Heather Hach's "The Trouble with Drowning" follows protagonist Kat Lamb, whose tumultuous past shadows her present as she navigates love, trauma, and unexpected twists.

Working at Antigone Books in Tucson, Arizona, Kat's life takes a dramatic turn when Eden Hart, a renowned children's author, enters the picture. Despite Kat's insecurities, she is drawn to Eden's charisma and talent, sparking a complex web of emotions. iKat's budding romance with Jacob, the brother of her roommate Jess, adds another layer of complexity to her life. Wrestling with past abuse and coping with medication, Kat grapples with her inner demons while pursuing her dream of writing a memoir. However, as Jacob becomes involved with Eden professionally, Kat's fragile stability is threatened, leading to a series of tumultuous events that test her resilience.

Set against the stunning backdrop of Tucson's landscape, Hach's narrative unfolds at a steady pace, gradually revealing the depths of Kat's psyche. While the story takes time to build momentum, the authenticity of the characters and their interpersonal dynamics keeps readers engaged. As Kat's journey grows darker, her actions, though sometimes strained, reflect the intricate interplay of love, desire, and mental anguish.

Through Kat's lens, Hach explores the intricate complexities of human connection and the relentless pursuit of healing amid adversity, and offers a poignant portrayal of resilience and redemption in the face of inner turmoil.

When author Eden Hart floats into Tucson’s Antigone Books in all her dazzling perfection to give a reading, Kat, a struggling writer, can’t help but compare herself. Professionally, physically, socially—Eden is Kat’s aspiration. Thankfully, Kat’s life starts to take on its own Eden-like glow when her literary future takes shape and she falls madly in love with Jacob, the effortlessly charismatic son of her literary hero. Kat’s life is finally her fantasy realized: a burgeoning career, mentoring from her idol, and a wildly fulfilling relationship. But how long can she keep this up? And when will disappointment tap Kat on the shoulder yet again?

As demons from her past begin to surface, Kat’s mental health craters, and this halcyon dream slips through her fingers. Obsessed with reclaiming her idealized life, Kat develops an insidious plan to not only bring Jacob back into her world but also punish anyone who dares to replace her.

Mother of all plot twists. This book was amazing from start to finish. Will recommend to others who love thrillers.

This story explores the corrosive nature of comparisons and the allure of beautiful lies. The story unfolds as Kat, a struggling writer, becomes captivated by the dazzling perfection of author Eden Hart, whom she encounters at a reading in Tucson's Antigone Books.

Kat's life takes a seemingly fortuitous turn as she realizes her literary dreams and falls deeply in love with Jacob, the charismatic son of her literary hero. The narrative navigates the complexities of Kat's aspirations, drawing parallels between her life and the idealized existence she envisions through Eden. However, as demons from her past resurface, Kat's mental health deteriorates, and the idyllic fantasy begins to crumble.

This book explores themes of obsession and the pursuit of an unattainable ideal, unraveling the consequences of Kat's increasingly desperate attempts to reclaim her perceived perfect life. As the story delves into the intricacies of Kat's unraveling mental state, the narrative becomes a gripping exploration of identity, delusion, and the price of living in the shadows of one's aspirations.

This is a compelling psychological thriller that delves into the darker aspects of the human psyche. [Author's Name] crafts a narrative that keeps readers on the edge of their seats, blending the allure of success with the perils of obsession. The exploration of Kat's journey offers a thought-provoking examination of the impact of comparison and the dangerous pursuit of an idealized life. If you enjoy psychological thrillers that delve into the complexities of the human mind, this novel is a must-read, showcasing the author's ability to craft a suspenseful and immersive narrative.

I really enjoyed this engaging psychological thriller from the author's note in the beginning to the very end. There are some trigger warnings to be aware of so check those before reading. Heather does a great job using several of the characters to tell the story and I appreciated the multiple points of view. It was fascinating to get a peek into Kat's thought processes and how she reacted to the world around her. The why's of her actions are more complicated and I was kept off balance in my feelings about her right up to the conclusion. And what a conclusion! This novel is one you can't put down and you immediately wish you could read it again for the first time.

