Another 5 star read for Robyn Harding! One of our MC, Lee, lost everything when her restaurant went under during the pandemic. She went from living the high life, to living in her car. Lee meets, Hazel, another woman living in her own personal nightmare. Hazel is living in her own nightmare, despite her social status. Despite the difference in social standings, Lee and Hazel become friends.

I really enjoyed this book. Harding is one of my go to authors when it comes to recommendations on books. There were many twists and turns that kept me from putting the book down!

When her restaurant business falls on hard times, Lee Guilliver is left with a massive pile of debt. She leaves with just a few possessions, surviving by waitressing and living in her car. One morning, parked at the beach, she sees a woman walking into the ocean, screaming and apparently trying to drown herself. Lee dives in to save her, but the woman, Hazel, is not happy with her. She tells Lee about her abusive husband and impossible situation she is living in. With no one else to turn to, the women strike up an unlikely friendship and think maybe they can help each other.

What an amazing thriller! The pacing was perfect, and the characters well developed. Told in alternating points of view, you could feel Lee and Hazel’s desperation in their respective situations. I loved their unlikely friendship and how they came to look out for each other. And the twists in this book were SO well done! Without giving spoilers, one of them I thought I was able to predict but when it actually unfolded, I was blown away. This is easily one of those books you could binge-read and I found myself saying “just a few more pages” quite often. This was my first Robyn Harding book but it won’t be my last!

Thank you to Netgalley, Robyn Harding and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC! “The Drowning Woman” releases June 13th.

This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

4.25-4.5⭐️

My first read by this author.
Lee finds herself homeless living in her car after her restaurant failed during the pandemic. The problem is she owed a gangster money, and he wants it back, so she had to run.
In her new location she saves Hazel one night when she tries to kill herself. Hazel confesses to being in an abusive relationship, and wants Lee’s help to disappear.

The book immediately grabbed my interest. There’s lots of twists and turns as the book progresses right up to the very end.

I really liked Lee, so I was behind her struggle, she’s strong, independent in some ways, but needy for love. Life is tough but she’s still able to try and help someone else.

It’s got a good pace with plenty going on so I really enjoyed it, and recommend it.

Lee was running her own restaurant and doing well until Covid lockdowns hit and she never recovered. Now she is homeless and living in her car and working for cash in a dumpy diner. One morning she hears a woman crying on the beach and then a splash and when Lee goes to check, she realizes that the woman is trying to drown herself. Lee saves her, and the woman is furious because she didn’t want to be saved, but the two soon become friends. Lee is drawn to Hazel and her complex life and soon finds herself agreeing to help Hazel escape. Except there’s so much more to the story. Nothing and no one is as it seems and I couldn’t stop turning pages to see what was going to happen next.
This is super fast paced and there are twists in abundance, this is the definition of a summer popcorn thriller. Perfect beach read.
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

From the opening chapters there was promise of a story that would have you on the edge of your seat and unable to see the twists coming. And while there were both of those things at different points in the story, there was also feeling to comfortable with strangers, weary woman avoiding obvious red flags and some actions/events that were a bit to much of a reach for me. The handful of books I've read by this author have averaged a three star rating, and her latest one falls in that same category. The Drowning Woman has an average rating higher than my personal one, and if it sounds intriguing to you, I think it's worth giving it a try when it's out in June!
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Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Robyn Harding is one of my go-to thriller writers and I was so excited to get an eARC of her upcoming release, THE DROWNING WOMAN.

Robyn excels at interesting characters being put in the oddest scenarios. TDW starts off strong and feels incredibly fast paced with her use of short chapters. I had a harder time connecting with the main character, Lee, at first even with all of my empathy for her. I found myself feeling frustrated with her decisions while understanding why she was making them.

Then the first twist happens and I find now I am unable to put this book down. Switching to Hazel’s perspective was genius. The double perspective is perfect for this story and being inside both Lee’s and Hazel’s heads just makes the story that more compelling.

Normally I don’t want the second POV to hash out everything I’ve already read, but it was so necessary for this story. Knowing what’s happening from both angles just had me reading more and more. And I was so excited to return to Lee and see what happened next. Because this story is bonkers in the best way and I just had to know everything.

I also normally don’t like epilogues but I was so happy to see one at the end of this book!

Perfect for fans of fast-paced thrillers, dual POVs, and twists and turns all throughout.

This book was a wild ride of lies, betrayal, and dark secrets. I was hooked from the beginning. I read it in one sitting. I prefer my thrillers to be fast-paced and have multiple points of view, and this book checked those boxes off. The Drowning Girl gives me Gone Girl and Last Mrs. Parrish vibes. If you enjoyed those titles, this book is for you. You can easily binge it at the beach in one sitting.

