The story itself was incredibly magical, whimsical, creepy, gritty, and unique, but the writing was what really drew me in! It tells the story of Alice, who has to fight her way into a fairy tale land to rescue her mother. But that's just the premise: there are twists and surprises around every corner. The fairy tales written are so unique yet they feel timeless, like they must have existed for centuries. These creepy tales will give readers goosebumps. Its like a odd mix of The Magicians, Alice in Wonderland, The Darkest Part of the Forest, and the Raven Cycle. Mesmerizing! What a unique reading experience! I highly recommend.

Wow. This book is mysterious, beautiful, enticing, unique.... the list goes on and on. The stand out for me was the writing. It was masterfully done and simply added to the story. There's a plot here that could fall apart if not done well, but it ends up being a wonderfully eloquent book. 4.5 stars

Do you believe in fairytales? If you answered yes, do you think you could survive in a fairytale world? Alice Crewe knows nothing about the world of fairytales, called The Hinterland here, until her famous grandmother dies. Althea Proserpine wrote a mysterious, rare book of completely original tales after disappearing in the European woods for several years. All Alice knows about Althea is that she and her mother, Ella, have been running from her for years. But now she’s dead and everything changes. Ella disappears, Alice is being followed, and weird things are happening wherever Alice goes. She becomes focused on finding Ella, and the trail eventually leads her to Althea’s mysterious compound deep in the forests of upstate New York. There Alice discovers the true story behind her birth, her relationship with her mother, and her role in the Hinterland.

Everyone knows there is a dark side to fairytales, and Melissa Albert freely explores that darkness in a fresh and inventive manner in this debut novel. Albert has been writing for teens and an online audience for a long time, and that experience has resulted in a richly plotted, beautifully written, imaginative reboot of the fairytale world. What if the stories are real? What happens when the order of things is disrupted? What happens when the stories change? Alice definitely shakes things up when she gets into The Hinterland. She's the clod in the churn, the pebble in the shoe, and she is most definitely *not* the "Alice" as written into the story 'Alice-Three-Times." At one point, when she is acting all contrary to the story, she says

"I did it because a girl doing nothing in a fairytale ends up dead or worse, but a girl who makes a decision usually gets a reward."
Seems like a sensible choice to me!

Albert explores many themes here: people who use stories to escape from their real lives, people who manipulate others to affect the outcome of a story, people who challenge the status quo for love, people who *can* and *do* change. Alice and Ella are both flawed characters, but you end up loving them in spite of their flaws simply because they love each other so fiercely. The Hazel Wood is a little bit Beautiful Creatures meets The Matrix and is dead-on entertaining. Highly recommended.

Publication Date: January 30, 2018
Published by Flatiron Books
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

A dark, twisted fairy tale about a girl who must risk everything to save her mother-and herself-from being trapped in the Hazel Wood. Intriguing plot, especially if you like stories that begin "once upon a time"....

An intriguing and engrossing read. I read it all in one sitting, especially enjoying the writing. Descriptions are spot on, really pulling the reader in. In a world where authors frequently describe the air as being heavy with this flower or that (and there is some of that in this book) it was refreshing to read that Alice and Ella's car smelled of the 'plasticky strawberry' of a lip smackers long ago shoved into an air vent. The author did a very good job keeping the reader (and Alice) off-kilter, after magical other-worldly encounters Dora the Explorer sleeping bags are mentioned. I especially loved the scenes in Hazel Wood, the estate. There were so many interesting story lines introduced: Althea's past, Ella's childhood, the refugees, the Stories, Alice's journey, the bad luck, Althea's books, and more.

I would recommend this book to teens and younger adult readers. I think the descriptions I read so far, most especially those calling the book extremely creepy, fit for a younger audience only. I found myself wishing many times this book had been written for an adult audience. I would have loved more time spent in the Hazel Wood house, learning the truth of Althea's life. I felt the creepy parts only skimmed instead of really digging in, which kept them from being as frightening. I would have liked deeper relationships, such as between Ella and Althea, and the Spinner and Althea. The 'refugees' could have been such an interesting concept. Once again, the romance felt skimmed for me. It was realistic, the struggle and awkwardness and confusion, but it just needed more to anchor it and make it real. I think younger audiences wont feel that way, but adult readers of magical realism may be left wanting more and not in the give me a sequel or prequel way. (Although I'd read both, hoping for a deeper look at this world.)

