And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich

For Silla and Nori, the stories about their mother's childhood home have always been just that: stories. Fairy tales almost. But Silla, planning ahead, managed once to get her mother to share a map. A map that would take her and Nori to their salvation one desperate evening. 

The manor may be crumbling, but it lives up to Silla's hopes. At least for a little while. Their aunt welcomes them and coddles them, but warns them ominously that they must stay out of the woods. As time passes, though, Silla's aunt disappears into the attic of the old home, leaving the girls to fend for themselves. And Silla notices that the woods have begun to grow ever so closer to the house.  

I turned the final page of Dawn Kurtagich's latest with more than a little bit of that what-the-heck-did-I-just-read feeling. It's an odd one, to be sure. And part of the oddness of it made it somewhat easy for me to figure out what was going on. 

And the Trees Crept In is a weird one. Anyone who read The Dead House might have some idea, but I'm not sure anything can truly prepare you for this one. And I have a feeling that folks are going to either love it or hate it. 

I kind of loved the oddities of this book. Yes, I figured out the twist, but the journey to finding out I was right was deliciously fun. And there's a method to Kurtagich's madness, if you take the time to pay attention :)

I have to be careful here because I don't want to spoil anything, but this is definitely the kind of book that will have you either rereading to find what you missed, or (as I did) flipping back and forth once you figure it out. 

I will say this, Dawn Kurtagich has once again surprised me and provided an excellent (and creepy) escape from mundane reality. And oh, that reality remains mundane! It makes reading stuff like this so much more fun. 

Rating: 4/5