This book infuriated me, because it had all the trappings of something that I should have loved, but the execution did not work for me. It was still compulsively readable, I binged it, but now I'm mad. 
This is the story of Liv, a teenager who gets a scholarship for a (high school) semester at sea. Her best friend is also doing the program but goes missing after the first night. Liv struggles with convincing herself and her rich, above-it-all classmates and the snooty staff that something weird is going on, despite how things keep escalating. 

It is YA, so I can handwave teenagers acting like teenagers, but this Liv just made no consistent choices the entire book. I wanted to shake her. She would be smart enough to figure something out but then would convince herself she was crazy and disregard it. 

Creepy, atmospheric horror on a cruise ship? So promising, sign me up. And it delivered in that I couldn't put this book down until I figured out what was going on. Was I happy when I finally found out what that was? Well...I couldn't put it down. I think I'll go watch "Triangle" now.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

First off let's take a moment to swoon over that cover!! Now, I wanted to love this book, I REALLY did. And I tried so hard, but it fell flat with me.
Basically Liv wins a scholarship for a semester at sea with her best friend, Will. The first night, things get weird - Will mysteriously gets “sick” and it is shared he has been quarantined; however Liv is unable to see/talk to him and he isn’t answering texts or calls. After finally receiving a text from Will Liv becomes obsessed with findings him. Here she enlists the help of another student in the program, Constantine or Con, who doesn’t believe anything she is saying, but just blindly follows.
I expected this to be atmospheric and spooky, instead everything was tied to the characters. This was a bummer because I didn’t care enough about any of them. Also, Liv got on my nerves A LOT! The ending also left me with more questions than answers so I’m thinking there is def a sequel coming. Will I pick it up? Unlikely.

4 stars This was a campy but fun little horror novel that was set on a cruise ship. As someone who has never been on a cruise, it brought a scare factor, especially since I read it at night in an empty house with no sound. You feel like you can relate to Liv, the main, in that you're going crazy with how things can be explained. The premise is brought through with the writing and the pacing is good. The only thing that brought this down for me in stars is the ending. It is left open, with no true conclusion, which is frustrating. I think it was a good read for a summerween horror.

Great debut novel. There is a little bit of everything young adults love in this story. Beautiful cover art and the story was well told. My students will love this book!

I love this book so much. I read off my kindle so I don’t see the cover that often but what a beautiful cover this has! I'm not huge on Greek mythology but horror is a favorite of mine. I ate this book right up. I loved the main characters and the writing style! I think this story has a tiny bit of something for most young readers.

Those We Drown was a brilliant, atmospheric thriller with some intriguing and unexpected elements.

I was fully on board from the very first page, with Goldsmith having me on her hook the entire time. The entire setting was that combination of decadent extravagance and luxury, contrasted starkly with the rising tide of blood. From the very start, you are set off-kilter and feel uneasy. Goldsmith keeps the waves rocking and ground shaking, never allowing for a moment of true rest.

I will admit since watching the underrated and darkly hilarious Wreck on BBC Three earlier this year, I have been obsessed with crime narratives set on ships and this really hit the spot for me. It had that same thread of social commentary, particularly around privilege and how much the powerful will sacrifice to keep their status. Goldsmith weaves this in with fascinating developments that I did not see coming. This is a well-structured mystery, with tight plotting and pacing. The twists and turns are excellent and keep making you question everything you have seen before. Even the ending feels like another sting in the tale.

Liv starts as a meek, shy scholarship girl who is keenly aware (and constantly reminded) of how this is not an environment that accepts her. Watching her growth and development over the course of the book was an absolute highlight for me. As a very character driven reader, she was an excellent pathfinder to follow as we attempted to charter these murky waters. There is something so uncanny about that continued denial of calamity unfolding around you, amplified by that social exclusion. Goldsmith plays with artfully, creating a tense and claustrophobic atmosphere that heightens the central mystery.

Those We Drown is a creative and interesting YA mystery that elevates one of my current thriller setting obsessions to new heights.

When Liv lands an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study aboard the luxury liner, at first, it seems like a dream come true. However, she feels like a fish out of water amongst all the other wealthier passengers, and when her best friend goes missing aboard the ship, she must untangle its dark mysteries before it’s too late.

Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith takes an interesting concept (deadly sirens aboard a cruise ship!) and spoils it with bafflingly poor writing. I mean it when I say that the descriptions in this book are so bizarre and ineffective that it kept breaking my immersion instead of painting a picture for the reader.

