I knew there was a reason I wanted to read Robyn Harding's latest even though it doesn't come out until next June. Her writing is captivating & I love the different perspectives. It was unputdownable because I had to find out what happened next, and how everything would end!

Definitely check out the storygraph for content warnings before picking up.

Robyn Harding has done it again! I regularly recommend "The Perfect Family", "The Arrangement", "Her Pretty Face", and "The Party", and "The Drowning Woman" is a great addition to her thriller collection.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book, The Drowning Woman. This book was EXCELLENT. I read it in one day, because I was dying to know what was going to happen. The second half of the book blew my mind. I highly recommend reading this to anyone who loves a good thriller. My heart was racing, and I stayed up past my bedtime to keep reading. The writing style flowed well, and the characters were well developed and complex.

*Thank you Grand Central Publishing, Robyn Harding, and Netgalley for my eARC for an honest review. Publication date 6/13/23*

Lee was a successful restaurant owner of a high class restaurant back in NY but the pandemic gave her no other option but to shut her doors. With bills still to pay and back money still owed Lee takes off. She was living out of her car with no money and working in a low class diner in a bad part of town while one night she decides to sleep by the beach near a wealthy neighborhood. She is woken up by a women crying and trying to drown herself, while Lee saves her life and pulls her out of the water Hazel is not happy that Lee saved her. Hazel tells Lee that she is married to a very powerful lawyer and she is basically his slave. As their frienship starts to form Hazel wants Lee to help her disappear so she can get out of her toxic relationship.

Holy cow this book was SO good!!!! The twists in this book were so good I did not see one thing coming. I liked how the book alternated between Lee and Hazel. This is the first book I've read of Harding's and now I'm going to buy them all. I definitely recommend this book if you like a good page turner that will keep you guessing till the very end, short chapters, and 2 women POV's that will stop at nothing! I loved this one!

The Drowning Woman is the newest suspense novel from Robyn Harding, an author whose books I've been reading for the last few years. Each one gets better, and I'm thrilled with the plot of this latest one. A homeless woman rescues a stranger at the local beach, and everything in their lives changes. Harding does such a superb job at getting readers to focus on the plight of the woman who lost everything in the pandemic and just needed someone to give her a new start. And she finally gets it. But as soon as the first part of the book ends, readers realize they have missed a lot. I have read a lot of books and often figure out what's really going on behind the scenes, but this time, the prose and character background kept me at such a lovely lull, the twist surprised the heck out of me! It's the kind of book that works best when a reader doesn't try to solve it. Just sit back and let everything unfold until you realize the power someone can have over you when you aren't thinking properly. I wasn't 100% content with the final pages / end, but it was still a strong finish. Definitely recommended.

Twisty, twisty, twisty. A quick read for me since I had to find out why something felt off and what would happen next. The story requires a little suspension of disbelief, but that does not impact the entertainment value of the novel.

Lee has lost her restaurant business in NY due to the pandemic. She’s done something to cause her family to sever ties and she is on the run from an investor in the restaurant who has already hurt her once physically. She’s homeless and sleeping in her car. One morning she saves a woman named Hazel from drowning herself. Hazel’s husband is abusive and she wants out of her situation. The two women forge a friendship and that’s when the games begin! The biggest problem for these “strong and independent” women is they are looking for a man to fix their problems. Moral of the story: Fix it yourself! The other sometimes-a-reality situation is women betraying women. Moral of the story: For the love of all that’s holy, have each other’s back! My work here is done. Fortunately, the author felt the same way. Keep reading. It’s 100% worth it!

I’ll be recommending this one to anyone who loves a great thriller, but read the trigger warnings if you have sensitivities. Thank you to @Netgalley @grandcentralpub and @rhardingwriter for an early copy.

I loved this book. I really like when books have multiple POV’s and everytime the character changed you got a new shock. 5 stars!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an e-copy of this book that published in June, 2023. I loved it and have been a fan of Harding since reading The Party.

