The House in the Pines is about a woman named Maya, who strongly suspects her ex-boyfriend, Frank, had something to do with the sudden death of her best friend when they were teenagers. Seven years later, Maya stumbles upon a youtube video that shows Frank in the company of a young woman who very suddenly collapses and dies. Maya is now convinced that Frank is behind both of these mysterious deaths, but has no way to prove it. She travels back home to piece this mystery together, and finally get the answers she needs and get her sanity back.
The premise for this book intrigued me right way. The first half of the book, even though it reads on the slower side, kept me hooked and wanting to get to the bottom of this eerie mystery. But, the second half was just a bit disappointing for me. I was not a fan of the plot twist, and the explanation for Maya's bizarre episodes of lost time while hanging out with Frank. I thought it was a bit predictable and did not feel very original. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the bits about Maya's father and his family back in Guatemala. I liked how we got to see Maya connect with her culture, and with the memory of her dad by reading his unfinished book.
For my rating, I landed squarely in the middle at a 3.5. While this book is not a new favorite, I am intrigued to read more from this author in the future.

Just read this is a Reese Witherspoon book club pick for January. The book wasn't terrible, but wasn't the best I've read. Would rate it a 3.5 stars if I could. Flowed fairly well, held my interest through the whole story. Found the characters intresting.


Thanks to the Author and publisher for a copy of this ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.


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The mysterious key on the cover, something deep in the woods, hazy memories, and a sudden death. If books had tentacles, these reached out and pulled me in.

It’s been seven years since Maya’s best friend dropped dead, and Maya’s still struggling. No longer able to get the sleeping medication her doctor prescribed several years ago, she’s also suffering from withdrawal and hiding it from her boyfriend. With a history of mental illness in her family, everything she’s dealing with, and the occasional tone of the story, I even questioned if Maya is an unreliable narrator. Are her memories real?

The chapters rotate seamlessly between the summer Maya meets Frank and the present when she’s determined to discover what really happened. Although she’s not always likeable, I understood her burning need to learn the truth. It’s just the way she goes about it is pretty selfish sometimes. Her memories feel off kilter from that summer, and it’s a slow burn until the final reveal. My suspicions were partly correct and while fascinating, they’re pretty chilling.

Pacing is a little uneven, but fans of psychological thrillers and unreliable narrators will spend an enjoyable few hours with this novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A murder mystery, a years old trauma of the loss of a friend and a creepy antagonist. All thumbs up on my end. I thought the author could have made this novel a bit longer, as there is a lot going on and a slower pacing would have been helpful. The writing is very descriptive, but in the best way, which brings my rating of this up to a 4. I don't think you would regret the time you would spend on reading this.

This was an OK read... I lost focus and mostly skimmed this one. It seemed rambly and takes a while to get into the meat of the book. Also delves a bit into speculative/super natural, which I don't really get into. The writing doesn't suffer, but I have a hard time following novels where the explanation for nonsense occurrences is... MAGIC. I don't feel like this book is marketed this way- I thought this was a thriller.

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes is a moody, atmospheric read, thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the review copy. This is a slow burn unreliable narrator story that had for me some unique plot points with missing time, unexplained deaths, and connections to the past and memories that come to surface. The intrigue of the plot is the desire to understand what Maya herself is trying to uncover about her friend's death and her past memories and struggles with missing time and with her family relationships.

A few limitations: I think a lot of readers of this kind of book are feeling a bit burnt out with the addiction/unreliable can't sleep narrators (think Hidden Pictures, Stacy Willingham's work as recent examples) and I am one of them. Maya was a great character and I liked her so that wasn't an issue but I just am not sure if all books need this character note in order to succeed?

The ending is going to possible frustrate readers. The book was a bit too much of a slow burn for me to find the ending satisfying. I love a good slow burn that keeps me engaged and that has a pay off that is satisfying and this fell a bit short.

I do think though fans of Stacy Willingham's new book and those who enjoy books such as Hidden Pictures, work from Jennifer Hillier and the recent book What Lies in the Woods

Let's just acknowledge that STRIKING cover. Ana girl you had me at that hello cover.

The House in the Pines is a slow burn of a thriller. Reyes keeps her readers in the dark until the big reveal or ending.

The death of Maya's best friend has been bothering her for quite some time. She finally decides to seek answers to what really happened.

What I liked? The story is atmospheric and creepy. I loved how the story typed to the history of Guatemala.

