What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra | Mood Board + Review

Hello everyone,
I'm very excited to be part of the What the Woods Keep blog tour. If you're looking to pick up a dark/creepy/strange/weird read this Halloween, look no further than Katya de Becerra's debut What the Woods Keep.

Here's my mood board for What the Woods Keep...

...and if that's your aesthetic, read on for my quick take of it.

Publisher: Imprint
Release Date: September 18, 2018 (out now!)
Source of my copy: publisher
Series: standalone
My rating:

Synopsis
On her eighteenth birthday, Hayden inherits her childhood home—on the condition that she uncover its dark secrets.

Hayden tried to put the past behind her, and it worked. She’s getting ready for college, living in a Brooklyn apartment, and hanging out with her best friend and roommate Del. But now it’s all catching up with her: her mother’s mysterious disappearance a decade before, her father’s outlandish theories about a lost supernatural race, and Hayden’s own dark dreams of strange symbols and rituals in the Colorado woods where she grew up.

As soon as Hayden arrives at her hometown, her friend Del in tow, it begins: Neighbors whisper secrets about Hayden’s mother; the boy next door is now all grown-up in a very distracting way; and Hayden feels the trees calling to her. And among them, deep in the woods, Hayden will discover something incredible—something that threatens reality itself.

Before picking up What the Woods Keep, I scrolled through the ratings on Goodreads and it seemed people either love it or hate it and I wondered which side I'd fall. 

I'd obviously fallen on the like it side, but I can see why this book is polarizing. What the Woods Keep is a weird book. It's a mix of first person POV from our main character Hayden, but we also get journal entries, letters, newspaper articles, observation notes, etc. from other characters. But, I actually really like the way the story was told. I like that we got background information through other means besides Hayden info dumping on us. I also like the incorporation of science, strange natural phenomenons and theories, and mythology in Hayden's narrative. 

I'm not going to go into the synopsis because I think it's best that you into What the Woods Keep blind (like I did). But, just know that at it's heart it's a book about a girl coming into her powers while discovering her family's darkest secrets. 

There was a lot I enjoyed in What the Woods Keep--the mystery (about Hayden's mom and her disappearance (I had A LOT of theories), Hayden's "otherness" and hints that she may be more than human (not a spoiler because from the start we're getting allusions of this), Hayden's dad's obsession with the Nibelung, among others), the friendship between Hayden and Del, the dash of romance between Hayden and her childhood friend Shannon (he's a guy), and the overall atmospheric feel to the town of Promise (the isolated town, the damp, cool mist, the woods, the tall, dark trees).

If you're in the mood for something dark and weird, I think you should check out What the Woods Keep. It's not going to be for everybody, but I personally highly enjoyed it and I can't wait for more by Katya de Becerra.