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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this. The writing was beautiful, and the story was so original. While the main character had teenage girl issues, she also was dealing with grown up things and this didn’t feel like a teenager book. I was riveted by the ghosts and the hauntings.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4 stars
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review
This book was unlike anything I have read before! The concept was so unique and the way the author explored many themes was done really well. This story follows Shady, a girl loved playing the fiddle, blue grass music, and is still feeling the loss of her father from years before. She is desperate to find the fiddle her dad left behind, the fiddle that, when played, could make ghosts of the dead reappear. When a murder takes places, and her brother Jesse is the one blamed, she becomes even more desperate to find the fiddle, call upon the ghost of the murdered, and get to the bottom of the mystery.
Like I said before, the way this book wove together mystery, paranormal, and romance was so unique and unlike anything I have read before. I was extremely invested in the mystery surrounding the murder and Shady's family, and was very satisfied with how it all ended up playing out. The setting of backwoods Florida also added the atmosphere, and the vivid descriptions the author gave really helped to immerse me into the spooky setting. I also enjoyed the musical aspect of this story, with the main character and her friends being deeply invested in bluegrass and creating a band. This book also deals a lot with explorations of grief and what can happen if one's grief is left unchecked or bottled up for too long. There is also a lot thoughts on family and the lengths that people go to protect those we love.
For me, the weakest part was the romance. We have two love interests in this story, and things seemed to move quickly, and any romantic problems seemed to be solved pretty quickly. It needed more time to be developed, in my opinion, and it fell flat for me. I also wish that some of our side characters were developed more thoroughly, as they seemed pretty one not.
Overall, this was a very atmospheric and engrossing mystery story.
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review
This book was unlike anything I have read before! The concept was so unique and the way the author explored many themes was done really well. This story follows Shady, a girl loved playing the fiddle, blue grass music, and is still feeling the loss of her father from years before. She is desperate to find the fiddle her dad left behind, the fiddle that, when played, could make ghosts of the dead reappear. When a murder takes places, and her brother Jesse is the one blamed, she becomes even more desperate to find the fiddle, call upon the ghost of the murdered, and get to the bottom of the mystery.
Like I said before, the way this book wove together mystery, paranormal, and romance was so unique and unlike anything I have read before. I was extremely invested in the mystery surrounding the murder and Shady's family, and was very satisfied with how it all ended up playing out. The setting of backwoods Florida also added the atmosphere, and the vivid descriptions the author gave really helped to immerse me into the spooky setting. I also enjoyed the musical aspect of this story, with the main character and her friends being deeply invested in bluegrass and creating a band. This book also deals a lot with explorations of grief and what can happen if one's grief is left unchecked or bottled up for too long. There is also a lot thoughts on family and the lengths that people go to protect those we love.
For me, the weakest part was the romance. We have two love interests in this story, and things seemed to move quickly, and any romantic problems seemed to be solved pretty quickly. It needed more time to be developed, in my opinion, and it fell flat for me. I also wish that some of our side characters were developed more thoroughly, as they seemed pretty one not.
Overall, this was a very atmospheric and engrossing mystery story.
4.5⭐
Shady Grove has always been around ghosts, and thanks to that she is the only one capable of helping her brother.
I liked this book very much, it was interesting, full of secrets, and I highly suggest reading it listening to this playlist; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1JQvtALJQFWsI9TdLYwJ6N
Shady Grove has always been around ghosts, and thanks to that she is the only one capable of helping her brother.
I liked this book very much, it was interesting, full of secrets, and I highly suggest reading it listening to this playlist; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1JQvtALJQFWsI9TdLYwJ6N
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Edelweiss. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
If I could sum up what I enjoyed in Ghost Wood Song in two elements it's got to be the spookiness and all the queerness. We love a bisexual MC with a love triangle that was crafted well. Shady begins the book griefstricken and wondering if she could change the chaos around her and get answers. But we all know sometimes answers don't bring the closure we're looking for and only more questions. Or worse. Disappointment, anger, and revenge.
This debut is haunting. (I know right, cue all the ghost puns now). The setting and the way Waters introduces these atmospheric elements were stunning. I had to stop reading this book before bed y'all. It was a mix of, "small town secrets and handshakes" meets "ghosts, hauntings, and power". Not to mention that Waters was able to weave music into the eerieness in a fabulous way. I LOVED the writing style!
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/review-ghost-wood-song-by-erica-waters/
If I could sum up what I enjoyed in Ghost Wood Song in two elements it's got to be the spookiness and all the queerness. We love a bisexual MC with a love triangle that was crafted well. Shady begins the book griefstricken and wondering if she could change the chaos around her and get answers. But we all know sometimes answers don't bring the closure we're looking for and only more questions. Or worse. Disappointment, anger, and revenge.
This debut is haunting. (I know right, cue all the ghost puns now). The setting and the way Waters introduces these atmospheric elements were stunning. I had to stop reading this book before bed y'all. It was a mix of, "small town secrets and handshakes" meets "ghosts, hauntings, and power". Not to mention that Waters was able to weave music into the eerieness in a fabulous way. I LOVED the writing style!
