This was an incredible whodunnit but with local lore and creepy woods. It definitely gives a small town vibe with slight Slenderman or some other cryptid lore. The characters were well developed, complex and relatively easy to relate to. The plot moved along quickly and I never saw the twists coming! If you love a good thriller, and want to get hyped for Spooky Season then I highly recommend The Woods Are Waiting.

The Woods Are Waiting
Katherine Greene
What determines fact from superstition. Blue Cliff is a small town in Virginia. Call it rumor, superstition or fact everyone is afraid of the Hickory Man. Legend has it he takes children. For generation after generation mothers and fathers have warned their children to stay away from the woods. There is even a nursery rhyme written about the Hickory Man.
Cheyenne Ashby escaped Blue Cliff and her mother Constance five years ago but a phone call drug her back to the small town, her mother, Constance and the house deep in the woods where she was raised. Perhaps her mother was mentally ill or maybe she was wiser than the other town folks. She taught her daughter how to stay safe by following what we would call an old wife’s tales such as putting dirt in your shoes and carrying silver coins. Constance knew how to use poppets, crystals, salt, herbs to keep people safe.
When Jasper was arrested and convicted of killing three children the town took a deep breath and felt safe again. The man was later released on a technicality. Another child is missing. Cheyenne and her best friend Natalie are determined to find the truth. Three children disappear every five years.
The beginning is slow with the atmosphere slowly building; the ending is also slow. The point of view is told through Cheyenne and Natalie. The setting and the atmosphere are creepy. Jack and Cheyenne develop a bit of a romance. The pair fit well together. Something seems strange about this story the whole town is mourning the loss of another child and yet they do not go looking for the murderer. Why is anyone still living in Blue Cliff?
The clues as to whodunit are there throughout the tale but will you pick up on them. This is a spooky, bizarre, eerie, and unnerving tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audio ARC! This started off slow and I wasn’t intrigued. The characters fell flat and while I’m usually excited to read book set in my home state this one wasn’t doing it for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape for allowing me access to the audio book in exchange for an honest review!

The Woods are Waiting was an excellent mystery thriller set in a small Appalachian Mountain town full of old time superstitions and a dark past of missing children. When the disappearances start again, Cheyenne Ashby returns home to care for her frantic superstitious mother. Her return home ends up putting her in the path of her former best friend, Natalie and together they begin to unravel the truth of the murders and their town’s dark history.

I really enjoyed this story. The author coaxes you with ease into the small town of Blue Cliff, Virginia and settles you in, surrounding you with the spooky atmosphere of a town stuck in the past, haunted by a dark history. The narrator’s use of a southern drawl melted me further into the town. If you’ve ever been to the small towns that pepper the Appalachian Mountain range, you know that mystical and ancient feeling those little towns have, and the superstition that is soaked into the ground and permeates the air. The author did a fabulous job of capturing that feeling with her words and the narrator’s drawl cemented it .

This story honestly started off a bit too slow for me. It was too easy for my ADHD mind to get distracted with how slow it was going. The character introductions were clear. I never felt overwhelmed with too many people to keep track of. The interactions between characters was well thought out and understandable - the emotions, the reasons behind their words and actions, nothing felt out of character or confusing.

Tiny spoiler but, I personally loved the touch that Cheyenne needed to reconcile with her former best friend and former boyfriend before she could begin the journey of finding out exactly who or what is behind the dark going ones in Blue Cliff. Really emphasized how important them and their friendship was to the plot.

Once Cheyenne finally gets investigating, the story takes off and neck breaking speeds and I could NOT put the audio book down. My attention was fully hooked. The twists and turns the story started to take kept me speechless. The reveal is satisfying and the conclusion was fantastic.

This book really checked all the boxes for me. Spooky atmosphere, paranormal?, old lore and myths, thrilling reveal. All in all an excellent 4.5 star read. Dropped half a star for my struggle at the start with how long the slow pace beginning was.

This was a good listen and a solid story - I didn't love the narration, however. At times, it was distracting from the storyline.

This was a good read and I enjoyed it. The story was so interesting and held my attention throughout the book. Wonderful! I also enjoyed the narrator! They did a great job. 4 star read!

