Logan was spending a quiet night on his farm, when something dreadful appears in the woods. Word gets out nationally about a supposed Bigfoot in Logan’s town. Chrystal’s father is on high alert with the news and decides they must go to Oklahoma to find the beast. What happens next becomes a terrifying summer of missing and murdered women in Logan’s little town. Chrystal and Logan race to discover what the monster is before it kills more people. This book surprised me with how intense and captivating the story became after a slow start. The author has the reader rooting for Chrystal and Logan the whole way.

This book suffers from too much mystery. While I enjoyed it and found the twists compelling, I know that many other students looking for a more "realistic" premise would be irritated with the introduction of supernatural beings. I think this would do well in the hands of the right kind of reader. The writing is snappy and the alternating POV keeps the plot moving at a brisk pace. I just feel like it would also have been successful without the supernatural elements and would have liked to read that book as well.

I was blown away by the creativity of this author. Firstly, let me start by saying this book was not predictable in any fashion. I was not able to figure out the ending prior to reading it (always a plus). I love the plot and the characters a thoroughly developed. I would highly suggest this book to anyone looking for an easy read or something a little creepy.

I just couldn't get into this story for some reason. I usually love thrillers, but I ended up not finishing this one.

This book started out as an interesting creepy monster in the woods book, but turned into a not surprising werewolf story. Once the monster in the woods was revealed to be werewolves, I felt like the overall creepiness was taken down ten notches. Werewolves are boring for me. It was overall a cheesy read.

This was kind of a whim request on my part. The description itself sounds more like the kind of book Kate would typically read than me. But I knew I’d need to have a few scary-ish stories lined up for October to at least pretend to be in the season of things, so here we are! However, it turned out that this book was more closely aligned to my reading habits than I had thought. Alas, that didn’t necessarily translate into increasing my enjoyment of it.

Something or someone is attacking things in Logan’s rural hometown. First it was cattle, but now people are beginning to be attacked as well. And the killer is only growing more bold, coming literally out of the shadows to attack in broad daylight. When Chrystal and her father, a man who chases adventure, arrive on the scene, they team up with Logan and his family to try and catch whomever or whatever is behind these mutilations. And as Logan and Chrystal grow steadily closer to each other romantically, and closer to the truth of the mystery, they soon find themselves no longer the hunters, but now the hunted.

So this was a tricky book for me. It’s so different than what I thought it would be that it’s hard to know how much of my experience was due to my expectations and how much was due to the book just not hitting the mark for me. It’s a strange twist, however, when the fact that I had thought I was intentionally reading out of my preferred genre somehow backfired when I found out I was actually reading more within it. I’m not quite sure what the marketing decisions were behind why this book was presented as it was, but I definitely went in thinking it was going to be some type of creepy, YA, serial killer story. Nope! Much more aligned with monster horror and cryptozoology stories. And yeah, on the face of it, those are my thing, but something about the way it was presented here just didn’t click for me.

Really, I don’t think it had anything to do with the monster angle. Yeah, I was looking for serial killer, but let’s face it, I’m not super dedicated to that or anything. My bigger problems had to do with the story itself and its two main character. There are hints of good characters here, but the writing itself let them down. The dialogue was almost laughable at times, and their relationship falls into the worst traps of instalove. They literally first meet and “feel a connection.” Not only is this not interesting, but it’s the laziest kind of romance building. No need to establish why two characters come together when they both “just know” instantly! Done, hard work finished. Now onto the mushy stuff! Ugh. My feelings about instalove have been well-established, so I’ll stop there.

The plot itself was rather lackluster. Sure, there were some fun, tense scenes sprinkled here and there, but there were too many moments where things happened that didn’t make sense or stretched my sense of plausibility beyond enjoyment. Much of the mystery is telegraphed to the reader pretty early in the story, so the reader is often ahead of the characters in terms of reveals. This is all made harder due to the writing which was just kind of banal. As I mentioned before, the dialogue was the real problem; didn’t read as natural which made it a constant distraction.

