I didn’t really enjoy this one. I thought I would. The writing is fine, but… it just didn’t feel like a YA book. The characters are okay, I liked them, but it just didn’t hit right.

I didn’t realize how deeply this book would hit home for me. I found myself needing to walk away and take a breather for a couple of days as I moved through it. I think this is one of the better YA thriller releases of recent years. Grabbed me right away, and haunted me for days after.

3.5/5 rounded down
What the Woods Took is a YA thriller/horror. So, being YA, it was extremely light in both of those aspects. Nonetheless, it was still a fun book to read/listen to. It took me a while to figure out what exactly was going on, so it was kind of fun to be guessing and feel like I was left in the dark. As for the characters, I thought all of their arcs were pretty well done. Yes, even Sheridan! I’m as surprised as you. Overall, this book was decent. I enjoyed listening to it at the time, but as I process it longer after finishing it, I find less and less to recommend about jt. If you really like YA, you might find this one fun.

Courtney Gould always delivers! This book was full of emotions, chaos, and horror. I loved following these messy teens on a harrowing journey through this woods.

The Mimics and their goals were great to learn about, but the story's pacing felt slow at some times (although we sometimes we skipped a week or so in the story).

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This may be my favorite Courtney Gould book so far. Spooky, frightening, and perfect for Halloween season.

I've not been much of a fan of survival/ wilderness themes, but I really enjoyed What the Woods Took. 5 misfits/ rebellious teens are pushed into a 50-day wilderness retreat by their parents / guardians with a company called Revive. Devin is a 17 year old foster whose foster parents seem decent after some really rough foster homes. Ollie was sent by his dad after trying to sell drugs to live on his own. Then there's Hannah, who had a drunk driving incident and drove into a ditch. Aidan voluntarily went for some reason and is a former Boy Scout who has trouble fitting in at school. Then there's Sheridan, who is fighting a battle we don't learn about right away. The counselors Ethan and Liv are in charge of their 50-day journey in the woods of Idaho. But once they cross a river, everything is very strange. The teens have to fight for their survival. The predator is something supernatural.

TW for sexual abuse/molestation, drugs, suicide and bullying. Excellent LGBTQ representation. I won't say too much because I don't want to give anything away. This book is available 12/10/24.

This is my 3rd Courtney Gould book. I loved the first book, was a fan of the second one, this one landed somewhere in the middle. I do a enjoy a good "scary" book that take places in the woods. I think having all the kids being from a wildness camp didn't add thing to the story and could use a different subplot to make it more interesting. But the mimics definitely added some fun to it. 3.5 stars

Thank you to Courtney Gould, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

First, I am utterly obsessed with this cover. It instantly caught my eye. I loved how the beginning of the book starts with a bang and doesn't take chapters and chapters to start getting into the action.

Second, this one was really good. It was hard to put down, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I liked the characters. I felt for Devin and the other "troubled teens."

Courtney Gould is one of my favorite horror authors, but every time I forget that the beginning starts slow, because in the end it’s always worth it. What the Woods Took follows five teens - Ollie, Sheridan, Hannah, Devon, and Aiden - who are sent to wilderness therapy, but while in the woods things start going horribly, terrifyingly wrong. I do feel like this was less creepy than other Gould books, but I really love the way the characters grow, especially Devon and Sheridan.

4.25⭐️s, rounded down.
My first Gould read, and I'm thinking I need to hit up her backlist.
I binge read/listened to What The Woods Took.
The start felt a little slow compared to the majority of the book, introductions and all, but that is likely a me problem. There are several characters that we get to know throughout and Gould did an amazing job at making them feel like REAL people. It was easy to sympathize and/or empathize with each character, regardless or whether or not I liked them. The tension was thiiick. The setting was eerie. And the creep factor was high.
I dont want to give away much, but it was easy to get sucked into this terror (a forced romp through the wilderness, with team building and trust exercises AND sharing feelings; hard pass) and I craved all the monster mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for the eARC!

This was a fantastic read! I have previously enjoyed this author, so I was very hopeful for this one and it did not disappoint. I was not expecting to be so attached and rooting for this little found family and the sapphic romance, but here I am. It was delightfully creepy and chock full of descriptions that will haunt my nightmares.

I absolutely recommend this one to horror fans!

I enjoyed this! Definitley spooky, kept me on the edge of ,y seat the whole time. I thought the writing and pace was great. I liked our characters.

3/5

Another spooky horror story from Courtney Gould! I love how she changes up the setting for each of her books but they're all still clearly hers. A perfect fall book, with great lesbian representation!

"What the Woods Took" is a haunting and mesmerizing novel that weaves mystery, supernatural elements, and raw human emotion into a story that lingers long after the last page. Set against a chilling woodland backdrop, the novel follows characters grappling with grief, trauma, and the secrets that lurk within both the forest and their pasts. Gould’s writing is atmospheric and poetic, pulling readers into a world where the lines between reality and the supernatural blur in unsettling, yet captivating ways. Each twist is perfectly timed, and the characters’ journeys feel both relatable and heart-wrenching.

With its masterful storytelling, vivid descriptions, and deep emotional undercurrents, "What the Woods Took" is an exceptional read that resonates with mystery lovers and fans of dark, introspective tales alike.

This book follows a group of troubled teens who are forced to partake in a wilderness therapy program which consists of hiking through the wilderness for 50 days to help them sort through their “issues”. When the group starts seeing faces in the woods, they discover there might be more going on than what they originally thought.

This was a well written YA horror. YA horror can be hit or miss for me - the horror elements of this book were done really well. The mimics were creepy AF. But, some of the other parts of the book didn’t land for me.