This was an interesting Southern gothic thriller with a spooky atmosphere based in a small Appalachian town where young children keep going missing. Everything about it sounded fantastic to me, but I found it pretty predictable. Regardless, I enjoyed this read and the aspect of superstition and how it's used in this story.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

🎧Audiobook Review🎧
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Summary: Cheyenne Ashby knows the dark and disturbing history of her hometown of Blue Cliff, Virginia, all too well. It’s why she left. Growing up deep within the woods with her eccentric mother, Constance, she was raised on the unusual customs and generational superstitions linked to the local legend of an evil entity that haunts the forest.

Five years ago, the bodies of three children were found in the woods. It was a man—not a mythical beast—named Jasper Clinton who was convicted of these heinous crimes. For five years the town breathed just a bit easier with a real-life monster behind bars.

But when another child goes missing, Cheyenne and Natalie are determined to discover the truth and uncover the town’s dangerous secrets rooted in its terrifying past.

The two women must confront the reality of the superstitions they always believed in and their town’s complicated connection with who—or what—lives in the woods.
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Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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My thoughts: thank you so much @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for advanced copy of this audio book! It was my first fiction one and definitely will not be my last! I loved this story; it was a fun mystery with supernatural elements. It reminded me of the whisper man by Alex north, it was just so creepy! Perfect setting and the writing was so engaging. I was hooked immediately 😍definitely cannot recommend this one enough it released earlier this month! Cheyenne was such an Interesting main character and the town was just so creepy. This one will give you full body chills!
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QOTD- how was you weekend ?!? Mine went by so so fast !!
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#thewoodsarewaiting #katherinegreen #bookreview #bookrecommendation #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #booksofig #bibliophile #bookobsessed #bookaesthetic #bookish #booknerd #bookworm #bookwormsunite

3.5 stars. Honestly, I was truly enjoying this book. Not sure what changed but by the end I wasn't as invested. I really loved the dark fairytale/nursery rhyme vibes and the woods. It was a fun book either way and I'm glad I got to read it.

I really enjoyed the small town feel this book gave me. The Author, Katherine Greene's words painted a picture in my mind of the small cozy town who disliked outsiders. I'm not usually someone who enjoys books that I feel use lots of the page to describe the scene, but Ms. Greene's ability to describe the town she built was perfect. I really enjoyed being cuddled up listening to this book, it was such a great ominous environment! Not to mention local urban legend of the Hickoryman, I really loved how the story revolved around the towns belief in the thing that haunted their woods. The little elements of how to ward off the evil was just perfect, I could imagine the kiddos of the town running around with dirt in their shoes and silver coins in their pockets. It was a great story that keep me entertained all the way until the end. If you enjoy whodunits in small towns with urban legends mixed in this is a great book for you!

Book started out good. Book started out good. It seemed very much like a Louisa Morgan book (one of my favorite authors). Then midway through the book it started to ramble. Didn’t stay on the very good story it started out with. I have hope for this author. I will try her again. I didn’t hate the book and I didn’t love it. Thank you Netgalley, and the publisher for providing this audiobook to me. Much appreciated.

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with this ARC audiobook.

The Woods are Waiting is a slow-burn thriller that is set in the Appalachian region of Virginia. The rhymes that warned of the monster in the woods and the lore provided a spooky atmosphere for the book. That was enjoyable and kept me intrigued.

However, the overall plot of the book did disappoint me. It was not until the last few chapters that I was truly interested again. But... Even then the end needed more. I was and was not thrilled while reading this thriller.

As for the narrator of the audiobook. I have mixed feelings about her. Her accents caught me off guard but I could tell when she would switch characters. For me, the narrator sounded monotone in areas that should have a little more... Umph. However, the narrator did have a soothing voice to listen to which allowed me to stay slightly engaged.

The Woods Are Waiting is quite the slow burn, but unfortunately for me it fizzled out. While I don’t mind slow pacing here and there, this one took almost the entirety of the book to get going but I need something to work with in the meantime. I’m really picky about character development and dialogue and I just felt like the characters were all the same and the dialogue was so overly dramatized to be “southern” (the overuse of ma/pa was grating) that it drove me nuts. Another reason the pacing didn’t work for me was that it was so slow that you’re able to figure out who it is pretty early on. I don’t mind when I figure it out, but I would like to figure it out right before it’s revealed and not have to read through more in order to confirm it. Anyways, I think the idea of the story was good, but the dialogue and pacing was a bit tough for me. For most it most likely wouldn’t be an issue and would probably be a great read to head you into spooky season. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books for my ARC, The Woods Are Waiting is available now.

