Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for a copy of this ARC.

I'm sad to say that I had to DNF this book. I found the writing to be extremely basic and all over the place. The characters had no depth to them and the story didn't feel believable for a fantasy story. I liked the idea of this book, a forest capturing the lost when they try to find their love ones. A girl with a red hood to find them and save them and their town. The magic in the lore. All of it usually is right up my wheelhouse. Unfortunately, the lack of depth and thoughtoutness was just too much for me to want to keep reading.

Thank you so much St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I was so excited to be approved for this ARC, as I adore fairytales and have enjoyed them for as long as I can remember. I thought the mixing of familiar storybook themes in “The Forest Grimm” was truly clever and the writing was positively engaging. However, I wasn’t as invested in this particular tale as I hoped to be. I do believe that there will be a dedicated fan base for this book, and think that anyone who watched “Once Upon A Time” should give it a read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. It had a strong start, however I felt as though there were too many elements competing for attention. It seemed like it was going to be a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, but then pieces from other fairy tales were included as well. I also did not expect it to be book one of a series. The FMC was overly focused on one thing throughout the story (which is a completely fine plot line) to the point where it made her feel one dimensional. Overall, not the book for me.

The Forest Grimm by Kathryn Purdie
Publication Date: September 19, 2023

Clara enters the forest against her Grandmother’s advice to search for a missing grimoire to remove the curse on her village and hopefully bring back the missing townspeople, including her mother. There’s some obvious magic interwoven into the story but also some fairy tale reimaginings, if the gorgeous cover didn’t already give that away.

I’m always down for anything fairy tale and the promise of a dark, creepy forest and a romance had piqued my interest. In those aspects the book certainly delivered. The thing that kept this from being more than just a good book for me was that there was an absence of an overarching villain. The forest itself was a kind of villain I guess but then every other chapter they would encounter an individual and a situation would ensue. The encounter usually happened because of a failure of trust between the trio. It was a bit repetitive and also made the stakes unclear. I was approaching the end of the book and I still didn’t see a clear path forward for the characters to overcome their problem of locating the missing book. They also seemed to have their own individual goals counterproductive to the others. It felt kind of endless because of the lack of build-up in terms of stakes. 

It was filled with so many good YA tropes it ended up taking on the feeling of a good comfort read.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are my own.

I jumped at the opportunity when I found this title on netgalley. I usually love fairytale retellings and I thought since I haven't read a little red riding hood one in a while this one might intrigue me. Sadly it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. There was a mash of other fairytales mixed in. It also felt very long.

A fun retelling of several fairy tales woven together. While the story is held together by the main characters' journey through the forest, it ends up feeling a bit muddled. I'm left wondering what the story is trying to say about fate and individual agency. I think 7th-10th grade students who like stories about magic would like this book.

The Forest Grimm reads like a fairytale in which the forest gifts a village a magical tome, but once someone uses that magic for harm to another, the forest curses the village with misfortune and residents of the village also disappear. 17 year old Clara has been fated an untimely death and in an attempt to rid herself of her fate and to also find her mother who disappeared, she and a friend decide to enter the forest and find the magical tome that was taken back by the forest itself which proves to be harder than she had imagined. This was an interesting story that had its twists and turns, and some very dark moments thrown in. Although this is a YA book, it did read a lot younger than I was expecting. Overall this story was very interesting and enjoyed following Clara on her quest to find a way to reverse the forests magic and change her fate.

I'm sorry but this book wasn't for me. The beginning felt a bit like an info dump and throughout the book I felt there was too much exposition and not enough action. The whole storyline with the cards felt unnecessary and like nothing needed to change about the story if it was taken out, besides giving Clara more agency. Another thing, the romance felt a bit too much like cheating for me to really care or root for them. The entire conflict with Ella and her lingering feelings for Axel as well as Axel's secret about their wedding day seemed too convenient and resolved too quickly. Finally, I thought the worldbuilding was lacking. The curse and why it happened and what it's function was could have explained more clearly. Why did Clara's mom turn into a vampire?

I think the best thing about this book is how it subverts all expectations.

When you see the cover you assume little red riding hood, and yet there's so much more woven into the meat of the story.

And what is woven in is twisty and dark and not what you'd expect.

A very good read for those with a love of fairy tales. I would give this one to Marissa Meyer fans for sure.

Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC.

If you like fairytales but a little more dark then this is the book for you. I found this book very enjoyable, fun and easy to read. It is definitely more on the younger side of YA not guitar middle grade but not quite YA just somewhere there in the middle.

Most of your childhood fairy tales but throw in an odd, dark twist and you have The Forest Grimm. You meet Clara, daughter of one of the first lost people and granddaughter of a fortune teller who is set to finding out what happened to her mother and other people who got lost in the forest.

For a while I was going back and forth on what to rate this book. I ended up settling with three stars. While I did enjoy it there were a couple of elements that bothered me throughout which is a shame bc the prose is good and so is the concept of this dark forest full of twisted fairy tales. For starters, the main character frankly was a little obnoxious. She kept emphasizing the meaning of the cards and why the curse existed which became repetitive and frankly annoying very quickly. Also the amount of times she mentions having an S Curved spine really got on my nerves. I know the author was probably trying to implement disability representation but as someone who has a form of scoliosis we don’t think like that. All of those mentions could have cut out the words “S curved spine” and left it at my spine twinged in pain or something.

