Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. I don't usually read middle grade, but this was an enjoyable story. "This enchanting companion to Robert Beatty's instant #1 New York Times bestseller Willa of the Wood is perfect for any reader who cares deeply about the natural world."

Willa is a great character to follow. She is brave, intelligent and kind. Willa and her clan are the last of the Faeran, who have to stop humans from destroying their home in the forest. It reminded me of Princess Mononoke.

I have read Willa of the Wood, and I loved it! Therefore, I was eager to read Willa of Dark Hollow! I have to say that Willa of Dark Hollow surpassed the first novel. Willa is a strong heroine who fights for justice! I loved reading about her story! This novel weaves the eerie magic of the wood. The wood is a haunting and mysterious but beloved place. This novel had the right amount of magic, humor, and a dash of suspense! I can’t wait to read what happens next! If Mr. Beatty keeps this up, the Willa series will be better than the Serafina series! I recommend this for fans of Roshani Chokshi, Alyssa Coleman, and Amanda Foody!

4.5/5⭐️ to Willa of Dark Hollow by Robert Beatty. Thank you, NetGalley & Disney Books, for an egalley to review! I absolutely loved being back in Willa's world! On that note, I would recommend reading Willa of the Wood first so that you get to know Willa, her people, and her magic and environment first. Nevertheless, you can read this story as a standalone. The writing, combined with the world, magic system, and characters Beatty has created, makes for a very immersive reading experience. Willa is such a sweet and fiercely determined character who goes through so much in this book. Essentially, she is trying to protect her clan, family, and environment from a group of loggers who are clear-cutting in the area. There is also some dark magic lingering in the hollow that used to be her clan's home. I think this would be a perfect read for a younger reader coming into the "spooky season" who loves magic and has themes around environmentalism. Even as an adult reader, I had a great time reading this book as the characters, storyline, and atmosphere are so engaging, and the themes are quite complex for middle grade. Some of the themes Willa covers (which also add to Willa's character growth) include family, grief, persevering through trials, differing ethics, and environmentalism. An example is when Willa is talking to one of the logging foremen. He needs to provide for his family by logging (including Willa's new friend who is his daughter) but Willa believes that it is still wrong. This is because the logging is hurting the forest and those who live in it. There is great action and tension as the story approaches the climax which will keep even picky readers engaged! I do believe that these middle-grade books are worth checking out!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book from start to end! It was a stunning sequel to one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. It took a while to really get going, but it was so fun and a very interesting new book in this dulogy. The struggle between good and bad in her head was a interesting addition that I really enjoyed being added in. This is a must read if you enjoyed Willa of the Wood and this duology is also something you should definitely read if you enjoyed the Serafina series. 4.5/5 stars from me!

This is the sequel to Willa of The Woods and I was excited to get a early look at it from Netgalley. This story took me for a ride that's for sure. I wasn't sure I liked it until about half way through when things started to click into place and then I took a deep breath and everything was alright. My favorite is Willa's internal struggle with what is right and wrong. What's wrong to some people is right for others and who is to say which one is better?

Willa of Dark Hollow by Robert Beatty is the second book in the Willa of the Wood series. I do recommend reading this in order- to understand the main character ad what she has already been through.

Willa and her clan are the last of the Faeran, an ancient race of forest people who have lived in the Great Smoky Mountains for as long as the trees have grown there. But as crews of newly arrived humans start cutting down great swaths of the forest she loves, she is helpless to stop them. How can she fight the destroyers of the forest and their powerful machines? When Willa discovers a mysterious dark hollow filled with strange and beautiful creatures, she comes to realize that it contains a terrifying force that seems to be hunting humans. Is unleashing these dangerous spirits the key to stopping the loggers? Willa must find a way to save the people and animals she loves and take a stand against a consuming darkness that threatens to destroy her world.

Willa of Dark Hollow is a stunning follow up to Willa of the Wood. I was glad to see Willa's story continue- and sad to see the trials that she had to face. There were many twists and turns, some which I saw creeping up and others that caught me completely off guard. The weaving of history, the natural world, magic, and all the emotions that give the characters life is extremely well done. The way the characters are all dynamic- showing the good and bad inherent in people and nature- might reach young readers that never had to consider that all sides of a story see themselves as the good guy, no matter how few people agree. People, and the world, are complicated and finding the right answer is not always possible- sometimes finding the best possible answer is the best we can do. This is a book that I knew would destroy me (in the best of ways of course) so I admit that I was both eager to pick it up- and dreading the read. I loved all the related books and while I needed to know what happened next I was also dreading finishing it ad having to wait for more, and worried that it might not live up to my expectations. The only fear that might be realized is tat I do believe this might be the end of this series.

