The Deepest Lake is a mystery told from the perspectives of a mother and her missing and presumed dead daughter. Rose, the mother of Jules, has spent the last three months grieving and without answers about her daughter's disappearance in Guatemala. Jules had traveled to work for a famous author who hosts memoir writing retreats, so Rose signs up for one to investigate for herself.

From the synopsis, this book had many things I've liked in other books: a beautiful setting, a story about books and writers, and complicated family dynamics. Unfortunately, this book fell short for me on all of those counts. The setting had such great potential and was underutilized and minimally described in my opinion. The parts of the novel that were about the women at the memoir writing retreat were a mixed bag. The famous author leading the retreats, Eva Marshall, is as unlikeable as they come and by the final parts of the book I was very weary from her actions.

I also felt that the writing retreat just whispered at some important social issues around publishing and memoirs, and expressed toxicity around other topics. The fatphobia in this book was especially bothersome. I counted three major instances of fat phobia that were voiced by various characters so it cannot be attributed to one "unlikeable" or "woefully ignorant" character. Let me be clear- starvation and skipping meals are NOT a healthy weight loss plan, athletic is not one body shape, and you can be gorgeous at any size. I'd go into detail about how terrible the fat shaming was here, but I think it would be triggering and unnecessary. Please just believe me.

So when you also factor in that this book was far too long and the mystery was so slow until the end wrapped up far too quickly and with just a few too many ignored loose ends, I don't recommend this one. It was compared to Andrea Bartz and I'd definitely suggest picking up one of her titles instead.

In The Deepest Lake, a grieving mother named Rose travels to an exclusive writing retreat on the shores of Lake Atilán in Guatemala, desperate to uncover the truth about her daughter Jules' mysterious death there months earlier. On the shores of the lake, in a memoir workshop headed by the charismatic and controversial writer Eva Marshall, Rose will be forced to face hard truths about her relationship with Jules -- and may find herself in just as much danger as her daughter was.

The description of this novel calls it a thriller, but that wasn't the experience that I had with The Deepest Lake. If anything, this book is more of a slow-burn mystery -- but mostly I'd classify it as a pensive, deeply emotional character study about mothers and daughters and the countless ways they help and (however inadvertently) harm each other. The narrative is told on two timelines from the perspectives of Rose and Jules, and although the pace is often quite slow, I found myself hanging on every thought-provoking word of this story. Both protagonists are richly drawn and authentic, and the narrative drips with lush, verdant atmosphere.

But it's the character of Eva Marshall who is the most fascinating. Through this enigmatic, dangerous woman, Andromeda Romano-Lux explores the exclusionary, often toxic and cult-like nature of high-end writing retreats, the commodification and exploitation of women's most private stories, controlling a narrative by sacrificing the truth, hero worship, and the cost of ruthless ambition. There's also a lot of interesting commentary about the effects of colonization on indigenous populations, cultural appropriation, and the "white savior" narrative.

The Deepest Lake was a riveting reading experience that transported me right onto the shores of Lake Atilán, and right into the heart of a grieving mother. Thank you to RB Media for the early listening opportunity.

Andromeda Romano-Lax's THE DEEPEST LAKE is a stunning atmospheric lyrical suspense thriller set in Guatemala at an exclusive writing retreat. Featuring a famous author, a writing retreat, a young woman's mysterious death, and a tenacious mother who goes undercover to seek answers about her daughter's disappearance.

AUDIOBOOK: The audiobook was exceptional, and the narrators, Susan Bennett (my favorite) and Rebecca Quinn Robertson, delivered a spellbinding performance. I was hanging on their every word! I highly recommend the audio!

Jules, a 20-something young woman, is searching for adventure and an aspiring writer. She travels to Guatemala to an exclusive writer's retreat led by one of her favorite charismatic memoirists/authors (hero), the famous writing teacher Eva Marshall, a woman known for her controversial work and memoirs in Guatemala’s Lake Atitlán.

Rose, Jules's mother, worries about her daughter traveling, especially after her texts stop abruptly.

The news comes about her daughter's mysterious drowning. She and her ex-husband and father of Jules, Matt, do not know what happened. Jules’s final texts to her parents came on her birthday (23rd) and a few days later, a Canadian expat saw a woman matching Jules’s description swim far out in the lake.

