I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

This book was a trip. It is told from a few different perspectives, but not exactly in chronological order. It took me a little bit to figure that out when I got into the second book of the story. Each book is chronological, but their order is not, kind of like the Marvel movies. And it was a ride trying to figure out where each character's story fell in a chronological way, which felt important to me.

I was invested in the characters lives, hoping the best for some of them, and the absolute worst for others (and trust me, they deserved everything I wished for them). While some were clearly a little misunderstood, others were just horrible people.

Overall I give Greymist Fair 4.78 out of 5 stars and will definitely keep my eye out for more books by this author in the future.

Greymist Fair is a collection of short grim style fairytale stories. I really enjoyed how the stories fit together and yet gave us some insight into the different characters. I loved the format and writing style the author used and find this to be so incredibly unique!

This was a very tense and mysterious read. I highly enjoyed every word. It was magical, and I was really enveloped in the world of the story.

The small village of Greymist Fair is surrounded by a magical forest in which – unbeknownst to the townspeople – death himself resides. For years, the people of Greymist Fair have been safe as long as they stay out of the forest and on the main road when traveling through it. They know rumors of a witch in the forest kept only at bay by Heike’s mother, and they fear the wargs who fly amongst the trees and take the bodies of innocents whenever they get a chance. But as the book begins, we see that things are starting to change in the village: Heike’s mother is no longer around to keep them safe, some villagers have become cruel and villainous, and the magic of the woods is encroaching ever closer to the town, leaving Heike and the other teens of the village to sort out the truth behind their home..
The book is sectioned into seven interconnected stories, each telling a different tale about the town and its people. Based on fairy tales by The Brothers Grimm, including “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Fisherman and His Wife,” and “Godfather Death,” Greymist Fair offers a new spin on the stories, with Heike ultimately serving as the main character but each individual tale offering side character arcs within the same setting. While at times dark, as many Grimm fairy tales are, the narrative also includes a sense of warmth and connectedness between the characters as they face hardships together. Diverse representation, an atmospheric setting, and a compulsively readable mystery make this a great offering for teens looking for a dark, magical fantasy.

Grimm retellings have a ridiculous chokehold on me, so obviously this one gets an automatic 4-star ⭐ review.

Spoiler-Free -- You get so many different characters from the classic stories, but they are dismantled and reassembled in such a way that newer fans will eat them up. In the beginning things don't seem to catch, but once the pieces start to fall into place and click together it is smooth sailing and fast paced. (Or at least it was for me)

Each section follows a different character/story, set up in the same town, but it is not a full novel as I had originally thought.

Greymist Fair is a mysterious place that is unreachable to some. The road to it goes through a dangerous and magical forest, a place that most of the villagers won’t step foot in. But when a body is discovered just outside the village on the road, and berries are ripe well out of their natural season, the villagers can sense change is in the air. And it may be the sort of change that destroys everything they’ve ever known.

Based on some lesser-known Grimm’s fairytales, this book is set up in a way that was unique to me. There are eight sections in the book that are each made up of a series of chapters. These sections are usually nonlinear in relation to each other and generally focus on a different character than the preceding section. Often the sections provide background or context for something from an earlier section. I absolutely loved how this was set up, and how well the author used this. Every time I encountered something and thought it wasn’t explained well or seemed like a non sequitur, I was delighted to stumble across the answer in the next section.

The writing was also quite atmospheric and set the scene wonderfully. I felt completely immersed while I read this, and there were several spooky instances that were excellently written. I would have loved if some of this attention to detail went more into the characters, though. While they were written well enough, it was a little difficult to really connect with them – they felt more like archetypes than real people. This led to a bit of a disconnect with them and their stories.

This was a compelling and engaging read overall, and I think I might have to revisit it again during the winter. My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Loved it! I was engaged with the story the entire time. I liked the pacing and the flow of the story and the characters were well written. I will read more from this author.

Whimsical horror! This had a great amount of both playing into different fairytale retellings. Nothing super heavy, a collection of short stories, and enjoyable writing.

This was a grim but heartfelt fairy tale. Heike lost her mother to the woods and is not wholly welcomed in her village, Greymist Fair. But she has her friends and those she trusts. However, fear is cloaking the village after multiple murders occur - Heike and her friend Wenzel must do everything they can to solve the mystery and bring peace and safety back to their village.

Brimming with magic and written in a style that would have done the Brothers Grimm proud, Greymist Fair is a lovely read. Despite its grisly overtones, it is a heartwarming story about how it takes a village.

Interesting YA horror. I enjoyed the fairy tale tie ins. At first it was hard to keep all of the characters straight, but it was a satisfying ending.

