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dari03's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
saschabookishowl's review against another edition
3.0
*3.75 stars*
I loved the atmosphere of this book, it really pulled off that southern vibe with a creepy swamp. I really enjoyed the first part, it was thrilling. However, in the middle and nearing the end, the pace slowed a bit and I kept pushing the protagonist in my thoughts 'go on make a plan, just do it'. Could have been a 4 star read if the second half of the book had introduced more new elements/plot-lines. Overall it was enjoyable. It is a book that focuses more on the plot than the characters.
I loved the atmosphere of this book, it really pulled off that southern vibe with a creepy swamp. I really enjoyed the first part, it was thrilling. However, in the middle and nearing the end, the pace slowed a bit and I kept pushing the protagonist in my thoughts 'go on make a plan, just do it'. Could have been a 4 star read if the second half of the book had introduced more new elements/plot-lines. Overall it was enjoyable. It is a book that focuses more on the plot than the characters.
theseventhl's review against another edition
5.0
There's a young woman who says she's your sister, and you have memories of growing up with her, running from your abusive father with her, laughing and fighting and living with her - but she's not your sister. You've never had a sister. Who is she - and who did she replace to get there?
There's a whole history of her inside my head, but it's flimsy and thin. It's not real. She's not real.
I don't make a habit out of reading Southern fantasy/horror stories, stories about small towns with big secrets and mysterious swamps and dangerous spirits who take the place of human beings and can rewrite local history to fit their unnatural presence. But now, with BEYOND THE WILD, I just might end up looking for them more often.
"I don't mean to scare you, but this swamp listens. You must be careful what you say."
Natalie C. Parker has weaved together a near-perfect tale of Southern fantasy, in which the swamp is alive and real and as much a character as its main protagonist, Sterling.
I was impressed by the utmost depth and complexity of Sterling: she is stubborn and single-minded about her quest to retrieve her brother Phin from the swamp, although she is plagued with guilt thinking she drove him into it. She often barrels through a problem to get to the end of it, even though her stress leads her to abandon her good health (and the author did a good job portraying her grief-induced eating problems, handling the issue of ED with a learned and sensitive hand).
She falls in love but she doesn't let it completely cloud her vision - but that doesn't mean she won't panic when her new boyfriend is hurt. The Sterling/Heath couple is a bumpy one but they have a shared history that keeps them together and a growing love and respect for each other that makes it stay that way. Not much time is spent on Sterling mooning over Heath before they officially hook up, and I'm glad for it.
I loved Sterling's friends, from her handsome troubled boyfriend Heath, who gets to have issues without falling into the stereotypical trap of the rebellious boy figure in YA lit, to her clever, storybook obsessed best friend Candy who solves problems with studying and booze (aka my kind of lady).
This book excels at representation of characters and traits not commonly found in mainstream YA. Abigail is a lesbian and not a tragic one, the town is filled with characters of color while still subtly addressing the issue of racism in a small Southern community, and the narrative deals with EDs and mental health without being crass or lecturing. There are positive female friendships, healthy boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, and a complicated sibling relationship that drives the entire novel. I feel like Sticks could very well be a real Louisiana town, that I could hop on the bus right now and be within its limits by day's end.
With howls and groans and pleading, dear,
The swamp will call you near,
Beware the songs it sings to you,
Beware the things you hear.
One of the best things that BEWARE THE WILD does is mess with your perception of what's real and what's a lie. In a story where the swamp bewitches and befuddles its local residents on a regular basis, to the point of rewriting memories, it's no wonder that some people are less reliable than others. Read this book with a vigilant, suspicious mind; be like Sterling and question everything, even the facts. And don't let the swamp get into your mind...
BEWARE THE WILD is gorgeously written and has a compelling story. I had a hard time putting it down once I started; I finished the book in several marathon binge reads before bed, which meant a few sleepless nights, but it was worth it. I'm looking forward to whatever story Natalie C. Parker tells next.