Let's look at the opening scene, for instance:

"Silence slunk down the now-deserted corridors under the impassive gaze of buzzing wall lamps. Blandly uniform doors yawned into empty rooms, raggedly stripped to their bare bones."

What purpose does this serve? Aren't cabin doors on a ship typically uniform anyway? This tells the reader nothing they won't already assume. Also, unless there's a draft swinging open the doors, "yawned," doesn't work as a metaphor here.

Here's another example:

"Everywhere I turned, I was confronted by acres of politely pale wood, almost plastic-looking in its perfection."

What does that even mean??? How can wood be politely pale? Also, having your character see “acres” of wood inside a confined ship does the exact opposite of establishing a claustrophobic setting.

To top it off, the characters in this book are vapid and superficial and mostly preoccupied with their looks, and not in a fun, satirical way, which made it difficult for me to care about whether any of them lived or died.

All in all, this was an incredibly frustrating read, and not even its fleeting moments of cool body horror were enough to save this sinking ship of a novel.

Ahoy there me mateys! So this is a book where the premise sounded fun but I did not love what the author chose to write.  There be spoilers ahead!

The Setting:  Who doesn't love horror on the high seas?  I loved the idea of a creepy cruise ship.  Problem was it felt like the author had never been on one before.  There were lots of descriptions of dining rooms and pools.  Not much that felt like a real ship.  Example: the captain's quarters would likely not be right near the bridge or accessible (ever) to tourists.

The Premise: The idea is that students are going to spend a semester (Seamester) at sea on the cruise ship where then things go wrong.  First of all the book takes place in the first week of the cruise between ports one and two.  Secondly there is no actual idea of what classes or life would be like.  I thought it was going to be a bunch of students who learn about jobs aboard or sea life or the environment or something.  Turns out ALL the students (except the main character) are rich kids whose parents pay for them to be out of the way.  They spend their time drunk, eating, or supposedly joining tourist activities.  Lame and unrealistic.  What is the point of that for a semester?

The Main Character:  While all characters are vapid one-dimensional idiots, the main character is something truly horrible.  Liv has no real personality.  She doesn't use her brain, whines, and dwells in lust.  She spends a ton of time thinking about clothes and how poor she is.  The author tries to go for a "unreliable" narrator.  Problem is the reader quickly knows what is happening and who the bad guys are.  So Liv screams her accusations everywhere, second guesses herself, and believes the adults ridiculous explanations.  Her best friend is one of the missing and she can't focus on that.  The bad guys should have immediately murdered her for being trouble.  I wanted to her shut up and stop being a moron.

The Solution:  Of course the captain and some parents were in on it.  Of course the social media influencers (the Sirens) are real sirens.  Of course people have to be sacrifices to the sea for the sirens to keep their power.  How Liv and idiot love interest didn't see this was beyond me given how much evidence there was.  Also why did the students need to be the sacrifices?  The sirens switch out a couple of folks during the course of the book with no consequences.  Why not kill crew members?  Or steal people from shore?  It didn't seem to matter who they killed.  Just the number of people killed.  I finished this because I was hoping for any interest twist or answer.  Nope.

The Ending: The book literally stops with Liv and dumb love interest stuck in a lifeboat wondering if they will survive.  The end.  No closure.  Is the fire going to swamp the cruise ship?  How is the whole thing going to be explained to the authorities?  Nada.  I thought/hoped that my e-book was missing a chapter.  We don't even get an answer on the weird squid creatures on board.

I ended this book being irked that such a premise ended up with this plot.  I wanted an actual horror book set on a cruise ships - mythical creatures optional.  Stay away from this and read Mira Grant's into the drowning deep instead. Arrrr!

An ocean-drenched, atmospheric horror debut! Liv's best friend disappears on their first night aboard their dream semester-at-sea program—but is he really sick, like everyone says, or is something darker lurking beneath the water?

great horror novel, gave me shivers

After receiving a scholarship for a "SeaMester" - a study abroad on a cruise ship!, Liv finds herself out of her depth (pun intended) between the wealth of the other students, the culture of the cruise ship... and also the very weird, very attractive group of influencers living onboard called The Sirens. When her best friend, Will, who joined her on the ship, falls ill almost immediately, she begins to question everything.

I have to admit my feelings on this were somewhat mixed. On the positive side!
I loved the setting. I enjoy isolation horror, including ocean/water based horror. I think it's a very cool setting that really relies on the protagonists' quick-thinking to protect themselves and secondary characters. The story also highlights a real but unique experience to get teenage characters into the setting. While definitely unusual, I do actually know more than one person who did a semester at sea!
I also am such a big fan of the way they mythological influences were used in this book! I think Goldsmith highlighted some very cool elements that aren't as widely used, even with the recent onslaught of Greek mythology inspired novels. (Note - I am not disappointed by this.)

