Just like all the other Robyn Harding books, I devoured this in one sitting.

TWISTS ON TWISTS ON TWISTSSS! 🤯

I gasped. I tried to raise my eyebrows (thanks Botox 😂) I thought I had it all figured out but I was wrong. So wrong.

All I can say is this book was all kinds of what the hell! 🤯🤯🤯

Another winner from @rhardingwriter! I have loved every single one of her books!

When Lee, a homeless woman who has parked by a beach in a wealthy Seattle neighbourhood hears a woman cry out and then a splash, she quickly comes to the rescue of the drowning woman. Hazel, the wealthy woman, however is less than pleased that Lee interrupted her initially. The next day Hazel knocks on the window of Lee’s car and apologizes for the day before. The pair strike up a friendship and Hazel shares that she is wanting to escape from her abusive marriage. Hazel asks Lee to help her get away for good. That’s all you need to know going into this twisty story.

I was so absorbed in the story and then the author would change POVs at a climactic point and the first time it happened I yelled out. How could she do this? But trust Harding to know that she will do this to you a couple more times and each time you will be racing forward to find out what happened from the last person’s perspective and what is going to happen to the current POV’s character. It was so satisfying.

I am curious if the author got the idea for this book while researching her book, The Arrangement, as The Drowning Woman has a dynamic that might exist in the world explored in the previous book.

At no time did I put everything together and the ending was so perfect. There is so much I want to say but I don’t want to risk giving anything away. Put this book on your pre-order list for 2023!

Thank you to @grandcentralpub and @netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. the Drowning Woman comes out June 13, 2023.

*** Spoilers ***




Hokay, so while I enjoyed the dual povs of Lee and Hazel, and how they both tried to escape their situations I was kinda disappointed at the dude's involvement. Frankly, he wasn't compelling enough for me to believe that he could get both of these reasonably intelligent women to not only trust him, but go along with his plans.

I did really enjoy the ending though. They deserved it.

WoW! Talk about plot twists! I was hooked on this book from the first page. Lee is struggling after losing her business after the pandemic. She moves out west in search of a new life after burning many bridges in NYC.
She is living homeless out of her car and decides a safer place to sleep would be more beneficial. Locating her vehicle to a wealthier part of town, this is where she encounters a drowning woman where she then saves her life. Things seem to finally be falling into place for Lee. She has a job, she has a friend that she feels she can count on, and she finds a sweet boy who seems to have a genuine interest in her. That is until her new friend asks her to help her escape her husband, which then spirals into a path of destruction.
I loved that it gives a perspective into a homeless woman's life. I have never read a book with that subject before and helped me develop some empathy for homelessness. It also was just a huge page turner! I couldn't put it down until I found out what was going to happen next. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, I really feel like this one is going to be a hit!

It's been quite some time since I read a Harding book. I was pleasantly surprised by how hooked I was!. The first part with Lee was gripping, anxiety provoking and gritty. She was so easy to root for and I immediately had suspicions about Jesse. Then when the first twist at the end of part one. HOLY SMOKES. I literally said out loud. WHAT. Then, getting part two with Hazel. More freaking twists. I do wish we got more focus on the development with her husband before she truly understood he was a villain. I definitely hated him, but I felt like more character development and historical background with him could have made him a truly despicable character to hate. Jesse on the other hand....wow. That was crafted perfectly. I felt like Hazel was taken advantage of by her lawyer, I really did not like that woman. She was Judgy McJudgerson. All in all. I really really enjoyed this book!. It kept me hooked, I loved the format and dual POV. The twists were ongoing and blew me away.

Thank you to #NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I’ve read and enjoyed Robyn Harding’s previous work, and THE DROWNING GIRL was no exception. When Lee, a former restauranteur , loses everything and has to go on the lam, she meets Hazel, a wealthy women she finds attempting suicide, while sleeping in her car. When Hazel and Lee connect, Lee tries to help Hazel escape her own situation, but the question remains: will two drowning women save one another, or pull each other deeper down? I read through this quickly, eager to know what would happen next, and to unravel the intricate webs of connection and deception between the characters.

I honestly expected a little bit more from this book, but it was still a pretty good read! I’ll still recommend.

Robyn Harding is one of my favourite authors. She is an incredibly gifted storyteller that always comes up with something fresh and different.

Told from alternating perspectives, THE DROWNING WOMAN is expertly plotted and totally binge-worthy. With all of its incredible twists and turns, I demolished this book in one sitting.

Highly recommend!

Pretty solid suspense/thriller about two women who's lives are thrown together in a plot filled with manipulation and betrayal. Who are they and what are they hiding? This book is all about the plot twists which elevates the suspense up a notch. I thought a lot of the storyline was original and well thought out, but the closer to the ending the more manic the characters, and even the plot, became. To some that can work in the book's favor, yet for me I felt the two women were hard to empathize with and it left the ending, for me, just ok. It is still a great thriller. Perfect for the beach. Would recommend for someone who loves domestic thrillers. #thedrowningwoman #robynharding #netgalley #goodreads

I knew there was a reason I wanted to read Robyn Harding's latest even though it doesn't come out until next June. Her writing is captivating & I love the different perspectives. It was unputdownable because I had to find out what happened next, and how everything would end!

Definitely check out the storygraph for content warnings before picking up.

Robyn Harding has done it again! I regularly recommend "The Perfect Family", "The Arrangement", "Her Pretty Face", and "The Party", and "The Drowning Woman" is a great addition to her thriller collection.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book, The Drowning Woman. This book was EXCELLENT. I read it in one day, because I was dying to know what was going to happen. The second half of the book blew my mind. I highly recommend reading this to anyone who loves a good thriller. My heart was racing, and I stayed up past my bedtime to keep reading. The writing style flowed well, and the characters were well developed and complex.

