I found this to be quite an interesting book. It had many twists and turns. The children's books written by Bee in her prior life were quite terrifying. Made me think of the Slender Man who I had never heard of before until two young girls in our state attempted to murder a friend as a sacrifice to him. It was hard for me to picture Levi being able to control all the people in the community once I finished the book. However, everything was quite believable while I was reading it.

A mystery within a mystery. A psychic people finder goes looking for a children's book author and ends up at a commune called Pastoral. The focus then shifts to years later and the inhabitants of Pastoral. They believe that their haven within the tree line keeps them safe and free of the disease and danger outside the tree line. They live off the earth and the skills of their community without any of the modern conveniences. is there a bogeyman past the woods? Is there anything left out there? Are any of the people in Pastoral immune to the disease in the trees and have some of them made it past the tree line? The dynamic between Theo, his wife Calla and Calla's sister is edgy. I won't say more for fear of spoiling the book.
Scary, futuristic and a sure bet for fans of Grimm's fairy tales, LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND, and SORROWLAND or other cult stories. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Absolutely wonderful book. Beautifully written and perfectly suspenseful, enough to keep me from putting it down. I loved it so so much, thank you for the opportunity to read it early!

This. Was. Amazing!! A little mystery, thriller, and The Village wrapped up in one. Maggie went missing five years ago, and the only person who can find her is a man who is able to track missing people by the objects they once held.

I’ve already recommended it to one friend, and will be highly recommending it to more friends.

I don't know where to start with how much I loved this book! I read the second half of it in one sitting, because I just couldn't stop. I'm a big fan of Shea Ernshaw's YA novels, and I was so thrilled that I enjoyed her first adult novel even more. Her writing drew me in from page one and never let me go. When the POV shifts towards the beginning from Travis's to Theo, Calla, and Bee's, I was thinking "Noooo, go back!" because I was so invested in his character and plot line. But then as soon I started the section from these new characters' POVs, I was totally sucked into their world too. The author is brilliant at writing mysteries and dropping little clues for the reader along the way. I kept guessing at certain things and feeling like I was getting closer and closer to figuring everything out, but I definitely did not figure out the big twist until right before it was revealed. Her writing is also so wonderfully atmospheric. It made me feel like I was right there in this setting, even though I've never been anywhere like this in real life. I know I'll be dying to read anything Shea Ernshaw writes in the future, whatever the genre!

(Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.)

2.5/5

Shea Ernshaw's previous books were amazing, and I was so excited when I heard that she was coming out with an adult novel!

A History of Wild Places brings out Ernshaw's signature spooky fantastical horror and cozy atmospheric vibes, which is something that I adore from her previous works!

The biggest downfall of this book for me was the fact that I wasn't attached to any of the characters. I was kinda bored reading about their everyday lives, and I ultimately didn't care what happened to them. I also wasn't the biggest fan of one of the plot twists *spoiler* where Bee, who is blind, finds out that she was never actually blind. It just felt like one of those plot twists where the disabled character is magically fixed by the end and that didn't really sit well with me.*end spoiler*.

I do think that this book did have a lot going for it and I think it is still worth the read if it interests you, or if you enjoy really character-driven stories!

OHHH. What a fun read. Who doesn't love a book about a secluded cult living in the middle of nowhere? The book starts with children's author Maggie disappearing and Travis, a kind of private eye, hired to find her. Then they both go missing and the story takes you inside the secluded community: Pastoral. You follow the three main characters: husband and wife Theo and Calla and Calla's blind sister, Bea. Deeper into the story the secrets of Pastoral are revealed. This was a fun book I had a hard time putting down.

My thanks to Atria Books, as well as to NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of A History of Wild Places.

WOW! What did I just read?? And how can I review this book without spoiling it for others??

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he needs only a single object, which belonged to the person who has vanished, in order to find them. He discovers where the author of some dark children's books was when she disappeared ... and then HE disappeared, as well! I couldn't imagine where this book was going. All I knew was that I was fascinated from the first page and I couldn't imagine what was going to happen next! The book was written from three different POVs (which I normally dislike) but it totally worked here. LOVED the ending!!

