Oh. My. Gosh. Overall this was an amazing book. This was a plot I had never read before and that was so cool to me. The plot was really realistic and I could see how someone could manipulate another person in a similar way, now killing someone in this way seemed a little out there but maybe that's just me.

The book goes back and forth between the past and present and wish the author would have clarified for the reader. I found myself thinking it was present and it was past or vice versa. The characters are very well written and found myself sucked in very early into the book. I found myself really rooting for Maya, she was so brave and one day I hope I find that bravery. She followed her insticts and risked everything to get justice not only for the friend she lost but for all the woman that were or could have been victims of Frank's. Her fight was difficult but she found peace in the end.
The ending was perfect, no loose ends and it seemed like Maya's world righted itself when she got the answers she was seeking.

This was an interesting but predictable read that had a shaky start. The first couple of chapters didn't grab me. However, the drug withdrawal and murder theory kept me reading but not guessing. The main character Maya was well thought out and I especially liked the Guatemala story of her parents. I related to the mothers in the narrative and their concern for their children. Overall, an author I will watch for.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

The House in the Pines
by Ana Reyes
Pub Date: January 3, 2023
Penguin Dutton
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I like to keep up with what our patrons are reading so I can recommend great books!
This one however, was not one of my favorites of 2022.
I was drawn to the premise of this book and was eager to begin. There is a lot going on in this book. Reyes has a way of drawing you into a book with great atmosphere and mystery. The last third of the book was a little vague and pointless. The conclusion was not satisfying. It is a fast paced, intriguing book and I was truly hooked until the end. I recommend this book for anyone who likes psychological thrillers.
3 stars

Maya was a senior in high school when her best friend Aubrey died right in front of her and Frank, the mysterious guy they had been spending all summer with. Seven years later, Maya is fighting to kick a klonopin addiction and stumbles upon a terrifying video of a young girl falling over dead in the middle of a diner. And who was the girl with? Frank. Forced to confront her traumatic past, Maya returns home to get to the bottom of the strange hold Frank had on her life. Inside her mother’s home, Maya rediscovers the story written by her deceased Guatemalan father and begins to see hidden clues she hadn’t noticed before.

Unpopular opinion alert since this book was just announced as a Reese’s Book Club pick 🙃 This one ended up being just okay for me! The pace improved after the halfway point and I enjoyed the characters, but I ended the book feeling a little underwhelmed. Maya is a SUPER unreliable main character and at times you find yourself questioning what’s actually real. I’ve read so many thrillers now with the alcoholic/drug addict main character and I’m just over it at this point and feel like it’s a bit overdone. On the bright side, I loved how the author tied in the story written by Maya’s father and had it play such an important part in the plot! And when I finally realized what the twist was, I was hooked. My only complaint about the ending was I felt like I knew the “how” but not the “why”. Please don’t let my review deter you from reading it! So many people are posting positive reviews and I know this is the book for someone else, just not me. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my gifted e-ARC.

While this mystery was gripping and a page turner, it was not my cup of tea. I think the hypnotism aspect was not believable. I did like the ending, though-Maya didn't need the images of the house because her home was with her loved ones-her mom and Dan.

This is Reese Witherspoon's January book club pick so of course I was intrigued! Eerie and atmospheric, Pines is a slow-burn mystery that makes you wonder just where the story is going.

Seven years ago, the guy Maya dated made her best friend drop dead but she couldn't prove it. After it happens again, Maya needs to figure out if something is actually going on or if it's all in her head. I do like an unreliable narrator who isn't sure what is real and Maya is this. Guatemalan folklore plays an underlying role.

The themes in this book were so interesting- abuse and manipulation, gaslighting and not being able to trust your own thoughts. This one ran a little too slow for me, however, and didn't excite me until the last 100 pages or so, which had me furiously turning my imaginary pages. I did guess the end twist (!!) but thought it was unique and extraordinarily creepy. This was also a really quick read. I just wish the first 2/3 had been more interesting.. This one is a 3.5 stars rated down to a 3 for me.

Immediately after reading the synopsis, I was intrigued and had a few theories on the plot. But as I read further along, the story got more and more interesting! Without spoiling the main plot, all I can reveal is that there’s a lot of manipulation and gaslighting, and I really cannot blame the naiveté of the victims. The book showed a lot of promise, and I wasn’t surprised to learn that it is this month’s book choice of Reese’s Book Club. Because of the unique storyline, I was truly expecting a whiplash-inducing finale from this psychological thriller. Unfortunately, the ending didn’t quite make it for me.☹️ I found that the slow burn suspense buildup which kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time was not proportionate to the ending. I thought the finale was a bit stale, and could have used a more… exciting ways to end things. This just might be a me issue though, since my main reads are mostly thrillers with nonstop jaw-dropping plot twists and endings that leave you reeling. I guess I just wanted more, especially with that giant reveal!!!! Nevertheless, this book is still worth the read. Though a lot of seasoned readers may guess whodunnit, it’s the why and mainly how the crime was committed that was the primary question. I must commend the how part — it was really cool to learn about it and super fitting to use as a jumping point for a psychological thriller.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thanks to @duttonbooks @netgalley for my ARC. This book is already out in the world.

