**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: plant horror, death, possessive relationship

+ I really like the setting of this luxury train on it’s way through Europe and Lara is working on the train meeting knew people and one person from her past, Rhys, is on the train also. They used to be close friends in high school until some things changed.

+ The setting of the train already lends a mystery to the story but then as more people leave and join the journey and Lara finds something in one of the cars – plants, she’s wondering what is going on. I liked the sense of suspicion around the people on the train and the different personalities Lara encounters. I found the plants fascinating and the Welsh mythology tied to it very interesting. As people start getting hurt and dying on the train, Lara and Rhys try to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.

+ Lara has a history and there are flashbacks to it throughout the story because she’s on the train with Rhys who is a link to her past. Her story was a parallel to the mythology about the plants so I did like that. In those flashbacks, she’s dating a boy who changes her, molds her into what he wants her to be, is very possessive of her and we see how far Lara has come in her self journey.

~ The beginning was a bit slow because it’s setting the scene and we’re meeting all the workers and passengers on the train, but also because of the flashbacks. I didn’t mind it too much, but it did feel like the story moved slowly because of it. The flashback events do ramp up though and it coincides with what is happening on the train so I did like that.

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed the luxury train setting and the mysterious siblings and the plants! I also did like how Lara’s personal situation and growth was a parallel with the Welsh mythology about the goddess of flowers. I think for a young adult thriller, this was enjoyable and if you like trains and some Little Shop of Horrors vibe, you’ll enjoy this one.

What a wild (train) ride! I loved every page of this book! The author manages to combine botanical horror, Welsh folklore and a genuinely touching friends to lovers romance on a luxury train setting. I flew through this! The flashbacks to Lara’s part were dark so trigger warnings for emotional abuse but it made me care for her so much more as a MC. I was rooting for her to have a happy future! All in all a great read!!! I need more scary plants!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Predatory Natures follows Lara Williams on her summer job aboard a luxury train in an attempt to escape her past for a while. But when she boards, her old friend Rhys is working on the train as well. As Lara struggles with being back around Rhys—someone she used to have a crush on before her life imploded—things take a strange turn when two carriages full of plants are attached to their train in the middle of the night. When the odd occurrences start piling up, and someone gets hurt, Lara must figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.

This was a lot of fun! The author created such an eerie, haunting, and spooky environment. From the second the carriages were attached, I knew I’d be in for a wild, terrifying ride and I was right. I loved how isolated the setting was and the smaller cast of characters. It made for a very twisty, gripping read. The twist was so good! And the mysterious plants were so creepy!!

I really enjoyed Lara as a main character. She was very determined and headstrong. I enjoyed the slow reveal of her past and what made her and Rhys stop being friends. There was great tension between the two. I also loved Lara’s arc of growth and finding herself again. And the relationship between Rhys and Lara was rekindled was really well done and believable. Rhys is such a sweetheart and I was rooting so hard for both of them. I loved where their story ended.

Overall, if you love creepy, atmospheric stories with isolated settings and mysterious plants, I’d highly recommend checking this one out!

Thank you to PenguinTeenCA and Netgalley for the arc!

"Predatory Natures" by Amy Goldsmith
4.5/5 stars
This absolutely gorgeous cover drew me in, and then once I read the premise, I knew I needed this arc. It absolutely did not disappoint! I tore through this in a day.

This YA horror (nothing gruesome or terrifying, more dark mystery/creepy) takes place on a luxury train, where our FMC has just landed a short job to earn some extra money during her gap year. At first all is well as she is learning the ropes alongside a surprise co-worker, her recently estranged friend, Rhys. However after a middle of the night pick-up of two additional passengers and carriages, things quickly turn dark and eerie.

This book was so well written. I loved the insight into the FMC's personality through her inner thoughts. The writing is incredibly descriptive, I could create a clear picture in my head of everything that was happening.

