I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For all her life, Alice has always felt like trouble is following her and her mother, Ella. The pair don’t stay in one place very long, so Alice knows that it’s a matter of time before they leave New York and her mother’s newest husband. There is one big mystery in her life though, her famour author grandmother, Althea Proserpine. Althea live in a mansion, The Hazel Wood, and wrote a fairy tale compilation that has its own cult following. When Alice was younger, all she wanted to do was know more about her mysterious grandmother, but Ella always shut down her inquiries and kept her from reading her grandmother’s book.

When Ella and Alice get word that Althea has passed away, things start to get weird, and then Ella disappears. Alice knows that she has to find the illusive Hazel Wood and enlists the help of her classmate Ellery Finch. Things start to get weird very quickly as characters from the magical place, the Hinterland, start to show up. Alice and Ellery head out on a mission to find the Hazel Wood before it’s too late, but there is no way that Alice could hav ever predicted what would be waiting for her once they finally arrive.

This novel was dark and magical and way more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I am glad that it wasn’t a typical fantasy novel, I liked that Alice lived in the present day world, and the magical things found her there. I do think that there was a lot of time spent leading up to the Hinterland exploration, leaving the last half of the book to be run through very quickly. I think that the novel could have been better flushed out during the whole Hinterland part, but Albert definitely filled this novel with twists and turns and it was just the right amount of dark and creepy. I’m curious to see how this series is going to progress, and would really like to read the compilation of fairy tales. Recommended for large libraries and libraries were fantasy is popular.

This one one of the best standalone books I've read! I'm usually more into series than individual standalone books, but since I was given an ARC I decided to go ahead and give it a try.

I honestly can say, I almost never had any idea what was going to happen next in the story. There was one thing I figured out ahead of time (but I can't say anything without spoiling it! Let's just say it relates to Ella!) but other than that I was sitting on the edge of my seat.

It was a tiny bit slow to start, but once I was about a quarter of the way in I could not put it down and I finished it in a day. There was something haunting about the way it was written that made me cling to every word, it almost seemed to pull me in, just like with the "Tales of the Hinterlands."

My childhood consisted of a staple literary diet of Enid Blyton's fairy tales. I was (and still am) a great fan of stories of wee folk (brownies, fairies, goblins, elves, etc.) that dwell just beyond the veil. I always imagined that the fairy tale dimension overlay the real world and that there were certain places in either realm which were more permeable and acted as a gateway to the other.

As such, I was thrilled to come across this book -- although it was the cover design which first caught my attention -- a story where lore bled out into the real world. In part, it's a story of feeling like you don't belong in the place where you are and feeling out of sorts, that is, thinking / feeling that you may be more at home somewhere else.

The behavior of the protagonist, Alice, sometimes felt two-dimensional and juvenile, but when she reaches the Hazel Wood, where she is then in her 'element' and the pieces start to fall into place, it all makes sense. Again, this is a story where the margins of reality and imagination blur and the characters from each world cross over into the other. As these different worlds have their own rules of conduct and operation (a different 'atmospheric viscosity', if you will), the characters operating in the dimension not of their own act somewhat awkwardly and stiltedly, so if you read this and find that you are not liking the book on account of some of the characters and/or their behaviors, keep this in mind. For me, it all made sense as the book progressed and it all came together in the end.

I look forward to the sequel, and to the eventual (and hopeful) publication of a collection of Hinterland tales.

I loved this! I thought the character building and plot lagged at some points, but the world building was incredible! The Hazelwood "fairy tales" and all the magic that went with them was absolutely incredible. There are so many things I didn't seem coming, and although I had a feeling about Alice's own back story, I was still blown away when it was all finally revealed!

a great addition to any YA collection. I really enjoyed this title and I believe other readers who enjoy similar genres would as well.

