One girl’s daring adventure turns into a long frightful night lost on the water.
Against her wishes, Dannie has to leave the California beach behind to spend the summer with her grandma in rural Tennessee. Things look up when a group of local boys invite her on an overnight kayaking trip. When her grandma refuses to let her go, Dannie finds an old rowboat hidden behind the shed and sneaks off to catch up to her new friends. It seems like a simple solution… until everything goes wrong.
Dannie soon discovers this lake is more than just vast. It’s full of danger, family secrets, and ghosts.
First, I’ll say this is a beautiful cover that catches the spirit (no pun intended) of the more eerie moments of this novel. This is such a pleasurable read, a bit of a coming of age story, in which Dannie discovers family secrets and inner strength and courage she was unaware of.
Driver perfectly captures the obstinate, sulky mood of teens quite well, and I found myself chuckling and nodding at Dannie’s comments and behavior. Her determination to be herself and not what others envision is admirable. Assuming she’s perfectly capable of handling a boat on such a vast lake despite her lack of experience is a common mistake in both teens and adults. I lived on a lake for thirteen years and know very well the dangers involved in being overconfident on the water. Being familiar with a lake doesn’t guarantee your safety – in the blackness of night, even with a light, it’s extremely easy to get turned around. The vivid scenes with Dannie in the darkness, sensing she may not be entirely alone, are deliciously creepy and likely to raise the hairs on your neck.
Lost on the Water is a mesmerizing read combining suspense and danger with supernatural overtones, and is perfect for the lower end of the YA spectrum on up.
I received an ARC from the author.
Books and Such 
Oooh. Teri you make it sound spookilicous! Good luck to DG. Have a terrific Tuesday.
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My new favorite word – spookilicious! Thanks, Teagan!
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I thought the cover was striking. And, as a character fan, I’m happy to hear the author nailed the surly tone of teens. Wishing D.G. much success.
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Sets the perfect tone for the book, Staci. And she definitely nailed the surly tone!
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Sounds great. And I love that cover! Thanks for the intro, Teri. On my ever-growing TBR list.
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Glad I could help add to that list, Sarah – again.
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I don’t like being on open expanses of water, Teri. I scares me. This book really gives me the creeps.
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Then you’d definitely experience some spookilicious (my new favorite word, thanks to Teagan) while reading it!
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Ha! Don’t start me on the bostinate and sulky mood of teenagers! I have two at home 😉 Wonderful review ❤
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Thanks, Sophie! You’d definitely find the teen attitudes in this book believable.
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That over is absolutely gorgeous! I spent years boating on a saltwater bay and remember quite a few times of getting turned around in fog or at night.
Sounds like a compelling read. Best wishes to the author.
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Yes! It’s so easy to get disoriented, no matter how long you’ve lived there. I’ve never gotten caught in fog, but know all about darkness and pounding rainstorms.
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I forgot about storms. Have been caught in a few of those both on the bay and river. Nasty stuff!
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Hallo, Hallo,
I recently had the chance to read and review this novel during my co-hosted event #WyrdAndWonder – where we focus on Fantasy and all stories of interest therein. This year, part of my focus was on Speculative novels involving the paranormal even though technically we also focus on those stories in October during our mini-event #SpooktasticReads – hence why I noticed your lovely new adjective to describe these kinds of stories as I am also a maker of words which lament an interest of mine!
I can’t remember if I mentioned how the cover ties into the novel – part of what I held back from my own review was trying to tip toe what not to say in regards to maybe going towards a spoiler as I found this novel might be easier to spoil than others so I tried not to go into that territory. However, in regards to the cover and the heart of the novel – I felt it was bang-on brilliant how that fused with the texture of the adventure, the heart of the message and of course, really the soul of the book!
If you wanted to see what I said about Dannie redefining her own gender expression, I did highlight that portion of the story on my review. You are the first blogger I’ve visited who’ve broached this part of the novel which I felt was so dearly important because of how Dannie is quite a remarkable character to discover in YA. For me, that component of her character was just as integral felt to the plot as the rest of it. Especially as I felt a lot of teens could identify with what she was going through at this point in her life over and beyond the connections to the self-growth, family secrets and the ways in which time can heal.
Lovely to visit with you today and I love finding other bloggers who love reading Indie Authors as much as I do!!
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Thrilled you enjoyed it as much as I did, Jorie. Thanks so much for dropping by, and mentioning this review on your blog!
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You’re wicked welcome!! 🙂 I had a slight emergency with my cat — nerves are wrecked and finding this note (and the one on my blog!) were a balm to frazzled nerves! I am wicked thrilled we *both!* loved this novel as much as we both did!! I honestly am itching for the sequel!!
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