I feel like I should start by saying this book was very strange. I knew it was going to be a little strange, but it ended up being a lot strange and I'm still not sure how I feel about that ending.

Laurel has just come back from college to her small southern gothic town. This town is full of rumors, and superstitions that have kept people divided for years and will probably continue to keep them divided forever at this point. You have those that believe that certain people are witches and those that just let them believe they are witches because they are more in tune with what is going on around them in the woods, and in the land. Laurel appears to have some of these abilities and is able to sense that something very wrong is starting to happen in this town since she got back.

Overall I'm still not sure how to explain this book and my feelings towards it. Parts of it really worked because the uneasy feeling that the author was going for was very present and was just always surrounding you while reading this book. So much happened at the end of this book, whereas the first half kind of dragged on as we learned about all the paranoia the townspeople had towards people like Laurel. The 'monsters' that are in this book are terrifying and how they would attack people was equally terrifying. I just could never fully understand how they worked and why they attacked the people that they did. I think people who love horror more than I do will enjoy this one. It just didn't end up being for me and that's okay.

“Death did not scare her. Intentions did.”

I liked the idea of a horror premise and bones coming to life but this was not executed well. I never really felt like we understood why the bones were coming to life and the magic behind them. It was not really horror, just very strange. Not a lot seemed to happen in the story and it was hard to grasp why the main character suddenly gained magic. Unfortunately, this book was not for me.

Let me start with this: I LOVE A CREEPY FOREST BOOK. That's why I dove into this book with such delight. And it delivered. It was tense from cover to cover and I loved the unique life that Laurel has carved out for herself.

Thank you so much to Net galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book! I really enjoyed this book! Although it took me probably 40% of the book before I became involved! But I would definitely read more by this author!

Lose yourself in this creepy, lushful and intriguing story and you won't regret a thing! It's so so GOOD!!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book.
I was very excited to get an arc for this book because of the beautiful cover and incredibly intriguing description.
I enjoyed the way that Elizabeth Kilcoyne writes in such a lyrical way. I also found the concept to be very original and unlike anything I've read prior.
Wasn't the book for me though. I didn't connect with the main characters and felt like they feel a little flat and were sort of boring. I also had a hard time understanding the magic system throughout the book and usually like to see more world-building so that I can understand the magic system before diving into the rest of it.
Overall I finished thinking "Alright" but I can see how others would love this book.

Let's start off with the obvious, because there is a lot about this story that had me confused and I could not follow very well. This book is a walking neon sign of warnings. I would never recommend this book lightly, and only after some sort of disclosure about some of the themes that are going on inside of it. You have abuse of all kinds, violence (obviously), suicide, and somewhat toxic relationships. It is equal parts depressing and triggering and hard to read. It also doesn't help that everything that our main protagonist is going through, is compounded by the creepy-ness of the stuff she likes to do in her free time. Taxidermy is a valid hobby and for some worthwhile. In this setting it is not helping and only adds to the totality of how dark it gets and doesn't help with everything else that may be going on. I mean - a haunted farm, a possible devil on the prowl, and things moving around that shouldn't. It reads like a horror book, but at the same time it doesn't. The facts and story line aspects as they line up portray this book as a horror. But at the same time I cannot help but also feel that genre doesn't fit perfectly. I cannot tell if what happens really does or if it was all linked to her sanity. I everything she experiencing really happening or is it all just in her mind. Is the farm's haunting linked to her or her mother. I would like both more and less information when it comes this story.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley.

Laurel Early decides she wants to leave college and return home to her family's tobacco farm but her uncle tells her she needs to work and provide for herself now. She turns to bones. Walking along her property she finds animal bones in all stages of decay and creates items to sell.

Her mother starts to warn her that she is in danger, which in itself is super strange because her mother has been dead for more than twenty years. Laurel realizes she has been communicating with her mother's ghost, and when a large bone monster attacks her and her friend, she decides she needs help.

Insert Christine, the town witch. Everyone dislikes her because they fear her. Christine can tell the future and commune with ghosts. With her help, Laurel and her friends meet these bone monsters head on.


Wake the Bones felt reminiscent of Where the Darkness Blooms -- young adults in a small midwestern town face supernatural forces. (I'm writing this review after WTB is published, after having also read WTDB)
It was OK, but unfortunately not great. I was super invested in the story and then around 3/4 of the way through it lost me. Not that I didn't understand what was happening, but it felt like all the anticipation didn't pay off. OK, and then there was one part near the very end where I actually was confused --

SPOILER:
The kid who was beaten up and hung by the tree, I didn't know if he actually survived or if he was dreaming about moving in with that other kid. Turns out, it really happened (not sure how he managed to survive). And the part where Ricky is saved by Laurel but he becomes part plant is really cool but it also took me by surprise, and not in the best way.


I loved the macabre aspect and the imagery was spectacular. I also loved the inclusion of witches and earth-based magic. So it's hard for me to explain what exactly happened that this book didn't hit me as much as I expected. However, it is a story that I would go back and reread.

I liked this book, I hated this book, I felt too dumb for this book?