Kat has just met the love of her life, Jacob. And come to find out, his mother is a famous author, Eden Hart. Eden helps Kat in her fight to get published. But then her relationship with Jacob starts to fall apart. This sends Kat into a tailspin.

This book starts out and I fell for Kat, just like everyone does. She pulls out all the stops as she reels everyone into her orbit. And she succeeds. She is talented, cute, and fun…until she isn’t.

Just by looking at this cover, you think this book is going to be a fun, summertime read. Oh but it is not…it is serious, intense and unpredictable! In other words, don’t judge a book by its cover! Grab on and hold tight, this book will take you on a wild, sometimes scary ride of mental illness. I swear, you won’t know which way Kat is going to turn. And just wait till the end! I didn’t see it coming!

Need a story which will have you wondering what the main character will do next…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel for a honest review.

In the spirit of Yellowface, I definitely enjoyed this book, which at the heart of it had a deeply unwell woman and her publishing jealousy, which I think most people who have some knowledge of the industry would resonate with. It took a while to get to the meat of the thriller, but once it started, I was wholly invested. I also liked how it drew in the reality of mental health issues and what that meant for a satisfying story arc. While the ending wasn't quite my cup of tea, I definitely appreciated how and why the story had to lead up to that as a conclusion!

Sorry. This book was not for me, just couldn't get into the story. But I will still follow this author and consider her future stories.

The Trouble with Drowning
by Heather Hach
Pub Date: October 17, 2023
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I always enjoy thrillers and this one was written very well. I haven't read this author before so I was interested in seeing the book.
Obsession
Stalking
Sinister behavior
I will recommend this book! I didn't understand all the reasons Kat's choices but it kept me glued to the pages.
This book gives you a raw look at how Kat suffers from mental health issues. Things spiral out of control and obsession & depression takes over when her first love, Jacob breaks up with her. I was so anxious to see what would happen and I was so hooked on the story. You get to follow along with Jacob and his family too which adds another layer to the story.

*4.5

This book was fascinating and impossible to put down! The main character, Kat, is such a complex and complicated person who we learn has suffered such a neglectful childhood that it leads to her becoming diagnosed with severe mental illness. We see as she becomes completely obsessed with her first love Jacob and does everything she can to keep him in her life even after they break up. Not only is she obsessed with him, but with his new girlfriend Eden, another author who is living Kat’s dream life. We get to experience Kat’s manic and depressive moods and how she tries to jeopardise Eden and Jacob’s relationship and create a version of Eden’s life for herself.

I love how we got to read about each characters’ life and how they dealt with their struggles and Kat’s turbulent character. My feelings towards Kat are complicated as I am also someone who has been diagnosed with a mood disorder so I can understand why she reacts the way she does at times but some of her actions are still unjustifiable and harmful to others around her. There was never a dull moment in this book so I definitely recommend this to readers who are interested exploring mental illness and love complex characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for a copy of an ARC in exchange for an honest review~

i liked the premiss of the story but was a little disappointed with the way it was written. for me the story went really slow and was super frustrating on some points. I didn't really like the characters or build a connection to them. the way the story was written was also a little weird. the pov changed almost every page and it was kind of hard to follow which character we were following at which point. but overall I think the story was quite unique and not bad, just not my cup of tea!

Thanks to Netgalley and Smith Publicity for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Trouble With Drowning had me hooked straight away and didn't let go the whole way through.
I loved all the characters, they had real depth and soul, especially Kat. I really felt for her and understood how easily things fell apart, going from one mistake to another, until it was too late and the damage couldn't be undone.

It was well written, dark and tense, everything a decent psychological thriller should be.
I highly recommend.

