3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Close encounters and botanical horror was everything I needed.

Lara is looking for the perfect escape following the end of a terrible high school experience. Determined to spend her summer with her past in the past, she takes on a service job on a luxury train. What she wasn't expecting was the one person she wanted to move on from, Rhys, is on the same train working right along side her. Enter mysterious passengers, strange dreams, and the creepy sensation of growth - this train is nothing like it was promised to be.

This is the perfect YA horror - with the creepiness of the plants, to the second guessing who was involved with the horrors. I do think the beginning is a tad slow, I'm not sure if that is intentional to build suspense, but I almost wish the horror aspects starting 50 or so pages sooner.

I also loved that while this story tells about tangible horrors happening in real time, we get to see what happens in Lara's past with Rhys for them to have such a frigid interaction upon seeing one another. This story is about strength and the horrors that happen to women in two different ways, and honestly so well done.

Definitely a book I'll think about often!

Thank you to Amy Goldsmith, Netgalley and Random House Children's for an eARC. All thoughts are honest and my own.

This was a really atmospheric, spooky read, but also deals with real world toxic relationships and the aftermath of it. I have to say, this was a deeper read than I was explaining, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The beginning was slow, and with the flashbacks mixed in, I wasn't really sure where the horror began. However, when the plants crept in, they really fastened themselves in the crevasses and grew into a really interesting and folkloric story! I found myself devouring this book, and I loved the empowering ending.

On the surface, Predatory Natures is a Horror novel. But underneath that is a message: men can try to change women, but they can never truly erase their natures.

A year after the incident that tore her friend group apart, Lara Williams is thrilled to receive a two week job offer on the luxury train The Banebury during her gap year. Time to travel, reinvent herself, and forget her ruined relationships and college prospects. When her ex-friend Rhys reveals himself to also be working the same train, Lara shrugs it off. Surely she can still avoid him and keep her head down.

When two mysterious carriages are added to the train in the middle of the night, Lara can’t help but to investigate. Filled with rare plants and fiercely guarded by the two Welsh siblings that came with them, everything seems…odd. Lara can’t shake the eerie feeling away, especially with the strange dreams she’s having and the voice that seems to call for her. As Passengers slowly begin to disappear, she and Rhys must team up, searching for the secrets hidden in these carriages.

This was an incredible read! The horror aspects were truly well done, filling me with a creeping feeling of dread. Plant horror can be terribly scary! Massive trigger warning for abusive relationships- if you or someone you know have experienced an isolating, abusive relationship, this won’t be a good fit for you.

Thank you to Delacourte Press and Netgalley for the e-arc, and look for Predatory Natures on July 8th!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Predatory Natures by Amy Goldsmith is a first person-POV YA horror. After graduating, Lara gets a job on a luxury train, giving her a chance at a fresh start. But her ex-friend and former crush, Rhys, is also there and they have unfinished business. There’s also something strange happening on board and they’re going to have to work together to survive.

Like Amy Goldsmith’s previous book, Our Wicked Histories, Predatory Natures deals with an abusive past relationship and moving forward. I would say this book has a more hopeful tone in terms of future romantic relationships than Our Wicked Histories, but the themes are still there. Lara’s ex-boyfriend Beckett is abusive and everyone but her can see it because he was very charming in the beginning and has done a lot to make him her entire world. Young people need works that show how this happens and that it is never too late to get out.

Rhys and Lara have a lot of tension between them because of their shared history and their unfinished business. Rhys calls Lara ‘La’, a nickname from when they were back in school and it helps to hint at the feelings that are still there on his end. Rhys tried to help Lara realize her ex was not a good person but she didn’t want to listen because she was so enamored with Beckett. I do appreciate that Rhys tries to understand why Lara had such a hard time coming to terms with her situation and gave her space and grace.

Content warning for depictions of abusive relationships

I would recommend this to fans of YA horror and readers who enjoyed Our Wicked Histories

I enjoyed this fantasy/horror. I loved the train and I loved the spooky plants. The plot was fast paced and it kept me engaged and turning the pages. I enjoyed the characters and thought they were well fleshed out. I liked the easy writing style and the ending was satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Murder on a train? Murderous PLANTS? Give it to me.

At least that's what I thought when I started this. For the most part, I enjoyed the creeping plants and the setting, but I found this to be confused as to who the audience is? I felt at times that Lara and Rhys would act comedically like children and other times, I felt that Goldsmith wanted this story to be more mature but was just incapable of escaping a lot of the more YA pitfalls. Which is fine. For some readers. Like, I just felt that Goldsmith assumes the reader is an idiot and incapable of piecing things together themselves so this leads to her spelling things out for us which makes whatever message she had in mind fall flat.

This wasn't a fun read and I wish Goldsmith was able to better utilize the setting and idea better than this ended up being.

amy goldsmith continues to deliver good, spooky YA that makes you shiver and sometimes swoon. predatory natures has to be my favorite of here yet, from the gorgeous cover to the gothic atmosphere found within. a quick read that’s sure to keep both adult and teen readers engaged throughout!

A special train travelling from England to Estonia becomes a death trap as passengers as crew are devoured by plants needing blood to survive. Too gory for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's for giving me an ARC of this book (ebook version).

This book was a creepy ride and I loved the inclusion of ancient myths and horror via the unexpected (plants). However, I was left wondering what exactly the resolution was. How did Lara control or whatever it was the plants? What gave her that ability? Did she not notice the wall of identical exes in Beckett's den in real time? Only when Blodeuwedd sent her back into that memory or whatever that scene was? There were too many things that were unexplained in a way that felt lacking.

Predatory Natures is a moody, slow-blooming blend of botanical horror, mystery, and complicated relationships. Amy Goldsmith creates an eerie, claustrophobic setting aboard the Banebury, where lush greenery hides something much more sinister. The tension builds as Lara is forced to confront both the unsettling nature of the train’s cargo and her own past. Creepy plants, rich atmosphere, and gothic vibes make this a darkly addictive read for fans of quiet, unsettling horror.

Predatory Natures came into my life at a time where I really needed an escape from reality. And it was a perfect distraction!

I enjoyed Amy Goldsmith's story and characters. There was enough mystery that kept me guessing. All in all a good read!

I would recommend Predatory Natures to all readers.

3/5.

Though I loved what this book put down (horror? weird plants? murder, mysterious trains, and Welsh mythology? yes please), I think that it fell into the pitfall that a lot of YA titles do—where it ultimately does not put enough trust in its audience to understand what is being put down in the story and, as a result, tries so hard to hammer home the innate lesson of the text (which I do believe is a very necessary thing for young readers to hear) that the actual plot of the novel takes a backseat. I absolutely understand and applaud how the author wove together Lara's past and present and the meaning she was trying to convey, but the apparent need to hand-hold her audience through the intended purpose of the book makes me feel as if Goldsmith is not as in-touch with the genre she writes for as some other YA authors I've read. I love her horror and her environments are wonderful, and I think her work would either shine either towards the younger side of YA or new adult—as the lush, vibrant feminist Welsh-myth horror I ADORED (and that felt very mature and unsparing for a YA title, which I deeply appreciated as someone who hated books geared for younger readers when I was a child because I thought they felt too hand-holdy!) felt dimmed by the desire to over-explain a moral already obvious enough to the reader via the parallels between the myth and Lara's own story. Also, the title being a double entendre of sorts did tickle my fancy.

Overall worth reading, but I think the lack of cohesion between the maturity of the horror aspect and the obvious way the lesson of the book was imparted onto the reader may make it difficult for it to find an appropriate audience.

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for the ARC!

The setting of this book is so well done, I loved the train and once the creepy garden cars started being explored it really kicked everything up a notch. The mystery was interesting and I enjoyed the magic system and how learning more about the mystery tied into her flashbacks of her past. I did find some elements of the mystery to be predictable but that was also influenced by how her flashbacks tied into things, it was clearer where things were headed in her past than in the current events but as you saw the connections it basically solves the mystery. I also did find some of the characters actions a little unrealistic, the manager of the train seemed to be operating in whatever served the plot best rather than what was most likely. Similarly Lara and Rhys two steps forward one step back in rekindling their friendship got in the way of figuring out what was going on on the train in a way that was at times frustrating. That said, that kind of miscommunication is common in this genre and did add to the tension of their personal relationship which was much more satisfying. I really enjoyed watching them grow closer again and really start to work together. This made the ending so satisfying and seeing Lara's personal journey from the beginning of the book to the end was well done. She had great character development and like the awesome setting was one of the best done elements of the book.

"A teen girl's dream job aboard a luxury train derails when she discovers the strange cargo being transported - a mysterious and beautiful greenhouse - but its flowering façade may hide deadly thorns beneath, in this atmospheric and lush novel from the author of Those We Drown.

When Lara Williams gets a summer job aboard the luxury train the Banebury, she thinks she's landed a five-star escape from her past. Even after she learns that her ex-friend Rhys, who she definitely did not have feelings for before their relationship imploded, is one of her coworkers, she's determined to make things work.

But on the first day of their journey, the trip takes a strange turn. Two mysterious carriages filled with an array of beautiful and rare plants are attached to the Banebury in the middle of the night.

And with them comes a pair of siblings. Wealthy, mysterious, and charismatic, Gwen and Gwydion claim the plants they're transporting are for research, but Lara can't shake the feeling that there's something...otherworldly about the strange blooms. Something that will stop at nothing to ensure the Banebury never reaches its destination.

Soon Lara will learn: You can't outrun your troubles. You have to grab them by their roots. And if she can't unearth the secrets of the Banebury, they might drag her down for good..."

I would never want to work on a train, just three days on a train once and I couldn't even walk on solid ground without feeling it was trying to rise up and attack me.

A train mystery never disappoints! I really enjoy this authors books because they are horror that isn’t gruesome or gory but more eerie and mysterious. I really enjoy them since horror isn’t my typical read but I do love a good mystery. I loved the train aspect and the mysterious plants were really interesting.

This is a younger genre of YA than is generally right for me as a reader, feeling almost middle grade in its characters, dialogue, and writing style. Despite the interesting premise, the plot and prose are fairly simplistic. Lara is one of the first truly Gen Z protagonist's I've read, and Goldsmith's writing of her internal monologue is rife with random terms that affirm this (starting rolling my eyes after the 3rd Taylor Swift reference). I really wish Goldsmith had gone without the flashback sequences. It is possible to establish a character's history without completing removing the reader from the story. The romance was okay, but typical for the genre in that I don't think I'll remember it.

I am three for three with this author!! The formula that Amy Goldsmith has just works so perfectly for me.

Lara thinks she has the chance to start something new when she gets a job working on the luxury train the Banebury. She wants a bit of a fresh start, but she definitely won’t get that easily with he ex-friend Rhys working alongside her.

Then, there is the strange case of the extra carriages added to the train overnight, along with mysterious twins, Gwen and Gwydion, transporting some strange plants housed in these new carriages. Things get even weirder when vines and other plants are seen in other parts of the train. Worse is yet to come for staff and passengers, and Lara finds herself in the center of all of it.

I love nature horror, and this was a really compelling display. There were moments I was gasping out loud, parts where it gets so intense I was flipping through this like a madwoman. You get to see this really horrific, isolating events play out, while seeing Lara grapple with her recent past. She does a great job of pulling from her past to find ways to protect herself now.

I loved this book. I loved the characters and the intensely creepy setting. Anything really isolated works for me, but the idea of a moving train you may not have the ability to get off of? Terrifying in the best way. There is a lot of mystery, decent character growth, and a past timeline that I found so interesting. I highly recommend this book!

Most beautiful cover. Ever. Such a good book. A nice, slow, creeping (pun intended), suspenseful build to a crazy killer and folklore. The creepy plant stuff is fascinating and the train setting really feeds (pun intended) into the whole isolated paranoia. Lara, La (so stupid shortening already short names), isn't the most likable character. She's dumb and hasn't seemed to learn her lesson from her ill-fated relationship with Beckett. Rhys is okay but they're both crippled by uncertainty and fear of rejection. Shoshanna is the worst! What the actual fuck is her deal? The ending was good but a bit confusing. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

4.5 stars

Predatory Natures is the third novel I have read by Amy Goldsmith, and now my favorite of hers, to date. Lara Williams takes a job aboard the luxurious train, "The Banebury", during her time off before exam re-takes. After a disastrous incident separates her from her former friends, she just wants a chance to reinvent herself and get away from everything. However, her ex-friend Rhys ends up working the same job, making that impossible.

The novel starts out strong, with a mysterious stop in the middle of the night when additional cargo is attached, owned by two alluring--but strange--siblings. They claim the new cargo to be botanical research, and nobody is supposed to go into those cars. It doesn't take long for the atmosphere to take a chilling turn, and of course, for Lara to find out exactly what the strange cargo is.

The train setting was absolutely perfect for this botanical horror--claustrophobic or not, if you're stuck on a moving train with no stops for days, and strange, sentient plants start to grow out from everywhere, you soon will be.

There are really two storylines at play here. The current issue with "Little Shop of Horrors" vibes, and Lara's past relationship/falling out with friends. Honestly, this is my only complaint. Lara's past is injected into the story at random points, most especially when the terror was going so well. These flashbacks really didn't interest me after I figured out what was going on there (very quickly), and took me away from the atmosphere that I had been immersed in. I felt that her backstory could have been summed up much more quickly between herself and Rhys, or even a short mental reasoning in her mind as to what brought her to this place. The way it dragged out throughout the entire novel was just repetitive after a while, and while I get that it shaped her current attitude, felt that it was more of an intrusion to the real story after a point.

Overall, aside from the flashbacks being too numerous in the novel, this story really captured my attention. I absolutely loved the creepy atmosphere, the issue of who could be trusted, and the connection Lara felt to the new cargo. By the halfway point, I didn't want to put the book down for anything.

Recommended.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed are uniquely my own.*

For the entire premise of the story taking place on a train, I thought I would be irritated by the lack of scenery change. But I did actually really enjoy the way the plot played out.

This is my first read from this author and I don’t think it will be my last. While I felt there was some slow bits, they did a do a good job of tying in the details of the story. And it was intriguing and mysterious, and just honesty genuinely interesting. It was a nice break from the fantasies I’ve been reading lately.

Our story follows Lara, who has taken a summer job aboard a train, so she can save some money and then do some traveling once the train arrives. But there’s just one snag, her not friend has also taken the same job. And now the two of them are stuck working together, and having to figure if they can be friends again.

Add the passengers of the train, the other staff, and the two mysterious carriages that are filled with plants and secrets, and did I mention they arrive in the middle of the night?! Not to mention two wealthy mysterious freaky twins whom are doing research with these plants…

Will Lara be able to complete her summer job safely? And yet her passengers to their destinations? And figure out her broken her friendship?

𝘼 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙋𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙣 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙙𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙍𝘾