Bad luck follows Alice and her mother Ella through life like a fairy-tale destiny. They have been on the move constantly, outrunning this omen that has a mysterious link to Alice’s grandmother Althea Proserpine, an elusive dark fantasy writer. This is why, at 17 years old, Alice has no notion of home, except within the books she read during her uprooted childhood. When the news of Althea’s death reaches Alice and Ella, they both assume their bad luck has finally ended. But in a sick twist of fate, Alice realizes that her story is only beginning its dark spiral into an uncanny, sinister plot.

Melissa Albert achieves an excellent balance between traditional fairy tale elements, modern pop culture references, and intertextuality in The Hazel Wood. From Harry Potter to Wilkie Collins, Albert provides little Easter eggs for readers that will please bookies and fantasy lovers alike. Even by naming the protagonist Alice, Albert pulls elements of wonder from Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and then builds on those themes and emotions by introducing her own twisted folk tales and nursery rhymes.

As a refreshing change, The Hazel Wood puts forward more mature themes than most YA novels, which makes the overall narrative more meaningful. Albert juxtaposes poverty with the life of excess, showing the positives and negatives of both lifestyles. She also includes diverse characters in both sexuality and race. The most impressive commentary put forward is the brief, but powerful observation concerning police brutality against the black community, and the white privilege that overlooks this phenomenon. This inclusion is striking and uplifting.

However, some constructive criticism is in order for The Hazel Wood as well. Albert does a thorough job of introducing the plot and setting, but as Alice descends into the fantasy world of the Hinterland, the narration becomes rushed. It doesn’t take the time to fully describe the wonders and horrors that Alice encounters. It’s uncertain whether Albert is allowing space for the reader’s imagination, or is purposely leaving blanks to reflect Alice’s confusion. Either way, the novel needs more imagery to create the fantasy world Albert wants to convey. The first major plot twist is also anti-climatic, there wasn’t enough rising action to bring much impact. Hopefully as Albert continues this series, she puts more time into showing rather than telling.

Verdict
Buy It! Despite some shortcomings, The Hazel Wood is a fascinating, entertaining, and fresh young adult novel. It draws on nostalgia from childhood fairy tales to evoke a sentimental feeling for readers, but adds its own twisted narrative to create something that is uniquely thrilling. Alice’s first person narration is witty, ironic, and full of teen angst. The characterization is solid for the main protagonists, and hopefully Albert will continue to develop them in the following novels. As most fairy tales do, The Hazel Wood puts forth a lesson – We control our own stories. For a generation of young adults looking into a somewhat bleak future, this message is welcome and important.

While I don’t read much YA, there is something that I am a complete sucker for- fairy tales. I love everything about them: the love stories, the wicked villains and the magical realism. So, when #cjsreads discussed adding The Hazel Wood, the fantasy, twisted fairy tale novel by Melissa Albert, to our January choices, I knew I needed this book in my life.

The novel follows Alice, a seventeen-year girl who is no stranger to life on the road, and her mother Ella. When Alice’s grandmother, a famous novelist and author of the cult classic book of dark fairy tales (The Hinterland), passes away, Alice is drawn to the Hazel Wood (her grandmother’s reclusive home) in search of her mother. To retrieve her mother, Alice enlists the help of Hinterland super fan Ellery Finch to navigate this cruel, supernatural world that Alice’s grandmother created.

Now, like I said The Hazel Wood is much different from what I normally am drawn to but I was really intrigued by the synopsis. I loved the concept and the characters. By the time I was finished the first chapter I was completely hooked. I sucked into this strange, dark world and, during the first half of the book, I found myself desperate to navigate this story. Almost like an allegorical quest story, I rooted for Alice. I felt like Albert’s prose was beautiful; there is no doubt that this novel is well written.

One feature of the novel I enjoyed the most was how dark it was. The bits and pieces of the fairy tale stories that were revealed had me so intrigued. I wish there was a companion piece to this novel where I could read every story from The Hinterland! I would love that: hint, hint Melissa Albert!

I don’t want to give anything away, but I did find that I got a little bit lost during the second half of the novel. It sort of start blending genre lines and moving more into a sci-fi, fantasy, magical type of text that I struggled to navigate. However, I did feel like this ended in an interesting twist, which I appreciated.

Overall, an intriguing, dark story that will start a discussion! If you want a novel that will push you out of your comfort zone, pick up The Hazel Wood, you will not regret reading this phenomenally written story.

