This was such an underrated book and gave me slight hill house vibes. It was super well written and while it was a kind of slow read but I still enjoyed it

This book is a captivating contemporary novel that explores themes of self-discovery, friendship, and breaking free from societal expectations. The story follows a group of young women navigating the complexities of their lives, relationships, and personal growth amidst the backdrop of an adventurous, sometimes wild, journey. Clarke’s writing is engaging and authentic, capturing the nuances of her characters' emotions and challenges. The novel delivers a mix of heartfelt moments, humor, and insightful reflections, making it a relatable and inspiring read.

I love LC’s work! She is so good at writing the creepy/scary. She plots fantastic story lines and her imagination is off the charts! This is part of a series but you can read them individually too. This book was wild and I’m glad I don’t have neighbors like these! Once you dive into the world London Clarke creates in her stories you will be hooked! I’ve not been disappointed with any of her books! Must read!!

This is the second book I've read by this author, and the second one I've had to DNF due to content material. Nothing against the book. It just involves supernatural material (necromancy) that I don't read. I read 15 chapters, and I wasn't really into it anyway. I'm giving 2 stars based on what I had read and the summary given to me by my book bestie, who read it with me.

This was a thrilling, dark and twisted tale of a seemingly perfect neighbThis was a thrilling, dark and twisted tale of a seemingly perfect neighborhood. The paranormal aspect of the story adds a nice layer to a psychological thriller. The whole story is super trippy and engaging.

Thanks to the author, BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for the ARC. All comments are my own.orhood. The paranormal aspect of the story adds a nice layer to a psychological thriller.

Addictive, fast paced thriller with supernatural elements. The characters didn't pull me in but the creepy atmospheric writing was superb. The supernatural elements didn't work out for me, felt very cliched. Overall, an enjoyable but forgettable book

Kendall, a true crime writer, is always on the move. She finally decides to settle in a small town where her best friend lives. Everything seems normal, and all the neighbors are nice. As she focuses on her new book about Eilana Conway missing, she uncovers a more that she expected.

OMG, I could not put this book down. The plot and twist had you guessing. You are completely clueless in trying to guess where the story will lead unless you read more. It was definitely a page turner. The way the author incorporated various genres together made the storyline that much better. It is a thriller, suspense, mystery, and romance all mixed together.

I found out this is the third book in the series, and I am definitely going to check out the others. Highly recommend for a spooky, blow your mind read.

Thank you, NetGalley, the author and the publisher, for the advance copy for an honest review.

THE WILD THINGS
London Clarke
This is my 2nd book by this author and it did not disappoint! I was immediately drawn into this story, I loved the mystery and intrigue surrounding the whole neighborhood dubbed “The Cove”, the inhabitants of which ranged from reclusive to downright outrageous. I immediately liked Kendall and Sam’s characters and wanted to know more of their story. I will definitely be continuing my way through the rest of this authors books, I enjoy the pacing and development of her stories, really like her writing style and her imagination is such a delicious ride! Don’t miss this one, and do yourself a favor and read it in the “spooky” months. Many thanks to @netgalley @londonclarkeauthor and @BooksGoSocial for the ARC🖤 4.75⭐️
#londonclarkeauthor #TheWildThings #netgalley #thrillerbooks #arcreader #arcreview #bookstagram

Strange symbols! Ghostly setting! A cool main character! Count me in. I enjoyed this creepy little tale a lot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

The Wild Things was a fun ride. Not to be confused with the movie or the horror-ish nature of the title, it's a suspense mystery and very atmospheric. I enjoyed it and would be interested in an audiobook of it!

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. I appreciate it!

Romance thriller and crime? Yeah I really liked this one. The writing it good and the story kept me engaged. It says this is book three, so I’m definitely gonna look into the remainder of the series

Eerie and crazy tale about some bizarre neighbors and what goes on behind closed doors. Our main character is a true crime writer and she's installed herself into the neighborhood where her latest story of interest happened. What she finds is enough to make one running for the hills - ghosts, a couple that seems to run the neighborhood, another older couple who seems to be the neighborhood complainers, and just a lot of bad juju going on. This was a fun ride on the train to crazy town!!

