Cover Image: Our Crooked Hearts

Our Crooked Hearts

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This read had all I wanted in a fall vibe read- fantasy, magic, haunted places. While this read was a little hard to get into at first, there was times that I was hooked and I’m overall glad that I read it.

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More witchy books! Horror elements, the occult, family drama, it's all in there. If you liked the Practical Magic books, this is a darker and twistier take on the family of witches.

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This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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Secrets. Lies. Bad choices. Dangerous magic. Bitchy witches. Cute boys next door. Dead rabbits. Absentee mothers. Amnesia. And a pinch of dark academia.

Sound good? Cool: let’s discuss Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert.

I really, really liked this YA thriller. It’s twisty and surprising, and has so much to say about what it means to move independently through the world as a woman. (And the consequences we face for doing so.) And also about female friendship. And coming-of-age. And how living alone in an old-timey, make-believe house of your own imagination for centuries juuuust might turn you into a lunatic. You know, the usual stuff.

Obviously there’s a lot going on in this one, so here’s a full plot description, courtesy of the publisher:

“On the way home from a party, seventeen-year-old Ivy and her soon-to-be ex nearly run over a nude young woman standing in the middle of a tree-lined road. It’s only the first in a string of increasingly eerie events and offerings: a dead rabbit in the driveway, a bizarre concoction buried by her mother in the backyard, a box of childhood keepsakes hidden in her parents’ closet safe. Most unsettling of all, corroded recollections of Ivy and her enigmatic mother’s past resurface, with the help of the boy next door.

What if there’s more to Ivy’s mother than meets the eye? And what if the supernatural forces she messed with during her own teen years have come back to haunt them both? Ivy must grapple with these questions and more if she’s going to escape the darkness closing in. Straddling Ivy’s contemporary suburban town and her mother’s magic-drenched 1990s Chicago, this bewitching and propulsive story rockets towards a conclusion guaranteed to keep readers up all night.”

See what I meant about “there’s a lot going on in this one”? Though Our Crooked Hearts starts off with an action-packed hook into the story — a teenage couple’s relationship dissolving in near-violent fashion following the sighting of an intensely creepy naked woman in a creek — the plot immediately pumps the breaks afterwards. Not only that, but it takes a minute (or five) for the relationships between the main characters (Ivy, her mother, her father, her next-door neighbor, her “aunt”) to fully come into focus. But don’t let that put you off, because this book is worth sticking around for. (And then some.)

As is the case in a few other books I’ve recently reviewed, I hesitate to divulge too much about this one because it’s so fun to encounter each twist and turn on your own. Author Melissa Albert’s decision to build the story within the framework of current day vs. multi-character flashbacks really dials up the suspense here. Part of me doubts I would’ve been so desperate to discover Ivy and her mother’s secrets if the latter’s childhood and ~magical~ adolescence had been saved for one long look back; though her character is unbelievably frustrating in the present day timeline, it’s bearable because we get an instant look at why she’s like that from the POV of her teenage self.

It’s also just a fantastic book to read during October (don’t hate me Netgalley, I know I was supposed to read this back in . . . the spring?! Oops) because of all the top-tier dark magic/dark academia vibes. I could’ve read about the ins and outs of this particular brand of magic all day. And on that note, this novel is pretty reminiscent of Mona Awad’s Bunny, in a lot of ways, if that means anything to you!!!

And one more thing, because I loved what was going on between Ivy and Billy: everything about Billy needed to be more developed. (Sorry!!!) What’s in there isn’t bad, by any means, but taking their bond to the next level (especially since he and Ivy were 12 during some pivotal moments, which takes away from the enormity of what Ivy is going through as a near-adult) would’ve cemented the emotions brewing there.

OK I swear that’s all I’ve got. Go buy Our Crooked Hearts and thank me later.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! Sorry I’m so late, lol.

