Two girls went into the woods but only one girl came back out. Ten years ago, Tess's older sister died. It was ruled a tragic accident. Tess was the only witness. But she can't recall what happened that night. Tess now lives in London. But she has to go back to the family home. Back to the memories that she though were lost forever.

The author builds up the two sisters characters throughout the story. This is a well written, gripping, page turning and tense psychological thriller. The characters are well rounded and the plotline believable. At times it can be quite a disturbing read. The ending is executed satisfactory.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and the author Vanessa Savage for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's really difficult to review The Woods because, on one hand, The Woods themselves are sinister, creepy and unnerving - really atmospheric writing - from the whistling and rustling of trees, to this hazy fog was fantastic in making me on edge. Yet, on the second hand, I found the story a bit 'wishy washy' I never exactly knew where I really was with it...

BUT...

It DID keep me turning the pages though to find out what had happened, and I guess that's the main thing!

A haunting and tragic psychological thriller with plenty of unsettling and eerie moments.

A really good thriller which I found very hard to put down. Atmospheric, chilling and utterly compelling. Two sisters go into the woods and only one comes back. Ten years later and someone starts to remember. A rather predictable plot but I never saw the twist coming. This read had me glued to my seat and tapping my kindle faster and faster I HAD TO KNOW THE TRUTH. Another new author for me and I will certainly be looking out for more of this authors work. Almost five stars and highly recommended.
I would like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I loved it! It was such a thrilling read that I don't want to tell anything about the plot. I'd rather everyone go blind to enjoy it. It had a good pace, good writing. By the way, it has a great cover!
Thanks a lot to the publisher and netgalley for this copy.

The Woods is a strong thriller with an unreliable narrator and a gripping plot. The story is unpredictable with plenty of suspense and atmosphere. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy complex psychological thrillers. Be sure to check out The Woods today!

#TheWoods #NetGalley
Good but predictable.
I wasn't able to put down once i started reading it. The good thing about this book is its narration while the bad thing is that i somehow predicted the end but overall it's a good thriller to read.
There's a lot from Tess's childhood that she would rather forget. Ten years ago, Tess's older sister died. Ruled a tragic accident, the only witness was Tess herself, but she has never been able to remember what happened that night in the woods. But still her past is haunting her.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sphere for giving me an advanced copy of this book.

Tense thriller that I could not put down.

The narrator is engaged if somewhat unreliable and the book puts you on edge from the get go.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I wasn't able to finish this book and so I won't be reviewing it on my blog or Booktube channel. I couldn't connect with the main character or her struggles, and so I wasn't able to get invested in the story. I was hoping that the atmospheric writing would draw me in but it didn't. I think the author had a tendency to over describe things, and it all got a bit much. I was expecting more of a creepy thriller!

good read guessed one of the outcomes earlier on but not the other .a complex story about family /blended family .

‘The Woods’ is a very atmospheric book. The atmosphere has become one of the characters with how much pull it holds with the reader. This is exactly the kind of book I love to read!

A good book with a good murder mystery thrown in and how it still effects us years later. Great book xx

I got 1/3rd of the way through this book but it was a struggle. It was too meandering and vague for me, instead of building the mystery it was just irritating and repetitive.

There is an extremely sinister atmosphere permeating the pages of this haunting story,creeping through the book like the fog that creeps across the fields and spreads its misty blanket through the trees. Shrouding objects and making them appear otherworldly and unrecognisable. The winds whistling through the trees
whispering of long buried secrets,deceptions,lies and betrayals in a mesmerising story that has fingers that reach back into the past.

Ten years have passed since Tess Cooper left the small village of West Dean in the Vale Of Glamorgan where she grew up. In all that time she has had no contact with any of the group that she used to hang out with during her teenage years, Max,Lena Jack and Sean. Ten years since her sister Bella`s death on the night that their dad Joe married Jack and Sean`s mother Julia, a night that Tess has no memory of. Through all that time, Tess`s dreams have been haunted by the woods around West Dean where Bella`s body was found.

But now Julia is dying and Joe has begged Tess to return home and visit her step mother before she dies. When Max contacts Tess and offers her a lift,she feels that she has no choice but to return to her childhood home. But soon old animosities rise to the surface and Tess swiftly discovers that,sometimes,the past cannot be laid to rest. Why can't Tess remember what happened on that fateful night? Was Bella murdered or was her death a tragic accident? There are many secrets that have stayed hidden for many years and there are certain people who would prefer that they stayed that way.

