Gosh, I am a sucker for horror/thriller novels set on creepy tropical islands, and my enjoyment of THE DEPTHS is a case study in that. I savored every moment of Addie's stay on Eulalie Island. One thing Lesperance does fabulously is create a perfect atmosphere for a horror story set in what seems like paradise, and combine that with Addie's POV and the reader is quite literally getting deeper and deeper into the mystery of the island as the main character is. That's a truly unique thing I find in books in general. I was hooked by Addie's story, by the ghosts of her past trauma, lost dreams and future hopes as well as the ghosts that haunt Eulalie. This book constantly surprised me with its creepiness and I was here for every minute of that. Lesperance also plants some fantastic plot twists that shocked me and that I didn't see coming. THE DEPTHS is a story of a paradise haunted by its past, and is a delightfully creepy book that I just couldn't look away from.

The Depths is the definition of all vibes and no substance. Lesperance has some beautiful prose, but however the beautiful the prose are, the weak characterization and frankly bland plot really laden this narrative.

What is it about a book set on a remote and largely uninhabited island that just instantly draws me in and convinces me I need to read it? If you’re in the same camp, The Depths is for you!

From the start I was drawn in by the mystery of Eulalie Island and wanted to tag along with Addie as she discovered all of the beautiful, weird, and frightening things this island contained. Lesperance delivered everything I was hoping for among the haunting bird calls and color changing flowers, along with a sprinkling of twists and turns that kept me flipping page after page.

Addie was the perfect character to narrate this story. I loved the mix of her personal struggles alongside her journey on Eulalie and the parallels the two had with each other. Lesperance gives Addie a fun cast of secondary characters that help to round out this story and build on the creepy adventure at hand.

There is so much I want to say about the little details of this story or plot points I adored, but they’re best kept under wraps and left for the next reader to discover on their own!

A huge thank you to Razorbill and Penguin Teen for my gifted copy!

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley!! This was pretty good with the horror/ creepy vibes. It was a slow start but I loved the coming of age story!! Many thanks :)

Thank you so much, NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Eulalie Island is a paradise, but, forced to tag along on her mother's honeymoon, Addie Spencer feels prisoner of this place. Even if the island is stunning, with its beaches and forests filled with white flowers, there's something eerie about everything, putting her on edge.
After meeting a peculiar boy on the beach, all the white flowers start to turn pink and the boy tells her the island loves her. Something is wrong, starting with her sleepwalking at night, a peculiar child in the woods who wants to play with her and the mysterious discovery of two sisters who died there centuries ago. There's something more to the island and she's determined to know what it is and what it wants from her. Unraveling the island's secrets may be the only things to do, in order to save herself, after all.

Eerie, unique, fantastic and well written, The Depths is the kind of book that will upset, scare and impress you at the same time. Set on a beautiful island full of darkest secrets, with a teenager determined to uncover them all, before something bad could happen to her. What could go wrong? Nicole Lesperance wrote a beautifully haunting story, impossible to put down, with intense characters, well written and characterized and a strong and stubborn main character, impossible not to root for.
I loved everything, from the marvellous setting, the eerie moments, the intense ones, the mysteries and secrets...Everything was perfect and this book is so recommended.

Goodness what a right way to hit my challenge win. This was creepy in the best way. It is balances the morbid nature with the coming-of-age story in it.

I thought this was a pretty good ghost/horror story! The setup was a bit boring for me, but once we got to Lenora and Violet and some answers started happening, I got super sucked in and ended up reading the entire book in probably 4 ish hours.

Spooky, spooky, spooky. And it never lets go. You just have to accept the inevitable, that there’s an island which is alive in ways that we can never imagine. Except Nicole Lesperance did. Imagine it. And it is amazing. It is a mystery and a thriller and a romance all rolled up into one. And it will keep you up at night. Reading.

This was the perfect book for the creepy season coming up!

A free-diving girl (Addie) who once died for 8 1/2 minutes. A mysterious island that seems to ever be changing. 2 ghostly sisters that are lost to each other (one can be seen in day and one at night). A boy who may not be all he seems.

The island of Eulalie and its ghostly inhabitants are so vividly portrayed that I felt a little like I was smack dab in the middle of it and felt claustrophobic at times. The island was a living, breathing character and it was so atmospheric.

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for an eARC! This was deliciously spooky. I loved the tropical setting, and oh my gosh, did the creep levels pop up 10 pages in! This is the kind of book that shows you the ghost almost immediately, so it makes your hair stand on end for a time.

