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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought this was such a lovely story. And wasn't too complicated for a fantasy. It is also unusual for a fantasy to have so much emotion which was a nice change
Originally reviewed on Cyn's Workshop
Ghost Wood Song Is such a haunting and spellbinding read. Erica Waters has imbued the novel with enough southern charm to keep the tone smooth. Moreover, she has also filled the novel with enough fantasy and magic to balance out the eerie atmospheric and contemporary feel the novel gives off. Ghost Wood Song is a thought-provoking and compelling because it has not only character development but exceptional story development.
Compelling Story
From the beginning, the Ghost Wood Song submerges readers in the ghostly atmosphere. There is a strong sense of something magical happening on the fringes of the story, balancing out that haunting feel. Early on, the reader sees the connection Shady has to the ghost that haunts her, from ghosts hanging around her to her fathers’ fiddle calling to her.
This fantastical and haunting balance gives the story powerful tension, guiding the reader into Shady’s complicated life.
The tension is ultimately what makes Ghost Wood Song so captivating. The movement and tone, they flow beautifully, bringing to life the music in the story. It is so rich and haunting, keeping the reader engaged. The atmospheric setting, the evolution of the story and characters, make the Ghost Wood Song so engaging because of how they all balance each other out, shifting and evolving into something more than just a ghost story.
A New Ghost Story
The fantastical elements and magical fiddle make than more than a ghost story. It is the fiddle that is key in making the story interesting. The fiddle is the connection Shady has with the ghosts, but there are more layers to that connection than meets the eye. The fiddle and the ghosts give the story layers to evolve, offering readers a fresh and unique take on the ghost story genre.
The idea that ghosts are connected to grief is something relatable and reminiscent of Shirley Jackson. Ghost Wood Song is an emotional read as it ties the ghosts to strong emotions, highlighting how people can create their hauntings. Ghost Wood Song highlights the impact of emotions, like hate, rage, grief, and love, and how strongly they connect to ghosts. The emotional spectrum this novel explores gives the story depth and makes it relatable to the reader. It creates a novel full of complexities that are worth exploring.
Strong Characters
What is also great here is the LGBTQ representation. Shady Grove herself is a bisexual character, and while she is dealing with her family drama, she also has to contend with the complex emotions she has for two other characters. Sarah is a lesbian whom Shady is attracted to but their dynamic does not flow because they are so different as people. There are times when Sarah is unlikable because she is just a bad friend. This is not to stay the novel shames the LGBTQ community because Sarah grows and with Rose, another lesbian, they grow, and their romance gets the attention it deserves to develop the characters.
The complexities surrounding the romance highlight the complex nature of the characters and how life sometimes just gets in the way. Shady is bisexual, and exploring the complexities that go into being bisexual makes the story engaging and creates real characters.
All the dynamics between Shady and her friends are well developed. There is much tension between them but their friendship, what ties them together, does not disintegrate. It evolves alongside the story, matching up with the range of emotions that drive the novel forward and give its tension. These are multidimensional characters who are also relatable, highlighting Water’s ability to create strong characters.
Final Thoughts
Ghost Wood Song is a brilliant novel. Waters give the story a strong core, one that evolves and blossoms into such an unforgettable, haunting, and beautiful novel.
See more reviews at Cyn's Workshop and follow me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify Podcast | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads+ | LinkedIn
Ghost Wood Song Is such a haunting and spellbinding read. Erica Waters has imbued the novel with enough southern charm to keep the tone smooth. Moreover, she has also filled the novel with enough fantasy and magic to balance out the eerie atmospheric and contemporary feel the novel gives off. Ghost Wood Song is a thought-provoking and compelling because it has not only character development but exceptional story development.
Compelling Story
From the beginning, the Ghost Wood Song submerges readers in the ghostly atmosphere. There is a strong sense of something magical happening on the fringes of the story, balancing out that haunting feel. Early on, the reader sees the connection Shady has to the ghost that haunts her, from ghosts hanging around her to her fathers’ fiddle calling to her.