Lee Gulliver’s restaurant failed during the pandemic so she gathered her belongings and drove her Toyota Corolla to Seattle where she lived out of her car. She did have a restaurant job, but the pay wasn’t enough to get an apartment. She found a lovely spot near the water to sleep at night and it was calm until she saw another woman trying to drown herself. Lee saved Hazel, who was defiant about killing herself, but soon they became friends. Hazel brought her coffee and baked goods in the morning and told Lee about her abusive husband.

Now, it’s your turn to read what happens next. Plot twists galore flood this story. It will keep you up at night trying to figure out what happens next. But you will thoroughly enjoy every moment of this read. It’s a thrill ride, for sure, and I highly recommend it.

Don't start this book unless you have time to devour it in one sitting. It is just that good!

A homeless woman, Lee, who is on the run from some bad folks encounters a wealthy woman, Hazel. Hazel has attempted to drown herself when Lee pulls her out.
Hazel is angry at Lee because she says this was her one chance to escape an abusive relationship. Hazel goes back to her privileged life but soon approaches Lee to help her disappear.
The relationship between the two women in fascinating. The mystery and tangled web that is woven as Lee gets deeply involved is jaw dropping in it's plot twists that I didn't see coming.

I loved this book and it was an exciting way to spend my Saturday,

A must read

Another great thriller from Harding. The pace is so fast and the story just take you in at the first page and never let you go. Really good read!

Welp, that was disappointing! This is a page-turner that got increasingly implausible, unoriginal and underwhelming the further I read, saved slightly by important themes and a solid epilogue.

The book had a good start and I liked that it highlighted less-talked about issues such as how the pandemic has upended lives, with businesses forced to shutter and people losing their homes. It also sheds light on women trapped in abusive relationships + their lack of resources and recourse. I particularly enjoyed the friendship between the two main female characters.

However, the book never did fulfill its potential and nor was it the strong girlboss story I wanted it to be. The characters are naive and make decisions so foolish to the point that I find them hard to believe. Hazel's chapters felt lazy and relied on 'tell-all' storytelling.

Also, I would have sued the crap out of the care facility. Regardless of whether foul play was involved, they were clearly negligent! Yet, Hazel just accepts things?? Greta asking her, "Are you okay?" after breaking terrible news is just... laughable.

This is my 5th Robyn Harding novel but also sadly my least favorite. Nevertheless, she remains an auto-read author for me and I will continue to look forward to her books.

Notably compelling despite the presence of "super obvious bad guy #1" and "marginally less obvious sinister fellow."

Talk about a Russian doll of lies, deceit, betrayals and madness, this book ticks all the check boxes of a thrill ride you don’t want to miss!

Lee had it all, her own restaurant, the high life, security, and then -like lots of business- Covid happened and her restaurant shuts down. Just like that she has become homeless and living in her car. Parked out in a well to do neighborhood by the beach, Lee is awoken to crying and gets out to investigate. What she finds is a well off woman that is drowning. Lee reacts and rushes in to save her life. Saving Hazel turns out to be one of the worst decisions she could make.

Hazel explains about her abusive husband and how she just needs to disappear like Lee has done and asks Lee to help her. Thinking Lee has finally found a friend, she agrees to help Hazel, but things start getting dicey. Is Hazel really her friend? Is there more to this escape plan than Hazel has shard with Lee? How much danger are they truly in?

This thriller takes off with a bang and shoots you ever toward the dark and twisted ending you won’t see coming. This novel set to be released in June of 2023 should be on every thrill lovers radar to scoop up and dive into!

A huge thank you to #NetGalley, #GrandCentralPublishing, and the amazingly talented author #RobynHarding for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

My full review will be available on all my social media platforms, blog sites and retail upon release day.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 is how I have to start my review! Harding has really outdone herself! With twists that keep coming and coming from the very beginning, she literally destroyed any book I’m going to read for awhile! I love the alternating first person perspectives between the two main characters. I love how it tells us the same situations from each of their POV. This book NEEDS to be made into a movie! And that ending!!! 🤯 Perfection!!!

Another SLAM DUNK by Robyn Harding.

