Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

This is my first Jennifer McMahon book- but it won’t be my last.

What I Liked:

Ya’ll this cover is AMAZEBALLS.

The story. Told in current and past time- both time frames kept me flipping pages- even though I am a scaredy cat and it does veer toward a bit too creepy at times. This was def a read in the day light book for me.

The ending. I read it. Then read it again. Then discussed it with one friend- but can’t wait to discuss it with another friend- because the ending is that discussable.



Bottom line:If you like dual timeline stories with paranormal aspects- well, you need to check this book out!

Therapist Jax receives several frantic phone calls from her sister, Lexi, but chooses to ignore them due to their estrangement over the past year. Lexi suffers from mental disease and has been pushing her sister slowly away with her ranting and crazy theories. The very next day, Lexi is found dead, having drown in the backyard pool. Jax travels to their grandmother’s home, Sparrowcrest, which Lexi inherited, to say goodbye to her sister. She finds Lexi was researching the history of Sparrowcrest and their family. Lexi continues her research and is surprised by the dark secrets she unveils.

Dark, creepy, and suspenseful, The Drowning Kind is a one-of-a-kind thriller. The otherworldly elements increase the spookiness, and kept my interest throughout the book. I love that it was told in two timeline, current day and the 1930’s, and the ending brought them together in a satisfying resolution.

Jennifer McMahon is the queen of gothic, paranormal suspense! I loved this book just as much as I’ve loved her others!! This is a must read and I will be purchasing a physical copy as well! Thank you!

I love Jennifer McMahon’s writing. This book didn’t disappoint. In true Jennifer fashion this was dark, creepy, atmospheric, and spooky at times. I normally don’t get creeped out by books, but I have to admit trying to read this at night in bed with the lights out I couldn’t do it for certain parts. I loved the dual time lines, the twists, the turns, and the ending I didn’t see coming!

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced e-reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon is an eerie, creepy, spooky, mysterious, suspenseful story about a family home, a bottomless pool filled by a magical spring and all kinds of secrets. Told from two perspectives; one historical and one present day - this novel straddles the historical fiction and supernatural thriller genres. I've mentioned before that graphic horror is not for me and I'll say for everyone reading this who may feel the same - this is labeled horror but it is not a graphic horror. Scary, suspenseful and full of supernatural terror, yes, but not horror to the point you won't be able to remove certain images from your mind. And it's not gory. 

I was definitely scared reading and listening to this. If you like some good spook and suspense, this book will certainly conjure up feelings of fright and flight, for sure. I had to stop it a few times and read something else before bed because my heart rate was a little too high. This is a very suspenseful family drama that slowly uncovers very dark, ghostly and mysterious pasts. I'll throw a trigger warning in now - self harm, infertility, suicide, mental illness. Again, nothing graphic but all very emotional. 

As well as being a supernatural thriller, this story also touches on some very sad family relationships and intimate dynamics that creates a whole additional layer of depth to a scary story that isn't usually there. McMahon wrote a really great novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the many layered elements of the mystery and the family dynamics as well as the icy cold thriller. This is a phenomenal read or listen. Joy Osmanski; Imani Jade Powers do an excellent job narrating the audiobook, as well. 

Thank you, Gallery/Scout Press, Simon & Schuster Audio, NetGalley, and Jennifer McMahon, for a copy of this book for review.

McMahon has a way with her words. This is my 2nd book from her ( I previously read The Invited when it came out) and The Drowning Kind is, in style and punches very similar if that makes sense? LOL

The Drowning Kind has a perfect amount creepy Gothic vibe. The dual time lines/storytelling from Jax (2019) and Ethel (1929) works well.

I enjoyed the (commentary perhaps?) theme of wishes for lack of a better way for putting it.

While sometimes the book felt a bit repetitive and I thought it slowed way way down just past the half way point that ending makes up for it (I re read it just to make sure).

