Esme’s mother died in a car accident when she was sixteen years old, & even though she had a close group of friends she couldn’t wait to leave the town of Graybridge after that & start her career as a professional ballerina. Now nearing thirty & with her aspirations cut short because of an injury, Esme has decided to come home to help her brother with their alcoholic father. She doesn’t expect to see her home surrounded by emergency vehicles, or to hear that her former best friend Kara (who happens to look a lot like Esme) was murdered in the woods nearby.

As Esme tries to help her father, attempts to settle back into Graybridge life & catch up with old friends, & tries to make some sort of sense of Kara’s death, she feels increasingly uneasy with pieces of the past resurfacing in confusing ways. She & Detective Rita Myers keep crossing paths as more crimes are uncovered, but all of that digging may have unintended consequences…

I really enjoyed the short chapters in this book that kept the pace quick & the alternating POVs between Esme & Rita were interesting, both with their personal lives & the events transpiring from a civilian & police perspective. The new-to-me author did a fantastic job of making the woods feel creepy, with multiple sources of danger. I noticed another title from Terri Parlato on Kindle Unlimited & I’ll be adding it to my TBR List!

Thank you to NetGalley & Kensington for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A satisfying, slow-burn mystery. I enjoyed seeing the rarer POV of the sibling who left caretaking to another sibling.

Esme's mom died in a car accident when she was sixteen. Her father was driving that day and since then her life was forever changed. She eventually moved away to pursue her ballet career and it has now been two and a half years since she last visited home. Now, her career is over and she's broken up with her boyfriend, so she decides it is time to move back to Greybridge. When she pulls up to her home, she sees police cars everywhere and learns that a body was found. It happens to be her best friend from high school, Kara. Detective Rita Myers takes on the case to find out what happened.

WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS starts off with a bang. I was very interested to see what happened to Kara. Who killed her and why? There are many creepy neighbors and I suspected it had to be one of them, but then thought that would be too obvious. I enjoyed reading about the character of Rita the most. She took her job seriously and never stopped trying to figure out what happened to Kara. In the end, I was happy to get the answers I was looking for. This was a quick story and I enjoyed it overall.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books, for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) closer to pub date.

This is a book about Esme, who returns home after 13 years, right as her best friend is murdered in her backyard. The narrative also switches to Rita, the police officer investigating the case. I enjoyed reading this book, but really didn’t care for the end. I guessed the killer the first time they were introduced so that took some of the fun out of it for me. The end seemed a little rushed.

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley, but all opinions are my own.

Title: What Waits in the Woods
All the Dark Place
Author: Terri Parlato
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: December 26, 2023
Rating 3.3 Stars
Pages: 304

I read "All the Dark Place" which I really liked and was excited when I saw that Terri Parlato has out a new story.

Esme Foster has always love ballet and was well on her way to being a professional Ballerina however a hip injury has preventing her from continuing her dream. So now eleven years later as she is close to thirty she is return home to Graybridge.
When she returns home, her childhood best friend Kara Cunningham was found dead in the woods behind her house. Esme cannot believe this happened -who would have any reason to kill Kara, she was liked by everyone?
Story is told from the POV of Esmé and Rita.
Rita Myers of the Graybridge Police Department and is the detective on this case. She is single and feels compelled as well as able to spend more time on this case.

There appears to be secrets hidden in this sleepy town, Sleepy is a good word to use in this story as it was much slower than I expected. It did pick up the three quarters of the story and yes a lot is revealed at that time.

I am a big thriller fan and expected a lot of twists and turns so it was a tad disappointed in this. But I am already looking forward to the next Terri Parlato story.

Want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for December 26, 2023.

I feel like I've read a few ex-ballerina books lately. Perhaps that's a hot theme right now. Anyway, I found Rita's POV much more interesting than Esme's as she always seems like a downer to me (and I mean, I get why, but it made the story feel more plodding to me). Overall the story was decent and it kept me engaged enough to keep reading. I wonder if there will be any more books with Rita solving more murders.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Really great writing and tension 🤌

Sometimes alternating characters can be difficult to follow but this was done well!