I absolutely loved this book. Original story beautifully told and deliciously creepy in all the best ways! Darker fairytales have always been a favorite subject of mine, and bringing it to modern day worked extremely well. Will definitely be following Melissa Albert for future novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher of Hazel Wood for the chance to read this ARC copy. I am giving an honest review in exchange.
Wow, where to begin. I read the excerpt and thought this sounds interesting. What I ended up with is an excellently, written young adult novel that is totally unlike anything I have read in recent years. Alice has grown up moving from place to place due to the bad luck that follows her. She and her mom have never settled anywhere long enough to put down roots until they receive a letter that her Grandmother has passed away. It is then that her mother decides to settle in one place, but after months of living a “normal” life her mother is mysteriously kidnapped. Now, Alice and her friend, Ellery, must take a dark path of finding out who and why they kidnapped her mother. Alice begins a journey that she may not come back from and while finding out that she has never really know who she is. Hazel Wood wraps you up and doesn’t let go. You want Alice to find out all the secrets and mysteries of who and where she comes from. I felt like vines were wrapping around me and pushing me on to finish the book. It has such a heavy mysterious feel to it. The story with its old style dark fairytale feel is absolutely perfect.

Alice has grown up running to keep ahead of the bad luck that seems to follow her and her mother but sometimes not very successfully. Then one day her mom tells her their luck just took a turn for the better, Alice’s grandmother has died. You see, Ella’s mother happens to be the famous reclusive author Althea Prosperpine. Alice found a copy of her grandmother’s book of dark fairy tales once. Ella ripped it from her hands, demanding she never read them. Like any teen, Alice promptly began the search for a copy of the collection. The only thing she could ever find was an article about her grandmother in an old copy of Vanity Fair.

Having always tread a wide path around her grandmother’s fans, when Alice’s mother is stolen from their apartment, leaving behind a horrid stench and a note from Althea’s book addressed to Alice on her pillow she knows she must find Ella. How is she to find her when Ella’s instructions strictly forbade her to go to the Hazel Wood and she has never read her grandmother’s stories. Looks like she is going to have to recruit Finch, a huge fan and the closest thing to a friend that Alice has ever had.

This book will have many devoted fans just as Althea’s book. Albert moves her characters flawlessly through the many varied and veiled woods. Be wary as you traverse her netherworlds, they are heavily atmospheric and authentic. Her writing imparts you with the heavy, foggy sense of loss that is the mystique of the Hinterland, Half Wood and Hazel Wood. After finishing this plum of a novel, you will look over your shoulder often, questioning whether character in the shadows is human or from the Hinterland. This will be a hit with readers of all ages. I hope Albert likes to travel and talk to people. She is about to experience a lot of both.

Melissa Albert's breakout novel The Hazel Wood has hit the spot. Compelling, addictive, and very difficult to put down, I read it quicker than I probably should have. I have read many fairy tale remixes lately and The Hazel Wood struck me as very clever, daring, and just plain fun. Alice was a great protagonist - temperamental but easy to relate to.

What an original and different story! I loved it from the start, the cover, the summary and the eerie setting, but somewhere along the road, I kind of lost interest. But all along I was aware that I was reading something new and creative. The writing style is amazing, with so many comparisons and metaphors, I loved it!

Hazel Wood is a story-land where made-up characters live and never die. Alice lives in a real world and the only thing that she is taught from the start is to never try to learn about Hazel Wood, let alone try to find it and visit it. I flipped through the first third of the book hoping to learn more about this mythical land, but then, story became confusing and slow. Alice is a very unpleasant character, but it is all explained in the end and although I hated her throughout the book, I am glad that the writer gave her reasons to be that way.

I wish there were more fairy tales in the book because the ones that were told were so compelling and creepy. I wish the world was more defined and explained to us. I wish a different ending. But anyway, I would recommend this book!

I love everything about this book! I just hate I have to wait so long to give it to my kids!

The Hazel Wood was just about everything that I wanted it to be. It was dark and shadowy. Romantic and yet somehow lacking substantial romance. It was endearing yet vengeful. I had a hard time putting it down and stayed up way too late many nights over the past week to see what was coming next.

Our main character Alice is a bit hard to like at times, but I respect that as it made me somehow be more in her corner as she traipsed through the labyrinth of stories and memories. She was more real to me because she wasn't perfect and I loved the bit of darkness inside her. Finch was also a great character, I think his compassion really evened out Alice and her darkness. I especially loved how the focus of this novel was Alice and her "coming of age" of sorts and most importantly, her relationship with her mother. The fact that Alice felt like home was with her mother wherever she may be was really heartfelt and I enjoyed the fact that the fight Alice needed came from that love.

Melissa Albert certainly knows how to write. She has a knack for the fairytales for sure. I could feel the chill of the fog, and see the light of the Grandmother Moon. Overall I was blown away by how well the author painted these (sometimes dark) pictures. Though it was incredibly atmospheric and at times a bit unnerving, I certainly didn't find this novel to be creepy at all. It reminded me a bit of Stardust by Gaiman or The Book of Lost Things by Connolly and seeing as how I loved both of these novels immensely, that is some high praise.