On the more negative side, I - and a lot of other reviewers - were not the most impressed by the characters. Some were very mean, unnecessarily so, and Liv is a little bit obtuse. There were several moments where it would have been more reasonable for her to start thinking some nonsense was going on even without believing in anything supernatural at all.
Most of the characters were not likable, but also not in a "so extremely terrible it's actually kind of fun" way. They were just... mean kids.

Overall, though, I would recommend this! Especially as a beach read, if you don't mind spooky ocean horror next to a large body of water.
It's fun and fast, with a cool premise. You may not get attached, but somethings it's just fun to read a book where you're guessing along with the characters.

I love horror/thriller and was excited about this novel, but sadly, it didn't live up to my expectations at all. And trust me, my expectations weren't all that high in the first place.

I know it's YA, but I wasn't expecting something so basic. The novel barely skimmed the surface of the horror, thriller, and mystery genres. There were times when I could feel the writing attempt to go deeper (there was a Lovecraftian horror-esque scene that went nowhere, and the novel itself had the perfect premise for a psychological horror), but nothing truly panned out.

Instead, we get the FMC obsessing over her poverty (I get it. I've been there) and comparing herself to completely vapid rich kid characters who were one-dimensional. There was no introspection or criticism of wealth disparities, other than "poor me, the rich kids are mean to me." It's nothing we haven't seen before in YA fiction or teen dramas.

And like other reviewers have mentioned, the romance was... strange. It felt like that scene in season 4 of Stranger Things, where the teen characters happen to find some time to have romantic moments in a damn haunted house. Just... Why??? How??? I suppose sexual tension is one way to relieve fear.

The villain reveal was so boring that I barely paid attention to their insidious purposes. Instead, I just wanted to be done with the novel.

And the ending... There wasn't really an ending? It felt like the author didn't know how to end the novel so she just did... whatever that was.

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this arc.

Okay, this one was fun!

I'm not going to lie - it is COMPLETELY unbelievable. And any high school student in the world would have figured out all the Greek mythology references very early in this. But it's fun.

This is one of those over-the-top and very entertaining reads full of mean girls and mean boys and crushes on the wrong people and creepy crawly killing things or people or whatever.

As long as you don't take it seriously, you should enjoy the read!

I was initially wary because any critique of influencer culture can sometimes feel trite, but this doesn't. The horror of the modern influencer is examined in such an interesting way, and I really think Goldsmith managed to be original in this. I just wish the MC was a bit more self-aware.

3.5 rounded up to 4

Influencer culture is something I think could and should be explored so much more in thriller and horror fiction, so when I heard about this one I immediately checked to see if it was out yet (it wasn't but thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for a copy!). I loved the way the "Sirens" were written here, but I really had trouble with the main character and her inability to learn from ANYTHING she'd already done. It got a little frustrating if I'm being honest!

Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
🌶️/4

**Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to read and review!**

Liv gets the opportunity of a lifetime. She received a scholarship to attend a semester at sea with her best friend, Will. When Will gets sick the first night of the cruise, Liv starts to wonder what is actually going on. She begins seeing things and questioning everything about the ship itself. From the group of all-too-beautiful-yet-creepy influencer to a captain with something to hide, to a missing girl no one seems to want to talk about, to black eyes and fake smiles- there's clearly something sinister and eerie going on. Is Will really sick, or did something else happen to him? As Liv dives deeper into these mysteries, she begins wondering if she'll even make it off the ship alive.

Man, oh man. I'm usually not a horror fan. It's too spooky for me, and as a nighttime reader, it tends to make me paranoid of the dark and have bad dreams 😂 Right away, I was creeped out by some of the descriptions. Amy Goldsmith did well writing the horror scenes throughout this book. The relationships were interesting, and it was hard to figure out who was good or bad! While I had my suspicions and ideas about the twist, it was really well done. The story was intriguing definitely scared me and left me wanting to find out what was going on, which is exactly what this book says it's going to deliver. There were a few reasons I rated it down a star. EVERYTHING felt described, from the curtains and carpet, to what people were eating and wearing. Some of it added to the atmosphere, but I only needed to hear about the color of the carpet so many times. On top of that, Liv was infuriating at times. Yes, things are definitely going on and creepy, but stop telling everyone you meet about it!! Hahaha, I guess she's just a typical naive teenager though. Overall, this was a very good horror novel in my opinion. It had me biting my nails and sitting on the edge of my seat! Definitely give it a try!

Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith is out now!

An addictive oceanic #YA horror debut

"The sea provides but only if you feed it!"

Liv gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she's given an all expenses paid, scholarship aboard the Eos, or at least it would seem! But when her best friend falls ill she begins questioning the truth after a prolonged inability to see if he's on the mend. Between the overwhelming and luxurious riches shes not particularly used to, the questionable influencers aboard the ship that aren't nearly as beauitful inside as they are outside and the staff with smiles that never seem to reach their eyes...a determination builds to pull the passengers from their brainwashed mentalities by discovering the truth behind the Eos and the SeaMester program.

My Take;
I will always appreciate a story that keeps me guessing throughout its entirety and Amy Goldsmith certainly delivered with Those We Drown! With hints towards the cause of disappearances, Greek mythology and an MC thats being deliberately mislead, she does a beautiful job of keeping the readers on their toes.

Also, I loved TheSirens (as the envied group of influencers aboard the ship) a play on social medias ability to draw in followers by the use of ones voice wether in song or text. An added layer to this suspenseful summer read! 🎶

This is more of a 3.50 out of 5 rating for me, with some deductions based on main character herself and her ability to make the same mistakes over and over again. She also seemed to have a lower maturity level than the supporting characters which made her choices and hangups less mildly aggrevating throughout the plot.

Read if you Enjoy:
-YA Horror
-Influencers
-Drama
-Teenage Angst
-Disappearances
-Secrets
-Cultists

Thank you #netgalley for providing the opportunity to read and review this debut YA horror novel. All opinions are my own!

In "Those We Drown" by Amy Goldsmith, the author delivers a chilling debut that immerses readers in an ocean-drenched atmosphere of horror with a modern twist. With a mix of body horror and psychological terror, the book captures the fear of isolation and the mysteries lurking beneath the water's surface.

The strength of the horror elements in this book cannot be denied. The sense of unease and isolation on the cruise ship, The Eos, is palpable, and the author skillfully utilizes the fear of the unknown to create a suspenseful atmosphere. The incorporation of mild body horror adds an extra layer of discomfort, intensifying the sense of dread. The main character, Liv, finds herself caught in a web of uncertainty and distrust as she tries to uncover the truth behind the disappearances aboard the ship. The author effectively portrays Liv's struggle with self-doubt and the gaslighting she experiences, which adds to the psychological tension. The open ending leaves readers with a lingering sense of unease, a classic horror touch that works well in this context.

While the doubt and hesitation of the main character can be frustrating at times, it aligns with the horror genre's tradition of characters disregarding obvious evidence. However, there are instances when Liv's trust in untrustworthy individuals feels unrealistic, and her vocal confrontation instead of discreet investigation can be annoying.

The supporting characters in the story lack depth and development, as the focus leans heavily on the suspenseful narrative. Although this is acceptable for a horror-focused novel, readers seeking well-rounded characters may find themselves wanting more. One aspect that may leave readers wanting is the lack of satisfactory explanations for certain elements. Some threads are left dangling, which can be both intriguing and frustrating depending on personal preferences.

Overall, this debut delivers a compelling horror experience and utilizes the setting and atmosphere to create a sense of dread that is difficult to get in most YA horror. While some character decisions may test readers' patience, the well-executed horror elements make up for it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's Publishing for the eARC. This is an honest review.

4⭐️

Liv isn’t sure why she applied for the semester at Sea considering she hates the water. But when she receives a full scholar ship and her best friend is also selected, she knows she has to go. Her and Will have been friends since they were kids and the trip is falling just when there has been some upheaval in their relationship. Liv feels like six weeks on a cruise ship is just what they need to get their relationship. She wasn’t expecting for everyone else in the program to be from wealthy families and definitely wasn’t expecting the three influencers known as “The Sirens” to be on board as well.

After a bit too much alcohol on the first night, Will embassies Liv in front of everyone and she quickly returns to her room. The next morning, Will is nowhere to be seen and the leader of their program informs Liv that Will was sick and was being quarantined in the medical bay. But the messages that Liv receives from Will don’t sound like they come from him and there’s something off with the crew. The only one that seems concerned is Liv and she has to find out how to rescue Will while in the middle of the ocean.

A book about the ocean seemed appropriate given current events. This book did nothing to dissuade my fears of the ocean and I think anyone that would willing get on a cruise ship is crazy. I think that this book perfectly captured the normal creepiness of the ocean and perfectly wound in supernatural aspects.