Note: This book is an advance reading copy (ARC) and was given to me through HarperTeen and the Goodreads' First Reads program. I received no monetary compensation for the writing of this review. All quotes are from the uncorrected proof and are liable to be changed in the official version.
There's a whole history of her inside my head, but it's flimsy and thin. It's not real. She's not real.
I don't make a habit out of reading Southern fantasy/horror stories, stories about small towns with big secrets and mysterious swamps and dangerous spirits who take the place of human beings and can rewrite local history to fit their unnatural presence. But now, with BEYOND THE WILD, I just might end up looking for them more often.
"I don't mean to scare you, but this swamp listens. You must be careful what you say."
Natalie C. Parker has weaved together a near-perfect tale of Southern fantasy, in which the swamp is alive and real and as much a character as its main protagonist, Sterling.
I was impressed by the utmost depth and complexity of Sterling: she is stubborn and single-minded about her quest to retrieve her brother Phin from the swamp, although she is plagued with guilt thinking she drove him into it. She often barrels through a problem to get to the end of it, even though her stress leads her to abandon her good health (and the author did a good job portraying her grief-induced eating problems, handling the issue of ED with a learned and sensitive hand).
She falls in love but she doesn't let it completely cloud her vision - but that doesn't mean she won't panic when her new boyfriend is hurt. The Sterling/Heath couple is a bumpy one but they have a shared history that keeps them together and a growing love and respect for each other that makes it stay that way. Not much time is spent on Sterling mooning over Heath before they officially hook up, and I'm glad for it.
I loved Sterling's friends, from her handsome troubled boyfriend Heath, who gets to have issues without falling into the stereotypical trap of the rebellious boy figure in YA lit, to her clever, storybook obsessed best friend Candy who solves problems with studying and booze (aka my kind of lady).
This book excels at representation of characters and traits not commonly found in mainstream YA. Abigail is a lesbian and not a tragic one, the town is filled with characters of color while still subtly addressing the issue of racism in a small Southern community, and the narrative deals with EDs and mental health without being crass or lecturing. There are positive female friendships, healthy boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, and a complicated sibling relationship that drives the entire novel. I feel like Sticks could very well be a real Louisiana town, that I could hop on the bus right now and be within its limits by day's end.
With howls and groans and pleading, dear,
The swamp will call you near,
Beware the songs it sings to you,
Beware the things you hear.
One of the best things that BEWARE THE WILD does is mess with your perception of what's real and what's a lie. In a story where the swamp bewitches and befuddles its local residents on a regular basis, to the point of rewriting memories, it's no wonder that some people are less reliable than others. Read this book with a vigilant, suspicious mind; be like Sterling and question everything, even the facts. And don't let the swamp get into your mind...
BEWARE THE WILD is gorgeously written and has a compelling story. I had a hard time putting it down once I started; I finished the book in several marathon binge reads before bed, which meant a few sleepless nights, but it was worth it. I'm looking forward to whatever story Natalie C. Parker tells next.
Note: This book is an advance reading copy (ARC) and was given to me through HarperTeen and the Goodreads' First Reads program. I received no monetary compensation for the writing of this review. All quotes are from the uncorrected proof and are liable to be changed in the official version.
squirrelsohno's review against another edition
3.0
I really am not sure what to say about Natalie C. Parker's debut "Beware the Wild". It's a book about a town in the swampy bayous of Louisiana where a fence stands between the town of Sticks and its most dreaded enemy, the creepy swamp. One day, our heroine Sterling's brother disappears into the swamp after a fight, and is soon replaced with a girl named Lenora May who takes his place as the sister she never had, and nobody - besides Sterling - is ever the wiser.
At the heart of "Beware the Wild" isn't so much the paranormal element, I think, but more about relationships and memories, and what happens when you know something with your heart but suffer the knowledge that everyone else thinks you're completely insane in thinking it. This is the best part of the novel, watching Sterling deal with her complicated life and act like a trouper through it. Sterling probably was herself one of the better parts of the novel. She was strong, determined, and unwavering in her devotion to her lost brother, going to the point of risking her life to save him. She was determined to be proven right, and I like that in a girl.