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Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. This is another solid book by Melissa Albert, the author of The Hazel Wood. I’ll definitely read more by this author in the future!

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I loved Melissa Alberts other book but this one was unfortunately not really for me. I didn’t really believe this to be what it was pitched as and that threw me off for the majority of the book. I was definitely more interested in the mothers story and really felt like the daughters just dragged on.

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In "Our Crooked Hearts", Melissa Albert takes on witches in a fun, if slight young adult novel. I'm going to be honest with you, A LOT of my enjoyment of this came from the parts of the novel that took place in Chicago in the 1990s. Without those elements, I don't know if this novel is really anything different from most supernatural YA novels nowadays. There's fun to be had, but like a cake with too much frosting, the end result is less than satisfying.

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It's SO spooky and atmospheric but also it's a really good examination into friendship, toxic friendships, and the relationships between mothers and daughters.

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This is a tricky review to write because Melissa Albert wrote The Hazel Wood, one of my favorite YA books of all time, and so the bar was set really high even before I started reading this.

This book follows three different storylines: Dana, Marion, and Ivy. All three of these women have stories that are all tangled up in each other. There is magic. There are witches. It was a delightful spooky read, right from the first few pages.

I love Melissa's writing style. She has such a lovely way with words that reading all of her books feels like a luxurious experience. I know this book will be a hit, but for me, it just wasn't as good as The Hazel Wood was.

I do really love how the author writes her complex mother/daughter storylines. For teen girls, especially, that can be a really difficult relationship to navigate and all of her mothers and daughters are very realistic. Neither one understands the other, while wanting desperately to be understood. She writes these relationships so beautifully, flaws and all, and they feel so real and relatable.

This book does have its slow moments. This is definitely a more character-driven book than a plot driven one. Stick with it to the end because it's worth it.

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I really enjoyed this novel, personally I would highly recommend it. It was interesting and entertaining. It kept me wanting more throughout the entire book!

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Creepy enough to appeal to teens, but definitely written for a reader who can follow multiple timelines. Starts well, drags a little in a few spots.

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Told in dual timelines, the stories of Ivy and Dana, mother and daughter, reveal deep roots of magic within and dark forces upon them in the present.

This book is perfect for spooky season - dark, atmospheric, with mystery and magic to fit the mood.

Unfortunately while I appreciated the story and felt interested, I couldn't quite get connected. I found myself easily distracted while reading, and eager to get through Dana's stories from the past in order to read more of Ivy's story in the present.

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3.5 star- This was a super interesting book, kind of scary at times, and full of very human, flawed, complex characters. I’ve read a couple of the author’s other books and this definitely has a darkness in common with those, although this story feels more hopeful to me. I enjoyed the dual timelines focusing on the mother and daughter. I do feel like Fee’s story kind of peters out towards the end in a way that seems like something is missing. I really enjoyed the relationship between Ivy and Billy. It seemed like the most hopeful and positive thing in the story. I’m not sure I’d want to read another story set in this world, but I really enjoyed this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

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Melissa Albert has done it again. In her sharp yet dreamy, darkly witty style reminiscent of Alice Hoffman or Alix E. Harrow, she invites us into the world of Ivy Chase, a teenage girl who is surrounded by forces she doesn't understand. The narrative arc of "Our Crooked Hearts" flits between the present and a past that has everything to do with what Ivy is experiencing in the now, and up until the very last moment, we aren't quite sure where this dance is going to leave our characters. While this doesn't quite touch the lore of "The Hazel Wood" and its resulting books, this book is a fun and riveting read.

I received an advance copy courtesy of NetGalley and FlatIron Books. This book released on June 28th, 2022.

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Our Crooked Hearts was an edge-of-your-seat YA thriller. With a dual timeline format, we learn about Ivy's mother in her youth and the adventures in witchcraft she undertakes with her two besties, and we also get the present-day teenage viewpoint of Ivy as she navigates the fallout from things that started before her time. The twists and turns were interesting and shocking. The mood of the story was eerie and dark. And, importantly, the teenage voice of Ivy was believable. I loved getting a glimpse into the past and knowing that something very bad was building to a climax. Highly recommend!

