Hazel is a witch who's father has raised her mother's soul. She goes after him to save her mothers soul. Joined by a pair of warlocks and a wild witch named Holly, she must use the evil necromancer magic to try to save her moms soul but will her new friends support her. Loved this book. Fun, humorous, romantic and eccentric, What a great fun read!

The first rule of reading this book demands the reader not take it seriously. It is a fun, lighthearted book with a darker side. It is also unmistakably a serial story in novel form. I did not know any of the history of the book when I started reading it. If any reader likes the serial novels of the 19th century, this a book for them. Each chapter begins with action following a cliffhanger that preceded it.

The titular characters are named after trees (Holly “bushes” can get as large as trees), and the corresponding warlocks bear the same characteristics for names, along with having an “H” at the beginning. In total, the main quartet of dramatis personae are Hazel, Holly, Hawthorn, and Hemlock. Nearly every other character in the book has a plant-based name as well, some flowers, some legumes, etc (except for the cellar gnome, Tum, whose name I could not find except for maybe the acronym TUM, which is an ag/tech university in Munich that has a graduate degree in horticultural science).

The story, for a fantasy of witchcraft and wizardry, also bears some resemblance in its nature to magical realism. Some of the elements add up to absurd to anyone familiar with the genre of witchcraft fantasy, but any character reactions to absurd things seem normal, which the reader will then accept as normal for the sake of suspending disbelief. Holly’s behavior and naïveté also lend a degree of comedy, almost slapstick, to the story; she seems very nascent for her age but still bears the skill and knowledge of a formidable witch. I would describe her as uncouth as well. If she did not garner such comical reactions from the other characters, she would be utterly annoying.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, their interactions with one another, and the way they each grew separately and together. I find that is the best aspect of this book and it propelled me through the pages, eager to find out what would happen next.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, for which I give my own opinion.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
I really wanted to love this book considering how much I like fantasy. It has all the elements necessary to make it work; magic, romance, a sisterly bond, however there were a few times during the plot that I questioned why certain scenes were included. For a young adult novel it would be difficult to keep the reader interested.
There were some lovely moments which were very poetic, the language creating beautiful imagery, although these moments were quite scarce in comparison to the whole book.
I can see what the writer was trying to achieve yet I can't give it more than 2.5 stars, sorry.

“Wild witches. Crazy like a pack of sodden badgers.” Holly’s grin widened, “And don’t you forget it.”
I had so much fun reading this. There was danger, humour, family turmoil, and romance. A wonderful story about magic, both good and bad, and the ethics of it. The story follows the sisters Hazel and Holly as they try to find their father who has cursed their mother to try and break the spell. They bring along the warlock brothers Hemlock and Hawthorn and a cellar gnome Tum. Along the way they come to find themselves and gain an understanding of their siblings. The story was quite deep at times, striving to show that the bonds we place upon ourselves are often the hardest to overcome and understand “No one ever asked her what she wanted- she never even asked herself. Her life seemed to have been a long string of duty and obligation, to be the will that kept the family together and safe. To be responsible and strong. To simply be there, no matter what.”
There were heartbreaking moments and others that made me laugh out loud. I was really impressed with this story and I hope so see more of the two sisters and brothers. I’ve grown quite fond of them and enjoy how they get along.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review (Thank you!)

DNF at 30%
Sadly, this book is not for me, it's a case of "It's me not you". I think the author wrote an awesome world-building and magic system and I loved the pet familiars and the intriguing premise of two sisters in a journey with Warlocks. The author also makes beautiful descriptions and I praise that amazing cover and the creativity in names, which was lovely. It started great but I could not connect with the characters, and also the very slow pace was a major contributing factor for me to DNF. I think this book could have been written with much fewer pages.
Nevertheless, I think the author has a lot of potential and I'll look forward to see what she writes next.

