For Jonathon, the Home Wood that borders his grandfather’s farm has always been a source of mystery and dread. Strange half-heard rumours passed among aunts, uncles and cousins never quite add up.
More than twenty years ago, his father—when he was Jonathon’s age—was swallowed up by the Home Wood for more than a day and came back badly injured. That was when his grandfather forbade any family … family member from venturing back there.
And so when, from his bedroom window one morning, Jonathon sees his father once again cross into the Home Wood, he knows something is very wrong. Deceiving his grandfather, Jonathon sets out after his father and makes his way, for the first time in his life, into the woods.
What he finds there is beyond even his wildest imagination.
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The family legacy has always been the land surrounding Jonathan’s family farm. There is just one area he has never been allowed to explore, a section of woodlands simply called the Home Wood. After Jonathan’s mother disappears, he notices his father entering the woods. Believing his father may need his help, along with a healthy dose of curiosity, Jon soon follows. Though he had been warned all of his life to never cross the stream, Jon feels compelled to investigate the area. He then enters a portal into an entirely foreign realm, where beings resembling large rabbits with floppy ears exist. The story continues with three different but merging story lines—Jonathan, his father David, who is searching for his wife, Jon’s mother, Sarah.
A very creative, enchanting land exists with three different races, intent on war and political intrigue. Each new character either intent on helping or hunting the human family members. Well-written with beautiful, descriptive narrative. Engaging and entertaining for all age groups.
This book surprised me in so many ways! I did not expect the kind of twists the author wove into the story and it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat excited to see what might happen next. A great find!
Secrets of the Home Wood is a fantasy full of action and suspense, with just the right amount of surprises to keep it exciting. I would call it a Narnia type of tale with the author’s unique voice. She has a creative way of storytelling that I found enjoyable. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more from this author.
Captivating fall through the rabbit hole
A very interesting take on characters going to a different world, or more correctly, a magical forest with strange creatures.
The story line is composed of different parallel stories making a bit difficult to follow.
One thing that I liked very much about this book are the descriptions that are beautiful, vivid and so charming. A good read.
An interesting read to say the least. Home wood is a forest that surrounds the James family farm and the family is forbidden to go in because people disappear and David came out bloodied and bruised 20years earlier. David’s son, Jon sees his father heading into the woods and aptly follows him. Jon comes upon an ancient Oak tree and seems to drawn to it and passes out, but wakes up in a strange world with a rabbit-like creature poking him with a spear. It seems his family has been drawn into this world, not just Jon and his father David, but his mother Sarah and get embroiled in the brewing conflict of the three different races. There’s plenty of action and suspense as well as a few surprises that will have you guessing and keep you turning the pages. A wonderful story and I highly recommend this one!
An imaginative and well told story with lots of things to keep you wondering what is going to happen next. This is a good read for any age and will keep you entertained. I really like the family aspect to the story. Good job.
The story of Secrets of the Home Wood, explores three different families on two different dimensions. Each family has a father, mother, and son but they each face situations which force them to grow closer or tear them apart forever (one family has a secret twist). While this story is full of action, the underlying family dynamic is not lost where each person in the family must support one another in order for everyone to feel fulfilled in their life purpose. In all instances, the mother goes missing which creates a domino effect of the father and child going into action to bring her back. It seems as though where David left off in his epic journey as a kid has picked up for his own son, Jonathon, when they go into this strange new dimension. The same races of people are at war again, yet this time there is hope for Jonathon creating a new path for all of them, but only if the hearts of the people haven’t been hardened against reconciliation. This story has a great structure, moving the reader from scene to scene, alternating perspectives between characters so no action gets missed.
I loved this story. The idea of disappearing into a magical land made me think of Alice in Wonderland. The plot of this book is rather simple. A boy’s mother goes missing and then his father does too after going after her. Anxiously, the boy, Jonathon, goes in after them. Within the woods, all three of them experience the strange world in their own ways.
There is so much going on that as the story begins to combine the separate storylines, the twists make the book impossible to put down. The worldbuilding was thorough and well thought out though I think the story could have been strengthened with a little more understand of the Grue’s culture.
