Lex Kent's Reviews > The Drowning Summer

3.25 Stars. This was an okay read but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I have been really enjoying this resurgence in YA paranormal and horror books, so I was really looking forward to this. Sapphic mediums that are using ghosts to solve a murder mystery, I mean sign me up. Unfortunately, while I did find the read reasonably entertaining, there was nothing that really grabbed me so this falls in just the okay category.

There was a lot of pre-talk going around that this had a Gatsby-vibe, well I didn’t get that at all. I’m human, maybe I missed something, but I didn’t get Gatsby and I started wondering if people were getting this confused with the book, Wild and Wicked Things, that has a Gatsby feel with sapphic witches and also just recently was released. It doesn’t really matter, I just want people to know that you should not go reading this looking for a Gatsby retelling or you might be disappointed.

One of the things I love so much about YA is all the feels. I love the emotional roller coaster most YA books will take you on since everything was so heightened when we were that age. This book had a lot of opportunity for this to happen. You have parents lying, parents accused or murder, and just plenty of ammo to make a super charged book. Unfortunately, that just didn’t happen and instead everything felt dulled and more on the surface. When characters were yelling, crying, and upset, I thought, huh. I don’t want to feel numb, instead I wanted to be feeling those emotions too and hopefully grabbing some tissues.

I was happy with the bi rep of the two main characters, and I also thought that their romance was really cute. On the downside, it did seem like because these two were spending time together, that’s why they liked each other. I’m not really big on proximity romances, so I wish Herman would have built their connection more, but I did think their scenes together were sweet and enjoyable.

I’m such a big mystery fan that I was hoping to enjoy that part but I feel very on the fence about it. I thought the reasoning behind the main mystery was not so great and a little convoluted. While I understood what was happening, there were some parts I just didn’t understand why. Also, the big twist, was kind of a head scratcher. I liked that I did not see it coming, but I didn’t see it coming because it felt so out of left field that I don’t think I really believed it so much. There is more I would like to say here but I just can’t for possible spoiler reasons so I’m just going to stop. I just found certain things problematic so it is what it is.

TLDR: I didn’t mind the read, and I found that the book entertained me for a night, but it really is an average read in my opinion. The book has a cool premise, but it just never really takes off. There is a lot of turmoil that the characters go through, but we never experience it as readers which was disappointing. The sapphic romance was cute, but I wish we could have watched a stronger connection form. I’m pretty down the middle with this one. I think if you are a Herman fan that you might enjoy this one, but if you are new to Herman, you might want to start with one of her other books.

A copy was kindly given to me for a review.