The Forest Grimm is wonderful for those who love fairy tales! While I did enjoy it overall, I did struggle to like Clara (she comes off really immature and annoying at times) and found the pacing to be a bit all over the place.

Clara's grandmother reads fortunes using tarot cards, and every time she has read Clara's fortune, it has foretold Clara's premature death; Clara repeatedly asks for her fortune to be read, hoping for a different result. However, Clara is also resigned to the fact that she will have an early death. But before that happens, she hopes to save her mother, Rosamund, who shares the same fate. Grimm's Hollow, the village where they live, was blessed with the magic of the Forest Grimm, in the form of the Book of Fortunes. Once a villager was of age (16), they could call upon the magic of the book once in their lifetime, and their wish would come true. However, they had to keep their wish secret -- if they revealed their wish, it would be reversed.

Unfortunately, before Clara reached age sixteen and could make her wish to save her mother, the forest's magic turned on the village. An unknown villager used the Book of Fortune to commit murder. As a result, the Book of Fortune disappeared. Even worse, sixty-seven villagers, including Rosamund, have wandered into the forest, never to return. The village has created a monthly ritual called Devotion Day, where one villager is chosen to try to enter the Forest Grimm and find the lost villagers and the Book of Fortune and reverse the curse. When the Book disappeared, a single page remained with a riddle with a clue as to how to reverse the curse. However, the forest typically immediately rejects the chosen villager, including Clara when she was chosen.

But Clara is determined to enter the Forest Grimm, find the Book of Fortune, and find her mother. She will discover an unexpected way to enter the forest, with her friends Axel and Henni, and with the aid of a special red cape that her mother created (and which Clara's grandmother had hidden away). What they find in the forest is not what they expected. They will find some of the "Lost Ones", but these individuals have changed considerably, and give new meaning to some classic fairytales - Rapunzel, Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel, etc. Clara with her red cape is an homage to Little Red Riding Hood. Clara will also discover that her fortune and her future is not as straightforward as she believed, with profound changes for her and her friends.

This book was a fun and easy read. An enjoyable YA fairytale retelling. The storyline was enjoyable and flowed well. The characters were interesting
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

2.5
The content of this book is a bit like the cover - you can see where she's going but it came out just a smidge off and vaguely embarrassing somehow.

I am a sucker for fairytale retellings of all kinds. So when I saw this one I was immediately intrigued by the cover and title. Which can we give a moment to the cover, on it's own it was phenomenal. Then the book itself did not disappoint at all!

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

The Forest Grimm is a fun and unique read. I’d recommend it for fans of fairy tales and the Grimm brothers. I liked how the fairy tales interwove through the story. Parts of book were slow and others were fast paced, but overall it kept me engaged. I definitely felt the tone of the writing skewed toward younger YA, so I would say this is a great read for readers 12-16 especially.

Those who enter the Forest are never seen again.

Clara lives on the edge of the forest. Her once blessed town is now cursed and the villagers are paying the price for someone’s evil wish. Clara has already lost her mother to the woods and she determined to bring her home. When she discovers her bright red cloak is the key to traveling safely though the trees, she sets out to save the Lost (her mother included), even if it means fulfilling her destiny….. of dying in the woods.

What I liked:
-Fairytales and magical forests are my JAM

What I didn’t like:
- To me, I felt like the first part of this book was done really well. It was well detailed, fast paced, kept my interest. THEN all the travel king happens, and while I get that it’s a huge forest it took away from the pacing. This book could have been told in 3/4’s the length.
-Clara is also supposed to be 17, but she comes across In attitude and mentality as younger. The dialogue didn’t do it for me.

Overall, a solid 3 out of 5.

My thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

It's hard to resist a good twisted fairy tale, and this book was no exception. Clara grows up surrounded by the magical Grimm Forrest with a grandmother who accurately reads the future, so from a young age she knows she is going to die an early death. That's a lot for anyone to handle, and gets even more complicated when her mother and other villagers begin to go missing in the Forrest that has turned on it's people. Clara is willing to sacrifice her life to save her mother - especially because it's already been foretold - but she has to remember to live first.

I love the atmosphere in this book, the forest is like an additional character in the story that feels like it can turn on you at any moment. The main characters are interesting and believable, and I think Clara is strong and well-written. I like the slow burn romance throughout as well. What I really enjoy is how we are introduced to fairy tales that we already know, but they are so far from the expected versions that the reader has no idea what is going to happen. I do feel the cover makes it look a little like a bad romance novel, when to me that's not the focus of the story at all. I loved the Grimm Wolf in here, and my heart was also captured by Ollie.

I recommend this book to all lovers of fantasy and fairy tales. It is written as YA, but I think some adults will enjoy it as well as a quick read. The romance aspect is very PG, and while it is a little haunting at times I wouldn't call anything in here super scary. While this could have easily been a standalone book, I definitely plan on continuing the series and look forward to reading the next one. I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and St Martin's Press for my opinions.