This book has gotten such poor reviews, even after being a Reese’s book club pick, that I’m going to skip it. I’ve been disappointed to learn that the book relies on the “crazy woman”/woman doing drugs trope. I feel like this is really overdone in thrillers and continues to prey on the patriarchal beliefs deeply rooted in society in order to make a point in a novel, instead of fighting against those beliefs. I don’t think I’m missing anything by skipping this one.

This was such a unique book. I found it to be a little confusing and slow at times with the timeline, but I loved the Guatemalan folklore elements, the premise, and the reveal. The execution wasn’t perfect for me. I had slightly higher hopes, but still found myself invested as a reader to figure out what was going on with the mysterious deaths at the forefront of the story.

There were also themes of medication withdrawals, traumatic past experiences that are never properly healed, and gaslighting which led to a very unreliable narrator. The redeeming quality for me with this book was the reveal, which I found slightly predictable towards the end, but I also haven’t seen it done before so I appreciated the originality!

Overall this was a slow burn, character-driven, atmospheric psychological thriller/mystery and I still recommend it worth a read if you’re looking for something unique! {3.5 stars rounded up}

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dutton for this gifted ARC!

I was intrigued by the blurb and promo material for The House In The Pines by Ana Reyes. I mean, even Reese spoj=ke highly of it…but hmmm not all her choices resonate with me. But WTH, it is the dead of winter (at least what passes for winter on the central coast of California), and thanks to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley, I had a copy…so I went in with high hopes.

Alas, this one was not for me. Too many cliches? Maybe. Hazy memories, return to the protagonist’s hometown, long-ago murder of a best friend from high school. I THINK I need to pay attention when something is described as a “can’t-put-it-down thriller” – or even worse “unputdownable.” UGH. Or better yet MEH. I just didn’t care about anyone, didn’t like the mom’s attitude to drugs, don’t like a narrator whose unreliability is due to medication…I could go on but, just as was the case with this book, I don’t want to finish it. Two stars rounded up to three for effort. Not badly written, and might read something else from Ms. Reyes, but this one wasn’t right for me.

I find it an easy out in a thriller to put the main character on medication that makes you hallucinate. It immediately makes her unreliable and the story a bit too ways. The hypnosis in this story was interesting but I didn’t love it. Switching it up for my next audio book.

The overall premise of this debut was very interesting. Too bad it was ruined for me with all the drug abuse. Even the mom looks away to all the hard drugs her teenage daughter is doing. I’m also over the unreliable narrator troupe, and the parent who does nothing to help their teenagers in trouble troupe. I think the author had a good and unique idea for a story, but took the predictable road with her writing instead of trying to write a truly unique book.

Maya was a teenager when she watched her best friend drop dead at the mysterious Frank’s side. She always thought he had something to do with it, but had no proof. Seven years later Maya is struggling but getting by, until a video surfaces of a recent death identical to her best friend’s. And once again Frank is there. Maya returns to her hometown in The Berkshires to see if she can unravel the mystery of Frank and the strange deaths before it’s too late .

I was originally drawn to this book because - what!? A mystery/thriller set in my hometown! All in. Unfortunately I was a little let down.

First, this version of Pittsfield is not my experience with the town growing up. So I found myself easily thrown out of the story when things in the setting didn’t add up. I did try my best to ignore that and eventually was able to.

I typically love a book with an unreliable narrator, but I never really felt held in suspense with this one. The book starts are pretty slow and includes a story within the story about Maya’s father and Guatemala. I wish this was fleshed out more because it felt a little out of place and I wanted more to connect to the main storyline.

The book does pick up by the end and has a fun twist. I personally just would have liked a little more from it.

*Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4.5

The House in the Pines is an exciting and fast-paced read. I couldn't put it down! Maya was stubborn, but she had some development. She was not a static character as I have come across in other thrillers. The twist was surprisingly good! It veered into the paranormal, and I thought it was better done here than other books that try to do the same. I do wish it had leaned more into the paranormal aspects.

The villain was surprisingly menacing. As I have come to expect from books featuring dead best friends/siblings, I was annoyed by everything Aubrey did in the flashbacks. I think this is mainly because the author wants the reader to care for the dead character, but it doesn't work. It has the opposite effect on me.

A young woman sees a viral video of her ex-boyfriend which triggers her to investigate a similar occurrence from her past with him. This was a quick thriller with a twist I haven’t seen used before. I only wished it had been a bit more creepy/scary.

Maya is overwhelmed with the past when sees a video of a woman dying suddenly right in front of her ex boyfriend. This takes her back to her hometown so she can figure out the mystery of her high school best friend’s death.
I thought this book was fun and suspenseful, such a great debut! My only problem was the past/present timelines weren’t defined and I wasn’t sure which time we were in at the beginning of some chapters.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for this eARC

Okay so this wasn't the intriguing book I thought it would be based of the cover and the blurb on the back. But I switched between ebook and audiobook, which maybe that had an impact? Only because it flashes from past to present and I definitely had to pay attention during the transitions.