Willa of Dark Hollow is a wonderful read, with a great deal of though and emotion provoking action and ideas. Fans of the author need to read it- and I highly recommend this series and the companion series that started it all- Serafina.

Robert Beatty's writing is always captivating. I felt gripped by Willa of Dark Hollow until the very last page!

This story picks up not long after the first book (Willa of the Wood) ends on. Willa has found a home with Nathanial but together they must protect it from the loggers who want to destroy the land. This is a story about a girl who discovers that the world is not made of one person versus another person versus the animals versus nature. She learns the power of a united front when protecting those she cares for.

Willa is such a fun character to read about. She is curious, caring, protective, and determined.

For me, the story loses a star in the rating because it felt like there were three storylines happening throughout the book. Even though they all connected to each other, the connection felt forced. It felt like two of the storylines were thrown into the story to fill up page space. The entire story was still enjoyable. I was creeped out by Dark Hollow, was suspicious of Adelaide, and ready to riot against the loggers.

Willa of Dark Hollow focuses on how humans impact our mother earth and how everything is connected and we must realize that! Willa struggles with the realization that even humans are a part of the circle of life and have a role to play. Willa meets a new bear friend, must help her father and other humans and also find a way to help her Faeran clan. Once again I was blown away with the message taken from this book. This duology does such a beautiful job capturing nature's beauty and importance and the author does so with such vivid imagery and powerful words! I also loved that the author included making the Great Smokey Mountains a national park so that the land and it's beautiful creatures would be forever protected!

In the second installment of the Willa series, we once again find Willa at odds with the world around her. After the collapse of the padaran, Willa faces another enemy that threatens to spoil the forest she loves and endangers her family. Willa must defend her home from the loggers who are gobbling up the forest around her. Willa begins a quest to find her place in the ever changing world around her and questions her relationship with the humans who share her home. This book is filled with twists and turns that will keep middle grade readers on the edge of their seats. I did not want this book to end and can’t wait for the next book in the trilogy.

This barely got 4 stars, I liked the first one much better. I felt like this one was very slow paced and not a lot happened. I also wish the ending was different. I can see why it played out how it did, I just wish it had gone in another direction.
I liked the characters, Willa and her family are so loyal to each other and it's so heartwarming. We meet a new character, Adalaide and I loved how she fit into the story. Nathaniel (Willa's adopted father) was so determined to keep his land and keep the forest safe from the loggers and it really showed a different side of the humans to Willa and the Fearans.
While I did like the overall plot of the book, I felt like it took forever to get there. From the first book, we know that the main goal is to stop the loggers. It just felt like we went the very long way around to get there.
This is technically a standalone that can be read without reading Willa of the Wood, but I feel like while it would make sense, a lot of things would make a lot more sense if you had also read Willa of the Wood.
I did overall enjoy the book a lot, just not as much as the first one.

I'm a huge Robert Beatty fan so I'm already spoiled by his books. However, this book was particularly sweet for a number of reasons. It had themes of the importance of the future and the past being connected. Humans and nature are connected. Willa has to face the threat of logging on her adopted family's land. Her father is accused of murder, all while dealing with the threat of loggers destroying her precious forest.


Not to mention the mysterious and deadly creatures that are now filling the forest. Willa has to figure out what is going on all with the help of her new friend Adelaide. A girl who seems strangely familiar, and who becomes a fast friend to Willa. But when the fight for the mountain comes to Willa, will she and her allies have enough to withstand the darkness of both the humans and mountain and finally have a chance at saving the place they love for good.

I received an electronic ARC from Disney Publishing Worldwide through NetGalley.
Lovely and powerful conclusion to Willa's story. The clash between conservation and industry is on full display in Beatty's second book about this character. Readers see her struggles as she realizes that all of her choices lead to both life for some and death for other portions of nature. Willa's strengths continue to develop as she finds her way. The ending is beautiful and sad and speaks to the ongoing resurgence of the natural world
This is a difficult review to write without spoilers. The book's pace will appeal to middle grade and older readers. Beatty's writing style blends the fantasy with the reality of life in the Smoky Mountains. The informative text at the end provides further information about the formation of the National Park. He twines how this was done with Willa's story. It will be interesting to see if he writes further adventures about her family moving forward.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Willa is back and now there are loggers near her fathers house. While out one day Willa ends up saving a bear after the a logger shoots its mother. But than these horrid dark things come and they make everything cold and when they touch a logger they kill them. Willa has never seen anything like this in her woods before. Soon her father is arrested for killing two loggers and Willa and her Cherokee sister must save him.

