This book had a couple of things working against it. It featured a character (Cora) that I don't love, and it took place entirely in this world- no portals except off-page.

The basics are this: Cora had a horrible experience in The Moors and she is not coping well. She decides that her school can't help her and she seeks a different educational institution that might be a better fit. Everyone tries to dissuade her but she's made up her mind: she'll go to Whitethorn school.

To the surprise of no one, Whitethorn is not much fun. Cora does make improvements, though, so something about it is working for her.

Then Sumi shows up to save her. I had a big problem with this. Cora had said repeatedly and emphatically that attending Whitethorn is a choice that she wanted to make. If anyone but one of the heroes of the Wayward School had shown up, this could have been a textbook case of how a girl's express wishes were not respected because everyone "knew better". However, because Sumi is a hero, in this case she did know better and didn't need to respect Cora's choice. I don't like situations that are read entirely differently depending on whether the hero or the villain is acting in them.

So, in short, this was a book about a traumatized girl, an unpleasant boarding school, and a secret at that school which was not dealt with in this book. Instead, the girls had to figure out how to escape. The villain reminded me a lot of the evil, soulless regimented being from A Wrinkle in Time. Regan from the Green Grass Fields meets the Wayward students in this book and I do like Regan and am interested to see what is next for her story. But this felt like an interlude that wasn't much of a story on its own.

Probably my favorite in the series so far. These characters continuing to grow in a world that doesn't always love them is such a joy to read. The author's writing is top notch in this one.

While I enjoy the worldbuilding and explorations of identity in these novellas, I find them hard to read when the chosen main character is unlikable. Cora is my least favorite character, so I couldn't enjoy the story as much as I normally would have. Still, McGuire weaves fascinating worlds with her words and has created intriguing side characters that I hope we get to explore. It was nice to visit this other school, but I wish a different character had been given the opportunity to do so instead of Cora.

I loved the addition of another location away from Eleanor Westwood’s home. Being a more sinister atmosphere. Appreciated by the handling of issues within the series and with Cora being a larger character, I felt drawn to her. And I love the slow burn of the will they won’t they between Cora and Christopher. Once again, Seanan McGuire has made a beautiful addition to her series. Dealing with identity and the power that we give ourselves to tell our own stories.

# Where the Drowned Girls Go is the next addition to #Seanan McGuire’s # Wayward Children series. I hate using‘Children’ because any age would find this fun to read.Students at a anti-magical school rebel. And that’s when the story gets interesting…..
Thank you for the advance copy,
# Netgalley and # Macmillan-Tor

I absolutely love Seanan McGuire's writing, the first book in this series is what really got me into their writing. I was instantly sucked into the series and haven't wanted to stop. This installment in the series didn't disappoint at all. When I started this book I was immediately sucked right back into the world that is written. I read this book all in one sitting and I enjoyed it just as much as all of the other books.

The Wayward Children series is one of my favourites, I just love the characters and the adventures they get up to. The world-building is always interesting, as we get a new world in each story (or rather with each character). With that being said, Where The Drowned Girls Go wasn’t a favourite of mine. I think it’s my least favourite instalment in the whole series.

The whole concept of there being another school for children who have visited other worlds was fascinating to me, but I didn’t enjoy the execution that much. The introduction to the school was interesting, though also grim as we find out exactly how much different the school is from Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. There is a lot of power imbalance and bullying in this book, which was hard to read but also realistic. The problem that I had with this instalment is that it felt too rushed. The major turning point in the story (which I won’t get into because it’s spoilers) just happened to quick for me. I wish there was more buildup to it. But that is a problem of this type of book, the story being a novella that is. Usually I don’t have a problem with the length of the books in the Wayward Children series, but in this one I felt it needed to be longer. I enjoyed all the characters in this story, or at least I was interested in all of them. The old ones from previous books and the new ones introduced in this one.

That is basically all that I want to say in regards to this novella (without getting into spoilers). It was a solid instalment in the series but by no means a favourite of mine. I would definitely recommend this series, as it is amazing overall. I look forward to future books in the series and I will hopefully enjoy them more than this one.

I can't get enough of this series. The characters are so well written and I loved that you get more of Cora this time around with bits from Sumi and Regan too.

I feel like found family is such a massive topic for this series, but this book really pushed that message home for me.

It was interesting to see another school that they can attend and how different it is from the Home for Wayward Children. Also to see how some prefer this option more and why.

I'm looking forward to the next instalment and cannot wait to see where it leads us.

I find the Wayward Children series a quick read, which is why I continue reading them, but I have to be honest, they're getting more and more boring. I think it's pretty obvious that McGuire doesn't really have a plan for the series and is just kind of writing and making the books up as she goes along, as not a single novella feels like it's a complete part of a wider story.

I did, however, like that in Where the Drowned Girls Go, the seventh instalment, we got to see another school for children who have come back from magical worlds, but at this school, the children are forced to assimilate to the real world or they won't graduate and leave.

Personally, I enjoy these books more when we're actually in the magical worlds, rather in the real world. It's just more fun and intriguing, although I have mentioned before I'm not a fan of the silly worlds. However, I did find Cora's mental health issues, as well as discussion about her weight, really compelling and realistic.

Ultimately I will continue reading this series but only because it's a quick read that I can use to boost my reading goal for the year.

In this latest installment in the Wayward Children series, we focus on Cora and her journey to get rid of the Drowned Gods, and forget about other worlds.

Cora is a great main character. She is vulnerable, determined, strong-willed, and full of heart. Plus she’s fat! And the fat rep in this is so good. Cora’s life reflects my own in some ways. We’ve both been fat most of our lives, we both feel more comfortable in water, and we both dreamed of being mermaids. The only difference - and it’s a big one - is that Cora got to actually live out that dream.

