OK I did not expect this to go the way it did!

Esme Foster returns home after she leaves her partner. Having been a ballerina until injury ended her career. She has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She returns to her family home where her alcoholic father and brother still live. But on the night she arrives home, the body of her childhood friend is found practically in her backyard. Who done it and why?

I thought I had this figured out so many times but I'd never have guessed the reply culprit. Really enjoyable read. Dual pov between Esme & Rita (police).

Sequel to a book a didn't read, but an kinda interested in. Detective Rita was interesting. Esme is kinda boring, lots of things happen to her, she doesn't really activate anything. And the ending kinda comes from left field

Terri Parlato's second mystery thriller, What Waits in the Woods (2023) sees Esmé Foster returning to her hometown of Graybridge after eleven years. Injury has curtailed Esmé’s ballerina career and she moves in with her gravely ailing father. The murder of Esmé’s old school friend in the woods behind her home triggers memories of her mother’s death and a mystery with no forensics or apparent motive. Told in alternate chapters by Esmé and Rita, and the police detective trying to solve the case. As memories arise, Esmé family and past collide, complicating the investigation and building to a tense finale reveal. A mixture of police procedural and psychological family dynamic thriller, this tale is an enjoyable four star read rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for the chance to read What waits in the woods. I didn't realize this was the 2nd book in the Detective Rita Myers series, and even though I prefer to read the series in order, I decided to give it a go. I found the beginning of the book was slow, and continued to weave in and out, but I did like it enough to finish and will go back and read the first book. It is touted as a mystery thriller, but is more of a mystery/police procedural.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for an advanced copy of this book. .

After a 6 year relationship ended and an injury derailed her career as a dancer, Esme Foster packs up and leaves New York to return to her hometown of Graybridge, MA. Unfortunately her return coincides with the murder of her childhood best friend, Kara Cunningham. Esme is convinced it was a case of mistaken identity and that it was a man from an accident 13 years that still haunts her to this day.

Detective Rita picks up the case of Kara’s murder and begins unraveling the mystery. Told in dual POV between Rita and Esme we see just how many secrets the sleep town of Graybridge has been hiding.

This was the 2bad novel in this series and while other reviews notes that it works as a standalone novel I am not sure I completely agree. While I didn’t feel like I was missing any key information there were a couple chapters that looked into Rita’s life. It was only a couple chapters though and felt very unnecessary because despite getting Rita’s POV throughout the book, 95% was about the crime and how she is solving it and 5% was about her personal life. It made the personal life chapters feel very out of place and didn’t add to the story at all for me but maybe had I read the first book I’d feel differently.

The conclusion was not completely predictable but I did guess the culprit prior to the reveal however the motive came completely out of left field. There were no clues or red herrings along the way which kind of takes the fun out of it.

I really enjoyed Parlato’s debut, All the Dark Places and was excited to see another book that featured Detective Rita Myers. I enjoyed What Waits in the Woods slightly more than All the Dark Places. This one was slower to start but once it got going, it picked up and held my attention until the end. I would have like to have seen more development of the important characters over introducing so many new ones. Overall this was a nice read and I am looking forward to Rita’s next case!

This was one that I truly didn’t see the ending coming. I did enjoy the dual POV and the audiobook has dual narration which was great in knowing which character was which without having the book open! Set in Massachusetts which made it really relatable for this New England girl! I liked Esme a lot and she really has been through a lot in her life. This was a book full of loss and despair in this small town but when the twists are revealed there is no way you saw it coming. The short chapters were definitely a bonus. I binged this audiobook in one day!

I just finished What Waits in the Wood by Teri Parlato and here are my thoughts.


Esme Foster left her hometown to become a professional ballerina. Her life was set for stardome. Problem is she gets hurt and can no longer dance. Feeling adrift, she returns home. Her brother isn’t particularly happy to see her and her father is too far gone to really notice. Just as she arrives home, one of her old school friends is found dead in the woods behind her family home.