In the end I think it was six of one as to why this book didn’t click for me. On one hand, it wasn’t what I expected and contemporary stories featuring instalove have to be up there on my “most disliked” list. On the other hand, the strained writing and lackluster plot didn’t recommend it to me either. Readers who are more interested in contemporary YA and monster stories (notably NOT serial killers) might enjoy this. But I also think there are better options out there doing similar things.

Rating 5: Right down the middle of my rating system and largely forgettable.

A good, creepy supernatural mystery. My students are going to eat this up, and I look forward to booktalking it.

This will be a hard review to write. I liked the book, I thought it was pretty good but there were some things that just fell a little flat for me. From the cover and the summary, you get the feeling that this is a straight up thriller mystery, but there is a supernatural element to what is going on. This might trip up some readers, but it is an interesting twist to this type of story.

I really liked Logan. He is a quiet country boy who likes to hunt and shoot guns, but he also writes poetry. At the start of the story he is feeling a bit lonely because his best friend has a girl friend that he is spending all of his time with. Once the killings start and Chrystal comes into his life, he really steps up and does what he needs to in order to protect his family and town. He grows a lot in this story and it was nice to see the duality in his personality, soft and gentle, yet when strong when it was needed.

Chrystal was a bit harder to like. She seemed to be the opposite of Logan, she likes the city and being around people. She finds country life hard to take and doesn’t get the gun thing at all, even when she sees the need for them. She is smart though and is able to defend herself when she gets in to some tough situations. She also has a softer side, but we generally only see this when she is interacting with her dad.

I loved both sets of parents in this story. Usually in YA parents are either absent or total jerks. Chrystal’s dad was so eccentric. I loved that he was a kindergarten teacher, who also liked to investigate sightings of Bigfoot and werewolves. He was so adorable. He could maybe have been a bit more attentive of Chrystal and maybe explained some important things to her, but I loved him anyways. Logan’s parents were also great. They were both very protective of their family and did what needed to get done. His mom ended up being a total badass at one point which was awesome.

The plot is where things get a little bit disappointing for me. It was interesting enough to keep me engaged, but the twists didn’t always make sense and there were still some things at the end that could have been explained a bit better. But the supernatural aspect of the story was fascinating, and not something that I had encountered before. The plot was also fast moving and compelling enough that I had a hard time putting it down. The writing was also a little bit stilted, and there were sections that didn’t flow together well.

Despite its flaws this is a really interesting supernatural thriller. I would recommend it as something good to read this summer.

In the Woods by Carrie Jones & Steven E. Wedel was a fantastic & exciting read. It's difficult to review without spoilers but I will do my best. The characters are great in their feeling of familiarity- it's like reading about your friends doing extraordinary things. The pace was perfect, giving you pieces of the story to latch onto and make you want to devour the book in one sitting so you can find out what is going on. There was some explanation near the end that I would have liked more of but it still felt complete and satisfying. I haven't read any other books by these authors but I will now!

**Disclaimer: I received a free advanced readers copy of In the Woods by Carrie Jones and Stephen E. Wedel for review purposes through NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge.  Thank you to them for this opportunity.

In the Woods by Carrie Jones and Stephen E. Wedel is a young adult horror novel that releases on July 16th.  I gave it three stars on GoodReads.

Here is the summary on GoodReads:

New York Times bestselling author Carrie Jones teams up with acclaimed co-writer Steven Wedel in this supernatural mystery
It should have been just another quiet night on the farm when Logan witnessed the attack, but it wasn’t.
Something is in the woods. 
Something unexplainable. 
Something deadly.
Hundreds of miles away, Chrystal’s plans for summer in Manhattan are abruptly upended when her dad reads tabloid coverage of some kind of grisly incident in Oklahoma. When they arrive to investigate, they find a witness: a surprisingly good-looking farm boy.
As townsfolk start disappearing and the attacks get ever closer, Logan and Chrystal will have to find out the truth about whatever’s hiding in the woods…before they become targets themselves.