Now in this book, we aren’t following Cora’s story from before and during her world, we follow her after the events of book 5, Come Tumbling Down. Cora is being haunted by the Drowned Gods. She can’t sleep, she needs to be in the water but is terrified of doing so in case the Gods come for her, and she is desperate for a way out. And she’s heard of another school, a school that helps you forget, someplace that instead of preparing kids for the chance of re-entering their world, it stops them from believing a door opened in the first place. Enter Whitethorn Academy. Here, all students get special diets, classes, and activities to balance and revert what they experienced in the worlds they traveled to. Instantly Cora knows she’s made a mistake.

I like the journey Cora goes on in this book. She has to use all of her skills and smarts to survive at the school let alone escape it: we also see Regan at this school which is fun! I know Across the Green Grads Fields wasn’t many people’s favorite, but I enjoyed that one and I liked seeing Regan again. I like that this book played a lot with the power of names. As someone with an unusual name, I know what per names have and what it means to deny someone of their name. So to see that played around with was really cool.

This could be my favorite in the series, I’m not 100% sure, but it’s definitely up there. I love this series and I can’t wait for the next one to come out! Tell me, what’s your favorite in the series? I’d love to know which one and why!

I absolutely adore this series and find the story and the characters to be some of the favorites I've ever read. I enjoyed reading about Cora's story. I would recommend reading the series as closely as you can together and luckily since the books are so amazingly written they are quick and delightful reads. I really enjoyed this book.

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before.

seanan mcguire keeps expanding this world and i continue to fall in love with it!!!

this book is honestly so different to the others but something about that just made me enjoy it that much more. i cannot wait to see what happens in the next book in the series!

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire is the 7th book in the Wayward Children series. In this book we follow Cora as she decides that Elanor West's home is not the right place for her and she needs to go to the Whitehorn Institute. Will Cora be able to become normal there by denying that she went through a door?

I enjoyed this book. Cora's insecurities and growth are relatable for anybody who is on the bigger side and knows that its not always easy to lose weight. While Cora is not particularly a favorite of mine I did enjoy following her journey. I love this world where everything is tweaked and nothing make sense or everything make sense. These children's journeys and how they come together despite their differences is always interesting to read. The world building is so interesting because each door leads to a different world. McGuire's imagination is phenomenal with the different types of world and how they are good and bad.

Four stars for being a great addition to the world. The book was slightly less than memorable, I read this a month ago and it took me a bit to remember the plot. Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Seanan McGuire for the free copy. This was an honest review.

I adore this series, and I will read every single title that is written in it. That said...

This is the first book in the series I haven't given 5 stars to.

And that makes me sad. I love this series. I love the Wayward Children. I really enjoyed this installment... but it just ended so abruptly. It was rushed, and confusing (which is laughable given the subject matter, but humor me). Maybe it will be better explained in the next book. I'll be impatiently waiting for my door.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-ARC to review.

2,5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was going to be the best one of the series, as I liked Beneath the Sugar Sky a lot, and the thought of getting to learn more about the other school was intriguing.

However, I’m kind of very disappointed with this.

Cora’s conflicts were already explored in the third book. And although that might have been not enough, we absolutely didn’t need another Cora book. Especially when other characters have been in this series from the beginning and got no backstory whatsoever.

The stories in this series are getting formulaic, almost as if done through an algorithm. Child comes back from adventure, child ends up home being mistreated because what do parents know about random doors that appear from fuck knows where, child goes to Eleanor’s school with no conflict, no parents give a fuck what their children are doing, child is in agony, child goes to another adventure, there is no real conflict anymore because Seanan cant come up with anything new anymore.

Every character sounds, thinks, walks, talks and acts the same. I swear to God, they are living the same life?! As comes with the nature of the series, there are a lot of new characters introduced with every single book, it is agreeable that creating characters with distinct characters, and even displaying them in these extremely short books is hard. However, these people really don’t have to be the same… yeah…

The school was boring. The principal was boring, the setup was boring, the new characters were boring, the plot was nonexistent, yet still boring, character arcs were boring, character relationships were boring and also nonexistent.

And the writing is just as repetitive and boring like the previous paragraph. There is too much telling, contrary to the vibes of the series, half of the book is about Cora’s body issues as if it were her entire character (plot twist: it is). Talking about Cora’s character, again, she was not supposed to be the main character here. the sixth book in the series, should be longer, still about Regan—yes, yes, i didn’t even like that book, but hear me out—and should have continued in the Other school, with Cora as a side character. The reader then would be like “oh wow so that’s where she ended up”. Through Regan, we would get all necessary insight about Cora’s new life, while also building a nice and strong relationship between the characters instead of the frozen microwave meal-like thing they had with no real buildup.

Two stars for Sumi, thank you.

Another great installment of the Wayward Children series. Cora is such an awesomely relatable character and embodies the strength, courage, and conviction we all hope to achieve. Can't wait for the next books in the series while I wait for my own door to open.

This is the first book I’ve read of the series and I’ll definitely be going back and reading them from the beginning of the series! Well written fantasy story. Definitely recommend.

Cora hasn’t been a favorite character in previous books, but I was still interested in her story and I managed to warm up to her in this one.

I liked the plot and the characters. The ending felt rushed, adding a few chapters would have rounded out the ending. I hope we get a more concise ending to the Whitethorn Institute story line, or at least more time there since I found that so intriguing.

A Wayward Children novella just never disappoints me 😭

I've been on a weird slump lately, but I think this is just what I needed. Whimsical and dark just like the rest of the books in the series, but also somehow more emotional? I don't know if that's the right word. What I know is that there was fear, and sadness, the desperation to be okay, and of course, hope.

This series of books never disappoints. McGuire is talented and excellent at continuing to build this strange world.