Words. I am at a loss for them. Wow.

I love stories that have modern, urban inclusions. I always find it unique when an author incorporates say Ramen or Facebook or Harry Potter into their novel. It helps makes it more relatable and "right now". Although it is modernized, it is fairy tale and fantasy.

I found this story to be quite unpredictable. Sometimes you just know whats going to happen. Only once in the five-ish hours it took me to read The Hazel Wood did I even guess a tiny detail. It is not what you expect. At all. I actually used the term "mind fucked" while explaining my feelings about this book to a co-worker.

The characters are everything. Alice may be my new favorite little spunky, feisty female protagonist. I would enjoy to know more about Finch's story after Alice (Trying not to spoil here but you'll see what I mean if you read.) I am super interested in how this story will continue. It is listed as a series but it wraps up pretty decently, so we'll see.

All that being said, this book was near IMPOSSIBLE to put down. It was a quick easy read and I powered through. I would recommend it to anyone. ANYONE. If you are looking for a new read in 2018, check this one out.

True fairy tales are dark, spooky, violent, and gruesome. Somehow, over the years they became sanitized. Gone are the deaths and disfigurements from a lesson not learned. Vanished is the irreparable harm the villains cause the heroes. Missing are the harsh lessons about morality and manners such stories instill in the reader. Melissa Albert's debut novel, however, changes that trend to give us the dark and disturbing fairy tale type story that people love.

The catch is that The Hazel Wood is not a fairy tale story in the traditional sense. It is not a children's story, nor is it idealized, magical, or extremely happy. It is the underbelly of fairy tales, the parts that were edited out by Disney and other retellings. It is anger, madness, depression, and homelessness. It is spectacular.

The Hazel Wood is another debut novel that does not like read like an author's first attempt at telling a story. There is a cohesion to the story that many debut novels do not have. Moreover, the characters have a definiteness to them that fleshes them out into multi-dimensional, real characters to whom unreal events occur. Ms. Albert's word usage is succinct but effective with remarkable prose that paints quite the picture. All of this helps blur the line between fiction and fantasy with a skill that belies her experience level.

It may sound clichéd, but The Hazel Wood is unlike anything I have read in recent years. Alice is a compelling character that begs you to follow alongside her as she searches for a sense of belonging and as well as her mother. The Hazel Wood is unique, not quite Fae and yet definitely not of the real world. The few plot twists remain a surprise, fueling your interest in Alice's story, and enticing you to continue reading. Fantasy lovers looking for something quite out of the ordinary should not miss this fantastic story from an author who is sure to make a name for herself.

The Hazel Wood is creative and twists up fairy tales to create something completely new. Fairy tale details are woven seamlessly into Alice’s narrative, for example descriptions and similes often reference fairy tales and knowing the context of that detail added a lot of depth and atmosphere. I first noticed this with, “the glint of the ring hit my eye like demon glass,” and Alice proceeds into a rage, having just read The Snow Queen to my kids earlier that night I immediately recognized this reference and it’s context. The book is full of these details and references, and Albert used them so carefully and creatively. The dark tone of the book fit perfectly with the strange dark world of the Hinterland. I hope this book and (hopefully) series gains a fandom, it deserves one. I look forward to seeing a copy of Tales from the Hinterland on bookshelves in the near future, the creepy stories were some of my favorite parts in the book.

This book is a contemporary fairytale about fairytales. It is stuffed with poetic similes and metaphors; and tickles the soft underbelly of purple prose. There were so many magical plot threads that I feared the story would end in a raveled edge of coincidences and dropped storylines, like so many other books I have read with layered plots, but the author rose to the occasion and skillfully wove all the character arcs and elements into a tight braid at the end of a colorful and richly patterned fairytale tapestry.

The secondary characters are fully fleshed out and even the flat characters leave you with a glint of their situation and personality. The settings are vivid in description and the magical system is easily understood and watertight. When I finished reading I sat back and sighed contentedly; something I haven't done in quite a while. This is one of those books that makes you feel like any review, no matter how long or skillfully wrought, will not fully convey the brilliance of the story so I will simply say... read it!

First of all, let me thank NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the chance to read and review The Hazel Wood pre-release. As always, these thoughts are my own. This review is spoiler free!
I give this story 3.5 stars.

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother’s stories are set. Alice’s only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother’s tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.



