The Wood

                Hello happy readers!  Internet issues aside, seriously I’m about ready to just cancel my service since I spend more time on hold with customer service and trying to fix it than I do being able to use it, I had a great weekend.  While I didn’t get to post my Friday review as planned or share my one new book I did a pirate themed escape room with some friends and we rocked it and escaped with time to spare!  Plus I can do my review today so it works out.  But before I get to my review I have a small bit of news.  I am going out of town for a family reunion and won’t have my computer since I’ll be spending 36 hours in a vehicle and the rest with family who don’t believe in having wifi. So I will be taking off tomorrow until next Wednesday.  Bright side is car time should be read/listen time!  Now for todays review I received a copy of The Wood by Chelsea Bobulski in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

                The Wood is a suspenseful supernatural debut book.  Winter is a guardian redirecting any travelers back to their portal when they accidentally step from their time and place into the wood.  She is the only one after her father went missing.  He stepped off the path.  That is impossible for a guardian leading Winter to suspect there is something off about his disappearance than she is told.  One day she comes across a boy in the wood who is not there by accident and is determined to pass through.  It’s her job to keep him in his time.  But when he believes his mission may be connected to her father’s disappearance and why the wood has started to change, Winter determines it may be worth the risk to work with him.

                Going into this book I was intrigued by the cover and the summary but I didn’t know fully what to expect.  It had so many elements woven together into this story with the Old Ones, guardians, the wood and all that fill it, time travel, and more.  The wood managed to play both an eerie and dangerous backdrop to the story but also a character itself.  Always changing and evolving almost as if it has its own personality.  I enjoyed the way we learned about the wood and this world.  Everything seems normal on the outside but inside the wood things are very different.  I understood it and it made perfect sense to me.

                Winter is easy to relate with.  She has this huge responsibility on her shoulders.  She didn’t choose this life but was born into it.  She is just trying to make the most of her life as she tries to balance normal things like school and friends with running off to take care of travelers.  She has a complicated relationship with her mother that has ups and downs.  Henry is likable from the start.  He’s cute and sweet trying to find those he loves.  He is a man out of time (and I admit to having some Kate & Leopold flash backs) and has the childlike amazement of seeing the world and things we take for granted as the miracles they are (showers and electricity).  He was determined on his journey but he is also very protective. 

“What is this infernal contraption?”

“It’s an alarm clock,” I say, my voice deep and sleep-scratchy.  “It wakes you up.”

“Evidently not.”

                This is one complete story that manages to bring an entire little world to life and wrap things up in the end.  It was a neat standalone that I could easily see having more books with different parts of the world. While most things did wrap up nicely there was one specific part I had been hoping for a bit more on, though I have since come up with my own little epilogue in my head to resolve that.  Aside from that little thing, that may be in part to my selfishness I loved this book.  I loved all the different layers wrapped inside this one story of the wood. 

                That’s all for me for the next week.  I’m going home after work to pack (yes I waited until less than 12 hours) and have some wine because packing deserves it and get ready to head out.  When I come back I have an author interview with Hannah Bucchin and more.  Wish me luck. 

               

                Until next time…