If you enjoyed Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield or the Outer Banks show - you might really like this! An underwater thriller with a bit of a horror twist is exactly what I needed during the snow-pocalypse of Kentucky 2025!

Things I Loved:
- Out of Air showcases what it's really like to see wealthy groups living close to poor/down-on-their-luck people. The kids intermingle and become a tight-knit family feeling group - but there are always secrets in every group.
- THE ENDING!! So good! I love a twist.
- Forever enjoying books that make me want to travel - and the descriptions of the sea life off the coast of Australia are amazing. Would love to travel there and snorkel!!

**Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

right off the bat, this book was such an interesting concept with a beautiful book cover! i was definitely drawn by the cover and the title. i know nothing about scuba diving, i just thought it was pretty. however there was a lot of scuba jargon, which i didn’t get. something like a scuba index would have been great to reference.

i am always very curious when authors use present tense over past. the writing was very descriptive without feeling boring which is something i appreciated. the writing was also perfectly anxiety inducing for a person who is terrified of scuba diving. the writing of this book gives me the same vibes that the outer banks did.

Book:
OUT OF AIR by Rachel Reiss
Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the earc (May 13)

Review:
4⭐
When Phoebe and her friends go on a diving excursion in Australia, they discover an underwater cave that houses treasures and something almost supernatural. After breathing in air from an air pocket, Phoebe and her friend Gabe begin changing. While trying to figure out what happened, treasure hunters show up and threaten the group, wanting the treasure. They know what happened 6 months ago, and if they spill it, the group will be forever changed. Phoebe will do whatever it takes to keep the Salt Squad safe.
OUT OF AIR is an atmospheric novel that takes the reader on a journey through majestic water and diving excursion without leaving the house. The book starts off with the group on vacation. I'd like to say that this book hooked me from page one, but I thought it started a tad slow. However, as the novem progresses and the risks versus reward progresses, OUT OF AIR picks up.
Throughout the second half, maybe even after the first third, this book is easily devourable. I would describe this as gasping for air, like needing to know what's going on, if they can stop the changes like some needs air.
I really liked how Reiss wove everything together from present day to what happened to the group a few months before. It helped add insight that I felt was needed, especially as the story progressed with the cave and whatnot. Not only is this book interesting, but there is a level of emotion that coats the mind in a way that left tears prickling my eyes, and my heart racing with sadness and worry.
OUT OF AIR offers a mystery that's different than the whodunit I'm used to. It reminded me of something Amy Goldsmith would write, which is amazing. OUT OF AIR is definitely something I would recommend to those looking for an underwater source of entertainment that evolves in a freaky, sciencey type of way.

Whoa. What a fun ride this one was! Through the book there were great twists and turns the keep you on your toes.

When 5 friends take that end of high school trip before going their own ways for college and beyond, none of them can know what the ocean holds for them in a remote section of ocean off the coast of Australia. There are various flash backs throughout the book that dole out the events that lead the crew to where they are now. Little do they all know that there are mysteries and secrets surrounding more of the trip than they’d originally planned.

The group’s dynamic is very relatable and you feel how they’re all trying to deal with this big life transition. A well written and engaging read!

Out of Air by Rachel Reiss is a book that water adventure lovers will enjoy. I recommend it if you’re in the mood for a good time.

I highly enjoyed this book! Adventures meets twisty romance. I was HOOKED! This is a must read if you love the outdoors and some love mixed in.

Out of Air was a phenomenal and encaptivating read and I loved every second of it. It truly does give Outer Banks vibes with the friendship between Phibs and the others and I loved all the very bizarre magic and mystery that follows after they discover the underwater cave in the Australian island. I also enjoyed that the books timeline went in the past when the reader wasn't experiencing the present happenings. I felt like the pacing was perfect and at no point did I find myself bored, The visuals of the horrific things happening to Phibs and Gabe's bodies is true "underwater" horror and I also enjoyed that it was connected to a legend. Throughout the whole book I felt like there was enough description that I felt like I was inside the story itself and I absolutely love when an author can capture that for a reader. This book was suspenseful, it was emotional, it was downright weird. Readers who love creepy underwater horror and thrillers are absolutely going to eat this book up.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Rachel Reiss’s “Out of Air” is a fast-paced and atmospheric YA thriller that plunges you into the mysterious depths and potential horrors of ocean diving. Set against the vivid backdrop of a remote island off the coast of Western Australia, this book offers a unique perspective into ocean diving and the desire to not be alone. Before going into this review, please note that there are copious amounts of body horror throughout this book as Phibs and Gabe start to transform after going into an underwater cave; the body horror elements are descriptive and may be too much for some readers.

