The Lying Woods is an interesting story told in two times and perspectives. Part of the book is told in present day by Owen and part is told in the mid-90s by Noah. Owen has to come back home from boarding school when it's discovered that his father basically stole money from everyone in town by embezzling money and disappearing. Needless to say everyone in town takes it out on Owen and his mom. They are getting threats almost daily. Owen finds solace working on the pecan farm his father worked on as a young adult.

The mystery in the story took a while to build up. It did have some twists and the outcome was not at all what I expected. We see some growth from Owen as he learns to stop thinking about just himself but also others in town who were hurt. I enjoyed learning his mom's back story through history. Overall this story is well told. I ended up listening to it on audible and the narrator does a great job.

This book was just an okay for me. I struggled through it. For a mystery, I expected more of a fast paced heart pounding book. This one seemed to bore me throughout the entire read. Not what I was hoping for as the cover also drew me in to have higher expectations.

I really enjoyed this book! It did take a while to get into the story but once I did, I was hooked. I love how it playing on the then and now POV.

I tried to get into this book numerous times but it just doesn't seem to be the right time whenever I try. I actually own the physical book now so I will be trying again in the future. The cover is gorgeous and the plot sounds good so I hope I am in the mood soon.

I enjoyed the parallel storytelling and the cool twist the story took at the end. The setting was one that will stay with me for a long time. I think because the descriptions of it were so vivid.

Oddly enough, the whole "discovering that my rich dad is an embezzler" is an increasingly common theme in teen fiction these days. This is a fairly strong entry in the genre. We have elements of family secrets and worlds colliding; of the truth about a person's actions at odds with your emotional connection to them. And there are hints of The Count of Monte Cristo in the plot, so that's fun too. A truly solid read.

Man, this was a fantastic story! Loved reading it! I enjoyed meeting and getting to know Owen, and Noah. I wanted to know where his father was, why he stole people's money, and watching Owen have to deal with the fall out made for great reading!

On one hand, I could see Owen's side, his father screwed him and his mom over. But I could see the other side, because those people lost their money, their jobs, the plans for the future. And it's tough, and it sucks that they were taking their frustrations out on Owen and his mom, since his dad wasn't there. Just a crappy situation all around!

Loved how this story was told, between the now with Owen, and the summer of 1999 (it's so weird, this year to me, because I was alive then, which I'm going to have to get used to more and more as time goes on and YA moves with it!) with Noah, though near the end, we saw fall, and a number of years later. It was a fantastic way to tell the story, and I wanted to know why, because there was a point to it, and yeah, that twist was just awesome!

Really enjoyed how this book ended. It was pretty satisfying, to know that the dad who raised him brought them back together after tearing them apart, even if it was to get back at his partner in crime. It was so great to see a taste of them being a family!

Such a wonderful book and such a wonderful read! Definitely recommend!

Elston writes really atmospheric books! I truly got a sense of each of the characters and the setting itself. I don't know that this was as successful as This is Our Story but the stakes don't feel as high in this one as in that one.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of The Lying Woods by Ashley Elston.

Owen, a boarding school student of extreme wealth wakes up to another carefree morning. With his only thought being how to prank his best friend, he's completely blindsided when he's called into the office and told to pack his bags. His dad has just been charged with stealing money from his fracking company, leaving his employees completely empty handed. But he hasn't been arrested, because he has fled the scene, hiding all the money. Still reeling from the news, Owen's troubles are just beginning when he now has to navigate a new life with no money, all his possessions repossessed, and surrounded by an entire town that hates his family.

Flash back to 1999, Noah has been living a life of hard knocks. Homeless and desperate he seeks employment at a Pecan Farm from a kind, yet mysterious farmer Gus.

Through both stories we see how Gus holds the key to where Owen's dad is, and how he ever got himself in this situation to begin with.

This was very readable and intriguing from page one. It moves at a steady pace, has great character development and an understandable, yet intricate story line. Lots of twists, I definitely recommend it!

This is a very difficult review to write without spoilers and I don't write reviews with spoilers.

Let me say upfront that while I can't say much,.I can say this: READ THIS BOOK. It is a brilliant book. It is the first book I have read by Ashlely Elston and I cannot wait to read another one of her books.