The quality that drew me initially to the cover was the cover of this one.  It caught my eye amongst the other covers on the pages of NetGalley.  So I clicked on it and read the summary and found myself drawn to the idea of it.  So I requested it and I was excited when it came in.  I knew I had to prioritize it because the book was coming out pretty quickly, and I was definitely interested enough to prioritize it.

However, I found myself a little bit disappointed.  I was engaged enough, but the writing just wasn't spectacular.  The twists usually came out of left field without many hints and it felt confusing and difficult to follow the big reveals.  The big reveals were too sudden and the hiding of details to prolong suspense fell kind of flat.

I really liked the dual point of view telling of the story.  Chrystal and Logan were interesting characters and it was nice to get to see inside their heads.  Their skepticism was realistic and relatable, and I really enjoyed their perspectives.  I also really liked the romance.  It was cute how it developed and I loved how all of Logan's family was basically pushing the two of them together because they just thought they would be cute together.  The romance was awkward at the start and that felt really realistic.

I also liked the basic plot of the story and what the big monster turned out to be.  It was a really interesting twist on something that I haven't read a whole lot about.  However, some of the reveals that came along with that were strange and some needed a bit more development.  I realize that's kind of vague, but I don't really want to spoil the big reveal.

Chrystal's dad was one of my favourite characters in the book.  He was cute in his obsession with cryptozoology and I felt he was fairly well developed.  Chrystal and Logan were clearly the best developed characters, but I felt like most of the side characters that we encountered regularly were well developed. However, the dialogue was occasionally awkward and felt unrealistic.

One thing that perplexed and bothered me was the constant, repetitive references to things Kierkegaard had said.  There were times when half a page were quotes from Kierkegaard and I just didn't really understand what that added to the story or why Chrystal was so obsessed with the philosopher.  It didn't really add anything to the story.

Another thing I really liked about the story was that it played with the reader's beliefs about what happened.  It wasn't clear whether this story had a fantastical element until well into the book.  It increased my level of suspense. I had to keep reading because I needed to know what was going to happen, and I didn't want to put it down until everything ended.

So while this wasn't my favourite thing I've read, it was fun.  I had a giggle or two, and it kept me engaged enough that I wanted to see how everything played out at the end of the book.  If anything that I've mentioned, or the summary at all intrigues you, I recommend checking out In the Woods when it releases on July 16th.

Thanks again to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for this opportunity.  Thanks to you for reading.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion***

Sadly, I could not get into this story. I don't know if it was because I couldn't really get a feel for the characters, or if I did not love the writing style. Maybe a little of both. I tried to keep it going, but I never really cared about the story.

I did not think I would like this Book as much as I did, but it sucked me in with the character development and the supernatural aspect of it. The twists were believable, yet not quite predictable which made it even more enjoyable.

I'm a big Carrie Jones fan, so I was pretty excited to get to read an advanced copy of this new collaboration with Steven Wedel. I'm glad to say the book did not disappoint.

Caveat: THIS IS A SUPERNATURAL BOOK. I've read some reviews that were disappointed in it because they expected a mystery thriller, and got a story about a cryptozoologist's daughter and a boy who first spots a scary being in small-town Oklahoma. So if Bigfoot, werewolves, and the like are not your thing, this book probably is not for you.

However, I have no problem with varying levels of supernatural existence. The story is told in alternating points of view between the two main characters - Logan, a high-school senior farm boy whose family runs a working dairy farm, and Chrystal, whose father is a kindergarten teacher/cryptozoologist. When Logan sees a "thing" rip the head off and carry off one of the farm's calves, the experience starts the story rolling.

