Review: WICKED WOODS (By: Kailin Gow)

Title: Wicked Woods
Author: Kailin Gow
Publisher: Edge by Sparklesoup
Genre: YA Supernatural
Paperback: 250 pages
Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm

ISBN - 10: 1597486310 ISBN - 13: 978-1597486316

Briony had to move to Wicked Woods, Massachusetts to live with her Great Aunt Sophie after her family disappears on vacation. The woods at the edge of Aunt Sophie s inn is filled with secrets and inhabitants both seductive and deadly.

Among them is a beautiful boy name Fallon who saves her one night in the woods. As Briony gets closer to Fallon, she learns he has a secret, as do most of the residents of Wicked Wood.

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Wicked Woods appealed to me for it's haunting cover and mysteriously supernatural synopsis which held so many secrets that I desired to find the answers to. Not knowing much more about the series, or the author for that matter, I dove into this book. While I know that there are many readers out there who have enjoyed Wicked Woods I have to be honest when I say that it was difficult for me to even finish.

One of the first things that I noticed about Wicked Woods was the excessive number of grammar and spelling mistakes for a published novel. While you could probably find a couple of small errors in any other book, the ones in this one were blatant mistakes that should have otherwise been corrected. The number of errors could be attributed to the fact that Wicked Woods was printed by a smaller publishing house but this is not the point. At the end of the day author Kailin Gow has little control when it comes to language mishaps that make it through publication. What she does have control over though is the depth of her characters, relationships and overall storyline. 

Kailin Gow has penned over 70 books, many of which are tied to different series'. With this many published works it makes me wonder whether the craft of writing is still driving her to complete books, or whether the whole process has become mechanized. From what I found in this particular book I am swaying towards the latter. What I know about the main character Briony is not enough to even judge her. I know family is important to her and that in her old life she reveled in popularity, but the other aspects of her personality remain hidden. Unfortunatley because of this I felt detached from her whole journey and was not able to sympathize with her struggle.

The relationships in this book were probably the most difficult aspect for me to swallow. The most notable of these would be between Briony and the adorable boy she meets named Fallon. Fallon was the most appealing part of this book so it was a shame to see that his relationship with Briony fell short. After only a few lunch dates at school these two characters were already professing their love to each other. Without developing their relationship it really took away from the connection that they could have had with each other. The passion that they felt towards each other ended up meaning little because of the illogical pace to their relationship.

The supernatural elements of this book were actually very terrifying but they were not enough to turn it around for me. The whole storyline had so much potential but without proper characters or relationships it could not be held up. Because this is a series though, Gow has the ability to make up for what she lacked in this first book. There is more time for her to add depth which could potentially bring this series to life for me.

If you look Wicked Woods up on Goodreads you will see both negative and positive reviews. When it comes to books, everyone has a different taste and a unique sense of what makes a good book good. Despite not finding what I was looking for within the pages of Wicked Woods, this does not mean that I would ever tell you not to read it. The role of this blog is to start discussions about books and the way we do that is by finding others to read them with us. You have the right to form your own opinion about this book if you so choose. The follow up to Wicked Woods entitled Shimmer is waiting for me in my to-be-read pile. If I am willing to give Gow another chance then maybe this gives you the push you need to see for yourself.

-Christie