A semester aboard a luxury cruise ship sounds like a dream, right?

That’s what Liv thinks when she earns a spot in the “SeaMester program” on the Eos thanks to a scholarship. Not only that, she gets to go with her BFF, Will.

She arrives to find she’s sharing the ship with her fellow SeaMester classmates — a group of privileged, snooty rich kids, a band of gorgeous, bitchy influencers, and a surprising amount of other elderly passengers.

After the first night, Will is quarantined in the ship’s infirmary due to a mysterious illness, and Liv finds herself increasingly suspicious that things are quite amiss aboard the good ship Eos.

I went through this one pretty quickly—the writing was very engrossing and the story was good. I felt wrapped up in the mystery of what was going on aboard the ship. My one complaint is that the ending felt very rushed compared to the build-up, and I did find the protagonist a bit annoying. Otherwise, I enjoyed this one a lot!

If you like atmospheric horror, you’ll like this one.

Liv is so excited to have won a scholarship aboard a luxury cruise ship – the Eos – for an entire semester. She’s also excited that her ex-best friend Will is accompanying her on the trip, they’ve barely talked since they kissed. Unfortunately, as soon as she steps aboard she gets an uneasy feeling, something just feels off and she feels like an outcast. When Liv learns that she only got the scholarship because another girl mysteriously went missing at the last minute, her angst increases. Nothing feels right, and then Will disappears under the guise of being “sick” and in quarantine. She just can’t shake the feeling that something is off. As more strange things happen, Liv sets out to uncover the secrets the ship is hiding, but at what cost?

This was an interesting atmospheric horror read with some fun twists. I loved how this was not super graphic because it was a YA Horror book – I am drawn to them because I find them just descriptive enough. The atmosphere of this one was really interesting, and I loved how descriptive it was – I felt like I was right there aboard the Eos with the characters. While the atmosphere was well written and descriptive, I found some of the character development to be lacking, the main character especially. I enjoyed the side characters, but I felt the main character was just unlikeable and could have used some more depth initially. Over the course of the book, we did see some growth, but I found myself wanting more from her. This book held my interest, and I didn’t want to put it down, it was a real page turner.

Overall this was a really good read and I would recommend you check it out if you’re looking for a locked room thriller. Grab yourself a copy June 27th!

Thank you very much to Random House Childrens – Delacorte Press, @delacortepress, @randomhousechildrens and Netgalley, @netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Netgalley will be updated with additional links once posted.

Surprise!

That's how it felt reading this book. I started off feeling like I hated everything. The MC really just rubbed me wrong. I found her boring and I didn't like that her whole personality was "I'm smart and poor." I was wrong. I loved this book.

The writing was fun and the premise of blending Greek mythology with a cruise was so unique and enjoyable. The hint of romance helped lighten some of the darker points in this book, but it wasn't the whole theme.

The author grows the characters in a very thoughtful way. The main character's personality is really developed and showcased as the story progresses. There is a horror aspect to this book, but it's more of a ghost story rather than a keep you up at night.

Towards the end I didn't want to put the book down, and I was devastated when I turned the page and it ended.

This debut novel is worth the read and it releases June 2023!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an eARC of Those We Drown in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of this book immediately sucked me in, but the execution was lacking. Liv, the MC and narrator, was hard to figure out. There were times when I liked her, but other times when her reactions and thought processes were whiny or entirely illogical. Her back and forth suspicions and lack of critical thinking was frustrating. But the creepy ocean vibes were still present, and despite how annoying Liv could be, I was still invested in the plot and needed to figure out how everything tied together.

Combining the elements of young adult drama with the captivating world of Greek mythology, I found myself thoroughly engrossed in this book. The story follows Liv, who embarks on a luxurious cruise ship as part of a scholarship program. However, what initially appears to be a dream come true quickly turns into a nightmare. The book boasts a well-crafted pace, unexpected twists and turns, and an overall enjoyable reading experience. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a thrilling and engaging read.