I'll start by saying I really wanted to like this book. There is something so tragic about someone pursuing an artistic dreaming, reaching heights they've only imagined they could reach, then losing it all thanks to an injury and having to move back home. It is a tale as old as the days of penny dreadfuls and cabarets. In this case, the ballerina move home and right to a crime scene.

The characters make the plot feel flat. There is nothing compelling about Jack to make him the love interest. It also does not track that the main character, who lived in a big city in a creative role where predators abound, wouldn't see the danger she was in with the neighbor (I won't say more because spoilers). There was so much anger from the father's girlfriend that seemed misplaced- why so much anger toward the daughter over the sins of the mother? And Byron as the brother... he seemed less angry than one would expect in the situation, and less scared of being accused of murder than seems prudent.

The reveal of the killer was surprising if only that it wrapped up a thread from the subplot for another character.

1.5 stars

Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a miss for me. I found the whole vibe of the setting, writing and characters dreary and like a grey rainy day. I felt like the characters had no personality and didn't care if they became the next murder victim. I felt that the secrets revealed were unfulfilling and that the random family drama that popped up throughout the book didn't add anything and slowed the whole story down. I also didn't like how Cynthia was treated and thought that Irene was unnecessarily cruel with no justification. There was almost nothing redeeming for me in this book, which is very unfortunate because I had high hopes.

I wish there were words to express how excited I was when I saw that I was approved for this arc. Thrillers will always be one of my favourite genres and the fact that this was a murder mysteries screamed that it was right up my alley.

After her dreams are cut short and a failed relationship, Esmé decides to move back to her hometown to help her brother take care of their unwell father. Things quickly take a sinister turn when one of Esmé’s old friends is found dead in her backyard.

The story follows the point of view of Esmé and Rita, the detective who is investigating the murder. Usually, I find it can become quite confusing when there are dual points of view because it can become jumbled but thankfully this was written well and i found myself excited to see each different view of Esmé and Rita.

I loved trying to solve the mystery along with the other characters. As we learnt more about the characters and their pasts, I tried to figure out on my own who the killer was and I can confirm that I was not even close.

I feel like the ending was slightly rushed. It felt like it came out of left field as I hadn’t seen any reason for the story to go that way which could have been my fault because I could have missed some foreshadowing and clues.

Overall, I had great fun with this tense and fantastically paced Thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this e-ARC in return for an honest review.

This story is told in a two person perspective, first, Esme an injured ballerina who returns home to her small town the same morning her childhood best friend, Kara from is found murdered behind her fathers house. Rita is the detective assigned to Kara’s case. Secrets from Esme’s past become intertwined with present as they try to find the killer

This a slow burn thriller,that gives just enough reveals and to keep you guessing and the twist as the end tied that tied the past and present together that was surprising. The atmospheric writing of this small town full if secrets also elevated the suspense.

If you haven’t seen the review I did for Terri Parlato’s debut novel, All The Dark Places, I highly recommend you check it out – go ahead, I’ll wait… Ok, now that you’re back, I’m going to tell you that this book is just as good. You’ve heard of the sophomore slump? That weird thing where the second book isn’t as good as the first or any subsequent books that come out? Well, this book doesn’t have that.

What this book does have is a dual point of view that doesn’t take much to get used to because it’s very clear as to who is telling the story at any given moment.

The main characters we deal with are Esmé and Rita. Esmé is our main character, the one who just came back from Syracuse after her ballet career ended. She came home only to find her best friend, Kara, had been murdered and was found on Esmé’s family’s property. Then we have Rita, the detective in charge of Kara’s murder case. Add in Esmé’s brother Byron and father Tom, Tom’s friend Irene, neighbors Ray Ridley Jr, Cynthia Ridley, and Alan York, plus Esmé’s friends Laney, Christy, and Jack and we’ve got an interesting cast of characters. To be honest, there weren’t any characters I fully disliked – with the exception of Alan York who was a bit on the creepy side. I wasn’t overly fond of him, but the rest were fine.