I absolutely adore dark fairy tales and so my expectations were high for The Hazel Wood. This book somehow surpassed them. It was an absolute delight to read and I loved how it subverted my expectations at every turn. Here are five reasons why you should read this wonderfully dark modern take on fairy tales.

1) The characters were stellar, I particularly loved Alice and Ellery.
2) The mystery was beautifully plotted and was beautifully intertwined with the fairy tales.
3) Melissa Albert's writing was gorgeous, I loved how clearly I could see the Hazel Wood and New York while reading. Both of the settings really came alive through her words.
4) It was very creepy and dark without being too much. Albert did an excellent job of walking that line.
5) The ending was absolutely perfect. I can understand why some people won't be happy with it but I adore this type of ending, particularly since I don't seen them that often.

I would highly recommend if you like darker fantasy stories! I was absolutely enchanted by The Hazel Wood and I can't wait to read this one again.

Originally posted on Forever Young Adult on 2018 January 30

BOOK REPORT for The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood #1) by Melissa Albert

Cover Story: Classic
BFF Charm: Caution
Swoonworthy Scale: 3
Talky Talk: Burning Brightly
Bonus Factor: Story Within A Story
Relationship Status: Happily (N)Ever After

Cover Story: Classic

This cover is gorgeous. I love that it looks like a classic tome of fairy tales, but with a modern twist: the skyscrapers and the spilled coffee. All of the elements of the cover are elements of the story, too. It’s intriguing before you read the book, and purposeful once you finish. More of this, please, publishers!

The Deal:

Alice is the granddaughter of a famous fairy-tale author: Althea Proserpine, a one-book-wonder who disappeared into obscurity, along with copies of her book. Despite a cult following that persists even today, Alice has never met her grandmother. Instead, she has to gather scraps of information about the mysterious woman from the internet, old articles, and the occasional fan.

Alice and her mother Ella have spent Alice’s entire life on the run, drifting from town to town to outrun bad luck that might have been straight out of Althea’s stories. One day, Ella gets word that Althea has died—and now, perhaps, the bad luck will end. They can finally settle down.

That is, until Ella is kidnapped and taken to the Hazel Wood—and Alice, along with her classmate Ellery Finch, is determined to rescue her mother from a fairy-tale fate.

BFF Charm: Caution

I quite liked Alice, who can be a total jerk and whose rage simmers just underneath the surface, but I’m not so sure she’d be the best friend to have. First of all, all that bad luck following her around doesn’t just affect her. Second, her temper and single-minded focus make her prickly—but a terribly compelling character.

She’s not without self-awareness, though. I loved this quote: “The feeling of knowing you’re being an asshole is as bad as feeling wronged, but without the satisfaction.” The whole book is full of observations that seem so obvious and true once she points them out.

Swoonworthy Scale: 3

Romance takes a back seat to other relationships in this book, particularly mother/daughter. Although Finch is an adorable boy, the possibility of romantic love is far less intriguing than the love between story and subject.

Talky Talk: Burning Brightly

Melissa Albert’s writing is a thing of wonder. Never have I highlighted so many passages. She expertly combines the dark, lush descriptions of displaced fairy tales with sharp-tongued, dry humor. Alice’s voice is angry, but in an understandable way—like the way you’d nod at a raging teenager and think, “Yeah, I feel you.”

But don’t take my word for it—take hers.



“The light in our apartment was all the colors of metal—blinding platinum in the morning, gold in the afternoon, bronze from the streetlights at night.”

“She spoke only to other children, mostly to make them cry.”
“My head pulsed with a three a.m. black coffee feeling.”

“Everyone is supposed to be a combination of nature and nurture, their true selves shaped by years of friends and fights and parents and dreams and things you did too young and things you overheard that you shouldn’t have and secrets you kept or couldn’t and regrets and victories and quiet prides, all the packed-together detritus that becomes what you call your life.”


To say I love Albert’s way with words is a gross understatement.

Bonus Factor: Story Within A Story

Modern fairy tale stories often have stories within stories, which, when done well, are one of my favorite things to read. Althea’s stories are creepy and dark, and I was delighted to see that Albert appears to be publishing them in a companion volume sometime in 2020.

Even better: although this is the first book in a series, the story ends in a way that will satisfy your need for closure.

Relationship Status: Happily (N)Ever After

Book, I’d heard so much about you from the rumor mill, so I was nervous that you couldn’t possibly live up to my expectations…and yet, our date was positively, well, magical. You made me laugh and sigh and nod in understanding as you said things I’d been thinking forever, but much more eloquently. I’ll be waiting by the phone for you to ask me out again, although I suspect I might have a bit of a wait. Can you put a spell on me so the time passes more quickly?

