This book was a great younger audience thriller that all ages could enjoy. It had the mystery and intrigue throughout. I was expecting a different book at the beginning than what it ended up to be but I enjoyed it all. I thought Olivia was relatable and the author did a good job of clearly explaining her PTSD and other mental conditions and episodes.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I originally requested this book because I absolutely love the cover. I was really looking forward to it as it got closer and closer in my queue but I am sad to say that in this particular case, I was wrong when I judged a book by it's cover. Sometimes I hit my target and sometimes I miss. When I first checked out the reviews, I was shocked to see that so many people loved it...maybe it was just me. But I always look for similarities in the reviews when I am reading a book that I don't seem to like. Just now when I looked, it was not as skewed and some other people seem to agree with me. But almost from the very beginning, I could not get into this book. I absolutely despised the main character and that is never a good thing. She would not allow me to enjoy anything else about the book. I am pretty sure I didn't like any of the characters, now that I come to think about it. From the people who were her supposed best friends to her newfound yet always had a crush on love. Every single person in this book pissed me off, I think. :)

Thank you Netgalley, Taylor, and Wattpad for an advance copy of The Summer I Drowned.

First of all, gorgeous cover. 100% the reason that I requested this book from Netgalley. I'm sure by now everyone has heard me gripe about YA contemporary and my issues with them. Luckily, I didn't have much to complain about with this one! Probably has something to do with the fact that it's more thriller/suspense/mystery than contemporary BUT, if YA contemporary is your thing, The Summer I Drowned would definitely fit that bill as well.

Trigger warnings for bullying, drowning, PTSD, animal mutilation, mental health, and slight self-harm.

The Summer I Drowned follows Olivia as she returns to her hometown years after a near-drowning to confront her fears and finally move forward. The world she comes back to has changed and it throws her for a loop. Her friends aren't what she remembers and their relationships have suffered. Not to mention there's something weird going on around town involving animals turning up dead. As Olivia tries to overcome her past she finds herself in the middle of new problems and getting to the bottom of them could be deadly.

The plot itself moved along at a decent pace and everything felt relevant to the bigger picture. As I said, there are definitely elements of your standard YA contemporary (difficult subject matter and a complicated romance) but the heart of the story is definitely the mystery Olivia finds herself involved with.

The characters were...okay. I didn't love any of them and we don't really see any major arcs (in my opinion) but it doesn't really take away from the story.

The twist/surprise wasn't super tricky to figure out, but I did also keep guessing that there were other elements involved to which I turned out to be wrong. I wish I cared more about the final outcome, but I really didn't care at all.

The Summer I Drowned was overall an enjoyable debut release.

I had a few expectations from this book and although it failed to meet a lot of them, it wasn't a bad read per se.

The story started out really well. It had me intrigued with the writing in the prologue and I was genuinely interested to see where the story would go. While it was a hot mess in between, it wasn't such a big disappointment.

Olivia is diagnosed with severe PTSD after suffering a near death experience in the water. Years later, after much treatment and therapies, she wants to go back to the place in the hopes that it would help with her fears. But things back home hasn't been the same and Olivia is up for a crazy summer.

The premise sounded really good and the story had its own mysterious elements. I loved the rep of PTSD in the book, and how it was given much importance. Although Olivia wasn't my favorite character, her representation in the story was good.

I had my own issues with the story tho. While the characters were interesting, I felt like they did not get enough of development or time to grow. There was very little space for much growth in the characters and their personalities seemed bland. The dialogues seemed forced at many times, scripted almost. And the stupid ya teenage monologue definitely annoyed me. And btw the romance was super cringy. Ugh.

I also found that in the middle, the main purpose of the story kind of deviated and became a romantic plot of Love triangles. And ofc in the midst of it all was an unnecessary muder mystery. I swear, this was highly unnecessary and could've spared the readers the unlikely suspense. The truth of which, mind you, was a big disappointment at the end.

I felt like the author tried to merge in a lot of topics to be shown through her characters - mental health, teen pressure to fit in, family problems, killer instincts, overcoming fears etc etc. But it was a minor fail. It got messed up and most of these themes were later left loose.

It's not a bad book. I did like the way it flowed and all the interesting scenes. I liked the various instances in the water, Olivia learning to overcome her fears again. That was nice. Towards the end, the story got intense. It was a good book overall, I feel. A nice quick read.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book. All views expressed are solely mine.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me a copy in exchange for a honest review

More like 4.5 than 4 stars

I went in thinking it was going to be a light thriller but I was slightly wrong. The first half so so feels like a coming of age story while the last half is such a physiological thriller leaving you not knowing what’s going to happen. I have never really read a thriller before so this was a first and I really liked it. I would say it’s perfect for someone who likes contemporary novels and is wanting to get into thrillers.