The story centers on five young American friends—the self-proclaimed "Salt Squad"—who share a passion for diving. Phoebe, nicknamed Phibs, is the outsider of the group, hailing from a less privileged background and burdened by responsibilities to her family. She feels increasingly alienated as her friends prepare to leave for college, highlighting themes of belonging and jealousy, which some younger readers may relate to. The group’s seemingly idyllic diving trip takes a dark turn when Phibs, along with Gabe, one of the twins, enters a forbidden underwater cave and breathes from an air pocket that begins to change their bodies in strange and horrifying ways.

The dual timeline structure alternates between the present-day nightmare of their current dive and flashbacks to different periods of time in Phibs’ life, like showing how her friendships started with the Salt Squad, though the main focus is on a traumatic dive six months earlier when the Salt Squad discovered a cache of Golden Age coins, propelling them to internet fame. While the flashbacks provide context for the group’s dynamics and tensions, I wanted more of a focus on the present timeline.

The supernatural and horror elements are central to the story. The body horror involving Phibs and Gabe—who develop slits in their bodies and begin evolving into something suited for the open water—offers moments of creepiness but lacks the slow, escalating tension that could have made the changes more terrifying. Instead, these transformations feel rushed and secondary to the personal drama and romantic subplots, which sometimes overshadow the main story, especially the romance between Phibs and Gabe. I wanted more of a focus on the body horror since that was the most unique and interesting part of the book to me, though I also enjoyed the diving aspects.

Reiss excels in creating an immersive setting. The vivid descriptions of the ocean and diving scenes evoke a sense of beauty and danger, and the eerie, isolated island enhances the book’s suspenseful tone. The exploration of privilege and power dynamics within the Salt Squad, especially through the character of Lani, adds layers to the story. Lani’s secretive and domineering behavior drives much of the conflict.

Overall, I really enjoyed the fast-paced plot with plenty of action and suspense as well as the commentary about belonging and privilege. The ending did feel a bit unresolved, though it made sense with Phibs’s overall desire for companionship and belonging. “Out of Air” is an engaging and atmospheric read that will appeal to fans of YA thrillers and speculative fiction. While it doesn’t fully capitalize on its horror potential, its unique premise, fast pace, and emotionally resonant themes make it a worthwhile dive into the depths of friendship, transformation, and finding a place to belong.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an early copy of this, all opinions are my own.

Imagine loving the ocean so much that you want to become part of it. I mean, that is really what this book felt like! It is a love story, sure, but a pretty messed up one at that.

The author is so incredibly descriptive with her writing - I found myself squirming in my seat and scratching my neck and ankle at different parts of the story. I would get so lost in the story, then the real gross descriptive parts would come up and I felt like I was almost feeling those sensations myself. Gross, real gross. That is what I've got to say about it!

I had theories about the story too. I kept expecting the people to find mermaids or become mermaids, since there is a sort of dark fantasy element to the story. The story is for sure set in a real world, there is just some very not-real things happening to these kids, more of the magical phenomena more than anything. Or.....was the cave really cursed? Who can really say whether magic exists in our world or not?

There is a sense of unease throughout the whole story, even the good parts. I knew nothing was ever as good as it seemed, and the author did a good job of giving us crumbs all the way up to the big reveal. I mean, the love interest was like "I need to tell you something" then kissed the girl and never brough it up again. WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! Of course, we find out at the end of the book....but I spent the whole story trying to guess what he was going to say, or how things could get worse than they already are.

This book is a debut, and a strong one!

All in all, I really got sucked into this story and quickly became invested. Some of the descriptors really had me squirming, but I also could not look away - lest I miss something crucial. This is a standalone so no sequel, but the ending is a bit open. It is nice to imagine where the characters can go from here, in their little ending that is not particularly happy, but could be happy for them. Worth the read, and I look forward to it coming out in 2025.
Content Warnings: mental illness, dementia, toxic relationship, abusive relationship, gaslighting, injury/injury detail, body horror, death, violence

Out of Air is perfect for fans of Netflix's Outerbanks. It's a quick, fast-paced adventure story about a group of friends who love to scuba dive. They stumble across an ancient cave, one the locals believe has hidden treasure... and an evil curse.