This fantastical and haunting balance gives the story powerful tension, guiding the reader into Shady’s complicated life.
The tension is ultimately what makes Ghost Wood Song so captivating. The movement and tone, they flow beautifully, bringing to life the music in the story. It is so rich and haunting, keeping the reader engaged. The atmospheric setting, the evolution of the story and characters, make the Ghost Wood Song so engaging because of how they all balance each other out, shifting and evolving into something more than just a ghost story.
A New Ghost Story
The fantastical elements and magical fiddle make than more than a ghost story. It is the fiddle that is key in making the story interesting. The fiddle is the connection Shady has with the ghosts, but there are more layers to that connection than meets the eye. The fiddle and the ghosts give the story layers to evolve, offering readers a fresh and unique take on the ghost story genre.
The idea that ghosts are connected to grief is something relatable and reminiscent of Shirley Jackson. Ghost Wood Song is an emotional read as it ties the ghosts to strong emotions, highlighting how people can create their hauntings. Ghost Wood Song highlights the impact of emotions, like hate, rage, grief, and love, and how strongly they connect to ghosts. The emotional spectrum this novel explores gives the story depth and makes it relatable to the reader. It creates a novel full of complexities that are worth exploring.
Strong Characters
What is also great here is the LGBTQ representation. Shady Grove herself is a bisexual character, and while she is dealing with her family drama, she also has to contend with the complex emotions she has for two other characters. Sarah is a lesbian whom Shady is attracted to but their dynamic does not flow because they are so different as people. There are times when Sarah is unlikable because she is just a bad friend. This is not to stay the novel shames the LGBTQ community because Sarah grows and with Rose, another lesbian, they grow, and their romance gets the attention it deserves to develop the characters.
The complexities surrounding the romance highlight the complex nature of the characters and how life sometimes just gets in the way. Shady is bisexual, and exploring the complexities that go into being bisexual makes the story engaging and creates real characters.
All the dynamics between Shady and her friends are well developed. There is much tension between them but their friendship, what ties them together, does not disintegrate. It evolves alongside the story, matching up with the range of emotions that drive the novel forward and give its tension. These are multidimensional characters who are also relatable, highlighting Water’s ability to create strong characters.
Final Thoughts
Ghost Wood Song is a brilliant novel. Waters give the story a strong core, one that evolves and blossoms into such an unforgettable, haunting, and beautiful novel.
See more reviews at Cyn's Workshop and follow me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify Podcast | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads+ | LinkedIn
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It is a very slow placed book & it took a long time to get going. I usually finish a book within a day or two but this was took over a week because nothing drew me in.
3.5/5
Huge thanks to the publisher via Edelweiss+
for the eARC! This in no way affects my review
Ghost Wood Song is a story about love and loss, the stages of grief, music and ghosts, secrets, and family. It is a sibling bond so strong that old secrets are dug up and put to rest in order to save each other. It is a father and daughter relationship so pure that regardless of any misdeeds or secrets, they still care for and support each other. It is a boy wrongly accused of murder and a girl who would do anything to prove his innocence. Ghost Wood Song is all of this with a bit of romance and friendships, a girl torn between her best friend and a boy she only recently started getting to know, and another girl who wants her best friend but is so hung up on her ex and past emotional trauma that she can't stay committed to a choice.
Shady Grove, or Shady as everyone calls her, lost her father four years ago and still can't get over the fact that he is gone. He was her role model, her teacher, her father, the one she looked up to the most and learnt to love music from. He taught her how to play the fiddle, showed her some secrets of the magic it holds and the ghosts it calls. Her whole family still hurts from his absence, however Jim (her father's best friend, and now her mother's lover) is there to fill the spot and provide for them.
