This was an interesting look at both the troubled teen industry and the idea of mimics. The writing was well crafted and the characters were well developed. I found that there were some spots that dragged, but that may be a me problem.

This YA horror novel took awhile to capture my attention in the beginning but it picked up about a quarter of the way in. The characters started to develop more and I become more invested in them. The character development as the novel progresses and they experience more trials was really good. There were a couple spots I felt like dragged a little in the middle and I wanted more information on the mimics and what exactly they were. The ending of the book wrapped it up quite well though because it didn't just end abruptly. They really focused on found family and what it means to each character from the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of this book.

Devin Green is whisked away into the Idaho Woods. Dropped off with other troubled teens in the middle of nowhere, counselors eventually show up to explain that if they can survive a fifty-day hike through the wilderness, they’ll come out as better versions of themselves. There’s something weird about the woods, and when the counselors dissappear, they’re left to fend for themselves.

This was a quick, mysterious, interesting read. Bonus, queer rep. It explores the cost of becoming someone (or someTHING) new with an atmospheric and creepy vibe. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while, and I’m glad I finally moved it to the top of my list.

Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

I loved this creepy survival story that involved monsters, but you will see that there is so much more to this story. It has found family vibes, it’s a YA thriller/mystery, with great queer rep, and horror.

In this book you will meet Devin who is ripped out of her bed in the middle of the night at her newest foster home. She is driven to an unknown location with another boy, Ollie, and they find out that their parents have signed them up for an experimental wilderness therapy program. It’s a 52-day trek into the woods along with four other teens and two counselors, but nothing is going right and the more that they hike into the woods Devin can sense that something is off about the woods. When the counselors disappear and don’t return, the teens have to learn how to survive in the woods alone until they get help, but with something that is unnatural stalking them, can they survive?

I loved Gould writing with Where Echoes Die, and when I saw this book I knew that I needed to read it. I love that with Gould writing you will always see different layers. You will see the mystery and try to figure out what is going on, another layer is the romance/friendships that you will see being built and of course the plot in general. I love Gould's writing style, she really knows how to write a book with an out of the world atmosphere, and the plot will draw you in wanting to know where this horror story will lead. I found that having the campers with all different backgrounds and finding out their stories was really nice because it helped me to understand the characters better. I liked that the characters were well rounded, and they all felt like real people to me, I was able to connect with them at least a little bit in areas. I found that the survival story really is more about the growth of the teens, their friendships that they connected, and their healing of traumas that might have added to why they’re at the camp in the first place.

Devin’s character was strong. I liked that she was determined to escape from this camp and get back to her “semi-normal life”, she was courageous when it came to taking charge of the book and getting a plan in place and making sure everyone knew what they were supposed to do. Ollie's character has strength even when he is quiet, but he is also a thinker of everything making sure that everything makes sense to him, I loved that these two made a connection easily and you will see that throughout the book and see their struggles and how they help each other overcome them. I loved seeing the really rude, disrespectful Sheridan come around and that you will see a whole new light to her after finding out a few things. Aidan, honestly, I just wanted to reach into the book and hold him close and tell him everything will be alright. Hannah, I really didn’t connect with her, but I loved how sweet she was.

I also received the audio of this book, and I found Lindsey Dorcus did a great job making this book connect with the readers. She really brought out the emotions of the characters.

I can’t wait to see what Gould will write next.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin Press/Macmillan audio for the opportunity to review this book.

*4.5 Stars*

What the Woods Took was a creepy and fun story. I really got carried away by the plot. I found this creepy in the best way and it truly kept me on my toes. I didn't see a lot of the twists coming and I really enjoyed the dual points of view, with a preferences for Devin's, of course, cause I love an Angry Gay. But yes, I really enjoyed the plot, the characters and the relationships between the characters. I also really loved the budding romance and Courtney Gould's storytelling.
So yes, another great story by Courtney Gould and I cannot wait to read more.

