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Day Drinkers
From the author of Zone Trip comes a bold tale of survival, identity, and the price of secrecy.
From her office window on St. Columba, Gemma gazes out at the mysterious pleasure island just beyond the reef. Owned by country music legend Cowboi Rivers, the exclusive retreat lures the world’s wealthy and powerful with promises of secrecy and illicit pleasures. Meanwhile, the locals keep their distance, wary of the wild parties and whispered rumors of drugs and disappearing girls.
Desperate to escape her dead-end job, Gemma seizes a risky opportunity to captain the sailing vessel Mariposa for Cowboi’s shadowy empire. She finds herself swept into a world of corrupt elites. When a cocaine pickup in the Dominican Republic spirals into a deadly double-cross, Gemma and her crew enlist the aid of a Vodou priestess, the ghost of a hard-drinking mariner, and a rumba-loving boat boy to escape. With her enemies closing in, Gemma sails toward Cuba, facing a storm that threatens to push her over the edge.
Day Drinkers is where the American dream washes ashore.
From her office window on St. Columba, Gemma gazes out at the mysterious pleasure island just beyond the reef. Owned by country music legend Cowboi Rivers, the exclusive retreat lures the world’s wealthy and powerful with promises of secrecy and illicit pleasures. Meanwhile, the locals keep their distance, wary of the wild parties and whispered rumors of drugs and disappearing girls.
Desperate to escape her dead-end job, Gemma seizes a risky opportunity to captain the sailing vessel Mariposa for Cowboi’s shadowy empire. She finds herself swept into a world of corrupt elites. When a cocaine pickup in the Dominican Republic spirals into a deadly double-cross, Gemma and her crew enlist the aid of a Vodou priestess, the ghost of a hard-drinking mariner, and a rumba-loving boat boy to escape. With her enemies closing in, Gemma sails toward Cuba, facing a storm that threatens to push her over the edge.
Day Drinkers is where the American dream washes ashore.
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358 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2025
66 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 30, 2025
Kitty Turner’s Day Drinkers drops readers right into the messy, sunburned heart of St. Columba, where tourists, drifters, and locals collide in a haze of heat, booze, and uneasy history. At the center is Gemma, a young woman caught between two worlds - her Vermont upbringing and her Caribbean bloodline - and who’s trying to scrape by selling timeshares by day and drinking too much by night. She’s not a polished protagonist. She’s hungover half the time, defensive, insecure, and stubborn, but that’s what makes her real. Her life feels like a patchwork of contradictions: pitching luxury fantasies to tourists while dumpster-diving for food in the off-season, claiming island identity while still being looked at like an outsider, chasing money while worrying that every opportunity offered to her is actually a trap.
The plot is really pushed forward by two hooks that never quite let go - Vaughn, the local sailor who vanishes without a trace, and Cowboi Rivers, the island’s mythic country star whose shadow looms over everything. Gemma getting pulled into Cowboi’s orbit through the “water taxi” scheme - ferrying young women to his private island, Easter Cay - is where the book sharpens from just sweaty bar scenes into something heavier. Turner plays it smart. She never makes the job cartoonishly evil or the choice simple, instead she lets the moral grayness build as Gemma weighs survival against her conscience. The whole Easter Cay setup becomes less about boats and islands and more about how easy money bends people, especially when desperation is already eating at them.
What’s clever is that these two threads - the missing sailor and the shady side hustle - mirror each other in tone but together, they dig into themes of exploitation, complicity, and temptation without preaching, but rather just showing how ordinary people like Gemma stumble into extraordinary compromises. The prose is rich and sprawling, sometimes almost too lush with detail - long passages about the markets, the cruise ships, the yoga retreat, the dive bars - but it works because the island itself is a character, alive and contradictory, just like the people in it. The world-building mixes the raw and the polished: behind every glossy resort photo there’s a rusting shack, behind every beach party a darker rumor, behind every easy friendship a hint of exploitation. Turner doesn’t clean it up for the reader, and sometimes that unevenness in pacing feels deliberate, like life on the island: fast, intoxicating, and then suddenly bleak.