Holly and Hazel are two Witch sisters living in an idyllic little community called the Grove where Witches and Warlocks practice elemental magic.
However Hazel is unsettled in their comfortable little lives, as their estranged father has turned to the dark magic of Necromancy and trapped their dead mothers soul.
Hazel needs to muster all the strength she can, both magical and emotional to travel outside the safety of their little community to find their father and free their mother. With a little help from her sister Holly, a couple of Warlock brothers and a Cellar Gnome, of course.
This was a really enjoyable read, Hazel and Holly were both very well thought out characters that you couldn’t help getting involved in their adventure. At one point whilst doing some housework I actually found myself thinking “I wonder how Holly and Hazel are getting on?” So I was definitely engaged. So it came as no surprise to me, whilst reading the authors notes, to learn that this was originally a flash fiction story that the author then expanded and serialised on her blog. It’s that style of writing, that feeling of anticipation you get for the next part of the book that I feel keeps the reader engaged and wanting to read more.
Unfortunately Ash and Willow (Holly and Hazels parents) weren’t really substantial enough for my liking, despite the fact that the whole story revolves around the acts of these two characters there wasn’t a lot of depth in them. However this doesn’t detract from the story as Hazel and Holly (and also Hemlock and Hawthorn the two warlock brothers) are big enough characters in their own right to carry the story.
There is a promise of potentially more to come from these Sisters, I look forward to it.

Witchcraft has been a theme for me this 2019 and this was a charming addition. I usually read darker tales, but this story had charm, mysterious, and sense of watching the characters grow.

Thank you to Netgalley and Double Beast Publishing for a chance to read and review this book, Hazel and Holly by Sara C. Snider! My thoughts are my own, as always.



I give this book two stars.

Synopsis :

Nestled within an enchanted forest is the Grove, a community where witches and warlocks practice elemental magic, brew mystical potions, and lock their cellars against beer thieving gnomes. Life is quiet and uneventful. Well, except when Hazel's long-lost father uses necromancy to trap her dead mother's soul.

That simply won't do. Necromancy is forbidden in the Grove, and for good reason too. Nobody wants filthy corpses shambling around, mussing up one's garden. Hazel is determined to find her father and undo his treachery.

But despite Hazel's plans of becoming a one-woman army, she can't do everything alone. It's not until wild sister Holly convinces her to leave the house for once and go to a party that Hazel finds a pair of unlikely allies in two bickering warlock brothers.

Together, the four of them go on a journey that takes them out of the Grove and into a world where necromancy reigns and the dead won't respectfully stay in the grave. Hazel will do whatever it takes to stop her father and save her mother's soul. Even if it means turning to necromancy. Even if it means losing her friends.


I downloaded this book for our trip because it looked so cute and like a light, quick fantasy read perfect for a long bus ride or a plane. I loved that that characters weren't all 18, and I loved the sisterly bond that threaded through the story.

What I got was a book that wasn't for me. I found it long, tedious, dull, and nothing lit what I had hoped. It felt like the characters, 17, 23, and mid-thirties, were r just about 14, and the duslogue heavy snark, while charming for ten seconds, began to grate on my nerves after that.

If childish characters, a somewhat bewildering plot, and super duslogue heavy text are your thing, you will love this book. It just wasn't for me at all, and I'm disappointed.

Hazel & Holly

I Picked Up This Book Because: Cover love

The Characters:

Hazel:
Holly:
Tum, Hemlock, Hawthorne

The Story:

I love a sisterly bond and a sisterly bond on an adventure to find your father… no brainer for me, Unfortunately the book did not deliver for me. Well more like it was taking too long to deliver so I’ve moved on.

The Random Thoughts:

*DNF so no rating

I give this book 3.5 stars.
This book was different.
There is no two ways about it.
From the way in which the characters and situations seem to not fit into whatever time they are in to the character development...something about the story was just not what I am used to. That doesn’t make the story bad, it just makes it...difficult to really get all the way into at first.
With that being said...