It had been three months, and all she knew was that her daughter was swimming alone. However, her daughter feared the water. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning, but is there a body or assumed to be drowned? But Rose does not believe it. How could her daughter's body be lost in Central America in the biggest lake? Someone has to know something.

Rose is determined to find answers for herself. She travels to the memoir workshop (under her maiden name) and goes undercover, hoping to get close to those in the community and workshop and learn more about her daughter's disappearance/death and the woman running this workshop. Is everyone in the community spellbound by this woman, or are they afraid of her?

She slowly learns strange, sinister things about the details leading up to her daughter's disappearance. This glamorous retreat is hiding something, and Rose is determined to find out what. What ugly truths lie beneath his writer's retreat and this famous author?

Is Lake Atitian a place of refuge or a place that is harmful to women?

Told from two POVs: Jules and Rose. The story alternated between Jules and what happened leading up to the drowning and unraveled with chapters from the mother's undercover investigation. I adored the mom and her strong love for her daughter.

I loved this book! THE DEEPEST LAKE reminds me of Joyce Maynard's (a favorite) writing, especially her latest, The Bird Hotel. It is also for fans of The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz and authors Lisa Jewell, A.J. Banner, Carol Goodman, and Ruth Ware.

Psychologically rich, immersive, and spellbinding, THE DEEPEST LAKE is mysterious, suspenseful, and beautifully written with vivid, lush settings. The writing is both lyrical, twisty, and mesmerizing.

The author skillfully explores the complex relationship between mother and daughter in this family drama, covering topics such as motherhood, grief, survival, love, danger, trauma, risks, and the introduction of a confessional memoir culture. The novel also explores the dangers, toxicity, and obsessions of writing retreats, as well as the cautionary tale of those who follow a cult-like leader and fall under the spell of deception and an opportunistic writer’s dark schemes.

Thought-provoking, gripping, spine-chilling, evocative, and atmospheric, with twists that will have you glued to the book or audio until the last page is turned. Ideal for book clubs and further discussions. My first book by the author, and I look forward to reading more.

Thanks to Recorded Books and NetGalley for an ALC for an honest opinion.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: May 7, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars
May Newsletter
May 2024 Must-Read Books

Thanks to RB Media, NetGalley, author Andromeda Romano-Lax, and narrators Susan Bennett and Rebecca Quinn Robertson for allowing me to listen to an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review. This book blew me away!! Told from the POV of Rose, a mother who has come to a writing retreat in search for answers about the disappearance of her daughter Jules. And also told from Jules perspective, we get to find out all the things that happen up to her “death” and beyond. The intricacies of plot and characters are so well written that I couldn’t put this book down!! I felt like I was there with these ladies at the retreat and as they poured their hearts out to one another I ached for them. I truly love a book that makes me care about the characters so much that I hate it when the book ends. Definitely this is one of my favorite books for the year!

4 stars

This book was an intense, dramatic thriller set in a lovely location. As sometimes happens in this genre, the second half was more than over-the-top; the ending was satisfying, for the most part, but it was also a bit unbelievable. Nevertheless, it was a gripping story that pulled me in pretty quickly, and I did enjoy it.

Thank you netgalley for the arc! This was definitely an edge of your seat read. The character building was excellent but I found the plot to be a messy. I sometimes felt as though something was missing or left unsaid. The writing instructor was quite mean. Overall I liked it. I couldn't put it down and had to know what was going to happen next.

The Deepest Lake is a mystery thriller book that focus on a Mother-Daughter relationship. Two timeline and two perspective. A grieving mother, Rose who didn't accept that her daughter died from drowning without a body found, then went to Guatamela to investigate. Her daughter, Jules who wanted to follow her passion for writing and applied a job to a Memoir writer named Eva. As Rose gets closer to the truth, the stakes get even higher. Can she find out the truth behind Jules presumed drowning and survive? or Will she be like Jules that ended up drowning in a far away home place of Guatamela.

What I like about this book is that the introduction of each characters was done well, and the plot is good but I was not satisfied with the ending I wanted more revelations. And a lovely place like Guatamela was not highlighted more. But overall I like the mystery part of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media and the author for an ARC audiobook of this book.

Set on the shores in Guatemala, Rose searches for the answers to her daughter Jules’ disappearance. Jules was always traveling alone, searching for herself and an inspiration for her writing. When she gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with her favorite author, she jumps at the chance. But then she goes missing and Rose has questions—why was her daughter swimming alone when she feared the water? Who exactly is this author and what goes on in this writing retreat? Where is Jules’ body? Rose joins the author’s retreat to follow her daughter’s footsteps and discover what exactly is going on at this retreat and what happened to Jules?

The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax, narrated by Susan Bennett and Rebecca Quinn Robertson, is a mystery thriller about family, grief, and mental illness. It smoothly bounces between dual perspectives and timelines, building up to Jules’ disappearance and Rose’s search for the truth.

I really enjoyed the mystery and characters in this story. Rose and Jules meet a somewhat diverse group of women in the retreat, some of which left an imprint in the mystery, as well as the author and retreat head Eva. It was slow but still engaging, but a bit of a twist at the end, which was built from Romano-Lax’s rich writing. The juxtaposition between the local culture and the culture of the retreat was very effective and honest, giving a realistic and bold view.

I’d recommend this read to those who enjoy slow build mysteries with somewhat twisty and stimulating endings. Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the audio ARC!

This mystery had me pulled in at the start of the book, relatable feelings and emotions that are easily tied to the mother who is desperately searching for the answers to her questions about her daughter's death. Why she stopped answering, why she was in the water when she didn't know how to swim, and why this would happen to her sweet Babygirl. From a mother's perspective on the hunt, she unravels her daughter's trip, and searches to put the missing pieces together.

Rose has waited months for any answers relating to her daughter’s drowning in far away Guatemala. She has many unanswered questions, but she appears to be the only one concerned. Knowing that Jules was last seen at a workshop for aspiring memoir authors, Rose decides to enroll and try to find answers, especially from the seemingly evasive Eva Marhsall, the charismatic author who runs the workshops. But when she arrives, she realizes just how much work is cut out for her, and that there may be ugly truths hiding beneath the polished veneer of the retreat.

What drew me into this one was the premise. I loved the idea of a writer’s retreat in a remote area, and enjoyed how well the setting was incorporated into the story. The descriptions and inclusions of the setting was one of the stronger aspects of this read. This story is told from a dual POV and timelines. I actually enjoyed both timelines mostly equally. The characters in both were decently written, and the stories of both timelines came together nicely in the last portion of the book.

I think what kept this from being a thriller or even a tense mystery was that the author didn’t really build or incorporate tension well. The way the story was presented kept me from becoming fully immersed in the plot and I didn’t feel super invested at any point. I also wanted a bit more from the aspects relating to Eva and the local community, and it didn’t feel all that resolved by the end.

If you’re looking for a slower paced mystery/drama about mother-daughter relationships, then you’ll likely enjoy this one. Don’t read this looking for a thriller, though. My thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to read this book, which will be published May 7, 2024. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book drew me right in through the description. I thought everything sounded right up my alley.

I did enjoy the book but for me it didn’t live up to my expectations. I thought there were too many characters and just found it hard to get into.

I did listen to this on audio so I feel like maybe if I physically read it I would feel differently. I do plan to check out in book form and try again because I feel it has all of the potential. Once I do I’ll update my review!

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media and the author for an ARC audiobook of this book.

This book was a wow for me all around- from the story to the characters to the narrators. And what a wild ride. It felt like a mashup of the The Writing Retreat by Julia Hartz and The Last Thing He Told Me by Celeste Ng and I was a huge fan of both of these, and obviously a huge fan of Deepest Lake.

A huge draw for me initially was how culty the story sounded. Daughter disappears after working for writer with a huge cult following and obsessed fans. However- as I started reading, I couldn't be sure of what was going on at the retreat.

The narrators: Susan Bennett and Rebecca Quinn Robertson both did excellent jobs narrating the parts of the daughter and her mother. Both voices really embodied the personality of the characters that they read as, making this a very easy listen.

That being said, I also thought the alternating perspectives between the mother, Rose, and daughter, Jules, really built the mystery and also explored how far a mother will go for her child. Of course our main mystery is what happened to Jules and where did she go after leaving home to work for favorite author in Guatemala in what looks from the outside to be a dream job. With Jules missing, Rose leaves to retrace her daughters steps and find out what happened and whether this beloved author of Jules could have had anything to do with her daughter's disappearance.

