Kristin's Bookshelf

📚 Wildwood
✍️ Ashley Woo
🎙️Natalie Naudus
Release Date: September 8, 2026
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The title of this book drew me in: Wildwood. It’s the name of a place I used to spend my summers for Girl Scout Camp, a place where the surrounding woods felt alive and where groups of 7-year-old girls would sit around a campfire at night eating s’mores and telling ghost stories.

Naudus was a new narrator for me, and I felt as though her delivery was exceptional. She matched the intensity needed, particularly for the scenes at the end of the book. She successfully repped all of Elinor’s emotions and feelings throughout the novel.

In Wildwood, Woo creates basically two incredible stories – one from the past and one from the present. In the present, Elinor is losing herself to the woods – not knowing if she should believe her dreams, wondering who is being honest with her and who to trust, and trying to take a deep dive into the mysteries of Wildwood’s past. And then we have what happened long ago, with glimpses throughout the book and, eventually, the full picture, revealing a decades-old tragedy that still haunts its inhabitants in more ways than one.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a slow-burn, haunting tale centered on witchcraft accusations and town secrets.