An updated version of "Alice in Wonderland" where Alice gets sucked into the Hinterland with Finch by her side. Alice grew up with her mother running from something. Alice's mother, Ella, would not talk about what happened and why they ran. When Ella disappears one day, Alice sets out to find her with the help of Finch. After being sucked into fantasy land through a wooded portal, destiny prevails as Alice sets out to finish her story and find her mother. There are many twists and turns in the story and the ending is almost like "The Wizard of Oz" when Dorothy wakes up.

At this time this book is a DNF and I will not be posting a review until I attempt to read it again. I found this book grating and I completely struggled with the kidnapping sequence we got at the beginning. While I can see partially how it's normal to rationalize kidnapping, I felt like the author instead romanticized it. I didn't get very far before my frustration overwhelmed me.

At this time I'm unwilling to read more of this author's work.

An interesting read, though I am not sure the description of the book really says what the book is about and caused some confused when first starting it.

This book was amazing! It really changed the fairy tale genre. It took traditional lore and put a great modern twist on it. I like how realistic the story is in an otherwise unrealistic world. I really enjoyed the fact that every part paid off, every character and scene had a purpose. When it all comes together and you are introduced to characters and locations with meaning it truly pays off. This book takes the traditional fairy tale and places it in the modern day and aligns itself with that of a coming of age story as Alice finds herself. This book was truly an adventure everyone should take!

Great creepy fairy tale book. I found myself wanting to know all of the stories from the Hinterland. I hope future books cover other characters' tales.

It has taken me days upon days to get to a place where my thoughts on this book are anything other than simply "a;ljfaoiejfakldsajf omg so good."

I'm such a fan of The Hazel Wood! It starts out with delectable writing, the kind you want to just wrap up in a decadent chocolate cake and absolutely devour. It's a bit of a slow start to get to the adventure portion, but the ride is just the right mix of creepy and enticing to keep you reading until you enter The Halfway Wood, the Hazel Wood, the Hinterland...

Melissa Albert is not just a talented writer but also a gifted storyteller. This book is entrancing. Read it!

Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood is a young adult fantasy novel that twines familiar tropes of fairy tales and fantasies–princesses, magical objects, challenges, quests, and magic into something entirely new, exciting, and deeply dangerous. It is a thrilling, inventive, and highly original fantasy that takes place in the here and now.

Alice and her mother, Ella, have lived their lives on the road, moving once or twice a year, sleeping in cars, borrowed houses, and cheap motels, seemingly trailed by bad luck that always seems to find them with terrible consequences for people and places around them. However, shortly after learning that Althea, Ella’s mother died, Ella got married to a wealthy man and now Alice is living in a fancy upscale apartment with a stepsister named Audrey who is the same age. Things should be looking up, but then one day she sees a man who she is certain is the same man who kidnapped her years ago, claiming he was taking her to see her grandmother.

Alice’s grandmother was a famous author who wrote “Tales from the Hinterland” an electrifyingly original collection of fairy tales, grim and reportorial stories of magical beings that are scary and horrifying. Something happened in the past that drove Ella to take Alice on the road, on the run from her mother, so that Alice has no memory of ever knowing her. She’s also never read her mother’s famous book, a book that is oddly impossible to find, even with e-bay.

However, things seem to be coming to a head with the reappearance of her abductor who seems to have aged not at all, with cryptic clues in the form of pages torn from her grandmother’s book, and with a new friendship with Ellery Finch, a classmate who has read Althea’s books.



I loved The Hazel Wood. From the first page, I was enthralled, at first by what seemed a coming-of-age story of a unique and self-aware young woman whose life experiences are different from most–a traveling life of a reader. More than the events that happened, she remembers the places she lived by the books she read. I can see that.

I like how the magical elements of the story were slowly revealed, what seems coincidence crystallizing into magical interference. We are not thrust into the fantasy immediately. Alice has lived an unusual life, but there’s no reason to see anything fantastical. Lots of kids have grown up with peripatetic parents who drag them from school to school, living as perpetual “new kids” in school. She self-protective, prickly, a bit stand-offish and it all makes sense, she’s spent a lifetime losing friends. She feels rage and even that makes sense. We assume there must be some reason her mother fled with her.