One word for Robyn: Superb.

I DNFed Robyn's book, "The Perfect Family", over a year ago... I was very hesitant to try another book of hers but the positive reviews captured my interest and thanks to NetGalley, I was able to get my hands on it. I will say that Hazel's ending part was alllllmost a little long winded for me but it was worth trumping through for the epilogue.

This book was messy, entertaining and a wild ride. I expect this to be a top mystery thriller for 2023.

Now I think I'll let my mind take a rest after that one! You don't want to miss this one.

I was hooked from the beginning and it gave me Gone Girl vibes throughout, however, it was done fantastically thrillingly better! Loved!

The Drowning Woman started off very strong and had lots of twists and turns but some were not believable. The pacing was fast. The main female characters seemed naive and guillible at times. Parts of the plot were over-the-top. An average escaspist, light thriller read for me.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Robyn Harding does not disappoint in her latest novel, The Drowning Woman. Filled with twists and turns around every corner, this is a thriller on steroids! The deceit, lies, and toxic relationships are stunning, and the overall pace of the writing is perfect!

I devoured this book so quickly! Be prepared for a solid day of reading when you pick this book up! I could not put it down until I knew how the story would end! The Drowning Woman is my favorite book of 2023 to date.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing, for the digital ARC in exchange for my my honest review. All the thoughts and opinions above are my own.

One-sentence summary:

Lee is living out of her car, struggling to make ends meet when she saves a stranger named Hazel from drowning, but when she learns that Hazel is a woman trapped in a gilded cage, and abusive marriage, she attempts to help her only to be drawn into a game that is dangerous and possibly deadly.

—--

I absolutely loved the first half of this book, in large part because it was told from the point of view of Lee, who is a fabulous and interesting character. Lee is a woman experiencing homelessness, living out of her car, as she faces the difficulty of piecing her life back together after losing everything. She is destitute yet strong, and while reading about her, I actually felt like I got a sense of what it might be like to live in that terrible situation.

The remainder of the book switches between the POV of Hazel and Lee as they both attempt to save themselves and each other…or so it seems. I won’t say anymore to avoid spoilers, but there’s a fun cat and mouse game that plays out and plenty of twists that should make thriller fans happy.

This is a very fun page-turner, and it comes out June 13!

Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the ARC!

This book was amazing! Read it all in one sitting. The characters were intriguing and the plot was a consistent maze of twists and turns! I enjoyed this so very much.

I enjoyed the twists in this book but also felt like they were a little too much. I feel like there were a lot of loose ends that either shouldn’t have been mentioned or could’ve been wrapped up. Very quick and fun popcorn read though.

I enjoyed The Perfect Family and loved The Arrangement by this author but The Drowning Woman was a huge letdown. The book starts off well enough, with Lee saving Hazel from drowning herself. But the further I read on the more ridiculous the book got. The author threw in every single thriller cliche and then some. Every single character in this book was a twat, not one likable one in the bunch, I had no one to cheer for.

Hazel is the typical damsel in distress but I didn't buy it. She is an abused woman with no money, no friends, no employment history/prospects and no options yet she has an affair with a man she hardly knows and trusts him explicitly right away. No way would that happen! And Lee starts dating a customer from work, sleeps at his house, has sex with him, trusts him yet doesn't know his last name or phone number!? Give me a break!

There were just too many coincidences in the plot and the storyline wasn't just over the top it was downright ridiculous. The lawyer's behaviour and the police procedures were unrealistic and didn't add up at all. This book just missed the mark on all fronts.

Same old premise, same old tired trope of women being taken advantage of in unrealistic ways. This book has a relatively high rating on Goodreads (4.39 at the time of this review) and many positive reviews so take my opinion with a grain of salt. (Did I read a different book?)

What an unbelievably twisted rollercoaster ride, I was hooked by page one!
Lee is homeless , she once owned a successful restaurant but once covid hit she had to close her doors, and when she was able to reopen she couldn’t keep a steady flow of business. After laying off her employees, and burning some bridges with her family she has now found herself living in her car moving each night to different streets Seattle. One night while trying to sleep her car is broken into and her purse that held ID and the only money she has left is stolen. Scared and shaky she finds a new street in a wealthy neighborhood where she parks her car and tries to sleep. When she hears a woman crying and it appears she’s trying to drown herself. Lee runs into the cold water and saves her. The woman who says her name is Hazel is furious, she was trying to kill herself to get away from her abusive husband , and suicide was her only option. Hazel goes back home and leaves Lee cold and wet to sleep in the car, the next morning Hazel arrives with some food and soon Lee feels like Hazel maybe a friend. Soon Lee finds herself agreeing to help Hazel disappear and leave her abusive husband behind, Hazels husband is a well known attorney with lots of connections. What Lee doesn’t know is this new friendship maybe built on lies and deception, and her new friend may not be who she seems.