Could someone have thought Kara was Esme? They look a lot alike and she still remembers the car crash that killed her mother and the man screaming at her, saying he was going to kill her.

Detective Rita Myers is all too familiar with closed nit places like Graybridge. Knows the place is built on secrets and lies and everyone, including Esme has them. Could digging too deep bring a killer back out to play?

This book was pretty interesting. It certainly had the small town creepy vibe going for it. As a dancer myself, it was nice to connect with a character that has something in common with me. Esme’s old friend group are all cliquey and I wasn’t a fan. The whole town had weird energy and no one felt reliable. I loved it. All the family dysfunction was pretty wild to boot. No one is happy and everyone was a suspect.

Loved the plot and the setting. The woods behind the houses are just creepy enough to keep you indoors. The book is told from two POV and normally that is one too many for me but it worked for this book. The end was probably the very best part for me. I didn’t see it coming.

I found the pace to be too slow for a thriller which was a real bummer. That brought the entertainment value down for me a bit. I like the rush you get from a thriller and this one…. I maybe wouldn’t have called this a thriller personally but it was worth the read for me.

3.5 stars rounded to 4

Thank you to @netgalley and @kensingtonbooks for my gifted copy

#whatwaitsinthewoods #teriparlato #thrillereader #bookreviewer #bookblogger #bookinfluencer #bookish #IGreads #readersofig #booksbooksbooks #bookishcommunity #readergram

What Waits in the Woods is a suspenseful mystery that never let me take a breath! The story flowed so well, and I found myself totally immersed. The characters were complex, and this really worked as a police procedural.

Would recommend for fans of…
🪵 Mare of Easttown
🪵 Black Swan
🪵 The Ballerinas

What Waits In The Woods is a small town mystery following former ballet dancer Esme as she returns home following a career ending injury. When she arrives home, she learns that her former friend, Kara, has been killed with no clues as to why, though Esme suspects it could be connected to a frightening incident from her own past.

Parlato nails the vibes of a small town. She does a great job of establishing a sense of place and I felt like I could easily picture the town and surrounding woods. She also does a great job of building out a cast of varied, if cliched, characters, that present a large pool of suspects to consider, which is always fun in a mystery.

Where I think this book struggled was a lack of focus. There were a lot of plot points and characters that were introduced and just kind of hung out in the background. They didn’t contribute to the overall mystery and took up too much space, which meant that characters and events that were relevant to the crime were brushed over until the big reveal, which as a result, felt like it came out of nowhere. Also, I was a little puzzled as to why Esme just automatically assumed Kara’s attacker was the same as her own. There was literally no reason to think that, yet the entire book was driven by this reasoning.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced mystery that’s a bit on the darker side, this would probably be a good pick, but I can’t say this is a must-read.

What Waits In The Woods is out now. Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of "What Waits in the Woods" by Terri Parlato. I love it when a book opens with a dead body and then the storylines weave around the body yet provide more intricate storylines. This book attempted to do that but the ending left me a little flat. I really liked our main character and lots of resolution for her was pleasing. It was entertaining and kept my interest, but didn't feel fully flushed out and the ending seemed a little disjoined from the rest of the story.

Esme Foster is heading back home to Graybridge, Massachusetts, broke, unhappy and alone. Her once-promising ballet career ground to a halt after her hip had finally had enough, forcing her to retire from dance in her mid-20s. Her boyfriend Kevin assumed that she’d want to join him in developing his career as a restaurateur, and for a while Esme persuaded herself that that was what she wanted, too. But she could only lie to herself for so long. After an absence of a decade, she’s finally heading home for good.

She’s well aware that she’s coming back to a father whose alcoholism is killing him, and to the exhausted, recently-divorced brother who has been more or less patiently tending to their dad. What she doesn’t expect is to pull into her childhood driveway to find police and emergency responders in her yard. Her first concern, naturally, is for her family. The truth is only slightly less alarming.