Well, I loved the idea of this book and the part that I read, but I have to confess: it was to scary for me, and I put it down. I do my reading right before I fall asleep, and this got me way too creeped out to sleep well! I'm sure for someone with a higher tolerance for scary and weird it would be utterly perfect.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO THE HAZEL WOOD BY MELISSA ALBERT?
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert has the most deliciously dark intricate cover. You all know how I cannot resist a good cover, right? So, upon seeing this cover I KNEW I had to read this book. Plus, there’s the whole fairy tale allusion thing. I am SOLD on that without a doubt. Now, as I am whipping through my outstanding Netgalley queue, I knew I had to borrow this one from the library. I thought this would be an engaging book to listen to while on my commute.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood follows seventeen year old Alice who has grown up always living with her mother and having zero clues about who her father is. Alice and her mother have had a bit of bad luck that kind of follows them wherever they go. They never say anywhere long enough to put down roots. In fact, they are always on the road. However, Alice’s mom meets this wealthy man and marries him. She gains a stepsister who is not evil. Alice ends up going to kind of a good school where she meets this boy, Ellery, who is obsessed with the stories about the Hinterlands that Alice’s grandmother wrote. So, okay, one day Alice’s mom goes missing. Alice believes it has something to do with her grandmother and the Hinterlands, so she enlists Ellery’s help to find her mother.

Alice is about to uncover some family secrets. She just might not like what she finds. You see, Alice is going to find out the reason why she and her mother have all this bad luck. Plus, she gets to learn the truth about her parentage.

HOW DID I LIKE THE HAZEL WOOD?
Eh, I liked The Hazel Wood alright. I don’t think I will be continuing with the series. However, it really is quite imaginative. The book was a bit darker than what I had initially expected. Just, for me, I found myself not entirely connecting with the characters or really caring. Still, there is definitely a big audience for this book. For example, if you are the kind of person who does not want to read a book with romance or a book centered around romantic/sexual relationships, you will probably like this book.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The audiobook is narrated by Rebecca Soler. I’ve listened to books narrated by her before and never really had an issue. Nor, however, do I have an issue now with the narration of this audiobook. I listened to it via Overdrive (shoutout to the greatest library system I have ever had the privilege to be a member of). This is an audiobook that was just fine listening to on a higher speed. Overall, I do not really have a strong opinion about this audiobook except that it is OKAY and not my favorite.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I read The Hazel Wood awhile back when it was first being released to the masses. I told myself I’d review it later, then life happened, and well, here we are. Despite its sometimes scattered narrative, what stuck with me all these months is the writing. Albert has mastered the art of disguising a whimsical voice and purple prose within the dialogue of a seventeen-year-old girl named Alice. If you enjoy dreamy magical realism and metaphors, this is for you. The novel embodies a dark fairy tale within a modern setting - there’s mystery, words that mean nothing and maybe something, and misdirect.

It took me a few times on the subway to read this. (It’s definitely not a fast-paced book, and meant to be enjoyed or mulled over.) The Hazel Wood opens up on the relationship and background of Alice and her mother, Ella. Most of Alice’s life has been spent on the road due to a string of bad luck clearly linked to the elusive Althea Prosperine (Alice’s grandmother) and her collection of dark fairytales - Tales from the Hinterland. Alice has never met her grandmother, but when her mother is seemingly kidnapped, she teams up with grandma and #1 Hinterland groupie, Ellery Finch, so she can use his knowledge of the stories to find her grandmother’s secret estate - the famous Hazel Wood.

The whole story plot pace is hinged on fairytale logic. You know, the when you want to find it, good luck, but when it wants you to find it, tadaaa, and less on the intelligence of the characters. Alice was sometimes hilarious, sometimes cold and distant. (To be fair, the girl doesn’t really have a past.)

“I remembered less from my own life than I did from the books I read.”

Ellery (I think) is a hipster, or at least a hipster wannabe with the veneer of an academic.

