This book was fantastic! It gripped me from the very first page and whilst I was compelled to keep turning the pages I didn't want it to end! It was intriguing, bewitching and captivating and the characters were well rounded and the story line very enjoyable!

I enjoyed this book, the story was original and engaging and the pace was just right. Although I would categorise it as crime fiction it was also very much about the people and the characters and I enjoyed this depth to the story. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys crime/drama books as a gripping easy read.

This is an interesting book, in which Neve is left a cottage in Cornwall from a woman she meets 10 minutes before she commits suicide right in front of her.

The bequest comes at exactly the right moment in Neve's life. She has broken up with her boyfriend, her friends are all settled and having children, her job is going no-where and she decides on a whim to walk out, she has no-where to live and cannot afford to rent in London. She decides to retreat to the country, lick her wounds and start afresh.

However, the cottage is not all that she imagined and there are some dark secrets to uncover. The tone of the book is creepy and the sense of unease that Neve feels is palpable. The dark and damp atmosphere of the cottage was really well described, and Neve's fear when the lights go out quite infectious. I did start to get an inkling of who or what was behind the disturbances mid way through the book, but this didn't matter really, as there are further secrets waiting to be unveiled and the character development of Neve was equally as important as the plot.

I did enjoy the book (with a hefty amount of suspended disbelief), but there is something holding me back from awarding it a higher star rating. I felt at a slight remove throughout the book, and couldn't really immerse myself in it as much as I would have liked. I suspect that this is down to the writing style, which I found a little erratic at times. I would be interested to see how the author develops in subsequent books though.

Thanks go to the publishers HarperCollins UK and net galley for the arc in return for an honest review.

Neve inherits a cottage in the woods after randomly meeting a stranger at the side of the Thames just before she commits suicide. Neve's life isn't going very well at the moment so she decides to go to the cottage to see what it's like, perhaps she can sell it and make some money. Neve realises that Isabelle, the lady who gifted her the cottage was a troubled lady, but why. I thought the book was going to be a little slow to begin with but it gripped me quickly and had a twist that I really wasn't expecting. A great read.

Loved the cover of this book. New I had to find out more. The description sounded great. Started the book and i have to say i was hooked from the word go. It was a fab book. Neve is not lucky in her life, but when she comes across a young woman commiting suicide in front of her her luck begins to change. The young woman leaves her home to neve. Finally having something of her own she moves to the middle of nowhere. But nothing is as it seems.

The end was slightly disappointing. But not enough to lose a star. It was a great read and I enjoyed it so much.

Perhaps a bit of a harsh score? I struggled to get in to the book to begin with and didn't like the main character at all.
The book was on its way to 2/3 stars until the awful "twist" - she was being pursued by her neighbour's who wanted to buy the land her house sat on?! Wow, massive drama. Not. It was just a bit silly and laughable, thankfully I was only a few pages before the end before this book was over.
Don't get me wrong the other twist was somewhat interesting but I was at the point where I really didn't care. Sorry!

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers, Harper Fiction for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Neve’s life is not good at the moment – she’s split up from her boyfriend, she has nowhere to live and is sleeping in her sister’s spare room, she has no money and she hates her job! She wakes up one night in a dingy hotel room next to the sleazy bloke she picked up earlier in the night. After creeping out of the room in the early hours, she makes her way home. On the way, as she’s crossing Waterloo Bridge, she sees a woman, Isabelle, standing looking into the water. Neve, despite just wanting to get home, asks the woman if she’s okay. Isabelle pushes an envelope into Neve’s hands and then jumps to her death.

Some weeks later, Neve gets a call from a solicitor. Isabelle has left Neve her cottage in Cornwall, and as the solicitor explains was left by a special type of bequest known as ‘donatio mortis causa’ – a deathbed gift. Neve decides she has nothing to lose by going to Cornwall and seeing this cottage with a view to selling it. When she arrives there, in the middle of the night, she finds a creepy little cottage with bars on the windows, no electric and a dead magpie in the kitchen. She finds strange things happening such as doors unlocking, the radio being left on and the feeling of being watched and finds out that this was also happening to Isabelle. Neve decides to stay and try and work out what had happened to Isabelle and why?

This was a great book! I have read the author’s previous book, but found this one so much better! The story began straight into the action with Neve coming across Isabelle on the bridge, and then carried on building up the suspense right through the book. I didn’t initially find Neve a very nice person, not taking any responsibility for her own life and ruining other peoples around her while she was at it. Half way through the book you could feel that Neve was changing. She was beginning to lose the attitude that she had and she began to become a person who could truly believe in herself. I’ll give the woman guts, because I know I wouldn’t have stayed one night in that cottage!!

The book was full of suspense and was genuinely creepy, almost to the point that you had to put it down for a few minutes just to compose yourself – the whole doors unlocking and radios being turned on was seriously nerve-wracking! I finished this book in less than a day, and I was literally on the edge of my seat for the whole time! The story was strong all the way through, and the twist at the edge was unexpected – I honestly didn’t see that coming!

If you love your psychological thrillers, then you will love this book! A great read! Five stars!

I really enjoyed Cass Green's first book The Woman Next Door and this second book In a Cottage, in a Wood doesn't fail to disappoint. Neve inherits a remote cottage in Cornwall from Isabelle who she has only ever met once. Neve has no idea why Isabelle has chosen her and sets out to find out why,
There are creepy goings on at the cottage once Neve moves in, someone wants her out and so there are several suspicious characters which keep you guessing as to whom and why. I definitely didn't see the twists coming! A gripping psychological thriller.

This is a cleverly written and engaging psychological thriller which at times I found unable to put down. The author Cass Green pulls off a very effective narrative trick with the first part of the book. She skilfully takes the time to set the scene for our protagonist, Neve Carey, to find herself willingly installed all on her own in a creepy cottage in Cornwall, which she has inherited from its owner in a bizarre turn of events. This pays off because not only is the story still interesting at that stage, without the build up you’d have to wonder why anyone would stay for five minutes in such a place as the cottage in the woods. That said, the book suffers a little from what I have come to think of as Unlikable Character Syndrome. We get to know Neve a little and we get to understand her motivations and behaviours but it doesn’t make her less whiney or sympathetic. At times it was quite hard to care too much about what happened to her as she flounders from one bad decision to the next.

I have also say despite what is a largely riveting read, I did find the ending to be quite rushed and it felt like things were wound up way too neatly. All the reveals seemed to come in one big clump and it fell a bit flat for me at the conclusion. But, on the whole a very entertaining effort and I recommend it.

One of my favourite books I have read recently. I enjoyed the mystery of the story including the snippets from Izzy. I did guess that they were sisters but that didnt detract from the enjoyment. My only slight niggle was that I didn't think Izzy would have committed suicide in front of her sister but I don't think it is a significant issue.