4.5 stars

This is a rather spine-chilling YA novel about a group of misfit teenagers who are brought together under the less-than-ideal circumstances of a wilderness therapy retreat as a last-ditch effort for rehabilitation. However, as the days progress things get bad in the woods quickly because soon the the camp leaders vanish in the night and the campers are left fending for themselves while something very creepy seems to be stalking them. Is that why their adults disappeared? Can these world-weary teens stop fighting amongst themselves long enough to save each other from whatever's hiding in the deep woods?

It was an engrossing read; I read it quickly between family holiday events. Narrative and pacing were simple enough to follow and seemed well thought out. A solid plot and good amount of character development meant that it was very easy to put myself in the kids' places and feel the mounting terror as it built through the story. Definitely a spooky read - nevertheless they persisted!

Thanks to NetGalley, author Courtney Gould, and Wednesday Books for giving me access to a digital ARC of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own and are provided here voluntarily.

This book was such a fun ride! I had a little trouble getting into the story at first. It almost read like general fiction and I was wondering when the horror element would start up. Once I got to the true horror and eerie creepy part of the book, it was so good. I found myself on the edge of my seat and desperate to keep pushing forward in the book, I loved the characters and the way they interact with one another while trying to survive. I felt like the ending was a little too tidy of a wrap up. I did enjoy getting to see the kids move past the events of the book and start a new chapter of their lives.

Thank you to St. Martins Press, Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an e-ARC of this novel. Here are my thoughts!

What’s the best thing to do with teens who are acting out? Why, send them to a wilderness therapy program of course! This is where we find our 5 main characters. They are unhappy but as things proceed it gets much worse, because something is lurking in those woods. Once the guides disappear, the teens need to fend for themselves, but they have no idea what they are up against.

This book has a bit of everything that I enjoy. We’ve got some horror, some found family, and a whole lot of angst. Each character was unique, but their backstories were realistic. I enjoyed how Gould took her time to unravel why some of the teens were there, rather than everyone opening up about their story right off the hop. I was creating scenarios in my head for why they could be there and trying to find hints! Very engaging to read.
The monsters are creepy as heck, but I wish I heard a little more of their backstory. Why are they in the forest, for example. I think some more lore would have really fleshed out their existence and make them even creepier!

This is a great read if you’re looking for some teens who conquer their demons literally and figuratively.

This book was so twisty and heart pounding. I really enjoyed learning more about the mimics. I was enthralled from the start

WOW. I finished this book 24 hours ago and I’m still thinking about it.

What the Woods Took is creepy and suspenseful and will have you on the edge of your seat from the start. This book follows five troubled teens who have been sent to wilderness therapy with two counselors who are barely older than the teens themselves. Not long into their fifty day trek through the woods the teens awake to find their counselors are missing. What follows is a truly wild ride. Something is out there in the woods, and the teens need to find a way out of the trees before whatever is watching them decides to stop watching and take what it wants.

During their race for survival the teens are forced to confront the issues that ultimately led them to where they are. My heart cracked when they were struggling, and it was sewed back together as they comforted each other. This touches on some difficult topics, but the author did a wonderful job of doing this with sensitivity and compassion.

I will be recommending this book to everyone who enjoys a suspenseful book with a bit of supernatural elements to it. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

I really enjoyed this horror novel. I will admit when I saw the description I thought "the troubled teen industry AND monsters? do we really need both?" but yes, we did. I loved seeing the progression/growth of the teens and their relationships and I found the monsters very creepy. The writing was engaging and I really cared about these characters.

This was a quick moving YA story, however I am starting to think YA mystery/thrillers are no longer for me.

The premise was promising - a group of troubled teens forced into a wilderness therapy camp get lost in the woods and are being stalked by creatures; def giving the creep factor! I liked the character development and how bits of the character’s backgrounds were shared throughout the book. The pacing was decent; it did feel slow at times but nothing to prevent me from continuing the book. I also found some of Devin’s internal teenage-brain dialogue to be frustrating.

Over all, the book was an easy-creepy read with a happy-ish ending!

I enjoyed the found family aspect of this story as well as the VIBES. The writing made it feel so real and did an amazing job of creating such a creepy atmosphere.

Come for the terrifying vibes and stay for the character journeys as they learn just what is truly happening. Each story and character adds a unique layer to the story and builds on the suspense. The Yellowjackets comparison is pretty accurate in terms of how the story is told and keeping the suspense going. Great horror story overall and it has me curious/interested in checking out the author’s other works..

I love Courtney and her writing is always so atmospheric. This is no exception. The characters have so much depth and make me feel fully immersed in the world.

A group of teens are sent to a rehabilitation program in the woods, each with something in their past that has led an adult to have them kidnapped in the middle of the night and forcefully brought to the program. As they trek through the woods, strange things begin to happen, things very unworldly, until their trip is absolutely terrifying.