Because Jules is missing, we learn of Jules through the past; her arrival on the island and how she met/got hired by Eva (the author), then what it was like working at the writing workshops with Eva. Rose is searching for Jules in the present.

I loved both Jules and Rose, as both seemed to be genuinely kind people, and it was hard to not become invested in them and find Jules.

The twists that this story takes are nothing short of wild. This story went in directions I would have never guessed and cannot even begin to put into words without revealing too much of the story.

This was a 10 out of 10 for me, a please pick up if you like a good mystery, strong female lead, family drama, culty thriller, etc. book. Highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC audio of this riveting tale! I absolutely loved this one and enjoyed it from beginning to end. A story about Rose and Jules, mother and daughter. When Rose gets the phone call that her daughter is dead from a swimming accident while vacationing in Guatemala, she refuses to accept the accounts given to her by the local police and others on the scene. Instead, she applies to attend a writing retreat, ran by the woman Jules last worked for. When she arrives, she starts asking locals questions and what she discovers about her daughters death leaves her grappling for the truth. The Deepest Lake is a book about a mother's grief and how far she will go to uncover the truth of her only daughter's last few days. I will definitely recommend to patrons and friends as I could not quit listening (in part thanks to one of my favorite narrators, Susan Bennett).

very interesting story. I enjoyed it 100%. lots of turns and twist and hard to figure out..just how I like it.

Thank you to NetGalley and R&B Media for an audio version of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a thriller! the setting is a luxury memoir-writing workshop on the shores of Lake Atitlán, Guatemala! A grieving mother (Rose) signs up for a workshop so she can go undercover to investigate her daughter, Jules, mysterious death. No body has been found and they say she drowned, but her mom knows she does not like water and would not have been on the lake to begin with.

There is a bit of a dual timeline along with multiple perspectives in this book which rotates mainly between the mother (Rose), the daughter (Jules) and the well known author (Eva) that is hosting the workshops. Eva is a strong character that seems to have her attendees under her spell. The book definitely plays into the psychology of hero worship with eva being the hero.

The author does an excellent job describing the setting and in character development. The author kept be guessing for most of the book and the narrator did an awesome job with the different characters in the story also. I didn't want to stop listening and finished the book during a four hour drive home from my brother's home.

Fantastic novel. It was over-the-top but not at all in a way that was too much. It was easy to believe that a narcissist believed their own lies and started to bribe and betray those around themselves until it snowballed out of control. Romano-Lax used the lake in different ways: to entice, to frighten, to inspire. It had a presence that loomed large. I love the characters written and the depth that was put into them; even small characters like the kitchen staff.
Both narrators did an excellent job, but the sound quality was not consistent throughout. Sometimes it sounded like the narrator was suddenly much farther away from the microphone which made the audio less clear.

Thank you to NetGalley, Recorded Books, and the author for my advance copy of this audiobook

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Deepest Lake.

Where to begin, the overall story was intriguing as we follow a mother in search of answers about her daughter's death. This is a slow mystery that conveys more as a mother's attempt at a healing journey. There are so many support characters in this story it took a little extra work to keep track of all the small details. This was not my favorite style of storytelling making it a slow read for me. I would recommend The Deepest Lake to those who prefer a mystery over an suspense thriller.

An exhilarating listen - great narration and an intriguing story that speaks to the power of the mother-daughter relationship and grief in more ways than one. Worth your time.

Holy cow! What a harrowing story. This dragged a little in the beginning but really picked up about halfway through. The ending was quite something.

What an awful, awful experience, and let me tell you, as a mother myself, I find it terrifying that something like this is possible. And yet... as far-fetched as it seems, it is possible. Because there are serious lunatics out there. It also goes to show, sometimes you need to listen to your gut and not give up.

I found this poignant, frightening and a little sad, but with a silver lining. An excellent read and a wonderful narration.

A fantastic, suspenseful book! I enjoyed the format of this book and liked the timelines and perspectives. The narrators are excellent and really did such a great job. A good slow burn!

Thank you for the opportunity to read/listen to this book. Looking forward to more from this author.