A review by natbrooke94
They Drown Our Daughters, by Katrina Monroe
3.0
(Before I start, part of the reason this book only got 3 stars is my own fault. I found the timelines a bit confusing and wished there was a family tree of sorts at the beginning of the book, but came to find out there was a family tree at the end of the novel....oops... so I'm bumping it up to 3.5 stars)
"I'm sad because she's sad, and I'm scared because she's scared. She's alone forever, Mom, and it hurts so bad and I can't breathe and... and..."
There's something... off about Cape Disappointment. Whether it's a curse, a mermaid, or a slew of mental health issues, something has been killing off the mothers and daughters of the Holm family for generations. Meredith thought she had escaped her fate at the bottom of the ocean, but like the tide something pulled her back out to the sea.
I liked this book, don't get me wrong, but it dragged in spots and the different timelines could get a bit confusing. Like I'm still not 100% sure how.
Overall, the parts about the complex nature of the relationship between mothers and daughters were excellent, but the rest was a bit.. meh. I feel like the author tried to straddle the line between supernatural and mental illness and I almost wish the book had leaned a little more into the complexities of inherited mental illness rather than the supernatural ghost story elements. It felt less like she was toeing the line between the two and more like she was hop-scotching back and forth between them before finally landing on supernatural. I enjoyed this book, but it just felt like it didn't always know what it was trying to be.
"I'm sad because she's sad, and I'm scared because she's scared. She's alone forever, Mom, and it hurts so bad and I can't breathe and... and..."
There's something... off about Cape Disappointment. Whether it's a curse, a mermaid, or a slew of mental health issues, something has been killing off the mothers and daughters of the Holm family for generations. Meredith thought she had escaped her fate at the bottom of the ocean, but like the tide something pulled her back out to the sea.
I liked this book, don't get me wrong, but it dragged in spots and the different timelines could get a bit confusing. Like I'm still not 100% sure how
Spoiler
Regina managed to survive on an island for all of this time or how she even got there in the first place. Was it supernatural? Did it have something to do with the spellwork that Constance was helping her with? It just felt... a little out of placeOverall, the parts about the complex nature of the relationship between mothers and daughters were excellent, but the rest was a bit.. meh. I feel like the author tried to straddle the line between supernatural and mental illness and I almost wish the book had leaned a little more into the complexities of inherited mental illness rather than the supernatural ghost story elements. It felt less like she was toeing the line between the two and more like she was hop-scotching back and forth between them before finally landing on supernatural. I enjoyed this book, but it just felt like it didn't always know what it was trying to be.