The Woods are Waiting is an atmospheric small-town thriller steeped in ritual and superstition.

Cheyenne Ashby hasn’t been back to her hometown in 5 years where she left her mother, friends and boyfriend. When her mother’s health deteriorates, she’s called back to the town that believes there’s an entity called the Hickory Man who is responsible for the death of local children spanning many years. Another child has gone missing and Cheyenne has to come to terms with what’s really going on in her hometown.

At times claustrophobic and unsettling, this is a book I couldn’t put down! Perfect amount of spookiness and unpredictability. I really loved the idea of the urban legend of the Hickory Man and all the superstitions that the town believed. The characters are also great – you really felt these childhood friends had a lot of history together.

The Woods are Waiting is a great book to pick up in the fall – it’s got the perfect vibes for Halloween (I mean, just look at that cover!!)

I love the creepy ominous feel of this book. The scary nursery rhymes and the lore of the town is fantastic. Cheyenne comes back to her old town when the police chief tells her she needs to take care of her mother. She belongs there, he says. After coming home and reconnecting with her best friends from childhood, children in the town start to go missing again. Something that the town is know for. Why is the hickory man back now? And what secrets from the town will be uncovered? This is a an entertaining book and the story idea is great. I wish it had more.. it left me asking questions and wanting more details and depth.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Dreamscape Media for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the debut book by Katherine Greene, a best friends writing duo, and wonderfully narrated by Angie Hickman - 4 stars!

Cheyenne is back in her hometown of Blue Cliff, Virginia, to check in on her eccentric mother, Constance. The town of Blue Cliff has a long history of missing children from the woods and parents have come up with superstitions to keep their kids safe. Five years ago, three children went missing and Cheyenne found one of them. A local boy, Jasper, was charged and jailed for the crimes but released when new information surfaced. He's back and another child has disappeared. Cheyenne and her childhood friends are determined to discover the truth.

I love a creepy story set in the woods and this debut novel checks those boxes in spades! The opening nursery rhyme is enough to send chills up your spine. This was a slow burn mystery with supernatural elements and enough creepy characters to keep you guessing to the end! Great debut and anxious to read more from this duo!

Good debut thriller. It started off a little slower than I would’ve liked but the story was great especially the ending.

I loved the Gothic folklore of this story, the atmosphere was extremely creepy. I really enjoyed the mystery and the lore behind The Hickory Man. The small town vibes were they protect there own and have so many secrets! The mystery of who is taking the kids and why really had me curious and there seemed to be so many options of who felt sketchy! I was convinced I knew but I had no idea! I really enjoyed the friendships that formed and seeing how they were all dealing with the trauma of the events of the town and the spells and actions of Cheys mom. I found the things she was doing so interesting and had me super interested in The Hickory Man.


Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for my gifted copy.

A delightfully creepy thriller! Hickory Woods is a character in it's own right because so much of the story is tied around or within its depths. The fascinating and complex cast of characters invites the reader to learn more. I wasn't able to put this book down!

The Woods are Waiting by Katherine Greene is a highly recommended debut mystery.

Blue Cliff, Virginia, has a dark history pointing at the Hickory Man living in the woods preying on children. Children are taught to put soil from the woods in their shoes and carry silver coins to ward off the Hickory Man, but there is also a history of this not working. Cheyenne Ashby left five years ago without warning after three children were found dead in the woods. A local man went to prison for it, but doubts remain.

Now Cheyenne is called to return home and help her mother, Constance, who lives in a cabin in the woods and is busy trying everything she knows to ward off the evil she sees coming. Another child has disappeared, which is what prompted her frantic activity. Cheyennes friend, Natalie, is still in town and the two are determined to discover what is really happening.

This is a solid debut mystery with a creepy something-is-in-the-deep-dark-woods plot element. Cheyenne and Natalie are not about to fall for the local rumors when looking for the answers to the latest missing child, as well as the truth about the previous three missing children. Greene does a respectable job of creating suspense and developing her characters while presenting local superstitions and the fear running rampant in the small town.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

My first from this talented author and for a debut thriller, I'd say she did a darn good job! Katherine Greene takes us on a journey that is full of mystery and surprises. I found myself wondering right along with Cheyenne Ashby just who might be waiting in the woods, despite her 5-year absence from Blue Cliff, Virginia. We get snippets of memories she can't seem to shake when she was a young child and her besties were Nat Bartlett and Jack Taylor. They had innocent escapades in the mysterious woods surrounding Cheyenne's house yet there was always something haunted about those woods especially when children would suddenly disappear and were later found deceased.

