ARC Review of Drowning Erin by Elizabeth O'Roark

Drowning Erin by Elizabeth O'Roark is such a powerhouse of a read. Erin Doyle and Brendan Langstrom were first introduced in Waking Olivia. Erin was Olivia's teammate on the track team and Brendan is Will's younger brother. This story is set several years after Waking Olivia. Erin is now engaged to Brendan's childhood best friend, Rob and Erin is a people pleaser, always helping others out , some may say she is an enabler. She puts others ahead of herself , to the point of pushing herself to exhaustion. It seems as if she is punishing herself by doing this, by acting this way. She seems like she has the picture perfect life with Rob- great home, nice job and a fiancé who has a fantastic job but when you look further, nothing is going right. Her fiancé works longer hours and is never home, her father and brother have drinking and drug problems that she hides, and when her fiancé best friend arrives to stay for a few months with them , she flips because she hates him but really, she doesn’t hate him and Brendon sees the face she projects to the world whereas not even her fiancé can. Brendon is someone who has been in love Erin for quite some time yet he cant let anyone know his true feelings which causes friction until he sees how his friend treats Erin and he reaches out and extends an olive branch of friendship. From there , Erin and Brendan’s complicated relationship takes a huge 360 turn and these enemies turn into something a lot more. There relationship was built on miscommunications and misunderstandings. A lot of it had to do with Erin’s fiancé but a lot of it had to do with time and circumstances… the past and present is shown in this story. Will Erin and Brendan finally get their story right this time or will those misunderstandings and complications drive these two apart for good? 
I loved this couple and felt they truly were given such a rough back story. I loved watching how they changed the past and worked toward a stronger future until the stupid fiancé showed up to screw things up yet the author knew how to keep me hooked and I loved how the story ended. You really need to read this awesome, passionate, angsty story of enemies to lovers to find out how everything turned out.

My Rating: 4.6 stars *****
“I received an advanced copy of this book from the author at no cost to me."