Jesse, Shady's brother, is always arguing with Jim and getting into trouble, changed into an angry and bitter young man. But everything changes for him when he is accused of murder, and despite how protective and kind he is to his sister, most people believe he really is capable of such violence. Shady is possibly the only person on his side, and despite the fact that he makes her promise not to go searching for their father's fiddle and getting answers from ghosts, Shady just can't shake off the fiddle's calls or her brother's looming guilty sentence. So no matter what she finds out about her brother, Shady will do whatever she can to prove his innocence.
no matter what he lied about, no matter what he did. Like Mama said, that's what you do for family. You love them and take care of them, not because they are always good or right, but because they belong to you.
The descriptions of the music are absolutely beautiful! I adore the detail in tone and atmosphere, how the player's emotions can change how the music sounds while they play. Shady used the music as a kind of therapy, to let her frustration and sadness out, to get lost in the memories of her father teaching her songs to play. She craves the music and it really shows in the writing, with how she handles her instrument with care and constantly wants to play, to hear the music she makes. Sarah used music to fill the silence, and Orlando uses it to be closer to his family.
Daddy's fiddle drew ghosts like hummingbirds to nectar. Mine only reminds me of everything I'm not, everything I'll never be.
However, Shady sometimes has to work through some pretty rough emotions, having to deal with not only her father being gone but also her brother most likely going to jail, not to mention that her crush and best friend Sarah can't seem to make up her mind on whether she wants to be with Shady or not. Which, I do want to point out, felt a little lackluster? I personally did not feel the attraction or chemistry between Shady and Sarah, and felt it ended too quickly? Shady mentioned many times how much it hurt her to have Sarah show interest and then either ignore her or pretend nothing happened, and then Shady is given a choice that she seems to make pretty easily (we never really got an internal or external battle of feelings to show why she chose who she did). Regardless, I like that they were still able to be friends and that we have bisexual as well as lesbian characters.
But the memory crept in with the music, clawed and fanged. I close my eyes and let it rip me open.
In her mission to save her brother, Shady comes across some buried secrets and long ago memories most feel are best forgotten. The author not only gives us eerie, dark secrets and scary ghosts that wish only harm, but also provides a message and reassurance, that so long as we face things head on and get it out of our system, things won't be so bad; it will be a little easier to deal with.
All this family ever does is bury its secrets, and yet they keep climbing out of the dirt and sneaking up on us. Maybe if we just dig them up and face them, they can't hurt us all so much. Maybe if we speak them out loud, they won't have so much power over us.
Overall, I really liked this! It was atmospheric and eerie at times, full of so many good lessons and strong family/friendship bonds. I do recommend giving this one a try if you enjoy reading about ghosts, family bonds, and light murder mystery (I say light because it was mainly focused on ghosts and getting information from them rather than investigating people and their motives).
Please be advised that these quotes are taken from an ARC and may not be in the published copy.
Huge thanks to the publisher via Edelweiss+
for the eARC! This in no way affects my review
Ghost Wood Song is a story about love and loss, the stages of grief, music and ghosts, secrets, and family. It is a sibling bond so strong that old secrets are dug up and put to rest in order to save each other. It is a father and daughter relationship so pure that regardless of any misdeeds or secrets, they still care for and support each other. It is a boy wrongly accused of murder and a girl who would do anything to prove his innocence. Ghost Wood Song is all of this with a bit of romance and friendships, a girl torn between her best friend and a boy she only recently started getting to know, and another girl who wants her best friend but is so hung up on her ex and past emotional trauma that she can't stay committed to a choice.
Shady Grove, or Shady as everyone calls her, lost her father four years ago and still can't get over the fact that he is gone. He was her role model, her teacher, her father, the one she looked up to the most and learnt to love music from. He taught her how to play the fiddle, showed her some secrets of the magic it holds and the ghosts it calls. Her whole family still hurts from his absence, however Jim (her father's best friend, and now her mother's lover) is there to fill the spot and provide for them.
Jesse, Shady's brother, is always arguing with Jim and getting into trouble, changed into an angry and bitter young man. But everything changes for him when he is accused of murder, and despite how protective and kind he is to his sister, most people believe he really is capable of such violence. Shady is possibly the only person on his side, and despite the fact that he makes her promise not to go searching for their father's fiddle and getting answers from ghosts, Shady just can't shake off the fiddle's calls or her brother's looming guilty sentence. So no matter what she finds out about her brother, Shady will do whatever she can to prove his innocence.
no matter what he lied about, no matter what he did. Like Mama said, that's what you do for family. You love them and take care of them, not because they are always good or right, but because they belong to you.
The descriptions of the music are absolutely beautiful! I adore the detail in tone and atmosphere, how the player's emotions can change how the music sounds while they play. Shady used the music as a kind of therapy, to let her frustration and sadness out, to get lost in the memories of her father teaching her songs to play. She craves the music and it really shows in the writing, with how she handles her instrument with care and constantly wants to play, to hear the music she makes. Sarah used music to fill the silence, and Orlando uses it to be closer to his family.
Daddy's fiddle drew ghosts like hummingbirds to nectar. Mine only reminds me of everything I'm not, everything I'll never be.
However, Shady sometimes has to work through some pretty rough emotions, having to deal with not only her father being gone but also her brother most likely going to jail, not to mention that her crush and best friend Sarah can't seem to make up her mind on whether she wants to be with Shady or not. Which, I do want to point out, felt a little lackluster? I personally did not feel the attraction or chemistry between Shady and Sarah, and felt it ended too quickly? Shady mentioned many times how much it hurt her to have Sarah show interest and then either ignore her or pretend nothing happened, and then Shady is given a choice that she seems to make pretty easily (we never really got an internal or external battle of feelings to show why she chose who she did). Regardless, I like that they were still able to be friends and that we have bisexual as well as lesbian characters.
But the memory crept in with the music, clawed and fanged. I close my eyes and let it rip me open.
In her mission to save her brother, Shady comes across some buried secrets and long ago memories most feel are best forgotten. The author not only gives us eerie, dark secrets and scary ghosts that wish only harm, but also provides a message and reassurance, that so long as we face things head on and get it out of our system, things won't be so bad; it will be a little easier to deal with.
All this family ever does is bury its secrets, and yet they keep climbing out of the dirt and sneaking up on us. Maybe if we just dig them up and face them, they can't hurt us all so much. Maybe if we speak them out loud, they won't have so much power over us.
Overall, I really liked this! It was atmospheric and eerie at times, full of so many good lessons and strong family/friendship bonds. I do recommend giving this one a try if you enjoy reading about ghosts, family bonds, and light murder mystery (I say light because it was mainly focused on ghosts and getting information from them rather than investigating people and their motives).
Please be advised that these quotes are taken from an ARC and may not be in the published copy.
"I've lived with ghosts my whole life but this is the first time I have ever felt haunted."
Oh my lord, this was such a phenomenal piece of writing, and the fact that it is a debut novel absolutely blows me away.
Ghost Wood Song is a story steeped in atmosphere and all the October vibes. It is a rich gem of a story full of twisted familial relations and the power of secrets, grief, and eventually letting go. It is honestly, unlike anything I have ever read. It's emotive and poetic whilst still being descriptive. A work of art that makes me so excited to see where this author goes from her. It literally made me cry in places which is so rare for me, and super surprising when you consider the chilly and creepy atmosphere that it has.
The small southern town setting and the use of the music influences really added to the story in my opinion. It's full of secrecy and overall so much intrigue. But at the same time, there is this undeniable warmth and charisma of home, which in a way makes it even more chilling once you read into it a bit more. Villains can really lurk in the most unlikely places.
The romance did feel like a bit of an unnecessary plot point but I can see the growth it provided our main character and I am always up for some bisexual representation. Similarly, I found myself being impatient around the middle of the book whilst the last 100 pages flew by. But again these critiques are very much a personal preference rather than a bad thing. It is slow-paced and maybe even unevenly paced in parts, but I think considering this is the authors first novel it can be overlooked.
