3 stars

Honestly, I think this a good book that just didn’t scratch quite the right itches for me.

The book starts off by bombarding you with a large cast of characters, few of whom turn out to be very important. The family curse is meant to present as a spooky line of women who are haunted by ancestral guilt literalized into a ghost, but it in practicality reads more as a long line of women with martyr complexes, who are all sadly more interesting and compelling than the present-day heroine and heir to this family curse. The overall story, of a dark family past and a seductive, maybe-evil-maybe-not ghost, should have been so up my alley, but the story twists and revelations just got a little too wacky for me. I did, however, really like the ending and the way that the story resolved.

So, in summation, I thought the book had a great premise and ending but lost itself in a convoluted and too-long middle, that might have grabbed me more had I got on with the main character better.

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy: Maternal histories, lesbian main characters, walking disasters, seaside adventures, or supernatural mystery thrillers.

They Drown Our Daughters was an epic read. It was traumatic and beautiful. The sea was a character in the book and written with such loving prose.

Meredith and Alice are fleeing from a marriage and family falling apart. And the only place to flee is the Cape, where her mother and memories live.

This is heaped with generational trauma and how circular that can be. What happened to the mother happens to the daughter and so on. It’s courageous to try and break that pattern and I loved this story for taking on that courageous spirit.

For fans of feminist horror, supernatural tales and strong female characters.

Very well written and the author has managed to really capture the gothic vibe. At times this novel did feel a touch slow and the storylines could get a tad confusing but I loved the characters and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for this authors future works

OH MY. This is a creepy gothic mystery that I won’t forget. Some parts were slow but it kept me hooked. I highly recommend.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press, NetGalley and the author for providing this title in exchange for an honest review!

If you're a daughter with a complicated relationship with your mother, you can go ahead and read this book instead of going to therapy.

Just kidding! Please go to therapy. But, also read this.

When I say "They drown our daughters" blew my mind, I'm not exaggerating.

Meredith has always felt like an unwanted child. Until she managed to get away from Cape Disappointment, her mother kept her at arm's length, yet at the same time, within arm's reach, telling her stories of monsters lurking in the water. Things are not much different when Meredith returns to her hometown with her daughter Alice, a motherhood Meredith was never eager to claim but is now willing to do anything to protect. She knows they come from a line of "troubled" women, women who disappeared, women who took their own lives. Mothers, leaving traumatized daughters behind. She knows folk legends of killer mermaids are not behind it, but mental illness. And then the water starts to call.

This was a beautifully written, character-driven, chilling ghost story that, at its core, is really about trying to break the cycle of generational trauma, and a fantastic metaphor for mental illness. It's about finally, really, understanding, and forgiving, and making the choice to do different, because you also have the tools to do different.

The novel follows present day Meredith, but alternates with the point of view of the mothers and daughters who came before her back to Regina, the woman who started it all. The prologue really hooked me in, and I enjoyed slowly seeing the puzzle pieces fall into place. About halfway through, I felt as unable to stop reading as the women felt powerless to get away from the ocean they both loved and feared.

The descriptions were as vivid as if you were there, and the plot was fast-paced and masterfully crafted.

The ending shocked me, but it felt fitting. This book will definitely stay with me for a long time, highly recommended!

I DNF’d this book at 50% because I just felt like it wasn’t going anywhere.

The storyline and concept was intriguing and I wanted to enjoy the book but for me the timelines were confusing, the events that I did read were repetitive and at time stagnant and it was on a whole actually quite boring to read.

Katrina Monroe has written a book that is going to make people so, so mad. "They Drown Our Daughters" is the story of a family curse. Exploring the relationship of mothers and daughters, of the ocean and women, of the ghosts of mistakes of the past and the ghosts of the present.

Meredith is running away from her life. Taking her daughter Alice, she returns to her childhood home by the sea. Her mother is haunted by something and soon dies. Meredith soon spirals and Alice goes missing. What happens next ... well, this is why I rated the book 4 stars.

This book does involve a little bit of suspension of belief. Time seems to ... not matter. There are some logistical issues. And there are some timeline issues, but... BUT, it's still a great story. However, the end...the END is going to make people so VERY mad.

But I LOVED IT. I loved every single word of the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A few questions I’d have liked answered, but an engrossing ghost story nonetheless. Due to be published July 12, thanks to Poisoned Pen Press & Net galley for the ARC

They Drown Our Daughters is ultimately a story of generational trauma wrapped up in an atmospheric ghost story. Overall, I enjoyed it, but a lot of the book dragged and was confusing.

The family tree was hard to follow as the POV shifts tended to stay with 2-3 of the women mentioned. But keeping track of the entire family tree so you knew who was being referred to was kind of a task. The slow pace of the book wouldn’t have grated as much if I wasn’t so confused.

