This is a perfect spooky read. There is witchcraft, isolated house and creepy children. It is very atmospheric. It is a beautiful gothic book. A perfect Halloween read

Told through two timelines which ultimately converge as one, this book follows two young women sent to a secluded manor in Scotland to have their babies in secret since they are unmarried.

This is by far my favourite CJ Cooke book I’ve read so far. The audio narration is so good, with two distinct cadences and voices for each character despite them both being from Scotland. Both characters were written so well, being very similar in so many ways but each also being a standout person on their own. The atmosphere of the book was eerie and unsettling, and I loved the details in one timeline that would make sense of something in the other.

THE GHOST WOODS is the third in a thematic trilogy that explores motherhood, witchcraft and trauma after THE NESTING and THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES (all by the same author). This is a gothic horror set at a time and place when unwed mothers were treated abhorrently and their children were taken away without their consent. There are two painful birth scenes, and sadly, not all the babies survive. The book portrays what survival was like for these mothers, and how their friendship and love for each other grow amidst their trauma. It also explores gay rights and gender inequality, showing how these women had to trade their freedom for a home. I really liked the characters, especially the quick-thinking and steadfast Pearl.

What I found lacking is the supernatural angle, where too much was included so they only scratched the surface. There’s a witch figure from Scottish folklore called Nicnevin but her motivations were unclear. There’s suspicious fungi and mushrooms, something about bringing people back to life, trees growing in strange places, and a character who can see visions. I wish these threads were connected more cohesively. Read this if you want a gothic horror that makes you sad 🥲

C.J. Cooke's writing does it again! I first read lighthouse witches over a year ago and absolutely fell in love with her writing and storytelling. so when I got the chance to read this book I was super excited. I loved the lore explored in this book and the story and also the twists. amazing! i love how the past and present characters connected towards the end. definitely recommend if you are looking for a haunted read.

C J Cooke is fast becoming my go-to author for fast paced gothic horror novels you can’t put down. The Ghost Woods tells the story of two women who travel to Lichen Hall, a remote estate in the Scottish Borders where unmarried women can go to give birth. When Pearl arrives in 1965, she soon learns all is not as it seems and there are some strange things going on. There she meets a mother and a young boy who live on the grounds of the estate and together they unravel a mystery darker than they ever imagined.

This is my fourth book from this author and yet again it is another compelling and captivating tale. This is a quick paced tale that really draws you in and you won’t be able to put this one down. This is probably my least favourite of the books I’ve read from this author, but it is still a compulsively readable tale and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is full of atmosphere and the setting is fascinating, but the story didn’t send shivers up my spine the way that her other books did. This story is at times quite sad and emotional and is much more focused on the characters than the dark and creepy moments.

Cooke always has a way of writing really compelling characters and that is certainly the case for Pearl and Mabel. I really liked them both and couldn’t help but root for them. The story has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and definitely went in some directions I didn’t expect. Cooke’s plots feel very inventive and fresh and I can never predict where her stories are going to go. The Ghost Woods is a cleverly plotted tale and if you’re looking for a story that will keep you turning pages long into the night, I’d highly recommend picking this one up.

I realised that I hadn't yet read anything creepy this autumn, so decided to pick this one up as it promised a haunting story set in the old and imposing Lichen Hall, which sits in it's large and atmospheric grounds - right next to the chilling, Ghost Woods.

This is a dual timeline tale of about 6 years, and jumps from Mabel's story in 1959 and Pearl's in 1965. In a time where being pregnant and unwed were frowned upon, they are two of many young women who find themselves at Lichen Hall to give birth and then put up their babies for adoption.

Based around Scottish Folklore, and inspired by the survival instincts of nature - in particular fungi - we soon find out that there is something not quite right about Lichen Hall...

There is mention of witches and fairies, the subject of motherhood is explored, there are a few gory aspects, and some TWs which you may want to look up. The writing is good - although felt juvenile at times - and I was invested enough in the story to want to read until the end. But I was able to guess quite early on what was going on, and feel like this could have been better as either a short story - or actually a novel of this length but with more background and depth when it came to the nature, lore and supernatural side of things. Overall I liked it, and it was successfully creepy at times!

C.J. Cooke is one of my favorite authors since I adore books that are a bit paranormal.

The Ghost Woods is an excellent dual-timeline book with two girls arriving at Lichen Hall. Mabel in 1959 and the Pearl in 1965 and both are pregnant. They have been sent away to give birth and then to give up their babies. However, there are strange things going on at Lichen Hall....what is really going on there?