No one could blame Chey's sudden departure from her childhood home but now that she was lured back to help with her overly superstitious mother, she's full of doubt and regret that she not only hurt those she left behind so abruptly but that she's back in this stifling small town. What follows is the tale of 3 reunited friends who are bound and determined to figure out the many riddles of the forest and to prove once and for all that there is not a fantastical creature who harms little children. But what Chey, Nat and Jack don't count on is what they find when backed up against a proverbial wall and the dreaded truth about those they once held dear in their hearts.

As one who doesn't usually figure out the answers to these types of stories, I found this book a bit easier for this old brain to navigate. And although I wasn't completely shocked as to what unfolds, I will say that Greene gives us more than enough to be taken aback at all that is revealed wrt Chey's family and all the secrets prior generations held. It's a wild ride for sure with poignant moments sprinkled throughout to make this more than just a thriller.

I wouldn't hesitate to read more from Katherine Greene, more than satisfied with how The Wood Are Waiting concluded especially with the little bit of further mystery tossed in right at the very end. A great beach read for the summer of 2023, I happily give this book a solid 4 stars!

Children are warned for years to stay out of the woods in the remote town of Blue Cliff at the foot of the Appalachian mountains. The tales of the imposing Hickory Man are synonymous throughout generations. When he kills he kills in three's.
Cheyenne left the town a few years ago but is summoned by Chief Hickman as another child has gone missing, she needs to return to care for her eccentric mum who lives in a cabin in the woods. Despite being older though the threat of the Hickory man is still there.
I found this a slow burn novel with creepy undertones, very descriptive of the fear of the claustrophobic woods and small Town mentality. This would make a perfect movie to be shown at Halloween

I'd rate this 4.5 stars. This was an eerie, suspenseful and ominous read that smacked of nostalgia for me as a reader who cut her paranormal/thriller teeth reading Stephen King and Dean Koontz as an early teenager. The story managed to convey a feeling of wrongness that oozed across the story and kept me turning the pages until around 4am. Having set the story in a small town surround by a forest of secrets, the authors managed to jam in a mixture of cold case meets murder-mystery as the story preys on everyone's worse fears: missing and unsolved murders of children (so here's a glaring trigger warning for anyone that might need it. Without giving anything away, it also touches on aspects of child abuse).

Set in Blue Cliff, the story is told in alternative chapters from Natalie's and Cheyenne's points of view. Childhood friends, they've not been in contact for 5 years since three children went missing and turned up dead. Needing to escape the small town who knows her family's history and eccentricities, Cheyenne flees from all she knows without telling anyone. Duty-bound to return and care for her mother, the local shaman-type individual who's seen as both an acknowledged protector of the town and the local crazy lady who dwells amongst superstition and urban legend, everyone's life is thrown into chaos when another young boy goes missing. Rekindling past friendships, everyone is suspect and nothing is quite as it seems as Cheyenne and Natalie begin to unravel their family's and town's secret shame and prejudices tied up in the history of the woods. Set amongst the tumultuous goings-on that surround the occurrence of heinous crime, locals who remember the last murders want someone held responsible whilst the superstitious believe that the Hickory Man, an entity that lives in the woods and demands sacrifice, is back.

This was a spooky read, with the woods setting a perfect backdrop alongside the town that should have kept their kids safe. Obviously with missing and murdered children, the story isn't going to promise a happy ending. That being said, and without spoiling anything, the end didn't leave me in a pit of misery and wringing my hands, something I swear one of the authors involved in this book takes great pleasure in occasionally (just kidding - kind of lol). While I generally prefer romance in my reads, there was a tiny bit here but it was minor and definitely secondary to the plot which focussed more on the friendship between Natalie and Cheyenne and the madness that descended on the town after the report of another missing child. Lives are shaken up and the familiar starts to look strange as the Hickory Man trawls for more victims. While readers of this genre will probably figure out the twist well before it happens, it's still an enjoyable read that sucked me in.

The story might remind some readers familiar with this genre of similar tropes surround missing/murdered children, unsolved cold cases, paranormal elements in a dark woods and an unknown and unspeakable evil held in both awe and secret in a small town. Personally, I loved the journey. As someone that usually grabs at stories that feature romance, this was a terrific read that reminded me why I loved and devoured thrillers, particularly those with paranormal elements. It was dark, creepy and had a satisfying end. I'm looking forward to the next book by these authors.