Spooky thriller with a unique setting. Never read anything like it before and will be recommending. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This book is incredible, I read it all in one night, no joke. While it seems like the beginning is a little slow, it really helps build the tension that is mercilessly ratcheted up over the course of the story.

Liv is excited to go on a semester at sea style cruise since she comes from a background of poverty and likely couldn't afford the trip herself. On board she finds herself intimidated by the rest of her study group and is grateful for the presence of her school buddy Will. Except she argues with Will the first night and the next morning everyone tells her he's sick. She spends the rest of the cruise trying to find out what actually happened to him.

This has Greek mythology influence, weird nightmares and twists. I was constantly wondering who Liv could trust, including her shifty 'love interest.' I liked how the ending stuck with the horror theme too, it really went there and didn't cop out. This is a truly original horror/thriller and I can't wait to see what Amy writes next.

First off, the cover is beautiful and it’s the best thing about the book. This started off interesting but then weird shit happens. Shit that only Liv can see. She spends the entirety of the book trying to convince various people what she saw and they think she’s crazy. I saw this thing; no you didn’t; YES I DID; you need help. Back and forth like this. Shallow characters, wealthy elite, gaslighting, and a plot that moves slower than a sea slug. The ending is infuriatingly ambiguous. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

There's nothing like the claustrophobia of being trapped on the ocean, it was delightful to find a novel that perfectly captures the crawling fear of looking out the window and seeing nothing but blue and the knowledge of the deep, dark void beneath your feet. This novel is shuddering with tension, made all the more palpable by the deceptive smallness of the cruise ship. However, as much as I liked the setting and the building of tension, I was not at all enthused by the characters. Everyone fills easy stereotypes - the insecure, "not like other girls" protagonist, the gorgeous mean girl, the innocent best friend, the mysterious sexy love interest. None of the character personalities felt even remotely original, and this made it very difficult to connect with anyone. I also got very frustrated with the protagonist's choices - there were times I wanted to take her by the shoulders and point her AWAY from the very obviously wrong direction.

Blending YA drama with Greek mythology, I truly enjoyed this book. Liv finds herself on a luxury cruise ship as part of a scholarship opportunity, but what seems too good to be true definitely is. This book had a good pace, lots of surprises, and I would recommend it!

Overall an OK read, just wasn't for me. I didn't realize it was YA when I picked it up, so not really the book's fault.

Liv ends up on a "semester at sea" cruise on one of the world's most exclusive cruise lines, and immediately I started to wonder why the vessel would give up rooms for the college students.

Aside from Liv's beyond ridiculous binge drinking (which she returned to over and over again), I wanted to root for her to figure out what was happening. It's tough, though, to cheer on a character that gets stuck in their own cyclical stupidity.

The cast of characters was nicely mixed, and it was interesting to see how the events of the cruise ship affected the day to day life.

Not an overly thrilling whodunit, but an easy mystery that progresses nicely.

Overall: 4 stars

I'll tell my students about: sex, language, alcohol, physical violence, LGBTQIA+, death, blood/gore, trauma, mental health

**Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

4/5 stars! Interesting premise and a gorgeous cover. This YA horror book managed to be both unique and enthralling. I do think the author could do more character development, but overall a really great YA read.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I LOVE THIS COVER!
Ive always loved it the concepts of cruise ship novels and thriller based and i love stories about the ocean and such when i saw this one i had to request it.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC!

