown off about where I was in time/space.

I won't say too much because I don't want to spoil anything, but I really liked the twist towards the end of the book. The last 20% or so of this novel went in a direction I was not expecting, and yet it made complete sense with the themes of motherhood, mother-child relationships, and the family curse.

A fantastic debut!

They Drown Our Daughters is an eerie, dark and gothic page turner. Slipping between past and present following the family’s “cursed” history. This story is told in multiple perspectives and adds layers to the overall story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC. I deeply enjoyed this tale.

They Drown Our Daughters, was a book I was really excited to read. Let’s just look at that cover to begin with- it is reminiscent of Sir John Everett Millais’ painting of Ophelia. Plus I was hearing It being compared to Jennifer McMahon’s writing. I believed I would be entering book heaven.

I understand the comparison to McMahon. This story is told in dual timelines, there is a mystery rooted in the past with hints of the supernatural. But whereas McMahon’s books read very quickly, this one dragged a bit for me. I did love learning about the multi generations of women and how the curse affected each of them. Monroe creates great atmosphere and this book reads very much like a modern gothic.

I liked this book, but didn’t love it as much I should have. It dragged quite a bit in the middle for me. Among other things, this book is about multi generational abuse and I found that aspect to be well done but also very bleak. Still, the mystery and supernatural elements were very good. However, if you are going to compare a book to the reigning queen of supernatural suspense, it better deliver. Overall, I liked this one but didn’t love it. Thank you to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for an advanced arc.

This completely delivered on the gothic, dark vibe it promised. I really liked the eerie atmosphere, and if you are a fan of classic gothic novels and are looking to read one with a modern take, then I think you will really like this book. This a generational story centering on the lives of women, and the atmosphere and characters are compelling to the tenth degree. My heart was wrenched by this one.

Oh there was so many great things about this book and then some meh parts. I love love love the erriness of the beach, ocean, cove and lighthouse. Don't let that fool you...this is not a beach book!. Curses, mermaid legends, mother/daughter relationships that are not smooth sailing are the backbone of this Gothic story. So what was not love? The shifting timelines. If they had followed more if a straight timeline, maybe not Judith in multiple years or maybe not back and forth between past to now. Also the timing is off at moments and things are too slow or too hurried.
In all this was a solid 3 stars and I will look for future work from Monroe.

Katrina Monroe had penned a truly amazing novel! This is a story about generations of women who feel an unescapable pull to the water off Cape Disappointment. Through masterful storytelling we learn what started this “curse” and why it’s still causing trouble. We see different mother/daughter relationships along the way and how, at the end of the day, all mothers want to do is protect their children. This book hooked me from the start and kept me guessing until the end!