I received this book for free (hey, thanks!) in exchange for an honest review. I promise that this does NOT affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For real.
Into the Woods by Jenny Holiday Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Published by Forever on January 7, 2025
Also by this author: Mermaid Inn, Paradise Cove, A Princess for Christmas, Sandcastle Beach, Duke, Actually
Format: Audio/eARC (368 pages) • Source: Publisher, Spotify Audiobooks
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Summer camp heats up for a grumpy rockstar and a cynical dance instructor in this funny and heartwarming enemies-to-lovers romance.
Gretchen Miller is a bit of a badass. But even badasses get the blues when it comes to romance, and Gretchen could use a break from dating. So, when she gets the offer to be the summer dance instructor at Camp Wild Arts, she leaps at the chance to embrace clean air, nature, and her inner crone. But every forest has pests—and the biggest one at Wild Arts is none other than Tennyson “Teddy” Knight, the A) arrogant, B) infuriating, C) kinda hot if it weren’t for A & B rockstar who happens to be Gretchen’s fellow artist-in-residence.
Fresh off his band's epic and ultra-public breakup, Teddy's grouchier than a black bear in spring, and Gretchen is happy to ignore the unexpected heat she feels around him. Yet a wary friendship blooms, and before she knows it, Gretchen finds herself sneaking around to have one last summer fling with the broody musician before she swears off men for good. But as they grow closer, Gretchen has to figure out if she's ready to take this summer camp romance out of the woods and into real life.
I put off reading CANADIAN BOYFRIEND for a while and now, with my review copy of INTO THE WOODS, I’ve spoiled a bit of that one. So I can generally recommend to not read this one first unless you have no interest in the first book in this shared universe lol. Moving on!
This one follows Gretchen and Teddy as they work at an artsy summer camp. Gretchen is in the middle of buying a building to expand her dance studio but fills in for a pregnant friend, while Teddy is there reeling from his band’s breakup and hoping to work on a solo album. They have interesting and honestly sometimes off-putting personalities. I don’t know what it was but it took me a few chapters before I actually liked either one of them lol.
The summer camp vibes are incredible here. I love the idea of adults at summer camp since I don’t read as much YA anymore. However, there was something about this story that just didn’t keep my interest. It took me SO long to read, which is not common for romance or books by Jenny Holiday for me. I was never in the mood to read this and think some of the story was a bit slow or repetitive through the middle. I feel like I could sum up the middle 50% of the book with a few sentences at most.
Gretchen and Teddy were different than other romance book MCs – like I said, their personalities took some getting used to. I loved that they had things to bond over (growing up poor, weird relationships with parents, etc.) and there were some heavier moments that Holiday did a great job with.
All in all, I’m glad I didn’t quit this one (I thought about it simply for lack of interest in the middle). The story picked up at the end and I liked it as a whole, but it won’t stick with me for too long unfortunately.
The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman Genres: Young Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Published by Penguin on February 4, 2025
Also by this author: They Wish They Were Us, They'll Never Catch Us, The Counselors, The Legacies
Format: Audio/Physical (336 pages) • Source: Purchased, Spotify Audiobooks
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"The perfect dark academia read, filled with murder, twists, a jaw-dropping mystery and very privileged people doing deliciously bad things." —Danielle Valentine, New York Times Bestselling author of Two Sides to Every Murder
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of They Wish They Were Us and The Counselors, comes a page-turning murder mystery set at a prestigious New England boarding school about how telling the truth can come at a deadly price.
Secrets don't die.
It’s the first week of senior year at Meadowbrook Academy. For Amy and her best friend Sarah, that means late-night parties at the boathouse, bike rides through their sleepy Connecticut town, and the crisp beginning of a New England fall.
Then tragedy strikes: Sarah and her boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Now the week Amy has been dreaming about for years has turned into a nightmare, especially when all eyes turn to her as the culprit. She was Sarah’s only roommate, the only other person there when she died—or so she told the police to cover for her own boyfriend’s suspicious whereabouts. And even though they were best friends, with every passing day, Amy begins to learn that Sarah lied about a lot of things.
Liz, editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about what happened on campus, in hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. As Liz dives deeper into her investigation, the secrets these murdered seniors never wanted out come to light. The deeper Liz digs, the messier the truth becomes – and with a killer still on campus, she can’t afford to make any mistakes.
Woof I definitely had too high of expectations for this one. Goodman’s YA mysteries always make it on my anticipated list for some reason, even though most of them are pretty mediocre. This book was unfortunately more of the same.
The book switches between Amy and Liz’s POVs. Amy’s best friend Sarah and her boyfriend Ryan are murdered in their dorm room during senior week. Liz, the school’s newspaper editor, is the first to break the news publicly. Naturally, Amy was not a huge fan of this approach… so, of course, they are forced to become roommates. I was hoping for a bit more of them growing on each other and teaming up but – semi-spoiler I guess – that doesn’t really happen until the way end.
I was REALLY pumped for a boarding school book set in Connecticut for obvious reasons. I love books in my home state and definitely have a thing for prep/boarding schools in books. The setting was good and perhaps my favorite part, though it wasn’t as memorable as it could’ve been.
I thought it was very clear who the murderer was from the beginning and therefore all of the initial suspects were obviously red herrings. The characters were nothing, the plot was kinda boring, and the mystery was super easy to solve. I should probably rate it lower…
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