Olivia having mental health issues and PTSD brings an extra layer to the book because of her fears and her trying to face them while everything around her is going on. The romance in the book is kinda cute and the friendships are what I would think is accurate for friends who haven’t been around each other much in 5 years.

This book makes me kinda wanting to read more thrillers as I had so much fun reading it.

The Summer I Drowned by Taylor Hale is a young adult book that I really enjoy. Olivia returned to Caldwell Beach five years after she almost drown. After years of therapy, Olivia wants to face her fears. Olivia doesn't know what real and what is not. Someone in town is mutilating animals, and they might be after her. This book kept me reading from the minute I started it. I will be reading more books by this author. I really liked this book, and highly recommend it, if you enjoy young adult thrillers. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

*NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE SUMMER I DROWNED by Taylor Hale in exchange for my honest review.*

While this book appears to be a YA romance/thriller, and it totally is, the greatest part is the aspects of mental health that are very much the root of the story. Olivia survives a very traumatic event in her hometown, which leaves her scared mentally. She moves away and starts a semblance of a life in NY. Olivia goes back to her hometown for the summer and finds that while she has been working hard with her therapist, she is still very much impacted by the accident. There is a bunch of teenager drama that ensues.. and honestly I started to get annoyed. Olivia was exhausting, and her best friend is ridiculous as well as all the other “friends” she has. Don’t even get me started one “the love of her life.”

I’ve given this two stars, instead of one, because I do appreciate the authentic way that an individual living with PTSD is presented. While Olivia was clearly flawed in how she was written, they was her flashbacks as well as hyper vigilance was portrayed was great.

I want to start with why this book earned 3 stars: The plot of this book was well-thought out. A little predictable? Sure. But so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming, so many twists and turns that kept me reading. The parallels of the story line and trauma of the protagonist, Olivia, created a unique spin - I'm not a huge fan of unreliable narrators, but it ultimately added to the suspense of the story. I was thinking about the plot even when I wasn't reading it, and the crossover of genres was well done. Overall, it was a gripping, fast-paced read that I would recommend to YA fans looking for an adrenaline rush with a side of teenage romance. I only wish the characters had been fleshed out more - the dialogue was so one sided that I found a lot of the relationships fell flat. Facial expressions? Nonverbal cues? All of the dialogue bounced back to Olivia and only her reactions, which frustrated me. Her character could have been more dynamic - her holier-than-thou attitude for not drinking or enjoying parties made it difficult to connect with her and empathize in some situations, and the emphasis placed on childhood relationships seemed a little unrealistic (I can barely remember what I did last week, let alone the first time I met my elementary school best friend, or the supposed searing love I felt for my sixth-grade crush). The tone of the writing often made me wonder who the target audience really was - it seemed like an easy read for a young teenager but with content that was really fit for new adult. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars - A decent debut and I look forward to reading future stories from this author as she gains experience.

This book was a combination of thriller and romance. I don't feel the thrilled until the last parts. I didn't expect the twist. I mean.. I found out who is the bad guy when the accident happened.
Btw I feel bad for Miles phewww~ Olive didn't give him chance and what she thought about him make me don't like him. Damn!


Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for The Summer I Drowned ARC!

🌟🌟🌟.5

Thank you so much to netgalley for sending this to me for review. I did not finish this book I stopped at about 10% I wasn’t interested in the plot or characters so there wasn’t much reason for me to keep reading

I had mixed feelings about this one. I don't think it was truly for me or even exactly what I was anticipating. The writing style wasn't my favorite, but I feel the writer did try to present mental health issues in an appropriate way.

When I read the blurb and started this book, I was expecting recovering and mending friendships—what I didn’t expect was the thrilling mystery adventure I’d be taken on. A distortion of reality versus make-believe.

The writing was fast-paced which made me fly through this book. However, it wasn’t the best writing. There were many phrases overused, and the dialogue felt like it should’ve been more original to its character. Even though it was fast-paced, it took a while to reach its rising tension. Yet that made it more thrilling as you tried to find out what Olivia’s real threat is. I enjoyed the plot of a girl returning to her childhood, only to see how everyone’s changed. The mysterious crimes taking place only makes it questionable. As if the town will blame the odd things happening on Olivia’s arrival.

