What a page turner! As the mystery unfolded, I became more and more invested in the fate the characters. New facets of the mystery and the characters keep emerging over the course of story, making for a very engaging read. The richly detailed settings serve as characters themselves. The near future is likely even nearer than described, creating a highly entertaining as well as thought-provoking book.

I thought this was such an interesting premise. A woman wakes up in the middle of the ocean with no memory. She soon learns there are many who are turning up this way and she seeks to try to figure out who she was and what's happening to these others that are also waking up like her.

But this story also had an undercurrent of climate change for the worse. It had storms and mentions of refugees and waiting lists to get into Canada. But what it didn't have was actually living in hardship. It said there were adverse affects from the climate but the MC saw very little of it because she, luckily, woke-up with amnesia in the middle of an ocean that hadn't changed as much as other areas (like Arizona or Texas in the US). There is talk of the high temps elsewhere and the poor medical care, but it's just talk. I never felt it in the story.

The story itself was interesting until I hit about 30%. Then it veered into a romance with very little work on the mystery. It lost me a little, slowed way down, and I felt the disconnect to it. I didn't find the ending satisfying as it had a few but not many answers. Sure, that's life, but a little bit of a let down in a story that was built around a mystery.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Import and utterly unforgettable.
Many thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Adrift- 3 1/2 stars rounded up

This book was a roller coaster. I found the premise so interesting. What would you do if your memories were wiped? This book follows Ess a woman who wakes up on a sailboat with no recollection of how she got there. All she has is a note telling her to start over. This does not satisfy Ess she goes in search of answers. Along the way she finds chilling clues and more questions than answers. Does she want to go back to her life before or start over? This story explores the idea of what matters most to someone? How will our choices affect our world?

Content: strong language throughout, violence, high action, medical doctor deception, gaslighting, lies

Read if you enjoy:
☁️Thrillers
🤐Secret identifies
🧠Lost memories
⛵Sailing

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark publishing for the ARC copy. All thoughts are my own.

What an interesting book! Imagine waking up on a boat, alone, not knowing what is happening with a note that advises you to move forward and not to look back. This is the premise of “Adrift”.

This book is a gripping, mysterious slow burn from page one. This isn’t your typical amnesia book and I was 100% onboard with it! It is intriguing, made me learn more about sailing then I cared to and was thought provoking. I would definitely recommend.

I want to thank NetGalley, Lisa Brideau and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, Sourcebooks Landmark for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

Adrift, the debut novel by Lisa Brideau, is a gripping psychological suspense driven roller-coaster!

Those who love thrills set on the water, like Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, will likely love this tale. Amnesia, open water, and mysterious notes warning not to look back - and that's just the opening! Grab a lifejacket - or two! And, hold on!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was an enjoyable read but it was not the pulse pounding thriller I was expecting. There was definitely a mystery and a twist that I was not expecting. This book is about a young women who wakes up on a sailboat without any memory or knowledge of who she is or why she is on the Sea Dragon. Cryptic messages on the boat advise her not to dig into her past and to just move forward. Of course that is easier said than done. We then see Ess try to figure out her current predicament without revealing anything about her current memory loss. The climate change part of the novel was compelling and quite scary actually. The book is set in the not too distant future and the world is on a rapid spiral towards complete destruction. Refugees are clamoring to get into Canada. I thought that the climate change part of the book while, disturbing as hell, was also the most interesting to me. The love story was really uninspiring but I did enjoy the development of the friendship with Yori. I also really enjoyed the descriptions about parts of Canada that were not familiar to be.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review of the book.

Grab your cozy blanket and prepare to be transported to the “too-high” seas in this cli-fi mystery thriller set in the Pacific Northwest.

Shortly after Ess wakes up on a sailboat with no idea who she is, she reads a typewritten note telling her to start over and to not look back. Naturally she does the opposite. Searching for clues of her identity leads Ess to sail hundreds of miles over a dangerous ocean alone. Each clue she unravels only leads to more questions.

Make sure to strap your life jacket on tight as Lisa Brideau tackles so many topics in this equal parts slow-burn character-driven narrative on identity & the propulsive page-turning action sequences that take place in a world where oceans are rising & natural disasters cause mayhem. From climate change, finding one’s self, found family, high-seas adventure, medical science, addictions, politics—there is a little something for every reader. Overall I think it’ll make a fantastic beach read this summer. I just wanted more. There’s too many “fish in the sea,” and by fish I mean plot points.

