I enjoyed this book overall. It was well written and had a good pace. I loved the protagonist and some of the twists. However, I wish it had more of a magical element to it. Based on the cover, I was anticipating more fantastical parts and was left still wanting them.

5/5 Stars

It is rare when I find a book that completely captivates me. Miss Albert's story takes the genre of the fairy tales to its roots. The Hazel Wood is dark, creepy, cunning and most of all exciting.

The Hazel Wood is the story of Alice, who has such bad luck that her mom and her have to live on the move. When Alice's grandmother dies, they finally settle down to a life in New York City, thinking that their bad luck is over, only to find out the opposite. When Alice's mother is kidnapped, Alice must delve into the dark cult surrounding her grandmother and venture into the world of the fairy tales.

What I loved the most about this book is that it reminded me of the original fairy tales. Any English major knows what I am talking about, the dark fairy tales that make your skin crawl and your sense prick. The ones that I still remember to this day. It felt like a breath of fresh air to read about the fairy world that was not glittery, or hot, or romanticized. This is what a fairy tale story should be like.

My second favorite aspect of the book is the writing itself. The book is fast paced yet uncomplicated. It is beautifully written. No words are wasted needlessly and no descriptions are too long. I honestly couldn't put it down and I think finished it w/in hours.

I certainly hope that Miss Albert writes more, especially if she writes the actual tales which Alice's grandmother was suppose to have written because they sound deliciously dark and dangerous.

Not one of my favorite books, but I definitely loved the uniqueness of this story. Never before have I read a story that involved such a relationship between humans and the fair folk. Readers will be delighted and surprised by this change in style.

This book is dark, haunting and unsurprisngly, a page turner. I picked this up, already drawn in by the promise of dark fairy tales and couldn't put it down. There were twists and turns and before I knew it I was deep in the Hinterland wanting more.

I really liked this. This is a very strange creature that I didn’t always understand, but I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. But, I will say, this book isn’t for everyone. I like strange, quirky books A LOT!!! And this is extremely strange & quirky....and there’s a lot going on!! I would definitely like to read it again!! It’s got a lot of layers, and I get the overall, but I’d like to peel back some of those layers!!

~I would like to thank Netgalley and the Flatiron Books for a copy of this book. My views are my own honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a digital ARC of “The Hazel Wood” by Melissa Albert. This book is perfect for those who love fairy tales. It is twisty and dark and fantastic. The characters are magical! This book will definitely find a home in the high school library where I work.

Maybe I hyped myself too much on this one, and I didn't realize it was going to be so much modern day. The thing is... I actually liked the stuff that took place in the modern day world better. I have seen review after review after review saying how creepy this is. I don't know if these people have ever seen a horror movie, but I will say I didn't find it creepy, but I did find the tales interesting. There was some creepy stuff that went on, and I was gearing myself up for the Hazel Wood, but it failed me. Alice sort of drove me nuts. She was cool at first, but slowly went down hill. I will say that Ellery was magnificent. I absolutely loved him. The writing was fantastic, but I wanted so much more from this world!

"The Hazel Wood" by Melissa Albert was quite a stimulating read. I found myself caring deeply for the characters, Finch and Alice. The first half of the novel seems like an angsty coming of age tale of two teenagers that are on the fringe of their social circles. Alice is the daughter of an ever-moving mother who has no real roots anywhere. Finch is the forgotten son of an extremely wealthy man who loses himself in video games and tales of lore. After Alice and her mother settle for a time in NYC, Alice meets Finch who seems fascinated with her as if he has known her for the longest time. Alice is the typical example of angry youth or so it seems. Then, the tale begins to shift., events lead Alice on a journey to find her mother. Finch is there to save the day and accompany her. All of this revolves around a book of fairy tales that her grandmother wrote called "Tales of the Hinterland". Then the story gets even more worked up. I don't want to reveal too much so no more spoilers. This is a fast paced novel with multiple plot twists. Is there a happily ever after for Alice? You will have to read it to find out.

This reminds me of The Bear and The Nightingale except instead of Russian fairy tales there are original fairy tales. Still mean tales though which makes the stories going after the main character an exciting read. The main character is broken which makes the twist make a lot of sense. Wasn't completely happy with the ending but wasn't unhappy with it. Maybe a reread is in order.