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Our crooked hearts was a suspenseful witchy mystery that had me needing to know more from the start.

This book took me awhile to read only because I wasn't in the right mindset, and even then I still managed to keep at it.

We follow 2 different timelines between mother and daughter (the mothers past and the daughters now).

On there way home from a party, Ivy and her boyfriend almost run over this mysterious woman in the middle of the road. When Ivy goes to check on this strange woman she quickly discovers the woman knows her name. When things start getting weird after that, her mother Dana disappears. Ivy is left wondering what is going on and things only get stranger and much creepier.

Thank you to net galley and flatiron books for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

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Our Crooked Hearts is supernatural thriller, that is perfect for someone who wants a quick read , some mystery and suspense. That being said, the this book really wasn’t for me , I found that something was missing. I would read more from this author, but this wasn’t the one for me.

I received an arc for my honest review.

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Rabbits in books freak me out. I saw this cover and thought, "Oh, I need to read that." I didn't know if it was horror or fantasy or what, but that cover had me right away. I'm not a huge fan of YA, but I thought I'd give this a shot and I'm glad I did. What a creepy book! It's just a good time, honestly. I love the spells, the characters, the mystery, and you know I'm always into books about witches. You say "grimoire" and I'm into it. I'm so glad this story lived up to the cover!

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Disclosure: This book was provided to me by Netgalley free of charge in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Oh Melissa Albert. You went and did it again, didn't you? To be honest, I didn't think that I was going to enjoy "Our Crooked Hearts" as much as I did. "The Hazelwood" was so twisted, so original, I thought that I would just be disappointed with OCH.

THE NITTY GRITTY, RIGHT NOW...

The story alternates between present day in the suburbs and the 90's in the city (Chicago), switching perspectives between 17-year-old Ivy and Ivy's mother, Dana, when she was 16. In the present, Ivy's summer vacation is not off to a great start. Following a party and an argument with her boyfriend, Nate, the pair encounter (polite way to say almost run over) a strange girl in the middle of nowhere. The girl is straight up creepy - Think Sadako from The Ring. And creepier still, the girl seems to know Ivy. Ivy and Nate get the heck outta Dodge - which is really the only sensible choice. Problem is, everything begins to unravel for Ivy from here on out. Her mother disappears, weird crap starts happening, she begins seeing the girl everywhere, and she starts to question her mother's true nature.

THE TREPIDATION, BACK THEN...

So here is where I became worried. Just from reading the jacket cover, you know that this book is about witches. And witches? They're OK. I don't dislike books with them, I just don't go out of my way to read books where they're the main focus. Which I realize is blasphemy, because I'm pretty sure it was mandatory for every teenage girl coming of age in the 90's to join a coven or, at the bare minimum, to own a Tarot deck, burn incense, and watch "The Craft" an annoying number of times. Honestly, I shouldn't have worried. It's Melissa Albert and I should have had a little faith.

THE CONCLUSION, RIGHT NOW...

That being said, I won't pretend that "Our Crooked Hearts" is super original. To be honest, taking plot and characters into consideration, it feels like it could be a sequel to "The Craft". But, please, don't let that scare you away! There is enough freshness (is that a word?) to keep you reading. Besides, Albert is a genius when it comes to world building and character creation. How she manages to breathe such life into her creation in a scant 341 pages I'll never know. I do know that "Our Crooked Hearts" has earned Albert a place in my list of authors whose books I will insta-buy. Oh, yes, and the 7-Eleven hot dog did not disappoint!

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Our Crooked Hearts was a quick read that intrigued me from the very beginning. I felt like something was missing for me though. If you like Melissa Albert's other books, I would recommend giving this one a try.

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