If I were to do a mash-up for this book to give you a overall vibe…
It’s a little Migrations meets a splash of The Light Pirate with a smidge of Upgrade. 🤓
Do you enjoy reading cli-fi? If so, please share your favorite in the comments cause I’m always looking for more recs for this category.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the opportunity to read & review this book.

This was a really interesting read! And though the book itself wasn't "scary" the thought of this happening to me was terrifying!I loved the writing style, and found the story to be very engaging and well written. I truly felt for that main character Ess! Wow! I love all of the mystery and intrigued surrounding this story. Overall, a great read.

I actually really loved this book. I loved Ess, even though the name was silly. She was bad ass, powerful and loyal. I loved the banter between Hito and Yori, it reminded me of actual siblings rivalry.

I didn't realize this book was written in the future "2038" so not too far up but so many differences. I liked reading about the other parts of the world and what was going on there, I loved that I didn't get any background news either. So I didn't even realize I was reading about the future until about 25% into the book.

I really loved Ess, and really enjoyed watching her grow, into a better version of herself. I really loved this book

3.5 stars!

There was wayyyy too much content about sailing and not enough thrilling or mysterious elements. I did think it had an extremely strong ending, but the process to get there was slow and monotonous.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Waking up on a boat with absolutely no memory of how you got there is pretty terrifying. That’s exactly what happens to our main character Ess. She knows about sailing and she has money. But she has no idea why.
The mystery was intriguing and I wanted to keep reading to find out exactly how Ess ended up on the boat.
The climate change aspect of the book was an interesting addition and solidified the point of how our actions have consequences. Parts were kind of slow and dragged a bit and the book overall was just ok.

Imagine awaking on a sailboat with no clue who you are, where you are or how you got there. That's exactly what happens to our protagonist, Ess.

Overall the story is interesting but I don't know that I would call it a thriller. It takes place in the not so far off future (of 2039) and real world problems are some of its key focal points (immigration, refugees and climate control.)

Ess is determined to figure out who she is and just how she ended up on this boat. She is also be followed...who are they and why on earth is she worth being followed? Sometimes it's simply safer to not know the truth. Ultimately Ess will need to decide if knowing is truly worth it or if she should just take advantage of a second chance.

As always thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based uon my honest opinion.

Our main character wakes up adrift in a boat with no knowledge of who she is; she finds id and notes that tell her who she is and that she must stay hidden and stay safe. Sarah the ID says, she doesn;t feel like a Sarah and decides to go by the name, Ess. As we follow Ess on her discovery of who she is and what has happened to her, there are some twists and turns and she wonders who she can rely on, if anyone. I don't know if I loved the overall storyline, but I really enjoyed Ess' and her journey.

This story caught me right away and kept me involved through Ess’s search for answers to her amnesia and her past and to her acceptance. Set in a not faraway future, it was still basically the present with some modifications and changes. It was suspenseful, and smart. Look forward to more from this author.

Unfortunately a DNF for me, I got about 40% in and wasn't interested in what was going to happen next. There wasn't enough suspense build up for me to keep reading. Would recommend if you're into near-future books that are a little thrillery but this wasn't for me.

I would classify this as a psychological mystery/suspense. I loved the amnesia mystery- when Ess wakes up on a sailboat with no clue who she is or how she got there- with only a note that tells her not to ask any questions or her life would be at risk.

I think the explanation as to why there were amnesiacs could have been a little more developed- at the end of the book I still had questions.

This was such a unique book. I loved the side characters. Ess’ friendship with Yuri was cute and entertaining. It seemed that there would have been more of a romantic element with Hito, but that clearly wasn’t the focus of the book.

This would be a great mini-series.

I really wanted to love this book. With such a cool premise, and a focus on the effects of climate change, it definitely seemed like my type of read. While there was lots of potential, I felt like Adrift was missing a few pieces that kept me from really enjoying it.

There is no doubt that Lisa Brideau is a talented writer. Adrift was well written, had an opening scene that absolutely grabbed me, and the inclusion of a not-so-distant future stricken by climate change was moving and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, the plot really dragged and it took me several attempts to finish the book. Until the last few chapters it felt like nothing was happening. Had I been interested in the characters, I might have felt more compelled to continue, but they all felt very flat to me. Perhaps part of the problem was that I was expecting more of a thriller, but I would say this read more like a drama.

Although this wasn’t a favourite of mine I’d love to give Lisa Brideau’s writing another try, especially if she continues to write climate fiction.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with a complementary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such a fun thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. A one night read, Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

DNF
Made it to about 50% and just could not finish this. I started to feel myself not caring the more and more i read. the story felt so dry and dull to me. The writing was easy to follow, however, I did not care about Ess or the story at all.