*Thank you Grand Central Publishing, Robyn Harding, and Netgalley for my eARC for an honest review. Publication date 6/13/23*

Lee was a successful restaurant owner of a high class restaurant back in NY but the pandemic gave her no other option but to shut her doors. With bills still to pay and back money still owed Lee takes off. She was living out of her car with no money and working in a low class diner in a bad part of town while one night she decides to sleep by the beach near a wealthy neighborhood. She is woken up by a women crying and trying to drown herself, while Lee saves her life and pulls her out of the water Hazel is not happy that Lee saved her. Hazel tells Lee that she is married to a very powerful lawyer and she is basically his slave. As their frienship starts to form Hazel wants Lee to help her disappear so she can get out of her toxic relationship.

Holy cow this book was SO good!!!! The twists in this book were so good I did not see one thing coming. I liked how the book alternated between Lee and Hazel. This is the first book I've read of Harding's and now I'm going to buy them all. I definitely recommend this book if you like a good page turner that will keep you guessing till the very end, short chapters, and 2 women POV's that will stop at nothing! I loved this one!

The Drowning Woman is the newest suspense novel from Robyn Harding, an author whose books I've been reading for the last few years. Each one gets better, and I'm thrilled with the plot of this latest one. A homeless woman rescues a stranger at the local beach, and everything in their lives changes. Harding does such a superb job at getting readers to focus on the plight of the woman who lost everything in the pandemic and just needed someone to give her a new start. And she finally gets it. But as soon as the first part of the book ends, readers realize they have missed a lot. I have read a lot of books and often figure out what's really going on behind the scenes, but this time, the prose and character background kept me at such a lovely lull, the twist surprised the heck out of me! It's the kind of book that works best when a reader doesn't try to solve it. Just sit back and let everything unfold until you realize the power someone can have over you when you aren't thinking properly. I wasn't 100% content with the final pages / end, but it was still a strong finish. Definitely recommended.

Twisty, twisty, twisty. A quick read for me since I had to find out why something felt off and what would happen next. The story requires a little suspension of disbelief, but that does not impact the entertainment value of the novel.

Lee has lost her restaurant business in NY due to the pandemic. She’s done something to cause her family to sever ties and she is on the run from an investor in the restaurant who has already hurt her once physically. She’s homeless and sleeping in her car. One morning she saves a woman named Hazel from drowning herself. Hazel’s husband is abusive and she wants out of her situation. The two women forge a friendship and that’s when the games begin! The biggest problem for these “strong and independent” women is they are looking for a man to fix their problems. Moral of the story: Fix it yourself! The other sometimes-a-reality situation is women betraying women. Moral of the story: For the love of all that’s holy, have each other’s back! My work here is done. Fortunately, the author felt the same way. Keep reading. It’s 100% worth it!

I’ll be recommending this one to anyone who loves a great thriller, but read the trigger warnings if you have sensitivities. Thank you to @Netgalley @grandcentralpub and @rhardingwriter for an early copy.

I loved this book. I really like when books have multiple POV’s and everytime the character changed you got a new shock. 5 stars!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an e-copy of this book that published in June, 2023. I loved it and have been a fan of Harding since reading The Party.

Lee Gulliver’s restaurant failed during the pandemic so she gathered her belongings and drove her Toyota Corolla to Seattle where she lived out of her car. She did have a restaurant job, but the pay wasn’t enough to get an apartment. She found a lovely spot near the water to sleep at night and it was calm until she saw another woman trying to drown herself. Lee saved Hazel, who was defiant about killing herself, but soon they became friends. Hazel brought her coffee and baked goods in the morning and told Lee about her abusive husband.

Now, it’s your turn to read what happens next. Plot twists galore flood this story. It will keep you up at night trying to figure out what happens next. But you will thoroughly enjoy every moment of this read. It’s a thrill ride, for sure, and I highly recommend it.

Don't start this book unless you have time to devour it in one sitting. It is just that good!

A homeless woman, Lee, who is on the run from some bad folks encounters a wealthy woman, Hazel. Hazel has attempted to drown herself when Lee pulls her out.
Hazel is angry at Lee because she says this was her one chance to escape an abusive relationship. Hazel goes back to her privileged life but soon approaches Lee to help her disappear.
The relationship between the two women in fascinating. The mystery and tangled web that is woven as Lee gets deeply involved is jaw dropping in it's plot twists that I didn't see coming.

I loved this book and it was an exciting way to spend my Saturday,

A must read

Another great thriller from Harding. The pace is so fast and the story just take you in at the first page and never let you go. Really good read!

Welp, that was disappointing! This is a page-turner that got increasingly implausible, unoriginal and underwhelming the further I read, saved slightly by important themes and a solid epilogue.

The book had a good start and I liked that it highlighted less-talked about issues such as how the pandemic has upended lives, with businesses forced to shutter and people losing their homes. It also sheds light on women trapped in abusive relationships + their lack of resources and recourse. I particularly enjoyed the friendship between the two main female characters.

However, the book never did fulfill its potential and nor was it the strong girlboss story I wanted it to be. The characters are naive and make decisions so foolish to the point that I find them hard to believe. Hazel's chapters felt lazy and relied on 'tell-all' storytelling.

Also, I would have sued the crap out of the care facility. Regardless of whether foul play was involved, they were clearly negligent! Yet, Hazel just accepts things?? Greta asking her, "Are you okay?" after breaking terrible news is just... laughable.

This is my 5th Robyn Harding novel but also sadly my least favorite. Nevertheless, she remains an auto-read author for me and I will continue to look forward to her books.