Once I picked this up I absolutely could not put it down. The changes in narratives were perfectly timed, and the twists were phenomenal. The pacing and tension were so well done, and there was a bit more action than we'd see in a typical psychological thriller. The female MC's were so different, but I found both their POV's extremely readable.

I'm already recommending this to anyone I know who loves thrillers. This will make an awesome summer beach read.

WOW. This book was absolutely phenomenal and quickly became one of my favorite books of the year. This gave me serious Gone, Girl vibes and I have yet to find a thriller that has pulled me in since that one did when I read it in 2015.

Lee is homeless. She is on the run from her former life as a restaurant owner who suffered from the pandemic. Seeking a fresh start, she heads to Seattle where she tries to get back on her feet, but not without struggle. Lee has no friends, no family, and no home--she lives out of her car. After a particularly scary night where she is robbed, Lee decides to start parking her car in a wealthier community where she doesn't need to worry about being attacked while she sleeps.

One night, Lee hears the terrified sobs of a woman on the beach just beyond her car. She feels compelled to help and when she notices the woman slip under the cold water, she follows her and saves her life. The woman, Hazel Laval, discloses that her husband is abusive and she wanted to commit suicide. While Lee saved her life, we learn there is far more to Hazel's story.

What follows is a phenomenal book full of endless twists leading to a satisfying ending. I really loved Robyn Harding's writing. It was compelling. The short chapters made it so easy for me to tell myself "just one more" until I finally finished the book--less than 24 hours after I started it.

If you are in the mood for a twisty, surprising book that will keep you on your toes--and not really sure who to root for at times--then pick this book up! I have since ordered copies of all of Robyn Harding's thrillers and cannot wait to read them!

Seriously--order this book! You won't regret it!

What an exciting book! I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
Lees restaurant fails during the pandemic and she finds herself living in her car, When some areas aren’t safe she moves to a spot on the beach, she is awakened one morning with a woman crying and running into the ocean. She jumps in to save her and then becomes a friendship as Hazel starts. bringing her food, but when Hazel asks he to help her disappear Lee wonders if it can work? Also. Is Hazel really a friend? What an ending!

Lee Gulliver lives an incredibly stressful life. Due to circumstances and choices she has made she lives in her car, working dead end jobs and sleeping with one eye open waiting for the shoe to drop. When she spies a woman drowning in the sea, she doesn't think twice before she dives in to save her. The woman shares that she is trying to escape her very manipulative and violent husband. Lee wants to help - but how can she, and should she?

A double cross twisty story sure to keep you up all night! If you love domestic thrillers, twisty stories and interesting premises then the Drowning Woman is for you! #GrandCentralPublishing

Talk about twist after twist!! Once you start you wont be able to put down til your done.

If your a thriller fan. This is a must read. Thriller friends, do whatever you can to get your hands on this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for my early copy. Publishes June 13, 2023!

All thoughts and opinions are my own and aren't influenced by anyone else

Lee is on the run. She’s moving from city to city, from one end of the country to the other. She’s escaping her past, escaping the man she owes a lot of money to. Being on the run means she’s cut ties with her family and sister, but she’s hurt them too much to try and reconcile their relationship.

She’s putting her life on the line when she sleeps in her car. Drug addicts are roaming the street at night and she’s so afraid to close her eyes. She finds a nice beach with wealthy homes nearby, it’s thirty minutes from her place of work but it’s safe.

One morning, Lee wakes up to the sound of a woman crying and she thinks nothing of it until she hears a splash. She rushes to the woman and pulls her lifeless body from the ocean but instead of being thankful for Lee, she’s furious!

Hazel was ready to end her life to escape her abusive husband. She asks Lee if she’ll help her disappear; and in return, she’ll pay Lee and help her disappear as well.

Lee and Hazel have become close but after their disappearing act goes wiry, Lee realizes that Hazel isn’t a friend after all.

I loved the multiple POV’s between Hazel and Lee. Just when you think you’ve figured out the first twist, BAM 💥, you’re hit with another one that completely blindsides you. So many twists, so many lies and deception that it kept me glued to the pages. I highly recommend this book, it’s one of my top 3 of the year!