A slow-burn, eerie, and atmospheric story with an ominous feeling that something’s about to happen. A creepy forest, the relationship between two sisters, a dash of romance, and YA with psychological narratives—what more can you ask for? Fifteen years ago, I would’ve completely eaten this up.

I enjoyed several elements, and the setting itself gets 5 stars. There were a lot of tense moments in Pando, but as an adult reader, I would have loved to see it fleshed out a bit more. Characters, relationships, and mysteries—I wish I could have dived deeper into them. I’m a bit over the negligent parent trope in YA, though I understand that having present parents would hinder a lot of YA plots. Recommended for fans of the genre, but it was a bit of a stretch for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and North Star Editions for the ARC!

There’s something about a horror novel that takes place in the woods. That feeling you get under your skin knowing how dark it can get at night, and the senses you lose trying to navigate the trees. While this is a slow burning story, it’s worth it.

gorgeous YA book that's really less horror per say and more grief and trauma and how that affects people adn families. tysm for the arc.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC copy of Lonely Places!

This was a great YA horror with a bit of a thriller aspect to it! The writing was atmospheric and drops you right into the middle of the story!

It’s an interesting underlying topic for YA (family trauma, PTSD) but was really well written and in my opinion, written in a way that is easily digestible for the target audience.

I enjoyed this for what it was! Creepy woods, dramatic, atmospheric and mysterious!

Creepy.family.trauma Lonely Places set to publish October 29, 2024

We follow a family who converted a bus to a home and travel the country until a life altering event happens. They lose their youngest child in the woods. The story is mysterious and illusive as to what all happened in this moment of time. We fast forward to 6 months after this event when the family decides to take 'refuge' and build stability for their family after the event with their daughter.

While living in a lookout tower in a new town, oddities start occurring in this new forest. This story is told from 17 year old Chase and her thoughts on the lifestyle. Immediately their is tension within the family on the decisions being made. I feel for Chase and after her sister is left mute (from the trauma of the event in the woods). Chase feels guilt and pressure to maintain control over her sister.

The pace of this book was good, Chase felt real and I was happy to see that she was such a strong voice in the story with sharing her opinion and discomfort of the situation. She really cares for her sister and we see a lot of character growth with her throughout the story.

The parents to me were just bleh, the dad was extremely annoying to me. Self-centered and very out of the picture.

While this story was very slice of life (I was invested)in Chase's outcome and what would come of Guthrie aka Gus. Would she ever recover. As the story unfolded it definately came together more and I appreciate the overall message of this story and how trauma can effect each and every one of us. The pain and trauma was visceral or what all this poor family has had to overcome.

Thank you to Netgalley and North Star Editions | Flux for the ARC copy for my honest review.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.25

My feelings about this book changed a lot as I was reading. This was probably due to the pacing of the book, because a lot of the times where it should have been action packed and fast paced, it really fell flat.

But, I'll start with the positives: This book immediately caught my attention with a really unique setting and family dynamic. Our main character Chase is the daughter of parents who decided to uproot their life close to a decade ago and travel the country in a renovated school bus. Chase has a little sister who you immediately want to know more about and figure out the mystery of why she is selectively mute. The family winds up at a fire tower surrounded by Aspen trees, which I could imagine is absolutely beautiful! There's a ton of creepy imagery and suspense throughout the whole book which I appreciated. The little sister also collects bones from the nearby forest and does some strange things that really add to the tense tone. The overall message of the book is super important and I liked how it tied into the mystery and horror aspect of the story.

But, there were so many things that disappointed me when I had such high hopes for the first 50% of the book! I thought it was going to be close to a 5⭐ read for me. There were a few mysteries that were focused on a ton in the beginning and then NEVER explained fully by the end. Instead, a briefly mentioned mystery that was never built up took up the whole ending. And the ending felt like it should have had more action and suspense but it seemed really rushed to me. It felt almost out of place with the book. I was expecting everything from the beginning to tie into the big mystery but it didn't. Usually when a book builds up so much suspense, there's a climactic ending that wraps it all together but this was just suspense to slow boring parts to an anticlimactic ending. I liked the romance subplot for awhile and was expecting the love interest to play a part in the ending as well but he was nowhere to be seen. And after some time it just felt like filler scenes that messed with the pacing and suspense. None of the side characters felt fully fleshed out either. Just Chase, but she was not super likable.

Idk if it's just me not loving YA anymore, but this was kind of disappointing when the premise and message of the book were so promising.

If you do enjoy creepy YA books with mental health undertones, I would recommend this. But don't get too caught up in the suspense like I did because it will disappoint you in the end.

fun and twisted, it was a very fast read and i could not put it down i ran into multiple twists i could never expect and that doesnt happen to me often

Lonely Places had me staying up late to read -- and when a book can do that, it is worth discussing why!