What kept me hooked was the tension between Gemma’s personal flaws and the wider story swirling around her. There’s a missing friend, shady offers from local power players like Boon, and the looming shadow of Cowboi Rivers’ private island - rumored to be glamorous, corrupt, maybe even sinister. Underneath all that plot is the constant hum of themes, among them: belonging, survival, compromise, and what happens when you drink away your choices until someone else makes them for you.
Quill says: Day Drinkers is less a clean, straight-shot novel and more a messy cocktail, that is, part mystery, part social drama, and part boozy character study and that’s exactly why it lingers. It is a richly atmospheric and character-driven novel perfect for readers who enjoy flawed protagonists, strong senses of place, and stories that live in the morally gray area between right and wrong. Fans of atmospheric literary fiction with elements of mystery and social commentary will find much to savor here. Additionally, readers who like their fiction flawed, sweaty, and morally gray, with a strong sense of place and characters who don’t always make the right call, will probably feel right at home under Kitty Turner’s tarp.
The plot is really pushed forward by two hooks that never quite let go - Vaughn, the local sailor who vanishes without a trace, and Cowboi Rivers, the island’s mythic country star whose shadow looms over everything. Gemma getting pulled into Cowboi’s orbit through the “water taxi” scheme - ferrying young women to his private island, Easter Cay - is where the book sharpens from just sweaty bar scenes into something heavier. Turner plays it smart. She never makes the job cartoonishly evil or the choice simple, instead she lets the moral grayness build as Gemma weighs survival against her conscience. The whole Easter Cay setup becomes less about boats and islands and more about how easy money bends people, especially when desperation is already eating at them.
What’s clever is that these two threads - the missing sailor and the shady side hustle - mirror each other in tone but together, they dig into themes of exploitation, complicity, and temptation without preaching, but rather just showing how ordinary people like Gemma stumble into extraordinary compromises. The prose is rich and sprawling, sometimes almost too lush with detail - long passages about the markets, the cruise ships, the yoga retreat, the dive bars - but it works because the island itself is a character, alive and contradictory, just like the people in it. The world-building mixes the raw and the polished: behind every glossy resort photo there’s a rusting shack, behind every beach party a darker rumor, behind every easy friendship a hint of exploitation. Turner doesn’t clean it up for the reader, and sometimes that unevenness in pacing feels deliberate, like life on the island: fast, intoxicating, and then suddenly bleak.
What kept me hooked was the tension between Gemma’s personal flaws and the wider story swirling around her. There’s a missing friend, shady offers from local power players like Boon, and the looming shadow of Cowboi Rivers’ private island - rumored to be glamorous, corrupt, maybe even sinister. Underneath all that plot is the constant hum of themes, among them: belonging, survival, compromise, and what happens when you drink away your choices until someone else makes them for you.
Quill says: Day Drinkers is less a clean, straight-shot novel and more a messy cocktail, that is, part mystery, part social drama, and part boozy character study and that’s exactly why it lingers. It is a richly atmospheric and character-driven novel perfect for readers who enjoy flawed protagonists, strong senses of place, and stories that live in the morally gray area between right and wrong. Fans of atmospheric literary fiction with elements of mystery and social commentary will find much to savor here. Additionally, readers who like their fiction flawed, sweaty, and morally gray, with a strong sense of place and characters who don’t always make the right call, will probably feel right at home under Kitty Turner’s tarp.
March 22, 2026
Day Drinkers by Kitty Turner is a bold and atmospheric novel that blends survival thriller, literary fiction, and a touch of the supernatural into something entirely its own. From the author of Zone Trip, this new work transports readers to St. Columba, a Caribbean island where the wealthy and powerful gather on a mysterious pleasure island owned by country music legend Cowboi Rivers, while the locals keep their distance, wary of the rumors that drift across the water.
Gemma, the novel's protagonist, gazes at that pleasure island from her office window, trapped in a dead end job and desperate for escape. When an opportunity arises to captain the sailing vessel Mariposa for Cowboi's shadowy empire, she seizes it, knowing the risks. What follows is a descent into a world of corrupt elites, illicit deals, and danger that escalates with every chapter.