The start of this book really pulled me in with dragging Devin out of bed, but then we had this slow stretch between when they joined the therapy group and when scary stuff started going down. Due to the disclaimer at the beginning, I think I would have liked the camp counsellors to be more villainized. Their actions were explained away by being young themselves and I would have liked a more intentional antagonist in the two of them. I also could appreciate the relationship building going on between the characters, but it felt excessive to me and took me too much out of the horrific elements of the book. However, I think if I was the intended audience I may have appreciated these parts more.

What the Woods Took is an original, well written novel that starts off a little slow with a group of "delinquent" teenagers being forced into a wilderness therapy program, which devolves into a fight for survival lost among monsters and trauma. Gould did an excellent job keeping me guessing until the last page, and around about the 30% mark on, I could not put this book down. I really enjoyed the concept of the monsters in the woods and the growth of the teens.

This was an excellent choice for a fall spooky read, and I highly recommend it for those creepy woodsy vibes with an underlying found family feel.

What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould @gayowyn
Genre: YA Thriller
Pub Date: December 10, 2024

Yellowjackets meets Girl, Interrupted when a group of troubled teens in a wilderness therapy program find themselves stranded in a forest full of monsters eager to take their place.

This book has:
🖤Sapphic Romance
🖤Twisty Paranormal Horror
🖤Trauma healing & Personal growth
🖤 Forest/Wilderness settings
🖤Monsters/Shapeshifters

This YA thriller/horror book was a perfect and entertaining read. I loved all the characters, their development, and their bond. The monsters were also perfect 👀spooky, creepy, and interesting. And I loved remote settings in the deep forest!

Overall highly enjoyed it and recommend to picking it up!

Also, I’m obsessed with this cover 🤩♥️.
Thank you so much @wednesdaybooks for this gifted ARC!!
#whatthewoodstook #wednsdaybooks #yathrillerbooks

I honestly can't think of even a single bad thing about this book. The writing, plot, characters, pacing, relationships, just everything, is so perfect. The writing is so accessible and well-done. It paints such a clear picture of the characters and the settings that it was so easy for me to picture in my mind what was happening. It was such a good idea to force these characters to be in the woods for a "wellness" retreat to try to fix "behavioral" issues. It created such an impactful and natural parallel to them having to come together to survive. While this book may not be scary enough for some readers, I think it was a perfect balance of horror and reality. In fact, I think if it was too scary, it would have overshadowed the personal journeys these characters had to go on, which is definitely the more important aspect of this book. It was also so great to see such a realistic depiction of teenagers and their relationships with one another. They didn't immediately know how to survive, they made mistakes, they had immature moments, and even when they fought, they knew they needed to stick together in order to survive.
Overall, this was a very exciting and emotional read that had me hooked from the start.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with a galley in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who really discovered the dangers of the "Troubled Kid Industry" through true crime podcasts and documentaries, this book was very much in my wheelhouse. This was a fair depiction of how those sort of companies operate, maybe even a milder depictions than I've seen and read about. These young wilderness therapy coaches were inept but not actually evil and complicit. I've seen it otherwise.

I thought this was an interesting take on kids copi g with trauma being sent away to become someone else's problem. And there isn't really another way to see it here. The kids needed help and this organization was in no way equipped to help them.

I can't help but wonder if leaving out the supernatural aspect might not have made for a stronger story. Sometimes the most frightening horror is purely man-made. I love supernatural elements, I love speculative fiction. But perhaps not here.

In any event, I liked the story a lot. I think it moved at a nice pace for the most part. The characters were relatable if a smidgen thin. The setting was so good. Gould is A+ at scene-setting and atmosphere. I love Courtney's story concepts.

Three stars for me.

WOWZA!

Gripping, tense, dark, horrific and hard to put down! Like two of the main characters, I was instantly grabbed from the very beginning of What the Woods Took! This book had me turning the pages, not wanting to put it down as I was fully invested in what was going to happen next in this coming-of-age tale of survival!

Devin Green, asleep at her foster home, is taken from her bed in the middle of the night and thrown in a van. In the van she meets Oliver, a teen who was also grabbed at his home as he slept as well. Initially, they are given very little information, which ramps up their anxiety and unease. What they do know is that they are being taken to an experimental therapy program where they will hike, camp, and survive in the woods with two camp counselors and other teens for 50 days. The intended result of the therapy program is that the teens will emerge from the woods changed for the better! When they wake up and their two camp counselors are missing, the teens find themselves faced with the unimaginable!

I enjoyed the mixing of personalities and backgrounds of the teens in this book. I also enjoyed their dynamics with each other and their reactions after being thrust into a situation beyond their control. Can you imagine strangers waking you up and taking you by force with little to no explanation. That you are a minor and have no say in what is happening to you? I thought Courtney Gould did a fantastic job of depicting this. I enjoyed how Devin fought and tried to escape while Olive, who did not like the situation, was more accepting of what was happening. Their reactions alone in the beginning of the book show their personalities. Then they meet the other teens who are distinct and add so much to the plot.

What the Woods Took has that trapped feeling that I enjoy in books. While they are not physically locked into any room or house, the group of teens do have the task of finding their way out of the woods - woods that they are unfamiliar with. Survival is the name of the game for them. This book was oozing with atmosphere. I also enjoyed the sense of unease, tension and mounting danger. I enjoyed the sense of something-isn't-quite-right that morphed into full on fear! When they learned that they were not alone in the woods, the creepy factor went off the charts. Their therapy adventure in the woods morphed into a horrific nightmare! What the Woods Took also morphed into a great story about friendship, romance, survival, trust, and battling your own demons.

Creepy, scary, tense, well thought out, spooky!

I had both the book and the audiobook versions of this book which made for an enjoyable reading experience. I found the narration of the audiobook to be wonderful.

Thank you to Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.