Book Review: The Depths

THE DEPTHS | Nicole Lesperance
09.13.2022 | Razorbill
Rating: 5/5 stars

Eulalie Island should be a paradise, but to Addie Spencer, it’s more like a prison. Forced to tag along to the remote island on her mother’s honeymoon, Addie isn’t thrilled about being trapped there for two weeks. The island is stunning, with its secluded beaches and forests full of white flowers. But there’s something eerie and unsettling about the place. After Addie meets an enigmatic boy on the beach, all the flowers start turning pink. The island loves you, he tells her. But she can’t stop sleepwalking at night, the birds keep calling her name, and there’s a strange little girl in the woods who wants to play hide-and-seek. Beneath its gorgeous surface, Eulalie Island is hiding dark, tangled secrets. And if Addie doesn’t unravel them soon, the island might never let her go.

What is it about a book set on a remote and largely uninhabited island that just instantly draws me in and convinces me I need to read it? If you’re in the same camp, The Depths is for you!

From the start I was drawn in by the mystery of Eulalie Island and wanted to tag along with Addie as she discovered all of the beautiful, weird, and frightening things this island contained. Lesperance delivered everything I was hoping for among the haunting bird calls and color changing flowers, along with a sprinkling of twists and turns that kept me flipping page after page.

Addie was the perfect character to narrate this story. I loved the mix of her personal struggles alongside her journey on Eulalie and the parallels the two had with each other. Lesperance gives Addie a fun cast of secondary characters that help to round out this story and build on the creepy adventure at hand. 

There is so much I want to say about the little details of this story or plot points I adored, but they’re best kept under wraps and left for the next reader to discover on their own!

A huge thank you to Razorbill and Penguin Teen for my gifted copy!