Her characters are complex with depth and authenticity. They are very relatable, which makes the story even more gut wrenching with every shocking twist and turn in the story.

Speaking of twist and turns in the story, O. M. G. Elston writes a flawless-not exactly mystery- but as John Lennonn says: Life is what happens while you are making other plans.

Just when you think all the big reveals have happened, Elston throws another curve ball, right until the very end. Oh boy what an ending it is. If you like plot twists and stories with plot twists you just don't see coming? This is the book for you.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

Cute coming of age story about a young man in Louisiana. After finding out about his dad extorting money from the Louisiana Frac company, he and his mom have to rebuild their life in a town that hates them.

Has a few scenes which remind me a little of Nicholas Sparks’s The Notebook.

Absolutely exceptional.

This was a gripping story from the get-go, and it only becomes more compelling as the proverbial plot thickens.

I'm incredibly impressed with the complexity of this story (particularly for a YA book). Elston deftly weaves together a raw, emotional account of what it's like to be a family member of someone who commits financial fraud with a delightfully complicated mystery about who the guilty party truly is.

This is a tough book to review without giving away spoilers, so I've kept my assessment brief. But I can't conclude without praising Elston for her exceptionally well-drawn characters, for the not one but TWO huge twists that I didn't see coming, and for a book that was much, much more than what it initially appeared to be.

I’m purposely not going to provide a summary, because I feel it’s best to go into mysteries like this, pretty much completely blind.
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Oh good gracious, did I love this story! I devoured the second half of it in one morning, mostly in one sitting. I loved the way the story was written from Owen’s perspective in the present day, but also interspersed at the end of each chapter with Noah’s perspective in the past. The mystery element was done so freaking well! It was atmospheric and unsettling while still managing to have a contemporary feel. I thought I had the reveal nailed down and had the book pegged for a 4 star read, but then the second reveal took me by surprise and bumped this up to a 5 star for sure. I don’t know if it’s just me or the way it was intended to be written, but by the end, I saw the villains as human beings that make mistakes. This was phenomenal and I highly recommend. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author. Also..the cover 👍🏼

I was extremely excited for this book, especially since I absolutely adored "This is Our Story."

However, I was sadly disappointed. I thought the build up in this book was excruciatingly slow. I set the book down and picked it back up numerous times over the course of reading this. It took me a long time to get through this book, since I didn't really get hooked until more that 3/4 of the way through. This was my main issue with the book, the pacing was just very very slow for the majority of it.

However, if you manage to get through that part, there are definitely some great parts of this book. The ending was a surprise twist I never would have imagined, and definitely pulled at some heart strings. I also loved the flashbacks to Noah and Maggie's summer, and how their romance evolved. It was very reminiscent of The Notebook, so fans of that book will definitely enjoy these flashbacks.

However, I am not sure I believed Owen's father's motivation as it was explained. From what we learn of him throughout the book, he didn't seem quite altruistic enough for that.

Overall, this book was okay. There were parts I enjoyed, but I would have enjoyed it more had the pacing in the first half of the book been a bit faster.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Lying Woods. Ashley Elston does a great job setting up a family drama, intertwined with mystery. Owen and his mom are left high and dry when his dad skips town with his companies embezzled and stolen money. They're targeted by locals who have lost everything and its the most unlikeliest people that come to their aid. The mystery behind the crime, who was in on it and where the money and Mr. Foster went, had a good pace and just enough revealing as the story went on. The twists at the end were just surprising enough to still be believable and satisfying. I would definitely recommend picking this up.

I really enjoyed this YA mystery, the beginning was a little slow but I thought the twist was solid and the characters were pretty believable. My only issue is the title, it doesn’t seem to fit with the book at all!

If Ashley Elston is writing it, I am reading it. I have become such a fan of her unputdownable books with good endings.

What do you do if you’re a rich kid who is suddenly the outcast after your father screws over an entire community?

You suck it up and face it. You try to find your scumbag father and figure out how he could do such a thing. And you find yourself going down the longest rabbit hole, unraveling a decades-old mystery that left me saying O M G what!

