Thank you so much NetGalley and Dutton.

Maya is going through Klonopin withdrawals. She had been in therapy after witnessing her friend's death. Then a video surfaces that has another victim under similar circumstances, so she goes on a search to figure out what happened and who did it.

The story was slow and I'm not sure how convincing it was. A lot of the plot was vague. I think it had a lot of potential, but it didn't exactly live up to that! Still, I finished it and I'm sure a lot of people will like it.

Maya is a young woman who is still dealing with the death of her childhood friend who dropped dead in a very mysterious way in front of a man named Frank. Maya is now an adult who is trying to break a Klonopin habit that he is hiding from her boyfriend.

While up late one night, Maya watches a YouTube video where another young girl dies unexpectedly. In the video, Maya sees Frank. She is convinced that Frank has something to do with this death, as well as the death of her friend.

This book had great promise. It sounds intriguing and exciting, but I just couldn't get into it. I didn't like Maya, and her boyfriend was extremely strange. I just couldn't get into this book, no matter how hard I tried. I hate to say i DNF this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book and thought it was a unique premise. The story centers on Maya, whose best friend Aubrey died suddenly while with the guy Maya was dating named Frank. There is something weird and creepy about Frank that Maya can’t put her finger on, but she is convinced he had something to do with the death. 7 years later she sees a video posted online where another woman seemingly just keels over and dies while also in Frank’s presence and Maya knows she has to get to the bottom of what Frank is doing to these people.

The story goes back and forth between the current timeline and the time around Aubrey’s death, which also gives insight into Frank’s mysterious hold over Maya. Maya is battling an addiction to prescription drugs in the current timeline and I felt that she was a believable and sympathetic character. The book was creepy even when nothing creepy was outwardly happening and I was fascinated upon finding out what was really going on.

The only part of the story I really didn’t get was the connection to the book that Maya’s father had been writing. This seems to be really symbolic, both in the synopsis and throughout the story itself, but I couldn’t make the connection between that story and what was happening to Maya.

Overall, I really liked this book and found it to be a unique and engaging read. I’d recommend it to those who enjoy psychological mysteries. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was extremely excited to receive this ARC. The synopsis of the book really pulled me in. I found the storyline to be good but it was a little slow for me. I felt like there was a lot of extra information in the book that was unnecessary. It wasn’t my favorite book but the overall story was intriguing.

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes is narrated by Maya, an unreliable character who has trouble remembering her past. Because this is characterized as a thriller, it was a little slow for me compared to other thrillers and was filled with a lot of backstory that wasn’t the most entertaining. The beginning of the story pulled me right in but the middle dragged a bit for me, I found myself wanting to skim or DNF at points. The ending picked up just a little to make me want to finish, but again I found myself bored and trying to skim at parts. Would I have purchased this title off of the summary alone? Probably, which is why I think it needs more suspense/thrill/page turning moments to be a more enjoyable read, 2⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Ana Reyes, and Penguin Group Dutton for this ARC!

Maya is getting ready to leave Pittsfield for Boston University when she befriends Frank, a guy who works at the public library. Frank has a mysterious way about him and Maya feels as if time passes unnoticed when she is with him. After Maya's best friend, Aubrey, suddenly drops dead when talking with Frank, Maya's suspicions about him are not investigated by the police. Seven years later Maya returns to her home town after learning another woman has died while eating at a restaurant with Frank. Ana Reyes first novel captures Maya's hunches and her fight to convince authorities, and her boyfriend, and her mother, that foul play is responsible for the deaths. A good suspenseful story for new adult readers.

Maya has witnessed a murder of her best and only friend. No one believes her when she says her boyfriend killed her and Maya hopes she is not going crazy like her aunt. Her relationship with her new boyfriend , Dan is in jeopardy because she is afraid to be honest with him. Withdrawal from a sleeping med has left her sleepless and relying heavily on alcohol. More people are dying - she views a death connected with her friend and now is determined to prove that Frank has killed them both.

The memory of the death of her best friend in high school continues to haunt Maya. Along with her past experience of “control” by Frank and a recent YouTube video showing another victim with Frank, Maya is psychologically forced to find out the truth. Inclusion of psychological illness, hypnosis, and drug misuse, creates the meandering path that the story uses to create suspense, plot line and final resolution. The use of actual psychological discoveries as background creates intrigue and although not an “edge of your seat” thriller, the suspense is strong, curious and well worth reading.

Thanks to Dutton Press and to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

The cover, title, and synopsis pulled me in but I will say I was pretty disappointed. It took quite a bit for me to get sucked in enough to want to keep reading, and it was also extremely confusing as it hopped from different times with no notice of the change. The ending was also anticlimactic, so though it has some good bits, I would say as an overall book it wasn’t something I would recommend

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital ARC of The House in the Pines

In this debut novel, we follow the MC Maya, who watchers her friend die and then years later sees a video of another girl dying at the hands of the same man. The manner of death is suspicious - he doesn't even appear touch his victims. While the premise sounds amazing - this book fell really short for me. Told in a dual timeline, it didn't add any value to the story. The story was very slow until the end where it felt very rushed. Regardless it was a quick read and I would give her next book a chance too.

The House in the Pines is a solid debut and really quite original! I was invested with this one and wanted to know what was really happening ASAP! Along with our heroine, readers can expect to question everything!

Although the premise of the book was interesting, I had a hard time committing to reading it.
Maya finds herself in a relationship with a unique man but doesn’t always remember the time she spends in his presence. Many unfortunate things happen in and around her life that eventually circle back to this curious man. At the end it all makes sense, when she finds this man in present day.
The author draws in a back story about Mayas dad but I’m still it 100% sure what it has to do with the rest of the book.

