SPOILERY REVIEW, skip if not ok with spoilers: I think my favorite thing about this book was the themes of evil hiding in plain sight and magic/belief used to cover up the evil of men. I really love when authors turn the more common trope of evil in the woods on its head with a revelation of the horror of the mundane.

I also really liked the reconciliation of friendship and the pain that comes with growing apart and trying to come back together.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙈𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨.

This was such a creepy and dark story, with a super eerie atmosphere. There was a nursery rhyme that creeped me out, but I honestly enjoyed this book a lot more than I was expecting to.

This is more of a slow-burn mystery, but I loved that it took place in the Appalachian mountains. I do feel like this is the perfect spooky to read near Halloween/fall, also, that cover just gives off those vibes.

I will say, this book definitely got dark and disturbing. Children going missing so it’s a bit tough reading about what happened to them. I listened to the audiobook while reading the digital version and oh man, I had to put the book down a few times because I felt so uncomfortable with the topic.

There were quite a few characters introduced, it did get confusing at times remembering who was who. However, after a while, it gets much easier to familiarize who was who.

The woods were definitely spooky, and I liked the way these characters were developed. The Hickory Man gave me chills! While I did predict part of the ending, I still really enjoyed it. There were a few questions I had that weren’t answered, but overall, I really enjoyed this book!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the eARC and Dreamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an audiobook copy of this.

As someone who’s read a lot of thrillers in the last few years, I think this may appeal to new readers more than die hard thriller readers. That isn’t to say this book does anything wrong, I just found myself not surprised with how it concluded. I think this would be a great gateway book to new thriller readers.

I enjoyed the claustrophobic slow burn of this book. I’ve never read anything set in Virginia and this book is dripping with atmosphere.

The two big downsides of this book for me were the lack of surprising turns and I felt like I never really connected with Cheyenne or Natalie. They just felt like the narrators of this story versus being the actual main characters.

Audiobook Experience:

This story was a too much of a slow burn for me and some of the things that happened along the way were too predictable. I feel like if I read this in book form I would have liked it more. However, I need to base my review this on the audiobook experience I had.

Personally, I found the narrator's voices and accents of the various characters to be incredibly annoying and sometimes hard to listen to. One of the main characters, Cheyenne is in her mid-twenties and presumably, her mother is likely 45-58 years old. However, for some odd reason the narrator, Angie Hickman, decided to give Cheyenne's mother the voice of a decrepit 80+ year old woman. Additionally, some of the male characters had slow, almost "stupid" sounding voices. I found these different voices incredibly distracting.

Personally, I feel like this story doesn't benefit anything from having the two perspectives of both Cheyenne and Natalie. I feel as though the story would be just fine, if not stronger, from only having one person's perspective.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Woods Are Waiting is a solid debut. It is a fairly simplistic story, but was easy to understand and I enjoyed the overall tone of Greene's writing. To be honest, I'm not sure how long the story and characters will stick in my mind, but I would absolutely pick up future work from this author.

In this story we're following two women, Cheyenne and Natalie. They were childhood best friends, but after Cheyenne moved away suddenly, they lost touch. Both born and raised in Blue Cliff, Virginia, the women are well versed in the local town lore and superstitions.

Cheyenne, who was raised in the mountains by her single-eccentric mother, in part fled the town to be done with all that stuff. She couldn't take it anymore. When a child disappears in Blue Cliff though, Cheyenne receives a call that the event has put her mother in a tailspin and she needs to return home.

The missing boy is all too reminiscent of the three children who were kidnapped and murdered five years before. A man named Jasper went to jail for those killings, but was recently released on a technicality, now another boy is gone.

Nat never left Blue Cliff and she's surprised when Cheyenne returns. Will the two women being able to repair their relationship long enough to figure out this new disappearance before it's too late?

As mentioned above, I particularly enjoyed the feel of this. Set in a small town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, this narrative had a sort of Hillbilly Noir quality to it that I have enjoyed previously in Crime Fiction books such as The Familiar Dark and Out of the Ashes.

It was gritty and I enjoyed all the local lore that the main plot points revolved around. The characters as well were easy to follow, learn about and were mostly likable.

There's a lot of drama in the town and I think Cheyenne is fairly quickly reminded about why she left. I also tend to love the trope of someone returning to their hometown after many years and investigating some sort of mystery, so this one checked that box as well.

