Kaitlyn didn’t believe in ghosts—not until one killed her boyfriend and her best friend. Now she must stop the spirit haunting the Devil’s Tree, or she could be next.Seventeen-year-old Kaitlyn wants to escape her drunk mama and her trailer park home life to enjoy a Saturday night off work. Instead, her boyfriend, Hunter, convinces her to go with him and their best friends, Dylan and Keisha, to … Keisha, to photograph a desolate tree with an evil past. A terrifying presence chases them from the tree, killing Hunter and Keisha. Left alive with Dylan, Kaitlyn must struggle with her unexpected romantic feelings for him, come to terms with her loss, and face being trapped in a dead-end town. Kaitlyn is desperate to put the past to rest, but when their friends’ spirits begin haunting them, she and Dylan have no choice but to seek help from a Catholic priest and attempt to set the trapped spirits free.
Praise for The Devil’s Tree:
“Susan McCauley delivers a poignant and frightening tale of love and redemption against a backdrop of evil, both supernatural and not. It’s a fast and exciting read filled with demons, ghosts, and stolen kisses, and it does an excellent job of reminding us that both revenge and love can be eternal desires. This is one teens and adults will both enjoy.” – JG Faherty, multiaward- nominated author of Hellrider, The Cure, and Cemetery Club
“Evil is not always the only enemy you should fear . . . Fast-paced and deftly written, with emotional depth from the darkest of characters, this is a ghost story to savor.” – Peter Adam Salomon, Bram Stoker Award® nominated novelist, author of All Those Broken Angels and Eight Minutes, Thirty-Two Seconds
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The Devil’s Tree
by Susan McCauley
BooksGoSocial Publishers
Wow, this was an amazing ghost story/horror story! It’s a young adult book that features ghosts, a demon, people that are evil as the demon, four close friends, a haunted tree, courage, love, dysfunctional families, and friendships.
I loved how the writer painted the typical town with the racists, the drunks, the rich, the poor, the judgmental and those that aren’t. She also captured the realistic life of teens, of family issues regardless of wealth or status, of racial issues, even religious issues. All of these blended smoothly into the story.
One of the boys wants to go to the haunted tree to have an article in the paper, if they can come up with something new. That day changes their lives forever! I don’t want to give spoilers but there are some very spooky scenes, nerve racking situations, great twists, creepy atmosphere, and just plain scary at times.
The book is so good! It’s going in my favorite file! The ending was emotional and I almost cried! I am not a person that cries easy so if you are, have tissues ready. I enjoyed this book so much. I couldn’t put it down once I started it.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this wonderful book!
S.B. McCauley is the next big thing to hit the YA/MG scene. She has an eye for human nature and an innate feel for action. The Devil’s Tree will send shivers down your spine and both the characters and the pace will keep you turning the pages. Highly recommended.
This book is great. Could not put it down once I started to read it. Very exciting and really keeps the readers interest.
Can’t wait for another book by Susan McCauley to come out..
Keep up the fantastic work Susan.
Barby
This is a good horror book aimed a teens/young adult. It centres around the Devil’s Tree, a place of many accidents,deaths and rumours of witchcraft. When Kaitlyn and her boyfriend Hunter along with their best friends Dylan and Keisha decide to do the tree and take pictures, little did they know they would become its next victims. After a horrible crash that killed Hunter and Keisha, leaving Dylan and Kaitlyn alive, they soon discover that Hunter and Keisha are haunting them, wanting Dylan and Kaitlyn to help them move on.
As they delve deeper in to the tree’s past and as they spend more time together, it becomes apparent that there is more than friendship between Dylan and Kaitlyn, much to Keisha’s disgust – there were a few moments when her ghostly jealousy did make me laugh, bit this by far a light hearted read.
Filled with demons, witches and ghosts of the victims. the Devils Tree is a great spooky read, that you don’t want to miss.
I received this ebook in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The Devil’s Tree is so many things wrapped up in one little book. It’s horror with demons, witches, and ghosts. It is a story of love. A story of perseverance. A story of revenge.
Kaitlyn and her boyfriend, Hunter, decide to spend their Saturday with Hunter’s best friend, Dylan, and his girlfriend/Kaitlyn’s best friend, Keisha. Dylan has been researching the Devil’s Tree and wants to snap a few shots with his camera. Kaitlyn isn’t happy about spending her Saturday with anyone but Hunter. However, her aggravation soon turns to horror as things start happening around the tree. As the kids get spooked and take off in the car, they notice a black truck following them. The truck chases them around a bend at a high rate of speed and an accident occurs.
This is the story of the Devil’s Tree. Why does evil seem to reside there? Who haunts the tree? Why has so many accidents happened involving that tree? Read along as Kaitlyn and Dylan find answers…
This is also the story of Kaitlyn. A story of how love knows no difference between social or economical statuses. How love knows no color. And how a homosexual wants to serve God.
It is a beautiful yet sad story. The Devil’s Tree touches on my so many things while telling the story of the tree itself.
Although this book is technically for young adults, it is so maturely written that people of any age can enjoy it. I, myself read it in just a couple of days and was sorry when it ended- I wanted more! It is a fantastic horror story with haunting imagery- the tree itself will stand firmly rooted in your mind (pun intended) long after you finish the book. Add to that well-developed characters with human struggles and emotions, and you get a book that you won’t be able to put down. This is a book I would have loved as a teen and that I will be reading again in the future.