This was a delightfully creepy YA horror story that has a group of 'troubled' teens taken from their homes and left stranded in the woods for a summer 'rehab' program. None of them are happy about the situation but when their counsellors go missing and they are forced to rely on each other to survive things really amp up. Full of forced proximity survival, a great cast of queer characters, lots of mental health and trauma/grief rep and some freaky creatures set on taking over the teens' bodies. Good on audio, this would make a fantastic spooky season read! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

what a spooky read!!! a wilderness camp for troubled teens gone wrong. after being kidnapped from their homes 5 teens are taken against their will to a remote part of the wilderness and taken on a 50 day hiking journey. it isn't until a a couple weeks in that there is something not human lurking in the woods. with their "camp" counselors missing the teens are forced to survive and find their way home.

I just finished this book and thought it was a pretty good book. I will say though that the creepy horror aspect took a little too long to happen. I was waiting in anticipation for things to kick off. But once the action started to happen, things picked up and I really enjoyed myself. I do agree that fans of yellowjackets will like this book with the "paranormal" aspect to the woods but there is no cannibalism, which is good! I liked the characters and their character development was good. Overall I did like it but parts could have been executed a bit better.

Audiobook specific: the narration was good. A little slow but I think that helped with the suspense aspect.

Content warning: death, mentions of past sexual child abuse, mention of past suicide, suicidal thoughts, mentions of drug addiction, vomit, body horror

Thank you to NetGalley, Courtney Gould, and Wednesday Books for an Advanced Listening Copy of this title!

The troubled teen industry reaches an all-new low in "What the Woods Took", which follows the Devin, Sheridan, and their fellow unwitting hikers as they are frog-marched unto the wilderness to "become a better version of themselves" through the power of nature. But the woods are not all they appear, and as the group struggles to not kill each other with every group exercise and misplaced counselor comment, they quickly realize they may have bigger problems on their hands when said counselors disappear after days of seeing and hearing things that should be impossible.

This was an excellent spooky woods/camp horror, and if I didn't dislike the thought of a long-term camp adventure enough already (I love the woods and being outside as much as possible, but I also know what I am about, and that is a hot shower and electricity at the end of the day), this definitely solidified it for me. Equal parts psychological thriller and body horror thriller, this story highlights the horrors within and without, as our teenaged heroes are challenged with the threat of the woods and with the traumas (individual and otherwise) that led their caretakers to trusting two random 20-year-olds to "fix them" with a 50 day hike, not to mention making friends, budding romance, queer identity, and the Lord of the Flies-esque dynamics of making group decisions.

I loved the audiobook for this title and think the narrator did a great job of distinguishing between all the characters (real and imagined), and definitely kept me on the edge of my seat with inflection through both fight and flight parts of the story.

Overall, woods-fearers and fans of what awaits in the trees, as well as those who love a good coming-of-age and the dynamics of people thrust into survival mode, will enjoy this title!

LESBIANS!!! MONSTERS IN THE WOODS!!

ARC review: Devin is being kidnapped. She calls for her foster family, only to find that they are actually the ones that have organized for her to be taken away. Soon she's in a car with another teenager, and they eventually find themselves gathered in the woods with a group of troubled teenagers. Two camp counselors join them, and they discover they're being forced to hike through the woods for 50 days as part of a wilderness therapy program. After hiking for awhile, Devin starts to see faces in the trees. And it's eerily silent. Are there even any animals in these woods? Is therapy really their greatest concern?

I enjoyed this. The descriptions made the woods feel eerie, and the characters all felt unique. Sheridan was by far the most interesting character to me, and the evolution of her and Devin's relationship was great.

The reason I'm giving this a 3 is because I think it could've done more. I would've preferred more suspense, and once the monsters were revealed they didn't feel horrific enough in their natural form. The twist(?) that comes up around halfway through was obvious - less or more subtle foreshadowing could've helped with that. There also weren't any massive emotional moments at the end (to me) that would've made this a little more memorable.

A group of troubled teens are forced to do a 50 day wilderness retreat by their parents/guardians. Things go terribly wrong, and the teens have to figure out how to survive and escape the woods.

Pick this up if you like:
- YA horror
- monsters
- survival
- found family

The audio is great. The narrator did a nice job. My only wish is that there would have been a male narrator for the male POV.

I was provided both an ARC and an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This may be triggering for some as it mentions some sensitive topics. Nothing is described in detail on the page but this does deal with troubled teens dealing with some heavy issues. Trigger warnings can be found <a href=https://gouldbooks.com/wtwt >here</a> on the author's website. This does get a bit dark and gory, and I had no idea that these therapy camps were a real thing. My family likes to unplug and go tent camping for a week during the summer, and we come back refreshed. We have amenities at hand and it is fun, we can also leave if it gets unsafe. The way this was portrayed sounds terrible for these kids, especially with what they are all dealing with sounds terrible and not fun at all.

This follows several teens who are sent away to a therapy camp after struggling at home. The main story is told from Devin's perspective. She is about to turn 18, and has been in and out of foster care. Her latest family has sent her to this camp as a way to help her after the latest incident at school. She has a violent streak and tends to get into fights. The camp is supposed to help her and the other campers change their self destructive behaviors. The campers immediately pick up on something strange as they stomp through the woods, especially after their enthusiastic counselors disappear. Not sure if their disappearance is a test or an emergency, the press on to the next checkpoint but they all keep seeing things that shouldn't be there. Things really start to get weird from there and the kids have to figure out how to work together and survive their internal monsters and what is lurking in the woods.

I enjoyed this, it was a great story about survival and the demons people face. Sometimes those demons are people and sometimes they are addiction or trauma. I thought the author did a good job portraying each of the teen's personalities and their individual struggles. I also really enjoyed how the relationships developed between all of the kids. Things start out rocked between some of them, but we get a found family vibe by the end, which I really liked. I would have liked more information on the mimics, but as far as a more speculative fiction book goes I think Gould did a good job with the explanation of what their purpose was and how they worked. As a personal preference and as someone who loves sci-fi and fantasy, I like more detailed descriptions of how all that stuff works, but I appreciate that sometimes you don't get all those details in book that is more character focused like this is.

Overall I really liked this. It has a little bit of everything. I really enjoyed the characters and the thriller/horror aspect of the book.

Devin is taken in the middle of the night, but it's not a regular kidnapping. It's one her foster parents signed her up for. With Ollie, another teen in the van, Devin is on her way to a wilderness therapy camp. With 3 other teens and 2 counselors, what could go wrong? But soon Devin, Ollie, Sheridan, Hannah, and Aiden wake up to find their counselors gone. And is lost in the unfamiliar woods really the best place to be?

This book is queer, you say? It's written by Courtney Gould, you say? Enemies to lovers, you say? That's all I need to know. Well, I also need to know who designs her covers because *chef's kiss.* From this book I'm getting The Breakfast Club, but without the weird character-shattering makeover at the end. It puts five unique teens in a place together and gives them the opportunity to get their deepest, darkest secrets out. But there are monsters. You hear the story with Devin and with Ollie. I enjoyed Devin's trek more than Ollie's to be honest, but both are needed for the story. The character development is great, even for Hannah and Aiden, who don't have as much page time as the others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. As always, Lindsey Dorcus was a great narrator.

First, I want to say that this is completely outside of my 'comfort' or 'normal' reading. With that, I really enjoyed it! I can't think of a single other horror-thriller that I have read, so this was the start of a new-to-me genre. Lindsey Dorcus, the narrator, did a fantastic job.

The plot, in short, is a group of "troubled" teens are sent on a 50-day wilderness retreat to reset and get a fresh start. (Troubled is in quotation marks because that is subjective, and you get so much of that throughout the story.) The leaders of the retreat are naive young adults themselves, and as the story goes on, one begins to understand that they aren't very good at their jobs and did not fully scout the trail they decided to use... This is a two POV story, but they're friends, not love interests, and I loved how it was needed as the story progressed to get the entire story.

I would recommend this to anyone that is a fan of horror-thriller, and will absolutely listen to books narrated by Dorcus again. If you liked Netflix’s movie Bird Box, you’ll probably enjoy this book.