3.5 STARS

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book.

The atmosphere was top-tier spooky, and the whole "what is real vs what is manipulation" mystery kept me flipping pages. Weird symbols in the woods, suspiciously friendly neighbours, and a ghostly something watching you sleep. It's moody, unsettling, and builds that creeping tension really well.

I really liked Kendall as a main character. She’s nosy, intuitive, and just stubborn enough to keep things interesting.

But there were a few parts that didn’t hit the mark for me. The pacing felt all over the place, some bits dragged on while others rushed by too fast. And the ending is a bit messy, with some loose threads just hanging there. It left me with some raised eyebrows and questions that never really got answered.

I thought The Wild Things was written really well, the spooky element was presented well and it really created an atmosphere whilst reading. The storyline developed well and I really enjoyed it. I did think it was a bit far fetched towards the end but it was an enjoyable read.

This started well, and some of the descriptions throughout the book are exceptionally well-written. I felt the bony fingers, heard the skittering of millions of tiny, dark things, and I sensed the chill of being watched by dead eyes.

Unfortunately that is where it ended for me. I do think the author took it too far in many ways, making it implausible and frankly a bit silly in parts. I think the author could have done so much more with this.

2 and a half stars.

I really enjoyed this read! It was eerily creepy, just as i like it. However towards the ending the paranormal got a bit.. overdone. It was a bit too much for me. But overall i thought it was an interesting read!

This book kept me hooked, once I started I HAD to finish.

It had so many good twists and turns that added a slightly different element to the classic tropes in this genre.

Thank you for letting me have a copy of this book

I really enjoyed it, who doesn't love a creepy cult story, although I felt it was a bit too ambitious like there were some unnecessary elements of the story, It went from being a cult story to a supernatural one.
Also a note on the writing of the first person, it kind of felt like a narrator, it made it hard for me to get in the story.
Other than that I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for the book.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it. For some reason I thought this serial killer she was paranoid about was going to be in the picture somehow but outside of a couple mentions here and there, he was not a part of the book at all.

There were a lot of players in this book but they all kind of ease into the story really nicely and the amount of characters didn’t distract me from the plot. I did enjoy the paranormal things that were in this book but I kind of wish there had been more paranormal spread in the book and not just the little girl here and there. I think the man in the tree could have been talked about/used more.

My main con was the ending was a bit lackluster for me, while Kendall is being told the whole story and being dragged away, it ends so quickly after a whole book about being controlled and brainwashed. But I did really like this one.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publishers for access to this ARC 📚.

🔥Quick Fire Review🔥

Genre/Themes: 🕵🏻‍♀️👻🌲🏘️🔮
Tropes: Set in a Closed Community, Garden Parties, Paranoid Thriller, Supernatural Elements, Cults, Manipulative Neighbours, Nosy Neighbours, Missing Person, Murder, Ritualistic Killing, Poisoning, Shooting, Kidnapping, Escape, Friends-to-Lovers
Positives ✅ : engaging plot, atmospheric, ambitious blend of genres
Room for Improvement 🔎 : character development, world building and lore
Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗

✍🏻Full Review - RISK OF SPOILERS 🛑

Genuinely really enjoyed this! It’s not the sort of genre I usually read and I didn’t realise it was part of a series when I requested it, but turns out it worked absolutely fine as a stand-alone and was a really great blend of paranormal horror, crime mystery-thriller and even a little sci-fi.