Gosh, this is such a wonderful addition to the YA horror genre!

This book was a great start to fall / spooky season for me! It was the perfect amount of creepy and spooky. It kept me interested and intrigued the whole way through and even though I figured out some of the twists, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. I found the characters likeable and I wanted to know what happened to them. Overall, I had a very fun time reading this

Feels like a three to me but still fun! Like there were flaws but I feel like it’s the perfect kind of read for spooky season or if you’re looking for a paranormal thriller set on a very remote spooky island with ghosts, crazy plants, spooky birds you hear but never see and just altogether a lot of strangeness lol.

Also the flaws being that I felt like some parts moved very slow *for me* and the uneasy scenes didn’t give those actual creepy vibes for me. But like I’m trying to say, I think the flaws are me haha. It’s hard for a book to actually scare me and this one didn’t at all! So might be perfect for people who scare easily and want to feel uneasy!!

I did love that The Depths felt like it was set on a gothic island that definitely had a lot of mystery and intrigue which is really what kept me going!

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️
TW: death, blood, drowning, medical trauma, and insects

“The island just has disturbing ways of showing its love sometimes”

Eulalie Island should be a paradise, but to Addie Spencer, it’s more like a prison. Forced to tag along to the remote island on her mother’s honeymoon, Addie isn’t thrilled about being trapped there for two weeks. The island is stunning, with its secluded beaches and forests full of white flowers. But there's something eerie and unsettling about the place. After Addie meets an enigmatic boy on the beach, all the flowers start turning pink. The island loves you, he tells her. But she can’t stop sleepwalking at night, the birds keep calling her name, and there’s a strange little girl in the woods who wants to play hide-and-seek. When Addie learns about two sisters who died on the island centuries ago, she wonders if there’s more to this place, things only she can see. Beneath its gorgeous surface, Eulalie Island is hiding dark, tangled secrets. And if Addie doesn't unravel them soon, the island might never let her go.

This book felt like some sort of fever dream in the best type of way! Written with incredible imagery, this story is beautiful, immersive, and absolutely haunting. Truly an unique plot and cast of characters, this book drew me in and did not let me go!! Not knowing who to trust or what was real, this story kept me on my toes. I really wish I could read this one all over again for the first time! This is a great choice for your spooky TBR!!

I recommend this one to lovers of beautiful yet creepy settings, fans of “Crimson Peak” and “Moana” (just trust me lol), and anyone looking for a truly unique gothic story.

The Depths follows Addie - one of the world's best freedivers, meaning she can sink to the depth equivalent of a 19-story building without an oxygen tank. Following an accident where Addie drowned and was considered clinically dead for 8 and a half minutes, she is forced to take a break from freediving. She gets whisked away to a tropical island vacation with her mother and stepfather where some crazy ish is going down. Things start to get strange - like her blood on the ground causes flowers to sprout strangely. You will find yourself turning page after page as you dive deep into the depths to solve the mystery that's happening. Lesperance brings us an eerie, mysterious, and magical tale in The Depths.

What a mysterious and creepy ride this book was. If you are looking for a ya thriller that is set on a "haunted" tropical island this is the one for you.

This book was medium paced with a mix of character and plot focus. The descriptions were just right and didn't feel overdone. I found it very easy to picture myself on the island.

It was a tad creepier than I expected but was just what I needed right now. I love how the ghost was described. It was like a ghost/zombie hybrid. I loved how kind and concerned Addie was for the ghost.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL NOVEL! Wonderfully written, beautiful detail, as a reader I felt like I was there, on the island surrounded by beauty.
I loved the characters, I felt like Addie IS my BFF, relatable, and so genuine. We joined in her journey, and every step was summer into fall/spooky vibes worthy!
Perfect mystery thriller for the season to come!! Spooky season is here! 🎃👻💀

The Depths was wildly entertaining to read and I could not put it down!

I've read a couple of gothic horror stories in my life, with ghosts and haunted houses. But never before has the setting been a tropical island. It's this wildly unique setting that drew me to this book. And it did not disappoint. While reading, I could almost smell the haunting stench of rotting corpses and pungent flowers. I had chills slithering down my body while reading some grotesque scenes. I could not put down this book because I just had to know all the secrets of Island Eulalie! and there were many. I usually tell myself I would be able to handle all the haunting horror if I were to replace the main character, but I would not handle things as well as Addie did. She was brave throughout it all and thought smart when making her plans. And even though most of the book was nerve-wracking, grotesque, terrifying, and absolute insanity, it still managed to make me laugh sometimes with humorous lines.