If you enjoy books that make you second guess your first and second guesses LOL then you will enjoy this book.

3.75 stars.

In the present, Jackie gets a weird voicemail from her estranged sister. The next day, she finds out that her sister drowned in the pool at their grandmother's estate. In the past, Ethel wants to have a baby but is afraid it isn't going to happen for her and her husband. They travel to some mysterious springs that supposedly grant wishes, but if the water grants a wish, it has to take something in return.

I liked this book! I was expecting it to read more like a thriller - lots of twists and turns - but it wasn't that. The plot wasn't super fast paced, and there weren't a lot of big aha! moments. However, the atmosphere of the book was fantastic. The eerie vibes around the pool came through the book while I was reading. I think in a few years' time, I might not remember all the plot points of the book but I will definitely remember the creepy pool. I would be interested to read some of McMahon's other work just based on the great atmosphere she created here.

Sisters Jax and Lexie spent their childhood summers at Sparrow Crest in Brandenburg, New Hampshire Their grandmother's castle-like home features a large spring-fed pool which supposedly had healing powers. Jax now lives across the country in Seattle, estranged from Lexie who inherited Sparrow Crest.. After receiving a dozen manic calls from her sister, she contacts their Aunt Diane who lives close enough to pop in on Lexie. But there is a good reason Lex is no longer answering the phone - during the night, she apparently became yet another person having drowned in the pool. Jax returns to New Hampshire only to find herself in a quagmire of her sister's manic thoughts. Was something really going on at Sparrow Crest or did Lex simply go off her meds and off the deep end?

Flashback to 1929 and Ethel Monroe, who desperately wants a baby with her husband Will. Will hears about a lovely hotel just opened a few hours away with some amazing fresh water springs. The Brandenburg Hotel is a three-story affair with fresh spring water pumped throughout the hotel, as well as a pool for dipping on the grounds. Ethel is excited to visit. Once arriving, she's told by the owner's wife that the springs grant wishes. And she's wanted a baby so badly...

The story continues along both lines, flipping back and forth between the present day at Sparrow Crest and 1929 New Hampshire, all connected by the mysterious springs in Brandenburg.

I must admit - I am a Jennifer McMahon fan. I have enjoyed all her books, and she has reached the automatic purchase list. This book was fast-paced, and the story was expertly woven together. I don't want to give too much away, but the way she combined the two timelines was terrific. I'm almost sad I'm already done. Wonder when her next one will be out?!

2.5 stars
The Drowning Kind is a dark mystery/thriller novel with a dual timeline. The 1920s timeline follows Ethel Monroe, a 37-year old newlywed woman who finds disappointed at being unable to conceive. In order to lift her spirits, Ethel’s husband takes her to a Vermont hotel located near a spring with rumored-to-be healing waters. Ethel’s greatest wish is that the spring’s water will grant her a child.

The second timeline follows Jax, a social worker who is devastated to find that she has missed what turn out to be the final phone calls she will ever receive from her mentally ill sister, Lexie. As Jax works to collect her sister’s things, she discovers that Lexie’s research into the history of their family home may be more than the manic obsession that she’d believed it to be.

Jennifer McMahon definitely knows how to create an atmosphere in which the setting functions as a character as much as the humans do. There is definitely a dark, otherworldly feeling to this story from the start.

The dual timeline structure of this story is appropriate, because it provides much needed backstory in understanding the present-day events and character actions.

I do feel that the story was wanting is several areas. The characters didn’t develop as fully as I would have liked, leaving me feeling disconnected from them and not really caring how things turned out for them. I found myself waiting for action a great deal of the time, and it never really seemed to deliver what it appeared to be building to. The end fell short of satisfaction.

Review will be posted on retail sites, Goodreads, and on YouTube Channel Hicks Picks Books.