I definitely recommend A History of Wild Places!!!

I liked the concept (commune deep in the woods that a children’s book author has disappeared into; creepy and mysterious happenings that have kept people from leaving the community for a decade; a very very light touch of the paranormal), and found the overall execution pleasant enough, but I think it would have benefitted from faster pacing and more interesting characters. Ernshaw does a good job of keeping you guessing as to which weird phenomena are caused by magic vs. more mundane factors, but the central mystery of what happened to the missing writer and one other character was a little too easy to guess. I was initially attracted to the book because of the cover art and title, and I’d say it held up to the vibe of the cover art but probably not the title. I love a text within a text, so the dark children’s book excerpts were a welcome addition, and I wish there had been more of them. A History of Wild Places falls within the scope of “folk horror,” which is my current fall reading vibe, and I read a good half of it out in the woods, so I’m pleased to have picked it up when I did.

A History of Wild Places is due to be released in the US on December 7, 2021.

Thank you to Atria Books for the NetGalley ARC.

Initial Thoughts
I love Shea Ernshaw’s writing. When I saw this book was coming out, I knew I needed to read it. My only hold back was that I thought it might be too spooky for me.

Some Things I Liked
Rich atmospheric descriptions. Shea Ernshaw’s writing is nothing short of transportive. You really feel like you’re there with the characters in the scene. Seeing what they see, hearing what they hear.
A mystery I was desperate to solve. I read this book all in one sitting. The mystery element of the disappearance of Maggie St. James was so compelling. I craved the next page and the next clue. I was addicted to knowing what happened.
Dark and philosophical. This book went to some dark places. And, it went to some places that left me thinking. Deeply thinking. About humanity and all kinds of other profound things. This book made me question everything in the best way.

One Thing I Wasn’t Crazy About
I did solve the mystery too early on for my liking. This book is phenomenal but I was able to guess the twist too early into it.

Series Value
This book leaves off on an ominous note that is best left undisturbed. But, I have every intention of reading every other book Shea Ernshaw writes.

Final Thoughts
This book was not too spooky for me. Or at least I didn’t think it was until I couldn’t sleep last night 😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing house for a chance to read an ARC of this book! A History of Wild Places was my most anticipated release of 2021 and it did NOT disappoint! As always, Shea Ernshaw’s prose are evocative and beautiful, paired with a setting that is both alluring and terrifying. I was hooked from the very first page! I’ve been a fan of Ernshaw since her debut, and I loved getting to see how her work has evolved. Can’t wait to get my hands on a copy and see what the author has next in store!

Shea Earnshaw is one of my auto-buy authors. I can't tell you the love I have for The Wicked Deep. Everything she writes transports me somewhere magical. I couldn't get my hands on her adult debut fast enough, and am so, so grateful for the ARC I received from Atria Books!

I can't say too much about this without giving things away, but the opening was just -- perfect. I was very much into this story immediately and really enjoyed the direction things were going in...

And then things took a turn. Not a bad turn, just unexpected. We quickly leave the narrative we started with and enter into something else. I found this a little jarring and was a little thrown off by the switching PoVs that started at this point, but it did kind of add to the mystery of it all.

I'm usually pretty good at pegging what is going on, and about half-way through I had some theories, one that turned out to be correct, but I had no real inkling as to how these theories came to be. Which, to me, is a sign of a good book!
I liked how everything interconnected in the end, it answered a lot of questions I had about why the story was written the way it was. The reveal of one of the twists was great, turning the whole book on its head. I like that the answers in the end came out of nowhere, but I think it straddles the line a bit of being completely out of the blue and cleverly integrated, so the reader misses subtle hints. I’d have to go back and read it again, but I’m not sure there were many breadcrumbs to put together and sometimes that is my favourite part of a book.
I still feel that the way it started was starkly different to where we ended up. Which is maybe the point? But I quite liked the character we first met, I found them very interesting and missed the cooler elements of their story throughout the rest of the book.

