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Release date: April 9, 2019

Publisher: Thomas and Mercer

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Blurb:

Two sisters raised in fear are about to find out why in a chilling novel of psychological suspense from the author of The Thinnest Air.

Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York. When the youngest grows gravely ill, their mother leaves with the child to get help from a nearby town. And they never return.

As months pass, hope vanishes. Supplies are low. Livestock are dying. A brutal winter is bearing down. Then comes the stranger. He claims to be looking for the girls’ mother, and he’s not leaving without them.

To escape, Wren and her sister must break the rule they’ve grown up with: never go beyond the forest.

Past the thicket of dread, they come upon a house on the other side of the pines. This is where Wren and Sage must confront something more chilling than the unknowable. They’ll discover what’s been hidden from them, what they’re running from, and the secrets that have left them in the dark their entire lives.

Blurb:

This blurb is weird, it’s accurate and all but it leaves out something pretty big and I really don’t understand why?! So many times I feel like blurbs actually spoil things and I’ve even cut parts of them out for my reviews, but this time I’m just scratching my head wondering why. What they left out that I think is important for you to know is that besides the story of the sisters there is another main character that you hear from in alternatingchapters. Nothing is ruined by knowing this, in fact it actually piqued my interest even more once I started so I figured telling you guys wouldonly be beneficial. 

Wren narrates things from her and her sister Sage’s POV and there is also Nicolette, a totally unrelated woman and I had zero idea as to how things would ever tie together. Their lives couldn’t be more different, Nicolette lives an affluent lifestyle and the girls are living off grid and barely surviving so trying to figure out how their stories would merge was damn near impossible. Between my intrigue with the plot and the insanely fast paced writing I was totally invested in this one.

As much as my overall feeling about this book is one of enjoyment I do have to point out that the big twist and subsequent merging of the two groups of characters was pretty out there and unrealistic. Did I even care? No, not really I was just having so much fun with the whole thing I had a moment where I sorta rolled my eyes and then I just moved right on. But I wanted to be honest, I know many of you are bothered by that kind of stuff, so if you have issues suspending disbelief just be aware. If you don’t, give this one a chance, it had an original premise and was a fast paced, addictive read!

Overall rating: 3.5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.