I know that everyone other than Liv was supposed to be unlikeable as part of the plot, but some of them were infuriating. Specifically Will; he goes missing almost immediately after hurting Liv and the concern she has for him does not seem to match the care he had for her. It was almost painful the lengths Liv would go to to convince everyone they should care. There were also many times that Liv just seemed so naive to me that I couldn’t believe was real. Most of the characters did feel a bit like a caricatures of a Gen Z influencer, which was painful.

Thanks NetGalley for providing this ARC to me!

During the Summer months I love reading campy-feeling, trope-filled Horror and Thriller stories. I call them Summer Screams, Summer Scares or Summer Chillers. I'm sure you get what I mean by that type of story. It's a vibe. A bonus is a setting near, in, or around a body of water.

With this in mind, you can probably guess my excitement level when I first hear about Those We Drown. All I needed to read was the first sentence of the synopsis, 'an ocean-drenched, atmospheric horror debut', and I was sold. Unfortunately, no matter how much I wanted to love and connect with this story, it didn't work for me.

In this one we follow Liv, who is setting out with her somewhat estranged-best friend, Will, for a semester-at-sea aboard a luxury cruise ship, the Eos.

Liv is in attendance after being awarded a scholarship. She didn't think much about that at first, but once she arrives at the ship, it's clear that the other students in the program are all very, very wealthy. Of particular note are a trio of stunning influencers. Basically, the Plastics of the sea. Liv feels self-conscious now about her scholarship. She feels like she stands out because of it; like everyone knows her financial situation and is talking about it.

At least she has Will though. He doesn't care about such things. That is until they have a big blowout fight in front of everyone opening night. How embarrassing! The next day, after several attempts to reach Will, Liv finds out he has taken ill and is now in quarantine. She tries desperately to get the powers-that-be to let her see him, but she gets shot down at every try.

From there we follow Liv as she tries to figure out what has really happened to Will. Is he actually sick, or is something more sinister going on? After reading 400-pages of Liv, perhaps he is just hiding from her? Something to think about...

This started out slow and in my opinion, stayed that way. It never took off. It went from nothing happening, to the MC floundering around repeating the same concerns over and over for 300-pages. As a main character, I found Liv to be, honestly, really annoying. Her whole character was one note, desperation, but not in a way that made you feel desperate too. More in a way that you just wanted to get away from her.

Additionally, I am an atmosphere-girlie. You could give me nothing else, but if a book has a dark, eerie, ominous atmosphere, I am going to like it. I don't need to like characters, I don't need to believe your plot, but I need to have a strong atmosphere. Sadly, I did not get what I was looking for here in that regard. They could have been anywhere. I never felt that eerie sort of vibe I wanted. It just wasn't there.

Overall, the story felt very repetitive and I didn't enjoy the direction the plot went, as far as the reveals and the truth behind the Eos. It didn't hit like I expected.

With all of this being said, this is 100% my personal opinion. I am by no means the end-all, know-all of YA Horror novels. If this synopsis sounds intriguing to you, absolutely give it a go. Just because I didn't enjoy it, doesn't mean you won't. After all, there's a Reader for every book and a book for every Reader.

Even though this one didn't quite fit my tastes, I am glad I picked it up and I would consider reading future work from this author. Thank you to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I know a lot of Readers will have fun with this.

Let me start off by saying the cover, it’s absolutely gorgeous. Those We Drown, however, is straight murderous. It has a chilling spine that honestly leaves you feeling slickly horrified throughout the whole story.

This book had a really interesting premise. A set of young adults are all chooses to take part of a semester at sea aboard a cruise ship. The book quickly turns frightening and jumps right into uncovering the eerie mysteries of the ship and it’s so easy to get lost in the mystery of what Liv & co. are going through.

With Liv, I found myself having trouble connecting to her and I also felt like she didn’t truly connect with any of the characters, even when she showed interest in Con. With that, I really felt for Con (one of our MMCs) during a lot of this book. At first he comes off rich and arrogant, but honestly he seems truly lost the more you get to know him. Once everything comes to light for Liv and Con, it’s honestly quite horrific and devastating and I felt like I was spiraling into the depths with them.

Also, the ending was a little abrupt and you don’t necessarily get answers to all of your questions. Although maybe that’s part of the thriller of Amy’s story. I just felt myself wanting a little more or a little more clarity. Overall though, this book is wonderfully creeptastic. If you want a book that will lure you to sea, this is it!