The book was a remarkably atmospheric read for me. From the beginning, the magical, forbidding, unsettling world the author created is a palpable and compelling part of this novel. I was completely drawn in by the mystery of the world building and captivated by the plot.

The action in The Hazel Wood takes off quickly, as Alice sees someone mysterious from her past, and then finds her Mom missing, and her step family unwilling to tell her anything. She goes on this journey where fairy tales may be real, and she can’t be sure of who to trust. The fairy tales that her grandmother wrote are woven into the plot, as knowing what happens in these stories becomes very important to Alice. I love the fairy tales that the author created for the Hinterland - they completely fit the fairy tale vibe while being darker and more disturbing than your usual tales. In the world of this novel, these tales are supposed to be weirdly compelling, and they absolutely lived up to that. I can see why people became “super fans” of the grandmother’s book.

I didn’t know much about this story when I picked it up, and I think it works better to not know what you are getting into when you read it. The story is dark, compelling and richly told - all worth the suspense and mystery as you quickly turn pages to find out what is going on. Reading this book was a wonderful experience!

This book was so weird and I loved everything about it. I fell in love with this cover and it definitely drew me deeper into the story. I read this book in less than a day on my phone and I loved every second of it. There was never a dull moment and every time I would put the book down, I would think about picking it right back up.

I found this book while looking on NetGalley and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to read it but I got the email yesterday (today is the 21st of September). I was so excited to start reading it that I jumped right into the twisty story about Alice and her family. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into when I started reading this book but I think this was the best way to go about it.

I really liked how odd Alice was, especially after learning about her past and what exactly she’s been through. I never saw anything coming in relation to her but maybe that’s just because I never slowed down enough to give it much thought. I really enjoyed finding things out as they happened to Alice, there was never a time when I knew something that she didn’t and it just made things more interesting for me I guess.

I would highly recommend this book because it is so mystical and it’s just a book that sucks you in and doesn’t let you loose until you finish it. I think this is going to be an amazing book to read in physical form and I’m definatly going to be buying a copy once it comes out!

There are some spoilers in the next paragraph so feel free to skip those if you plan to read this book. Feel free to read them if you think you’ll forget about it by the time the book comes out.

The only thing I didn’t see coming at all was the fact that she doesn’t end up with Finch. This was something I haven’t seen a lot of books do, in the sense that the main character doesn’t get the love interest but I actually really liked the way this happened. I think they were good together but being in Hinterland was something that changed both of them in ways they can never fully understand.

If you like The Magicians then you will like The Hazel Wood. It has a very similar feel,but is still it's own story. Magic mixed with danger creates an interesting novel.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope, NOPE. Sorry, but this book made absolutely NO SENSE at all. It wasn't magical, it was confusing and irritating. The main character was rude and unlikable (and at one point called some girl she'd never even MET a b*tch for absolutely no reason!) and I hated reading from her POV. So I didn't bother finishing.

Received an ARC from the publisher for an honest review.

Amazing and Enchanting. Ever feel that you are lost in a book? What if that story was real and the characters were looking for a way out of the repetitive loop of a storyline that has become their life and their fate.
When the supernatural characters of Hinterland, the realm her estranged grandmother stories are set, begin to haunt Alice, she starts questioning what is fact and what is fiction.
Filled with literary references, this is the perfect twisted and original fairy tale for both teenage and adult readers. A novel that will haunt your dreams long after you are done reading.
We need Tales from the Hinterlands to be a real book!

If you follow me on twitter, you know that THE HAZEL WOOD has been one of my most anticipated 2018 releases. I probably asked for an ARC more times than anyone can count until someone took pity on me and sent me a copy (thank you, Rachel!).

THE HAZEL WOOD is good, I want to say that first. The writing is beautiful, I loved our main character, and I loved the premise of the book. However, I was also left wanting more… and not in a necessarily good way. I went into this book thinking that the majority of it would take place at the Hazel Wood, Alice’s reclusive grandmother’s estate. Maybe if I didn’t have it so firmly planted in my head that we would get more of that story- the story of Alice’s grandmother and Hazel Wood and Hinterland- I wouldn’t have been so disappointed.

The majority of the book, however, takes place in New York City and then on the road as Alice and Ellery set off to find the Hazel Wood and Alice’s mom, Ella. They keep running into Hinterland’s story characters along the way until Alice finally finds herself in Hinterland and learns the truth about herself, her mom, and her reclusive grandmother.

