4/5

This is a very solid book and it definitely serves as an intriguing debut novel. This is a horror type novel, although I’m not even sure what genre it would really fully fit into? It definitely doesn’t confine itself to just the horror or mystery genre, which makes it to be an interesting read. Set in the summer I feel like this book is very atmospheric and definitely is slow, but it for the most part works really well.

The characters are all well developed, although they had stereotypical wants and needs for YA characters, I enjoyed them. Our main character Laurel is definitely strange and I see her being a conflicting MC to read about, and although I definitely didn’t enjoy all the things she did, I for the most part liked it. Ricky was okay. I initially really liked him but by the end he just really annoyed me with his dumb decisions. Garrett was definitely my favourite side character. He seemed to be the most logical of them all and was quite sweet. I didn’t really at all care for Isaac. I think the character of Christine was very underused. I was surprised when we had our first chapter from her POV as it’s mostly Laurel’s with Garret and Isaac’s thrown in too. Christine was really interesting but she seemed to be just a plot convenient character and only existed to help Laurel and co.

The romance and relationships both were a tad similar to me and I think although they were decently well developed, they were a bit unnecessary in the grand scheme of things and took away from the overall plot.

The plot itself was okay. I think it started off strong but as the ‘magic’ used in this book is described very loosely, any such scenes with it can be hard to understand. I wish it had been more clear. The climax felt too short for how intimidating the threat was made out to be. I thought the ending was very convenient, and it wrapped up a lot too nicely for me.

The pacing is slow and near the 70% mark became a bit slow, but for the most part it’s okay. The writing is very atmospheric and there are weird comparisons and descriptions here and there, but for the most part it’s an enjoyable read.

I think it was missing a more concrete plot (I felt so many things were left vague) and the characters needed a bit more depth, but it was overall a very enjoyable read. I’m interested in what the author will write next!

This book was very original , dark and gripping. I enjoyed the gothic feel and the plot overall, however I did feel it could use a little more character development.

Interesting premise (and gorgeous cover), but so much of this just didn't quite work for me. It felt very surface level, and I think would have benefitted from digging a bit deeper both in character development and world building. The tone was a little inconsistent as well.

Oh my god! This was excellent! Dark, spooky, gory! One of the best books I've read this year. I can't recommend this enough

Perfectly dark. Perfectly creepy. Perfect small-town feel. I love this novel! I am going to put this on my purchase list for sure. I think our library's fiction book club will absolutely devour this one!

A good book about dealing with large emotions. Fans of YA books will appreciate the topic and how the writer deals with the subject.

I really really enjoyed this book. There are some TW but the author made it perfectly clear what to expect in the book. The writing was beautiful and the story was weird, wild, and wonderful.

This was not my normally reading material, however, I loved it so much. Laurel grew up on a tobacco farm with her uncle, her mother died when she was a baby, and has recently came back home after dropping out of college. She along with three guy friends wrestle with staying in the same small minded town, or trying to find their ways in the world. That is where the normal ends.

Laurel has magic but was not aware of her true powers until she is threatened by the devil who wants to kill her. She must save herself and her friends before they all loose their life.

This is a gothic tale at its finest. And I was so surprised at how much I loved this creepy weird story.

It doesn’t release until July, but I highly recommend this one, once it does.

I really enjoyed reading this book! It's a great atmospheric read with a unique story and great world building. The characters are really complex and unique and overall it's a great story.

Shadows mix with light and uncertainties mix with truths to create this dark imaginative story. I was lulled into a sense of foreboding and heart from the first page of this story. The author did an outstanding job of creating an atmosphere and allowing the story to form organically. There are strange moments that have the reader holding their breath and then guessing and gasping at what comes next. The story isn't all dark and it isn't all light. There is a wonderful mixture of reality and what feels like fantasy.

I really enjoyed hunting for the truth alongside the characters and I could really feel the world they lived in. It starts out during a hot southern summer, and I could feel the heat on my skin and the coolness of the water along with every other moment between these pages. I really enjoyed this story, will read more from this author ASAP and will be buying this in physical form to experience this story again and again. I received an ARC vis NetGalley and St. Martin's Press and am leaving an honest review.

I truly loved the premise and the plot of this book but I found the writing to be strangely confusing — I don’t know why, but I often had a hard time following the dialogue, the action, because it felt messy and disjointed.

After dropping out of college, Laurel Early returns to the family farm in Kentucky to resume her life as a tobacco hand and part time taxidermist. Upon her return something is awakened, a devil from the past, who is obsessed with possessing her and destroying everything she has and everyone she loves. Laurel must awaken an innate magic and uncover the secrets of her mothers past in order to defeat the devil.

Wake the Bones is a unique YA horror set on a rural Kentucky tobacco farm. While the novel may not be classified as Southern Gothic horror it definitely shares characteristics of this horror sub-genre. Although classified as a horror novel, I found the relationships between the four childhood friends (Laurel, Isaac, Ricky, and Garrett) and their struggles with living in an insular community to be the main plot of the novel. While I found the characters to be complex and intriguing the horror aspect of the story felt a bit confusing and vague. Laurel, like her mother and some of the other townsfolk, have magical abilities which manifest in different ways. I enjoyed learning about the different abilities of the residents and how they are seen as dangerous and labeled as witches by their community. Laurel's magic manifests as an ability to touch bones and have pieces of their story revealed to her. I really enjoyed the premise of this novel as well as the character interactions but there were just too many times I felt confused about what was happening. This is definitely a novel to check out if you are looking for something a bit different than your typical YA horror.

