The Bleeding Woods offers an incredibly strong premise - FMC with mysterious powers since childhood and the potential for strong horror elements in a stranger invading our group of characters as they are lost in the Appalachian mountains; unfortunately, the writing style is perplexing with inconsistent pacing and character voices that hold the reader at arms length, making this a difficult book to become immersed in.

At first, it felt as if our three POVs - Clara, Grayson, and the Stranger - would have different voices, but they very quickly blended together in tone. In terms of the 'mystery' element, I was actually interested in what the Stranger had to say and how he was involved and although the sci-fi/horror elements were predictable, I enjoyed his POVs the most. Unfortunately, the writing elsewhere brought the story down too far.

While this one didn't work for me, I would still be interested in trying another of Amara's books in the future as I do feel that the premise had promise.

Thank you to 47North and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions are my own.