For a good portion of the book, though, I was either confused or just completely did not care. By the end I don't know if I just didn't connect or if the book just wasn't for me from the get go. I enjoyed the setting. I enjoyed the mood. I enjoyed Sterling, minus her love interest. I enjoyed her friends for the most part. I just don't think that Parker did enough in her debut to connect the reader to all the characters, and to set it up so the flow was engrossing and follow-able.
Parker's debut does have a lot going for it. The prose is nice and crisp, the descriptions vivid enough without being the entire story, and the characters for the most part nice and well-rounded (with an exception I will get to in a minute). There were just times where I found it confusing or boring, where it wandered down paths, or where the characters just didn't act like reasonable humans. These were the parts that threw me for a loop and left this book at a 3 star rating.
But this all brings me to one selling point of the novel that I just didn't find was true at all.
"This debut novel is full of atmosphere, twists and turns, and a swoon-worthy romance."
Let's talk about that romance. Our love interest is Heath, a boy that Sterling apparently was very into a few years back before he became reclusive, drug-addled, and completely off her radar, until he pops back into her life as she tries to figure out what happened to her brother. Except there is a problem with Heath - he's boring and there is absolutely no chemistry between him and Sterling. This romance is totally less than swoonworthy. Their return to a relationship after years of not even talking was less than realistic, and he annoyed me to death half the time. Heath felt tacked on for solely the sake of having a romance.
Overall, "Beware the Wild" wasn't entirely for me, but it was far from having no merits. It was a beautiful story with a distinct hook, but in a market filled with books that are packed with everything - great plot, great characters, great writing, and even a great romance - I'm not sure if "Beware the Wild" is something I would ever pick up off a shelf. But am I okay with the fact I read it? Yes. It was a pretty good read.
At the heart of "Beware the Wild" isn't so much the paranormal element, I think, but more about relationships and memories, and what happens when you know something with your heart but suffer the knowledge that everyone else thinks you're completely insane in thinking it. This is the best part of the novel, watching Sterling deal with her complicated life and act like a trouper through it. Sterling probably was herself one of the better parts of the novel. She was strong, determined, and unwavering in her devotion to her lost brother, going to the point of risking her life to save him. She was determined to be proven right, and I like that in a girl.
For a good portion of the book, though, I was either confused or just completely did not care. By the end I don't know if I just didn't connect or if the book just wasn't for me from the get go. I enjoyed the setting. I enjoyed the mood. I enjoyed Sterling, minus her love interest. I enjoyed her friends for the most part. I just don't think that Parker did enough in her debut to connect the reader to all the characters, and to set it up so the flow was engrossing and follow-able.
Parker's debut does have a lot going for it. The prose is nice and crisp, the descriptions vivid enough without being the entire story, and the characters for the most part nice and well-rounded (with an exception I will get to in a minute). There were just times where I found it confusing or boring, where it wandered down paths, or where the characters just didn't act like reasonable humans. These were the parts that threw me for a loop and left this book at a 3 star rating.
But this all brings me to one selling point of the novel that I just didn't find was true at all.
"This debut novel is full of atmosphere, twists and turns, and a swoon-worthy romance."
Let's talk about that romance. Our love interest is Heath, a boy that Sterling apparently was very into a few years back before he became reclusive, drug-addled, and completely off her radar, until he pops back into her life as she tries to figure out what happened to her brother. Except there is a problem with Heath - he's boring and there is absolutely no chemistry between him and Sterling. This romance is totally less than swoonworthy. Their return to a relationship after years of not even talking was less than realistic, and he annoyed me to death half the time. Heath felt tacked on for solely the sake of having a romance.