“Thoroughly, creepily, captivating”~ Kristin Cashore


So I was really excited about this story. The cover is beautiful. The synopsis sounds interesting. It’s like one of the Brothers Grimm fairytales where were everything is raw and bleak and honest. And all of those things are 100% true. But this story fell flat for me, and in all honesty wasn’t really my type. It is labelled as Young Adult Fantasy, and it’s really not.

It’s . . . fairy tale horror? Or dark fairy tale? It might be contemporary young adult mystery-horror? I’m really not sure, but it’s nothing I was expecting.

Now. Before you get disappointed and stop reading, this book is similar to The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirly Jackson.

None of these books are my style or taste and I rated them all poorly because I don’t like horror or scary stories. If you do, this might be a PERFECT fit for you. It just wasn’t for me.



Prose Pros:
Let’s start with the pros, because I like to talk about good things, and this book did have some fantastic points.

It was really richly imagined. Everything was razor sharp and each word carried its weight. I liked the punch and the clear images that the words shaped in my mind. I like writing that feels real, and this did.

However…
It was a little too much at times. Like that image on Instagram that someone jacked the structure and the sharpening all the way to max? You can see every single spot of dust, every hair, every glint of something lurking under the couch… it’s not pretty. It’s too much, and you scroll past with a grimace. It’s like the afternoon sun on a stainless steel table… it’s too bright, it’s too detailed, and it’s blinding. The latter half of this story was like that. Everything was described in SO MUCH detail that my brain went into overload.

Green Antique Book

Character Pros:
Ellery Finch is a darling fanboy. He’s cute, caring, thoughtful, sweet, and pretty much ideal. He has a study/ library, and has mastered the art of masking his emotions but he’s still just so sweet.

Character Woes:
Alice is not likeable. Okay, maybe that’s harsh, but she grated on me. She’s selfish, stubborn, argumentative, and totally unfeeling toward Ellery. (who we like, so that’s a double-whammy against Alice) She’s a strong female lead only because she’s brash and annoying, as well as inconsiderate.

woods at night

Plot Pros:
I liked that the plot didn’t revolve around love or a love story, and the conflict wasn’t about a breakup. I like that. It seems like YA has fallen into a pit of love and breakups being the only way to ramp up a plot and this didn’t do that. Points to Ms. Albert. The turn of phrase and dialogue did make me laugh out loud a couple times, and that’s also a big plus.

Unfortunately…
The plot up until about halfway through was crystal clear. First Problem: Alice’s mom is gone. Second Problem: creepy things keep happening. Third Problem: Alice is being followed. More Problems: We don’t like Alice.

Generally straightforward.

But the latter half of the book (and it’s supposed to be like this, I just didn’t like it at ALL) is super disjointed. It’s too flashy and kalaidescopic and techno-colored. One scene does not flow into the next, bizarre is the new normal, and I had only a very vague idea of what was going on. It’s like a collection of abstract art moving a million miles an hour and it doesn’t make sense and kind of makes your head hurt. It’s too surreal.


“Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.”
Don’t come into this story believing this quote, because it is not true.

Maybe this is the exact book you’ve been looking for, but it really wasn’t my favorite. Have you read it or do you plan to? Chat with me!

Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood brings dark fairy tales to life with beautiful writing and eerie tales that leap off its pages. Alice is not used to staying in one place for long. Her mother has often whisked her off at a moment’s notice and so Alice is not used to putting down roots. Even her mother’s new marriage feels temporary as bad lucks seems to follow them everywhere. When Alice discovers that her mother has been kidnapped and that her disappearance may be tied to the recluse grandmother she’s never met, Alice sets out in search of her grandmother’s estate the Hazel Wood. But the closer Alice gets to the mysterious home of her mother’s youth, the more she begins to realize that the book of fairy tales written by her grandmother years ago may not just be stories.

One of Alice’s defining characteristics is the underlying darkness she’s constantly trying to keep at bay. I wanted the author to explore this more as I felt that those scenes where this darkness takes momentary control came across as Alice being more bratty than trying to quench this inner hostility. What I did find fascinating about who Alice is is the way in which the author showed how one woman’s life experience trickled down through generations and impacted all their lives. Althea had shut herself in the Hazel Wood years ago with her daughter Ella. This means for years Alice’s mother was essentially trapped in a make believe world of her own mother’s making. This explains a lot about Ella and her flightiness. Alice has adopted a similar mindset. Her world is very small because she’s only ever had her mother to love. When she finds out her mother is missing, it isn’t a matter of just calling the police, she must physically find her or else her whole world will come apart. It is this kind of desperation that would have had me more invested in this character, but scenes between Alice and her mother were too few considering the importance of this relationship to Alice’s character.

