Review: "Into the Woods" by Jenny Holiday

Into the Woods by Jenny Holiday
Published January 2025 via Forever
★★★★

A dance teacher with a lot of drive and a burned-out rock star find themselves at summer camp—with way more hormones than the campers.

Picked this up because I needed something light and this takes place in the woods, which seems about right to me. Into the Woods is tangentially related to Canadian Boyfriend, which I read a year or so ago, but for whatever reason this one worked a bit better for me. I think it may just be that Teddy and Gretchen are better at communicating. There is something of a secret that lasts through much of the book that had me worried that we were going to have the same conflict as in Canadian Boyfriend, but again...these characters are better at communicating (and perhaps more independent), so it ended up going rather more smoothly. Neither character is perfect (which is good because perfect is boring), but they're both generally on top of their shit and aware of their occasional failings.

There's some space built into this one for follow-ups with future books (e.g., I could see Auden being a main character in the future), and while I'm more of a context reader than a series reader (that is: I read this book not because it was related to the first one but because it takes place largely in the woods), I'd happily pick up future related books if the context appeals.