It is a fun story to read. Admittedly it took me quite a long time to read this book because of reasons listed above BUT I still enjoyed the story.

Hazel and Holly is a YA SFF about 2 sister witches who ultimately are on a mission to free their dead witch mother’s trapped soul from their estranged wizard father’s spell. It’s really more of Hazel’s, the older sister, mission not so much as Holly’s. Along the way, they befriend 2 wizard brothers and a gnome and together the odd group of 5 set off on Holly’s quest in finding her estranged dead beat wizard necromancer dad.


Hazel is a head strong but confused young women who was tasked in raising (from the sounds of it) both her younger sister and mother after their father walked out on them. Hazel’s character is totally relatable; she is all about her business and wants nothing to do with love, marriage, or other people. If she lived in modern times, she would be the type that comes home from work and just chills in yoga pants, reads books, and watches Netflix for fun when she isn’t answering stupid questions or cleaning up the messes her younger sister makes.
In the story, Hazel is trying to figure out how to navigate life as a semi teen mom while she’s also trying to figure out who she is and how she fits into her world. Hazel’s natural inclination to all of the different schools of magic (including dark magic...necromancy)both intrigued and scares her. It seems her biggest fears are becoming like her mother and father who it seems she holds both in different levels of contempt and resentment.


Holly is a few years younger than Hazel, and though she doesn’t have the same sense of independence as Hazel, she is talented in her craft. Holly is a very kind hearted, boisterous, and impulsive character. I imagined her as SJP’s character, Sarah Sanderson, in Hocus Pocus. Although she does have the ditzy quality for the better part of the first half of the story, she later comes into her own and displays her own kind of logic and sense that helps the group to not only survive but to be successful in their journey. Holly’s character, though annoying in the beginning, easily became my favorite character lending humor and also sentiment to the story.


Their mother, Willow, seemed to basically be a dead beat mom who would hang out at bars and not return home for days at a time leaving her young daughters to fend for themselves. In my mind, I imagined “for a good time, conjure Willow” etched into a few bathroom stalls in their hometown. There isn’t a lot to go on about exactly what her relationship with her daughters was like before she got sick and died, but the little there is leads me to my assessment.


I’ve never read a book that seems to be written about the 17th century with 21st century problems...even fantasy fiction. That is not necessarily a bad thing, because I am 100% sure that there were both dead beat parents and siblings raising siblings in those times, it is just not normal to read a SFF story about it. I have also never read a narrative where witches and wizards had regular effed up relationships like us muggles and I think it was very brave of Sara Snider for doing that. From what I have read, this actually started out as a blog challenge, so the unconventionality makes sense when you read it through that lens.

The world she has built, I think has great potential for expansion, and with so many other characters I would be interested to see what becomes of it.

Based on other reviews I’ve read, I think that the unexpected way the story is written throws a lot of readers off. That is not to say that there are not moments in the book when you wish it was written differently or that the story doesn’t at times go a little off the rails. I did not particularly care for the ending of the last parts of the book, as it just entirely too much going on and it seemed like the characters were ...OUT of character if that makes sense.

I think the book has a lot of potential, but we as readers have to be open to it.

I'm really not sure what to make of this book! On the one hand, I loved the characters, and the fact that it bucked the trend of damsels in distress in fantasy. The sisters, Hazel and Holly, were the protagonists, especially Hazel. They were the ones of the quest, not the two men. They also took their own decisions, made up their own minds, were strong and independent in their own right. The debate over the ethics of necromancy was interesting in general. And there was a decent amount of humour.

On the other hand, some parts were inexplicably...for want of a better word...inane. Some of the descriptions of the magical battles and spells were way too lond drawn out, and I had no idea what was happening in the climax/denouement scene! There was a lot of repetition, especially when it came to the father's motive versus Hazel's understanding. I was expecting a twist there, but it was rather tame.