I think this book would be a great introduction into the horror genre! It felt like a great way to feel it out and see how comfortable I was with that type of setting in a story. Also, anything with a good Taylor Swift reference in the writing is golden in my book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's Books for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review! I will be posting a review to Goodreads immediately, Instagram within the week, and on retailer websites once published. :)

Luxury train and botanical horror, yes please. I do enjoy a good plant horror tale and this was a amazingly done one. Well written and well executed. And who doesn’t love a set of creepy twins. Of course there are the attempts as a slow burn like in most books these days but luckily it is more of an afterthought with a few flashbacks that I could take or leave. I prefer the focus remain on the dangers and the mystery behind the twins and the plants.

Book Review
• Spoiler-free •

I really enjoyed Predatory Natures! It was one of those novels that, especially towards the end, I kept gravitating to pick back up. I appreciate the layers and topics this book explores in one unique setting. The loaded background of the main character, Lara, added to the botanical horror elements happening on the page. The romance between Lara and Rhys was easy to root for, and the friends-to-lovers trope was done so well!

Overall, I gave this a 4.75! Perfect for those who like YA botanical horror like Don’t Let The Forest In. I’m absolutely going to check out her other works.

Thank you to @netgalley and @delacortepress for the ARC!

Qotd: are you a fan of botanical horror?

the premise sounded really cool, so I decided to request it.
let's just say it did not disappoint
the setting, plot, and characters were all very engaging.
i think it was just a little out of my comfort zone

Though I don’t read a ton of horror, sometimes I feel the urge to pick one up - especially if the premise sounds interesting as this one did.

The train setting was perfect for a horror story. It let a claustrophobic feel to the plot and made the horror elements inescapable.

Some reviewers have said that they enjoyed the horror story in the present but not the flashbacks, but I would disagree. I loved them both. Lara was very much shaped by her experiences in the past and the past events definitely affected how she interpreted events in the present.

This book was definitely creepy and unsettling, but I wouldn’t call it scary, and between the subject matter and setting it definitely felt unique.

This would be a good read for someone who doesn’t read a lot of horror but wants to explore the genre more. I really enjoyed it!

Predatory Natures had me hooked from the beginning! I stayed up way too late a couple nights just to read this book and finish it. I'm honestly sad that it's over.
Amy Goldsmith does a fantastic job at setting up the characters and keeps most of their motives up in the air. Throughout reading, it is hard to tell who is in on the activities on the train and who is genuinely evil. There is a sweet romance between two of the characters that I enjoyed watching unfold. The overall theme about trauma and how it affects us long after its over paired with a horror element allows the message to be driven home that much harder. Lara's memories in addition to the current events makes the book compelling and draws you into the story that much further, just so you can see what happened before and how it led up to the current happenings along with what drives the characters' relationships with each other. The mystery of the train and Lara's life will pull you into the story. You will not want to put this book down!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this.

The premise of this and the cover are what first drew me to this novel.
Our MC, Lara, is running from a horrible year of high school and gets a job as staff on a train. However, things get a little strange when partially into the journey additional train cars are attached and staff is warned not to go into them.

I thought this had so much potential but started dragging at times. The flashback sections really pulled me out of the creepy atmosphere of the present, which I enjoyed. The creeping sense of wrongness the characters were feeling was what really drove the story for me.

All in all a solid 3⭐️ read.

Love the vibes!! Definitely going to try and find more books that have Little Shop of Horror vibes woven into the themes. Engaging, and really enjoyed the dynamics between Rhys and Lara.

Fun! A dark, mystery that gives Little Shop of Horror vibes with an interesting setting - a high class train - and mysterious MMC. This book has an interesting FMC and follows her story with two timelines (the past and present). Flashbacks help fill in the FMC and round her out, showing how she is who she is now. I really enjoyed this - it's the perfect weekend read!

I received an eARC from Random House Children's on Netgalley! This is my honest review.

This was a twisty, suspenseful read that kept me guessing until the very end. Goldsmith does a great job of creating complex, morally gray characters, and the plot is full of surprises. If you enjoy thrillers with plenty of secrets and betrayals, this one's definitely worth checking out.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Children's for accepting my request for an ACR of this book!
3.75/5
There's no escaping it anymore, no more pushing it under the rug. We're not paranoid. Something aboard the Banebury is badly wrong.
To everyone who sees this book and picks it up because of the cool cover, you are in for a treat. The book to me is honestly a YA Little Shop of Horrors meets Murder on the Orient Express. The amount of body horror in this book, I cannot downplay how unprepared I was for it, but it isn’t for the worse, because of it being so unexpecting it made for a very impactful thriller with lots of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. I loved following Lara and Rhys in their journey throughout the book. The horror aspect was VERY well done! My main critic for the book though, is that I personally didn’t care for the flashback scenes throughout the chapter. Yes, they told more about the characters' relationships but I feel like it distracted from the tense mood in the train, which is what I was more drawn to at the moment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for sending me an eARC!

After reading the synopsis, I realized I needed this! The plot takes place on a train (Amy, thank you).

It was incredibly atmospheric, vividly described, and easy to read.

The story is told from the perspective of the FMC and has two timelines: the present and the past, which explores the heroine's history and why she stopped communicating with her friend.

💬 She needs a job, and she becomes a stewardess on a luxurious train, but it's not that simple, as at one point they add cars filled with plants, and the new passengers bring an air of mystery...

I found more of a thriller with secrets and a dark atmosphere, rather than romance between the characters, so if you're looking for romance, this book isn't for you! But I recommend it to fans of dark themes and plants! It would be great to read on a train.

The heroine annoyed me so much 😭 At times I understood her, sometimes I didn't; I felt her pain, but I didn't get attached...

The MMC was more likable, but not very undisclosed (for me), wanted him more🤭

The ending came so quickly that I didn't even realize it was the end of the book...

I wasn't shocked by the plot; everything was pretty clear from the start.

Overall, I liked it; I love stories like this, and I'm grateful to the author for combining trains and plants.

• From friends to lovers
• Second chance
• Train conductors
• Killer plants
• Confined space

❗️Warning: Toxic relationships

Hi, hey, I loved PREDATORY NATURES. This might have been one of my favorite books this year. I could not put it down.

This was a perfectly YA, YA book. It was not trying to be more, or less and I appreciate that. I was entertained, but felt like there was a lot more misdirection in an effort to prolong the mystery, than needed to be. It did the opposite and on a train with few suspects the “who dunnit” becomes too apparent when we are told they are such a misunderstood good guy, too many times, too many knowing winks, to not give it away. The secondary story was also kind of annoying how built up it was and really wasn’t anything, and wasn’t even started to be addressed until 20 % in, even though it referenced a half dozen times before that. There were some pretty obvious plot holes and people behaved in ways that weren’t really believable, but overall the book was fine.

very mysterious and well-designed. i love a good botanical horror and this one definitely provides. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I became a huge Amy Goldsmith fan after devouring Our Wicked Histories last summer. There is something comforting and familiar about the way this author handles certain tropes, and I think YA has become so congested with adult-leaning content that it's refreshing to see characters depicted through a lens that doesn't feel skewed by an older readership.

The premise of this book had me in a chokehold from the announcement, and Amy definitely delivers on the botanical whimsy of it all. The writing is crisp and engaging and you can feel the author's genuine passion for the story throughout the prose.

The only thing that drops the rating for me is the excess of time spent in the backstory. I felt the pacing was often disrupted and there were times when I really wanted to stay focused on the present narrative. But I feel this is a personal preference and something that others may feel much differently about!

I look forward to seeing more of Amy's work in the future!

Wowza! So so much fun! There's something super catastrophic about a train (though it's my fave way to travel) and thought Goldsmith's sense of place and setting was extraordinary. I also thought the idea of men abusing a woman's power and turning them into these horrible things was done well. Lara's journey of reclaiming her life didn't feel cheesy but rather earned given she was still beating herself up in the present over her ex controlling her life.

Minus a star because I thought the pacing felt off in some places which left a rather abrupt ending.