For me, the beginning was slow, 3/4 of the way through it got to be a page turned and then the end just kind of stopped. It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read but don’t know how often I would recommend it to my reading friends.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book!

This was an odd read. The character of Maya is so vague at times, and perhaps that is on purpose given her history with substance abuse. While reading you are not sure if this is a mystery or a thriller. Intriguing enough though that you stick around for the reveal.

What if your best friend in the world suddenly dropped dead while in the company of your ex-boyfriend? What if, many years later, another young woman died under the same mysterious circumstances...a YouTube video showing her in a restaurant, sitting across from the same mysterious, magnetic man?
This is how Maya, a young woman struggling to move on from the death of her best friend, begins to think that there is more to her personal tragedy than meets the eye.
Heading back to her Berkshires hometown, in withdrawal from prescribed medication, drinking too much, Maya shows up on her mother's doorstep, hoping to get answers to this event that has plagued her for seven years.
She tries to relive that fateful time, just before she left for college, in the hopes that she can finally move on with her life.
The titular "House in the Pines", a cabin her teen ex-boyfriend claimed to have built with his bare hands, may hold all of the answers she seeks. With help from a short book written by her Guatemalan father who died before she was born, Maya searches for answers, for Frank, and for how at least two young healthy women seemingly dropped dead in frank's presence.
Suspenseful, thrilling, and unique. This book is fantastic.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Well, this was a great psychological thriller! I read the synopsis and knew this might be the book for me. Boy, did it not disappoint! The story is about Maya who is still dealing with her trauma of the death of her best friend. How can you truly recover after you best friend all of a sudden drops dead? She is trying her best to move on with her life. She has a boyfriend, and she is finally starting to stop her pill habit. But here is the thing, stuff is about to get spookier. Her life tumbles back into chaos when she watches a video of a similar death. Now we fall into the rabbit hole to discover what is really happening!

What I enjoyed:
- the pacing is well done and the book keeps you on your toes. I kept reading chapter after chapter because I needed to know more. The mystery is a strong and interesting concept too!
- This book is haunting, and spooky at times. This would make a great Halloween read.
- I honestly couldn’t predict how this one would play out

This book is a great, fun, and fast read. Perfect for any fans of mystery, and psychological thrillers. The writing was strong and the book had an interesting plot. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this. 4 stars out of 5!

The House in the Pines follows Maya, who watched her friend die while talking to her boyfriend when she was 18 and now years later she sees a video of another girl dying while talking to the same man. Somehow it seems this man is managing to kill women without even touching them.

The premise of this book sounded great and I was so excited to read it. Unfortunately. this one just did not quite hit the mark for me. One thing I kept having trouble with was the "is she crazy" trope. I can't stand thrillers/mysteries that rely on narrators that no one quite trusts because they use drugs or alcohol, and this has been popping up in so many mysteries I've read this year.

The book was told in a dual timeline, but for the first handful of chapters I couldn't figure out why, it didn't feel like it was adding to the story to have scenes from the past, but once it picked up it felt like the whole story was in the past and there was very little plot in the present day chapters. The book lulled a bit in the middle and then suddenly felt like it wrapped up very quickly at the end, so something about the overall pacing just felt off to me.

Even though this book missed for me in various ways, it was a fun, fast-paced read and I would pick up this author again in the future. Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of this book. for an honest review.
This story was about a young girl who had become addicted to a medication that was supposed to help her with her anxiety and able to sleep. She combined alcohol with it and then tried to just quit. She had witnessed her best friend drop dead in front of an ex-boyfriend who was very strange from the beginning. I just had a hard time with this book. The boyfriend was extremely strange and the setting around him in the book was pretty bizarre to me. This just wasn’t a book I would recommend.
I did finish it but I have to say I was glad to be done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The House in the Pines is a haunting psychological thriller that succeeds in creeping you out and having you beg for more. I like to go in blind with my thrillers, so I’m going to try to be vague in my review.

Poor Maya is just trying to get on with her life and look to the future when a strange video of a sudden death drags her back into the past, when her best friend dies. The circumstances of these deaths are strange and involve an old flame, Frank. So Maya heads back home in search for answers.

I enjoyed the story. I had to know what happened. The whys and how’s of it all were somehow both surprising and expected. Also, quite scary if they were real. There were a few portions that the author’s writing style had me a little confused, and I had to reread it a few times. I also wish the time jumps were a bit clearer so it was easier to tell what was past or present.

But overall, it was a solid 3.75⭐️ read for me. I can’t wait to see what else this author comes up with!

The House in the Pines follows Maya, an addict going through withdrawals after witnessing her best friend's death seven years prior. After another death happens that seems eerily familiar to her friend's, Maya is determined to figure out what actually happened all those years ago.
I enjoyed this thriller, but I had trouble figuring out a rating for the book. On one hand, the plot was unique and had me wanting more but. On the other hand, the climax of the book felt like it was lacking.. This could be my inability to manage my expectations, but the climax felt dull, especially with how dangerous the situation seemed to be.
At times both fast paced as well as a bit of a slow-burn, The House in the Pines was a compelling read, engaging the reader in explorations of loss and regret, of memory and madness, and how the past can sometimes offer deceptive and dangerous outcomes. I think I see the uncommon stuff embedded in a story long before I see more basic motives and logistics, so I didn't find this twist especially twisty.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Groping Dutton for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

“A House in the Pines” is Ana Reyes debut novel. Maya, is a young woman going through withdrawals and still grieving after witnessing her best friends mysterious death. Years later she witnesses a similar death under mysterious circumstances involving the same man that was with her the night her friend died. Interesting read, unreliable narrator keeps you guessing. Would definitely be interested in reading more from this author!
3.5 stars
***I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Dutton Books in exchange for an honest review.***