And then when Alice has no choice but to go to her grandmother’s home and enter that magical world, it’s so new and different. Yes, the tropes of fairy tales are there, bits of verse with clues, anthropomorphic beasts, talking trees, and scary things. But it’s also beautiful and inhabited by other humans who have found their way there. It’s scary, deadly, terrifying and lovely, friendly, and somehow familiar and those contradictions are not the least bit false.

The Hazel Wood is completely original, utterly captivating, and puts its characters in real jeopardy so readers will feel real anxiety over the fate of its characters. There are no guarantees in this book and you can sense that from the first approaches toward the Hazel Wood. That uncertainty, not knowing what might happen in the end, makes this much much more thrilling.

I received an Advance Readers Copy of The Hazel Wood from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Hazel Wood at Flatiron Books | Macmillan
Melissa Albert on Twitter

Seventeen-year-old protagonist Alice Proserpine has never stayed in one place for long. Most of her childhood memories involve being on the road, staying with one family friend or another until her mother Ella decided that they had to move on. Ella never spoke of why they had to live this way, but Alice always felt the sense that her mother was trying to run away from something. But run away from what? Alice has no idea, though she can guess from Ella’s tight-lippedness about her past that it might have something to do with the Hazel Wood, a magnificent home nestled somewhere in the woods of upstate New York. The estate belonged to Alice’s grandmother Althea Proserpine, an author who achieved cult celebrity with her book of fairy tales titled “Tales from the Hinterland”. It was probably no coincidence that no sooner had they received news of Althea’s death, Ella finally decided that they could settle down in the city and start a normal life. She even marries Harold, a wealthy businessman, so that Alice has to start going to school at an exclusive academy for rich kids, where she feels like a fish out of water.

The only person closest to a friend is Ellery Finch, a somewhat geeky and awkward boy whose father is one of the richest people in New York City. Finch also happens to be an Althea Proserpine superfan, and has been fascinated with Alice ever since he found out that the author was her grandmother. Alice, however, is nettled to have to admit that she knows next to nothing about Althea, nor has she even ever read “Tales from the Hinterland”, for Ella had always forbidden her to seek out her grandmother or her work. Still, Alice had tried, and none of her efforts had ever borne fruit. Althea’s book has become very rare and hard to find, and it appears only a small circle of mega-enthusiasts know all the stories. Then one day, Alice comes home from school to find that her mother has been stolen away, and the only clue she left behind was a message: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.” Getting a sick feeling that this has everything to do with her grandmother and her fairy tales, Alice turns to Finch, the only person she can think of who might be able to help her rescue Ella.

If my usual blurb seems a bit more detailed than normal, it’s because The Hazel Wood is a novel filled with so much breathtaking allusion and tantalizing prose that it’s almost overwhelming to consider the amount of setup packed into the first few chapters. Although the fantasy aspect doesn’t come into play for quite a while, even from the start I could feel the aura of mystery and magic wrapped around everything despite the ordinary urban setting.

I was also pulled into the story right away, captivated by the power of Alice’s personality and voice. Granted, she’s not always the most pleasant person to be around, being prone to some truly disconcerting moments of anger as well as snide remarks. But given her itinerant upbringing and the darkness that is later revealed in her life, it makes perfect sense. She also has a dry sense of humor that I found strangely endearing, as well as those rare moments where we got to catch a glimpse of her true self through the cracks in her armor. Belying Alice’s fierce independence is in fact a frightened young girl whose nightmare scenario has just come to pass. Her mother has always been a constant presence in her life, and now she is gone. It is little wonder then that Alice ends up latching onto Finch, who became my favorite character the moment he came into the picture. I’ve always had this soft spot for the geeky type of guys in YA who might not be conventionally attractive but are nonetheless charming and cute in their own way.

As time goes on, the book starts going through a transformation, becoming darker and stranger until at the end, readers are faced full on with the magical fairy tale-like elements of the story. Ironically, I actually found myself less enamored of The Hazel Wood at this point, because the plot loses a lot of its uniqueness and instead plunges into territory that has been covered before in a plethora of other YA novels and re-imaginings with fairy tale themes or settings. Without doing into spoilers, I also did not like how the book ended. One could say this was a fitting way to wrap things up given the overall tone of the story, and, if I’m being completely honest, on some level I can even understand why the author decided to do it this way. Still, I was left pretty feeling pretty cheated and unsatisfied. It seemed a shame that we started things roaring but ended them on a whimper.