Aside from Alice, the novel spends most of its time on her classmate Ellery Finch. A bit of an outcast, Finch recognizes something familiar in Alice that he sees in himself. A fan of Althea’s work, Finch becomes a window by which Alice is able to connect with the grandmother she never knew. I really liked Finch, but felt that there were so many more layers to his character that we didn’t get a chance to explore. His own storyline seemed to end far too abruptly and his arc’s resolution didn’t feel justified based on the level of development his character received. We were often told there was a side to his character that he didn’t let other people see, but we were never given enough insight into this for certain choices he made to feel authentic.

I can’t say enough about the writing in The Hazel Wood. Albert’s imagery shines best when she narrates the dark stories from Tales from the Hinterland. With titles like Twice-Killed Katherine and The Door That Wasn’t There, these stories are unique and compelling and sometimes sinister. I enjoyed these strange fairy tales so much that there were times that I wish I was reading Althea Prosperpine’s novel instead of this one. As much as I enjoyed this aspect of the novel, Albert’s writing seemed to falter when it came to characterization and most notably that of her lead.

Alice and her mother Ella are as close as can be, mostly because it seems they can only rely on each other. They're plagued by a lifetime of terrible luck, and it only gets worse when they find out Ella's mother, Althea, has passed away at her home, the Hazel Wood. Alice has never met Althea, and Ella doesn't really speak of her. All Alice knows is that Althea was the author of Tales from the Hinterland, a book of dark fairy tales that has developed a creepy cult following. When Ella is kidnapped, Alice is determined to find her, and knows it must have something to do with the Hinterland. She soon meets Ellery Finch, a Hinterland groupie, and lets him help her against her better judgment. Can they navigate this dark world to find Ella and make it out alive?

I love all things fairy tale, and magical realism, and creepy stuff, so this one checked a lot of boxes for me! I think it's a pretty original concept, which is difficult to do in the fairy tale genre. The "twist," while not altogether shocking, was satisfying. Alice's bitter musings were a little over the top, and I'm truly surprised this is a YA novel.. As a middle school librarian, I read a lot of those, and this has a distinctly adult vibe, not because of content, but because of the way the characters speak and interact.

All in all, I enjoyed this different, dark, and edgy tale!

Unique and creative take on urban fantasy, fairy tale tropes, fan culture and adventures, I couldn't put it down!

Honestly I was kind of let down by this book. Which bugged me since it was one of my most anticipated reads. I just didn’t find it as amazing as I hoped it would be. I was a bit confused for a portion of this book, and it ended in a way I wasn’t expecting and normally that’s s good thing but this time it just didn’t sit well with me.

Rating: 4.5/5

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, blood, some language)

Pages: 368

Author: Melissa Albert

Amazon

I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Flatiron Books!

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”
Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong. – Amazon.com



I love fairy tales and I’m sure almost everyone in the world has heard the phrase “once upon a time” uttered once in their lifetime. But what if there were tales that were dark, like darker than the Grimms Brothers fairytales? Enter Tales From The Hinterland! A book about those very dark, violent, and haunting tales. And enter Alice, a girl who is trying to figure out who she is, why her and her mother keep having to leave their homes, and who kidnapped her mother. She, along with superfan Ellery, travel to find her grandmother, the author of Tales From The Hinterland, to discover the answer to those questions. So, let’s start off by saying that this book was actually really great! I thought the characters were all very well developed, the plot was intriguing and very well developed, and the world building was fairly well done as well. I thought that I could see these fantastical places pretty clearly in my mind.



However, I did feel that the pacing was a bit off in some spots. The book definitely has its high and lows in terms of action, but for the most part it’s mostly action. I managed to read the book in a day. That’s how fast of a read it was for me. On the subject of action, I did think that the action bits (like fighting and high stakes scenes) were a bit muddied. They weren’t that clear to me as a reader and I felt that if those scenes were expanded a bit more then they could have made a bit more sense. The language is also flowery in places and while it didn’t bug me I know it does some people which is why I mention it.


Verdict: If you’re looking for a dark and action-y read this February I’d definitely choose this one! It was one of my favorite reads so far this January and I think that this will be a favorite read for a lot of other people too this year. Definitely one of the most anticipated reads that is worth the hype in my opinion.

