I really wanted to love this one. It has the recipe to be my next favorite read--I mean a creepy theme park with magic and complex family dynamics? Yes, please! However, I was a bit disappointed in this one.

Things I did love:

-The setting was creepy and cool
-I LOVED the family dynamics. It reminded me of Knives Out, but with a more nuanced situation. The adults were awful, but the teen cousins were great. I liked their relationship a lot.
-I liked the line-level writing. She has a lot of skill.
-The modern language did feel very authentic to teens. That's hard to do.
-I liked some of the stories within the story (fairy tales)

Things I struggled with:
-The pacing. It took a good 65-70% to really get into the magical/creepy creatures part. In my opinion, it took to long to get to the promise of the premise. It made the book feel uneven and made me feel like I wasn't as invested in the climax ending.
-I wanted MORE of the creepy theme park and creatures. There wasn't enough for me.
-The secret identities were too obvious and the story was a bit too predictable.
-Although I liked the romance, it felt like it needed a bit more

It ultimately reminded me of Hazel Wood (but not as strong) and Knives Out (this was a strength. It felt like this one the most).

I do think the author has a lot of promise and I'll look at future books from this author. This one just didn't hit right for me.

This book was fun! It gave all the carnival vibes that I was hoping for and it felt like a nice summer read too!

This was my first book from the author and I think that I would read from them again!

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for my early e-arc copy!

It’s the last Wednesday of May and you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I decided to go with some dark fairy tale vibes. The Whisperwood Legacy by Jo Schulte was released yesterday (May 27th) from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

The Whisperwood Legacy follows Frankie through the turbulent time after her grandmother abruptly closes the family amusement park, the main source of the family’s income. Frankie spends most of her time carrying groceries and other necessities to her grandmother after the rest of the family basically disowns the old woman unless they need something from her. After a scene at an unwanted celebration, her grandmother disappears and things start going very wrong at the park, but Frankie and the rest of her family are trapped there along with the mysterious new groundskeeper. It’s up to her to figure out what’s going on and fix it before everyone dies.

The plot is interesting and there was a lot of potential with it. The story is built around fairy tale magic and family legacies and all that fun stuff. It sounds like it will be great. But the pacing is off. There are tiny hints of maybe magical things, but then the blatant magical stuff is just plopped on the page without any natural growth towards it. It’s abrupt and jarring and a bit unsatisfying. Also, there’s this big reveal that Frankie knows exactly what’s happening with the park even though she’s clueless about other things, but there’s zero foreshadowing to clue in the reader, so it totally feels like an afterthought. I was afraid I just missed something, but other people complained about it as well. Things are just awkwardly timed or have little to no build up. It’s meh.

As far as the characters go, Jem is pretty much the only decent person, but he just feels like a caricature of the “ideal dude.” Everyone else is disgusting and I wanted them all to die. If mommy/grandma was such a horrible person (which she was), then cut ties with her and get a job instead of relying on her money. Don’t just sit around wishing her dead, then get pissed when you’re left out of the not-will. And Frankie isn’t much better than the rest of her family, despite the fact that she pretends to be. The book itself was meh, but the characters ruined any chance I had of actually enjoying anything about it.

The writing was fine. It relied far too heavily on pop culture references that are already becoming dated, which I don’t particularly care for, but I guess some people like that kind of thing.

Ultimately, I was not a fan of The Whisperwood Legacy. I was originally just glad to be done with it, but the more I think about it, the more I actively dislike it.

Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. More like 1.5, but I rounded up. If you’re super into everything fairy tales, check it out. Otherwise, you’re not missing anything.

I was so excited to read this book and it lived up to my expectations! This dark and twisted YA fantasy is set in the Appalachian mountains. That in itself should be spooky enough! I loved the German folklore that the park is built around. It reminded me of Grimm fairytales or the show Grimm (my favorite show).

It was an interesting read. The setting was very captivating-- a Disney World type amusement park all about German fairytales set in Appalachia. The book was peppered with the actual stories, which was cool. The writing was incredibly Gen Z, it felt very pop culture-y (at one point that TikTok that's like "it wasn't funny haha, it was funny weird" or whatever was written into the narration and that was just so jarring. That kind of writing can be found throughout the book), which I wasn't the biggest fan of, but that's a personal taste.

The characters were easy to enjoy, and their dialogue was particularly entertaining, but I can't say they really stuck out to me. I have similar feelings about the plot. It wasn't slow, but I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it felt incomplete, or it lacked a focal point. There was always something happening, however whatever was going on felt isolated from the rest of the story. It was as if the characters kept getting sidetracked, however whatever they were working on was also important. It's hard to discuss this book without spoilers because a large concept of it was not mentioned in the description, nor did it appear until maybe the 50% mark. I found a disconnect between the first half of the book and the second, which again, wasn't necessarily a bad thing, however it personally made me wish we got some information sooner or the beginning was trimmed down.

Overall, I feel very meh about this book. It wasn't great; it wasn't bad. I'd recommend if you're a fan of German stories, crazy families, and magical realism.
Thank you NetGalley and the publishers, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book seemed right up my alley, and what a cool cover. As an adult, I cringed at a lot of the verbiage in this book, and I think Gen Alpha and Gen Z will too. Too many pop culture references will date the book. The writing style with tons of parentheses did not work for me and this felt like two very different books going on at the same time. Great premise, not my favorite execution.

A family that owns a theme park that basically works as a "Dark Disney" and mixes in urban fantasy with some slight horror elements. The story is meant to be a horror YA thriller with bits of fantasy... but honestly this gave me nothing. As a huge fan of horror, urban fantasy, and thrillers, I was so excited for this but the entire time it felt like this book was trying to do a lot but not giving much. The story itself just felt a bit muddled and I just found myself not caring all that much for the characters or the stakes of the story. I wish I could say that this was a fun time but it just kinda put me to sleep. There was no real horror really and I just felt like maybe this could a okay read for middle grade horror/urban fantasy fans because it just not that scary at all.

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

As a lover of fairytales and horror, this book sounded like it was right up my alley. I mean, look at this cover. Not to mention, the first paragraph starts with “once upon a time should come with a warning label” which is such a smart way to start the book. The downside to this is….it isn’t quite horror . Despite the fact that it comes off as that way. That enticingly dark cover is massively deceiving. It’s got creepy parts but none of this book is actually upsetting or scary 🤷🏻‍♀️

Whisperwood is basically a dark version of Disney world, more of a darker, German themed fairytale land, but the fairytale characters are all fully made up for this book rather than ones we know. Rather than rides based on Disney movies, the rides are based on dark fairytales invented solely by the author for this book, some of them uneasy, and all of them with a similar feel as reading a Grimm’s fairytale.

There’s interludes between the chapters that show excerpts from stories about old folklores and that’s really where I see the Hazel Wood comparisons come in. Those chapter excerpts telling the fairytales behind the Whisper-wood characters were actually my favorite parts of the book; I especially liked the story about the apothecary and his brother, and the nymph named Lorena. These excerpts are where the book fully shines and I would read a whole anthology of just Whisperwood fairytales because those parts were just SO creative.

This book is also very magical realism-y despite coming off as more of a thriller in the blurb. Magic definitely exists in this book’s world and that isn’t established from the get go whether that’s the case or if it’s just a thriller, but it’s definitely magical realism.

Aside from the fairytale excerpts which are not part of the plot, nothing else about this book is a super big standout. With an almost horror cover like that I expected more urgency but I just really wasn’t invested. The biggest plot point is the disappearance of her grandmother and tbh I just didn’t really care lol. The stakes aren’t high enough if that’s all there is to it. I would’ve rather read a book of Whisperwood fairytales over the actual book to be honest. The book wasn’t badly written at all; the stakes were just too low for me to care. There needed to be more to the plot than just a disappearance of a grandmother as the biggest conflict.

But, the strong point of this book definitely is the concept. Fairytales brought to life by a family and a theme park created around these made up fairytales of their own is like a modern day Grimm’s brothers and it’s a concept I’ve never read anywhere before. Not to mention how good the fairytale excerpts are and they’re only designed to be there to add only the story. Which is funny because they’re the strongest part of this book. This took me forever to finish because I had no urgency to get to the end and find out what happens. The concept of it all was so good and the Whisperwood fairytales so interesting; I just wish a more engaging plot was given to it because it needed a more gripping mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

This concept was really promising and I genuinely loved the idea so much that I gave it more of a shot than I normally would before DNF’ing. I think this is a case of too much happening with too little to back it up because my mind just did not want to focus on this story. Urban fantasy is very tricky to get right and I think this might’ve benefited from a bit more fantasy elements in the beginning to really hook readers from the jump. This might be a me problem, not the book’s fault as it take’s a lot to hold my interest these days. I would still recommend this to my followers based on the cool concept and vibes!

I really wanted like this book. It sounded creepy and I loved the cover. Ok, I admit it - I am always a sucker for a good cover. But this book just didn't live up to my expectations. All of the characters just felt one-dimensional, and no one was especially likeable. There was a bit of a "Knives Out" vibe going on with the family that just made them all turn on each other and seem bloodthirsty and like despicable, greedy human beings. The best part of the story, I guess, was the inclusion of the German folklore scattered throughout the novel. Overall, I give this a solid 3 out of 5.

