I wasn’t able to finish this book. Because of this, it is my policy not to review the book on my site or on Goodreads/Amazon. I also didn’t mark it DNF.

Loved this book, in fact I enjoy anything that Ann writes. Looking forward to the next read of hers that I read. Keep it up Ann.📖📖

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles.
I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our library collection on preorder and will recommend it to students.

This book was a solid YA sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, romance mix. The characters, while not fully fleshed out, still felt believable and the plot propelled forward keeping me reading to the end.

I think that the synopsis was misleading enough for me to have deja vu the whole book. It's interesting to me, the way that there was almost good discussion on living in America currently, but it was almost negated by the ending, which was also the best part of the book.

I received a copy of this novel from Netgalley for an honest review.

I have such mixed feelings about this novel because I feel like it was too many stories at once. Yes, the ending tied everything up and was quite touching.....but there was a lot of eye rolling to get there.

This novel sounded really cool and creepy about Araceli going to live with her Great Aunt in a new town and it is very Derry, Maine-esque where there is an exponentially high number of missing people. In addition to that, there is a strange and secretive research facility deep in the woods...(ahem, Stranger Things anyone?). I feel like if the story had focused on that and NOT thrown the the time travel-ish romance story then it would have made more sense. Mind you, I LOVE me some time travel love stories! However, it felt like there were two different novels trying to play out during the story and it was quite jarring. Plus, the RIDICULOUS insta-love with the time travel love story was just eye-rolling and again, it felt jarring in the overall story. Again, TOTALLY came together in the end but it was painfully gag worthy the entire novel that in the end it just felt like a meh ending.

Plus, with the ending, yes quite a bit was wrapped up but there were a LOT of unanswered questions and it felt quite rushed and just felt like let's finish the novel and make a sweet, happy ending and......not explain anything else at all. :/

This novel had a lot of potential and then felt like it just fell flat with trying to be two polar opposite stories in one.

Interesting read, it reminded me a bit of Stranger Things.
Overall a good read with good characters.

Arc provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I love this author's work, especially the Razorland series, but this book did not live up to the expectations I had in my head. I kept wondering if this was a mislabeled "magical realism" story as it felt like one. I don't always enjoy magical realism but pushed through this. It certainly was a fantasy but it was "light fantasy" at best, and certainly not "horror". There was not a not thrilling or horrific about the story.

I did enjoy the characters. Aguirre is always so good at developing complex and flawed characters. She is able to weave such wonderful chemistry between them. She must have magic in her blood.

The plot was the weakest part of this story. There were just too many things happening and none of them felt fully flushed out. Was it a romance? Historical fiction? Magical realism? Fantasy? Coming of age? It just did not know what it wanted to be when it grew up. I struggled to figure out the reason behind the story. Some parts went on forever while other parts were mentioned for barely a paragraph. It was confusing.

Thankfully this is a stand-alone as I would not read the next book if this were a series. I will still always read everything Ann Aguirre writes, but I just cannot recommend this one to other readers.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. I will review this title at a different date.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. I did find that the story did not flow as easily as I would have liked. At times, it seemed like I was missing a couple of pages. This may have been due to it being an eARC that I was reading. The scientific, supernatural-ish aspect of this book was really intriguing and it kept me reading so I could find out what the cause of the phenomenon was attributed to. Overall, great read and I can't wait to read more by Ann Aguirre.

This book messed with my head. Ann Aguirre was throwing in so many different genres into this book I just almost could not keep up and lost count. I will be truly honest, this is a good book although a little bit confusing and hard read. Sometimes I just went like WTH is happening in here, somebody enlighten me.

Where do I start. How do I start? Will this review make sense? Let’s find out.

First, let’s start off by saying <u>Heartwood Box</u> is a mashup of so many genres mixed into one: historical elements (World War I), romance, some sci-fi, with a little bit of mystery and thriller.

All of that made this a very intriguing read. I liked it a lot more than anticipated. While it was a little slow getting into, it kept at a steady pace and there was a lot of build up that made the story so interesting.