There’s one decent plot point that is blatantly put in our face but never brought up again or resolved (can’t go into it without spoiling the end), but I would have love to see that wrapped up.

But like I said, I ended up enjoying the book. I liked the moodiness, the setting, and the resolution.

This is a dark, melancholic gothic horror with supernatural elements – quite different to my usual read!
Meredith Strand is dealing with a relationship breakdown and has taken her young daughter Alice back to her mother’s home in the rather aptly named “Cape Disappointment” (which is a real place in Washington state, USA). Meredith knows of the “family curse” and the legends of the mermaids, but if she can her daughter away from the water, everything should be fine. When a mysterious red-headed girl turns up at a funeral, and again on the beach telling 7 yr old Alice that she is going to die, Meredith is determined to figure out who she is, what is going on and what has caused so many of the women in their family to drown. When Alice goes missing, she starts to unravel so many of the strands that have bound the women of her family together for generations.
The story is told through five generations of women bound to the ocean by a family “curse” and a legend of mermaids.
The writing is incredibly atmospheric & descriptive, spooky, creepy yet realistic. The back & forth between the different women sort of works, though it gets very confusing at times and unfortunately the books drags around 2/3 of the way through & could be better if it was shortened to remove the section that just feels repetitive. I did like that the ending wasn’t the cheesy “happy ever after” style that so often ruins this sort of storyline.

Ultimately this is a tale of mystery, curses, family loyalty, the mother-daughter bond and the dangers of the sea, and I am sure it will appeal to those who enjoy a gothic horror with supernatural elements.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

We start out with a lot of characters to remember in the beginning and none of them are particularly memorable. A family tree and a map would be a great addition to the book to keep characters and places within Cape Disappointment organized. I also think the novel would have been clearer in first person perspective because there are JUST SO MANY NAMES.

I found the writing to be very info dumpy, a little repetitive, and in need of another polish.

The story relies on characters to push it forward, except we aren’t given enough characterization to actually care about who we’re reading about. The plot is fine, but it didn’t excite or frighten me.

It’s described as adult fiction but it reads like YA. It’s a little too simplistic for my taste, and some things were over or under explained. For example, I don’t need pages describing how people are positioned, sitting all around the room for dinner. But I do need the character’s thought process explained when she is adamant that she stay out of the ocean, and then walks straight into it a few chapters later.

For fans of The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke and How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather, this one is worth a shot.

This is an engrossing story that begins in the past and follows a lineage of women. In this small seaside town, tales of the girl who calls to you from the ocean have become part of its local folklore and legend, but the people who have been there their whole lives know the truth. There is something, someone, in the water that calls to women and lures them to their death. The sea has a powerful hold over them no matter how far they go to try and escape it. And there are many people who will do what it takes to keep the town's secrets and appease whatever it is the lives in the dark waters. This book focuses a lot of family issues and relationships as well as uncovering secrets and discovering truths. It's also freaking scary. There's only one thing I would consider a potential plot hole but it only came to me as an afterthought and wasn't really significant to the story as a whole.

Once upon a time, there was a family that lived in a beautiful house by the ocean. There, they tended a lighthouse and spent much of their time enjoying the beach and the water. After many years of marriage, the woman began to sense that her husband had grown bored with her. Not wanting her husband to leave them, she visited the local witch hoping for a magical charm that would make him stay. The old crone tried to dissuade her from this with the warning, “these things (the charm) have a mind of their own. They’ll take your wishes into account, but there’s no telling if they’ll obey.” The woman did not heed the advice, and decided to use the charm that very night. As is true with all plans made out of fear—plans that play with fate—several things went wrong. And due to this, her female descendants would be cursed due to her actions that night.

The curse has to do with the pull of the ocean water. Water, a symbol and place of creation, fertility, birth, and sustenance; all of which describe womanhood, motherhood. However, there is also a dangerous element to water: storms, drowning, and things hidden below its surface. The women become tied to the water both feeling its powerful draw and succumbing to its nature.
This story is told through the mother/daughter relationships beginning with Regina and her daughters in 1881, and flowing through succeeding generations. Trauma is visited upon each daughter (who eventually become mothers themselves) which is spurred by horrible deaths and abandonment. Will this generation—Maureen and Alice—be the one to end the curse?

I liked the premise of this book, but found this book to be about 200 pages too long. It wasn’t until about half-way through that the book began to flow. There was a lot of repetitive phrasings and situations that made the story stagnate. These include the numerous times someone asks ‘where did that voice come from’; the skin prickling on the back of someone’s neck; and a mother warning her daughter about the dangers of the ocean, and the daughter wondering why the mom is so paranoid about the water. I understand that there is supposed to be mystical happenings, and strained relationships. However, it was overdone to my liking.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Poison Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I can not express how much I loved this book. 5/5 stars. It started out slow but really packed a punch. I am going to pre order this book now. Its going on my 5star shelf.

It starts with the smell of the ocean and the pull to go in and in ends with death. That's how its been for the Strand Family of woman for over 100 years. The woman of the family hear the call to the water and one by one they either die by its hands or suffer terribly for trying to understand what makes there family different. In the small town of disappointment cape there is a legend..

A legend of a young girl who was murdered and thrown in the water it is said a family was responsible and has been cursed ever since.. Is it truth or is it a work of fiction. The town believes but not Meredith Strand who after a pending divorce from her wife has decided to come back home with her 7 year old daughter. Her distant mother has told her all the stories and she has always believes stories where all they where until another death happens and Meredith sees the woman on the water for herself.. To save her self and her daughter she must learn the truth of her family and where it all started over 100 years ago..

Told in the present and the past. Over 6 generations of woman in the strand line tell there tail of the love of the water and the fear of its depths... Something was hiding for all of them... Will Meredith and her daughter be able to survive what no other Strand woman has... And live to tell the tale to the next generation of woman or will they to suffer the same fate that has befallen all the others.

If you can hear the call of the water its already far to late.

A wonderful book that i suggest you check out. Spooky and powerful in its writing and in the way the 6 generations of woman are written. A wonderful book.

Check it out when it becomes available to buy July 12th 2022.

Witchcraft! Ghosts! Curses! The perfect recipe for a thrilling horror! I was engaged right from the start wanting to know everything about the curse from each generational view point. Once I got to the 40% mark the story seemed to drag a little and it became difficult to stay engaged. At the 80% mark the story picked back up and was very enjoyable. There were a few things that definitely needed a little more explaining and it did feel like a chapter was missing towards the end. Overall, the story was very enjoyable and was one I haven’t heard before! 3.5 stars rounded up!

"If you can hear the call of the water,
It's already far too late."

After a separation from her wife, Meredith returns to her childhood home with her daughter Alice. Meredith isn't looking forward to returning to Cape Disappointment or her mother Judith. Her mother believes that the women in their family are cursed and that danger lies in the ocean at Cape Disappointment. While Meredith doesn't believe in the curse, she can't deny that she's always felt a pull to the ocean, it speaks to her. And now it seems to be speaking to Alice too. Are Meredith and Alice safe?
This story moves back and forth through the generations of women in Meredith's family. With each glance into the past we gain another piece to the overall puzzle.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading general fiction with some horror and magical realism sprinkled in. I'll admit, the first 40% of the story moved a little slow, but after that I couldn't put the book down - staying up well past my usual bedtime to finish it. If you start this book and it feels a little slow at first, please keep reading - you'll be glad that you did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC.
Release Date scheduled for July 12, 2022.

AS CAWPILE:
Characters: 6 | Atmosphere: 9 | Writing: 7 | Plot: 9 | Intrigue: 9 | Logic: 9 | Enjoyment: 9
Total: 8.29 -> 4 stars

They Drown Our Daughters was an incredibly well-done combination of paranormal horror and contemporary concepts. I'll admit, I had my concerns when the summary implied the ghosts may not be ghosts but maybe their own grief. This is a large pet peeve of mine when it comes to horror books with contemporary undertones. Instead, this book is about a curse that inherently ties into the grief, and the traumas of motherhood- both as a mother and as a child.

While I found the characters sometimes too alike to tell apart (which makes some sense, they are family), overall this ghost story had me on the edge of my seat. I was excited to see what would happen with Meredith and Alice and was invested in the way this curse took place.

OMG! If you are parent this book's story is probably one of our world's worse nightmares. This book is one of those you will not want to put down because of how good the story is! Well written and I cannot emphasize how amazing it is! The book kept me on my toes and it kept wanting me to read more!

A stunning, vividly atmospheric and deeply unsettling multi generational story!
I can confidently say that this is the best book I have read so far this year. I can see this being extremely successful and well beloved when it comes out. (So keep your eyes peeled for it.) So I feel so lucky to have gotten to read this book. Much less get an ARC copy for it!

As I said previously, They Drown Our Daughters is so atmospheric. I could feel the sand between my toes and the salt water mist hitting my face. While this is predominantly a character based story,I still found the gothic atmosphere to be so conspicuous and the writting to be alluring. And honestly, they were my favorite parts of the book.
Between the rich atmosphere and writting style it added so much depth to the story. I found her writting to be very much like Jeniffer McMahon. So if your a McMahon fan, I highly recommend this one! I've also seen this compared to Silvia Moreno Garcia. And while I see where the similarities, I think this is more like the movie Dark Water.
I genuinely have nothing bad to say about this. And while I could sit here all day and gush, I'm going to end this here.
If you are a fan of gothic, horror or thrillers, definitely give it a try when it comes out on July 12th.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!!