I really liked this book, it was engrossing and I found myself drawn into the story and the lives of Pearl and Mabel. I quite like the paranormal angle of the story and I did guess right what was going on towards the end, not that hard to figure it out. The ending made me wish that it would be a sequel.

Thankyou for allowing me to read The Ghost Woods. CJ Cooke knows how to write in a way that leaves you wanting more. I loved the dual timeline in this book and the way that they intertwined with one another. I wasnt expecting the story to go the way that it did. Loved the writing, loved the plot, loved everything.

CJ Cooke is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. You can rely on her for properly creepy, intelligent and well written stories. Highly recommend.

I am giving The Ghosts Woods a 2.5 ⭐️’s.
(3 rounded up)

➕ Multiple POV
➕ Likeable MC
➖ Slow read
➖ Lacking suspense IMO

I am a fan of multiple POV and that opening line had me hooked at first. But to be honest, I often found myself confused between the two timelines. I think that this was partly because it didn’t hold my attention. I thought it read very slow for me, and I felt there was so much potential to make it creepier with the old house, the witch and the woods. In my opinion, it just fell short of what I expected and wasn’t for me.

That being said, this book has a good rating on Goodreads and NetGalley, so I recommend reading for yourself and if you do, please let me know what you think!

Thank you so much to @harpercollins & @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ooh what a bloody amazing book!
Fungi, folklore and the supernatural merge with a more gritty realism storyline about unmarried mothers who stay at Lichen Hall to give birth and then give their babies up for adoption.
C. J Cooke is certainly one of the best writers to thread different genres into a gloriously layered and rich read without the strands becoming too tangled, messy and confusing.
I don’t want to give too much away, but if you loved ‘The Last of Us’ and are needing to fill the hole left behind after it ended, then The Ghost Woods will do very nicely indeed!

This was an absolutely delicious story.
Duel timelines, slight mystery, who can you trust vibes and a splash of magic make this a true winner!
I am kicking myself for not picking this up sooner.
The characters are well fleshed out, the plot is intriguing from the start and the setting is on fire.
Run, don't walk, to read this!
Much love to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK for my DRC.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story, and was interested to see how the story developed.

I absolutely loved this book, the twists and turns had me hooked and I didn’t want to put it down. The atmosphere the author creates is incredible. C J Cooke is a must read author for me now.

When HarperCollins emailed me with the news that C.J. Cooke—whose novel The Lighthouse Witches I had read early last year and thoroughly enjoyed—would soon be releasing a new book in the same genre and an ARC was mine if I wanted it, I was delighted. Cooke has the ability to bring any setting to life, giving the world her books are set in just as much personality as the characters who live in it, and The Ghost Woods lived up to my expectations of it on that front.

The story is primarily set in Lichen Hall, a sprawling manor house owned by the Whitlocks. Here, unwed pregnant mothers are allowed refuge until their children are born in order to avoid the humiliation and abuse they would doubtlessly face if they went instead to an institutional mother and baby home. However, rumors spread of the manor being a "palace of rot and ruin," home to fairies and witches and an odd couple who once, years ago, demanded to take their own son out of the morgue after he died in a car accident. What they did with the body nobody knows, but many in the surrounding countryside believe they experimented on it—and to date, the boy's grave has never been found.

This is the house where our two protagonists, Mabel Haggith and Pearl Gorham, find themselves upon discovering they are pregnant out of wedlock. Their narratives are set six years apart, with Mabel entering the Hall before Pearl, and this stylistic decision amplifies the mystery surrounding the setting: what goes on in the manor grounds? Why are the people living in the house upon Pearl's arrival an almost entirely different cast of characters than the ones around Mabel? What happened to those characters in the years between? Poisonous mushrooms, headless creatures, and sightings of children who apparently don't exist all clamor for the reader's attention, making one keen to read on and fill in the gaps. Some aspects of the plot weren't at all unexpected—the Cordyceps fungus was too obvious a Chekhov's gun to never be fired—but the real anxiety came from wondering how the characters would discover the truth, and how the climax would come about. (And it was a sight to behold, fiery and unforgettable.)

Cooke has spectacularly woven together a story featuring the fear of the unknown in several contexts: that of creatures unidentified and unidentifiable; that of nature at its wildest; that of pregnancy, of the violence it inflicts on a woman's body and the destruction it wreaks on the shape of her future; that of hidden truths and long-buried pasts coming to light. The evil child trope is turned on its head; the terror lies in how to best protect one's offspring, both from the forces of nature and from exploitation at the hands of others, human or inhuman. The author's note at the end of the novel addresses all this as well:

"I suppose the question could legitimately be asked whether motherhood, gay rights, reproductive rights, and gender inequality have any place in a gothic novel. For me, the gothic is exactly the space to explore darkness of any kind, and the practice of othering is one of the darkest corners of human history."

