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.

Awesome sister duos always hold a very special place inside my heart, so I'm super glad I got to add this one to the bunch! Hazel & Holly by Sara C. Snider was a lighthearted and entrancing read. With all the talk about about witches & warlocks, necromancers & dangerous magic, I was expecting and was even a little excited for a dark read...but that's not what I got. Instead, this book brought out the quirky angles of fantasy, which I absolutely loved! I so look forward to more of this author's work and recommend this book to friends.

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.

This is a fantasy adventure book featuring witch sisters Hazel and Holly. Hazel was supposed to be 23 and Holly 17, but I felt their characters were a lot younger. The names became a little confusing especially when the two warlock brothers Hawthorn and Hemlock were introduced and then there were also two dogs called Shirley and Sheila.

I loved the introduction to this book and the first chapter drew me in. Hazel meets with her dead mother and we find out that her mother has been cursed. I loved this and was excited to read the rest of the book but found that it didn't really catch my attention after this. It felt childish to me, especially with the gnome Tum.

The author does a great job of describing the Grove I enjoyed the fun aspect of this book, but I did feel it was a little young for me. The plot moves along and there are twists and turns. This is a light read and a rather simple story that I think many readers will enjoy. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

A lovely tale following two witches and warlocks. This book kept me gripped and I enjoyed watching all the characters grow and how they dealt with difficult decisions and situations. I love the character of Tum too! Whimsical, witty, and a bit witchy. If you like books with a Brothers Grimm fairytale feel paired with sibling adventure then you’ll love this one.

I requested based on the cover, which is beautiful. It doesn't stand out and the pacing was far too slow. I feel like the author was too afraid to touch on anything queer or go beyond the norms of fantasy, but that's my opinion. The soul thing was...interesting.

This book is charming, dark, witty and funny in all the right places. I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did but I flew through it. I am begging for a sequel before the first even releases! Sara did such a fantastic job with creating this magical world with so many different elements to them and It was exciting to learn about the sister’s world. I will forever read anything Snider comes out with!

I loved the cover of this book.
I loved the title.
I loved the description and what it could offer.
I did not like the book too much because the storyline was slow for me and flat.
This book had a potential, but it did not fulfilled my expectations at all..
sorry....

Hazel and Holly and their father and their mother's soul and some sort of story that didn't really get under way and I just couldn't bother with it.

DNF @20%

The characters I dislike to read about the most are ones with zero self-awareness, appear to act intentionally against their own interests, and just generally behave stupidly. Unfortunately, Hazel and Holly was full of those characters. 

Hazel and Holly follows two witch sisters, Hazel and Holly, as older sister Hazel attempts to hunt down her missing father in order to restore her mother's soul and younger sister Holly ...exists. Mostly, my problem with this book was with Holly and her utter lack of any self-awareness. The first several conflicts Hazel gets into (or anything before the 20% mark) are pretty much all due to Holly insisting Hazel do something potentially life-threatening, probably illegal, and definitely rude task for her. There's stealing buttons and other trinkets from another witch's house because Holly doesn't think her own supplies are good enough and hiding a (cellar?) gnome from guards after he and Holly go on a looting trip in a warlock's mansion just because. It was borderline painful to read about a 17-year-old who has such little maturity and an older sister who, admittedly, raised her this way.

Overall, I rate this a 1/5. I very very rarely DNF books, but I found myself counting down to the 20% so I could put it down. The author appeared to correlate whimsical behaviour with nonsensical behavior and I simply couldn't stand the characters.

Review to be posted on blog 26 April 2019

I was immediately drawn to the cover - it is beautiful. The book, however, fell flat for me and I found myself skimming the last half just to see how it all wrapped up. It moved really slow and I never attached to the characters enough.

Ohh I wanted to love this book so badly!
I had no expectations of this book, It has such a stunning cover, that it draws you to it instantly.
The premise of witches, magic, trapped souls and the woods sounded incredible.
This book is written so lyrically, the entire book flows like a babbling brook...

It is the language used that made it hard for me to really get into, I was constantly having to re-read sentences to fully understand them, to work out all of the words that had been melded together.

I can see this being popular once it is released. However it just wasn't for me.

What a delightful story!