Owen is tenacious and lovable. I fell for him right away. His whole world has been shaken and he’s figuring out the how and the what and the why. The WHY is stellar. Ashley Elston crafted a mystery that I had NO idea was coming. Next level, for sure.

What I love most about her books is the ability to leave us readers feeling ok at the end. Usually thrillers leave you a little broken but not this one. Can’t wait for what’s next!

Owen Foster has a perfect life. He is rich with great parents and friends. He goes to boarding school and is popular and athletic. Then his mom shows up one day at his school and tells him his dad is missing. Not only that, but his dad has embezzled money from the company he works for and has basically bankrupted his entire hometown. Owen has to leave his boarding school and return home with his mom since she doesn't have the funds to pay for it anymore.

One thing Owen doesn't mention when he is blindsided by this news: he has just received a letter from his dad in the mail asking him to meet him in a few weeks.

As Owen adjusts to life back home, he has to deal with the angry stares and comments from everyone in town. They all want to know where Owen's dad is and where the money is hiding. Owen's mom starts getting threats and the only good thing for Owen is his renewed friendship with Pippa, his childhood best friend.

Interwoven with Owen's story are flashbacks to Noah's summer in 1999. Noah is new to town and begins working on a farm to escape his past and his family life. While on the farm he meets Maggie and their romance is told during these chapters.

The way these two stories connect is surprising and I did not see it coming.

I really enjoyed this mystery -- a genre that I feel like isn't done a lot in YA. Elston tells an engaging story that makes you forget it is a mystery until it all comes together in the end and you realize the trail of breadcrumbs she left for you along the way.

Mystery, romance, and family all play a role in this enthralling book.

**I received an eARC from Netgalley**

Summary: Owen Foster has spent the last six years at the prestigious Sutton School. Owen has a good life and has never wanted for anything. However, everything changes when Owen’s mother appears one day to pull him out of the school. Owen’s father has embezzled millions of dollars from their family business before going on the run. Owen’s father has destroyed their small town and Owen must return to try to clear his family’s name.

Review: After I first finished The Lying Woods I tried to decide why I didn’t love this book. The premise and the story were just fine and as compelling as Elston’s other books but I never felt like I really got to know the characters. Owen, his mother, and his friend/ love interest Pippa got only the slightest of slight character descriptions and development. Their story was just never compelling enough to make me feel like I was completely drawn into the mystery. I also found the flashback to the Noah storyline to be jarring and completely pulling me out of the flow of Owen’s story. However, my biggest issue with the book was the that resolution to the mystery felt anticlimactic and more than a little unresolved. There is a decent mystery in this book but it just didn’t, for me, live up to the other books by this author.

Title: The Lying Woods
Author: Ashley Elston
Genre: YA
Rating: 5 out of 5

Owen Foster is in the middle of a prank war with his best friend Jack when his mom shows up at his fancy New Orleans boarding school. Owen knows it can’t be good news, and it’s not—his dad has disappeared with millions of dollars from the family business that supports most of their small town.

Owen and his mom are the most hated people in town. Most people think they knew what his dad was up to, or at least where he is now, and the threats soon turn to violence. To escape all the anger, Owen finds himself working for Gus on a practically-abandoned pecan farm outside of town.

Owen doesn’t want to believe his father stole the money, but all the evidence points towards him. Soon Owen realizes that someone must have helped his dad, and he’s determined to unravel the mystery and keep his mother safe.

The Lying Woods is told in alternate viewpoints between Owen now, and his father in the past, the year he first came to work for Gus. I’m not generally a fan of male POV characters in YA, but I loved this one. Owen is complex: everything he thinks he knows gets upended in this book, and he has to figure out the new world he inhabits now. He’s hurting from his dad’s betrayal, worried about his mom, and missing his friends, but he learns to see things from other people’s point-of-view as he struggles to right the wrongs he encounters. Definitely read this! I realized after reading this that I’d also read Elston’s The Rules for Disappearing, and it was a great read as well, so she just moved to my must-read list.

Ashley Elston lives and writes in Louisiana. The Lying Woods is her newest novel.

(Galley provided by Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review.)