I was sucked in from the beginning! I love Cheyenne and her friendships with Natalie and Jackson. Cheyenne returns home after getting a call that her mother needs her, and when she gets home she realizes why.. Her mother is convinced that the Hickory Man is back and has snatched another child from the woods surrounding her home. Her mother really sells the Hickory Man and had me convinced he was going to walk out of the forest at any moment.

There were plenty of twists and turns and was just suspenseful enough to keep me on the edge of my seat, and the tension built throughout the story when everything came to a head and we find out whats really going on in this sleepy little town.. I can't wait to see what this author comes out with next.

Great debut novel! Good plot and believable characters make this a can't put down page turner. I thought I knew where the story was heading big was pleasantly surprised.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good debut that would be perfect to read during the fall. Even the cover gives me fall vibes. Children missing in the woods and the Hickory Man. It is a folklore and thriller, wrapped into one. It was a bit slow paced for my liking, more suspense feels. I did predict the twist, but still enjoyed it.
3 stars

The opening of the story literally made the little hairs of my neck stand on! I shivered and barely restrained my inner screams! That nursery rhyme and bleak description of lost boys scared the living daylights out of me!

The dark atmosphere, slow burn pacing, well built characterization piqued my interest. I didn’t want to put it down! Absolutely a solid read for lovers of slow burn, scary, mysteries with supernatural vibes! However, at times they felt juvenile and flat. Also, there was some repetition which dragged the story down. I sympathized with them (especially the mom), but they just weren't that compelling. The only compelling character was the villain.

I also felt that the end was wrapped up exceptionally conveniently. Some pieces weren't addressed, and while I get that this leaves things open-ended, it did feel like things weren't developed as well to at least address some of the loose ends.

Overall, not a bad mystery, and the writing, especially engaged me and made me want to figure out the monster.

Who is the Hickory Man? Cheyenne's mother Constance worried- and rightfully so- about her because someone, some awful person took children in their small town. Cheyenne's been away for years but she's come home and another girl has disappeared. Along with her friend Natalie, she searches for the truth because the man in prison for the earlier crimes could not have committed this one. Enjoy this for the creep atmospherics and the characters and know that when it sags a bit that it will pick up. The identity of the villain might not surprise you but it's a twisty ride to the answer. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

In this captivating tale, the main characters steal the spotlight with their fascinating personalities and captivating journeys. Their depth and development throughout the story truly captivated me from start to finish. The author masterfully crafted each character, making them relatable and memorable.

While the plot may have had a deliberate pace, it allowed for a deeper exploration of the intricate themes and emotions that lie beneath the surface. The author's ability to delve into the human psyche and showcase the sometimes perplexing nature of people is commendable. It highlights the complexity of our world and the various motivations that drive our actions.

Although the twists may not have caught me off guard, they were cleverly integrated into the narrative, adding an extra layer of intrigue and suspense. The story kept me engaged, eager to uncover the secrets and unravel the interconnected web of relationships. The gradual revelation of these secrets served as a catalyst for self-reflection and a deeper understanding of the characters' motivations.

The writing style was fluid and evocative, effortlessly painting vivid pictures of the settings and evoking a wide range of emotions. The author's attention to detail brought the story to life, immersing me in the rich tapestry of the world they created.

Overall, despite its deliberate pacing, the story's strengths lie in its well-developed characters and thought-provoking exploration of human nature. It may not have been a whirlwind of unexpected twists, but it offered a profound and introspective experience that left a lasting impression. I would highly recommend this book to those who appreciate deep character studies and nuanced explorations of the human psyche.

Children in Blue Cliff, Virginia, know about the Hickory Man, the one who takes children. For generations those in Blue Cliff have heard the warnings about the Hickory Man and the children who went missing. Hushed whispers and fear surround the legend and the woods. They don't feel quite right....

Cheyenne Ashby grew up deep in the woods and her mother, Constance, often told her how to be safe, i.e. put dirt in your shoes to stay grounded to the land, and other customs to keep danger at bay.

When three children were found dead, a local man was blamed for their deaths and the town slept better after that. But another child has gone missing, and Cheyeanne has come back and along with her friend, Natalie, is determined to learn the truth!