This is a slow burn type of terror, that starts out eerie and moves to full on horror. The characters are extremely complex and realistic, and Gould is tackling an important and timely topic with teen rehabilitation programs. I would recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I liked this one but I do think it was the weakest novel I have read by Gould as compared to her other two. Maybe I just didn’t like the premise as much as the other two novels and I did still think this one was good but I think the atmosphere was slightly lacking. I wish it felt more terrifying than it did but I liked the characters a lot and how they grew throughout the novel. It has a fantastic found family aspect that will resonate with readers and was a a solid plot from start to finish.

I really enjoyed this! The atmospheric writing is excellent and the characters are extremely well written. If you enjoy suspenseful stories, I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Courtney Gould, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this, because it works on several levels. Just on the surface, the supernatural elements are very creepy and unnerving. There were definitely some moments that gave me the heebie-jeebies, which I always appreciate. That is enough to make the book worth a read. But you can also go a little deeper and see how the supernatural aspects in this story represent trauma and themes of coping with your past and facing your mistakes. I think the author did a good job of exploring these themes without sacrificing the eeriness that made this so riveting.

I always am here for a sapphic romance, and while I sometimes am like “is a horror novel really the place to have a romance?”, the romance in this actually felt pretty organic and believable. I wasn’t, like riding or dying for our love interests to be together, but I liked how the two characters interacted.

I do wish we could have found out more about the monsters in this. They were very unique and I was kind of hoping we’d get to find out their origins/history, but things remained pretty surface level on that front.

Courtney Gould does it again! Another thriller I could not put down, this time with some wilderness survival thrown in. Very yes please. In this story, we are introduced to some teens whose parents or guardians have decided that their behavior warrants a wake up call, in this case, in the form of a wilderness camp. The kids are none too thrilled to the there, as you can imagine, and very quickly things take a sinister turn. From early on, there is a supernatural/paranormal feel to the story, and while I often don't end up enjoying that, it was fine in this story. I loved the characters, was super invested in both their personal and relationship stories and the overarching plot, and frankly I just kept flying through the pages!

Bottom Line: The author is now 3 for 3, and definitely moved up to auto-buy!

An incredible novel about survival, growth and sadness. When I started this book I thought it was going to be another book about teens trying to get over issues that cause them to be violent. As the story progresses, the reader discovers more about these troubled teens, and what kind of issues they deal with. When things start to go wrong, the teens have to decide if they are going to work together or give in to their problems. I was horrified at what the book described as the ‘mimics’ I was so afraid for the kids. Each person had to deal with surviving and if they wanted to go home. The author did a wonderful job of writing about the ‘broken’ teens and the decisions they made. I was glad each person was able to come to terms with the kind of person they could become.

This was an interesting look at both the troubled teen industry and the idea of mimics. The writing was well crafted and the characters were well developed. I found that there were some spots that dragged, but that may be a me problem.

I was very excited to read this book when I received the arc. The writing was excellent, usually when POV switch I'm a little confused, which is a me problem but I always knew who was talking. For once I am rooting for all the characters, even not hannah. They each have character growth although I wish there was more for the minor characters. The storyline although I feel like it could have been a little spookiest, was so interesting. I love how Devin was written. It is so rare to have a well written female character so i was pleasantly surprised. I adore Ollie too and I'm glad they got out of their situation and is now starting their new life.

This gave every spooky vibe that I didn't even know I needed at the time. It was the perfect fall (or even winter) read and I will definitely be rereading next year and making it my book club book probably sometime in the fall!

I’ve long been a sucker for stories—fictional or otherwise—about kids sent off to wilderness reform camps. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t a particularly bad kid, generally an angry depressed one who stomped my feelings down deep inside.

In any case, this book satisfied my “teens at wilderness reform camps” itch but also my “the adults are nowhere to be found, so we gotta figure this out on our own” itch with a nice helping of The Thing-style paranoia.

What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould is a hauntingly beautiful exploration of grief, family, and the unrelenting pull of the unknown. The author is so good at drawing readers into the eerie and atmospheric setting of a small town surrounded by ominous woods, which is my favorite thing to read in YA horror. I loved how even though the book was so creepy; it was still deeply emotional and raw. I'm not afraid to admit I was close to tears (and maybe even had a few spill over) a few times.

The story’s pacing is perfect, with moments of quiet introspection balanced by heart-pounding suspense. Gould does an excellent job of building relationships that feel authentic, making the stakes feel even higher as the mystery deepens.

Fans of atmospheric horror and character-driven stories will find What the Woods Took impossible to put down. It’s a gripping, emotional, and thought-provoking read that you will think about long after the last page. Highly recommended for readers who love books that blur the line between reality and the supernatural, all while delving into the complexities of human emotion.