However, I am encouraged by the fact that a follow-up is already in the works. Rarely have I been this happy to find out that a book I’ve just finished is going to be part of a series. While I think The Hazel Wood will work perfectly fine as a standalone, if ever a book needed a sequel, it’s this one. Hopefully, the next chapter of Alice’s journey will reveal more answers and dispel the unsettled feelings I got from the ending. Above all, I’m also looking forward to reading more of Melissa Albert’s gorgeous writing. The Hazel Wood may have a few flaws, but overall it is an impressive debut.

"The Hinterland didn't tell nice tales. "

"This story had no allegiance to anything. It was winding and creepy and not even that bloody. There were no heroes, no wedding. No message."

I read a couple books in 2017 published by Flatiron books and absolutely loved them! You can read my review of Caraval and Girls Made of Snow and Glass if you'd like. So when I saw THE HAZEL WOOD show up on NetGalley, I knew I had to request a copy. I devoured this book in just a matter of days. I couldn't put it down. I took every spare moment I could to read just bit more, even if it was a page here or there. After finishing it, I basically insisted that all my friends pre-order immediately. THE HAZEL WOOD has already hit my top 10 reads of 2018 and the year has only just begun!

Some words I would use to describe THE HAZEL WOOD are: dark, mysterious, intriguing, captivating.

"If you've spent your whole life running, how do you learn to stand still?"

THE HAZEL WOOD is the story of Alice, the granddaughter of Althea a famous author of a collection of dark faerie tales. Alice and her mother have been on the run for as long as she can remember. Always followed by bad luck and trouble, they're constantly on the move. When her mother is mysteriously taken from her she finds an unlikely ally in a classmate, Ellery, a classmate who is obsessed with the world her grandmother created and is willing to do whatever it takes to help Alice find her mother and solve the mystery of her disappearance. Alice's mother left one message: to stay away!

"He liked to say names, I noticed. First or last or both at once. Maybe in real life it was meant to be friendly, but names were dangerous in a fairy tale."

I adored the writing in this book. I found myself immediately immersed in this world and its characters. I wanted to know more of the story and what would happen next. Melissa Albert did a superb job of creating a unique story. One that I didn't feel had already been told in a hundred different ways. It was dark and twisted with mystery and intrigue. I would classify THE HAZEL WOOD as magical realism. A story set in the modern world that includes fantasy or supernatural elements. I went into this book knowing that it was a standalone and finished reading it wishing I could have more, yet also feeling completely satisfied. I think this book was a ground breaking debut novel from Melissa Albert and I will be continuing to (demand) encourage EVERYONE I KNOW to read it!

"...the only way out is through. Through the woods, through the story, through the pain."

Not long after I finished reading THE HAZEL WOOD, I saw that Melissa Albert had signed a new contract with Flatiron books for 2 more titles set in this same world! Oh my goodness you guys, THE EXCITEMENT IS REAL!!!! I am over the moon excited to see we will be getting a collection of short stories called TALES FROM THE HINTERLAND and a second that will be a follow-up novel. I know what I hope this story is about, but only time will tell.

"Something in his face made me remember not everything was about me. Maybe Finch wasn't trying to be the sidekick in my story. Maybe he was trying to start one of his own."

**SOME SPOILERS AHEAD**
I was excited to read this book. A story about stories? Gorgeous cover? Check and check. I'm there. I have to give it credit for keeping me reading. But now that I am finished, I feel this vague sense of dissatisfaction with it. For one thing, the main character is really hard to like, and we never get to know other characters well enough to care about them either. I also had a really hard time buying the plot. There are a lot of things going on that make no sense. I mean, really. Characters who show up and conveniently give our protagonist important junk (and really, it's junk) that coincidentally and inexplicably will help later in the book. Why does the junk work? We don't ever really find out. How is a certain character able to meet our protagonist in the "real" world, even though he is trapped elsewhere? Never explained. Things just seem to "happen" in this book, without the main character really doing any serious work to accomplish her goal.