Overall, "Beware the Wild" wasn't entirely for me, but it was far from having no merits. It was a beautiful story with a distinct hook, but in a market filled with books that are packed with everything - great plot, great characters, great writing, and even a great romance - I'm not sure if "Beware the Wild" is something I would ever pick up off a shelf. But am I okay with the fact I read it? Yes. It was a pretty good read.
elockwood's review against another edition
5.0
Spooky, unsettling, and lovely. Characters I wish were my friends when I was in high school. A story about how meaningful it is to be believed.
justlily's review against another edition
5.0
I usually reserve my five stars for those books that change me somehow. A line that sticks with me forever because it described exactly the way I've felt. Characters I fall head over heels for and will carry with me always. Things like that.
That's not really the case here.
Instead, this book gets five stars because I've never read any of it before. I have never read a YA book like this before, with this plot, with these kinds of characters... It is entirely and completely unique. Something I almost never get to say when it comes to YA.
I loved the Southern setting here. The author struck the perfect balance of making it stand out without being cliche. It lent so much to the characters and their interactions and motivations. Also they all had really cool names, so there's that.
A lot of times for me, and this goes across the genres, romance is a huge turn off. I just really find it almost unpalatable pretty much all the time. So prepare for the shock of a lifetime when I said I loved it here. I believed it, I found it sweet and endearing and "age-appropriate" for the ages of the characters. It was just incredibly well done.
I can't give this less than five stars. Although it wasn't life changing, it pretty much had no faults.
That's not really the case here.
Instead, this book gets five stars because I've never read any of it before. I have never read a YA book like this before, with this plot, with these kinds of characters... It is entirely and completely unique. Something I almost never get to say when it comes to YA.
I loved the Southern setting here. The author struck the perfect balance of making it stand out without being cliche. It lent so much to the characters and their interactions and motivations. Also they all had really cool names, so there's that.
A lot of times for me, and this goes across the genres, romance is a huge turn off. I just really find it almost unpalatable pretty much all the time. So prepare for the shock of a lifetime when I said I loved it here. I believed it, I found it sweet and endearing and "age-appropriate" for the ages of the characters. It was just incredibly well done.
I can't give this less than five stars. Although it wasn't life changing, it pretty much had no faults.
mellabella's review against another edition
3.0
I think I had really high expectations of this book. Maybe it was the cover. Or, reviews I read on another site. It was enjoyable. Don't get me wrong. Very Southern Gothic. While it had it's creepy moments, I wasn't bowled over. Sterling's brother Phineas went into the haunted swamp one day. Everyone knows not to venture into the swamp.There are all kinds of bad things in there. Who comes out the day Phineas goes in is Lenora May. She takes his place as Sterling's sister and no one remembers Phineas. Except for Sterling and town "troublemaker" Heath. Heath lost his best friend to the swamp. Rumors of him being bad news followed. I liked the small twists and turns. The teen romance aspect wasn't annoying. Depending on what you are looking for, it will probably leave you satisfied.
lia_trn's review against another edition
5.0
"... wanting the power to protect someone he loved drove him to take as much as he could. In the end, he was so powerful that little of his humanity is left, then he was more of a danger than a protector."
That was my favorite line from the book (I changed it a bit so it would be easy to understand out of context).
I know how it's like to constantly justify all the wrong doings of an overprotective loved one, how it's like to be angry of being held trapped, and how it's like to feel guilty and heartless for trying to get away...
As you can guess, I feel connected to this book on a very personal level, so my rating may have been biaised~
Still! It was a very enjoyable read and a very interesting one too!!!. If the story has been a little bit more creepier, it would be the best read I had so far this year.
That was my favorite line from the book (I changed it a bit so it would be easy to understand out of context).
I know how it's like to constantly justify all the wrong doings of an overprotective loved one, how it's like to be angry of being held trapped, and how it's like to feel guilty and heartless for trying to get away...
As you can guess, I feel connected to this book on a very personal level, so my rating may have been biaised~
Still! It was a very enjoyable read and a very interesting one too!!!. If the story has been a little bit more creepier, it would be the best read I had so far this year.