Will the truth set them free? Is there danger in them thar woods? Is the Hickory Man real. Were the superstitions and unusual customs helpful? Why three children killed?

This was a slow burn and I struggle with slow burns. No amount of dirt in my shoes would save me from that. But don't you worry, there is a payoff in the end! This book is creepy, and the woods are not Robert Frost's woods ('lovely, dark and deep'), they are creepy, deadly, and unsettling.

The author did a good job setting the stage and making the woods creepy and atmospheric. The superstitions and customs surrounding the legend were interesting and intriguing. I kept wondering if the legend had any merit. Was there something sinister and dangerous lurking in the woods?

I had both the book and the audiobook which made for an enjoyable reading experience. This was an enjoyable book, but it started a little slowly for me. I do appreciate that the author was building the story and introducing readers to the legend and customs of the town, but I wanted things to hurry up a little at the beginning.

I enjoyed trying to figure out where the book was going and enjoyed the mounting tension and sense of danger as the book got closer to the finish line.


Well written, creepy, and atmospheric.


#TheWoodsareWaiting #NetGalley #KatherineGreene, #Crookedlanebooks, #DreamscapeMedia

Dang. I was really looking forward to this one. Right off the cover's description I was getting All Hallows and Children of the Corn vibes, but it took a grudgingly slow turn that left me so bored and just waiting for this audiobook to end. I am, of course, always thankful to the publishers and author that granted me access to this read, but it just wasn't for me. Sorry.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 11, 2023
Five years ago, the bodies of three children were found in the woods in Blue Cliff, Virginia. Cheyenne Ashby discovered one of the bodies herself. Some of the townspeople believed the town drunk, Jasper, was behind the murders, and were happy to see him jailed. However, still others believe in the legend of the Hickory Man, who waits in the woods to take children, a tale that has been haunting the small town almost since the Dawn of the town itself. Now, another boy has disappeared and the townspeople are once again on edge, none more than Cheyenne’s eccentric mother, Constance, believed to be a witch by some. Returning home to care for Constance, Cheyenne faces her own personal demons while trying to help the town see that it is not an urban legend who is taking the children- or is it?
Katherine Greene’s debut novel, “The Woods Are Waiting”, is more than just an urban legend. Not only is the “Hickory Man” utterly creepy and terrifying, but the story of the missing children itself has enough teeth to carry the pulse-pounding plot. A suspenseful horror novel, “Woods” has a delicious twist that, albeit not that hard to figure out, brought ample thrills and chills.
Cheyenne narrates the story, as does Natalie, Cheyenne’s high school best friend. Cheyenne left Blue Cliff as fast as she could as soon as she was able, while Natalie stayed behind. Although mostly told in present tense, there are portions of the novel (in italics) where Cheyenne or Natalie remembers their past and the horrors that the Hickory Man wreaked on their neighbourhood. It is obvious that the past had to be told in some way, but I’m not sure if italicized memories was the way to do it. I would have liked to see a dual timeline, maybe, to help with plot flow and create even more character development.
This is a debut novel and I finished it in a day. Obviously, Greene knows what they’re doing (Greene is in fact a pseudonym for two co-authors) and I can’t wait to see if the next novel is just as chilling as the first. I’m a sucker for urban legend tales, and this one checked all the boxes!

I received an electronic complimentary ARC of this excellent debut horror tale from Netgalley, author Katherine Greene, and publisher Crooked Lane Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Woods Are Waiting of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to recommend Katherine Greene to friends and family - this is a tale to keep you up late. If horror is your game, Katherine Greene brings it on.

Taking place in a small, isolated community in the Appalachian Mountains, Cheyenne Ashby is called home by the Police Chief, a family friend, to care for her ailing mother. Connie has had difficulties over the years, raised by a family that spent their time and efforts trying to keep the citizens of their community healthy and safe from the denizens of the Hickory Woods, and yet another child has gone missing. Considered a witch by some, and merely mental by others, Conne has lost the edge of reality with this new loss and shouldn't be living alone. Cheyenne broke all ties with the community five years ago, including her childhood best friends Natalie and her boyfriend Jack. Leaving in the night was the only way she could see herself retaining her own mental health after yet another trio of local children was abducted and killed, renewing the nightmares and remembered sights and sounds of her own early childhood. Is newly missing 9-year-old Mason the first of the next trio of youngsters, or is he simply lost in the woods? Only time will tell...