What didn't work for me: There was way too much going on in the beginning of the story. The author overloaded her readers and it was just hard for me to follow. I really struggled with following the narrative. Also, here we go again with the popping pills and addiction trope. Ugh... this is getting really old. Also, you're going to either love or hate that ending. Me, I hated it. I thought the reveal was pointless and way to far fetched.

Overall, 3/5 stars

Thank you to Dutton and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 1/3/23
Published to GR/IG: 12/18/22

I can see why Reese Witherspoon chose this as her January Book of the Month for her book club. its fast paced and I completely devoured this in one sitting. Thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

“The House in the Pines” is strange and twisty, with dark, interesting themes. This is my first ever Ana Reyes read.

From the blurb: 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.

Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking a secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for.. When she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank, her past comes rushing back. Maya decide shes going back to finally discover what happened.

I’m not always a fan of flashback chapters, but I felt it really worked here. We see Maya now, as she takes us along and discovers what really happened to her best friend, along with past Maya, giving us background information into the type of friendship she’d had with Aubrey. Then there’s Frank, an absolute enigma. Maya had no interest in him from first meet and then suddenly, as though he’d cast some sort of invisible spell on her, she finds him fascinating and wants to spend every waking moment with him. Interactions with him were equal parts interesting and downright scary, because I never knew what was going to happen from one minute to the next.

Then, we add in Maya's addiction. Is she an unreliable character? What is the truth? The House in the Pines was creepy and suspenseful. This psychological thriller will definitely take you on a ride!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the opportunity to read The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes.

Do you ever wish you were reading a book and immediately the book jumps into every detail you were hoping for? Have you ever read a book that cut straight to the chase and starts the story almost immediately from the get-go?

Well, this is the book for you!

This is such an impressive debut novel, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read this prior to pub date.

The book follows the life of Maya, and we quickly learn Maya is a very interesting, hey complicated character. Without spoiling too much, I will say this book is a mix of psychological, paranormal and what in the world just happened. Honestly, it’s the best mix of it all. We learn about Frank, a mysterious guy who works at the library, but does he have some sort of magical powers? How does time fly when you are with him? Then, we have the death of not only one (Aubrey, Maya’s best friend), but another girl in the presence of Frank. How did two different girls drop dead in front of Frank? Did he do it? Did a ghost do it? There is so much more than meets the eye.

I will say that the first half of this book had me hooked. I couldn’t put it down, but as the story unfolded—the intrigue started to wane. Don’t get my wrong, it was a good little psychological thriller, but the ending was a tad far fetched. Again, I hate spoilers, so I won’t say much—but, I wish the book had a slightly better/more believable ending. It was twisty, but rather slow.

Maya witnessed her best friend, Aubrey, die under very weird circumstances. Aubrey was talking to Maya's summer fling, Frank, when she just fell over and died for no apparent reason. Maya has tried to drown out her guilt and sadness by abusing a prescription drug and alcohol. Now it is seven years later and another woman has died in the presence of Frank and Maya can't help but think this isn't a coincidence. She decides to head back home, get herself together, and find out what she's missing... or maybe what she was forced to forget.

I really enjoyed the second half of this book and the storyline is one I've never experienced before. The first half was slower and the jumping of timelines got a little confusing. Overall, it was a decent book that kept me guessing.

Thank you to Ana Reyes, Penguin Group Dutton, and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange of my honest review.

The House in the Pines is a thriller with an impending sense of doom. There were so many parts in which I was confused, not fully understanding what was going on, but I think that builds, and adds to the overall experience of the book. It was a quick page turner, and I had to just keep reading!

This marks the second time Maya has watched a woman mysteriously die in front of Frank. The first time was her best friend. Both times Frank didn't touch the women, but somehow Maya knows Frank is responsible. Desperate to figure out what happened, Maya goes back to her hometown to face her past head on.
The premise of this book is a great one, so mysterious and full of so much intrigue. I was pulled in right away. The only thing is that I did guess one of the big twists pretty early on, which took away a bit from my enjoyment of the book. However, there was another big twist I didn't see coming at all, which was very well laid out and revealed.

This isn't a favorite of mine in this genre, but I still enjoyed it.

This is a bit of a slow burn but it is also unique. This book throws thriller in with a bit of horror, some magical realism,m mixed with an unreliable narrator (my favorite!). I went in to this read with no expectations which I always find to be the best way to read. Was there some things that unrealistic? Yeah but that added to the intrigue.