I didn't really enjoy the pace though. By the time I got to the 50%-point, I still felt like nothing happened. Not like in a slow-burn sort of way either, more in a hum-drum, there's no action-way. I think maybe the construction of the story was just slightly too simplistic, so it didn't really have a chance to build any good suspense, in my opinion. Because of this, I also don't feel this story is particularly memorable.

With this being said, this is a debut and I do think it is a great effort. I will definitely pick up whatever this author chooses to write next. I think there is a lot of potential here for growth and I am happy to go along for the ride.

Thank you to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'm looking forward to seeing where Greene's work goes from here.

I loved this book! I read a lot of thrillers and this book still managed to surprise me with its complexity and characters. I really enjoyed following the perspectives of Cheyenne and Natalie because the two women were so different and offered two unique viewpoints of the story. The slight supernatural undertones carry on throughout the book and even though I didn't think this was going to be a fantasy novel, it kept me on my toes the whole time. The stories about the Hickory man were chilling and I found myself fascinated by the way, a simple legend manages to control an entire city for generations.
A brilliant novel that I would totally recommend to anyone who loves thrillers and wants a bit of "Stephen King*s It"-vibes on the side.

In the small Appalachian town of Blue Cliff, Virginia, a man is released from prison after DNA exonerates him in the child murder case that sent him there. Shortly after his release, more children are taken. Half the town believes the murder was let out, half the town believes the disappearances should be attributed to the Hickory Man, a decades-old urban legend, but the entire town is scared. To this mess, Cheyenne Ashby, descendant of the town's founders, returns....but can she figure out who- or what- is behind the murders before her own life is threatened?

I loved this one from the get-go. It's got all the makings of a great story; a remote setting, a creepy rhyme, cast of characters with their own twisted histories. The writing is good, the plot moves quickly, the twists are surprising. I just really enjoyed it! I really hope someone picks this up for TV or streaming because it could be even creepier on film! I look forward to more from these authors!

The only thing I didn't like about this one was the narrator. Having lived in NoVa and traveled frequently through southern Virgina, I definitely understand just how rural it can be..... but the super thick almost overdone Southern accent was very hard to get used to.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with the audiobook of The Woods Are Waiting by Katherine Greene in exchange for an honest review.


🍂

A good chill is just what I needed on these hot summer days.

I had no expectations going into this book. Sure, it had the right formula — small town creepiness + murders + a homecoming, but I didn't expect it to be so incredibly addictive.

One of the things I enjoyed so much was the double pov. Books that explore the minds of more than one character are my favorite.

Speaking of the characters, they were so life-like, so well-written.

The story was fun as well, a tad predictable if you are already familiar with this kind of genre, but I loved it nonetheless. And I LOVED LOVED LOVED that ending 👀

The narrator was top quality as well!

So who was behind those murders: a dark ancient entity, a human being or... Something else? Find out for yourselves 🍂

This was not what I expecting but it did not disappoint!

This novel was everything I love in a mystery. A woman is called back to the small town she escaped. Her mother, seemingly a witch, has deteriorated after the recent disappearance of a young boy. This is not the first time children have gone missing from this town. Every few years, three children disappear and are found drowned in the woods. The culprit is either a man who has recently moved into this close-knit community or the mythical Hickory Man.

I listened to the audioook, thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, The narration was good and helped build the atmosphere of the story. I finished this book in a day, it was that engaging.

I'm not going to spoilt the ending because I think you have to go in blind. So, I will just say- Go read it! You won't be disappointed!

3.5 rounded up. Very spooky, creepy atmospheric writing around the small town of Blue Cliff and it’s residents. All characters are well written and invoke several emotions or reactions. Told from alternating perspectives of Natalie and Cheyenne, who grew up in this town, but Cheyenne left unexpectedly five years ago and has now returned due to the health of her mother, Constance. Cheyenne and Constance are born of the Ashby family and their family name carries a long tradition in this town, especially involving the woods and rituals to keep away, the legend of the Hickory man. Natalie is engaged to Hunter, his character absolutely drove me crazy. Overall, I found the story to be intriguing and well written. It definitely is a slow burn with not a lot of activity or action. Do feel like it wraps up nicely, and I myself particularly enjoyed the sentence of the book. Found the narrator and her accents to aid with the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Actual Rating 1.5

Cheyenne hoped to never go back to her small Appalachian hometown again, but when she receives a letter stating that her mother is endangering herself and others, she quickly returns. While there, she runs into her ex-best friend Natalie, who chose to stay in their hometown and is currently engaged. The two reunite over the recent missing child, one in a long string of missing children over the last centuries. When the man who was convicted of some of the murders is released from prison, Cheyenne and Natalie find themselves determined to find the truth of what has really been happening to these children.