Characterisation:
The main character, Kendall, is a true crime writer and has just bought a house in a HOA community. She is paranoid following the events in the previous book, which are helpfully referenced throughout the story. Kendall is afraid of commitment. Committing to a person, following the end of a long-term toxic relationship, or committing to staying in one place. While I did root for Kendall in the story I’m not sure I would say I found her likeable. I didn’t really register any sense of humour from her, or kindness or generosity. Outside of hiking and her career, I couldn’t really tell what she liked or disliked. The strongest aspect of her personality was her paranoia and unyielding need for answers; a burning curiosity. That lent pretty well for her writing and mystery solving. She did sometimes frustrate me with both her recklessness, putting herself in blatant danger just because she had to know, and her people-pleasing. She never seemed to be able to say no, or just stand up and leave a situation. Sometimes the plot explained this, other times it didn’t.
Kendall’s best friend Sam was very similar. I rooted for him, but realistically he was also a little one-dimensional. He at least showed kindness and community spirit in his little handyman chores, and we saw some pride and anxiety surrounding his restaurant. He appeared to be similar to Kendall in his fear of commitment and discomfort with people’s emotions. But he wasn’t particularly funny or loveable. He was just okay. I did appreciate how he didn’t gaslight all the characters in the story, and listened to them and helped them find evidence. Their friends-to-lovers arc was again, okay. I didn’t feel particularly excited about it or feel on edge ‘will-they-won’t-they’, but I suppose it felt pretty natural and not forced. The avoidance and anxiety around each other after they slept together under the influence of Blair and Flip was really well written though.
Blair and Flip were genuinely terrifying. Every scene with them left me feeling anxious. My chest would always feel taut like a bowstring waiting for them to snap, or waiting for them to make another character snap with their heavy pushing and manipulation. They’re the best villains I’ve read for a long while.
Supporting characters like the Pools, Marla or Kendall’s sister Holly could have done with more scenes, especially since they end up being quite significant to the plot. Holly was occasionally written a little stereotypically, even her ‘worn flannel shirt’ was very ‘drug addict’ archetype. And again, her addiction was sort of written as her whole personality. Kendall’s sisterly instincts didn’t quite ring true sometimes.

World-Building:
The HOA community was portrayed so accurately it was a little scary. The neighbours starting hissy fits over parking on their kerb, or decorations they don’t like, or too much noise. It was uncanny. The Robinette’s pushing their company Eau de Lune and trying to hire people like it’s a pyramid scheme was eerily accurate as well. The more real-life aspects were written well, but the horror/sci-fi stuff needed a little more refinement as I was left with more questions than answers by the end. It wasn’t clear how the paranormal creatures, other than one Familiar, came to be. It was vaguely implied they were kept alive by sacrifices, with one mention of a ‘shoe fetish’, hence the shoes of victims nailed to trees. But the experimentation of human subjects appeared to be related to the ‘men in the trees’ and their survival as well. But that wasn’t explained clearly.

Prose\Plot:
While certain aspects were somewhat obvious, i.e Eau de Lune being used to intoxicate people, on the whole I found myself really engaged with the plot and the ‘whodunnit’. I didn’t predict the Guffs being murdered, even with how annoying they were’, or Marla being manipulated into suicide. I didn’t expect the Robinette’s to be so brazen with murdering people in the community itself. However, the escape scene with Alba and her mother, plus the break in to their house, all seemed to be done a little bit too easily so could have been expanded on. Kendall’s interviews with witnesses about Eliana were a little unrealistic too sometimes, with people just telling her vital details that they didn’t tell the police. It felt a tad too convenient. I will also say that Eliana’s discovery was too glossed over. I was fine with it being linked to the Robinette’s, I thought it was quite clever actually, but I’d hoped to watch Kendall discover this rather than it be mentioned quickly at the end. The Eliana aspect of the story felt a bit forgotten for a big chunk of the book. The supernatural elements did leave too many loose ends for me. We know that ONE of the evil creatures is the ‘familiar’ of Flip’s old mentor, but what about the other ‘men in the trees’? Are they gone now that Flip and Blair are dead? And what about their daughters’ ghost that everybody is able to see? Kendall’s security cameras captured her fight with the Robinette’s clear as day, including their witchcraft and their interaction with the demons (if that’s what they were), so does everyone just know that paranormal stuff is real now? Are they gonna, y’know, do anything about all these ghosts and demons? Who actually was Oli, was she just a witch that assisted them? How did they hypnotise people into drinking their tampered drinks or eating tampered food? They explained how they used the drugs to make people more agreeable but there was reference to hypnotism and it was never explained how they compelled people into consuming things, other than being super pushy. What actually were the experiments they were performing on their captors? There was mention of using them as human hosts, but it sounded like the experiments were more varied than that. As a result it did feel a little unfinished and while I enjoyed the book I do feel it was perhaps a little too ambitious for the length of the story and could have done with being significantly longer for better pacing.