Driven by a mix of guilt and relief at being able to escape Graybridge so soon after high school, Esme had pretty much severed all ties to her former friends. It’s still a shock though when she learns that one of those friends, Kara Cunningham, was found dead in the Fosters’ backyard just a short while before she herself arrived home. As the days pass, another sort of guilt begins to permeate Esme’s mind, as memories of the traumatizing car accident that took her mother’s life begin to combine with her fears over the fact that Kara’s killer still has yet to be identified and brought to justice:

QUOTE
And the man who showed up at the accident [and threatened me]. Is he still around? Perhaps looking for young women to kill? I can't get the thought out of my head, and the knowledge that Kara and I resembled one another, at least from behind. Same straight, light brown hair, same short, petite build. When we were in high school, people were always mistaking one of us for the other. What if her murderer was the man who threatened me? What if he’s been lurking around Graybridge, waiting for his chance? Kara was struck from behind. Maybe he thought she was me.
END QUOTE

As Esme tries to navigate her new life, she finds that her homecoming is more fraught with peril than she could ever have imagined. Graybridge’s secrets have lain long buried but are threatening to resurface once more, as her neighbors take perhaps too much of an interest in her life. Will Esme be able to survive a place she was once all too eager to flee?

Interspersed with Esme’s story is the point of view of Rita Myers, the older detective working the case of Kara’s homicide. While Rita quickly eliminates Esme from her suspect list, the rest of the Foster family lingers in her thoughts, and not just because of their proximity to the murder:

QUOTE
And old Mr. Foster has me shaken. Is this what’s in store for my brother? Wasting away, mind gone? But they’re nothing alike. Danny’s an English professor at a local college. He’s the smartest one of all nine of us, the only one who made it all the way through college and then some. He works, shops, socializes, lives a normal life, sort of. Most people don’t even suspect he has a drinking problem. But I know. I see the glass that’s always in his hand when he’s at home. I know there’s a stockpile of booze in the kitchen cupboard. I know his mind floats often to Ricky and Jimmy, our brothers who should be here but died long ago.
END QUOTE

Family secrets and the ways we try to navigate fraught community dynamics lie at the heart of this second book in the Rita Myers series, as our two very different heroines find themselves fighting, both separately and together, for justice and the truth. Esme was long told that she had only imagined the entire episode with the stranger at the accident. Having her veracity, if not outright sanity, questioned was only one reason she was so ready to leave the whole place behind. Finally being taken seriously is small vindication in the face of the life-threatening circumstances she finds herself in now.

Ruth’s perspective as an older, single woman with family issues of her own complements Esme’s tale as they each confront the secrets of Graybridge. Another highlight is Esme’s background as a dancer: the fading of her dreams grounds the narrative in realism as she struggles to adjust to her new life, for better or worse. While this series rightfully revolves around Ruth, I wouldn’t be at all averse to reading more of Esme in the future too.

2.5 stars. This was just okay for me. Kept me reading, but not as compelling as the first in the series. My favorite aspect was Detective Rita Myers--love to see an older woman in a starring role! But her personal life interludes really did not feel like they were adding a lot to the story or helping us understand her much better. Esme as a character was not particularly interesting to me, and I didn't get a good sense of place or the character of the town. I was definitely kept guessing as to who the murderer was and was all over the map with my guesses. I wouldn't try to dissuade someone from reading this book but ultimately did not think it offered anything special.

This is the first book that I finished in 2024 and boy was it a rollercoaster ride of a murder mystery. What Waits In The Woods grabbed my attention in the first chapter and did not let go. There are so many twists, secrets, and red herrings. I did not correctly guess the killer!

The story is told from dual POVs. Esme returns back to Graybridge to help care for her sick father on the same day that one of her former BFFs from school is murdered. Detective Rita Myers is determined to figure out who the killer is.

I highly recommend grabbing this book to read in 2024!

Thank you @kensingtonbooks for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

(This same review was shared on the Barnes & Noble website.)

