It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Having read Sarah's first two books (and still reluctantly waiting for her to take the plunge into adult romance) when I saw the cover reveal around this time last year I knew that It Waits in the Forest would be an automatic read for me. I received a copy from Hyperion in exchange for an honest review.

In It Waits in the Forest we follow Selina, a young woman living on the island of St. Virgil who is making ends meet running an Obeah shop. She doesn't believe in the supernatural but she makes money from gullible tourists using her knowledge of healing plants and specialized props to peddle fake spells and charms. One day a tourist arrives at the shop willing to pay any price as he believes he's being stalked by a supernatural being. When that tourist ends up at the center of a strong of murders it's up to Selina and her newly returned to the island ex boyfriend Gabriel to solve the mystery before they end up the next victims. 

Sarah Dass has crafted a paranormal detective mystery of sorts with inspiration from Caribbean folklore mixed with a second chance romance between two young lovers. Dass does a great just building the atmosphere of the island and the anticipation to uncovering what the "it" is. I don't think anyone should go into this looking for a horror because it really wasn't a horror book. But I think it someone wants a light but tense whodunit in a unique location this will satisfy that itch. It's a slow burn but addicting tale.

What I don't recommend is the audiobook which I did use for part of my read. St. Virgil is a Caribbean island inspired by Tobago but the narration kept conjuring images of the Irish countryside for me. It was an awful attempt at any kind of English Caribbean accent. Publishers need to work on hiring people from the region to narrate audiobooks more. It just elevates the story.