I read this as an ARC back in October, but time flies. I've been wanting to read Here Lies Olive for a while from the same author for a long time. But when I saw there was an ARC opportunity for her newest book I couldn't resist. And now I want to read her debut even more!

(synopsis)
Chase and her family had been travelling in a converted schoolbus for years, until a traumatic experience left Chase's little sister Guthrie without a voice. They decide to settle down in an abandoned fire lookout in Pando, a National Forest in the US, to give Guthrie more stability. Chase longs for some normality. A regular childhood, like before they started travelling. But strange things start to happen in Pando, and Chase feels her little sister is not safe here. Guthrie starts acting different; from finding deformed bones to whispering to the trees. When Chase finds out the shocking history of her new home, she knows she has to save Guthrie before it's too late.

(review)
This was one of the most atmospheric and eerie books I've read this year! The author did such a beautiful job of creating a haunting and remote environment in the woods and I was completely immersed by the creepy and surrealistic imagery. It was a very unsettling YA horror!
About the setting of the book: it takes place in Pando, a real place, which is the home of the largest organism ever found. Hundreds of trees, clones of each other, connected by roots. It was the perfect setting for this story. A forest full of trees with eye-like knots constantly watching (although this got repeated a bit too often haha).

The story has multiple layers and mysteries that are intertwined, which I really loved. I wanted to keep reading to understand their connection and see how (or if) everything resolves. With the themes and how horror is used in this book, I would describe this more as a psychological horror/thriller.

There's a lot of trauma (and denial of it..), mental illness and loneliness. It shows how easily trauma passes on to others within a family. Through the book there were many conflicts between Chase and her parents. Her parents frustrated me to no end. They were neglectful and refused to listen. I wanted to scream sometimes while reading. I could really feel the desperation and stress of Chase. Because of this, I was extra disappointed with the amount of ease some of these conflicts were 'buried' in the end.
The family dynamic was an important aspect of the book. I loved reading about Chase and Guthrie. Both were lovely, well written characters. Chase is so protective of her little sister and feels very responsible. She constantly lives with a huge amount of guilt and anxiety because of the past.

The romance between Chase and Wilder I liked a little bit less. It felt a bit superficial and unneccessary compared with the rest of the story. I would have preferred if it was more focused on the friend group, which I did love! There was some queer rep there that made me smile.

So the book wasn't perfect, but the themes, the tension and the amazingly dark, eerie atmosphere really grabbed me and after 2 months I still think about the book! I would recommend if you enjoy nature, slow-burn, folk horror and mysteries.

I loved Here Lies Olive from Kate but this, this is my new favorite.

I couldn’t put this down, reading over half of it in one day to finish it. Even though I was a bit anxious in trying to figure everything out, I really enjoyed how Kate wrote trauma and how it can impact a family. As someone who knows intimately what it’s like to seek control after a traumatic event, I really resonated with Chase in the ways she tried to hard to achieve control where she thought she could- that is a rough battle. As a parent, I resonated with both parents on the difficulties on how to raise children after an event.

All in all, the real life mixed with the metaphysical was exceptional and the mystery/thriller was great.

*Lonely Places* by Kate Anderson is a chilling and emotional read that blends family drama with eerie supernatural elements. The story follows sixteen-year-old Chase, who, after a traumatic event steals her younger sister Guthrie’s voice, moves with her family to a remote fire lookout in Pando, a grove of strange Aspen trees. The hope is that the isolation will bring stability, but it only amplifies the strange happenings around them, like birds singing on loop and bones sprouting from the ground.

Chase, who longs to return to the hometown they left years ago, starts working at a nearby summer camp, where she uncovers unsettling secrets about the forest and her sister’s transformation. The more time she spends with Wilder, the camp lifeguard, the more she’s pulled away from Guthrie, who’s being drawn deeper into Pando’s mysterious force. Now, Chase must face her own past and venture into the forest to save her sister before it’s too late.

Anderson does a great job of creating a tense, atmospheric story where the lines between reality and the supernatural blur. Chase’s journey of protecting Guthrie while trying to find her own way is heartfelt, and the book keeps you hooked with its strange, haunting mysteries. *Lonely Places* is a beautifully eerie story about family, trauma, and how far we’ll go to save the ones we love.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced copy to honestly review.

Atmospheric and haunting, Lonely Places is a story that feels layered and evocative.

Readers follow a family who lives a modern day nomadic lifestyle. They move from place to place, never really calling anywhere home. When they choose to stay for a stint in a remote fire tower, eldest daughter Chase feels a calling to the forest and the darkness and mysteries it holds.

Lonely Places is at it's heart a nuanced tale of family and the traumas that change and mold us as we grow. As readers watch the family cope with an unthinkable reality, we also get a glimpse at something otherworldly that lurks within the woods. The combination of real world horrors coupled with otherworldly ones makes for a story that oozed with atmosphere while delivering on some universal and grounded lessons.

Folk horror fans will find this one was a must read!

YA horror can be hit or miss, but Lonely Places lands perfectly. This eerie, atmospheric read was everything I wanted for October. The hauntingly vivid forest drew me in, but it was the author’s nuanced exploration of trauma, denial, and coping that made me truly connect with the characters and their relationships.

I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy dark fairy tales, creepy forest settings, and stories that delve into themes of trauma and family dynamics. Lonely Places left a lasting impression, and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Actual Rating 3.5

The author did an excellent job incorporating the atmosphere and the setting throughout the entire book. Something I’ve noticed recently is that many new publications will start off strongly incorporating setting/atmosphere then let it drop about a quarter of the way through, which weakens the feel of the read immensely. But with this one, the setting, eeriness, and emptiness of it all were woven through the story from beginning to end, maintaining a strong atmosphere. The plot did move a little slowly with this one (it was almost 75% through before The Big Thing happened), but I enjoyed the buildup getting there.

The characters were relatively strong. I enjoyed the tension and conflict that existed in the family relationships and how that colored their decision making. It did get a little repetitive at times when it came to their arguments/discussions since they wouldn’t listen to each other and kept having the same discussions over and over. There was of course insta-love in this work, but thankfully it was less dramatic than the way many YA author’s write it and the romance was also more of a background thing, so it didn’t detract too much from the work.

If you’re looking for a slower YA read with strong atmosphere that explores family, community, and guilt, then this is worth checking out. My thanks to NetGalley and North Star Editions for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Creepy, eerie, and unsettling. Very atmospheric and dark, while still having that great folk horror plot that adds a level of richness into the story.

3.5 stars rounded up for the incredible atmosphere. This is a hard book to categorize…family drama/dynamics; trauma; teen angst; guilt…all happening in a beautiful and scary setting. Overall, a “just one more chapter” read.

Wasn’t sure if I would like this but it was done well. Handled trauma and other heavier themes well.

My mind is so numb and broken after reading this (in a good way!!!)

This is full of family trauma, nature, vortexes, and just everything creepy. It’s almost frustrating in a way, the way the characters interact with one another (specifically Chase and her parents), but when you find out all that has happened to make them that way, you understand.

After Chase’ sister Guthrie goes missing in the woods, and comes back with her voice gone, and her essence gone basically as well, the family moves to a lookout in Pando.

However, there’s a negative vortex there and things from the past that come back to haunt them. And knotholes!!! It’s eery. It’s chilling. It makes goosebumps rise on your skin.

They are a traveling family, their van/bus/home known as a skoolie. Ever since her grandparents died when they were little, Chase has longed to go back to Boone, where they lived since that’s the only place she felt like was home.

I really enjoyed this storyline and felt like I could relate to Chase, even as someone who has lived in the same house, town, and state my whole life.

The chapters were short, and packed a punch which i really enjoyed. I liked the tiny bit of romance that we got from Chase and Wilder. I thought it was great that Chase was able to find a home in someONE rather than someTHING and that she had someone to lean on during the absolute rollercoaster that was this book.

I’m really satisfied with the ending and how everything turned out. I wish nothing but the best for this family and how they will move forward/are moving forward.

This has a much darker vibe to it than Kate’s’ debut “Here Lies Olive” but I really enjoyed it. The psychological/realistic fiction of it all. It really makes me want to visit Pando IRL (since it actually exists!!)

Sad, hopefully and mysterious. Lonely Places was great, a story about trauma, denial and coping. I loved all the characters and their relationships. The way Chase development was built and the way she started trusting the people around her was beautiful. Although her and her family had their ups and downs (and got me going crazy sometimes) at the end they truly cared for each and changed for the better, they did what was right to be able to move forward.

Thank you NetGally for giving me the opportunity of reading the eARC

There is magic in the woods, it’s often subtle in its beauty and power. When the Wolf family moves to a new town Pando, they have the most unique opportunity to live on a Fire Lookout Tower. But there is a sense of unease with the locals whenever the Lookout is mentioned and the story builds masterfully. Kate Anderson’s Lonely Places is a beautiful tale that blends the dynamics of nature with human relationships for an intricately woven and mysteriously spellbinding journey filled with the right amount of horror. A profound and moving story about our connectedness and the fragility and resiliency of the human spirit. This was such a treat to read on my plane ride to and from Utah!!!

An atmospheric setting, creepy plot, and guilt combine for a satisfying young adult tale of psychological terror.

Lonely Places is a new young adult psychological horror story by author Kate Anderson, and its rich, evocative setting will have readers jumping in their seats at every unidentified noise. The young protagonist is realistically portrayed, and many readers will easily relate to her and her feelings, effectively edging up the engagement in this absorbing tale.

Chase Woolf is the older sister and narrator of the story. Soon to turn 18, she’s desperately unhappy with her father’s choice of the family’s vagabond lifestyle. She longs for a stable, traditional home, specifically the one from her childhood memories in Boone, North Carolina, where they lived down the street from her paternal grandparents until their deaths. Instead, her father has committed the family to living at a remote fire lookout station for a year. Her goal is to make enough money over the summer and upcoming school year to escape her current life, as well as the guilt she bears for leaving her much younger sister, Gus, behind in the woods at her family’s campsite six months earlier and the young girl’s resulting trauma. Lost for hours, when the family finally found Gus, she was tear-streaked and terrified and hadn’t spoken a word since, except to mumble to herself and now the trees that surround the fire lookout station their father has brought them to for the coming year.

The setting in remote Utah in the middle of the Pando Aspen Grove, a real location, is vivid and creepy and plays a main role in the unfolding tale. The slow reveal of past issues at the fire lookout station are eerie twists that serve to intensify the growing suspense as Chase watches her younger sister start to change for the worse. As a parent, I wanted to shake the girls’ parents; both of these girls needed more help than a change of scenery or just ignoring it could provide. In addition to the unique and compelling mysteries of what was going on at Pando, there is the start of a normal romance for Chase at the nearby summer camp.

The author’s easy-to-read writing style, evocative setting, vulnerable protagonists, and slowly simmering suspense of the story kept me interested and invested from start to finish. I recommend LONELY PLACES to readers of young adult psychological horror and thrillers.

Always love a YA horror, and this one was great! Thriller aspects, and dives right into the atmosphere of it all. It was well written and satisfying!

Lonely places was my last October read and I couldn’t have chosen a better book to close out spooky season with. Taking place in an isolated fire lookout, a family moves in and has no idea the place and surrounding woods has a haunted history. The area soon starts to affect the youngest child, and mysterious events start happening soon after. Trauma is a strong theme in this book and I really loved how that played a part in both the past and the present. ⁣
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Atmospheric and filled with plenty of chills and thrills, this one sucked me right and in and didn’t let go. The storyline is tense and it’s one of those books that really hit you on a visceral level. I think expected to feel a bit of the creeps with this one, but I didn’t expect to feel all the things from the aforementioned trauma and I loved that. Add this to your tbr if you enjoy:⁣⁣
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🍁Themes of grief and trauma ⁣
🍁Isolated eerie settings ⁣
🍁Spooky, woodsy horror ⁣
🍁Family bonds ⁣
🍁Atmospheric stories

After travelling the country for years in a converted school bus, a homeschooling family takes up residence at a fire lookout in Utah. The youngest daughter no longer speaks, traumatized by what happened in the woods That Night. After reading this book, I could go the rest of my life without hearing that phrase. which is repeated over and over in a slightly different font from the book's main text. There's also that thing that happened at the lookout that no one wants to talk about. The aspen grove is filled with creepy bones which the youngest daughter keeps picking up and bringing home. It's a young adult novel, so Chase, the older daughter, is extremely critical of her parents and looking forward to getting away from her family at the first possible opportunity. There's an intriguing story here and some really creepy imagery, but it takes a while to get there.

Wow this had everything. It has first love, whimsical neglectful parents, trauma, staircases in the woods, pando, and some of my favorite Utah locations. It was beautiful and creepy. I have a lot of thoughts but I can't put them down due to spoilers. I will say that I enjoyed this very much.

Slow moving start to the book, even though there were a lot of potentially spooky mysteries that could have been delved into. Instead we kept getting references to "that night" on almost every other sentence, and the character development was very weak, especially in the parents. New characters arrived at about 80% of the way into the book, who served no purpose in advancing the plot.

At about 80-90% into the book, there were some actually creepy parts that made me think this would be like an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but I thought the resolution to "that night" fell flat, and I was astounded at how terrible the parents were at parenting. Even for free spirited hippies, they were bad. Yet they had the foresight to tell their teenage daughter to let them parent. If someone really was free spirited to the point of being neglectful, I don't know that they would have the acuity to tell their teen to let them handle adult matters so she could enjoy being a teen.

I actually found the author's notes at the end more interesting, as she shares her journey to publication and some of the places in the southwest that inspired the book. I'd like to read more of her work, but I think this was very much a novice effort. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

First of all I want to thank Net Galley and North Star Editions for an ARC of this book to read and review.

I really liked the book, it's slow paced but not in a bad way. The author did a great thing by keeping a slow pace and still making sure there was tension.

Obviously I like the idea of 'the lonely places' being a trauma warrior myself. The inner battle of Chase is depicted very well from a teenager's point of view. The themes of trauma-romance-friendship are well-combined in the book.

What I'm missing is more insight in Guthrie's memory and feelings of what happened 'that night'.

Awesome creepy and mysterious vibes in this one. It keeps us on edge, turning the pages to learn the secrets, we want to understand what Guthrie can now perceive and see or hear in these woods that others can't. The family moved to an isolated house in the woods without knowing something terrible happened there before. Also, something in the past made Gurthrie a ten-year-old stop talking, but now she talks a little to the trees. Couldn't put it down.