What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould

The quick cut: A group of teens in a new wilderness therapy program find their lives in danger when the adult counselors disappear and a danger emerges. 

A real review:

 Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing the arc for an honest review.

 Untreated trauma has a way of destabilizing an individual. Rather than being able to live up to their potential, the tragedies of the past keep them from living well. For this group of teens, that's not their only issue when a wilderness therapy program goes off the rails. 

 Devin is a foster kid whose never felt wanted. So when her most recent foster family has her picked up in the middle of the night, she's worried what that means. In this case, it's a 50 day wilderness therapy program called THRIVE. Will the woods help her deal with her troubled past? Or will it create new traumas to tackle? 

 This book finds a really clever way to take the traumas that each teen is silently dealing with and forced them to come face to face with them. It's a really smart writing device that the author used and was the perfect way to push the plot forward. I'm too many of these books, the mental health component becomes a secondary focus and that doesn't happen here. 

 Devin and Ollie take turns providing perspective, which is important since the group gets split up a few times. Between the two though, you get to know Devin as a character much better. 

 Devin is consistently itching for a fight, especially when she can justify it as standing up to a bully. The truth is that it's a symptom of a much deeper issue though and until she's addressed what happened in the past to make her that way, it will only continue occurring. She's a likeable character as you get to know her. It also makes you realize that pretty much anyone is capable of more than they know. 

 A fun wilderness based book with trauma at the focus. 

My rating: 5 out of 5