Willa is Faeran a very old race of forest dwellers. Willa has helped people her whole life but while helping rescue children from the Faeran's old ruler her home and the home of all her people was burnt. Now in this exciting new Willa book, Willa is very busy. She is taking care of a bear cub, helping her father, helping her people (even if they do not want her help), and trying to figure out the wheat hair colored girl. This book has not stop action from front cover to back, and lots of suspense that is sure to keep every reader from 8-108 up past their bedtime. Willa is the person we all kind of want to be on the inside and it would be pretty cool to have her camouflaging power on the outside as well.

This review will appear on my blog on the 4th of May.

Beatty did it again! Willa is back and is up to the same old stuff. I couldn't put this book down, though. It was a great continuation of Willa's story. Hoping for more soon!

Thirteen-year-old Willa Steadman is deeply connected to the lands and creatures that share her home in the Great Smoky Mountains. Taken in by a human family shortly after the death of her grandmother, Willa has come to understand that not all humans are the same as she builds a new family among them. The threat of logging near Willa’s home increases by the day, a massacre of the trees Willa holds dear. When her adopted father, Nathaniel, is accused of murdering two of the loggers working nearby, it is up to Willa and her adopted sister Hialeah to clear his name. Along the way, they make new friends and realize truths about their past that will dictate their future.

This story is a continuation of Willa’s introduction in Willa of the Wood, though reading the first installment is not a requirement to embrace Willa’s world in this second novel. Compellingly written, each descriptive segment speaks to all five senses, deepening readers’ connection to the story. Much like walking into a forest captivates visitors entirely, this book welcomes readers into its narrative and envelopes them, as well. At first, this story feels like a fantasy world with creatures like the Faeran who are able to directly commune with nature. However, this fictional world is actually found in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1901, a very real time and place. This blending of elements gives nature back some of the magic it has lost over decades of human intrusion and development.

A permeating theme of this story is that there is no I; only we. In a world that so often focuses on the id through social media, this message is increasingly important if humans are to solve many of the problems it has created over time. As Willa learns through this story, though, each choice one makes leads directly to the next, and sometimes future problems can be solved by planting a seed in the present.

This story incorporates several components that lead to the understanding that everything is connected, even if things seem disparate at first. Beautifully crafted, the end of each chapter launches readers immediately into the next. Though written with a middle grade audience in mind, readers of all ages with a passion for environmental conservation and the interconnectedness of all things will quickly devour Willa’s story.

What a dramatic conclusion to Willa of the Wood! The action in this fantasy/action-adventure novel begins right away and manages to fill in key events from the first Willa book as loggers converge on the forests and lakes of the Tennessee mountains and methodically clear-cut the land, destroying everything in their path. Willa calls upon her Faeran heritage, her father on his love of the land, and they, plus the Cherokee and many residents of the towns around the carnage unite to stop the devastation, but it looks hopeless. As in Beatty’s Serafina series, some haunted bits are seamlessly mixed in with the realistic elements which may cause a few goosebumps to rise up on middle grade arms and will definitely keep 4th-8th graders turning those pages quickly! Main character Willa was fully fleshed out in book 1 but new battles add strength to her personality. Many old friends are still present, and new ones, such as Charka the bear and town-girl Adelaide, are introduced. Concern for the balance of nature and environmental issues is front and center, but not in a preachy way. Fans of both Willa books are likely to also enjoy Applegate’s Endling series, Hiassen’s Hoot, Brown’s The Wild Robot, Sachar’s Fuzzy Mud, and Allen’s The Line Tender.

We - people, animals, plants - are all connected. When one is hurt or destroyed, the others suffer. Willa must find a way to stop the loggers from destroying the forest or there will be nothing left.

The loggers are intent upon cutting down the trees on Nathaniel's land. They frame him for murder and take him to jail. Willa and her human sister must find a way to rescue him. While trying to find out what really happened, Willa rescues a member of the logging team from the ghosts of the forest. She also saves more of the loggers later, but regrets it because she killed trees to do it. Willa finds her sister Alliw, who she believed was dead. Willa helps Alliw remember who she is and together they rebuild their clan's home. The truth is revealed, and Nathaniel is released from prison, but the loggers make an attempt to take his land. Willa asks the trees for help and triggers a mudslide which almost kills Nathaniel. She, Alliw, and her human sister take him to the bear lake to be healed, but are refused by the guardian bear. Willa makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her adopted father.

Robert Beatty once more captivates with this series. Willa of Dark Hollow is written beautifully and is just the kind book (and series) to share, teach, and captivate young readers.

In the follow up to Willa of the Wood, Beatty has taken us further into the magical world of Appalachian nature. For me, the book started out very slow...but then it picks up speed as the plot is finally fully laid out. About two-thirds of the way through the story, an amazing twist occurs that will color the entire rest of the story! Seeing how the rest of it plays out is intriguing. There is history, ecology, conservation, fantasy, and mystery all wrapped up here...and I know my students will love it!