So i want to write an honest review because i have alot to say about this novel i wont lie and say it took a little bit to pick up around 25-30% so i did put it down for a little HOWEVER after that percentage for me this book was AMAZING the writing was so detailed the story was everything ive always wanted a book about cruise ships with a thriller spin on it but this had creepy moments through the whole book i loved how strong of a lead Liv was in this novel during the whole book it had so many twists and turns and i didn't know who was guilty etc. This book follows Liv and Will who get to go on a cruise line and when Liv gets on the cruise and they set sail Will goes missing and liv starts imagining things and getting paranoid and trying to get answers but she isn't getting the answers she wants so it turns into her trying to find will and all the stuff she witnesses on the search to find her friend. This book had such strong leads i loved so many people and my favorite thing about this book is you didn't know what was going to happen and i kept trying to guess as i was reading and just couldn't until the very last chapters that is how you know its an amazing thriller. I loved the greek mythology tie ins and all the lounge names and rooms and details and everything regarding sea stuff this book was giving me very lost at sea vibes and it was amazing. Amy wrote such a great debut novel and i look forward to future novels because this book was great! If you love cruise ships and thrillers and mysteries and even horror and darkness you will love this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is just a story fully of gaslighting.

If you are younger, maybe middle school, this could be the book for you. It reads better for a younger audience for sure. It had a somewhat creepy imagery, but nothing too scary in my opinion. There was some adult themes in this book, but cut that out and this would be a perfect horror for younger people.

A little after the halfway point it started to pick up for me and be a little bearable, but the first half was really hard to get through. I get it was building up the suspense, but it was so repetitive.

The characters tried to have personality but it was either there was no personality at all or it was too exaggerated. I know sometimes people act this way but Raj was like a meathead, the Sirens were too stuck up, to the point where it was cheesy and unnatural. I thought I’d like Con the best, but even he didn’t really seem to have a personality other than being cold and rich.

I wanted to feel something for Con and Liv but their conversations were so dry. I didn’t feel any chemistry. They were so back and forth. One second she was attracted to him, the next she hated him and thought he was stuck up. That was on an endless loop the whole book.

Liv was not very smart at all, which was frustrating. Her not seeing the signs that something was weird, especially when it came to Will texting her, who was supposed to be her best friend for how long, made no sense. She kept trying to justify what was going on when a bunch of weird or creepy stuff was happening to her and two seconds after someone said she was being crazy she just dropped it. And that happened the entire book. It was infuriating. I can understand that if you are the only one seeing these things and everyone is telling you the opposite you would try to convince yourself that it’s true to a certain extent. Eventually you would think she would have just pretended that everything was fine but secretly was trying to figure out what was going on instead of just acting wild or keep on telling herself that she was wrong.

And the ending? What was that. It just ended so abruptly. Not that I wanted to read more of the book, but there should have been more closure. There was way too many loose ends, things that were built up the whole book just to be revealed in two seconds with no conclusion. I think the author was trying to go for an open ending, but there was many ways that could have been done that would have been better than how it did actually end.

I wanted to like this book, the premise sounded really good, it just did not live up to my expectations.

Overall a very average read. The characters (while a bit two dimensional) were able to carry out the plot how it needed to be carried. I think the beginning suspense was also really well played out. The ending fell a bit flat in my opinion, but I wouldn’t say that I regret the read. It was a good change in pace.

I detest books that make their main character a complete idiot in order for the mystery to be believable.

Liv has won a scholarship to study on a luxury cruise for a semester, along with her best friend, Will. Before the first day has even ended, Liv and Will have a huge argument that results in Liv leaving in tears. The next day, the cruise ship's doctor tells her that Will has caught a virus and is not allowed out of quarantine. When Liv realizes his text messages don't sound like him and starts having odd hallucinations, she feels in her bones that something is wrong. But is she just going crazy, or is there something fishy aboard?

Let's start with the characters, which are all detestable. Everyone except Liv is dripping with money, and they don't let her forget it. In a very cringeworthy way, they constantly remind Liv that she shouldn't be here. They are all shallow, snotty, and had the maturity of a group of four-year-olds. They blurred together into one being since they all shared the same two personality traits: rude and rich. Liv honestly was not much better. She is a 'woe is me' kind of girl, letting the group walk all over her. So, I did not like anyone, which is not the best way to start out the book.

