After I read some bad reviews about The Summer I Drowned I didn't know what to expect, but I have to say I really enjoyed it. I liked Olivia I felt she was a good character and easy to relate to. I also enjoyed the romance between her and West. The mystery had me guessing till the very end and I felt like the ending gave me everything I wanted.

The summer I drowned review

I was unable to finish reading this book. The writing is well done, and I was interested in the characters and the premise of the story. But I couldn’t get past all the swearing that is in this book. I admit that I have been reading more books lately that have swear words in them than I ever used to, but those books usually grip me so hard that I can’t put them down, even though the swearing still bothers me. That was not the case with this book, I just couldn’t get into it because I was jolted out of the story by all the swear words. I even ran a search in the book to see how many times certain words popped up (included below) and when I realized the swearing wasn’t going to slow down, I had to set the book aside. I think people who enjoy contemporary YA will enjoy this one, as long as they don’t mind the swearing.

S word - 65 times
F word - 41 times
D word - 21 times

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review will be posted on blog closer to the publication date!

As those of you who know me in real life know, I have my very own story of the time I drowned. And that’s lowkey the reason I decided to request this book on Netgalley. Unlike for me who left the incident with just a fun story, Olivia’s drowning incident caused her a lifetime of trauma. So going into this book I expected a mystery laced with some good old fashioned romance and some trauma. The Summer I drowned is more of a psychological thriller/contemporary/romance but the genres didn’t really work too well together. It felt a little segmented. Parts of the book were just romance and parts were just about her PTSD and parts were just mystery. It didn’t meld too well for the first 70% of the book. The ending was a lot better in this aspect though.

There’s a lot going on plot wise. One on side we have Olivia and her budding romance with Weston. On the other side we have someone going around mutilating squirrels and leaving them around town. And Olivia also thinks someone is stalking her.

The characters were interesting… Okay by interesting I mostly just mean wildly unlikeable. Keely, Olivia’s best friend repeatedly leaves Olivia at parties (that she didn’t even want to go to!) and is generally a terrible friend. Miles, Olivia’s other childhood best friend, is a privileged little shit who has a crush on Olivia, which is clearly unreciprocated. Weston, Miles’ older brother and Olivia’s childhood crush/present-day crush had anger management issues (that were not being handled well) and was generally reckless. I understood the appeal of him though which is more than I can say for the other characters. Fiona, Miles’ sister and the girl who dared Olivia to jump off the lighthouse leading to her drowning, was also the worst. She reminded me of the sort of villain that would be present in like a teen movie. An everyday Regina George, if you will. She actually had some depth to her, which I liked. Olivia was also not super likeable but she was not nearly as bad as everyone else.

Due to Olivia’s ~trauma~ she is somewhat of an unreliable narrator. She thinks she’s in danger but due to her PTSD we can’t really be sure what’s true and what isn’t. This made for an interesting narrative style but felt a little overdone.

I did enjoy the actual central mystery as to who the creepy squirrel guy was. I thought the mystery was set up with just enough proof that you could figure it out by the 75% mark but it wasn’t super obvious by any means.
The romance between Weston and Olivia was pretty cute. Definitely not insta-love as Olivia had a crush on him for years. Weston had his flaws but I do appreciate his aesthetic.

There’s also a lot of themes that are discussed in this book which added more depth to the characters (despicable as they were). From teen pregnancy, alcoholism, PTSD, anger management, domestic abuse and more! The portrayal of these very complex themes were done respectfully and pretty well in my opinion (but I’m not an expert on a single one of those things, so please take my opinion with a grain of salt).

I absolutely loved this book, not just because of the premise and characters but also the portrayal of mental illness.

Overall tells an interesting narrative with a complex main character and interesting surrounding characters. Most of the characters featured in the narrative are well fleshed out and have their own personalities.

This book was WILD from start to finish! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. So many twists and turns! What I was sure I knew, I ended up being completely wrong about. I loved it. West is the current fictional love of my life.

The summary is misleading since it makes you think this is thriller and mystery. What this book really is is drama and romance mixed with a degree of mental health. If the summary hadn't set this up to be intense and suspenseful then it wouldn't have been a letdown.

Olivia suffers from PTSD from almost drowning as a 12 year old. Her parents whisk her away to New York City where she's lived for 5 years until she decides to venture back to Maine to get over her fear of water. You would think the story would focus on Olivia conquering her fears, but instead that portion takes up so little of the story. The main chunk of this terribly long book is filled with Olivia's horrible friends, partying, and lots of romance drama.

Olivia's best friends Keeley and Miles were awful. Self-centered, self-absorbed, narcissistic, cruel, and uncaring. Faye, Dean, and Shawn were the same. Keely is the town drunk and crier. Her father is the tiny town's chief of police (he's in charge of a two team task force) and both him and Keeley's mother deserve 'worst parents of the year' awards. They have no idea that their daughter is the town drunk and sneaks out of the house every night to party and out drink everyone in sight. Despite the "state of the art security system", the parents are in the dark about their daughter who is definitely going places. Straight to the graveyard. Even upon grounding her for sneaking out to party (and almost dying since she had alcohol poisoning and had to be rushed to the ER to get her stomach pumped), Keeley sneaks out again the following night to meet up with her boyfriend and guzzle alcohol (she told Olivia that Shawn is the one for her because he only dates girls for 1 week and they've been together for 2), and her mother rewards her with a shopping spree.

Despite much emphasis on Faye living and breathing ballet, she spent all her time partying, drinking, and hanging out with her boyfriend. Miles spent the story brooding and angry that Olivia chose West over him. West didn't possess any admiring qualities. He was flat. Olivia had no personality and was also flat. She may have been written that way because PTSD can cause the absent of emotions. The PTSD aspect was written better than other books I've read, but it still wasn't accurate, especially since Olivia uses West has her crutch to heal.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was genuinely surprised by this novel! I, for the most part, enjoyed it, but there was definitely some parts where it felt like it dragged.

First of all, I'd like to than Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ebook.

To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. The first 50% of this book was so promising, but I feel like the writing and plot took a huge nosedive at some point. I couldn't even read the last fifteen. I ONLY HAD FIFTEEN PAGES LEFT AND I COULDN'T DO IT.

I found the protagonist to be exhausting and extremely weak, and I couldn't understand why she had two guys fighting over her. SHE HAD NO PERSONALITY. She spent the entire book crying, screaming or fighting with people without a single redeeming moment. Coming from someone who has suffered with hyper-vigilance and PTSD, there is no excuse for being a shitty friend and she NEVER tried to grow unless it was for a guy.

Also, I honestly felt bad for West because he was so likable and independent at the beginning and then he became this human prop for Olivia halfway through the book. WHY.

Overall, this read like fan-fiction or a CW show. If you like teen-dramas like Riverdale or angsty high school books then I say go for it, I get it. I just wouldn't recommend this for character development or accurate depictions of PTSD.

The Summer I Drowned is one of the most well written books I have encountered so far You can feel the time author has invested in research about PTSD . The characters are well written and quite engaging. You can feel yourself drown with the plot and the twist and turns it offers.
I really loved the book and do look forward to see it hitting the stores.

The Summer I Drowned is a YA mystery/thriller/romance that focuses on the main character, Olivia, returning the to the town where she almost died years after the event. When Olivia was a child, she was reckless and brave but since the time where she almost drowned, Olivia has practiced a much safer life. However, after moving away immediately after the accident, she is returning for a summer of fun and most importantly, healing. She is joined immediately by her childhood friends Keely and Miles. This book contains various storylines that it's almost hard to keep them all straight as the story goes. There's romance, healing, mystery, and danger. My favorite character of the whole novel was the romantic interest, West. He was written really well. However, I really only enjoyed the romantic aspect of this novel. The mystery was far too much for me to keep up with. It seemed like it was ever changing to what the motive and means were and hearing all of Olivia's wild hypotheses during the plot made it all feel really scattered and allowed for a disconnect with the rest of the plot. I loved the romance and all the healing Olivia does throughout the summer but the mystery is where I was lost.

I loved that the author put trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. This was a hard-hitting suspenseful thriller novel and it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This novel was quite a ride. The writing style was easy to read and the story was easy to follow as well.

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

This book is a combination between mystery, thriller, and a swoon worthy romance all wrapped into one.Olivia was a likable enough. Her mental health issues were portrayed well. Her friends felt more to me like they were selfish and I just couldn't like them at all, with the exception of West,

Olivia did some reckless things and now she is back to the place where it all started, but of course things are not always as they seem.
I liked this book and for a debut novel it was good. I will definitely read more by Taylor in the future

I hate immediately backing out of a book that I just requested, but I read the author's note at the beginning. This book contains some of my personal triggers: abusive relationships and violence to animals. I knew this was going to handle a drowning and suicide, but I didn't realize there would be even more on top of that. And even with the warning, the author says "including, but not limited to", so does that mean she didn't even list all the potential triggers in her warning? Yikes. I do appreciate this warning, though. I would've hated going into this book and be blindsighted by a sudden scene of violence against animals, or something.

So I want to thank NetGalley and Wattpad books for giving me the free copy, but I can tell from the warnings that this book has way too many things that will bother me. Since the author advises to "put your own mental health first", I'm going to be mindful of my own and not read this book. I do wish the author all the best, though, and hope they find a readership who can handle these themes.

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

1.5 STARS

Five years after Olivia almost drowned from risk taking behavior, she returns to see her old friends and face her fears only to encounter a series of crimes in her old home town.

The blurb is the best part of THE SUMMER I DROWNED. I had heard about Taylor Hale’s debut novel before finding it available on NetGalley and was excited to be approved for the ARC.

Olivia was a likable enough protagonist, although I didn’t feel invested in her story. Her mental health issues were portrayed well, except for the manifestation of hallucinations, which was more Hollywood than reality. I couldn’t see what she saw in any of her selfish friends, with the exception of West, who I hope wouldn’t turn out to be the bad guy.

The writing was the weakest part of THE SUMMER I DROWNED. Hale’s overuse of adjectives made the prose feel overwritten and clunky. The dialogue didn’t feel like people talking to each other. I didn’t feel much tension in the writing and because I didn’t care about most of the characters, I couldn’t get invested into the story.

Back to the mental health portrayal. Hallucinations result from the brain’s misinterpretation of signals, chemicals or transmitters. They are created in the brain by the brain and often loosely connected to real sensory experiences or people. A patient who’s never seen an antelope or a picture of one can’t hallucinate one, because he doesn’t that knowledge in his brain to create the image. He won’t hear voices in Russian if he can’t speak or understand Russian. Hallucinations are much less interesting than fiction writers would lead us to believe.

I wouldn’t recommend THE SUMMER I DROWNED.

This story was incredibly well written. Writing crossover genres is difficult, especially when attempting to balance three in one. But with THE SUMMER I DROWNED, debut author Taylor Hale has brought readers a new kind of young adult to devour. One that bridges the gap between mystery, thriller, and a swoon worthy romance all wrapped into one. Reluctant readers who may be afraid to dip their toes into the waters of a genre outside of romance will find themselves wanting to figure out the mystery Hale has written into TSID, while also falling for West, AND trying to understand if Olivia's thoughts are really what she believes them to be. And since we are at this part of my review, I thought I would mention that I found the mental health aspect of this story very well researched and thorough. Instead of feeling like a plot device, the author has clearly spent time researching PTSD and other mental illnesses to bring a very well rounded character in Olivia to the table.
THE SUMMER I DROWNED is a serious job well done. Of all the books launched with Wattpad Books thus far, I found this to be the most researched, correct, and plot-wise--it's the best. If I didn't know that this was a debut novel, I would never have guessed it. Taylor Hale has layered so many genres so brilliantly, I'm in awe with what she's given us for her first published piece.