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong. (via Goodreads)

I received an eARC from the publisher courtesy of Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Hazel Wood really surprised me in a lot of ways. I went into it expecting a typical fairytale, and to an extent I got it, but there was also so much more to this book than I was expecting.

I read this on my Kindle in two sittings and really, really loved it. It's a little bit Grimm, a little bit fanciful, and a whole lot of a great story. If you were a fan of stories like Naomi Novik's Uprooted or Tell Tale's The Wolf Among Us, this is probably a good book for you.

There's one quote that I loved from very near the end of the book.

"I made a whole world just for you, and in it you get to do what nobody gets to: you get to live, and live, and live. And everything will come out the way it's supposed to, no matter what."

If this sounds up your alley, check it out on Amazon or Indiebound!

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.

Blog post set for January 23, 2018 publication

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Meet your new addiction. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert will cast an immediate spell on you and keep you awake long into the night frantically turning pages. This frantic, pitch-black, twisted fairy tale hits bookstores January 30 and will no doubt land on a lot of ‘best of’ lists for 2018 by the end of the year. A movie adaptation is reportedly already in the works. Go buy a copy the day it comes out, read it, and pass it around. You can thank me later.
Alice and her mom Ella have been on the run for as long as Alice can remember. Alice has never met her grandmother, Althea Proserpine, who was briefly a famous author and has now retreated to the her estate in north woods of New York called The Hazel Wood. Althea’s book Tales from the Hinterland became a cult classic that is now virtually impossible to find, or way too expensive to purchase when a copy emerges. Strange stories abound about bad luck regarding those who have read the stories or who own the books.
When Alice and her mom get a letter saying that Althea has died, Ella thinks their days of running are over. Alice, now 17, has only been dimly aware of what exactly they’ve been running from. Then Ella disappears, and Alice fears that it’s either the strange and obsessive Hinterland fans who are responsible, or worse, characters from The Hinterland itself.
Alice enlists the help of classmate and Hinterland fan Ellery Finch, who helps Alice piece together the few clues she has. Ellery is very willing to help Alice, especially when all trails point to a visit to The Hazel Wood, a place every true fan of Tales from the Hinterland wants to go.
Author Melissa Albert expertly weaves fragments of Althea’s twisted fairy tales into Alice’s reality, and all of it is terrifyingly familiar and realistic. These fairy tales not only have teeth, they are infectious and get under your skin. Albert’s prose is literary, lilting, and addictive. This is a tale that you can’t leave behind even once you’ve finished it; it resonates long after the last page. While there have been plenty of YA books that rework old fairy tales, Albert has taken the fairy realm and deconstructed it. There are no princes coming to the rescue, and no happily ever afters in this dark tale. But there is some form of redemption in Alice’s strength to fight her own battles and use her own grit to rewrite her future.
I plan to buy several of these for the library in various formats (print, ebook, e-audio book), and fully expect to add additional copies as this novel explodes into the YA world. Go buy yourself a copy and pass it around. You’ll love it, and your friends will think you’re the most awesome reader ever for passing it on to them.

I think this will be one of those books that stays with me for a long time. I didn't want it to end, but I needed to know what was going to happen. Normally, I'm not really big on the whole magical world in reality/urban fantasy thing, but Albert does a great job and really pulls it off.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

The story follows Alice, and her mother, Ella. They've been on the road as long as Alice can remember, jumping from couch to studio apartment, because if they stay too long in one place, the bad luck finds them. People associated with them get hurt. Ella believes that the bad luck is because of her mother, Althea, reclusive author of a collection of dark fairy tales that has accrued a cult-like following with fanatic followers.

Alice has never met her grandmother and when news of her death reaches them, Ella believes they are finally free. But soon Ella goes missing, apparently taken by someone from the Hinterland, the fairy-tale world Althea wrote about. Armed with determination and Finch, a boy who claims to know all there is to know about the Hinterland, Alice sets off on a mission to find her mother. But things are not all that they seem and Alice soon finds out that she is a part of a story much larger than herself.

I think part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much, especially at first, was because it didn't seem much like an urban fantasy. I would say the first two-thirds were just (fairly) normal city-living, setting the stage for the last part, where more of the fantasy elements come in. This story was also really unique and quite original. I've never read anything like it before.