I think my biggest problem with the book was that I feel I didn’t get enough of the characters to actually care about them. There’s a scene that should have destroyed me (I don’t like when characters get hurt) but I was like “Yeah, ok, are we going to the Hazel Wood now?” We get these little snippets of backstory for the characters but it isn’t enough to make me fall in love with them. I think if we had gotten more of them, more of their story, more personality, I would have enjoyed the book more. But the characters felt super flat and replaceable to me.

As a fan of fairytales, I was just disappointed with the actual lack of fairytale and magic. Most of the book is just Alice talking about how she and her mom moved around a lot. Personally, if the majority of the book had taken place in Hinterland or in the Hazel Wood, I probably would have loved this.

Again, this isn’t a bad book. I enjoyed reading it but I definitely expected this to be one that I instantly preordered… and that’s just not happening.

I am obsessed...enthralled, enchanted, possibly even bewitched by this book. The Hazel Wood was an utterly all consuming, wild ride that melded the contemporary and the fantastic, the beautiful and the creepy, even horrific, to deliver a tale about what it means to write your own story.

Honestly and truly I think anyone who considers themselves part of the booklr community will find this a super rewarding read.

Summary:


Alice has never had roots, always moving, always running from the bad luck that dogs her and her mother at ever turn. She's the granddaughter of Althea Proserpine, the infamous author of The Hinterland. Though Alice has never read the stories, she feels an odd connection with the twisted fables she knows it contains. This affinity fast turns to fear when Alice returns home one day to find her mother missing and her grandmother's stories coming to life in the most terrifying way. With the help of a hardcore Hinterland fan named sellers Finch, she must escape the Stories and find her mother, but every move they make reveals more lies, mysteries, and deeper ties to the Hinterland than Alice ever suspected.

Review:

I LOVED this book. There is something so relatable magical and creepy about this two person family living on the road, this girl who remembers highways and streetlights and books better than her actual life.
In fact, Alice was one of the most relatable characters I've encountered. I felt a strong personal connection with her relationship with her mother, her nomad existence, and her love of books. Sometimes having a book lover as the main character can feel self-indulgent, but in this case, Alice and Ellery served as vehicles to the discussion of books, reading, writing, and storytelling that is a critical part of the theme of this story.
This isn't so much a fairytale as an love letter to stories, to those who read them and to those who write them--to the good and the bad of what it means to escape into fictional worlds.
Ellery and Alice were the kind of fanciful yet practical characters that make for great protagonists in a story where the real melts into the magical. Their friendship-with-potential was a subtle yet central part of the plot and I was genuinely surprised with how it progressed at every turn. Ellery's fate was at once shocking and satisfying, but I felt Alice was unfinished and I could see a follow up about either or both of them.
The plot itself was genuinely surprising with subtle foreshadowing and elements that made it feel like a familiar fairy tale and at the same time something wholly new and unique. Readers of fairy tales and fae stories will find this a particularly rewarding read, though it's more than accessible to those with no fairy tale knowledge.
Apart from the fantasy elements, this book also contains a very real perspective on class, on coming of age, on mother-daughter friendships, on being a teenager seeking your path in life. The message is especially relevant to book lovers who have spent their lives yearning for the kind of adventure they read about.
Albert has created an alternate multiverse where anything is possible if you're willing to pay the price, where magic can cross realms and stories can become reality, and I truly hope we see more of it in the future.

Similar Vibes:
The Iron Fey series (Kagawa), Enchanted (Kontis), Wintersong (Jae-Jones), Once Upon a Time (tv show), Grimm (tv show), The Raven Cycle (Stiefvater)



Disclaimer: I received this ebook as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback.

Ahhhhh!!!! I loved this book! Alice finds herself in the midst of magic and creatures that lurk in our world. She must solve the mystery of where her mother is while finding out about her true story along the way. I love her relationship with Finch. There has to be a sequel!!!!!!!!!!!!

'The Hazel Wood' is a new kind of fairy tale that doesn't follow any of the old rules.
Taking place in both our world, and the fairy tale land called The Hinterland, it is filled and interwoven with fairy tales that are much darker than Grimm's. The Hinterland is a vividly written world full of stories I wish I could read. There are characters in the book who are part of the Hinterland, and their stories are included in Althea's book, but you don't learn much about them past their names. While I did want more of the characters, the story itself was wonderful and I enjoyed reading it.