A solid moody mystery filled with two complex main characters, Esme and her struggles with her past colliding with a messy present with her return to home and her murdered best friend, and Rita (detective) and her own uncertainties but persistence with understanding the murder and the people involved. This is more a 3.5 book for me

I will note at times the pacing was a bit slow and for me this is more a character driven mystery than plot driven but the moodiness, the pacing, and the character development overall worked for me. I do think that Rita felt a little under developed to me, this happens with dual POV for me and with a range of secondary characters competing a bit for reader's time/energy, at times character focused scenes/chapters disrupted the flow of the mystery for me (because overall this is a mystery)

Content notes: substance use, alcoholism, and related themes with family dysfunction

Thank you @netgalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this ebook! Thank you @netgalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this ebook!

crime-thriller, fiction, mystery, suspense, dual-narrators, procedural, Massachusetts, friendship, former-ballerina, relationships, relationship-issues, nightmares, detective***

I really expected to love this, but I wasn't a good match this time. The alternating chapter narrations from Esme and Detective Meyers were a distraction as I wanted to skip around to make a better sense of it. The suspense was pretty good, the twists were inspired, but too many of the characters felt flat for me. But I am looking forward to the next in series.
I requested and received an EARC from Kensington Books via NetGalley.

Thirteen years ago, Esme Foster was in an accident with her parents that killed her mother. All Esme can remember from that cold and dark night was a man who appeared after the wreck threatened to kill her and then disappeared. No one believed her and blamed it on her concussion.

After school, Esme left Boston to pursue her dream career of becoming a professional ballerina. Eleven years later, Esme's career was ended by an injury and her company did not renew her contract. To top it all off, her six-year relationship with Kevin also ended. Now.. Esme decided to come home...

Esme returns home to help her brother, Byron, care for their dying father. But upon her arrival, she discovers that a shocking crime has taken place right in her backyard.

Kara Cunningham, one of Esme's high school friends has been found murdered. The crazy thing is.... Kara and Esme look a lot alike from behind. Could this be the mystery man from thirteen years ago, coming back to finish the job?

This story is told through dual perspectives of Esme and the detective Rita and I was instantly immersed within this story because I had to know WHO KILLED KARA?? I enjoyed most of the characters throughout this story and the author did an amazing job of keeping me guessing. I thought three different people were the murderer but I was wrong every time! Great plot twist at the end.

This was my first time reading a book by Terri Parlato but it definitely will not be my last! This book just came out and you should read it if you like murders, mystery, and a little mayhem! Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5+ stars

This book was okay. Partially, my lack of enjoyment was my own fault; it was advertised mainly as a thriller/suspenseful mystery, which it was, but I didn’t read closely enough to realize that it was the second in a series of cop drama/mysteries, and while I’m fine with multiple protagonists, I don’t tend to love those that focus on cops/detectives in that way. I almost DNFed the book closer to the beginning, but I kept going, and it did get better. However, elements of the story seemed to remind me too much of other books in the genre from the past few years, so it didn’t feel fully original. I didn’t love or hate this one, but I probably won’t continue with the series, nor do I intend to go back and read the first one.

This is the second book of the Detective Rita Myers although you can read this book as a standalone.

The story starts with the discovery of a body of a girl near former dancer Esme's house. Esme's father is suffering from dementia and it was her brother Bryce who discovers the body. The body was none other than Kara who is one of Esme's friends. Esme meanwhile returns back home after an injury causes her to halt her dancing career. Rita Myers must find the murderer before he attacks again.

This was actually a good thriller. The story is told in the perspectives of Esme and Rita and I felt this was more like a police procedural than a thriller. I like the disturbing and creepy way Mr. York photographs the girls including Esme and Kara which gave a creepy setting to the story. The suspects list seemed to be clear but the reveal of the actual killer was quiet unexpected which actually increased my rating to this book. This wasn't really fast paced but nonetheless there were some twists and turns and overall, this book worth four stars in my opinion.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.