Engaging, quick tale of magic,death and love. A fairly standard fairytale feel…heavy with atmosphere. Solid writing….just nothing exceptionally unique here.

DNF @ 27%

I don't necessarily think this book is bad, but it was not interesting enough for me to keep going after the first two stories.

This is supposed to be a set of stories based on Grimms Fairytales with an intertwining plot, but after two stories I could not tell you what the intertwining plot is supposed to be.

The Greymist Fair offers a refreshing take on storytelling. This book was split into several stories with many diverse and interesting characters. This story was fast-paced and never felt dull or off beat. I was especially in awe over the imagery used as well as the way the author perfectly balanced out different perspectives and kept us guessing the entire time!

Greymist Fair by Francesca Zappia is a YA fantasy novel that is structured like a collection of fairy tales. Each story has its own protagonist, but the plots are interrelated and together provide a picture of the village of Greymist Fair. Some readers might find the structure or shifts in perspective confusing, but I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel. While a more traditional structure might have allowed readers to spend more time with their favorite characters (mine is definitely Heike), the vignettes overall give readers more insight into a broader cast of characters. I recommend this book for readers who enjoy fairy tale retellings and short story collections.

The town of Greymist Fair is surrounded by a dark and magical wood, kept safe by a deal with the witch. That is until a body is found just outside the town, and danger comes knocking. If you like stories that have a great cast of characters, buried secrets, a little magic, and a cute side romance then I definitely recommend you pick up this book! I love the creepy woods setting, a little bit of witchcraft, and the depiction of Death as a character in a story. This book wove all these elements together so well, and they kept the plot moving and a swift pace. This is definitely a quick, easy and entertaining read!

I received an ARC copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.


Greymist Fair is a retelling of Grimm's Fairy Tales. All the stories connect to each other and come together in the end. It is an interesting story with interesting characters. If you like spooky fairy tales, you will like this book.

This is the first book I've read by the author and looks forward to reading more books by her.

I read my first book by Francesca Zappia last year. Marines on YouTube talked about her experience reading KATZENJAMMER, and I was totally intrigued, so when I got a chance to read it, I went for it. (Review coming soon.)

While KATZENJAMMER is a strange story, I found the characters very compelling. I also thought the author did a great job telling a weird/unusual story, so when I saw GREYMIST FAIR, I was excited to try it.

And guess what? I loved it! It’s definitely less strange than KATZENJAMMER, but the storytelling is still what I’d call nontraditional? The book is broken down into parts which are usually 5-6 chapters or so. Each part gives us an up-close point of view of a single character connected to the village of Greymist Fair.

Each of those stories was pretty compelling on its own. One reveals a serial killer. Another tells of a wish gone horribly wrong. Each part is like a puzzle piece, adding to an overall image of what happened to create the danger in the forest that surrounds Greymist Fair and makes it no longer safe to travel even on the road in and out.

I think readers who enjoyed the GILDED duology by Marissa Meyer (reviews coming soon) or dark fairytales like HEARTLESS will love GREYMIST FAIR.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

This was such a fun read! Greymist Fair is a collection of short stories that all intertwine and build on each other.

Each story almost felt like a chapter of a larger novel because there were pieces that carried over from previous stories and also hinted at ones to come. I especially loved this nonlinear way of telling the story; I literally had an "aha" moment toward the end because I could look back at an earlier scene with new understanding.

Zappia excels at characterization; even though you're not in the head of each character and the writing style keeps us at a distance, I still felt like I had a good idea of everyone's defining traits. The heartbreaks felt real.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Greenwillow Books for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Such a fun retelling of the Grimms Fairytales. This story is told in multiple POVs that add to the main storyline. While I appreciate that writing it this way held truer to the original Grimm Fairytale style of storytelling, I was a little thrown off initially. Each character has about 5 chapters to tell their side of the story which I ended up really liking but for those first couple characters I was sad to start all over again with something new.

I'd call these a soft fairytale, not near as gruesome as I was expecting but I really like how the story all came together in the end.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this book!

This was an eerie fairytale that slowly revealed it’s dark side and it’s lighter side. The book is broken into several different stories each about a different character(s) and covering a different period of time but overlapping in the end. Where one ends, another may start, end, or be in the middle of.

I liked the slow reveals and many mysteries within the overarching story (once I realized how they were connected to each other). I also enjoyed how the characters learned from their own stories and became stronger by the end of the book.

This felt like an epic journey despite only taking place in a small town, hidden in the forest (except for that one part of the prince’s story).