4 Stars from me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I would like to thank NetGalley, Heather Hach and Greenleaf Book Group for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4⭐ - I definitely recommend reading this book, although the book starts slow, this book sure has its twists and turns in the second half.

Based in sunny Tucson, Arizona. Kat Lamb is in her mid twenties and didn't have an easy time growing up. She's writing a memoir about being a foster kid and has a boyfriend whose mother is an author who can proofread her memoir.

Life at the moment is good for Kat, right? Well.. not exactly. When Kat doesn't get her way she gets violent and has mood swings. Jacob can't deal with Kat's antics anymore and breaks up with her.

Kat doesn't see any other way out than suicide, luckily Jacob's mum Carol saves her and brings her to the hospital, where she gets her diagnosis and is prescribed medication but still very much invested in Jacob and cannot seem to let him go. She makes a plan to get Jacob back.

Lastly this book hits close to home, I also had a friend with mental issues. At times I felt like Carol in this book and felt sad for Kat - as sad as I felt for Kat, she at times was a manipulative person and I couldn't get behind her schemes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group Press for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Kat had a very difficult upbringing, and all she wants is to have the perfect life. She meets the perfect guy, loves his mother, and is working on writing her book. She is just waiting for her perfect life to begin. Before she knows it, her life is unraveling. Why did she lose her cool? She’s lost Jacob, and she will cross any line to get him back, you just wait.

WOW. I was captivated by the detailed characters, their intertwining lives, and the complexity of human interactions and relationships. I have never read a book in this category of psychological thriller seeing both sides fo the story being told. From the view of the victim, and the flip side of the view of the abuser. This book was unique and had delightful twists and goosebump worthy notes of creepiness that set the scenes. It’s also perfectly intermingled with hope, forgiveness, and surviving difficult pasts. Well done Heather Hach!

A struggling writer falls in love with the son of her literary idol and starts to find her life transformed. But is it too good to be true?

I just couldn’t get into the writing here at all. It ends up being more of a thriller genre wise, so I wish there had been more hints of that earlier on.

I had to put this down. The author and editor need to work on point of view. The head hopping made me dizzy.

I was intrigued by the concept and liked the way it started, but ultimately I had a really difficult time connecting to the characters or feeling connected to the plot. This is a slow burn in the extreme and it felt draggy for the type of story it was trying to tell. This wasn't a good fit for me.

"The Trouble with Drowning" drew me in right away, when Kat, a struggling writer develops a girl crush on Eden, someone who seems to have everything Kat doesn't.
While the themes are something that we can all relate to, as this goes down the rabbit hole of believing that her dreams of having it all can mirror Eden's. It gets a bit darker, and I would consider this a psychological thriller.
The book started losing me a bit in the middle, and then I regained interest. I would recommend the book, with the caveat that it is a thriller...not a fun beach read as you might think from the cover.

4.5 rounded up.

Distraught, enervated, insistent.

Our MC is in their mid-twenties writing a memoir about their childhood experiences. They are searching for the love they never had growing up, but their judgement is hampered by trauma and mental health issues, causing them to go off the rails in an effort to evade rejection.
🇺🇸 Set in Tucson, Arizona, USA.

🐺🐕Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
👌 The first half of this is more character study with slow-building suspense. The second half is where we start to experience twists, mysteries, and all the drama. I found the pacing of both kept me hooked.

🫢 This seemed like an excellent portrayal of how someone with unprocessed traumas, mental illness, chemical imbalances, possible personality and attachment disorders faces day-to-day life and interpersonal relationships. There are moments where I felt for Kat, especially how others use her to make themselves feel better. There were also moments where I hated her and how she relied on manipulative scheming, feeling entitled because of how rough her early life was. I think it was realistic watching everything unfold and showing how an abused person can become the abuser, without making it seem like ALL people with trauma in their early life turn out that way.