Turner excels at creating atmosphere. The Caribbean setting is rendered with vivid detail, the beauty of the islands contrasting with the darkness of the operations unfolding there. When a cocaine pickup in the Dominican Republic spirals into a deadly double cross, Gemma and her crew are forced into a desperate flight for survival. Their unlikely allies include a Vodou priestess, the ghost of a hard drinking mariner, and a rumba loving boat boy. These elements could feel gimmicky in lesser hands, but Turner integrates them with skill, grounding the supernatural in the cultural reality of the region.
What sets Day Drinkers apart is its refusal to offer easy heroism. Gemma is a protagonist defined by her desperation and her choices, neither fully innocent nor fully guilty. The novel explores the price of secrecy, the cost of survival, and the way that the American dream, when washed ashore, can become something unrecognizable. The storm that Gemma faces is both literal and metaphorical, a force of nature and a test of her will to survive.
The pacing is relentless for much of the novel, but Turner takes time to develop character and place. The crew of the Mariposa are rendered with care, their loyalties shifting as the danger mounts. The enemies closing in are given enough presence to feel threatening without overshadowing the intimate scale of the story.
For readers who enjoy literary thrillers, stories of survival against corrupt systems, and novels that blend the real and the supernatural with skill, Day Drinkers is an excellent choice. It is the kind of work that deserves a much wider readership and with the right exposure it will find the audience it truly deserves.
Gemma, the novel's protagonist, gazes at that pleasure island from her office window, trapped in a dead end job and desperate for escape. When an opportunity arises to captain the sailing vessel Mariposa for Cowboi's shadowy empire, she seizes it, knowing the risks. What follows is a descent into a world of corrupt elites, illicit deals, and danger that escalates with every chapter.
Turner excels at creating atmosphere. The Caribbean setting is rendered with vivid detail, the beauty of the islands contrasting with the darkness of the operations unfolding there. When a cocaine pickup in the Dominican Republic spirals into a deadly double cross, Gemma and her crew are forced into a desperate flight for survival. Their unlikely allies include a Vodou priestess, the ghost of a hard drinking mariner, and a rumba loving boat boy. These elements could feel gimmicky in lesser hands, but Turner integrates them with skill, grounding the supernatural in the cultural reality of the region.
What sets Day Drinkers apart is its refusal to offer easy heroism. Gemma is a protagonist defined by her desperation and her choices, neither fully innocent nor fully guilty. The novel explores the price of secrecy, the cost of survival, and the way that the American dream, when washed ashore, can become something unrecognizable. The storm that Gemma faces is both literal and metaphorical, a force of nature and a test of her will to survive.
The pacing is relentless for much of the novel, but Turner takes time to develop character and place. The crew of the Mariposa are rendered with care, their loyalties shifting as the danger mounts. The enemies closing in are given enough presence to feel threatening without overshadowing the intimate scale of the story.
For readers who enjoy literary thrillers, stories of survival against corrupt systems, and novels that blend the real and the supernatural with skill, Day Drinkers is an excellent choice. It is the kind of work that deserves a much wider readership and with the right exposure it will find the audience it truly deserves.
October 17, 2025
Day Drinkers is a lush, sun-baked story about Gemma, a woman caught between worlds on the fictional Caribbean island of St. Columba. The book follows her tangled life among drifters, hustlers, and dreamers who drink through the heat and chase meaning in the wreckage of paradise. Gemma’s story begins with small talk under a tarp at Boon Dock Marine and unfolds into something much larger, her struggle with identity, survival, and the ghosts of her family’s past. Author Kitty Turner paints the island with heat and texture: the smell of rum, salt, and cheap perfume, the pulse of reggae, and the quiet ache of belonging. This is a story about the people who live in the margins of paradise, where beauty and corruption coexist and survival is an act of endurance.
What I loved most about Turner’s writing is how it feels it rolls over you, thick and heavy, then suddenly clears into moments of stillness. Her sentences swing between gritty and lyrical, giving the island a heartbeat that feels alive. Gemma isn’t an easy heroine, she’s messy, flawed, and stubborn, but she’s real. I found myself rooting for her even when I wanted to shake her. The dialogue feels sharp and natural, full of humor and island slang, and the author never softens the hard edges of poverty, addiction, or moral compromise. The story’s spirituality creeps in like humidity, subtle at first, then impossible to ignore. Turner threads mysticism through realism in a way that feels both grounded and haunting.
