ARC Review--Willowgrove by Kathleen Peacock

Willowgrove is Kathleen Peacock's riveting conclusion to the Hemlock trilogy, a dark, romantic, paranormal suspense series that pits friendship against survival, and trust against love.

Ever since Mac's best friend, Amy, was murdered, Hemlock has been a dangerous place. But now that Mac, her boyfriend, Kyle, and Amy's ex, Jason, have investigated a mass breakout from Thornhill, a werewolf "rehabilitation" camp, the danger has only grown. Fear of the infection spreading is now at an all-time high, and anyone with a scar is suspected of being a wolf.

What makes Mac even more afraid, though, are the dark experiments that the warden of Thornhill was performing on wolves in a secret asylum called Willowgrove. Uncovering the truth about what happened may be the only way for Mac to save everyone she loves and end her nightmares for good.

I received this ARC from the author via the publisher in a contest I won, I was in no way compensated for this review.


You don't know how ecstatic I was to have won an ARC of Kathleen Peacock's Willowgrove! That it arrived one week before release day didn't even matter! I have thoroughly enjoyed this story from the beginning! I love werewolves and this takes werewolves into a different kind of light, where they are out in the open and are not really loved by the people!

Things have been tense since the events of Thornhill, Mac and her friends are trying to get back to real life, but that itself is a difficult task when Kyle, Serena, and Trey are still werewolves and Jason is still a member of the group dedicated to hunting them. Though he has changed a lot, he's know longer a true Tracker, but is now an inside man so to speak and does what he can to protect his friends.

The ultimate goal still remains trying to find a sort of peace where the weres can live peacefully in society among humans. But there's still a lot of hate towards them. Mac and her friends end up uncovering quite a bit about the disease and track things to an asylum called Willowgrove, which was a place far more scarier than Thornhill.

There were lots of surprises in this one! Characters that did things that totally blew me away! Things were just shocking! I can't get into more than that without giving away spoilers! 

I love that despite all the chaos, that Mac and Kyle still found time for moments of romance! I've been Team Kyle since the beginning, despite Jason's feelings for her. And really, I never felt like this was a love triangle in that way where a "choice" had to be made. Mac pretty much knew from the getgo that Kyle was the one for her and I loved that too. I loved that there was none of this "oh who do I love more" conundrum. 

I loved the pacing to this one too! It wasn't slow, but more a gradual buildup. Just as you hit one level on intensity, you're already moving onto the next! It was incredible! There were some character deaths, though I was prepared for a number due to Twitter awhile back, but there were only a very small number that tore at my heart. I was expecting some major heartache after seeing Kathleen tweet that number, but luckily, it was only minor heartache...if you can call that lucky!

The ending was remarkable! I truly loved it! It was very...fitting. I don't want to get into spoiler territory, so I will cut myself off from that! This was an amazing werewolf trilogy that brings up some real life issues in a way that isn't at all preachy or showy. It felt real! A highly recommended read!



Overall Rating 5/5 stars