There were very clearly two kinds of whispers in Whisperwood. Wondering which was the more dangerous of the two was like wondering whether you’d rather die hanged or eaten by a bear.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

There is a lot about Whisperwood that I find adoring. The author's way of writing is right up my alley. The atmosphere is beautifully set. The friendships are endearing. The world feels unique.

But there are some serious shortcomings that make those parts I adore hard to enjoy.

While the atmosphere is well-constructed, the setting is confusing. Whisperwood is obviously fictitious, I found myself constantly wondering about the rest of the world, which significantly slashes at the world-building for me. What time period is the story set in? Parts of the story pull one way and parts of it pull another. Is this meant to be set in a fictitious town in our world or is the world itself fictitious as a whole? I couldn't tell you for sure.

I also found the motivation and character-building a bit lacking. So those friendships that seem so endearing are hard to fully believe without the characters themselves being well-established.

Overall, a great debut. Just some critical aspects that should be worked on in future novels, which I am very much looking forward to!

Dangerous things are often beautiful, and I was looking at something that was clearly both.