02 August 2012

Review: The Little Woods

Title: The Little Woods
Author: McCormick Templeman
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Release Date: July 10, 2012
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC

Are the woods behind St. Bede's Academy really haunted, or does bad stuff just happen there? When Calista Wood, a new student, arrives midway through her junior year, St. Bede's feels like a normal school . . . until she discovers that a girl had disappeared a couple of months earlier. Some kids think she ran away, others think she was murdered, but it's only when Cally starts digging around that she finds the startling truth.

Watch as Cally enters a world of privilege, weekend-long parties, high school romances, and . . . well-kept secrets. This page-turner will appeal to teens looking for a fast-paced thriller. Written in a voice at once gripping and crystal clear, debut novelist, McCormick Templeman, will take readers on a twisting and turning journey as only a "new girl" can experience.

My thoughts: 

I was so excited to get my hands on this book and start it! I thought I was really going to get a good scary story but when I discovered was a bit different. I wasn’t necessarily disappointed, because it was good, but it turned out to be more of a mystery/thriller type book. It isn’t bad because I love a good mystery that I can’t figure out but I was really hoping for something with a little more horror.

I was very intrigued by the synopsis! A little girl and her friend go missing in the wood near a boarding school and then about ten years later the little girl’s sister decides to attend that boarding school. We’re given no information of the facts surround her disappearance, so going into the story you don’t know if there could be a paranormal aspect to it. So there’s all this mystery surrounding this school before she even gets there.

Personally, I think the main character Cally is a little crazy for willingly applying and enrolling in the very school where her sister went missing! Really, really creepy! And of course there is more going on than Cally could ever have imagined. Before she arrived at the school, another girl went missing and most people believed she ran away. But when Cally and her friends find a body in the wood, things begin to unravel very quickly!

Boarding school dramas are always very interesting to me because with the absence of parents and constant chaperons, almost anything can happen. You don’t question why kids are sneaking around the school grounds late at night or throwing parties or hooking up behind the gym. It’s a boarding school and they’re usually not going to get caught.

Overall, I really enjoyed this thrilling mystery! I couldn’t figure out who had done it by the end so that’s a win in my book. I give The Little Wood 3 hearts for being an interesting mystery even though I was hoping for a horror.


2 comments:

Molli @ Once Upon a Prologue said...

Hmm, sounds like less of the creepy book I was kinda hoping for and more of a neat mystery. It still seems like it might be worth a read! Great review, Crystal! (I totally wouldn't EVER go to that school if I knew someone who'd gone missing from there...)

fishgirl182 said...

this does sound pretty creepy. i think boarding schools are kind of creepy, too. and you're right, i would not go there if my sister went missing there unless i wanted to figure out what happened to her.

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