The Drowning Woman is a chilling and twisty read filled with deception, lies and dysfunctional relationships that will have readers questioning who is telling the truth and who is out to get who.

Told using dual narratives, the story is centred around an unlikely friendship between Hazel, a rich woman and Lee, a homeless woman whose lives intersect, and their destinies become entwined. I love it when an author tells a story from one POV and then retells it in the POV of another character, bringing different facets of the plot to light. Harding excelled at this with Lee and Hazel's stories.

The plot features manipulation, deception and has a chilling vibe, but could have gone even darker in some spots and lagged a bit for me in the middle. But I appreciated Harding's inclusion of important social topics - homelessness, impact of the pandemic and abusive relationships - into her story.

The Drowning Woman is a story that is a bit over the top with a satisfying but predictable ending, both of which require readers to suspend disbelief. Overall, I enjoyed this dark and twisty read and eagerly look forward to what this Canadian author comes up with next.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the complimentary arc they provided in exchange for my honest review.

I know you have seen reviews and promo love, everywhere for this book. It’s getting a lot of hype. Should you preorder it? What if it doesn’t live up to the hype? Welllllll.. IT DOES!! THE RUMORS ARE TRUE, THIS BOOK IS AWESOME!!
Robyn Harding smashed this book. It’s exactly what our thriller loving hearts needed. Twisty isn’t the word for it. It’s damn mystifying. You think you know what’s going on, it’s all there, and you know what clues to look for to figure it out. But, it’s not. And those shocking bits are believable. You will be screaming at the book, it’s characters, and the people around you. Atleast, I did.lol
The book is done in two narratives, Lee & Hazel. It’s sort of a Tale Of Two Cities vibe for a minute. One of them is homeless, the other rich. They want each others lives, but then again, not really. Both women are in a bad situation. So maybe they can help each other out, like Strangers On A Train. Even that’s not the best comparison for this book! Lol
The book is broken up into parts. At the end of each part, you are surprised with a reveal that knocks your breath out. Jumping into the next part, continues your breathless, heart pounding thrill, as you are given more of the background of each woman, and some small reveals about the people in their lives. Don’t put the book down. Ride the rush, it’s worth it. That ending… *chefs kiss 😘

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my e-ARC of The Drowning Woman!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
🐍 know what a netsuke is
🤨 love an unreliable narrator
🇵🇦 want to live in Panama
👀 enjoy multiple POVs

• 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄

Lee and Hazel are at opposite sides of the spectrum, but soon each woman will come to understand the other’s perspective.

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

Lee is homeless, living in her car, fleeing for her life. After the pandemic obliterated her newly found restaurant, Lee found herself on the run, fleeing from an investor with bad connections. Now on the opposite side of America, Lee is hoping to finally settle down in Seattle. She has a job working at a seedy diner, but she’s still living in her car. When a break-in smashes her passenger window, Lee finds herself driving north to the fancier neighborhoods. That’s where she meets Hazel in a drowning attempt. Soon, Lee learns that Hazel’s perfect life is anything but: her husband abuses her - mentally, physically, emotionally. Both women will have to figure out how to free themselves from their current situations, but only if they rely on each other.

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

This was an incredible read that had me invested immediately. I was shocked and saddened to hear why and how Lee ended up in her situation. It felt very real to what many people probably experienced during and after the pandemic. I felt a lot of empathy toward her predicament. I also loved getting Lee’s POV, then Hazel’s, only to learn that what Lee was told and assumed wasn’t 100% truth. It really made me question everything I was being told, which made the thriller that much better! In the end, I was pleased with all of the twists and turns!

Right for the starting bit (to paraphrase) "it's human nature to think it could never happened to you" I was hooked!

Robyn Harding is a master of the twisty suspense! Her plots are always intricate and interesting and The Drowning Woman is no different. Rich woman meets poor woman, both running from something and sick of being victimized. Nothing is as it seems and you'll have to keep it all in your head for a bit and let the mystery unravel for you🖤

Trigger Warnings for homelessness, BDSM stuff, domestic abuse and murderrrr.