Maya is having a rough time. She is going through Klonopin withdrawal when she sees a surveillance video of a girl being murdered in the presence of her ex-boyfriend. The story follows Maya as she goes back to her hometown to confront her past and her best friend's murder 7 years ago that she knows is the fault of Frank, her ex-boyfriend from the surveillance video.
I was swept along in this book and the foray into Maya's past as well as her mind. This is a solid thriller with an interesting premise. The ending wasn't what I hoped for but it was still goof. Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton/Penguin Random House for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Dutton Books and Netgalley for the electronic advanced copy of The House in the Pines. After seeing a video of a young woman mysteriously dropping dead while taking to a man, our main character, Maya, revisits her troubled past to find out what really happened to her friend who died under similar circumstances in the presence of the same man. No one believed her when she blamed him then. Will they now?

The book is a decent thriller that although slightly unbelievable is not too far fetched the way the author tells the story. I'd recommend checking this out if you like mysteries.

Well…I was really happy with this book, furiously turning pages, until it just stopped. I’m not ok with the ending. It is an ending. I get it, but not a fan. There is an extremely interesting explanation for the deaths mentioned in the book blurb, and I feel like there’s a massive missed opportunity that could have made this book even better with just a little research and a little fleshing out. That’s my biggest complaint about the book and I really can’t explain any more without giving away half the plot….
However, that being said, the book is fast paced, suspenseful, and the writing is engaging. For a first novel, I think it's pretty impressive. I would certainly give another book by this author a chance.

From my blog: Always With a Book

When I was pitched this book, I have to say the cover completely drew me in. But when I heard it was about memory and manipulation, I knew I had to read it…those are some of my favorite tropes in a psychological thriller and they totally come together here in such a unique premise!

I loved the way this story played with memory, how we sometimes put certain memories aside to protect ourselves from past incidents by self-medicating, however in doing so that leads to a whole new set of problems. Maya has been self-medicating ever since Aubrey died and now has been struggling with addiction ever since. I loved the way the author developed her character. She was so dysfunctional and had a sense of unreliability to her, yet you could not help but want to root for her. You wanted her to find answers to what was going on. Frank, on the other hand, gave me the creeps right from the first time we meet him. And I loved how we don’t learn the full picture of him until absolutely necessary. This character development for both is just stellar writing!

This book is crazy addicting. It moves back and forth in time and I will admit there is a lot going on – sometimes I did feel it might have been just a bit too much – but I still found myself totally engaged. There is a lot to unpack here, so if your bookclub reads psychological thrillers, this would make for a great bookclub pick!

This is a debut novel for Ana Reyes and I’m excited to see what comes next from her.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the digital ARC!

This was a very well done unreliable narrator thriller but for some reason (I will elaborate). this didn't hit the mark for me.

What it boiled down to was the narration was SO unreliable it felt like it somewhat dragged on and felt unbelievable. I felt midway that I really had to slog through this.

That being said I still enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would.

Thank you to Ana, Dutton, and Netgalley to an advance copy of The House in the Pines.

Maya watched her best friend drop dead when she was in high school. No explanation, she was young and healthy, she was with their new friend Frank and just collapsed. Now, some time later, Maya has been slowly moving forward. She lives in Boston with her boyfriend, she’s working on letting go of Klonopin (behind her boyfriends back), and she’s relatively happy. Unfortunately a YouTube video pops up of another woman collapsing to her death…with Frank sitting in front of her. This sends Maya reeling in her past trauma and on a search for answers back in her hometown. Guided by an incomplete book written by a father she’s never met and combing through her past memories and relationships, Maya pieces together the events and attempts to confront and put everything behind her for good.

Full disclosure, part of the issue that I had with this book was that there was a dual timeline but NO indication of when we were jumping around at the header of chapters. This is something that I would imagine is corrected in the final publication copy, as I’ve seen ARCs in the past missing this piece.

The story was interesting. Obviously “returning home to deal with unfinished business” is a well-worn trope in thrillers, but the catalyst that prompted the return was creative. It gave a supernatural feel to the story which I don’t always like but it was executed well in this case.

Maya was a good character, a tortured hero that was for all intents and purposes totally normal and flawed. Very easy to root and I could see myself being friends wit her.

This was an ambitious debut and I will give Ana all the credit to tackle a suspense novel that uses support of a difficult subject matter to tell the story. Ultimately all the pieces for a good story were there and with some fine-tuning (like the indicators of the time at the chapter headings) it could’ve easily been a four star book for me. Even though I didn’t love this book, her writing was interesting enough that I would absolutely give her future books a chance.