Name: The Woods Are Always Watching
Rating: 2.858695652173913 (46 reviews)
ISBN: 9780525426028

Stephanie Perkins

Another blood-chilling contemporary horror novel, the perfect companion to her New York Times bestseller There's Someone Inside Your House, soon to be a Netflix feature.

The Woods Are Always Watching

Shareca

"The Woods Are Always Watching"
Stephanie Perkins
★★☆☆☆

“Best friends Neena and Josie spent high school as outsiders, but they had each other. Now, with college and a two-thousand-mile separation looming on the horizon, they have one last chance to be together -- a three-day hike deep into the woods of the Pisgah National Forest.”

I came from "There's Someone Inside Your House" with high expectations. Although this was not a complete disappointment, the reading experience in "The Woods Are Always Watching" was less enjoyable than that of the other novel. In places, it was scattered, unclear, and very vague. Usually, I am not concerned with the development of the characters in a short thriller, but in a story about lifelong best friends, I felt it was necessary. Several interesting POV changes stand out to me, and the prose is still lovely. My primary criticism of the story was its lack of interest. At no point was I captivated by this thriller; I was primarily puzzled or trying to understand why these two best friends were arguing one minute and then joking the next. There was no sign of enjoyment in their presence, and they appeared compelled to be together. The atmosphere was reminiscent of "Blair Witch" but for teens. As I sought to understand more about their dynamic, I did not receive any information beyond where they stood now and their biased past narratives. I was disappointed by the lack of suspense and climax. It was entertaining to read; the general development and imagery were solid. However, this did not excite me in the same manner as the other. Although I am disappointed about this, I am looking forward to future work from Perkins.

☁️ Despite their backstories, little is known about the characters and who they are.
☁️ The villains were dull and did not provide much suspense or resolution.
☁️ Josie and Neena were placed in strange situations (such as leaving items that were convenient for Josie or Neena or things that appeared to be unnatural).
☁️ I would estimate that it took about one hundred pages before anything frightful happened, so the thriller portion was relatively brief out of two hundred pages.

Ariana Morris

Sara Turner

I had high hopes- but this was a no for me. Lots of plot holes and it just feels like the author was trying to get out certain frustrations without having to commit to a solid storyline. It is the bare bones of a potentially good thriller.

stephanie archer 

good but,,,i hate abrupt endings in thrillers i need follow ups. plus could’ve used trigger warnings for assault.

Jessica Williamson

1.75

This book was just bad. I almost feel like we got a second draft rather than a completed story. And I read Perkins' other YA thriller and loved it.

So the first 100 pages (which is half of the book, mind you) our two MC's basically just whine and complain and air all of their past grievances about their friendship.... in the middle of a trip in the wilderness. Firstly, when they talk about how strict their parents are, there's no way I see their parents letting them go on this trip, even with them "showing they could do it" in the back yard. And clearly the girls weren't ready for it because even they admit they "weren't paying attention" to how they'd done things, and also, neither of them even wanted to go. Who would put themselves in this ridiculously dangerous situation on a whim, when they didn't even want to do it?

The second 100 pages is utter nonsense. One of the girls sustains not one, but TWO traumatic injuries resulting in copious amounts of blood loss (view spoiler)[ first injury is her leg snapping at the ankle, where it's basically just hanging on by the skin and the bone is protruding from her leg, second is she has her ENTIRE HAND shot off (hide spoiler)] and yet is still up walking around and fighting the bad guys HOURS later. 

And now we get to the worst part of this book. I'm not sure what writing style Perkins decided to use but it didn't work. She goes into moments of exposition during these high action scenes to give you snippets of the bad guy's backstory (which seems like she's trying to make us sympathetic to their lives prior?) and during these insanely high stakes moments the girls will just randomly be like "I wonder how long moss takes to grow... does it come out immediately or form under the surface for years and then just POP there it is?" <<< that's not a direct quote but a summation of something I remember, I don't own a physical copy of the book so I can't look back.

This whole writing style of just here's a smidgen of story and then here's this person's backstory and OH NO! traumatic event and then I think I'll whine some more about these unimportant things. And the end? God if you thought living through those injuries was outlandish, wait until you see the end. (view spoiler)[ They're basically saved by a rampaging bear and able to escape. And then they hike down a mountain ONE OF THEM WITH ONLY ONE FOOT AND ONE HAND and rather than get in the car and getting themselves to a hospital, they take time to slash the tires of what they ASSUME is the bad guys vehicle.  (hide spoiler)]

Y'all know me. Even when I dislike/hate a book I typically can still recommend it to a specific kind of reader. I've got nothing here. 

cover 3; characters 2; plot 1; pace 2; writing 2; enjoyment 1

If you go down to the woods today . . . Two girls go backpacking in the woods. Things go very wrong. And, then, their paths collide with a serial killer . . . The Woods are Always Watching is an edge-of-your-seat, nerve-wrangling thriller. Full of breathtaking action and twists you'll never see coming, Stephanie Perkins has created a masterpiece of the horror genre.

The Woods are Always Watching

Laura 

It took a while before the story got interesting, but when I hit the halfway mark things got really interesting. I was on the edge of my seat till the end of the book. There was a plot twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. What I also really liked was that something that was talked about in the beginning of the book came back around the end to help them. 

Megan Leprich

Becca Futrell

Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with a copy of The Woods Are Always Watching in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warnings: Rape Mentions

Full disclaimer before we start, I did not like There's Someone Inside Your House -- fingers crossed that it'll make a better film than book. I had higher hopes with The Woods Are Always Watching, because it was Stephanie Perkins' second journey into the horror genre and being hunted in the woods would be absolutely terrifying. Unfortunately, this book did not hit at all. 

With all that being said, if you liked There's Someone Inside Your House then maybe you'll also enjoy this one.

It's safe to say that I had some issues with The Woods Are Always Watching. To begin with, tensions are high and they have every right to be high; Neena is going to be moving thousands of miles away for college, which really sucks, and they're out in the wilderness doing wilderness-y things. If I strapped on their hiking boots, I'd also be annoyed. 

But did we need 75% of this book to be them arguing? I am here for three cups of horror & only a dash of teen drama. When things start to get frightening, it's very underwhelming -- probably because it's only the last quarter of the book. All of that build-up (of truly nothing) & that's what we get? I give so much, and friends, yet I do not receive.

Throughout the book, there are sprinkles of fake scares which in books don't translate as well as in movies (& that's with it being, at times, annoying in movies as well). Maybe it could be done, right? But when you're wafting through 75% with nothing really happening & thinking you're finally getting an ounce of something, it ends up just letting you down.

Without getting too into it, because of possible spoilers, there are a couple of scenes that don't make too much sense to me. Maybe, I'm just confused & it went over my head -- but, at random, our two main characters just know the villains' backstories. Seems like a pretty cheap way of telling the readers' the hows & whys, but okay.

This review is very negative, so I'm going to end this on a high note: The Woods Are Always Watching did go by fast & the gore-ish descriptions were pretty on point.

For More Bookish Content:
Blog | Twitter | Bookstagram | BookTok

The Woods Are Always Watching

Reviews

Highlights