As the reporters descend on Logan's family, sthe news spreads to Maine, where Chrystal's father brings her along to investigate what could be an actual Bigfoot sighting. By the time they discover what the beast really is, more animals have been killed and the beast has escalated to killing women/girls also.

The plot is creatively woven, and I wasn't 100% sure who the beast was until near the time it is actually revealed, which in my opinion, makes for a good mystery/thriller. Jones and Wedel balance the scary with humor, making In the Woods a very engaging read.

Overall I enjoyed the book. At first I wasn’t really sure where it was going but the more & more I read I became more interested.
It does have a Little Red Riding Hood vs. Big Bad Wolf vibe to it that enjoyed.
But I did get a little confused around the middle to the end of the story because it went back & forth between Chrystal & Logan’s point of views.
But overall not bad.

This is very little red riding hood-ish. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this but it turned out pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I wound up liking this book.
Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

In the Woods. I have always been a fan of YA supernatural and I loved this book. This is definitely one that middle grade can read. There isn’t any foul language or promiscuous intent is this story and the characters are very likable. At the beginning of the book, Chrystal and her father are on a journey to prove that the supernatural exists. Chrystal isn’t really interested in the supernatural—she thinks it doesn’t exist. Enter Logan, a southern farm boy that has just witnessed something so gruesome he will never forget. This book is an awesome read for middle and junior grades. I did not note any foul language or intimate scenes.

Bigfoot, werewolves, and teenagers, oh my!

Jones and Wedel weaved a scary but fun tale in their book, In the Woods. The reader will follow the heart pounding journey of Logan, a quiet but strong teenage boy and Chrystal, a smart and reluctant daughter of a cryptozooloogist as they try to save Logan's town from the vicious beast like creature killing livestock and killing women.

It is important for any adults that read this to remember this is a book written for young adults. I might even argue late middle school to early high school readers. It will require a certain suspension of belief, which will be easier if you remember it is not written for adults.

Pros: It is a coming of age for both main characters and the reader will enjoy this journey with them. The story is well written with plenty of tense moments. The characters are believable if a bit naive and they are endearing. As a reader, you will connect to them and root for them.

Cons: This is mostly for adult readers- it is predictable and you will figure it out. The romance is a bit cringey from adult eyes, but if you spend anytime around teenagers it isn't out of the realm of possibility. There are some "There is zero way that would happen." moments which will require leaps of faith in the interest of letting the story do its magic.

Read it if you like YA fiction, if you like new takes on mythological creatures, if you like a good thriller. Read it if you want a fun , easy, and enjoyable read.

I really liked this one guys! I know it's getting a lot of grief, but it was just so good! It spoke to all of my favourite things - creepy cryptids, flirtation, a little mystery. I went in expecting something completely different, but was pleasantly surprised by the way things went.

In the Woods kept me reading. The characters are believable even in unbelievable circumstances. Nice twist, great for those kiddos who like a little surprise in their reading. :)
#netgalley #Inthewoods

In the Woods is an entertaining supernatural read perfect for lovers of cryptozoology. Chrystal and her father head out to Oklahoma to hunt down a mysterious creature that is attacking cattle and women. They meet the Jennings’ family and son Logan who was first to see the creature in the middle of the night. The attacks worsen and occur during daylight causing Chrystal’s and Logan’s families to work together to figure out what the monster is and how to kill it before another victim is claimed.

The instant love between Chrystal and Logan was comical. It literally happens when they first meet and they both acted super annoying. Logan’s best friend David always talked about his girlfriend which was redundant. Nobody cares about his girlfriend that never appears in the story. Once David got included in the monster drama he forgot all about his girlfriend and became tolerable.

The clues presented themselves early for the audience to know what the monster is and who is behind the scenes of all the commotion. Some of the action scenes were ridiculous and couldn’t happen in real life (especially one where the bad guys break into the Jennings’ house despite police guarding it), but those rules don’t apply to fiction. The dialogue was sometimes cringe-worthy and there are questions left at the end, but it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.