Thanks go to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is quite a story. Is the water benevolent or evil? People believe it can heal, but at a price. Are you ready to pay the price? Lexie said, "The key to understanding the present is to look at the past." So, when she drowns in the pool, Jax tries to find out what she was researching. Their aunt thinks she was looking at family history. She was looking at the history of the house and pool. What she finds is terrifying. This is a real ghost story. Very dark.

I've read all of Jennifer McMahon's work and I don't see that changing for quite some time.

She always brings. a dark story with a different perspective and a whole new way to freak me out. I found this story to be intriguing, suspenseful and downright creepy without being gory, as Jennifer can do. I also love a dual timeline and when i finally understood why Gram passed away on vacation... wow. So many levels, such depth and nuance while traversing the ins and outs of familial relationships and the curse of deep, deep ice cold pool. Great work.

This was my first book to read by this author. Normally I do not read books that are ghost fiction or paranormal but am so glad that I read this one. It was so good. Had me reading much later at night that usual. I did't want to put it down. And that ending. I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!! Not at all. It floored me and was perfect at the same time.

This is a story about a lot of loss. A lot of things happening that can't be explained in the normal sense of the word. Yet you know the pool has power. The power to heal. The power to give. But also it has the power to take. And take it does.

Jax goes back home for her sister's funeral. Lexie drowned in the pool that they had grown up swimming in. She was an excellent swimmer so what could have happened? Did someone kill her? Was it an accident? Or could she have taken her own life? Was Lexie tired of living with the illness she had. Was she ready to give up? Can Jax find the answers? Or will something happen to her too?

This book will pull you in and won't let you go. It will hook you from the start. All the things going on. You will want to know what happened and why. You will want to know the people in this story and believe me you will get to know them. Each one who has a tie to the pool will intrigue you. Pull you in. Hold you captive until the very last word. That very last part though will blow you away. Things are not always as they seem. Not cut and dry always.

Could there be something sinister going on in this house or in the pool? Or is there more. All that will be answered for you and much more. Wishes granted and lives taken. You will be given what you wish for but you will have to pay a price too. Nothing is free. As you learn the ins and outs of this family, this house, this pool, you will wonder if what you are reading is real or some figment of someone's imagination. It's a very deep and intense story that will drag you to the bottom of a pool and back.

Told from alternate POV's and times this book keeps you wondering if it's real or not. Does this place really hold magic or is it a figment of someone's imagination? Can wishes be granted or is something else happening. What is true and what is not? You have to read this one to find out. To have answers. To get to know these people and feel their fears, tears, happiness, love, loss and so much more.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #JenniferMcMahon, #GalleryBooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

5/5 stars. It was so much more than I thought it was going to be. I'm very happy I read this one and I do recommend it to all. It's just got so much.

Be careful what you wish for!

I loved how this story was told from current to past, and how history is peeled back.

Jacqueline (Jax) & Alexia (Lexie) are sisters, who used to spend summers with their grandmother, who lived at Sparrow Crest. They used to go swimming in a pool, that had a history of providing wishes to those who wanted something bad enough, but it also had stories about being wary. Several people have drowned, including their Aunt Rita, whom they never met. Although, they heard the stories of Rita's imaginary friend.

Lexie was high spirited, but around the age of sixteen, Lexie started to behave in erratic ways and it became evident that she had an illness.

Jax had moved away and stopped speaking to Lexie, so when she suddenly started receiving phone calls with strange messages, Jax assumed Lexie stopped taking her medication. As a social worker, Jax didn't want to get pulled in trying to fix her sister. Except the next day, Jax would have regrets... because Lexie drowned in the pool.

Jax heads back to Sparrow Crest for her sister's funeral and to set things in order. She learns that she didn't know Lexie like she thought, and trying to figure out what was going through Lexie's mind, Jax finds papers and notes about Sparrow Crest along with a history of the family tree.

Dr. Will Monroe and his wife Ethel were not blessed with any children. Ethel, the oldest, took care of her sisters after her mother passed away. At age 36, was considered an old maid when she married. Will surprises his wife with a getaway to Brandenburg Springs, where four underground springs make up a pool that is rumored to heal.