This was slow to get me invested, but I kept hanging on in hopes it would pick up. Even though I didn't really like Maya, I persisted because I (think) this got really good reviews. The ending is what kind of ruined it. It was hovering around a 3.5 and I wanted to round it up to 4 because it's a debut and I can appreciate an author writing a book, but the ending was like a major HUH moment for me.

I was given this book by the publisher in return for an honest review via Netgalley.

Ana as a first book, I think you hit it out of the park kudos to you!

Our MC is coming down off a meditation high when she sees her ex-boyfriend in a video with another young girl dying. She's determined to prove this time around that he killed her and her best friend a few years back. But how does she do that without sounding crazy.

Dealing with other people's mistakes, mental health and addiction Ana walks our MC through to the truth, but who will believe her. The writing and switching from present day to her past really keeps you tearing through this book.

4.5 ⭐

I loved the first half of this book. The anticipation, and curiosity of what happened all those years ago kept me intrigued. The big surprise though, made me go WTF? It just wasn't for me. But I thought that Maya was a great character, and I loved watching past Maya evolve and learn more about her heritage in Guatemala. I even loved her friendship with Aubrey. I feel like this is a great first effort from this author, and I'd give another book of hers a try.

The author is a very good writer, but the book needed more editing. There were two time periods in the book, but three stories. The story about Maya as a teenager in 1988 was very well done. The story of Maya in the present was very downbeat and hard to read.. The third story was the story about her father’s writing and Guatemala, and I don’t think it was developed enough. It was almost part of a different book, with its Guatemalan setting and magical-realism plot. Not that I don’t love Guatemala: that’s why I chose this book. I just don’t feel like it all came together as well as it could. Or, maybe it should have been two books. I still gave it 4 stars. It was an unusual plot, a nice change from the usual thriller, and because I do love Guatemala ❤️.

Good plot, but the narrative needs to be more compelling & suspenseful. A little too much going on with the protagonist's issues with addiction and anxiety. I get that is why nobody takes Maya's claims about her ex-boyfriend, Frank, seriously, but at 64%, things weren't adding up, including this unreliable narrator's sanity. Honestly, I would have put this book down if I wasn't reading it to send a review.
Frank just seemed creepy, not exciting or scary. I liked Maya's friend, Aubrey, better than the other characters and she was not even alive most of the time.
The story does pick up after a while and the ending tied everything up nicely, but the current boyfriend, Dan, and his family seemed to exist only to move the plot along.

The House in the Pines is a twisting, fast paced thriller. Maya, the unreliable narrator of the story, had to come to terms with memories that are surfacing after a death happens that’s very similar to her best friend’s. The end left me wishing for a little more, but just because I didn’t want the story to end.

What a great thriller debut! Ana Reyes sets up an unbelievable psychological thriller that leads you all the way to the base of the subconscious mind. A fantastic beginning to a career I'm sure will be strong.

I loved the plot twist in this book, it's not a twist I have seen before so it was refreshing for there to be something different. The concept had such a grip on me as it leads the reader to think about everything around you. There was enough backstory for you to understand the characters and their motivations but not too much where you felt like you were being bogged down by the story. However, the main part of the story that I did not love were the characters. I've never known a cast of characters to feel so tedious. Sometimes I just felt like I wanted to shake the characters to open their eyes but their personalities are exactly why this plot twist worked so well.

Overall I think this is an amazing debut and Reyes will be an author to watch. I will absolutely be reading any of their future releases.

Ana Reyes, where have you been my whole reading life?! The House in the Pines is a great debut and Reyes is definitely going to be a staple household name in time if the stories keep coming. Mixing some popular tropes like drug abuse with the unreliable narrator while making a story have its own new twists and turns is going to work in her favor while writing in this field. I am a huge sucked for unreliable narrators... and throw in some cabin in the woods and dark, secretive past?! SOLD! If this is the debut novel, I can't wait for what comes next!

I loved this book and can't wait for more from this author. This definitely surprised me in more ways than one. It was not what I expected.

Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer.
Now years later she sees a you tube video of Frank with another woman and she just drops dead.
Maya is aso trying to stop her addiction that she started years ago and then goes to find Frank and whatever happened to this woman.
At her mother's house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father's book that didn't stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank's cabin....
I really did not understand at first what was going on and the more I read and about the house thhen I knew something creepy was going on.
Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for the book to review.

Fantastic! As an avid thriller reader, I often find myself guessing the outcomes. Well, let me tell you that The House in the Pines kept me guessing every step of the way! I literally read this book with my jaw open the whole time. What a wild ride!