Despite the fact that i am still not that much of a horror reader, I am loving the fact that we are getting so many good creepy horror stories in 2022. I want to first talk about the writing! it was everything. It was so vivid and detailed and as if I were really in the scenes being described, which is both amazing and terrifying with how wonderfully creepy this book is. No matter how horrifying, it was also beautiful. There were so many quotes that I wish I could tattoo into my brain. The characters were well developed, complex, and relatable. I especially love a good found family dynamic, which this gives us in spades. I cannot wait to hold a physical copy of this book. This was just such a captivating read.

thank you to netgalley for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review!
i so wanted to enjoy this book but it never really caught my eye. at some points it felt like something was missing and i just wasn't vibing. maybe i’ll give it a second chance in the future and see how it goes!

Well this was a strange little book. I admit the premise drew me in--a taxidermist MC, weird things happening in the woods, magic, and a small-town atmosphere? Sign me up.
That being said, the plot was SLOW. You would think that a character-driven book is great, and let me tell you, wow, THE DETAILS. These characters are described to a tee, straight down to their feelings...and yet...I just wasn't connecting. I'm still not sure why and I'm trying to put my finger on it. Maybe because it's told in third person, with several points of view? Perhaps it's the prose?
I will say this about the prose--the author has a mastery of language. The writing itself is gorgeous, and yet I can't help but wonder if it was too much? Sometimes I was so bogged down in descriptions and turns of phrase that I lost track of the point. Still, I can't fault the writing, it was seriously gorgeous, and probably what kept me reading even when I was wondering what the point of it all was.
Unfortunately, I was just never really invested.
I will say it again though--the book is very well written and I would probably try another by this author.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All of the opinions given are my own and have been given nothing for my review.

**4.5

I loved this book from the very first page. The writing is lush and atmospheric, and I'm obsessed with Kilycone's descriptions of the setting and the creatures within her story. There were a couple of elements that weren't fully explained and were kind of confusing, and the primary love story between Laurel and her love interest wasn't super well developed in my opinion. But otherwise, this book is absolutely incredible, and I can't wait to read a physical copy in 2022!

I love a good YA southern gothic with devils and witches, so the second I saw Wake the Bones I fell on it without thinking twice. Kilcoyne's debut brings us to Laurel Early's farm in Northern Kentucky, where she's working her uncle's tobacco field with three lifelong best friends--Garrett, Isaac, and Ricky. Laurel is a recent college dropout, feeling unsettled about her life and future. Upon discovering a ritualistically slayed deer on her property with the boys, Laurel feels like something isn't right with her property. Someone is threatening her, but who? So begins Laurel's descent into horror, ghosts, and devils. It's a little like The Raven Boys meets Old Gods of Appalachia.

Normally I would get more into the plot here, but this is one of those books that absolutely steeped me in rural Kentucky life to the point where I honestly feel like the plot got a bit sidetracked. There is such a thing as too much, and Wake the Bones is just an absolute torrent. It's hot out. It's humid. The trees (all the various types), the wildflowers (all the types of those, too), the insects, the various animals, the various equipment you find on farms, the various foods you would find in a junky convenience store/gas station, all the ways you can say how a character feels piled into a paragraph...Wake the Bones will not stop describing things.

The plot gets absolutely lost in the minutia to the point that it's overwritten. In places it's a slog to follow even the dialogue. There is a story underneath all of these lengthy diatribes on humidity and sunburns, but part of me felt like the book was more interested in writing a love letter to the region and its people than developing the story. I'm not sure what Laurel ever really wanted, or how she really developed by the end. The horror is broken up by lengthy sections of interpersonal relationship drama that doesn't feel like it develops upon previous scenes--characters just randomly do things without anything else driving them. There are inconsistencies in the narration and more than a few instances of headhopping. Some characters could have been cut completely--what was the point of Christine when Anna was right there giving Laurel witchy lessons?

At the end of the day, this book had a solid southern gothic concept that the writing makes near impossible to wade through. The plot is in there, and there are some really cool visuals, but they are few and far between all the words packed in to distract from the lack of character development and internal stakes.

Deliciously dark and gothic, Elizabeth Kilcoyne weaves a debut that's bristling with atmosphere and horror.

A college dropout, Laurel returns to her family farm, where she makes a living selling animal bones online. But her homecoming spells danger for everyone that she loves – a dark shadow that follows her, inexplicable summer mirages in the field, pressing warnings from the dead... Struggling to understand the debts her dead mother has passed onto her, Laurel is joined by her family to break free of the curse that threatens them all.

While at first, it was hard to discern from the many POVs, Kilcoyne succeeds in fleshing out why people live in their small towns and why others leave. The dichotomy created rare friction in the genre, particularly for the age bracket, grounding real issues among deals with the devil.

Another aspect that I loved while reading was the prose! Kilcoyne writes such lush scenery that it feels like the southern heat comes straight from the pages, the dry crumbling dirt beneath your feet, flowers pasted to the windows. It is not only beautiful to read but serves a strong purpose in building the atmosphere needed for a southern gothic. Honestly, I could go on for ages on how well done Kilcoyne did on this alone. Combined with the nuanced takes on gender and power, what made Laurel and Christine's dynamic crackle on the page, had to be some of the best parts in the book.

While there were small issues, one of the romance arcs felt fumbling toward the middle; I wish there were more exploration at the start of Laurel with her abilities; Kilcoyne writes a strong debut about the ghosts and demons one tends to keep in the dark. WAKE THE BONES is a lush read perfect for fans of Maggie Stiefvater.

An ARC was provided by St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

3⭐

This was a very unique book that I don't think I can even begin to explain but it had some really creepy imagery and I know it comes out next summer but I got the arc from netgalley and had to pick it up.