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/review-ghost-wood-song-by-erica-waters/
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.
The murder mystery saved much of this book for me because it was really not what I was expecting spooky-wise. Everything tied up so neatly at times, it was almost too neat. I think maybe the tone of the writing made it seem more....young than I was expecting. I didn't really feel that heavy ghost story atmosphere when I know I was supposed to.
3.5 stars. Pacing felt weird and drawn out. Sometimes foreshadowing felt like a reveal, but wasn’t treated as a reveal within the book, so when it came time for the actual reveal I was just left thinking “didn’t we know this already?”
“I’ve lived with ghosts my whole life, but this is the first time I’ve ever felt haunted.”
Every time I read a creepy book set in the woods, I think to myself, “this is it, this is the last time I read a book set in the woods!” And yet, as soon as I see another story with an eerie forest setting, I toss everything aside and run straight for it. That’s exactly what happened with Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters, and while my sleep schedule might regret it, the rest of me does not.
Ghost Wood Song follows the story of Shady Grove, a teenage girl living in Florida who is no stranger to ghosts. The house she grew up in is haunted, and her father had the ability to communicate with the dead by playing his fiddle. Now, years after his own death, Shady finds herself searching for his fiddle so she can raise some ghosts of her own to help protect her brother, Jesse. He’s been accused of a murder, and while all evidence points to him, Shady knows he didn’t do it.
Throughout the story, we see how Shady’s past and present come together. She knows the facts aren’t adding up with her brother’s case, and does whatever she can, including putting herself in very real danger, to find the truth.
Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are some wonderful friendships, and relationships, that develop throughout the book as well. That, paired with Shady’s love of music, added a wholesome layer to the story that was a welcome distraction from the spooky stuff that was also happening.
The story blends horror with aspects of a thriller, and comes together perfectly for a YA audience. However, it’s worth noting that I, an almost 30-year old, loved this book. It’s being marketed as “Sawkill Girls meets Beautiful Creatures,” and as someone who LOVED Sawkill Girls, I can confirm that the description holds up.
I think my favourite part of the book was the descriptions of the house Shady grew up in. Her Aunt Ena still lives there, and Shady often goes over to visit and brings friends along. During the day it’s not so bad, but at night, the house comes alive with those who used to live there. It reminded me so much of Hill House (the show more than the book), because there were two ghosts Shady spoke about: an old, tall man, and the girl in the ceiling (*immediately gets shivers down my spine*).
Ghost Wood Song has everything I look for in a good horror book: ghosts, a haunted house, an atmospheric setting that will make your skin tingle, LGBTQ+ characters, and family secrets. If you’re a fan of any of these things, be sure to add this book to your list!
Thank you to Harper Collins Canada and HCC Frenzy for sending me a digital copy of Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters in exchange for an honest review. Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters comes out on July 14, 2020, and can be purchased wherever books are sold.
Every time I read a creepy book set in the woods, I think to myself, “this is it, this is the last time I read a book set in the woods!” And yet, as soon as I see another story with an eerie forest setting, I toss everything aside and run straight for it. That’s exactly what happened with Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters, and while my sleep schedule might regret it, the rest of me does not.
Ghost Wood Song follows the story of Shady Grove, a teenage girl living in Florida who is no stranger to ghosts. The house she grew up in is haunted, and her father had the ability to communicate with the dead by playing his fiddle. Now, years after his own death, Shady finds herself searching for his fiddle so she can raise some ghosts of her own to help protect her brother, Jesse. He’s been accused of a murder, and while all evidence points to him, Shady knows he didn’t do it.
Throughout the story, we see how Shady’s past and present come together. She knows the facts aren’t adding up with her brother’s case, and does whatever she can, including putting herself in very real danger, to find the truth.
Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are some wonderful friendships, and relationships, that develop throughout the book as well. That, paired with Shady’s love of music, added a wholesome layer to the story that was a welcome distraction from the spooky stuff that was also happening.
The story blends horror with aspects of a thriller, and comes together perfectly for a YA audience. However, it’s worth noting that I, an almost 30-year old, loved this book. It’s being marketed as “Sawkill Girls meets Beautiful Creatures,” and as someone who LOVED Sawkill Girls, I can confirm that the description holds up.
I think my favourite part of the book was the descriptions of the house Shady grew up in. Her Aunt Ena still lives there, and Shady often goes over to visit and brings friends along. During the day it’s not so bad, but at night, the house comes alive with those who used to live there. It reminded me so much of Hill House (the show more than the book), because there were two ghosts Shady spoke about: an old, tall man, and the girl in the ceiling (*immediately gets shivers down my spine*).
Ghost Wood Song has everything I look for in a good horror book: ghosts, a haunted house, an atmospheric setting that will make your skin tingle, LGBTQ+ characters, and family secrets. If you’re a fan of any of these things, be sure to add this book to your list!
Thank you to Harper Collins Canada and HCC Frenzy for sending me a digital copy of Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters in exchange for an honest review. Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters comes out on July 14, 2020, and can be purchased wherever books are sold.