Finally, I am not quite sure what audience is right for this book. It's aimed at YA, but it's the darkest and creepiest YA I've ever read. It's not just bump in the night stuff or gory horror--we've got references to a leering teacher, vague but mature sexual references, and at one point, characters hand one of the main protagonists a knife and exhort her to "Kill yourself." Spoiler: she defies the command, and her purpose in the book is clearly to fight for the right to live her life the way she wants to, but still…. I actually gasped aloud reading that page. I'm not even sure where I would put this in my library, frankly. I've got 12 year-olds borrowing from our YA section, and there is no innocence in this book, IMO. I really enjoy books that twist fairytales or play with folklore, and I do like my fair share of dark and creepy books. But this book just did not make it for me. In my personal opinion, I felt that Seanan McGuire's excellently eerie Wayward Children series was a more enjoyable sinister twist on fairytales. Other ideas: Hunted by Meagan Spooner, or even the wonderful Thursday Next series from Jasper Fforde. (less)

The Hazel Wood was one of my top anticipated reads of 2018, and is perhaps one of my five fave reads so far. The writing is fluid and flows smoothly. It went really fast for me which takes a lot because it’s hard for me to focus on reading after work. This book sucked me in with its first person narration and personable MC. It’s amazingly well done. The world in this book is fantastically developed, it has depth, and the characters are well rounded. I love how witty the MC is and how real she seems. How down to earth.

I found the story deliciously dark and is that which would make the Grimm brothers smile with pride.

I also liked the parallels to The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman. Not sure if the “fictional world from cult classic book turns out to be real” premise was intentional, but this was a point in its favor as I am a fan of The Magicians.

I loved the look at mother-daughter relationships and family relationships in this book and how our MC is willing to do what it takes to rescue her mom. There’s some old scars here that really add depth and a sense of realism to the story.

I highly recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC and the chance to live in this world.

In wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve never been a fairy tale type of person, but you really don’t have to be with this book. The hinterland stories are really dark and creepy and have more in common with Brothers Grimm stories than traditional fairy tales. It was fast paced and I couldn’t wait to get to the next chapter.

OH MY GOODNESS. I requested to review this based SOLEY on the fact that it was all over my feed and my goodness am I thankful I did. This was an absolutely breathtaking read.



The world that you dive into while reading this is truly a fairytale. It is a novel unlike any novel that I have ever read. What would you say if you found out fairytales were real? What if you found out that you life is not at all what you have been taught to think?

When Alice begins to hunt down her Mother and all paths lead back to The Hazel Wood, things take a turn for the tale. The Fairy Tale kind.

UGH. This book is full of spoilers and I am trying REALLY hard to to yell about them.

Seamless storytelling and multi faced characters that  you completely become enamored with. This is a story about adventure and finding the truth. Fighting for freedom.

I can't wait for the next book. Heck, I can't wait to reread this book in preparation for the next novel.

HUGE GIANT stars for The Hazel Wood.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert was a superb debut! The story was full of mystery and wonder. It was impossible not to be captivated from the first page. It reminded me of paranormal/slightly fairytale-ish books I read and loved back when they were all the rage. I’m happy to see these sorts of stories coming back.

The first quarter of the book was somewhat creepy and the entire book was darker than I was expecting. I loved those aspects! Melissa Albert’s writing was really striking. I would not have assumed this was debut at all. The Hinterland and fairy-tales within real life were so creative. I also really enjoyed the stories within a story. I was really intrigued by Alice’s grandmother and her cult following.

Alice was a strong main character. I liked that she never batted an eye at all the strange happenings. She was so determined to find her mother. I admired that a lot as I would feel the same way. I was a tiny bit disappointed at the amount of romance in this one. I was just expecting more, I guess. I suppose that’s fine since I never really connected with the male lead anyway.

The best thing about The Hazel Wood for me was definitely the Hinterland/fairy tale aspects. I loved getting the little snippets of some of the tales and then seeing them appear in Alice’s life. I do feel like the search for the Hinterland and answers was more interesting than actually getting there. The story kind of dropped off for me there. I still enjoyed it but not as much as the first quarter of the book.

The Hazel Wood was a dark and twisty debut. I was captivated throughout! If you’re a fan of fairy tales or miss those dark paranormal YA reads of several years ago definitely pick this one up!

I loved this book! I love fairytale adaptations, and this one was very twisted and original.

The writing was amazing. Alice had a unique and mature voice. I really enjoyed her narrative. Some of the fairytales from Alice’s grandmother’s book were also in the story. They were super creepy. I had to stop reading it one night and switch to a lighter book so I didn’t have nightmares. But the stories were so good!

The concept of the fairytales coming to life was so creepy. This story reminded me of the Percy Jackson series in that way. Percy learned his family secrets, which brought him into the world of Greek mythology, just as Alice learns her family history in the world of her grandmother’s fairytales.

I really hope a book of Alice’s grandmother’s fairytales is published. It would be awesome to read them all. The physical book was described in the story, so it could be a beautiful book as well.

I loved this story! I recommend it for fans of fairytale adaptations.