I’m torn here, because I liked this, and yet there were things I didn’t like. I think I’m going to give it a 3.25, rounded down. There’s a great story in here, but too many things don’t really add up for me. There are flashbacks that are confusing for a while, and then the finale didn’t make complete sense. I liked the descriptions of the amusement park itself, and the fairytales interspersed with current day was a nice touch. I would’ve liked to dive more into *why* the events were happening. Also, there are a couple of gory scenes, one of them being so shockingly gruesome that it completely pulled me out of the story.

Overall, now that I’ve finished it, it’s a one and done for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for an eARC. All opinions are mine.

I was trying to think what book I could compare Whisperwood Legacy to, and it was hard to find something that's a good comparison. Probably because while YA fantasy is plentiful, YA horror is a bit rarer, leaving most teenagers to start reading classic adult horror like Stephen King a bit too early (I still shuddered when I saw a clown in the Memorial Day parade yesterday, decades after first reading it). Perhaps the best comparison is King's Needful Things - this is a book which understands clearly that all magic comes with a price and those making wishes should be very careful what they wish for.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the thinly veiled good natured jabs at parks such as Disney World (one ride in this book is clearly a not so veiled "It's a Small World" and frankly, "It's a Small World" deserves all the mockery. My Irish husband can't ride it without coming out an ardent Irish nationalist.) I enjoyed how true to life the relationships between the Strauss cousins felt, which is to say that I both enjoyed them and they made me want to scream at them. I really enjoyed how the book is based in German Appalachian mythology, because that's not a heritage we see in books very often.

This is a book for teenagers who like their fantasy on the scary side. They'll definitely enjoy the read.

Short and Sweet Review

Nestled away in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains is Whisperwood Theme Park where the scenery and rides bring fairytales to life. Eighteen months ago the family matriarch Virginia shut down the park without warning. Frankie hasn’t cared too much about the park closing down and in all honesty considers it a blessing in disguise especially when she sees how the money tears her family apart. When Virginia goes missing, Frankie knows there’s secrets her family is hiding and she needs to find the truth, fortunately for Frankie she gets the help of Jem the mysterious groundskeeper.

Out of five stars I would give this book 3.5. I didn’t love it as I initially thought I would I think I went into it thinking there would be more time spent in the theme park and seeing how the fairytales came into play. The first part of the book we meet all of the family members and we can see that most of them think Virginia isn’t fit to run the park and some are even waiting for her to die so when she goes missing Frankie is concerned but others are waiting for the will to be read. The second half of the book focuses on the theme park. We get to read some of the stories and they were interesting and we saw how that played out in the park. It was interesting to see what was actually going on in the park. I will say some things would have done better off with better explanations. Frankie was a good character she was one of the characters using logic and thinking about the bigger picture and not just herself. I didn’t really care about Jem but he played a big part because he knew Virginia well and he’s Frankie’s love interest. I think I would have liked this book more if the first half and second half felt more cohesive.

Overall, this was a good book. It’s not my favorite but I can see it being a good read for others. I would check this book out if you’re into darker books with a mystery and a Grimm fairytale kind of vibe.

Frankie Strauss is part of the legendary Strauss family, famous for the tales her many-greats grandfather, Wilhelm, published - The Whisperwood Tales. Their wealth now comes mainly from a theme park with rides based on the Whisperwood. But a year-and-a-half ago, Virginia, the family matriarch, shuttered the park without any explanation whatsoever.

Strangely, the best friend Frankie thought she had, Zara, vanished from her life the day after and essentially abandoned her. And shortly afterward, Virginia shared a life-shattering secret with Frankie. There is such a thing as magic, and it comes from storytelling. But now that Virginia is growing old, she can't control the magic like she used to in younger days. And because of this, strange things are happening in the park. Frankie needs to learn to take her grandmother's place - and do it fast. Not long after, Virginia goes missing and Frankie uncovers mysteries, magic, horror and mayhem in the park with the help of mysterious and gorgeous groundskeeper Jem - a guy who just might be the key to everything.

Wow. Just wow. This book had me gobsmacked. I sat up all night and devoured it in a single sitting. The dark fairy tales and touches of folk horror stirred the gothic corner of my little reader heart and made this story unputdown-able.

And Jem - oh my. By far my favorite character. The only real complaints I have are some unnecessary foul language (because why? There are so many other words to use...and why must characters swear in a fantasy story?) And the lack of a German word glossary and pronunciation guide. There are a LOT of German words and names in this book. None of them are translated, leaving the reader to have to resort to Google Translate to find pronunciations and meanings. When did glossaries stop being a thing?

Due to this, I give the book 4 stars. It was really a pleasure to read and I can't wait to see where Ms. Schulte goes from here. Thank you to Netgalley, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Ms. Jo Schulte for the advanced reader copy. This review is voluntary. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

DNF at 27%

As. much as I really wanted to like this book, this ended up as a DNF for me. The premise sounded right up my alley, especially with the abandoned amusement park, however, at 27% into the book, the focus was still primarily on the family and all of them fighting with each other.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

A creepy amusement park based on gruesome and macabre fairy tales, a dysfunctional family who wants the park re-opened for the money it would make and the family matriarch keeping the gates closed. Add in monsters, magic, and creepy happenings and there you have this book. It’s a cross between a horror and a fairy tale, and has books within the book as every other chapter is one of the famous Flusterwald fairy tales — which ties into the characters and events going on around them.

This book tried to be both horror and fantasy, and — for me — didn’t quite make it. The fantasy elements were only ever hints, and the horror filled moments weren’t set up enough. There just wasn’t any tension, any build up of horror or fear. This isn’t helped by the fact that the characters, themselves, aren’t afraid of anything.

Giant monster kills your dad? Rhodes and Bertram are shaken for a moment and then continue on. For all that amusement park rides based on gory stories are coming to life, no one is either shocked or upset; they just keep going about their lives as though it doesn’t matter, and that lack of care meant that the book felt hollow. I was reading a story, but I wasn’t immersed. I was reading about characters doing things, but I didn’t care if they lived or died.

The writing was solid but there were some typos, missing words and missing punctuation which, for me, drops it a half point in the review. The pace is fast, but the characters are flat, and there’s not even enough of a vibe here to make me want to recommend this. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Whisperwood Legacy was described as Knives Out meets The Hazel Wood and that feels like a pretty solid descriptor. Though, it skews more Knives Out in my opinion, not quite as dark as The Hazel Wood.

I enjoyed the core story, a family fighting over a derelict theme park, one with a supernatural secret. The book is peppered with short stories which didn't really grab me in any way. I skimmed them and would have skipped them entirely were they not useful to the main plot in some way.

Overall, this was an interesting read.

This was like The Hazel Wood meets Knives Out with a dash of German folklore, an atmospheric Appalachia setting, and a creepy theme park. The concept was really interesting and the author explored it well. I particularly liked the interludes of the stories by Wilhelm Strauss. This was part supernatural story, part mystery, and part family drama.

This book was wild!
18 months after Virginia Strauss closes her amusement park, Whisperwood, her remaining family throws a party there with all sorts of press and media. Our main character Frankie knows this is a bad idea. After Virginia kicks everyone out except the family (who has not been around in the entire time the park has been closed except Frankie), she goes missing and things start to get weird.
There is so much drama in this family. Frankie's mom, 2 uncles and 3 cousins (Rhodes, Bertram and Ella) are staying at Virginia's house after she goes missing. They have all kind of grown up at this amusement park and know that someday they will inherit a lot of money. Frankie is the only one who has stuck around to make sure Virginia (Oma) has groceries even though Oma is very brash. The adults are almost happy that Virginia has gone missing because their inheritance is not growing since she closed the park and they can either cash in or reopen the park. Rhodes and Bertram are very preppy, but they are good guys that really love Frankie and their family. Ella was brought into the family through marriage (I can't remember if it was her mom or dad), but she was obsessed with Whisperwood before she even knew any of the family. She is the youngest (15 maybe) but she is very smart. The other big side character is Jem who Virginia hired as a groundskeeper after the park closed.
There was a lot going on in this book, but I don't want to give too much away. There was the fact the Virginia had gone missing and all the weird things happening around the park. There were a couple pretty horrific/gory scenes too. Everything that happened flowed well together and created a compelling story, but there were a few times I felt like things weren't explained well enough or I felt that something was missing.
The park itself was such an intense setting for such a spooky story. I really felt like I could picture everything perfectly and the way the rides and park were integrated into another part of the story (that I won't give away) was really creative. I was dialed in the entire time and I really couldn't wait to find out what happened.
The ending was really kind of bittersweet and had me crying. I think it really stayed in the spirit of the rest of the book and was the perfect ending for what it was, even though it was kind of sad.

The Whisperwood Legacy seems to have all the makings of a great book: beautiful cover, creepy German fairy tales, and a haunted setting. Unfortunately, all of those weren’t enough to make up for the rest.

I didn’t care for any of the characters. Frankie is all over the place, Jem is mysterious but in a way that seems off, and the cousins are fine but annoying. The adults are incompetent at best and dangerous at worst. The grandmother didn’t get enough page time to get to know her, so I don’t have a real opinion on her. The creepy amusement park setting is fun, but it wasn’t really creepy enough until the end, and by then, the plot was a mess.

I called a lot of the twists, the meme references seemed silly, the romance seemed largely unwarranted, and the magic didn’t make a lot of sense. I understand what the idea of the magic is, but how it worked wasn’t clear, nor was the curse and the necessity of stories ending.

Could I have reread some portions and figured it all out? Sure, but I didn’t care enough about what was going on to do so. 2.5 stars rounded up because the fairy tales are interesting.