This book really played my heartstrings like I was a fiddle. But, I am not mad about it whatsoever! Highly recommend if you are a fan of beautiful writing and atmospheric stories.
Rated: 4 Stars
Oh my lord, this was such a phenomenal piece of writing, and the fact that it is a debut novel absolutely blows me away.
Ghost Wood Song is a story steeped in atmosphere and all the October vibes. It is a rich gem of a story full of twisted familial relations and the power of secrets, grief, and eventually letting go. It is honestly, unlike anything I have ever read. It's emotive and poetic whilst still being descriptive. A work of art that makes me so excited to see where this author goes from her. It literally made me cry in places which is so rare for me, and super surprising when you consider the chilly and creepy atmosphere that it has.
The small southern town setting and the use of the music influences really added to the story in my opinion. It's full of secrecy and overall so much intrigue. But at the same time, there is this undeniable warmth and charisma of home, which in a way makes it even more chilling once you read into it a bit more. Villains can really lurk in the most unlikely places.
The romance did feel like a bit of an unnecessary plot point but I can see the growth it provided our main character and I am always up for some bisexual representation. Similarly, I found myself being impatient around the middle of the book whilst the last 100 pages flew by. But again these critiques are very much a personal preference rather than a bad thing. It is slow-paced and maybe even unevenly paced in parts, but I think considering this is the authors first novel it can be overlooked.
This book really played my heartstrings like I was a fiddle. But, I am not mad about it whatsoever! Highly recommend if you are a fan of beautiful writing and atmospheric stories.
Rated: 4 Stars
A YA eerie Gothic Novel about a fiddle that can raise the ghosts of a dysfunctional families past. Shady discovered she can summon ghosts using her fathers old fiddle, when her brother is accused of murder she summons the dead to find answers to the crime.
I enjoyed this book. The description had me so excited to read it, it claimed to be a ghost story and a haunting tale which hit the mark in many ways.
I found the book and writing really atmospheric and indeed at times eerie.
There is a fair barrage of action in this book, no chance to really sit still for too long but a few things threw me of course.
The first was the love triangle. A little too obvious and predictable for my liking, I think id have preferred a stronger connection between two characters in its place, as there is a lot going on it felt like the love interest was very much a side story, a two character relationship could have been developed more I felt.
The mystery unfolding was really suspenseful, I enjoyed that a lot. For a long while, I had no clue how events would unfold with a good bit of mystery but although I found the writing eerie and suspenseful I'd have liked some straight up terror in this book, I think it would have felt right at home and from a book that promises creepiness I'd have liked a little more spooking!
All in all it was a great read, it seems beautifully written to me some of the descriptions are stunning.
I would recommend more to readers that enjoy a mystery over a ghost story
I enjoyed this book. The description had me so excited to read it, it claimed to be a ghost story and a haunting tale which hit the mark in many ways.
I found the book and writing really atmospheric and indeed at times eerie.
There is a fair barrage of action in this book, no chance to really sit still for too long but a few things threw me of course.
The first was the love triangle. A little too obvious and predictable for my liking, I think id have preferred a stronger connection between two characters in its place, as there is a lot going on it felt like the love interest was very much a side story, a two character relationship could have been developed more I felt.
The mystery unfolding was really suspenseful, I enjoyed that a lot. For a long while, I had no clue how events would unfold with a good bit of mystery but although I found the writing eerie and suspenseful I'd have liked some straight up terror in this book, I think it would have felt right at home and from a book that promises creepiness I'd have liked a little more spooking!
All in all it was a great read, it seems beautifully written to me some of the descriptions are stunning.
I would recommend more to readers that enjoy a mystery over a ghost story
I only didn’t finish this book because immediately it hit on some I tagged triggers if mine.
Content Warnings
Trigger warnings for sleep paralysis and shadow people.
Duas estrelas e meia na real. Achei a ambientação do livro lindíssima! Algo meio southern ghotic com cowboys, mas os personagens do livro são tão sem gracinha! Não me afeiçoei a nenhum.