I loved the writing and the plot. The twists were awesome – with new information coming in at varying points. But the big twist was one you just wouldn’t see coming – because there wasn’t any reason to. I kept thinking it would be one character who murdered Kara, but then something would be revealed that would make me think another character was the murderer. And who it turns out to be isn’t someone I’d ever even considered.

This was a great second novel from Terri Parlato and I can’t wait to read more of her work. She’s already become a “must buy” author for me. This book gets a solid four stars. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery/thriller/psychological thriller.

The title is as attractive as it is for a thriller fan so I dived quickly into the story. The book wasn’t bad, neither was it expected.

Esme is an ex-ballerina who returns home on the day one of her best friends Kara dies in their backyard. Rita is a committed detective working on the case but she couldn’t figure out the motive or the killer. Esme returns to a home that was wrecked 13 years ago when her mother died in a car accident for which her dad becomes guilty. He becomes alcoholic and blames himself for his wife’s death. Esme regrets leaving her friends and family in her pursuit of her dream career and tries to relive the life she lost. Rita tries to pitch ideas regarding the death of Kara where she suspects many people but could not figure out a motive.

The book walks through the POV of both Esme and Rita. Esme regrets her loss of career and her absence from caring for her father. She still thinks about the night her mother died and the mystery man who talked to her. Rita is trying her best to solve the case while ruling out her suspects. The atmosphere is dark, gloomy and moody. The characters weren’t likeable and were at times very depressing. The book had some interesting plot twists but there weren’t a lot of it. There were a lot of loose ends that were tied up nicely but the final reveal was a bit anticlimactic for me. I neither loved nor hated this but it is a good thriller that will promise you a thrilling read.

#WhatWaitsInTheWoods #NetGalley
BRILLIANT.
Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house. Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity? Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust. Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end
Terri Parlato, this name is sufficient to buy a book. Wonderfully written. Great tension.
Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for giving me an advance copy.

Great character development. I enjoyed the way the author developed the hometown as a character itself. Great twists. Fans of Ruth Ware will enjoy!

I had to DNF. It had an interesting premise, but the writing was too robotic with little to none description and zero passion. Very disappointed.

When Esme, a professional ballerina, returns to her hometown she finds that violence and secrets lie hidden in a way that she never saw before she left.
Coming to grips with the trauma of the past and present puts Esme right in the middle of a myriad of terror.

What Waits in the Woods by Terri Parlato is a very well written psychological thriller and of course I love a good thriller…but who doesn’t right? Well let me say that it is written by alternating characters and that was actually done so well it pulls you in and does not let go.
Especially Foster had a love of being a ballerina and was a great one at that until she had an injury that left her incapable of performing anymore. So Esme returns home to help her brother care for their father whose health is not the greatest. Just as she returned home, the body of Kara Cunningham was found behind the fosters home. Cara was Esme’s high school friend. Esme is now very worried. The death has brought Ob out some nightmares that return her to the scene of her mother’s death with a car accident. There is a man in her dreams that tells Esme that he is going to kill her as well. She thinks that Kara looked like her with her slim petite build and hair color. Is this, as her family continue to tell her just a fragment of her imagination? Or did the man in her dreams actually come to kill her and mistake Kara for her? Det Rita Myers is on the case and the story is told by Esme as well as Rita. The characters are well developed, flawed, and very raw in some cases but it only makes the story better. The ending, oh the ending……. If you think you have this one figured out, well you most likely will be wrong.

5 out of 5 stars


Thanks to NetGalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

I enjoyed this murder investigation mystery because the writing was well done. I wouldn’t necessarily categorize it as a thriller, as I wasn’t particularly at the edge of my seat, but the plot held my attention.

I enjoyed this book overall. I was somewhat disappointed of how it wrapped up. I enjoy an ending where I can trace the story back to see hints I missed. That wasn’t possible for a few aspects of the ending. I did like the book and I’ll recommend to others.

I just reviewed What Waits in the Woods by Terri Parlato. #WhatWaitsintheWoods #NetGalley