Chilling, haunting and hopeful, What the Woods Took gives an authentic look into the lives of five teens and the figurative and literal monsters they have to face to make their way home. Gould did a fantastic job making the characters sympathetic—even when they're not necessarily likable, you still root for them, still want them to confront and overcome the challenges they're each facing in their personal lives.

I don't normally read a lot of thrillers but my friend @planwithemm pushed for this one. "What the Woods Took" by Courtney Gould is another reason I'm glad I don't live in Portland anymore.

It has to be illegal for a therapy program to kidnap you from your bed. But it happens to Devin in her foster home when the hosts can't find a way to help her. Dumped in the woods with a few other young folks and two counselors they are going to hike and do some introspection for the next 50 days. Of course this group of well adjusted youths wants to do this, or at least get food. That is until the counselors and all the food goes missing when they are deep into the woods. And something is just kind of off about the woods.

Narrated by Lindsey Dorcus, yea some very banal phrases have menace now.

Reasons to read:
-Really glad to have been a boring teen so folks can't do this to you
-The cast has been through it in different ways
-OK I was expecting a different threat
-Healing

Cons:
-A very specific group of folks are going to be triggered by the threat

Five teenagers navigate the harsh realities of a forest based experimental therapy program. Together they will witness horrors beyond imagination and discover truths both personal and communal that leave them all changed.

What the Woods Took felt like a unique closed door mystery for me. I know that sounds odd as the backdrop was the vast wilderness but the author did a wonderful job making the atmosphere feel claustrophobic and oppressive. The larger cast of characters worked to show the multitude of ways teens can encounter horrors that can be as scary as the supernatural elements in the story.

I think this would easily work for folk who like a bit of horror and introspection mixed in with their found family stories.

I found the narration to be decent, the various voices mostly worked for me, with only a few choices that pulled me out of the story.

What starts as some delinquents receiving some questionable wilderness therapy ends in a horrifying discovery that what we see may not always be the truth.

There is ALOT to unpack here. First of all, the imagery in this book is flawless. I could see everything so clear in my mind, for worse or for better. It’s spooky, for the most part. But, it creates the perfect atmosphere for a supernatural thriller of epic proportions. The amount of trauma these poor kids experience both before and during the therapy is staggering, but creates phenomenal development. Themes of sexuality, family, survival, grief, trust, hope and friendship resonate throughout the story. The narrator is fantastic at delivering each character with a clear voice and palpable emotion that drives the story forward.

I highly recommend for fans of supernatural horror.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook!

I received an arc of this book for an honest review.

I listened to this book for a day and a half and really enjoyed it. It was slow in the beginning until 25 percent, and then things got interesting. Being lost in the forest, monsters hiding and waiting to get you and wanting to bevome you. This store is about survival and trusting each other. The writing was phenomenal and was easy to read and listen along

YA Thriller • Horror • Supernatural • Queer
Pub Date • 10 December 2024

🎉 Happy publication day & thank you @wednesdaybooks and @macmillan.audio for the free galley and ALC!

Loved this gripping and creepy walk in the woods. Recommended for fans of We Used to Live here and anyone who loves spooky campfire stories.

High paced starting with a middle of the night snatch-and-grab abduction, I sat at the edge of my seat and couldn’t look away.

Five troubled teens are sent off by their parents & guardians to rehabilitation camp via “wilderness therapy” — nominally 50 days off grid, with no technology, roughing it in the grueling Idaho wilderness.

Chaperoned by two camp counselor types, they’ll navigate what lurks in the dark and will have to decide who they can trust and who might not be everything they seem.

Beyond the atmospheric writing, strong character building led to a satisfying buildup, showing how each juvenile delinquent’s journey started, revealing their personal nightmares, and allowing us to watch their growth from zero trust to mutual understanding, co-reliance, vulnerability, an even a couple of romance subplots.

🎧 Narrator Lindsey Dorcus was amazing especially when it came to the perfectly snooty and snarky voice of Sheridan. I also loved our two MCs Devin and Ollie, whose dual POVs worked well. I recommend grabbing audio for this one!