Cheyenne has returned home. She has been notified by the local authorities that her mother, Constance, has gone off the deep end, AGAIN. She soon discovers another child is missing and her mother is knee deep in her superstitions and false beliefs.

I really enjoyed this read. I did figure out who the killer is, but that may have been designed by the author. The setting of the woods in the Appalachian mountains and the weird superstitions just added to the mystique.

This was almost a 5 star read for me. The only issues I had were the different narrators or the points of view. This is told from Cheyenne and Natalie’s points of view and a lot of the time it was unclear when your narrator changed. But, this was a minor inconvenience.

The narrator, Angie Hickman, is wonderful. She did a great job with the intensity.

Need a good, creepy read…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

What a fabulous writing duo! I absolutely loved this debut.

Chayenne hasn’t been back to her small hometown in 5 years. After the disappearance and three bodies of children were found in the woods and the legend of The Hickory Man hunting the woods, she doesn’t plan on returning.

When the Chief of Police calls her to ket her know her mum is not doing well, she begrudgingly returns. While back home, another child goes missing in the same woods as the bodies of the murdered children five years earlier …

Having to overcome her own fears while looking after her highly superstitious and ailing mother, Chaynnes worst nightmare is chasing her. I loved the mystery and small town setting, the writing was amazing and propelling. I can’t wait to see what this duo comes up with next.

Highly recommended.

Many thanks to @netgalley and publishers for this alc.

"Standing in the woods, in the sulking night, I felt my thoughts drifting to that awful place reserved for childhood nightmares."

Thank you Dreamscape Media for the audiobook of The Woods Are Waiting by Katherine Greene.

Told from the perspectives of Cheyenne and Natalie, we uncover the grisly history of Blue Cliff in the Appalachian Mountains. Cheyenne has tried to run away from her home and the nightmares that haunted her there, but when her mother's mind worsens, Cheyenne finds herself confronting a heritage she can't ignore. Natalie has stayed in Blue Cliff her whole life, and when Cheyenne returns, the small-town secrets of Blue Cliff start to unravel.

Katherine Greene writes a thrilling story filled with mystery, suspense, and superstition. Listening to this at night, I felt myself imagining shadows moving and my pulse quickening at the usual sounds of my apartment.

The story and characters could have had more depth. I was left wanting to know more about certain details. The book keeps centering on the importance of a friendship between three characters but only gives the POV of two of them. The third character didn't have much of a personality and only seemed to be there to complete the trinity and work as a love interest for Cheyenne.

Cheyenne as a character was very bland, and her relationship with the aforementioned third friend was an unnecessary plot point. While I really liked her and her family's history, I preferred Natalie's POV to Cheyenne's.

Despite the book's faults, I really enjoyed it. The story was well-written, and Angie Hickman did a great job of bringing the narrative to life. The hidden darkness inside Blue Cliff was enticing to uncover.

The Woods are Waiting
Great narrator
Great story
Great characters
I Loved the small town setting

This was a creepy mystery and I was totally here for it. There were a bunch of dude-bros in this book who definitely needed to get their comeuppance and did. I did not see the final twist coming! This was my 1st book by Katherine Greene but she had me from the jump so it will not be my last!

#TheWoodsAreWaiting
#NetGalley

Thanks NetGalley for an advanced audio copy of this book. I never read anything by Greene before. This book is a bit of a ghost story, a bit of a campfire story. Cheyenne Ashby gets a call from the local police chief asking her to come from her home in Roanoke to the Blue Cliff, Virginia home she left 5 years ago. Children keep disappearing, usually in threes. This time it is a little boy named Dakota. Cheyenne’s mom, Constance, is the local herbalist and thinks that sprinkling salt and herbs will keep them safe from the Hickory Man. As things get stranger, and Dakota stays gone, details come out that the man they convicted 5 years ago has gotten out on appeal. Is he the one that took Dakota? Who will be next?

The Woods are Waiting

This was really immersive and grabbed you from the start. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was all going at first.

But there was one situation that caught my eye or should I say ear since I listened to the audio that told me what was going on. I can’t say too much without giving away part of the plot. So there was a small detail that was shown and if you payed close attention in the beginning then you knew who was the killer.

Anyways it was good but somewhat unbelievable in the sense that the FBI was involved but couldn’t figure it out. Clearly they didn’t look too closely into the deaths of these children.

It was super creepy so good thriller vibes with that and I’ll admit I was a bit spooked from listening.

I think the narrators did an amazing job.