The island itself sometimes feels more vivid than the people who inhabit it, and a few side characters blur together. But the novel’s rhythm, its mix of danger, longing, and low-simmering dread, kept me hooked. I admired how Turner doesn’t try to redeem everyone. She just lets them be, in all their contradictions. The result is a book that feels lived-in, like a slow afternoon after too much sun and too little water.
Day Drinkers reads as if Donna Tartt spent a summer in the Caribbean with Taylor Jenkins Reid’s eye for glamour and ruin, spinning a story that smells of salt, sweat, and spilled rum. I’d recommend Day Drinkers to readers who love character-driven stories with atmosphere so thick you can taste it. If you’ve ever wanted a novel that feels like a hangover and a confession rolled into one, this one’s for you.
What I loved most about Turner’s writing is how it feels it rolls over you, thick and heavy, then suddenly clears into moments of stillness. Her sentences swing between gritty and lyrical, giving the island a heartbeat that feels alive. Gemma isn’t an easy heroine, she’s messy, flawed, and stubborn, but she’s real. I found myself rooting for her even when I wanted to shake her. The dialogue feels sharp and natural, full of humor and island slang, and the author never softens the hard edges of poverty, addiction, or moral compromise. The story’s spirituality creeps in like humidity, subtle at first, then impossible to ignore. Turner threads mysticism through realism in a way that feels both grounded and haunting.
The island itself sometimes feels more vivid than the people who inhabit it, and a few side characters blur together. But the novel’s rhythm, its mix of danger, longing, and low-simmering dread, kept me hooked. I admired how Turner doesn’t try to redeem everyone. She just lets them be, in all their contradictions. The result is a book that feels lived-in, like a slow afternoon after too much sun and too little water.
Day Drinkers reads as if Donna Tartt spent a summer in the Caribbean with Taylor Jenkins Reid’s eye for glamour and ruin, spinning a story that smells of salt, sweat, and spilled rum. I’d recommend Day Drinkers to readers who love character-driven stories with atmosphere so thick you can taste it. If you’ve ever wanted a novel that feels like a hangover and a confession rolled into one, this one’s for you.
March 1, 2026
What starts as a sunny escape turns into a hold-my-drink kind of chaos real fast. 🍹🌊📖
Day Drinkers was SUCH a fun book club pick wild, gritty, and totally unhinged in the best way. Gemma is stuck in a dead-end job, staring out at a forbidden pleasure island, and honestly, the same. When she takes a risky gig captaining a sailboat for a sketchy, ultra-wealthy empire run by a country music legend, yes, really, the story launches straight into dark satire, danger, and nonstop momentum.
This book is packed with corrupt elites, drugs, ghosts, Vodou, bad decisions, and even worse men, and somehow, it all works. The vibes are tropical noir meets fever dreams, and I loved how it skewers the idea of the American dream while tossing Gemma into one impossible situation after another. It’s chaotic, sharp, and surprisingly smart, with so much to unpack for discussion.
Perfect for a book club that loves messy characters, moral gray areas, and stories that make you laugh, gasp, and say “WHAT did I just read?” sometimes all on the same page.
Day Drinkers was SUCH a fun book club pick wild, gritty, and totally unhinged in the best way. Gemma is stuck in a dead-end job, staring out at a forbidden pleasure island, and honestly, the same. When she takes a risky gig captaining a sailboat for a sketchy, ultra-wealthy empire run by a country music legend, yes, really, the story launches straight into dark satire, danger, and nonstop momentum.
This book is packed with corrupt elites, drugs, ghosts, Vodou, bad decisions, and even worse men, and somehow, it all works. The vibes are tropical noir meets fever dreams, and I loved how it skewers the idea of the American dream while tossing Gemma into one impossible situation after another. It’s chaotic, sharp, and surprisingly smart, with so much to unpack for discussion.
Perfect for a book club that loves messy characters, moral gray areas, and stories that make you laugh, gasp, and say “WHAT did I just read?” sometimes all on the same page.
