Happy release day! I was actually sought out by St Martin’s press/Minotaur Books to read this for a review. I don’t usually accept requests sent to me directly but the description of this book intrigued me. Sadly, busy schedules meant I wasn’t able to write this review earlier than the pub date but here I am celebrating the release anyway.
While reading this my teenage daughter asked me what I was reading. My wife and daughter are also avid readers and we just love talking about what we are reading. I told her it’s about a girl who went to a party in the woods with friends and all her friends were killed. Oh and as a child she was best friends with the monster under her bed. Now she is an adult going back home for a funeral and dealing with the guilt that haunts her of being a sole survivor.
Simple quick 30 second overview and she thought that sounded “Awesome”. She asked me to tell her when I was done so she could read it. That brought me so much joy and now I’m excited to share this book with her. If you would like the actual summery:
TIME ONLY MAKES THE NIGHTMARE MORE REAL.
Something lives under Willa’s bed. As an adult, her fondest childhood memories are of the invisible entity under her bed who taught her how to read. Now thirty-two, Willa is a reclusive but successful painter until a bombshell news report exposes her identity as the controversial survivor of the unsolved Rapture Mystery Slayings, a small-town tragedy that splashed across headlines during her senior year of high school. Six teenagers died in the woods while Willa walked free, and everyone thinks she killed them.
When an old classmate calls about a funeral, Willa reluctantly travels to her sleepy hometown, where the possessed forest that stole her friends looms. The trees whistle for her attention, but she knows better than to listen. And the unexplained knocking from the shadows in the basement of her decaying childhood home is honestly the least of her problems.
As her past pulls her back to the place she swore she’d never return, Willa is drawn toward the monster she left behind—and becoming the villain her hometown has always believed her to be.
This is the debut novel by Emily Zinnikas and it is solid. I did have some minor issues with the book but it didn’t deter from my overall enjoyment. My issue is there are several aspects of the house that I feel are not explained. These bits felt out of place or just there to create tension but not substance. My hope is that this potentially spills over into other stories or becomes a series following the main character Willa. If I have the opportunity to talk with Ms. Zinnikas I have so many questions I’d love to ask.
Even with a few grumblings the overall book was really good. The character development was very well done. I loved Willa from the first chapter. Her past and the desire to know exactly what happened to her friends and why she survived was a huge driving force that kept me trying pages. I also loved the locations and imagery of the story. The woods is not only used as a backdrop for everything, but through out the book the woods become a character all on it’s own.
Big thank you to St Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this for a review. Now is a good time to rush out to your local bookstore or support my favorite Indie bookstore and pick up a copy. I am very curious to see what Zinnikas puts out next and give this 🥃🥃🥃🥃.
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