This story is told from the dual POV of Cheyenne and Natalie. Unfortunately, their characterizations were quite similar. This made it difficult to find either of them engaging. It also meant when I set the book down in the middle of a chapter, I would often not know whose POV I was reading for quite some time. The character development was severely lacking, making this read lack any emotional connection to the characters. Between that and the too-similar characters, I found myself not caring what happened to anyone in this story.

The villain wasn’t compelling, and the red herring was obvious and didn’t add any tension or stress to the story like it normally would. Unfortunately, every antagonist in this book was poorly written, making them feel like caricatures rather than menacing figures. There was also no tension in the final conflict or its resolution because there was so much dialogue and explanation of the villain’s actions that it slowed down and became repetitive.

The atmosphere just wasn’t there. This entire book is centered around dark, oppressive woods where a monstrous/supernatural being is rumored to live. So why didn’t the setting or atmosphere feel dark, oppressive, or like anything at all? We were told time and time again how spooky everything was in this town, but that never came through in the actual writing. Part of this is due to how repetitive the first half of the book is. We were cycled through a loop of the characters rehashing their feelings towards each other and the town, and it was especially bad with Cheyenne’s POV since she kept going over her feelings about coming back home. But then there was a lack of focus and information regarding the superstitions and mystery of the town. While we did have the nursery quoted many, many times, there was no real exploration of what people thought of this aspect of their town’s mythology, making the entire thing lack any compelling emotion. There were also many glaringly obvious plot holes that severely detracted from my enjoyment of the read.

Unfortunately, this book relied on familiar tropes without adding anything new or engaging to them and I can’t recommend this read. My thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Woods Are Waiting is such a creepy and well-done book! A forest with tales of the supernatural/monsters is a favorite premise for a book for me, and the characters really stood out to make this story unique. This was a slow-burn mystery, but the suspense was high throughout the entire story. I really loved the ending!

This book just wasn’t for me. I loved the concept and the narrator but I couldn’t get into the story or the characters. Perhaps the narrators’ voice was just too calming and sleepy.

A creepy tale about missing children in the woods and even though the supposed killer is behind bars, more kids are going missing. This one gave me the shivers and I don't scare easily in books. The narration was amazing, the story was fast paced and with the short chapters, I found this one incredibly hard to put down. Hard to believe it's a debut!

This story was a very slow burn "who-dun-it". It goes between past and present without any sign of which is which (at least not in the audiobook). And I predicted the twist. It was entertaining enough to finish, but if I was reading the physical book, it would have been a DNF for me. I wanted to like it so bad, but it was just not for me.

I was gifted this arc audiobook in exchange for my honest review through NetGalley. The Woods Are Waiting is written by Katherine Greene and published by Crooked Lane Books

“Keep silver in your pockets,
Walk with dirt in your shoes, …
Stay away from the hickories,
Stay away from the trees”

My thanks to Dreamscape Media for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘The Woods Are Waiting’ by Katherine Greene. The audiobook was narrated by Angie Hickman.

I am always drawn to novels featuring woodlands as while I love trees and woods, they also provide the perfect setting for tales of folk horror.

Cheyenne Ashby has returned to the town of Blue Cliff, Virginia in the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains, after receiving an urgent call from the local police chief about her mother’s increasingly eccentric behaviour. Constance Ashby had been raised seeped in the customs and generational superstitions linked to a local legend of an evil entity that haunts the forest: the Hickory Man. Cheyenne had sought to escape from Constance’s influence but now has been drawn back.

Five years ago when Cheyenne left, three local children went missing and their bodies were later found in the woods. Yet it was a man named Jasper Clinton, who was convicted of these heinous crimes rather than a mythical entity. Recently Jasper’s conviction has been overturned and he was released. Now another child has gone missing and the townspeople are up in arms.

Cheyenne and her former school friends, Natalie and Jackson, are determined to uncover the truth, little realising how dangerous seeking answers could prove. At the heart of the mystery is who or what is living in the woods?

With respect to the audiobook, Angie Hickman has narrated an impressive number of novels across a variety of genres. While this was my first experience of her as a narrator, I found her reading conveyed a sense of the character’s’ experiences as well as the suspense. I am not familiar enough with American accents to judge whether she captured the regional dialects.

Overall, I found ‘The Woods Are Waiting’ quite creepy and exactly what I would expect from the premise. It proved an atmospheric and engaging read and I felt that it was a promising debut. I will be looking forward to news of her future projects.

The Woods Are Waiting by Katherine Green
Narrator: Angie Hickman
Rating: 3 stars
Pub Date: 7/11

This story revolves around Cheyenne Ashby, a young woman who escaped her hometown to evade its dark history. Raised by her eccentric mother, Constance, amidst the haunting woods and their unsettling legends, Cheyenne is all too familiar with the town's deep-rooted superstitions. When another child goes missing, Cheyenne and her childhood friend Natalie embark on a journey to uncover the truth and expose the town's dangerous secrets.

Though this book wasn't my usual genre and was slightly creepier than I anticipated, I found myself engrossed in its atmospheric prose. Greene expertly captures the palpable tension, making the woods come alive and sending shivers down my spine. The pacing is swift, propelling the narrative forward and heightening the sense of unease with every turn of the page.

The characters, particularly Cheyenne and Natalie, are well-developed and relatable. Their determination to confront the horrors of their town and face their own fears adds depth to the story. Additionally, the author weaves a compelling mystery, gradually revealing the tangled web of secrets that have haunted Blue Cliff for years.

I thought Angie Hickman did an incredible job as the narrator. She brought all of the characters to life and nailed the accents to make the story feel more authentic.

While The Woods Are Waiting pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone, I appreciate Katherine Greene's skill in crafting an unsettling and gripping tale. Fans of atmospheric thrillers will find themselves drawn into this dark descent into a town's horrifying past, where evil lurks within the waiting woods.

Thank you so much to Dreamscape Media for my ALC and to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was creepy and I loved the how creepy it was. The hickory man sounds utterly terrifying and this would definitely be a great book to read around Halloween. I loved how town myth was used as a ruse for a murderer to get away with creepy desires to kill. I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did.

Cheyenne Ashby left the small town off of Blue Cliff behind her five years ago and never looked back. Now she returns out of a sense of duty to her mother Constance, and to the town. A town that breeds on folk law and superstition and a town where outsiders are far from welcome. As children Cheyenne and her two best friends Natalie and Jackson spent their time playing in the woods, having been warned where not to go to avoid the evil that lurks in the forest - The Hickory Man. Five years ago the bodies of three children were found in the first fueling the towns fear of The Hickory Man, but also resulting in the arrest of an outsider.

Now the man man charged with the murders has been released from prison due to the discovery of new evidence. It isn’t long before another child goes missing and the town is frantically trying to find him before it’s too late to save him from who or what has taken him.

This was an eerie read with the setting of a small town, set in the middle of a forest at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. The towns people ranged from creepy, angry, hysterical and scared. The sense within the small community that a thing of myth and legend was lurking in the woods really set the atmosphere of the book. This was a slow burn character driven thriller. There were a few twists in this one, which was good. Overall it was a good read, I would recommend it to those who enjoy atmospheric thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cheyanne Ashby grew up in a small Appalachian town called Blue Cliff, Virginia. The town has a deeply superstition background that, even now, the townsfolk follow just in case. Cheyenne's mother, Constance, is the town "madwoman" who lives in the woods and dispenses herbs and trinkets to keep the evil spirits away. Five years ago, three children went missing and were later found in the woods, having drowned. A man was convicted, but it was overturned and the man left town. Now another child has gone missing and Cheyanne is called back to her hometown to look after her mother who has gone a bit mad. Its time for the town to confront the evil spirit in the woods and all the superstitions that follow.

This book is so good. Not just for a debt novel, which it is, but in all aspects i was blown away. The town has a creepy, erie, feel to it with the woods lurking at the perimeter trying to close in. The woods are almost a character unto themselves because they play such an important role to the town and the story. The author also did a fantastic job developing her characters and making us care what happens to them, not just using them go further the plot. I was so pleased with how the twists come together in the end. And the creepy nursey rhyme was just *chefs kiss*

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advance copy of this audiobook.