I don’t quite know. The idea was there, the characters were quirky, but something was just….off the whole time. And half the time I literally felt like I had no idea what was going on.

But it was fine. I’d try the author again in the future to see if maybe this was a one-off.

This was interesting, but I felt it would have been so much better if the author took the plunge and aged her characters up. I felt like the YA description was a bit odd given the subject matter.

YA Horror has had some great novels lately and this is one of them. Kilcoyne does a great job of weaving this world and this mystery together.

It was a very spooky read and I did enjoy it! The characters were all super intense and the plot was fairly original.

I don't usually consider myself part of the target audience for YA horror novels, but Elizabeth Kilcoyne wrote one that resonated very deeply with me. While I don't feel that the characters are as strong/dynamic as they could be, the world-building is atmospheric, and the prose is hauntingly beautiful--which is worth praise in my book.

The book had an interesting premise. I enjoyed the mystery behind what was happening in Laurel’s town/family and the love interest as well. Some parts of the story dragged a little, but overall I enjoyed the book.

The setting was well described and I could really feel the atmosphere. Unfortunately the characters were flat and sort of indistinguishable. There was no backstory; how did they meet, why were they friends, Isaac and Laurel were supposedly best friends but there wasn't much depth to their friendship. It was sort of confusing that Laurel and Ricki loved each other because they started out hating each other, and there was no build up of their relationship, it all happened before the book started.

Thank you to Elizabeth, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for an advance copy of Wake the Bones.

Laurel dreamed of getting away from her small town and starting a new life in a city. Best laid plans and all of that…she ends up back home after struggling with school and tends to her uncle’s tobacco farm while dabbling in taxidermy on the side.

However, upon her return strange things start happening. On top of dreams of her dead mother, unexplainable things are happening on the farm. Something/someone has caused her taxidermy bones to get up and walk away…and now Laurel has to come to terms with her own power and work to stop the force that is putting herself and her loved ones in danger.

The last few years there’s been a branch of YA that I’ll refer to as ‘elevated YA’ - a little darker, a little deeper, a little more metaphoric and poetic. It is definitely not the subgenre for everyone, and I’m finding out more and more that I am one of those people. I don’t want to diminish the Young Adult category, because I’ve been a long time fan of YA and still am, but I definitely make assumptions that I’m going into a ‘lighter’ experience when I read YA…even if the themes are heavy. There is generally some comedic relief, the characters have a little more fluff to them, things like that. In this newer realm of ‘elevated YA’ that is not the case. These books are heavier to digest and weigh a little heavier on the psyche. And maybe it’s just me, but with the preconceptions that I have about the YA genre, these heavier ones just don’t sit right with me and the mindset that I enter into them with.

That all being said, this book had a lot of pros to it - it was atmospheric and creative. It dealt with a variety of topics that can crossover into normal everyday life (as opposed to a haunted farm with animated bones) making it relatable to those readers who enjoy contemporary aspects, however it was spooky and supernatural enough to appeal to horror fans as well.

It was an odd and interesting book, but the pacing was a bit slow and I didn’t care much about the characters which left my mind wandering occasionally. I can’t say I absolutely wouldn’t read another Elizabeth Kilcoyne, but I’m not sure that it would be a priority on my life - however, again, I’m coming to find out more and more that this version of YA just isn’t my cup of tea.

Wake the Bones is a YA horror/thriller that definitely had lots of great creepy moments. The story is about a demon who is stalking a girl and there are moments where the writing is so intense that it almost feels like someone is stalking you in real life.

Overall, the story was a little too disjointed for me to love it, but I did enjoy it while I was reading it. I'd be interested in reading more by this author in the future.

2.5*

Plot:
It was hard to tell where the story was going sometimes. I think that the story was definitely more character-driven rather than plot driven.

Characters:
Laurel was interesting as a character. She had quite a bit of depth. Even at the beginning of the book I was truly able to feel the sense of loss and grief that she had for her mother. The relationships between the characters were fleshed out well, but with that came some confusion as to whether some relationships were platonic or romantic.

Writing:
I am not into gore so I was not into that aspect of it. I will say that the descriptions were well written, even though it is not my thing. There were a few lulls in the story that I felt were unnecessary. The characters were well written and developed. There was such a great focus on them and I really enjoyed that because I do tend to lean towards more character-driven books.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This book gave me the same feeling I had watching Nightmares on Elm Street as a kid. Which means this book scared me. lol The whole time I was reading the story, I was like this is supposed to be YA, so it shouldn't be that bad. Which if you were looking for thrasher horror, okay this isn't that bad at all, but the whole atmosphere was so grim and eerie, and it felt like Freddy Krueger was going to jump out at any moment. lol I even read the ending, to lessen my anxiety and it didn't help, Elizabeth Kilcoyne does an amazing job at making the atmosphere have a very creepy feeling. Even during the romantic scenes, it was still a maybe ya'll shouldn't be doing this right now, while the boogeyman is trying to get you. lol

Still, I enjoyed it for the most part, I enjoyed the ride. Some scenes, I was like "really?!", and I still don't actually know if it was a happy ending, but I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by the author, although I might just read them during the day.