There were a lot of things that were pretty obvious or predictable, which probably could just be me and my inability to get into thrillers because I can always figure it out. That didn’t make it any less enjoyable, though.

I adored Araceli. I often feel that female main characters aren’t created strong enough. That they’re flawed in some way, that they couldn’t stand on their own. Always needing someone to come in on their behalf. This was not the case for Araceli.

For the most part, she was on her own to figure things out and get to the bottom of everything. Yes, she asked her friends for help along the way and they were always along for the ride . . . but she didn’t <b>need</b> them.

Logan was adorable, too. I knew there was a story with him and I pretty much called it. It made it even more endearing. He was such a good friend for Araceli, there for her when she wanted it.

I really enjoyed the true story of the New York town — unnamed in the book, but author’s note mentions it — that Araceli and everyone lived in. I actually researched it and found everything fascinating. That’s one thing I love taking away from a book . . . the desire to research an aspect of what I read.

The sci-fi element was very interesting, to say the least. There were a few things that I didn’t quite understand because <i>physics</i> but I followed along enough to get the gist of what’s supposed to happen, what was meant to happen, etc.

This is the second book I’ve read by Ann Aguirre, and I’ve been impressed with her writing and her stories. I can’t wait to read more!

This book was a combination of genres. It was mostly a young adult thriller, but there were aspects of paranormal fiction, science fiction, and even historical fiction. Though this seems like a large mix of genres, it worked in this story.

The story was quite creepy at the beginning. I couldn’t figure out what was going to happen. It was heartbreaking to see Araceli develop a relationship with a boy from a different time, while knowing that they couldn’t be together. It was strange, the way this story resolved into science fiction. I thought it would just be a paranormal or supernatural story, but it had science behind it.

I really enjoyed this story!

Thank you Tor Teen for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

I picked this one up at the perfect time, as I had just finished a very heavy read. It's light while still being creepy and tackling racism. There's a nice combo of several genres and I really enjoyed the romance. I recommend it for those looking for an easy YA read.

This Stranger Things meets the Lake House story was one that well just didn't work for me and that made me pretty sad. I felt like it was very confusing at parts and I just really never connected with anyone. The story was very confusing from the start and that just never changed. I really wanted to love this one because I am a die hard fan of Stranger Things as well as the movie The Lake House. The other issue I had was the multitude of characters in this one. I think that side characters were a little bogged down and because of the amount that there were. It made it hard for any of them to really have their own voices. I think if that would have been cut way down it would have made the story a lot better.

Overall, this one was trying too hard to be good.

I enjoyed my time with Heartwood Box, as with all of Ann Aguirre's novels. However, I did have some issues with the book that I feel weren't resolved by the conclusion.
I did like that Araceli hadn't grown up entirely in the United States like many heroines I read about. I think that the way she grew up really informed the decisions she made throughout the book. Aside from that, Araceli was tough and smart, and I really admired her.
The other characters, on the other hand, were mostly generic and forgettable in my opinion.
I didn't really like how the plot changed from being eerie and paranormal to being based in science. It made me feel like I was reading two different books, or two very different ideas for the same book. I also think that distracted from the romance, although I was satisfied with the conclusion of the romance.

If you are looking for a more historical, kinda creepy, mystery story, this YA book may be right up your alley. 

We follow the main character who finds a box full of letters in a town where people are known to go missing. She attempts to write back, but doesn't realize that she is going to get a response. Thinking it's just a prank of some sort, she becomes invested in returning a reply and eventually finds out the truth. 

The story then shifts into a back-and-forth correspondence between her and a WWI soldier who in turn thinks he's communicating with an outside source. 

I really enjoyed the unique dynamic and mystery behind each of the characters' drive behind the letters. The ending was quite surprising and shocked me. It gives a paranormal/ghostly dynamic that I found to be a great read for the Fall weather. 

I gave this one 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes historical, paranormal-like thrillers.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. It just turned out to be something different than I thought it would be. But overall a good read!