The waking forest has secrets. To Rhea, it appears like a mirage, dark and dense, at the very edge of her backyard. But when she reaches out to touch it, the forest vanishes. She’s desperate to know more—until she finds a peculiar boy who offers to reveal its secrets. If she plays a game.

To the Witch, the forest is her home, where she sits on her throne of carved bone, waiting for dreaming children to beg her to grant their wishes. One night, a mysterious visitor arrives and asks her what she wishes for, but the Witch sends him away. And then the uninvited guest returns.

The strangers are just the beginning. Something is stirring in the forest, and when Rhea’s and the Witch’s paths collide, a truth more treacherous and deadly than either could ever imagine surfaces. But how much are they willing to risk to survive?

First, I want to thank NetGalley for this ARC! I saw the cover and read the synopsis and was 100% ready to lose myself in the fantasy. This book exceeded all of my hopes, and was like three stories in one.

We are thrust into this narrative spun with golden threads of description. I swear, this author weaves perfect pictures of places you could have never been and things you could have never seen with the most vibrant and sometimes grotesque verbiage. Things like ‘the color of a picked scab’ or talk of a ‘spider’s sky’ that is laced with silk— it was so beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever read before.

We start out with the Witch of the Woods, then are brought to Rhea and her family, then lastly to a princess. The way these three are woven together are like a priceless, centuries old tapestry, and you are kept guessing until the last act of the story when everything is laid bare.

There is magic, fear, love, and mystical beings, but also some stand-out nuggets of wisdom. Some of my favorites dealt with the focus on family; not just blood relation, but how important your chosen family is as well, and the message of the imperativeness of being yourself; each small facet, each mask that you wear. You can be small, yet powerful. You can be frightened, but stand tall. You don’t ever have to be one thing in life. You should taste everything that it has to offer, and scream. Make your voice heard no matter how much it may scare those around you.

I can’t wait to see what this author does next, and I will gladly follow her into the Woods.

5/5 stars