September 2, 2025
In a story that could be torn from the headlines, Kitty Turner weaves a riveting tale of life in the Caribbean for a woman of color struggling to build her life. On a nearby island, a white man with a fortune is increasing his wealth in human exploitation. When their paths cross, it becomes a tale of survival.
The characters are vividly portrayed in this engrossing novel. The plight of the native population of the island highlights the motives and actions of the main character's need to escape this situation and seek a better life. While she is knowledgeable about the area and suspicious about the man's activity, she is lured into a deal with the devil.
The story pulled me in from start to finish and left me with a different perception of the islands from the one I encountered as a tourist. Excellent book.
I received an advance reader copy of the book and am offering my honest review.
The characters are vividly portrayed in this engrossing novel. The plight of the native population of the island highlights the motives and actions of the main character's need to escape this situation and seek a better life. While she is knowledgeable about the area and suspicious about the man's activity, she is lured into a deal with the devil.
The story pulled me in from start to finish and left me with a different perception of the islands from the one I encountered as a tourist. Excellent book.
I received an advance reader copy of the book and am offering my honest review.
October 17, 2025
Talk about a wild ride. This book grabs your attention and doesn't let go. Expect thrills, chills, betrayal and a race for survival. An island of fantasy can easier become a thing of nightmares.
Gemma is desperate to escape her dead end job, but desperation often leads to reckless behavior. When she is presented with the opportunity to cash in big, she doesn't hesitate to pull together a crew so she can captain a sailing vessel to transport goods across the Dominican Republic but when things take a dicey turn and Gemma finds herself in the middle of a harrowing situation, her dream of cashing in big time has turned into a nightmare of safety and survival.
As the saying goes, "All Money, Ain't Good Money", Gemma will soon learn that lesson the hard way.
Thank you, Rockstar Book Tours, for the gifted copy of "Day Drinkers"
Gemma is desperate to escape her dead end job, but desperation often leads to reckless behavior. When she is presented with the opportunity to cash in big, she doesn't hesitate to pull together a crew so she can captain a sailing vessel to transport goods across the Dominican Republic but when things take a dicey turn and Gemma finds herself in the middle of a harrowing situation, her dream of cashing in big time has turned into a nightmare of safety and survival.
As the saying goes, "All Money, Ain't Good Money", Gemma will soon learn that lesson the hard way.
Thank you, Rockstar Book Tours, for the gifted copy of "Day Drinkers"
November 7, 2025
I'm not a huge fan of absurdist fiction, but this one was definitely not hopless like Camus or Kafka. I really enjoyed several facets of the story. It started slowly for me, but picked up in Part 2. The setting was amazingly vivid, particularly the grayer parts of it. So many people do well describing the pleasing aspects of something, but the grittier part of the island was really my favorite.
There were times it was hard to like Gemma, to question her motivations, but she was really a dynamic character. I found her connection to her spirit guide very compelling.
This book was way out of my comfort zone, but I'm glad I read it. I have already recommended it to another reader.
There were times it was hard to like Gemma, to question her motivations, but she was really a dynamic character. I found her connection to her spirit guide very compelling.
This book was way out of my comfort zone, but I'm glad I read it. I have already recommended it to another reader.
September 18, 2025
Kitty Turner keeps you interested in this saga of a young woman in the Caribbean trying to survive among the seasonal workers in tourist areas. With the opportunity to make big money in the off season working for an unsavory celebrity millionaire, she puts a crew together to transport illegal items. There's lots of twists & turns in this story. A great read!
February 20, 2026
It turned out to be interesting but the ending was weird. The spirit world/ghost stuff just didn't really fit to me. This book reminded me of a more grown up version of Moana/Encanto mixed with Outer Banks. 😂
September 29, 2025
good story line. Loved the MFC . I didn't like that the author used AI to help with descriptions. At least thats what it seemed like. AI always uses "tapestry " to describe things.
February 14, 2026
Captivating
Not at all what I expected, but was a good read. Able to visualize the beauty of the islands and the corruption taking place.
Not at all what I expected, but was a good read. Able to visualize the beauty of the islands and the corruption taking place.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews