Yes I would definitely recommend this book. A great read

I'm so sick of books about rich, white New Yorkers with eccentricities. I stopped reading this. I would have liked this more if the MC didn't have a billionaire teenager at her side and it was set somewhere more interesting - how about Arkansas?!

Imagine a life where fairy tale world has a bridge to our world. Now imagine that you are a Story stolen from that world. This is the life of Alice. Her infamous grandmother wrote a book about stories from Hinterland. Alice's mother, Ella, hated those stories and runs away with Alice but the stories are always close behind them.

When Alice's mother is kidnapped by Twice-Killed Katherine she must find a way to Hinterland to save her. But everything is not what Alice believes it to be.and must confront who she is and who she wants to be.

The Hazel Wood is a story about stories. It follows Alice and her nomadic mother who travel around the country never staying on one place very long. Alice's grandmother (that she has never met) is the author of a forgotten book of fairy tales that was popular decades ago. The book follows Alice as she struggles to find out the truth behind her grandmother's stories.
I enjoyed this book, it was magical and intriguing. It was a bit angst-y, and wasn't the most mature writing, but it was an enjoyable and quick read!

There’s no doubt that Ms. Albert knows how to write. The best part of this novel is the writing, the voice with which the author creates the kind of vivid images that can truly take a novel to the next level. There is poetry in her writing. Which is why I’m somewhat disappointed in the novel, as a whole.

I have a few qualms with the plot, including the choice of the characters’ last name: Proserpine. Anyone who knows their mythology will know that Proserpina is the Roman name for Persephone, which brings certain ideas of where the plot will lead. These never materialize and they were obviously never meant to, which is kind of a red herring that harms the narrative. Perhaps the author had in mind a vague sense of the Underworld, using the idea of Persephone returning to Hades every six months to signify Alice’s return or even Althea’s exit from the Hinterland, but if so, then she could have done a better job on making this clearer. I may be nitpicking, but if you are going to use such an unusual last name and one that has its own story with trailing behind it, you should make concrete use of it.

The other concern I had with the plot was that it felt unevenly paced. The beginning has just the right amount of tension and action, infused with some gorgeously creepy fairy-tales, but the last quarter of the book is much faster. Too fast. There is too much going on, too many characters added, too many plot points to follow. By the time we get to the end, we don’t get the kind of impact that the conclusion should have because too much has happened in thirty pages or so. It almost feels like the story would have benefited from a sequel that begins when Alice enters the Hinterland, instead of trying to cram everything in one book.

It’s a shame really, because the book started off beautifully, the kind of story that you do not want to put down.

This book was like the fairy tale re-telling of no fairy tale I've ever read. It was almost a take on alice in wonderland but so so much better.
In this book we follow Alice and her mother. Alice's grandmother is a famous author of a book of fairy tales that Alice has never been allowed to read. Then one day Alice and her mother getting a letter telling them that her grandmother has died and it seems like their life is going to be normal. It is so not normal.
The beginning of the book was a little slow, but not unbearably so, but once it picked up holy cow I just couldn't put it down at all. I will say that I don't feel closure with the ending of the book, so I am hoping for a sequel.

Unique and imaginative story that is rather unpredictable.
For me it struggled a little in the middle, but overall a fab read that leaves you wanting more.

The Hazel Wood is a story of Alice, a young girl who always finds herself quick to anger. Alice has traveled with her mother her whole life, never staying in one place long for fear of the bad luck that seems to find them wherever they go. Alice's grandmother is the author of a cult classic type of dark fairytale book who has been a recluse living on her faraway home, The Hazel Wood. Alice has never met her grandmother but has always wondered about her. One day, Alice's mother is taken by creatures who claim to be from the mysterious fairy land from her grandmother's stories, Hinterland. Alice now must go to extreme lengths to find her mother and along the way, find out who she really is.

I absolutely loved this book. The fairytales are dark and scary and genuinely brutal, there is no good moral that comes from any of these stories and I kind of love that. The atmosphere of the whole book was very scary and I was happy to be in the world and feeling that impending sense of fear. I really liked Alice because she was angry and not your typical YA protagonist. We learn more about Alice and her mother and the reveal was so much fun. Once the reveal comes it isn't much of a surprise because it just makes so much sense but that isn't to say that I saw it coming from the start. I just learned it along with Alice and that whole section of finding Hinterland was great fun. Hinterland itself is such a scary place! I cannot wait to find the final copy when it is published in January!

Also, reading the fairytales from Alice's grandmother's book were some of my favorite parts. I almost wish we got a full copy of each one of the fairytales because the few we got to see were fantastically dark.

The Hazel Wood is a book about a girl named Alice who finds out her grandmother wrote her famous fairytales based off an actual real place called the Hinterland, which is apparently located somewhere in upstate New York and can only be reached by supernatural means. Now at an upscale private academy in New York and living with her mother and new stepfather and stepsister Alice begins to notice the "bad luck" that has always plagued her getting worse and strange people from her past following her around. Then her mother disappears and Alice becomes determined to find a copy of her grandmother's book as she believes this make-believe story is coming to life around her and the clue to rescuing her mother is in the stories. I flew through the first 40% but unfortunately after this mark I felt like the book lost me. I really enjoyed Alice and Ella's relationship and found their nomadic life together really fun and different. Parts of the atmosphere felt very creepy and I was really anticipating more of the creepiness to come through as the novel progressed and Alice really got into the Hinterland. But I didn't get that. Instead I felt like the author was trying too hard to make the Hinterland like a more dangerous version of Wonderland, but the descriptions weren't described well enough for me to visualize what should have been a really fantastical other land. I could never get a feel of what the Hinterland or the Hazel Wood house was like. The reveal of who Alice really is was fascinating, though and I appreciated that this wasn't just another YA book with a predictable romance. This was a story about a mother and a daughter and that part I absolutely loved. I also loved the fairytales told within the story and often found the story within the story more compelling than the main plot. In some ways I felt this would work more with younger teens, but the language is more suitable for the older crowd. Will still recommend this to my teen patrons who love dark fairytales and gorgeous book covers. Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

At seventeen Alice had never known what it was like to have a real home, she and her mother were always on the move as far back as she can remember. Alice knew that somewhere out there she had a grandmother that lived on her estate, the Hazel Wood, although Alice had never been to meet or visit her. Her grandmother though was famous from writing a book that Alice had never been able to read, a book of fairy tales of Hinterland.

One day Alice catches her mother with a letter that she finds out has news of her grandmother’s passing. Immediately Alice thinks they will finally visit Hazel Wood but her mother immediately refuses. Before Alice knows it she finds that her mother has gone missing and with the help of a boy who had been a huge fan of her grandmother’s stories Alice finds herself finally learning the truth of Hinterland.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert is a young adult fantasy read that takes the reader into the darker world of fairy tales. Alice Crewe and her mother have obviously been on the run from something for years and when her mother gets taken Alice finds herself heading straight into the world within the pages of her grandmother’s book. These tales are quite creepy and are sure to keep a reader engaged and on the edge of their seat while reading.

My one complaint with this really came with the time it took to get to the creepier section of the story. There was quite a lot build up until that point and I would have preferred a quicker jump into this side of the story. Otherwise I found the book to be quite compelling with great writing and interesting characters and story line. I think fans of young adult fantasy reads with a darker vibe to them should certainly enjoy this one.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book was so deliciously creepy. The narrative pulls you right into the story of a girl who has been haunted by her grandmothers fame of story telling. But these aren’t your ordinary fairy tales- these tales are dark and twisted with no moral to the story, only blood and horror.

What if fairy tales were real? Not the cartoons from childhood, but the original fairy tales, ones that are dark, sometimes brutal, but always with a moral to the story. Now, imagine those fairy tales had no moral, where terrible things happened for no reason. And that the characters of those tales were set loose in our world.