This book is a quick read and at times has some suspenseful parts. I thought the premise was intriguing, a woman who witnessed her best friend die mysteriously right in front of her and the man she had been seeing. Then years later a video on YouTube is circulating with another woman who mysteriously dies in front of the same man. It seemed like it would make an interesting mystery. I figured out early on what was probably happening. Possibly because something very early in the book could have led me in that direction or I just came up with it on my own and it made sense but then I am reading more to see if I am right or not so then the story loses some of its oomph.

This is an amazing debut novel. I couldn't put it down, I had to know what was coming next. Wonderful thriller. As someone who works in Pittsfield I appreciate the great detail that went into describing this area so beautifully and capturing its spirit.

Maya lost her best friend Aubrey several years ago. She still wonders if the man she was dating at the time, Frank, had something to do with it. After all, Aubrey dropped dead right in front of Frank, but how is that possible?

Fast forward to seven years later, Maya sees a viral video with Frank in it. He's sitting across from a woman at a diner, and she drops dead. Everyone thought she was crazy when she pointed the finger at Frank before, but did he cause both deaths? You'll find out in the debut novel by Ana Reyes, The House in the Pines.

The premise of this book intrigued me as did the cover of the book. When you start reading it, you're enveloped in the plot and can feel the atmosphere change. It's eerie, and you keep wondering if Maya is indeed crazy or if she's right in her assumption that Frank had something to do with the girls' deaths.

Unfortunately, it's hard to believe in Maya when she's been going through withdrawal from the anti-anxiety drug she was prescribed after her friend's untimely demise. She tries to stop using this highly dependent drug, so that she can live a normal life with her boyfriend and the bright future she sees. But it's difficult when the medicine smoothed out the rough edges left by the tragedy she witnessed. Harder still to realize that she cannot even remember things that happened at that time.

Despite her misgivings, she knows she must embark on a journey to find out if Frank should be implicated in these deaths. She returns home to figure out what happened and revive those memories she cannot retrieve. In the beginning, you're ready to go on this journey with Maya and piece together what really happened all those years ago. Every clue draws you in, but halfway toward the end, it isn't as intriguing, and some of the answers seem a little dry. I thought it may go in a paranormal direction.

I really liked the writing and characterizations, but the climax of the book didn't meet up to the expectations you have in the first half of the book. It almost felt like a letdown. Once you've reached the end, you may feel unsatisfied by the answers. And the end of the book falls flat, too, which I found surprising. I expected a lot more from the end chapters.

Even though I felt somewhat disappointed in this book, I think that it should be taken into account that this is the author's first novel. Although this isn't the strongest debut, I feel like she has a promising future ahead. This book was original in many ways, and the characters feel likeable, and you care about what happens to them.

I revisited this book, here is my edited review:

This psychological thriller gave me the creeps - in good way. I trudged through since I typically am uncomfortable with my arm hairs standing on end!
Maya is packing to start her first semester at BU, and meets Frank, a part timer at the public library. She falls quickly for him, and it’s really difficult to figure out why. Frank has built a “cabin in the woods”
Poor Maya carries severe trauma as she starts her college career and never works through it. Frank seems to be lingering in the back of her mind
Thank you Net Galley! Hard to write a review on this one w/o spoilers. I am finding it difficult to put my thoughts into words. Don’t miss this gripping thriller from Ana Reyes, she has made a stunning debut!

How, not who, is question in tense thriller

“The House in the Pines” is a tense thriller that keeps the reader turning pages and trying, as the protagonist does, to figure out just what happened.

Twenty-something Maya, trying to kick her addiction to tranquilizers, sees a Youtube video of a woman seeming to drop dead while sitting in a diner. Maya recognizes the man with the young woman as Frank, whom she had known seven years ago when Maya’s friend Aubrey also dropped dead in Frank’s presence. Convinced that this second death is no coincidence, Maya returns to her home town to try and find out what happened and prove that Frank is responsible for both deaths.

The story is told in two chronologies. The present chronology of Maya’s attempt to regain lost memories, fight her addiction, and prove Frank a killer is told in the past tense, so that readers share Maya’s guarded, emotional distance from the frightening events of finding the video and hunting a killer.

The second chronology, the summer after Maya finishes high school, plans for college, and meets Frank, is told in the present tense, drawing the reader into Maya’s fragmented memories and the tragedy of Aubrey’s death and Maya’s inability to escape or move on from that summer.