This unique setting is what truly makes this book genius. I've never read anything like it and that's what I desire from books. The Depths is definitely one to add to your tbr for this spooky season. You will want to follow Addie as she dives beneath the island's layers and discovers all its secrets, however horrifying they may be.

What a perfect book for the startbof spooky season. I love ghost stories. Thank you netgalley for the copy.

Imagine a ghost story featuring creepy Victorian era ghost girls with tragic backstories and a barrage of supernatural goings-on to torment the main character, except instead of taking place in a spooky old mansion or a crumbling castle, it’s set on a tropical island with beautiful aquamarine beaches, palm trees, and colorful flowers. That’s The Depths, and the juxtaposition of the creepy ghost girls and scary happenings with the vibrant, lush island setting was a really captivating choice that I enjoyed. It was like taking two types of scary stories and blending them into one, and I really liked it.

For further context: The Depths follows Addie, a teenager who has been roped into accompanying her mother and new stepfather on their honeymoon to a remote tropical island. It’s so remote that the only people there are Addie and her parents and the family responsible for acting as caretakers for the island—oh, right, and all the ghosts.

Addie has recently suffered an accident while freediving, a sport she was a fierce competitor in prior to this, which actually left her dead for eight and a half minutes before being revived, resulting in one of the best opening lines I’ve read in a while:

“There’s a video of me dying on the Internet, and I can’t stop watching it.”

As a product of her brush with death and resulting injuries, her mom insists she come along with them to the island on their honeymoon so that they can keep an eye on her as she recovers and her lungs start to slowly heal. But once there, Addie finds herself often wandering alone and drawn to the water, which results in her having lots of individual experiences that were not exactly on the vacation itinerary—hide and seek with a mischievous, very corpse-like little ghost girl, sleepwalking through the tropical jungle, and encountering a mysterious but beautiful young man on the beach one night while she’s swimming alone in the ocean. The young man begins to take her on further explorations of the island into areas she would never otherwise have seen—deep caves, beautiful waters that seem to have healing properties, spooky altar-like stone structures. But the more time she spends on the island, the more strange things keep happening. The ghosts seem to become more and more attached to Addie, and at times it’s almost as if the island itself is reacting to her, and Addie has no idea what she’s really stumbled into and how complicated—and terrifying—this vacation is about to get.

Y’all already know, I love a good ghost story, so I had a lot of fun reading this one, and reading about the ghosts and Addie’s mission to unravel the story behind the ghost girls and how they came to be here. There’s plenty of spooky imagery throughout, like the little ghost girl being covered by spiders or the crumbling remains of the house they once lived in, tucked away deep within the island.

I also enjoyed the setting and like I said, the juxtaposition of a spooky Victorian ghost story taking place in such a setting. It’s a bit of a departure from what we usually see, which I always like. Moreso than that though, this book is the perfect example of a novel where the setting is as much a character as the people, and Lesperance did a great job of bringing the island to life. At times it had a toned down reminiscence of works like Annihilation—the way the island makes the humans a part of it—and The Ruins, with the way the vines and plants seem to not only be alive and acting of their own accord, but also with the plants and flower mimicking human voices and laughter.

Something unexpected that I really liked about the book were actually the freediving scenes. I hadn’t given too much thought to freediving in general before reading this, but it was really interesting to read about, and not just as a sport and how it contributes to Addie’s backstory and persosnality. The depictions of the various diving scenes throughout the book were actually kind of dreamy and beautiful, and I thought they were very well written. I was surprised by how much I liked that part of the story.

Overall, the only thing I don’t like about this book is that it wasn’t a summer release, because this would have been a perfect summer vibe read. But as it is, it releases September 13th, so it will be just in time for spooky season and if you’re looking for a ghost girl book to add to your TBR, this is it.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the e-ARC!

"There's a video of me dying on the internet, and I can't stop watching it."
I mean... who doesn't love a first line that just immediately captures your attention? It only took me a couple days to read this book, and with 3 kids running around the house, that's not an easy feat for me anymore. I could easily see myself being able to sit down and read this in one sitting. I loved the spooky mystery of Eulalie Island and the constant thrill of needing to know what's next.

The island sounds absolutely gorgeous, and terrifying. I swear I could see and smell all the flowers and trees. I fell in love with the characters, and hurt with them as their stories were told. I loved the mystery of the island and trying to piece together the whole story. This is definitely a book I can see myself reading again.