I also really, really loved the book themes throughout the novel. Both Alice and Finch are book lovers and there were parts where Alice would talk about going to a bookstore or just doing bookish things like that. The portrayal of the feelings of trying to track down one of the few remaining copies of Althea's book was really fun as well. There were fan theories and just so much talking about books and stories - I just really enjoyed it! It made me want to start Googling to see if I could find a copy, even though it's a fictional book!

I was surprised to see this book was only a standalone. The story wraps up nicely in the end, but I wasn't sure Albert was going to finish telling the story by then. Nothing felt too rushed, but I just remember looking and seeing that there were only 50 pages left and feeling like there was so much left to address.

I think that the magical elements were fairly well explained, I was able to follow the ideas for the most part. I will say that I wish there was a copy of the fiction book, either as part of this or with better integration in the story, as like a chapter header or something. We get a retelling of a couple of the more relevant stories but I just wish I was able to read them, not only for my own interest but also because they were such a big part of the book but left fairly unknown. I do really appreciate that this is sort of a fairy tale retelling, but not based off a fairy tale anyone would know I think sometimes I spend so much time comparing a retelling to the original that I forget to enjoy the story. There was no worry of that here.

Overall, a really fascinating read, highly recommend!

Alice in Wonderland plus Dark Fairytales conjures up some expectations. Action, fun magic, meaningful fairy tales.

That's what The Hazel Wood promises. It's what I expected.
But that's not what I read. Maybe this review is going to sound ranty?

There’s certain crimes books can’t get away with. Boring is at the top of the list, am I right? Boring books are the worst. Problematic books are also on the list. The Hazel Wood has both strikes against it.

The Hazel Wood counts as the MOST boring book I’ve read in 2018. This review will break that down, hopefully without giving away spoilers. Though, this book is so slow, and tedious, there’s practically nothing to spoil. *frustrated tears*

What I really can’t believe, is how hyped this book is. Book boxes are sending it out in February & it seems to be a big hit. I was trying to decide whether I should kindly rate this book 3 stars because it’s slightly interesting.

But I can’t get over the major problem I have with the premise. This book gets away with blatant abuse. Not abuse dealt out by a villain.
The main character is manipulative and abusive, and we’re supposed to ignore her behavior. Even writing that statement is painful to me.

I simply don’t understand why such a hyped book is allowed to get away with these basic problems?

Most of the time I try to be temperate, even kind with my reviews. I’m not attempting that today. I’m just listing my major problems, and yes, I’m a bit salty.

Weird, Just Really Weird Relationships

The very first thing I noticed was the weird mother-daughter relationship. Alice calls her mom by her first name, and that insistently was weird.

If it was explained, I might not think it was weird.

I've seen characters call their parents by their first name before, but it needs an explanation. Like Eustace in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We're told within 5 paragraphs that Eustace's parents believed that using titles was outdated.

But we're not given any insight into Ella and Alice's relationship. Just a weird dynamic.

One dimensional characters

Alice was the most dull narrator I have yet to read. She goes on weird loops, that don't make much sense to the story. I had a hard time following her train of thought for much of the book.

Ellery - Could we have made Ellery the narrator? That would have helped SO MUCH. He's actually slightly interesting.

He's also philosophical. Which Alice roast him about, for NO GOOD REASON. Why? Just more abuse,

Unexplained Anger, Bordering on Abuse

I'll go into why this really, really bothers me in my last point. But for now, I'm going to say this.

People should have reasons for being angry. Don't just tell me it's part of who they are. And then let them get away with practically anything, "Because I was mad"

WHAT???

Also, small spoiler. But a character threatened another character with a gun and NOTHING was done about that. Are you kidding me? Just dropping gun violence into a story for NO REASON. And then doing NOTHING about it. I don't even know what to say.

SLOW, SLOW, SLOW

I don't know why we spent half the story hanging out in NYC. And the other half on a very tedious car trip. Neither the trip or time in the city added much depth to the story.

Once we reached the Hinterland, things picked up. But I looked down when the Hinterland, and I was 75% done. Barely reached the cool, weird story place, and story DONE.

That was a ripoff.

The premise



Official Rant Moment

A story teller that writes horrible stores about abusive people. I hate abuse, ok? Dark things happen, believe me, I know.

But why are you writing dark stuff just for the sake of being dark??? This is extremely personal to me. Shock value writing make me sick.