Eventually, I came away with no sense of what sort of reader the story is targeting. Readers of serious fantasy are likely to be irritated by the flighly but stubborn and strong Holly, and the flamboyant Hawthorne (some stereotyping here <spoiler>his sexuality is set as a reveal at the end, but most readers will cotton on immediately</spoiler>).

(Review copy from NetGalley)

This book sounded right up my street, witches, Necromancers , a magical fantasy world and I was so hyped for this. Unfortunately it didn’t meet my excitement , the characters I struggled to connect with and were not very relatable, I found the plot all over the place as well as the pacing. The world building was good, but unfortunately let down from what seemed so promising

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I was pretty excited to get a chance to read this book before it's release. Witches and magic and a magical fantasy world? It sounds amazing. However, I ended up DNFing this book at less than 20%. I couldn't get into it, as hard as I tried. The world building seemed interesting, with the magic systems, but that's the only plus I came away with. I found the characters to all be extremely annoying and I just couldn't sit through it. Maybe it just wasn't for me? It might even get better farther in the book, sadly, I didn't make it that far.

So, did anyone else get weird poorly executed Chronicles of Narnia vibes? No, the two stories are not similar but the fact that there are four characters traveling in the midst of a fantasy world...oh and it just happens to be two male characters and two females. I also saw similarities in the way the main character struggles with forbidden magic and the way Edmund was seduced by evil in Narnia. Let's just say my mind kept making connections.

That being said, I was neither overly impressed nor unimpressed with the story. I just kept finding things similar to other fantasies.

I'd like to revisit this book in a few months to see if I can regain my interest in the story. The description captured need more than the story itself.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel. I'd like more by this author.

This was a book that grew on me. It initially appealed to me because of the fairytale-like description and the magical elements. However, the start felt like I was dropped into a world I should have been familiar with - but I wasn't, and I would have appreciated a bit more world building (particularly where Hazel and Holly's mother was involved.)

In honesty, this is one I had to push myself to stick with, as the beginning was a bit slow. The tale did pick up pace midway and had a satisfying ending.

Most of the time, I enjoyed the interactions between the two sets of siblings, both between siblings sets as well as between each others.. They each had such different personalities which seemed to play well and against each other. The characters showed growth (although I would have liked to see Holly's character a little more developed, as she came off as very childish for her age.) I loved the golems and the cheeky house elf and all the creepy creatures that showed up in this very quirky tale. The plot did feel choppy at times, but the story tied up neatly in the end.

I was given this ARC by the publisher via netgalley for an honest review.

I am drawn to books that can transport you to a far off place. I liked the fairy tale aspect of it and loved that it centered on sisters. And SISTER WITCHES! I wasn't feeling the necromancy stuff and that some of the adventures didn't need to be so drawn out.

The premise of this book was promising but I found itquiet lacking. Necromancy, witches, enchanted forests and crazy family dynamics could have taken this book to great places but it was just disturbing and dull.

I really enjoyed this story! I absolutely love children's fantasy, and this is one that I'm excited to come back to with my little one some day. I loved the illustrations throughout, and I thought that the author was a talented writer and story teller. I'm excited to purchase this one when it hits the shelves in May! Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with an advanced review copy!

Hazel and Holly is a interesting fantasy adventure for Young Adults to read. Witches, warlocks, and a necromancer oh my. The writing is simple and there is humour throughout.

I tried to like this one, and I really wanted to - the premise sounded interesting and creative and I was eager for Fantasy after a recent spate of rather dark Thrillers and Mysteries. But I could just not fall into this one... Holly is supposed to be 17 but acts like she's seven. Hazel acts more like her mother than her sister, and her nagging wore on me very quickly. The rest of the characters never did anything for me either - the warlock brothers felt like pastiche, the other witches were flat, and I couldn't even generate enough interest to read long enough to meet or learn more about the mysterious missing father... This one just wasn't for me.