For the first 50%, Liv totally denies something is wrong. She has never hallucinated or had vivid dreams before, but she is convinced that is all in her head. Even when someone physically grabs and harms her, she still chalks it up to her going crazy. If I was Liv, after the first 24 hours, I would have locked myself in the room, called my mom, and told her to pick me up at the next port. As stated before, if your main character has to be an idiot in order to sell a book's mystery, you do not have a mystery.

The romance made me want to get a lobotomy. Of course, she falls in love with one of the rich snobs. Cold, calculating, but oh-so-handsome and misunderstood. Constantine (he even has a snobby name) is just as mean as the rest of the group, and yet Liv still is attracted to him. Considering neither of them has particularly strong personalities, I am sure it will work out fine.

I won't spoil what happens, in case this review hasn't convinced you to swim far away from this book, but I figured out the mystery within the first few chapters. It's very obvious who the culprits are. In fact, it is so obvious I genuinely believed it to be a misdirection. What a foolish and naive hope.

Thank you to Net Galley and Delacorte Press for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

(Review has been shared on Goodreads and Storygraph, Review will be reshared on these sites, and Amazon and Barnes and Noble closer to release date.)

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I just will never ever ever get over horror, and this beautiful book by Ms. Goldsmith is an amazing example why. Those We Drown is an absolutely amazing book, and I enjoyed every last second of it. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

A bit messy overall but a nice hook for an author I’d happily read again.

“Those We Drown” is a song of horror and isolation as Liv tries to make the best out of a new adventure following the abandonment of her best friend, but when he goes missing and the crew treats her as though he’s never existed she stumbles through mythology and madness trying to uncover if there’s something darker lurking just below the surface.

I think this was a cool idea and has all the pieces I love in a story - an unreliable narrator, mythology, and being trapped on open water, unfortunately it seemed to give us way too much before backing off to give us nothing at all.

I think the characters were frustrating but that may have been on purpose so we felt just as frustrated as Liv does throughout the story but it also made it hard to care for anyone as we move through the piece. The plot too had the proper beats that I enjoy but some of the elements at the climax seemed rather ridiculous and only there for shock value to draw out emotion for a character despite the unrealistic nature of that reveal. The ending too was frustrating as the tension continues to build only to disappear like fog on the horizon.

Not a bad debut but also not great however I would like to see what else this author can do in the future.

*special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a review*

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Those We Drown is a YA speculative horror novel from debut author Amy Goldsmith. The story follows Liv and a crew of SeaMester students who set out for a 6 week journey on a luxury cruise ship called the Eos. Liv is a bit different from the other 6 students, being the only one attending the program on a scholarship. Despite feeling inferior to some of the other students, Liv is determined to make the most out of this opportunity; besides, she has her friend Will on the trip with her. When Will goes missing after their first night aboard the Eos, Liv begins to realize that 6 weeks on the ship may just be too good to be true.

I am extremely impressed with the pacing and structure of this novel for a debut novel. The atmosphere of the ship was excellent too. The mythological elements were woven into the mystery expertly, and definitely added to the creeping sense of dread I had while reading it. There were enough unpredictable twists to make this a quick read despite its length. Those We Drown is billed as YA, but it's definitely on the more mature side of YA in both content and writing style, which I loved.

Honestly my only gripe with the book is that the details of the supposed program the kids are on seem extremely fuzzy (perhaps by design of the nefarious forces trying to get people on the ship I suppose, but I still would have liked a little more detail). I thought it was going to be at least a little structure to it, but it seemed to mostly be "let these teens hang out on the cruise ship". I also think that some of the SeaMester students felt a bit too much like archetypical spoiled rich kids (very heavy-handed foil to our main character), and some of the dialogue was a bit painful because of it. The good definitely outweighed the bad though, and I can definitely forgive it because of how strong the main character, Liv, is written.

If you were ever even remotely a mythology kid growing up, you should definitely pick this one up. This book will be a lot more rewarding if you have some mythology knowledge (the mythological name drops are aplenty), but it is definitely a great read regardless.

I will definitely be looking out for whatever Amy Goldsmith puts out next!

Crossposted to Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5472534079