🥺 On that note, there are opinions regarding mental illness that are offensive or cruel, but they come from characters who think that way and we see how it affects Kat directly and indirectly. There is no sugar-coating of mental health so keep in mind subject matter and content. Kat has latched on to people who aren’t a good match for her - everyone from fair weather friends to mentors with a saviour complex to people who see her as a total write-off.

👌 Third person narrative is good because we can get insights into the motivation of other characters without relying on lie by omission or using mental illness as a gimmick to create suspense and drama. We spend a fair bit of time in other characters’ minds too, so it isn’t exhausting just following Kat and only Kat.

👍 The cringey, second-hand embarrassment moments that I love in stories didn’t feel exploitative. Our MC is SO hyperaware of any sign of rejection that cause her to panic or become enraged. She is able to keep things together by being an extreme people-pleaser, but when the facade cracks it often results in rejection because her actions become abusive toward others.

🤔 Good book club discussion pick. I enjoyed the subtle, slowly evolving themes around nature vs nurture. I found myself wondering how the other characters (and myself) would be affected by a childhood like Kat’s. “Self pity is a monster, but she fed it now.” How much of ones coping skills, mental health, and personality are innate and unchangeable vs learned…and does that mean they are changeable? I think people will have different thoughts about each of the characters actions throughout. For example, cutting off contact with Kat in some cases is the healthy thing to do because she is being abusive, but then she got to that point because on some level she perceived that she was being taken advantage of by that person.

🤭 There are some smutty, steamy sex scenes (all consentual). Not my fav type of cringe, but nothing wrong with it. Kat puts a lot of effort into coming across as a unique, ‘not-like-the-other-girls’, mysterious sex kitten in an effort to gain love and acceptance from men.

🤓 Tech nerd nit-picking: No iPhones to date have been manufactured with both Face and Touch ID. Perhaps this was set in the not so distant future or a parallel universe hehe

Mood Reading Match Up:
-Character study with unhinged, second-hand embarrassment moments (not gimmicky - sort of how that can happen to someone)
-Stories with authors as the main characters and publishing drama
-Contemporary fiction with themes about conditional and unconditional love, attachment, self-sabotage, the effects of childhood trauma, and mental health issues
-True crime vibe obsession and stalking (could be a Dateline NBC story)

Content Heads-Up: Mental health (anxiety, panic, rage, depression). Childhood sexual, emotional, and physical abuse (off page, insinuated/mentioned). Stalking. Obsession. Suicide attempt. Rejection (peers, parents, partners). Pharmaceutical drug use (unintentional). Attempted murder/physical abuse. Death of a romantic partner.

Format: Digital advanced review copy from Greenleaf Book Group and NetGalley.

Yikes. This is terribly terrible.
Head hopping so frantically that I couldn't tell who was thinking what and when.
DNF'ed.

"The Trouble with Drowning" by Heather Hach seems to be a gripping exploration of the dark side of envy and obsession. This psychological thriller delves into the complexities of human nature and the dangerous paths it can lead us down.

The story introduces readers to Kat, a struggling writer who becomes enamored with Eden Hart, a successful author she views as her aspiration. The themes of comparison and the desire to attain someone else's life are relatable and universally understood, making Kat a character readers can empathize with.

As Kat's life appears to mirror her dreams, with a burgeoning career and a captivating romantic relationship with Jacob, the son of her literary hero, the story promises a rollercoaster of emotions. Readers will likely be drawn into Kat's world, sharing her highs and lows as she navigates the pitfalls of her newfound success and love.

However, the novel takes a dark turn as Kat's mental health deteriorates and her obsession with preserving her idealized life intensifies. The description hints at a suspenseful and chilling plot, with Kat's sinister plan to reclaim what she believes is rightfully hers.

"The Trouble with Drowning" seems to be a thought-provoking exploration of the human psyche, addressing themes of envy, obsession, and the consequences of one's actions. Readers who enjoy psychological thrillers with complex characters and morally ambiguous narratives may find this book to be a compelling and suspenseful read.