Day 5 – 30 Day Reading Challenge– What Lies in the Woods – Book Review

They were eleven when they sent a killer to prison. They were heroes . . . but they were liars.

Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent the summer roaming the woods, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder. They called it the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly when Naomi was attacked. Miraculously, she survived her seventeen stab wounds and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes.

And they were liars.

For decades, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods―no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.

I actually had high expectations from this book and was disappointed that I didn’t have any.

Naomi Shaw nearly became a victim of deranged serial killer and along with her friends Cassie and Olivia manage to put the serial killer behind the bars. Now many years later, Naomi returns back the small town after the news reached that the serial killer had died in prison. Naomi and her friends however are having a deep a secret–no ones knows what they were actually doing deep in the woods. Then Olivia disappears and Naomi must face the truth about what really happened twenty years ago.

Frankly, this book was a slow burn to me. I have seen some good reviews about this book but I suppose I am in the minority with this one. I literally did not enjoy this book that I nearly DNFed the book. It was boring, I found the character of Naomi arrogant and rude, and above all, I felt the book itself was highly predictable. I also did not like the fact that magical realism was added into this story which actually ruined the whole story plot in my opinion. The twists were expected and the ending was highly predictable. Overall, I would give this only 2.5 stars because I actually was in fact disappointed with the whole plot.

Will I read books from this same author? I think I will again–I will give another chance. But then to some, this might be twisty thriller but I did not find this a twisty thriller in my opinion.