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.

The Drowning Woman starts off with a bang (splash?) and is a fast-paced read that sucked me in immediately... but then went a little too off the rails for my taste. It felt like a lot of things were brought up and then abandoned with no closure, but it definitely kept me engaged and would be a *perfect* beach or pool read for thriller lovers this summer!

Releasing in just under a month, The Drowning Woman is Robyn Harding‘s new suspense thriller.

Told from a number of different points of view. this story is shrouded in mystery revolving around two women. Lee, having escaped for the past finds herself in Seattle, living out of her vehicle . Then there is Hazel the very well to do unhappy wife. The story takes off when one woman tries to end her life while the other rescues her.

This was an addicting read. I found myself connecting more with Lee versus Hazel, maybe because of her down and out status or Hazel was just a bit too snooty. But these two women become friends, share confidences and make plans. And we all know what happens to the best laid plans.

The Drowning Women was a intricately woven suspenseful read, there were lots of twists and turns that I did not anticipate. It had an ending I enjoyed even if I did guess at it. So all in all very entertaining read.

My thanks to Grand Central Publishing (via NetGalley) for a digital arc in exchange for a honest review.

Another slam dunk for Robyn. I loved every POV, every twist, every word. Read this book ASAP, guys!!! If I could choose to only read one author for the rest of my life. It's Robyn!

5 Stars! This was a great thriller I couldn’t stop reading it and finished in one (work) day!

The MC Lee is homeless and living in her car, a stark contrast to the life she lived before when she was a wealthy owner of a restaurant. Unfortunately, COVID forced the closing of her restaurant, but not before she had to do some morally questionable things in her last efforts to keep her restaurant and herself afloat.

This book was an interesting view into how COVID changed the world financially for so many people. I also have never read a book where the MC was homeless, and what someone who is desperate for survival will do to stay alive. The other MC Hazel, is living the opposite life of Lee. She tries to help Lee, and they become instant friends. But Hazel has dark secrets too, and Lee gets dragged into them. And is she really a friend to Lee at all?

This was such a great thriller that kept me guessing the whole way through. This will be for sure be one of my favourite reads this year! Recommend!

Packed full of twists and turns that actually surprised me, which was a delight after reading several thrillers with weak plots and disappointing twists. Excellent misdirections by the author, very satisfying ending. I look forward to reading more from Robyn Harding!

Wow wow wow! I was immediately sucked into this twisty stress filled ride. This book will have you running for a cozy spot to sneak in any reading you can until to find out what happens.

Told in 4 different parts, alternating between Lee and Hazel we find out Lee is running from her past and Hazel is trying to escape her future. These two ladies meet by chance and their world slowly unravels. Lee is currently homeless, Hazel lives in a mansion with funds and resources galore. They both have dark secrets and will do anything to escape. So how do these women’s lives really intertwine?

I found myself really pulling for Lee given her situation. She was easier for me to relate to and I found myself wanting more of Lee as the book ended. Lee was running from danger in the streets and a couple bad decisions in her past which lead me to want to just take her in, give her a safe place to sleep and give her a warm meal. Hazel on the other hand although I felt bad for her home life she felt less relatable and I didn’t trust her as much. Either way, this was a wonderful, heart pounding thrilling ride that I flew through.

4.5 stars

Wow! Robyn Harder is a master of misdirection. This book had me hooked and kept me guessing to the very last page. I couldn’t put it down with its jaw-dropping plot twists. Every time I thought I had the author’s carefully placed clues figured out, I found myself backtracking. Wrong again!

The guessing game was intense – just like I like my thrillers.

I really enjoyed this one. Perfect for a summer thrill.

My thanks to @grandcentralpub and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its publication date.

I'm not sure I can muster up any other words than WOW! I couldn't put this book down. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I literally gasped out loud several times. If you can predict anything that is going to happen then you're probably just Robyn Harding herself.

Thank you Netgalley, one of my favorite authors Robyn Harding and Grand Central Publishing for granting me an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely love Robyn Harding’s books, and this is just another to add to the list.

Due to the pandemic, Lee Gulliver finds herself homeless and living out of her car. She parks in secluded areas at night and sleeps with a knife on her lap. She ends up in Seattle, parked by a beach one night when she’s woken by a random stranger sobbing, then she throws herself into the ocean. Lee runs to her rescue quick to find out that this random stranger, Hazel, wanted to end her life due to a toxic, controlling relationship. Thinking that both women can help each other, their plans might not run as smoothly as they thought. And not everyone you meet is exactly who they say they are.

This book had some twists and some parts that left you hanging with suspense. I really loved that this book went in a direction I wasn’t expecting.

I already can’t wait for Harding’s next book 😂


Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for a DRC. The Drowning Woman is available June 13.

(Run, don’t walk, to get yourself a copy)