The First Time She Drowned is the first book I’ve read in a long time that kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. I couldn’t put it down. It drew me in with some of the most beautiful prose of any YA book I’ve ever read, and the plot is structured in such a way that it keeps you guessing all the way through. Pretty clear clues are given early on as to a pivotal event in Cassie’s life, so the revelation isn’t a big surprise and it doesn’t need to be.
Written by former Hollywood actress Kerry Kletter, The First time She Drowned is a brilliant YA contemporary debut novel, but be warned that the protagonist Cassie endures genuine cruelty, the kind of cruelty that may be devastatingly familiar to you, the kind that may cause you to have to process the feelings it evokes. Too often, books exploit traumatic experiences for the sake of compelling plot lines. This book doesn’t do that. The First Time She Drowned doesn’t exist to aggravate old wounds; it gets blood flowing to emotional injuries so we can heal.
Rating: 5 stars
–Eve Messenger
Eve Messenger 
I remember this cover catching my eye when I was looking through March new releases! That cover! Glad you enjoyed it.
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It is a pretty cover, isn’t it? I love all the blues and greens.
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Aaaaaaand added to my TBR list. Sounds fascinating.
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It’s the kind of gorgeous writing that both inspired and daunted me as a writer.
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Sounds wonderful! It has jumped to the top of my TBR pile…
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The writing is lovely, and it’s told in an interesting way. I hope you like it!
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What a review!!!
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Can you tell I thought The First Time She Drowned was well-written? ;-p
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Hmmm, I have had some pretty awful dreams about my kids’ drowning. I am imagining all kinds of things though the drowning reference might not be literal.
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Yay, it’s nice to hear from you!! You are right. The drowning reference isn’t literal.
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I’ll look it up on Amazon. I am a big fan of YA. I think some of the best books turned out the past few years are in that genre.
I see you are reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaimen…loved it.
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…even though I spelled his name wrong, or there’s a good possibility autocorrect messed with me…GAIMAN 🙂
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It’s true! There are so many great YA books being published right now by brilliant authors. I’m listening to Neverwhere as an audiobook, with Neil Gaiman narrating. He does such a good job narrating his own story!
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you’re a good writer …. congratulations!
many greetings
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Thank you!
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