I'm a fan of fantasy set in the real world, and this fit the bill nicely. It's an absorbing "what if fairy tales were real?" My one, minor complaint was the ending. Everything seemed to be wrapped up a bit quickly, and the relationship that seemed to be building was ended somewhat jarringly. Otherwise,

This creepy, inside-out fairy tale kept me guessing all the way through - it was an absolute delight to read. I was worried that it set up a lot and that it was going to fall apart a bit when things started to be revealed, but that wasn't as much of a problem as I thought - the story held through and came to a really satisfying and interesting ending. It did have some lingering pacing issues (I would've liked the second half of the book to be longer and more detailed.) I loved the world - the Hinterland - as drawn in this novel, and I really loved how it was fairy tale adjacent, but terrifying in unexpected ways. It's a story about stories, really, and it does that well.

I received this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I started this book this morning. It’s snowy and grey here, so I thought a mug of tea and a book would be a good way to spend the morning.

I finished in one sitting. I carried the book with me to walk the dogs, I ate lunch with the book in front of me. My tea went cold.

This book is a love letter to the power of fiction. Alice lives her life according to rules she’s never understood and she does it automatically. There is no dramatic shift in characterization, but rather an understanding and growth that unfurls like a bloom.

The whole book is filled with metaphors which on the surface feel like nonsense, but which makes perfect sense on a deeper level. What are ‘Captain Hook’ eyes? I couldn’t tell you, but I also know, deep inside.

If I had one criticism? The ending feels rushed. We spend a lot of time building up to it, but not a long time resolving it. It was as if Albert had the story living in her, and she was in such a hurry to tell it she almost tripped over it.

TL;DR? I had more fun reading this book than I have in a long time.

I loved loved loved this book. So many books about fairytales don't hit quite the right note, but this book manages to absolutely nail what a fairytale should be. There's an eerie feel that grows through the book, with a heroine you want to cheer for and a story that felt so unique in a genre I feel can get fairly stale. I enjoyed the mythology of the fairy tale land and enjoyed all the characters that showed up.

What a fantastic book. Like Erogon or The Golden Compass, this one has the potential to be a game-changer in contemporary literature. What a great story, beautifully written. Get this on your library lists now because the wait will be long come January.

Imagine Alice in Wonderland meets Inception. That is The Hazel Wood. The story is about a teenager named Alice whose grandmother authored a collection of dark fairy tales. The premise of the novel is that there is an alternate universe of fairy tales that is evil. Once someone becomes part of a story, he cannot leave and is doomed to repeat the story forever, unless he can find an escape.
This novel is perfect reading for Halloween. It is so scary that II had to stop reading at several parts because of the intensity of the plot. I would recommend this for fans of horror movies and stories.

I wasn't expecting this book to turn out how it did. I did enjoy the plot and it moved along at a good pace, but I was expecting a more realistic storyline. I could see this being made into a movie. The author described the worlds very well and I was able to imagine how things looked. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy and wants a darker book.

Melissa Albert’s tale is filled with dark and vivid writing, and its reliance on the power of stories is something that drew me into this book. It grabbed hold of me and never let me go. A page turner with twist and turns every which way, it has become one of my all-time favorite reads this year. Filled with Original Fairy Tales, A frightening adventure, and one young girls fantastical journey into the heart of story itself, The Hazel Wood is destined to become a classic in fantasy literature that will leave an impression for generations to come.

Alice and her mom it seems have always been plagued by bad luck no matter where they go. One day when Alice’s mom disappears she and a friend set out on a journey to find her. This journey, they soon discover takes them on an adventure to a place called the Hinterland. Its a place which she has only read about in her grandmother’s stories; a reclusive authoress with a cult following, who published a volume a pitch-dark fairy tales and then quietly disappeared along with most of her books. This place she soon discovers is also much more than meets the eye. It’s a place where fairytales are real, fantastical and frightening monsters roam freely, and stories are woven into the fabric of its reality.