Chase has been been living the life of a nomad for most of her childhood, but right when she is on the cusp of her senior year of high school, her parents decide to move the family to another unconventional but stationary locale: a fire watch tower in the middle of a forest. Different from the converted school bus she is used to but a far cry from her early childhood home in a "regular" suburban neighborhood, Chase is concerned mostly with how her younger sister is going to cope. Selectively mute after being lost in another forest (which chase blames herself for), her sister seems slow to recover, so how is living in the middle of another forest going to affect her? Add in the nearby summer camp complete with a cute boy and the energy of a "negative vortex", there are a lot of storylines, but the author does a good job of bringing them all together without seeming too precious or beyond belief.

I liked the blurb, the title and the cover. It was supposed to be a spooky read but it wasn't. The writing is very good and atmospheric. However, for this genre, it takes a lot of time to build intrigue. You keep reading and nothing significant happens. Finding weird things like a skull, seeing faces in the woods, and repeated mention of “that night” don't take the story forward. The Chase-Wilder interaction didn't interest me much.

Even though I liked the writing, I began to lose interest and patience after 6-7 chapters.

Sorry it didn't work for me. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to read this book.

I enjoyed this book very much. Kept me thoroughly interested through one sitting. Look forward to much more by this author.

Creepy and distinctly unsettling, this is much more of a psychological horror than blood and gore. I read it alone as my teen granddaughter is not a great fan of horror books so not the true target demographic writing the review. Much more my sort of thing and I enjoyed it a lot.

Lonely Places was a haunting and atmospheric exploration of trauma with a heavy dose of uncanny forest creepiness. I really enjoyed this read, I think it's perfect for a rainy fall day when you want something slower paced but aren't looking for a light read. I will be getting a physical copy of this one for sure. The imagery was vivid and evocative and came across as genuinely creepy without being too much. I do wish we learned more about what happened to Guthrie in the first place, but I can cope. I’m a sucker for liminal spaces in stories and folk horror and this novel had elements of both.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars.

I’ll start off by saying this book was very atmospheric and the descriptions of the setting was very good. I could picture exactly what the author was talking about. It’s a great book to read in the fall. The woods were very terrifying.

I could see people really liking this, but it just was not for me.

Personally I think it spent too much time focusing on building the relationship dynamics between the characters, which is kind of crazy for me to say because usually I am character driven while reading.

Since this was a horror novel I was expecting most of the moments to be eerie and scary with Chase trying to figure out what was going on. And there were a lot of moments like that, but most of the other times it was just her hanging out with Wilder or taking a trip into town or goofing off with friends. I did not care for those moments, and that really dragged for me. I didn’t care about their relationship. I just wanted the horror aspects.

I know it was told in the summary there would be a romance, but I wasn’t a fan of it so I didn’t think it needed to be in there.

The relationship wasn’t really fleshed out either. We were told Wilder and Chase spent a lot of time together, but didn’t really see them interact a ton and suddenly they were in love. The attraction between the two of them was there, but it wasn’t built up enough for me to root for them.

I liked Willow and Sasha a lot from what we saw of them, but they were in and out of the story a lot. I think I’d much rather see them form a friend group than focus on the romance. I just didn’t find it believable.

I’m also not a huge fan of books where you don’t know if there is actual magic happening or if it’s just in the character’s imagination. That was a big problem I had with “A Lesson in Vengeance.” I spent a lot of this book being like please let this be an actual horror novel where these things are happening and it’s not just the characters imagining it. I wish it was more clear cut earlier on which it would be.

The parents pissed me off so much. I was actually getting very angry any time they were negligent. I know they are supposed to make you angry, but I couldn’t stand it. It was infuriating to read. Which I guess that is good story telling that it made me that mad, but it was more annoying than anything.

Even Wilder frustrated me at times. I understand where he was coming from with his dad, but still to keep making Chase seem like she is crazy is not the move.

So many weird and creepy things happened and everyone other than Chase was like “yeah that was weird, but I’m sure it’s nothing” and I’m like what is going on?? You see that right in front of your eyes and you just ignore it? I know that was partially the case to keep the story going, but it goes back to I think

I know that was partially the case to keep the story going, but it goes back to I think this just didn’t work for me.

There were aspects of this story I liked, but at the end of the day there was a lot I would have changed, so I had a harder time getting through it.

I will be posting this review on Goodreads on 9/21/2024 (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6811683405). I can post it to Amazon on the release day!

The book follows Chase and her family who lives in a bus and travels around. Until they decide to stay at this isolated fire lookout in Pando.

The main character is Chase, but it also tells a lot about her sister, Guthrie, who hasn't spoken since she got lost in the woods a while back.

I appreciate the author's ability to create an atmospheric setting of Pando, while simultaneously weaving a captivating mystery involving a lost girl and the discovery of her bones decades later.