The Hinterland is very similar to Alice in Wonderland (not the Disney version). And in the end, I wanted to hear more of the fairy tales from Tales from the Hinterland rather the adventure of Alice and Ellery. If Albert ever writes a collection of Hinterland stories, sign me up. The stories we were able to read were creepy, dark, and exactly what I was craving.

Overall, would recommend to people who love fairytale retellings, a little bit of nonsense, and a novel that can be enjoyed without thinking too hard.

The Hazel Wood: 3.25 stars

A good read. Kept me reading through the night. The dysfunctional family dynamics rang true and the ending was in keeping with the build up throughout the story.

I really wanted to love this book as much as everyone else did. Although I found the story intriguing, it took a bizarre turn at the end when the main character headed into the fairy tale world. I had trouble picturing that world and understanding the way it worked.

Albert tells a strange and twisted tale of a nearly impossible to retain book of dark and deadly fairy tales, with details that leave you with chills if you read at night.

So this book...I kinda had to let it sit with me a few days before I did my review. I really enjoyed a lot of the book--it was by turns creepy, sad, funny, entertaining, and hopeful--but there were some times where it dragged a little. I did find it...interesting that it took quite a good chunk of the book for us to get to the Hazel Wood and the Hinterland, so that could've been a bit more well-balanced. I loved the twist (did not see that coming) and I really liked Alice, so volatile and sarcastic and vulnerable, I really enjoyed taking the journey with her. I liked that most of my expectations were subverted throughout the story--everything I assumed was going to happen usually got turned on its head in an interesting way that left me surprised, and considering all the books I've read and how easily I can sometimes call what's going to happen next in books and movies, that's a pretty good talent to have. I liked that things were never really cut and dried and that just when I thought I could trust a character, something would happen to prove their untrustworthiness (or vice versa, a character who might seem untrustworthy would come through in a pinch). I liked that the resolution wasn't exactly what I was expecting and wasn't some traditional fairy tale ending (which works with how the fairy tales in the book itself aren't always what we would think of as "traditional"). I really enjoyed reading this and look forward to seeing other works from Albert.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book from start to finish! The narrator was relatable even though her circumstances were fantastical. I will be recommending this to fans of Holly Black and Laini Taylor, as well as people who respond to strong character driven adventure stories. And the cover for this book is stunning. I’ll be putting it on displays and letting teens and adults alike know about it.

The Hazel Wood is fun, eclectic, and full of pieces of oddness and the strange. It is a novel that fits in with stories I love because the stories I love twist reality and folds it to were the nonsensical and the truth collide. That is what I enjoyed most about The Hazel Wood.

What I Liked:

It is not a retelling. The Hazel Wood has stories of its own that it follows. Stories that the brother Grimm would feel proud to include into their arsenal of Grimm tales.

The stories have a cult following. I don’t know why, but when stories have any sort of cult included in them I automatically enjoy it and am fascinated by it all the more. Cults just seem crazy and out there, but when you think about how their are so many in our reality with so many people following them you have to wonder if they are truly crazy after all.

The strange happens slowly. I love it when books sprinkle in the elements of fantasy or strange instead of giving it to you all at once. The Belles is another book that does this very well. It helps the reader get used to what sort of fantasy the book is using, but it also creates a feeling of tension and curiosity in the reader as the story progresses.

I could not trust Ellery Finch. Ellery was a character that we are told in the synopsis that he may have other motives (I’m not going to say much else about him because spoilers) but, he was a character that I really wanted to like, but couldn’t trust and the way he was written was lovely in my opinion.

The actual telling of the stories. I wish I could have read the stories in a separate book all on its own. My favorite parts of the book were immersing myself in the dark tales of The Hinterland. They were fascinating, rich, and full of intrigue.

What I Didn’t Like:

There wasn’t enough time in the Hinterland. While I enjoyed the slow shifts and hints of strange this book had, I wish it would have lived more of its life actually inside the world it was meant to. It takes a while to get there, I would have just hoped that you would get to experience so much more of it for longer.