Olivia Cathart herself was the main character I couldn’t sympathize with all the time. At the start of the novel when she drowns and talks to her therapist, it shows readers how it's made such an impact on her life. When she arrives in her old town again from New York, she becomes naïve to think everything will be the same—including the people. Being back there only triggers her PTSD into a state where she has nightmares and screams and cries. PTSD was well played with emotionally but Olivia didn’t think. She disobeyed the rules of the people she stayed at not once but many times—all for a boy! It truly didn’t sit well with me, her intentions most of the time.

Olivia's parents should’ve gone with her to support her, no matter how many times she refused. All that she faced were self-observed friends. I wouldn’t even call them friends. Her best friend, whom she stays with is the town’s drinker but her police-officer dad doesn’t know that. Her childhood best friend morphs into this stranger we don’t know if Olivia perceived in the wrong way. Miles's sister and friends (Dean and Shawn) aren’t many friends either. Yet Keely (the drinker) still chooses them over Olivia, even though Olivia is visiting her! Small town or not… you make the guest feel welcomed.

Onto West, Miles's older brother, and Olivia’s love interest. When I read it, I swooned over their moments of being together. Yet the more I think about it in the long run, Olivia didn’t give Miles a chance. She hooked on West and made Miles to be the bad guy. There was a huge lack of communication in this story and the under-development of characters. I’m not sure what Hale tried to focus on more but something lacked.

Olivia faces dreams and hallucinations and soon they’re warped into the town’s crimes. This played with her PTSD where it could’ve focused more on her recovery. She admitted she came too soon or should’ve come with her parents. Yet it gave that unrealistic sense when the plot twists rose. I won’t mention any but they seemed too unpredictable and out of the ordinary. They definitely gave a sense of thrilled to the plot but I feel like Hale tried to involve too much in the story. For that, she couldn’t on Olivia’s recovery to go in-depth. It seemed like West was her crutch she thought she needed all along.

This book left me with a lot of mixed reactions. The more I think about it, the more my feelings change about it. So, before I write any further, I’d like to give this book three stars out of five. Not bad for a Wattpad thriller. Not bad.

First of all, thank you so much to Wattpad Books for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I have read an earlier version of this book before, back when it was titled “Sea Glass”. I have to say the new title fits the story and it’s vibe better than the old one, and so the reader can know a little bit more of what to expect from the book.

The descriptions are really good, and inmersive. But when it came to dialogue, I think it could been better developed, with more length and depth to them. The pacing is good, something is always happening to get the story moving, but taking its time to develop Olivia’s character specially. The author does a great job at introducing us to Caldwell Beach and even when I don’t know if the place exists, it surely felt real. The author’s descriptions of the place are very realistic, and the setting really contributes to the story and the mysterious vibe of it.

Olivia’s point of view was very realistic and you could easily relate to her thoughts, fears and desires. I think the author handled her PTSD very well, knowing exactly what she was writing about and treating the subject with respect and tact, as it plays a big role in the story.

About the characters, I’d wished their backgrounds could’ve been more developed, specially those that didn’t play a main role, because at times they seemed a little bit shallow. Those I liked the most were Olivia, West, Keely and Faye –because even if she plays “the bad girl”, we get to understand her. I really liked the friendship between Olivia and Keely, because it seemed pretty genuine and you can easily relate to it, as it’s flawed and it has ups and downs.

While the conflicts between all the teenagers sometimes lacked depth and felt kind of silly, I understand the author was trying to potray what a teen’s life actually looks like –at I think she did a great job at it. She didn’t need to exaggerate the events to create more drama, or make them have a more adult mindset to improve the story. The heart of this book lays in the innocence, recklessness, mistakes and flaws of its characters.

I really enjoyed reading the romance between West and Olivia –it was everything a first love kind of story should be. They had great chemistry and I loved the moments between them. But what I loved the most is that the author knew how to balance the romance without it being too little neither too much, as it’s not the main point of the story.

Miles needs to have a special mention in this review. What the author did with his character left me speechless. You don’t see that kind of twist in books, and it put things into perspective about everything I thought I knew about these characters. It was a very original, unique wake up call both for Olivia and the readers. This is a book about healing, but it’s also about rethinking everything you think you’re so certain of. It kept me turning pages non stop and left me speechless at the end. Great job, Taylor!

*3.75 ish

Being that it's a lot rarer these days I pick up a young adult book, something really has to pull me in, and that's exactly what this premise did. With a "return to your hometown for the summer" storyline, coupled with a mystery surrounding Olivia once she returns, I was very intrigued to discover what this book had in store.