This was an interesting portal-into-a-fantasy-world kind of book. I’m not sure I took the bunny warriors as seriously as I should’ve; I had trouble seeing them as characters since the concept was odd to my reading mind’s eye. I did enjoy the unspoken messages/sign language they made with their ears, though. That worked well. The similarities of the bunny names often tripped me up, with Tugg, Pugg, Snugg/la, etc. The characters grew nicely throughout, learning things that improved their views of themselves and others. Even though the pacing seemed somewhat slow, it was an entertaining story overall, and ended with a satisfactory conclusion—except of course for one loose thread that hinted at a sequel.
This was a fun story to read. You get to meet different kinds of fantasy creatures that are unique to this story: a rabbit-like species and a feline one, too. But don’t let that deceive you; they are both capable of defending themselves if the looming war breaks out. And every fantasy needs a world you can visualize. There are lovely descriptions of the place accessed through the Home Wood. The characters are ones who’ll stick in your mind. And be prepared to keep turning the pages… There are plenty of chapter-ending cliff hangers that keep you in suspense. A great read for adult and child alike.
Ah, the Home Wood. That place of mystery, of forbidden access – but when Jonathon, his mother and his father (separately) all venture in and find the hidden portal to another world, their lives take on some very unexpected twists. David, his father, was there once before, so he wasn’t a complete stranger. In fact, he is Daavid of the Legend to the San warriors there and finds his old friend Snugg. Jonathon befriends Snugg’s son Snuggla. Sarah, too, finds a friend – but all three wind up entangled in the coming war between the Grue (one of whom is particularly gruesome) on the one side and the San and the cat-like Maorr on the other. Inheritance, deadly danger and treachery abound – but the most gruesome one escapes into the forest. What sort of surprises will he have in store? I can’t wait for the next book to tell me!
While teenagers will love this book, adults will enjoy it as well. Each chapter is split into three, following Jon, his mother and his father separately. At the beginning there is also a time difference, with the mother’s story being a few days behind Jon and his father. It may sound confusing, but the author does a great job of making it work well and brings the timelines together in a logical way. There are times when Jon and his father almost meet and it makes you want to keep reading to find out how they finally do.
There are no boring parts and the pace is not the constant ‘go go go’ which can leave the reader exhausted. There are also a few nice twists. The creatures of the ‘other world’ the three find themselves in are well described and intriguing.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book and I’m sure other will as well.
Jon’s journey through the Home Wood to find his missing parents was an epic adventure with many unforeseen twists and turns. The characters he met along the way were wonderful, and I found myself rooting for them too. I recommend this story to all who enjoy fantasy worlds with unusual creatures and high adventure. It was a fun read.
Secrets of the Home Wood: The Sacrifice by Julie Whitley.
I actually enjoy this book. It reminded me a few others like it. Perhaps along the lines of Narnia even. It was well written with twists and mystery. And yes, I would say it is a fascinating ‘cute’ read.
The wonderful scene setting descriptions made this super adventure for me. From the moment Johnathon heads off into the woods this story doesn’t disappoint. Loved everything about it from the differing clans (Bit of a challenge to get my mind around at first, but that’s probably due to my age!) to the journey of discovery this young lad engages upon. My niece will love the excitement and the dangers. Can’t wait to read it with her!
I genuinely enjoyed this fantasy adventure through a magical world with a boy on a quest to find his parents. Some great ideas dotted liberally throughout the story along with three neatly interwoven storylines from the perspectives of the boy, Jonathon, and his parents, Sarah and David gave it a unique feel. Thoroughly recommended!
Secrets of the Home Wood follows three generations of a typical family as they unwittingly stumble into the middle of a developing war between mythical kingdoms and characters of the Sans, Grues, and Maorrr in an alternate dimension known to their family for some time. Wisdom is imparted, lessons are learned, and realizations are made as parallels between three families in two words come to light. Main characters Sarah, her husband David, and their son, Jonathan, all contribute to the plot, making this a good YA read. The world-building is very thorough and the characters of both world are very real, each with something to offer from their perspective of the adventure and very present danger. Worl (Big Ugly) is a worthy villain you will hate through and through.