The story is narrated from Tess`s point of view and has chapters that flip back and forth between now and the events in the past that led up to Bella`s death. I spent most of the book not liking any of the characters in either time frame but like any good thriller there was characters who were not who they appeared to be and by the time I finished the book I ending up changing my mind about one of the characters. I thought teenage Tess was a very annoying character for various reasons.Despite Bella also having her dislikable moments I did feel a lot of sympathy for her. She was trying to be a average teenage girl and have a bit of fun. I loved the setting for this story,I love books that feature woods and forests in the story. I think they add their own character and are both spooky and sinister even when you walk through them in broad daylight.

The woods is an extremely well written,tightly plotted debut thriller that had me hooked in from the first page and frantically turning the pages. Once I started reading this book,I honestly didn't want to put it down. This is definitely one of my favourite books of this year and I look forward to reading more books written by this talented author in the future. Worth far more than five stars and very very highly recommended.

So this is one of those novels where I found myself silently questioning everything, yet the answers were not revealed until almost the end.

Its intricate plot invites apprehension and suspicion to patiently creep in and out of "The Woods", heightening the tension along with my curiosity.

Knowing who or what to believe is a mammoth task. I began greedily eyeing EVERYONE with the kind of doubt that lingers, only to realise that sometimes you really can’t see "The Woods" for the trees!

For me the pace is one I’d describe as broodingly suspenseful. It didn’t rush itself, although there were occasions where I wish it had as some of the characters were extremely high-maintenance, often drainingly so. While their behaviour provided the catalyst to read on, equally they drove me nuts!

Overall the story is tragic and haunting, and one where truth and consequence lie in wait.

I'm a sucker for 'girl returns to hometown and faces her past' stories, and The Woods truly fits the bill. Mysterious, thrilling, and with an unreliable narrator at times, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

4.5 stars.

I don’t know about you but mysteries surrounding disappearances and murders inside the woods tend to unsettle me and yet I *still* gravitate to them. Vanessa Savage did a terrific job providing a spine-chilling description + eerie feel to the woods where our protagonist’s sister Bella died 10 years ago in an “accident”. EXCEPT...Ella is now haunting her sister’s dreams, trying to convince her otherwise. To will her to “remember”...

Why do teenage girls keep getting murdered in the forest surrounding Dean House? What memory is our main character trying to expunge? You don't have to get to a certain page for things to get interesting, the author makes sure to entertain the reader every step of the way.
And that final short chapter...it will send a chill through your spine. I personally couldn’t sleep, and the sound of the wind outside my window wasn’t any help.

I appreciated how the author flawlessly built up the sisters’ characters by intricately exploring their pasts and giving them distinct voices that makes them unforgettable. I loved Vanessa Savage’s vision in this novel and I can’t wait to read more by her.

A great novel told in a very creepy atmospheric way!! Really enjoyed this one and look forward to more from this author !!

A fascinating novel, if a bit scary at times. The writer has a beautiful and seamlessly flowing narrating style and I literally could jot put the book down.

This was such a creepy and atmospheric book. I've read quite a few books where woodland or forest featured heavily but this is definitely one of the best and created such a sense of tension and foreboding that the woods actually felt like another character. Tess's fear and desperation to discover what happened to her sister was so compelling it was as if i was right there with her. With so many red herrings and twists i was still surprised even at the final pages. This is without a doubt one of the best books i've read this year.

The atmosphere in this novel is something else. THOSE WOODS! the fascination held by the girls, the anticipation of why they go in and ho w they get there is exciting. The narrator is one of the girls who went in - she came out but her sister didn't. So starts the novel of then finding out what the surviving sister really does know about what went on in that forest.

The scene setting, descriptions and general creepiness are chilling. There's a sense of the unknown, a forest which has taken on very spooky qualities and everything is described very well - from the crunch of the leaves to the blanket of darkness even in day time.

Characters are well drawn and getting inside their heads is good. Oh just who is telling the truth?

I did find the novel overly long however and there's too much writing for the story if that makes sense. The setting does take over (which I did like) but the plot seems to drag. The ending was disappointing for me too but I feel if the novel had been shorter and more compact, this would have worked better for me.

So, not my cup of tea but the setting is chillingly good.