This is not a typical horror story filled with gore or ghosts. Instead, it is a psychological horror story with a touch of the supernatural. The story explores themes of trauma and guilt, their coping mechanisms and healing.

Chase is super mature for her age, and she really loves his sister. I think she's the most rational, even more than her parents. That's what I like about her, but it also makes me frustrated with her parents. However, all the characters appear to be authentic and believable.

Annnndd, I know the romance isn't the main thing in the story, but it kinda bugs me a bit. I don't think it's really needed for the plot. 😅

Lastly, the ending brought tears to my eyes 🥺 If you're into psychological horror, there's this book you absolutely can't miss!

When a modern nomadic family trades life on the road in their converted school bus (or "skoolie") for a bit more stability living in an old converted fire lookout tower in Pando Aspen Grove - the largest and heaviest known single organism on earth as well as the planet's largest tree, with over 40,000 trunks all interconnected by a vast communal root system - they find that their shared traumatic experiences are perhaps not as healed and resolved as they once thought. In spite of the tentative roots that college-bound older daughter Chase begins putting down as she gets to know their new home, there is something sinister at work within Pando's many knots and branches that may threaten the entire family... and it has its sights set on Chase's silent, ten-year-old sister Guthrie.

The atmosphere and imagery in this book are beautifully done. The first few opening paragraphs set an amazing tone, and it carries on throughout the novel. It's easy (for me, at least) to identify with both girls: big sister Chase, protective and a bit self-flagellating, as well as younger sister Guthrie, the strange little girlcreature who collects bones and talks to trees. I appreciated the ways that the themes of independence and community were explored as the story drew on, including the reminder that "home" is often more the people than the place.

YA horror can be a tough genre line to toe, but the slow burn and creeping, mounting strangeness of Lonely Places gets it pretty much perfect. There's mystery, there's atmosphere, there's the fear of the unknown, and it all pairs beautifully (painfully) with the effects of Guthrie's own recent traumatic experience in another wood - one that she and her family are still grappling with the effects of.

If you're looking for more creepy atmospheric and dreamlike psychological scares than blood and gore, then this is the read for you. Many thanks to Flux and NetGalley for this ARC and the chance to share my thoughts!

the horror in this book was so well done and exactly my type of horror. this was so so enjoyable to read, even though it was a bit devastating. there were bits that sped through some aspects that may have needed more time given to them, i.e. around grieving, love, etc., but it completely sucked me in. the eeriness was unmatched and so well done. i was so enticed by the mystery of it all, but the fact it was a horror-mystery was just so perfect for me. i had a blast reading this, although I fear it may have spoiled me for horror for a while. it’ll take a lot to live up to this

Thank you North Star Editions and NetGalley for the ARC of Lonely Places by Kate Anderson.

The storyline of the family trauma with the twist similar to that of “Stranger Things” and the underworld really had me intrigued.
It’s a story about a family who has undergone several traumatic events starting with the parents and how they deal with unpacking and handling the effects of it all. It opens up your eyes to trauma and how you handle it starts at the top.
This is a coming of age story where the benefits of therapy are openly discussed and the protagonist, a teenage girl, is the leader of making that happen.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a really well-written young adult novel that draws from a lot of folklore/legend in the American wilds, as well as being a heartfelt family story with some suggestions of romance (but not to an overwhelming level). It has a good creepy through-line which should make it incredibly appealing for teen readers looking for something with a little bit of spooky, but not to the point of overwhelming.

The descriptions of the environment in this book were absolutely on point, and allowed for the reader to conjure exactly the kind of woods that they were in. The setting was beautifully described, and the idea of living in a fire tower is both kind of awesome and terrifying all at once. There were some really good character moments in the novel too, and I found myself invested in Chase's story, as well as that of the side characters.

I do wish there was a little expansion of what precisely was going on with Dad, and the history of the tower, but I can also appreciate that there was meant to be that streak of mystery throughout the novel too. All in all, this was a solid read, and I hope it does as well as it deserves to (especially as it doesn't talk down to a YA audience!).

Well written, eerie, and atmospheric. Definitely an enjoyable read with a little bit of an otherworldly twist.

The majority of the characters are teenagers but I felt that their interactions and manner was more-adult like, which I appreciated. The parents on the other hand, as a mother I just wanted to grab them by the shoulders and shake them, like lets completely ignore our obviously stressed out children and just go about life as usual *eye roll*. But overall, characters were good and I loved the growth and manner of dealing with residual trauma throughout the book.

This is a slow burn and there's no shocking twists or true edge-of-your-seat moments, but still an enjoyable read.

Kept seeing this book on goodreads so I was so happy to be picked to read it. Loved this book, very interesting and keeps you hooked until the very end.