As a whole, this felt like it's a step away from Earnshaw's other books (naturally, given this is adult and not YA), but that kind of magical whimsy of forests and mystery and something sort of unnatural happening that I've come to expect from her writing is still very much there. It’s a cozy read that will certainly appeal to her fans and hopefully introduce another audience to her warm writing.

I had read the author's other books and really enjoyed them. This one did not disappoint. The pacing was great. Kept you curious. The storyline was good, although I found the "skill" of the antagonist a bit far fetched. It fit in with the story though. I knocked off a star for that.

I LOVE M. Night Shyamalan, and this book was like reading one of his movies. I hope that’s a compliment. It was awesome. The perfect book to read on a cold fall day just before Halloween. I saw a lot of reviews that compared this to The Village - and yes! Perfect. I recommend this.

Memory is a blessing and a curse. Simple act of remembering can make you smile or tear your flesh to open more wounds that you need. Ignorance from not remembering can be a bliss until that ignorance turns you into a relentless follower, a slave of another man who holds to ropes.

A writer walks away from home one day and no one heard anything of her for 5 years. According to many, she had reasons to disappear as her books drove children to go after fairytales she created. Her family sent a “finder” after her; only to learn that finder disappeared too. Last pin drop for both was a commune called Pastoral. Residents never passed the borders due to some disease that trees are spreading. Life outside was a big no no, but how long people can continue live like that? Also, where was the writer and the finder?

I expected to find answers in the commune because most communes/cults like this were built on big fat lies that people either chose or forced to believe, but I didn’t expect this twist. This story takes us back to the original question: are fairytales made up stories or are they retellings of lives lived before us only using magical creatures? If you want to read an adult fairytale, here you go!

Not for me. Toooo much of a 'slow burn ' novel. I could not get into it. I like character-driven novels, but these characters did not catch my interest.
I requested this book because the description suggested undertones of The Village. That did not happen IMO.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A little bit The Lost Village by Camilla Sten, a generous sprinkling of M. Night's The Village, and a smattering of Midsomar.  Great book with an amazing supporting cast.  The shifting POV is flawless and highly effecting.  I adored this book, the gorgeous cover, and the beautiful title that drew me in.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am not at all surprised by how much I loved A History of Wild Places! Shea Ernshaw is one of my favorite authors so I had a pretty good feeling that I would enjoy this book. Her writing always draws me in and keeps me invested until the last page.

I loved the eerie vibes of this book. Pastoral was such an unsettling place but I found it so fascinating. I had a feeling from the very beginning that something was definitely off. The build up was intense and it felt like so much was at stake. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I kept trying to figure out exactly what was going to happen. The twists were so good that one literally left me in shock!

I cannot wait to get a finished copy to add to my shelves!

Unfortunately, I found it very challenging to get into this book from the get-go. I felt that you could kind of tell that Ernshaw had written for a younger audience before because of the way some things about the characters were revealed so easily. The way the story was set up felt a bit cliche to me, which was disappointing because I really liked the idea of this story. I didn't feel connected to the main character and didn't find myself needing to know more about him as I continued reading. I was really interested in reading this book because of the author's YA books, but unfortunately this one just wasn't fleshed out enough for me.

What a wild book. Those of you who are thinking "M. NIght Shyamalan" are right on target!
Travis Wren is a seer, he can find missing people by touching places they have been or thing that they own. This empathy however, hurts his heart and brings him a lot of sadness. Most of the people he finds are no longer alive. A friend asks him for one last search as a favor - find Maggie St. James.
Travis's search takes him deep. into the woods.
That's all I can tell you !
There's a commune with cult like vibes and lots of dark gothic undertones. If you like slow thrillers, creepy twists and love the movies of M. Night Shyamalan, then you will love this book !