Witch sisters Hazel and Holly must set their mother's soul free from the necromantic bonds that hold her in limbo. Their father, the necromancer who entrapped their mother, disappeared from the sisters' lives years ago. To free their mother they must find their father.

Hazel and Holly is full of whimsical fun and sweet characters that really have to grow and challenge their own beliefs. It's unusual to find a book with a YA tone that features older main characters--Hazel is twenty-three and Holly seventeen. It's SO refreshing to read about older characters. We in our early twenties are seriously neglected from both adult fantasy and YA. (And I mean seriously, your early twenties ARE your young adult years!!) I'm twenty-two and it's just really nice to find a book with characters my age that isn't about having kinky sex in a college dorm.

Another fabulous plus side? SISTER WITCHES! I loved the bond between Hazel and Holly--they aren't perfect girls nor perfect sisters, and their flaws only make them more human. Their relationship throughout the book is so sweet and natural. They really fight for each other, though they bicker and don't fully understand one another. The witchcraft in this book is also so wonderfully explored. The dynamic of prejudice within their communities based on which type of magic you practiced was so interesting, and really created a lot of development for our characters.

I would totally be a Wild witch (the dominion of animal-speaking!) just cause it's so dang adorable. But the rest--Weaving, Wyr, Hearth, and the abominable Necromancy--are all so intriguing and woven so deftly into the very fabric of the story, it's hard to pick a favorite. They really set the mood. If you've been looking for a witchy book with a cozy, recluse-in-the-bright-woods sort of atmosphere about siblings and family, UH this one is definitely for you!

The romance in this book is one thing I thought was also really refreshing. Each sister has her own very distinct personality, and they’re still learning about themselves. I love a good romance plot and was not disappointed! But I also appreciated that crushes were just crushes, and don’t always progress into all-encompassing love. That’s something that’s built on compatibility and trust. Each sister has her own foray into the world of love, and it’s just a good message all around!

A copy of this ARC was provided by the author through Netgalley for an honest review! Thank youuu!

I had no expectations for Hazel and Holly, so I wasn't greatly disappointed when I didn't like it. These girls and their crazy father and their dead mother's soul? It's disturbing and creepy and just not. I skimmed and read bits of it, but overall I didn't care for this story. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

“I just hope that someday someone will come along who can look after her. I hope she can find someone to watch the stars with.”

It’s quite difficult for me to rate this book because I really liked some aspects of the story but others really got me bored. First of all I think the book is far too long, some adventures could have been cut to reach the real interesting part of the plot that is when Hazel meets her father. Moreover I didn’t enjoy the fact that, for Hazel,
magic comes so naturally without study; I prefer when there is some kind of preparation. However the story is interesting, even if a little bit eccentric. I would have changed the names of the characters because they are so similar that I often got confused! I really liked how the love between Hazel and Holly is expressed, sisters love is the best! Hazel is quite an interesting character, she is strong and she believes she doesn’t need nobody, but she is also very stubborn and impulsive. Holly is really childish, in particular at the beginning, but she is really cute. Nonetheless I hope to hear more about them and I hope they’ll have the happy life they deserve!

As one of my first experiences reading YA fantasy, this book was a pleasant surprise! Although the story is largely centered around two witch sisters - Hazel and Holly - and their quest to free the soul of their dead mother from the geas their necromancer father has trapped her in, this humorous and magical story also explores the bond of sisterhood and follows Hazel’s personal journey of self acceptance.

Hazel and Holly discover allies in two warlock brothers, Hawthorn and Hemlock, and together, this quartet journeys to Sarnum, the Sea of Severed Stars, and other lands where the art of necromancy- which is forbidden in The Grove, where the four characters live - is a way of life. It is only when Hazel seems to handle things on her own that she truly learns she needs her sister, friends and love to succeed.

To save her mother, Hazel must accept help, embrace her own vulnerability, and go to some extreme lengths, even if that involves turning to necromancy herself.

I enjoyed this book. Although the first half moved slowly, the story really picked up speed in the second and left me pleasantly surprised! If you’re looking for a unique young adult fantasy book, I’d recommend giving this one a try. Thank you to Netgalley and Sara C. Snider for the early access to this quirky, funny and magical read!