Will and Ethel find the hotel and grounds near the springs to be enticing. A dip in the pool proved an interesting development, where scratches on Ethel were gone. Ethel desperate for a baby buys into the rumors about the pool's ability to cure, and makes a wish for what she wants most. Ethel had become good friends with Eliza Harding, who along with her husband, Benson, owned the hotel and grounds.

Soon after their vacation, Ethel learns she is expecting, but keeps it a secret about her whispered wish to the pool. Ethel maintained her friendship with Eliza writing letters back and forth. Ethel's friend, Myrtle, discloses that her husband was healed, but gave an unexplained warning.

Ethel goes into early labor, and delivers Margaret Joy, that shows signs of being unhealthy. Will & Ethel are informed there is nothing to be done. Myrtle shows up with a jar of water, and they begin to give drops of water to the Margaret, who becomes a medical mystery.

Soon, it is clear that when the water is gone, Margaret becomes sick. Ethel convinces Will that it is the water that is keeping their daugther healthy. Will decides to surprise Ethel with a home of her dreams, and close to the pool for their baby's benefit. Ethel is nervous, because she knows good things are given, but the water takes things too.

This was a creepy read, but at the same time, I wasn't sure if Lexie's illness or if the rumors were taken on a life of their own. Then when Jax seemed to come to a conclusion of what she felt was happening with Lex, Jax still couldn't explain some things. I was surprised by the entwining history. The ending was not what I expected at all, and left me wondering about the pool.

I requested and received an ARC from NetGalley via Gallery/Scout Press and I have voluntarily read this book.

A new thriller by Jennifer McMahon that is unique and borderline horror at times. Taking place over 2 timelines, Jax in the present the great granddaughter of the Ethel and Will who share this story from the previous timeline.

Jax’s sister Lexie is manic depressive, and after an episode we find out Lexie has drowned. Jax goes home to her family house that is built on a natural spring and starts to dredge through the past. Multiple drownings have occurred here and history is less than stellar.

Back in 1929 you meet Ethel and Will. There is nothing more they want than to have a child. They decide to take a vacation where that same natural spring is. Ethel hears that if you make a wish things will come true, but she learns that the spring will also take something away.

This is a bewitching story at times that keeps you coming back. The spring is just as much a character as Jax, Ethel and Will. The story culminates into a surprise ending that you will not have seen coming. If you like this genre, give this one a try. This will definitely have you on the edge of you seat at times.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about The Drowning Kind.

I loved the cast of characters, especially in the time hop between 1929 and present day. The unraveling of people who had visited the springs was well done, and I liked how the progression in attitudes about the healing powers of the springs went from excited belief, to fright, to mesmerizing attraction. And I liked the concept of the story.

What I didn't like was that I couldn't understand how people could "see" under the water if it was black. How they could drink the water if it smelled funny. And why the grandmother didn't have it concreted over - it seems to me everything would have been solved by leaving the water flowing from the spring, but getting rid of the pool! Also - whatever happened to Declan, Jax's young patient whose visions seemed to match hers.

The ending was what I expected, but the lead in left me hanging - it didn't really come together for me. But I thought the writing was good, and again, an original, atmospheric storyline.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for a review copy.

In trying to read a variety of genres that I don’t usually reach for, I’ve read a few horror books and have usually come away from them underwhelmed. I’ve realized that I don’t think the horror genre is for me, but I’m glad I gave this one a try because this was one I was actually able to get into. In “The Drowning Kind”, you have a likable main character with a troubled sister and a story with dueling timeframes that keeps your interest. While horror, it was not as over the top in its mythical/magical elements as some others. 4 stars ⭐️ for this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy for review.

Well that was a strange book. I can see how readers would enjoy the twists and the family drama. But I just didn't like it. The pool sounded smelly and nasty. So it makes no sense that it would draw people to swim or drink the water. Legend was all well and good but I was not drawn into the story at all.

