Wake the Bones is a book that takes a bit to get into because we jump right into the middle of the story. It all seemed so ordinary. As a Vermonter, it was an utterly relatable day-to-day life. But then the characters revealed themselves. Their depth poured off the page in the middle of this eerie story, and I found myself invested in them.
“The best people can do around here is tell me they don’t care. I don’t want to be absolved. I want to exist.”
Every character is unique and has something going on. With the added supernatural element, there’s an in-depth story here. I enjoyed the paranormal elements but feel some things came too easily for Laurel, and I would have liked to see them explored. As some other reviewers have mentioned, this doesn’t feel quite YA. They’re 19 and 20, so upper YA, at best. For me, that’s not an issue, though it could be with younger readers. The book is atmospheric and eerie, and once it finds its groove, it’s hard to put down. Thank you, Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s, for sending this along!
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Releasing July 12th
About the Book
The sleepy little farm that Laurel Early grew up on has awakened. The woods are shifting, the soil is dead under her hands, and her bone pile just stood up and walked away.
After dropping out of college, all she wanted was to resume her life as a tobacco hand and taxidermist and try not to think about the boy she can’t help but love. Instead, a devil from her past has returned to court her, as he did her late mother years earlier. Now, Laurel must unravel her mother’s terrifying legacy and tap into her own innate magic before her future and the fate of everyone she loves is doomed.
Elizabeth Kilcoyne’s Wake the Bones is a dark, atmospheric debut about the complicated feelings that arise when the place you call home becomes hostile.
Rae's Reading Lounge 
Nice review, Rae, this sounds a bit creepy but excellent overall.
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