I enjoyed this and finished it in about two sittings. I love adventure stories and this was definitely a journey. It has supernatural elements, which I also really enjoyed. You could tell the author has deep love for scuba diving and ocean life; the animal facts were such a good addition. The only place I felt this story lacked was in the depth department. I wanted it to be longer, with more detail, character interactions, and atmospheric descriptions. Those would have made it a 5/5 for me. Still, I recommend adding it to your TBR, especially for summer. It's a fun read!

I don’t know if my problem is with this book or with the description of this book. The description made it sound like a horror/ spooky book. It’s described as “wilder girls meets outer banks” and that is so far off from what this is actually like imo. Outer banks makes me think treasure and friendships. Treasure hunting is such a small small part of this book and the friendships are so one dimensional and not fleshed out very well. I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters and found them annoying 90% of the time. I feel like I am the target audience this book was going for but it felt really dull and did not hit for me at all.
All of that being said- these are purely my opinions and this book was just not for me. I appreciate what the author was going for but it really fell flat.

“The deeper you go, the darker you fall.” (Reiss)

This book is fast paced, a little bit of creepiness, a twinge of romance, and more! You will absolutely fall into the story and feel like you know the characters in person!

The ocean and scuba knowledge were on point and I truly enjoy how much time the author must’ve put into doing the research!

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a quick and fun read! I love any type of ocean horror so this was right up my alley!

If you’re looking for a book that will give you a sense of dread and make you feel claustrophobic, look no further. This is it.

I loved the found family aspect and the dynamic with the Salt Squad. I loved how atmospheric the underwater scenes were. This was a fantastic read. Highly recommend.

When diver Phibs and her friends go on a dive trip down under, they're expected fun dives, a great summer, and plenty of fun.

They aren't expecting to come face to face with a local legend, a haunted cave possibly filled with treasure...and the kind of danger no sidearm can protect them from. And that's before amoral treasure hunters show up to complicate things further.

Phibs is fighting for her future, her friends, and the life she's always wanted...even if she doesn't always think its within her reach. However, when a dive goes wrong and she nearly drowns, she finds herself undergoing changes, and their friend group begins to splinter as they race to find out what is really going on...along with finding a way to fix it.

This is a great blend of friendship, transformation, and adventure gone wrong. The fast-paced plot keeps the tension high, balancing the beauty of the ocean with the danger lurking beneath its surface. At its core, the book explores the strength of friendship, as Phibs and her friends confront both treasure hunters and the mysterious force altering them. With a supernatural twist and emotional depth, this quick, suspenseful read is perfect for fans of thrillers and coming-of-age stories.

This YA book takes the reader on a twisted and curved road. Sometimes, this is a good thing. Other times, it’s not.

The romance between two of the characters became more than a bit heavy-handed, and I thought the book would have been better without it. Additionally, as soon as I began to call the ending, my enjoyment dipped a lot.

On the other hand, their diving adventures were filled with excitement and also thrilling. Ultimately, I’ve decided to split the difference and rate this book 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Scuba Diving meets Paranormal Activity meets Treasure Hunting…this one gave me heart palpitations. As a diver myself, caves and enclosed spaces underwater are both thrilling and threatening at the same time, and this author did an amazing job of making you feel like you were right there too. Loved the sea life references and the group’s love of diving!

*More of a 3.2 but this being such an original idea and from a debut author I feel confident bumping it up a bit as I look forward to seeing more of their writing in the future!*

The last summer after graduating is always bittersweet and that has never been so true for Phoebe as she has just recently found her group and they have been through more than enough to keep them bonded forever or so she thought. With a final trip and an unexpected cave dive “Out of Air” tests the limits of their friendship and reminds us just how unforgiving the sea can be.

This is going to be a bit hard to review because a lot of my feelings need specific examples to point to that would be too spoilery to share so I’m going to do the best I can!

There is a lot that works with this story and a few things that make it seem like it may have worked better if it was its own story rather than sewn together into this one. Told in two parts we get a treasure hunting mishap that feels on par with Outerbanks where we are introduced to the characters and see how they came together and the night that nearly tore them apart. In some cases I feel like this hurt the present day story a bit because apart from a very gentle comment on one character the rest of it doesn’t matter too much. While there is a fun and devilish pay off for the single member it hurts the rest by making them seem like something that impactful meant nothing as it’s only brought up a few times and mainly by the ones who bear physical scars, there’s little remorse or weight given to it everyone just seems to move on which was odd given the gravity of the moment.

Bringing us to the present I wish we spent more time really getting into the lore and community attitude that comes from old stories like this and while a slow unraveling is perfect to build up tension it felt like having more of a voice of warning or whispers of the consequences of lurking where you shouldn’t would have amped up the stress of the situation all together. There’s a lot of mysterious here and it felt like we left some of the better exploration of it at the bottom of the ocean untouched which was disappointing.

That being said I think the idea is very fun and like I said above original to the point that I didn’t mind some of what I felt were hiccups because it was so refreshing to have something new in my hands. It was easy to sink below the surface and settle in to the lull of the waves unaware that danger is lurking and I really enjoyed that and having the tiny comment there at the end really sold it for me as one I’ll remember and want to reread when the air is warm.

This is not perfect but I did enjoy so much of it and I hope to see more of what this author will create in the future!

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

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

What a good book!! This one had me hooked from page one! I could t put it down. I loved the writing style of this book. I lived the characters and they had great chemistry.

3.5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: contemporary fantasy, paranormal, SCUBA, treasure hunting

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 12/10 and will be posted to Instagram on 12/12 and to my review blog on 1/21.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and the promise of ocean horror. I enjoyed The Depths , which was a horror with ghosts and free diving, so I thought I'd give this one a try. Unfortunately, this book was pretty light on the horror and a little too fast with its pacing. The elements are there for it to be atmospheric with the tension rising as Phibs slowly changes as a result of that cave dive. Instead, the body horror element felt rushed and more like a side plot.

I think one of the things that kept this book from being a really great horror is that the author split it into the past and present, with the past focusing on the dive 6mos ago where the Golden Age coins were found. While it provides some context for the Salt Squad's fame and the tension that exists within the group, I don't think it was necessary for those elements of the story. Phibs says that they found the coins and it rocketed them to fame, we don't need to see it too. Likewise, we can tell there's tension in the group, but I honestly think it kind of takes away from it to also tell us how that tension came about. It would've been more interesting, imo, for the issues of the group to spill out into the present, creating a more layered mystery. Removing the chapters set in the past would also have provided more room to weave a more atmospheric and psychological story.

Most of the book is set in the present, and we get to see how the group interacts with one another and their love of diving. Phoebe and the twins, Gabe and Will, pretty much immediately make a stupid decision and go cave diving despite not being experienced. Luckily for them no one dies, but instead the cave they enter begins changing them -- or at least Phibs and Gabe, who breathed in the air pocket of one of the caves. There's a couple more stupid diving stunts in the book and, honestly, someone needs to take these teens' certifications and remind them that diving can be deadly.

The discovery of the cave leads one of the Salt Squad, Lani, to lose her mind. She's desperate to get them out of there and erase all evidence of the caves, but refuses to say anything about it. This sequence, where Lani is being secretive and angry, was one of the more aggravating parts of the book. Lani just expects everyone to step in line and follow her orders despite her not giving them any reason to do so. She even threatens to destroy Phibs' camera, the last thing her grandfather gave her before he died, and goes so far as to hold it over the ocean. Later she dismissively tells Phibs she would buy her a new one if it had gotten destroyed, both completely missing the point and also showing her utter privilege and lack of empathy. The fact that the caves actually were dangerous doesn't matter, the way she behaved was atrocious. The very least she could have done is explain things.

There is body horror in the book, with both Gabe and Phibs starting to change after breathing the cave air. For some reason it seems to impact Gabe faster than it does Phoebe, who holds it together much better. Things progress pretty quickly for the both of them though, and I would've preferred to have it be a more creeping kind of body horror, where the changes start out subtle and get freakier over time. Also, I don't totally understand some of the changes. Usually there's a clear outcome for body horror, but I don't really understand what the end point is of the changes Gabe and Phibs are going through.

I also didn't love the ending. It was a little odd to me and I don't think it was particularly thought out long-term. Like...what are they going to do five years down the line? 10? What about some of the future goals Phibs mentioned wanting to pursue? Maybe I'm just getting too old for books like this, but I can't help but think the ending shows a decision in favor of childish belonging over practicality and maturing. Also, people are going to ask questions. The excuses the group came up with aren't going to work for very long.