I don't want to be simply shocked by evil. I've experienced evil up close and personal in my life. I know what it is to fight PTSD, Reactive Detachment Disorder & all kinds of abuse.

I love characters who go through horrible things and come out stronger. This is part of my life story. It's part of who I am.

But if you're just throwing people into a mess, just for the sake of giving your readers chills, I AM MAD.

I don't have a problem with bad things. But give characters the moral strength to fight bad things.

Alice doesn't fight in this story. She nearly kills her friend, reacting from senseless anger all the time, and is just plain cruel. Because the story teller created that story for her.

Are you serious? Are you kidding me? She gets away with violence bordering on abuse, just because that's the story?

What???

Sorry if that's incredibly ranty, but I just couldn't stand that premise.

I'm giving The Hazel Wood one star because the entire book was a headache. And wishing I had NEVER read this book.

ARC Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

My review can be seen on RT Book Reviews / 4.5 stars TOP PICK

This grimdark debut is chock full of brilliant original fantasies that are as dark as anyone who truly loves the originals could hope for. With a twisted-Narnia feel to the portal world of the Hinterlands, the story is moved by Alice's agency, something that is always refreshing to see in a YA novel. Her character arc doesn't shy away from the "unlikeable" actions she takes to survive and find her mother, and I love how Alice unapologetically put herself and those closest to her first. Will definitely be book talking this story to classes.

The Hazel Wood is probably the creepiest book I’ve read in awhile. There were some parts I actually had to pause in the middle of reading because I couldn’t believe what was going on! It definitely hooked me in from the beginning.

If you’re a fan of Alice in Wonderland or other fall-through-the-fabric-of-earth books, then this book is for you.

The Hazel Wood opens in New York City with seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother, Ella. Alice and Ella have been on the run since Alice was a little girl, hiding from Alice’s grandmother Althea Proserpine who wrote a collection of dark fairytales, Tales from Hinterland, that sparked a cultish following. Alice has never met her grandmother, but Ella insists on constantly moving around and running away from the bad luck that has something to do with Althea’s book.

When Ella gets kidnapped by people from Hinterland, Alice races to save her mother and along the way gets help from her classmate and Tales from Hinterland super-fan, Ellery Finch. Finch uses his knowledge of the fairytales to help Alice eventually find her grandmother’s estate The Hazel Wood.

I would use this book as a supplementary text for students to draw connections and parallels to Alice in Wonderland.

The main idea behind this book is so appealing and interesting, I was fully into it when we were finding out about the book, the two stories we got to read, the mystery around it, the darkness surrounding it... and yet when we met the darkness I felt it was not dark enough. I enjoyed more the build-up than the actual outcome.

“Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

That’s the last message from Alice’s mother, Ella, who’s finally been captured by the hidden enemies she’s been running from for as long as Alice can remember. Alice has lost count of all the rented apartments, houses, and motel rooms she’s called home over the years as her mom moved from place to place, but the one place she’s never been is her famous grandmother’s equally famous country estate, the Hazel Wood. Alice knows that’s where her mother has gone, and despite her mother’s desperate message, she’s determined to follow her and bring her home. But the Hazel Wood is more dangerous than Alice understands—a place where dark, twisty fairy tales are alive, a place where princesses are doomed, and danger lurks around every corner.

This is one of the slow, spooky books that you don’t realize is freaking you out until you’re trying to fall asleep and all you can think about is Twice-Killed Katherine. It’s genuinely eerie, first as the fairytale folk stalk Alice and her mom through the city and then as Alice ventures into her grandmother’s mysterious estate, where the darkest story of all is waiting for her. Great for teens who love the gory original Grimm stories or who are in the mood for a spooky, atmospheric book tinged with horror.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert is one of the books I've was dying to read, between the cover and the blurb, I thought this was going to be an easy home run for me, but now that I've read it, I've got mixed feelings about somethings. The main problem I had with it was that it fantasized kidnapping. It's a big part of the story, I just didn't care for the dreamlike feel that was written about the kidnapping. The only other problem I had with this book was that the balance of it was a little offbeat; other than that it's an enjoyable read.

The world she's written is great, the mix of dark and light. The way the stories within this book plays into the world is one of the best parts of this story. The mixing of a fantasy world into the real world is one of my favorite themes to read about. The characters fit together like puzzle pieces that play well off each other.
Melissa's writing is beautiful, that's my favorite part of this book, and I will for sure be reading other books by her. It takes a bit to get into this story but it's still a good read.