It's always a risk to write a novel with multiple perspectives from the first person, because even with extremely solid character building, there's always a chance that the reader will confuse one character's chapter for another's. Cooke handled this fairly well, all things considered: I could tell within a page or two whether Pearl was narrating or Mabel, due both to their distinct personalities and to the cues that came from their surroundings. When the two narratives converged into the same year, however, things became more complicated, and I recall an instance where I switched between thinking "this is Pearl" and "this is Mabel" at least thrice within the same chapter.

Horror isn't my go-to genre, so this was a refreshing read for me. I'd recommend this book to both serial horror consumers as well as readers who want to try something new, because the gothic avoids heavy depictions of gore while still managing to stay just the right amount of disturbing.

Thank you @netgalley for an electronic copy of the Ghost Woods! This was definitely an eerie read and I loved the twists and turns, however I did predict most of them, especially the major reveal.

Another great book from cj Cooke. Loved he previous book. Want to say thank you for net galley letting me read this book.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

After loving The Lighthouse Witches, I desperately wanted to pick up The Ghost Woods. While the books are standalones, set in different areas and eras, it's hard not to see similar themes running throughout both. Cooke has not disappointed with their latest offering!

What I loved:
- Split timeline - gosh I love dual timelines, wondering when or if they'll come together. The tension when you know something that one character doesn't that another has already experienced in the past. Edge of your seat kind of reading!
- The Scottish setting of Lichen Hall, Cooke has truly painted a vivid picture of this stately home, turned home for 'fallen women'.
- The folklore vibes; I'm such a sucker for folklore.
- Characters with drive and conviction. Our two main female protagonists come from different backgrounds but have very similar goals and both find themselves at Lichen Hall for the same reason, years apart.
- The subtle weaving of supernatural elements into the narrative. Cooke did this expertly in The Lighthouse Witches and does the same again here; one of my favourite aspects of their writing!
- The genuine creeps this book gave me; but in a good, invested kind of way!

What didn't reel me in:
- I think it's intentional but there are a couple loose ends that I wanted a bit more closure on, but that's just me wanting everything to be wrapped up neatly!

Read if you enjoy:
- Reading: The Lighthouse Witches, The Glass Woman, The Liar of Red Valley
- Strong FMC's
- Historical Fiction: Mid-20th Century
- Gothic settings.

I got the opportunity to read The Lighthouse witches last year and when this popped up on netgalley I jumped at the chance to read this book and I'm so grateful for being accepted.

This book is set in Scotland and about a residential home, Lichen Hall, is for girls who find themselves pregnant outside of marriage. Rather than bring shame onto the family, the girls are sent away from home to have their babies in secret, these children are then adopted.

The book is written in two timelines from the pov of two girls who have been sent to the same home. Mabel in 1959 finds out she's pregnant but adamant that she's never had sex and has no knowledge of how this could have happened. The present day girl, Pearl from 1965, became pregnant after a one night stand following a break up. Not only is she shamed by her family but she's also been forced to leave her job as a nurse.

Lichen Hall is full of suspicious and controversial stories from locals including the belief that the hall was cursed by a witch damning all who lives there.

While Mabel stays there it's clear that there's something unsettling and strange living in the woods. Later, Pearl also gets the feeling that there's something not right about the owners of the hall and the woods at the bottom of the residential home.

I absolutely loved this book, I started it in the airport in Malta and devoured it by the time we landed in the UK. As with Cooke's previous book, this one is atmospheric creepy and folklore. This book manages to convey the difficulties and prejudice they received and the harsh realities of the "residential homes" that makes it so emotional to read and keeps the reader engaged. It was an emotional rollercoaster of confusion, frustration, anger but at times happy sad for some of these characters. The female characters here are so well written! Cooke has become one of my favorite authors and is perfect for spooky season.

In summary, I bloody loved this book and if the cover isn't enough for you to pick it up I hope my review does!

This started off promising, but I unfortunately lost interest about halfway through. The beginning was intriguing and introduced some interesting characters.

I loved the different perspectives and time periods. The author did a great job of building the characters and making them seem like real people. The atmosphere was also fantastic; the setting felt real and at times sent shivers up my spine.

The plot, however, fell so flat for me and it took away the enjoyment of the book. It just sadly lost its spark. I seem to be in the minority here though, so I’m sure this book will reach the right readers!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.