And I was pleasantly surprised (and shocked) about some of the directions this story took. You could definitely tell Dean was a not-good egg from when he was first introduced, and I liked the way there was a bit of a love triangle built up between Olivia, Miles, and West before Olivia and West's relationship began to blossom (and before Miles went crazy imo). That was a great positive thread throughout an otherwise (what I felt was) darker story. The psychological related plot points were mostly all shocks to me when they popped up and I thought they were handled well by the author, however, while the plot carried the story, some of the dialogue felt a bit... whiny/dramatic(?) if those are the right words.

Overall, I think this could really interest those who have been hooked on Karen McManus' YA mysteries the last couple years like I've been.

(The formatting of this arc, however, was not great in the slightest.)

What an awesome book! The story was great. The ending was shocking. The characters were terrific. A must read.

I received this ARC free in exchange for my honest review.


I had a hard time putting The Summer I Drowned down. The pacing is very well done and while the characters are your standard YA tropes, the thrills kept me awake jumping at every creak and sigh. Y'all know it's not very many books that will do that to me anymore.


The book handles mental health issues sensitively without being brash. I don't think it necessarily needs a trigger warning for that but there is some brutality and gore.


Many (most?) thrillers suffer from bad endings and while this one wasn't stellar or anything, the ending is rational and satisfying. The story fell apart a little bit between 60 and 80% where it got a bit stagnant and seemed to lose itself. There's an alleged hallucination scene that didn't read very true to me and confused the plot a little. After that brief interval it pulls itself back together and ends fine.


All in all, a pretty fantastic YA thriller. I gave it 4 stars. An excellent debut.

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own**

This was an interesting standalone novel about a teen with PTSD coping with trauma and has the basis of a coming of age story while adding in suspense. The characters were interesting enough (spoiler-filled review provided below) and the world building was done well, but the pace was a little all over the place in my opinion. Overall, I gave it a 3.

**SPOILER WARNING**

I really liked the inclusion of mental health in this story--not only the lead character's but also many other characters, such as Dean, Keely, Shawn, West, Brian, Miles, Faye...pretty much most of the main characters had some mental health issue. I think the author could have done a better job of highlighting the dangers of alcoholism, but she did a good job of of bringing attention to the cycles of various types of abuse though most of it was explained in the last half of the book. Some of it was explained well and some of it wasn't unfortunately.

I both liked and disliked Olivia/Olive. While I do understand that a foundation of the story was her lack of sleep paired with psychotropic medications potentially causing hallucinations, there were way too many in-your-face coincidences she kept brushing aside or overlooking. It was confusing how she would speak up regarding factless hunches but then keep the proof-filled things to herself. All of that made her unnecessarily weak in moments when she didn't need to be.

The adults in the story were all so lackadaisical for there to be mutilated animals all over the place. I mean someone is mutilating animals and leaving them all over a small town, the sheriff's daughter goes missing, the sheriff doesn't really look at his own security camera footage because he thinks Olivia is crazy and later finds out there was someone peeping into their home, and yet no real restrictions get placed in town at all, not even for the youth in the town. Even after Miles dies everyone is just functioning as usual.

Overall, I give it a 3. If it weren't for the issues referenced above, then I could have scored this higher.

The Summer I Drowned is a great young adult book. Characters are great and the plot is easy to follow.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Wattpad Books for providing me with a copy of the Summer I Drowned, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review!



It's been five years since Olivia left her home town, where she almost drowned.  Five years of therapy and the hope that returning to the place it happened might give her some closure. But when she arrives, her childhood friends seem to have changed so much more than she imagined, and she's worried she might have made a mistake. One of her best friends is drinking heavily, another is acting strangely and she feels as though she doesn't really know them anymore.  As she tries to fit back in to her friendship circle, she finds herself drawn toward West, her old friend's brother.  The one who never said goodbye when she left the first time.

Olivia thought facing the water would be her biggest fear, but there might be an even larger threat than she anticipated.

This YA mystery was thrilling and a perfect book to escape to while my mind was having trouble focusing on fantasy books.  There were some brilliant twists and Olivia's struggles with PTSD and anxiety were realistically described.  I found myself so undecided about who to trust the whole way through and I absolutely did not guess the ending!  

If you're looking for an easy to read thriller that will keep you guessing, I'd recommend adding The Summer I Drowned to your TBR!

Absolutely loved this book! Olivia is a good protagonist, and her struggles to overcome her fear, PTSD and move on were brought forth really well. Her friendship with Keely and relationship with West were both heartwarming. The struggles of trying to fit in resonated with me, but I admired Olivia for staying true-ish to herself. Huge fan of the Olivia-West dynamic.(love them) I flew through this book, and would love to read more about Olive and West’s relationship.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. Look forward to read more of the author’s work.