Readers, and Maya, know all along who the killer is. Since the only question is how he did it, there is little suspense until the end when Maya gets close to the truth. However, the book’s interesting structure keep the reader’s attention. It’s a rewarding read that moves quickly, especially good for a day locked in the house by bad weather.

I liked how the slow burn of this book filled me with a sense of dread throughout the whole thing and made the twist at the end shock me. I didn’t love the book though, and I can’t figure out why, but overall this was a solid read, especially for a decently-long plane ride. I wouldn’t read it again though.

Wow wow wow what a story this one was.

The whole thing weaves it's way around you and I felt like I didn't know where it was going or who I could trust.

It was a slower burn book but full of mystery and a sense of unease. The ending had my heart racing and the moment the puzzle pieces of the truth fell together, it all just made sense.

The only criticism I have of this book was that the chapters jump between past and present however are unlabelled as "past" or "present". To better distinguish things, that addition would have been good. However the story is told in a way that you do quickly figure out which timeline you're currently reading and there was only really one section I misread as present when it was past.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Hatchette and Ana Reyes for my ebook ARC of this book.

Thank you so much for the ARC! I enjoyed how different this thriller was- honestly did not see the ending coming at all- i would say it was a little out there for me, but overall i liked how fast-paced this book was and how engaging it was. i read this whole book in 24 hours! I recommend this one for all my other thriller lovers out there!

Summary: Maya watched as her best friend suddenly dropped dead. Fast forward years later, she sees a news video of the same thing happening to another woman. Both deaths are seemingly unexplained, but both women were talking to Frank, Maya’s high school ex, when they happened. Maya knows there must be a connection and returns to her home town to solve this mystery. Read along as she uncovers secrets and memories to figure out what really happened to these women.
•

I love a good psychological thriller, and this book is definitely one.

This was a suspenseful and eery story with an interesting and unique plot. It kept me guessing throughout and left me surprised at the end with a big twist.

Outside of the thriller portion of this book, Reyes tackled heavy topics, such as mental health issues and addiction, with poise and an obvious compassion. She even gives us a mini history lesson into Guatemala that inspired me to look more into the events on my own time.

While the ending lacked the definitive closure I would have liked, I can see how a little more of an open-ended finish could be appealing to others.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 is a fast-paced thriller that kept me intrigued the whole way through! I would recommend it to all my thriller lovers out there, I think it was such a good read to kick off 2023 with.📖

•
Thank you to @duttonbooks / @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for the ARC of this debut novel and the opportunity to support a woman of color and her writing dreams.💜

Like Maya you feel as if you are going a little bit off your rocker as you read this but the puzzle pieces come together nicely in the end. It’s definitely a psychological thriller but a bit different than what I was expecting and have read before.

This is a really solid debut for the author!

The story felt super unique for me and was very unexpected. For the majority of the book, I didn't even have a working theory going...I literally had no idea where it was going to go, which was really fun! The book had such a creepy, sinister vibe, with a totally creepy ex-boyfriend and some mysterious, unexplained deaths. We also have an unreliable MC who is going through Klonopin withdrawal--she's not sleeping and feels like she can't even trust her own memories.

I have two critiques of the book...the first is the timeline. The chapters jump back and forth between past and present, but it was sometimes difficult to figure out which timeline we were in. This may have been a choice by the author, to further illustrate our narrator's confusion, but I would have preferred if it was more clear which timeline we were in from the start of the chapter. My other critique is that the ending wasn't tied up in a neat little bow, which I usually prefer.

Overall, this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed this unique thriller!

The storyline was unique. It had so much potential, but there was too much going on in too few pages for it to be properly tapped. My favourite portions of the book were those about Guatemala and Guatemalan culture. The pages of the book that centered around Maya’s father, the Guatemalan Civil War, Guatemalan genocide, and the book he was writing are what grabbed my attention. In the end, I was turning the pages for that content and had an AH-HA moment when I realized that the main character was likely named as a dedication/nod to the Maya people.

With the story unfolding in rotating timelines, there was no indication when we were time travelling, and blame it on the jet lag but it took me a few paragraphs to sort out what time we were in at the beginning of each new chapter. It felt all over the place, and that we were dipping our toes rather than fully wading in.

I wasn’t thrilled.

The premise of this storyline is fascinating-but at the same time hard to fathom. Maya’s best friend dies suddenly when they were in high school, as she was talking to Maya’s boyfriend. No cause of death is determined. Maya’s life is never the same. Years later she sees a video of her ex and the feelings come flooding back. Maya’s disastrous dinner at Dan’s parents house made her seem so real, but the extent of her addiction and the fact that she hid it from others so successfully was chilling.
The book was entertaining but the resolution was too far fetched for me. I did enjoy the snippets of Guatemalan culture scattered throughout the book.
Many thanks to Ana Reyes for creating Maya, who seemed to come alive within these pages, to Dutton for realizing the potential of this storyline, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this just published book. Please keep writing Ana Reyes!