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐⭐/ 5 stars

Wow! What a nail-biter! I did not expect this to be as scary , but it blew me away with the perfect amount of creepiness. As a kid always in a pool growing up, I was always afraid of things lurking in the waters especially at the beach or in a lake, where it may appear bottomless. This mystery thriller is a duo POV from the eyes of Jax in 2020 and Irene Monroe in 1929. Jax is a social worker who has come back to Vermont to her grandmother’s home, Sparrow Crest, after the drowning death of her sister Lexie in the dark, deep waters of their pool. She feels immense guilt after missing multiple calls from Lexie the night before who in turn left frantic phone messages for Jax. While cleaning up her sister’s belongings, she discovers research into the family property and other deep dark secrets of the home. In 1929, Irene and her husband, Dr William Monroe headed to VT as guests of a new hotel with natural springs that claimed healing powers, according to local legend. While some people are wary of these magical waters, tourists still come bursting in by train. Irene has issues conceiving and her most innermost desire was to be a mother. Soon enough after her visit to the springs, she is pregnant. As the legend goes, “what it gives, it takes.” Irene and her husband learn the hard way the true nature of the myth and how much it is worth.

I really enjoyed this - it was fast paced and always interesting. Highly recommend it!

Thank you to Gallery Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

US Pub Date: April 6, 2021

This was a very interesting/good read. I really did enjoy the story & want to thank Netgalley & Jennifer McMahon for my copy for an honest review. I have said it before and I will say it again, it is always so exciting to get an advanced copy of a novel to review. The Drowning Kind was a great story to read. Who would think a story could be told about a natural spring/pool could become a main character in a story? This Supernatural story in loves two very different sisters, raised by their grandmother. They are very close as young girls, but as they get older they drift a part. Jackie, the sister that does all the right things, is quiet, hard worker and smart. Lexie who is hugely popular, smart and beautiful and yet Lexie shows signs of schizoaffective disorder of the bi-polar type during her teens. This change forces the drift between the sisters. Lexie, is left the family home Sparrow Creek, by their grandmother and Jackie heads to the West Coast to start her life. Jackie has been away for some time.. and starts to get calls from her sister daily, hourly and they are all strange and revolve around the pool. Jackie can’t handle speaking to this version of her sister and ignores her calls. Then her aunt calls her and tells her, her sister has died, in the pool. Poor Jackie can’t believe how this natural spring pool could be such a burden to her family. She comes home to help her aunt settle the estate and bury her sister. Her estranged father finds his way home as well. The three are forced to dig deep into the family history. They make some unusual discoveries. How the land and the home and the spring has plagued so many over the years. Sparrow Crest is a great main character. It’s history and location is creepy. McMahon tells the story between two women, Jackie and Ethel Monroe who initially finds the land, in the form of a hotel and after a terrible fire, her husband and her make their home on this land.
They way the author tells this story, using historical facts and supernatural stories to describe this land/spring is fantastic. You starts to really be invested in the characters and like a great Supernatural story, you start to believe the impossible is real and can’t tell the difference between reality and fiction. This was a five star read for me. I really enjoyed the authors writing and character development. Such a great story told in the best way. I have shared my thoughts on my Instagram account & Barnes & Noble.

I’m gonna try and keep this brief because I didn’t love this one and I seem to be in the minority. Let’s do a list of the good and the not so good to keep it simple.

What I liked:
✔️ Great atmosphere, a general sense of creepiness and mounting dread
✔️ Told in dual timelines I was super invested in the past one that followed Ethel and found those chapters to be creepier than the present day ones
✔️ The supernatural aspect was unique and interesting

What didn’t work for me:
❌ A super slow burn that just tested my patience
❌ I found parts to be repetitive
❌ An ending that just didn’t work for me

Overall I’m not mad I read it, just didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would. ⭐️⭐️⭐️