A review by thebooknerdscorner
A Whisper in the Woods by Elise Nelson

1.0

A slavic inspired fantasy where a young woman is sacrificed to the mythical Leshy in order to bring peace to her suffering village. 

Leena's village is starving and people are going missing. Some say that it is the work of the dangerous monster that lurks in the woods that the townspeople call the Leshy. Abused and longing for more, Leena agrees to be given to the Leshy in hopes of appeasing his insatiable hunger and saving her beloved grandmother. Upon entering the woods, Leena expects to be greeted by nothing more than ominous trees. But as it turns out, the Leshy is real, and he wants Leena in a way that no one has ever wanted her before. Leena is forced into a relationship with the beast, but she is trying her hardest to resist his advances and keep her mind centered on saving her village. As time passes, Leena finds herself more and more drawn to Bratan. He has her in his clutches. . . and that scares Leena more than anything else. 

Unfortunately, this book does a great job of exhibiting pretty much all the qualities that I really dislike in a book. The characters are shallow, the dialogue is repetitive, the writing struggles in several aspects, and the book is overall much too steamy for me. Also, I have been oversaturated in books where young girls are sacrificed to appease some god/creature as of late. 

This book gives off serious "Beauty and the Beast" and "Little Red Riding Hood" vibes, so it reminded me greatly of Hannah Whitten's "Wilderwood" series. I wasn't a fan of that series either, so this was not a good thing for me (especially because I read it earlier this month). 

I haven't encountered the fated mates trope before this book, and I can say with certainty that it is not one that I like all that much. I am not a fan of instalove, and fated mates takes that trope to another level. I am more of a slow burn fan, so Leena and Bratan's relationship moved way too fast for me to get behind. 

What this book lacks in plot, it makes up for in sex scenes. At least half of this book has to be made up of Leena and Bratan pleasuring each other or lusting after one another. I personally prefer my romances closed door, so this wasn't to my particular liking. Also, it held back the main plot from occurring until about the eighty percent mark of the book. By that point, I was far past the point of caring. 

Overall, "A Whisper in the Woods" is a prime example of a book I dislike. From its shallow characters, to its boring dialogue, to its overreliance on sex scenes, I was not enthused in any way. At the best of times, I would have disliked this book immensely. After reading it so close to a similar book that I also disliked? This book had me worn out and waiting for it to end. I'm sure that lovers of spicy romantasies may get a kick out of this book, but I certainly didn't enjoy my time with it at all.