Probably should be a stand-alone. This isn’t to say that I don’t want to read the sequel I truly enjoyed this book, but I honestly don’t know where book 2 is possibly going to go. I am open to being surprised, but I am also skeptical. This book could have been just as awesome on its own.

Final Thoughts:

The Hazel Wood could be defined in one word by being Unique. It is a story in and of itself and it apologizes to no one for it. It is weird and strange and it’s stories are of the unfamiliar variety. It is a fresh and different take on your typical fantasy and I loved it for it!

My Thoughts:

Spoiler alert: I was such a black sheep on this one. The premise is really intriguing. Alice has spent her whole life moving around with her mom because bad luck always seems to find them. Her grandmother is sort of famous for writing a book of dark fairy tales -- a book that she can't seem to ever get ahold of. Soon, it becomes evident that there's something else at work here as things from the fairytales show up and she has to go venture into this world that is apparently not fictional.

It has this sort of creepy, dark, haunting atmosphere throughout the book which I appreciated. I actually found the fairytales themselves really cool and way more interesting than the main plot... which was a problem. The book just seemed incredibly slow to me. There didn't seem to be enough substance to drive a solid plot despite the really cool premise and all this dark fairy tale fodder it had to work with. I also struggled because I didn't seem to have any connection to Alice, the MC. I just didn't care enough about her at all which made me not feel invested in her story. I just seemed to have this huge disconnect with her and had about zero emotional attachment to her and what was happening to her in the book.

I wish I liked this more, I really do! The writing was fantastic, and I did find the actual fairy tale stories/characters really interesting.

I do have to point out that I am definitely in the minority here. There was a massive amount of hype surrounding this book from BEA a whole year before its release and people LOVE it so please take my reaction with a grain of salt.

In Short...

While this one had all the makings of a fantasy that should've lured me in, it fell short for me. My lack of connection to the main character made me not invested in her journey. I wish it had a stronger plot to drive the other interesting elements but despite the good writing and haunting atmosphere, it ultimately missed the mark for me. As I am a black sheep in this regard, you may be among the majority that loved it!

Overall I enjoyed this book. I love the dark tones it had and I enjoyed the writing style. I wasn't a fan of the main characters and the rushed ending.

If you miss the Enchanted Forest, take a trip to the Hinterland while you wait to return in Melissa Albert's deeply satisfying modern fantasy novel. When 17-year-old Alice's mother is kidnapped by a mysterious figure who claims to be from the land of her grandmother's dark fairy tales, she is forced to go to the place her mother warned her against: the Hazel Wood estate. With the help of a classmate who knows everything about her grandmother's twisted fairy tales, Alice embarks on an adventure of a lifetime to save her mother — that is, if she can survive herself.

Intriguing, captivating, The Hazel Wood was quite a great read with such riveting and mind-blowing characters. ​​
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I fell in love with this book the more I read it. I was engrossed and invested but halfway through my expectations got broken and my love waned a little.

And then the book went on and I felt similarity and then I got to the end and realized the book for what it was not.—And I loved that it broke apart that boy-and-girl romance-or-togetherness trope. I am strongly inclined towards the fact that this book focused on love that is between a child and their mother vis a viz. I loved that this showcased strength and ferociousness and confidence. And for that it deserves all the attention that it's gotten.

I love that I read this book and got to experience it firsthand when it was getting all the recognition.

I love that I can smile while thinking about this book.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for this review copy

This felt refreshingly different for a teen fantasy novel. It was probably the lack of romance and slightly unlikeable main character (she certainly had issues but the angst didn't bother me). I really loved the writing and the weird and oppressively dark atmosphere, and I especially loved the 'Hinterland' short stories told throughout the novel.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

MEH. This book took a long time to get to the fantasy part, and when it finally did get there it felt really rushed. The only memorable character was Finch, and he's only in half the book.

I would totally frame this book and hang it on my wall though - the cover is gorgeous.