Each quick observation mentioning a character and their Story had me wanting more. A book of short stories by Albert from this land would be snatched up by me in a second. I would also love to see where a certain character ends up when he or she went on to discover "other worlds." Hear my plea, Ms. Albert, please give us more!

The Hazel Wood is absolutely recommended. There is no doubt that it is one of my favorite books I have read this year. I can't wait to see what this author writes next.

This is a more modern unique take on a fantasy that gives a Barker like narrative into a window of another world. The narrative begins in a charming manner for the disenfranchised, which quickly webs a storyline that is unique and unpredictable.
Character construction is at odds with the subject in tow which subdues the reader enough to question whether or not this is a rabbit hole into a psychedelic trip or whether or not it was all imagination. Which leads to an ultimate non conclusion.

Creepy, well written fantasy novel with hints of Seanan McGuire. Alice has been running from bad luck all her life. When her grandmother, author of a book of fairy tales with a cult following, Alice's mother thinks it's safe to stop running. Eventually the bad luck catches up with them again. There's not much more I can say without spoilers, but this is am original and interesing take on the world of fairy tales.

Fabulous read! Suspense, action, fairy tales. What more can you ask for?!

I could write a very long review of this chilling, poetic riff on all things fairy tale - REAL fairy tale, of the creepy, violent, pulsing, fraught, beautiful, mesmerizing sort that you compusively read until you reach the inevitable bloody end. But Albert has already done it with The Hazel Wood. I read quite a bit of YA, year after year, and I've already grown tired of the too oft repeated trope of the feral, magical, "special" female protagonist who has to discover her true powers and rescue or kill until she comes into her own. Well, most of those other books are just pale shadows to the thriller read that Albert takes us on, pitting her heroine Alice through all sorts of trials. And she is a heroine, a flawed, fierce, angry one which makes you care for her all the more. This book is compulsively readable, the female relationships fascinating, the determining of identity the central theme consistent throughout. The highest compliment I can pay Albert is that she is heir to Angela Carter, who would have cackled in glee at this book. "Stay away from the Hazel Wood" warns Alice's mother, but we might as well stop reading fairy tales and again and again, we prove we cannot.

The woods is dark and deep indeed in The Hazel Wood. Alice and her mother live a transient life, always on the move to escape the bad luck that seems to stalk them. When Alice learns that her grandmother, the author of some very dark fairy tales about the Hinterland, has died, leaving her estate Hazel Wood to Alice and her mother, she is very, very interested in finding Hazel Wood. When her mother is apparently kidnapped by people from the supposedly fictional Hinterland, Alice joins up with Ellery Finch, a school mate who is practically a cult follower of the Hinterland tales, to find her mother. But her mother's last words to Alice were a warning - stay away from Hazel Wood.

Melissa Albert has created a deliciously creepy fantasy world, peopled by characters from some very dark fairy tales. But then again, all the best fairy tales are very dark, aren't they? Albert excels at creating her own tales, based on a wide knowledge of all the best fairy tales, and also excels at immersing her characters in the seriously scary world of Hinterland. Those who love fairy tales and spine shivering writing in their young adult novels will eat up The Hazel Wood. Give this book to fans of Holly Black.

I am in AWE.
This book, this fantastic book, was exactly what I needed to both feel inspired to write again, sparked my desire to read more fairytales (even though I read WAY too many as is), and gave me the knowledgethat you CAN write a fairytale book without it feeling exactly like every other fairytale book out there.

I had the lovely chance to meet Melissa Albert last year at YALLfest, much to my embarrassment. I thought she was Laure Eve (the ONE time my facial recognition skills failed me!) and she was so kind to tell me that, no, she wasn't, but she was an author, whose debut would be coming out! She told me about her book, which I immediately added to my Goodreads shelf, and you'd better BET that the minute it was available as a galley, I requested it. I almost shed a happy tear when I got approved!

Anyways, back to the book:
It is gorgeous. The prose, the imagery, THE METAPHORS AND SIMILES. I was dying, I was marking off all of the beautiful quotes. I was a ghost as I read the ending, it killed me many a time. My love for this book has grown exponentially.

I plan on making every single one of my friends read this masterpiece. If this book was out before Christmas, you'd best believe everyone would get this as a present.

Melissa Albert, thank you for writing such a gorgeous debut. I will read everything else you write, that's how in love I am. I so hope I get to meet you again, and I promise I'll know EXACTLY who you are.

First off, received an ARC from NetGalley (THANK YOU!)

Love this book! How I wish it wasn't a stand-alone! How to explain - the concept of the Spinner taking control of The Hinterland reminded me a bit of Ash and Bramble by Sarah Prineas. Both depicted a dark and twisted fairy tale world. But instead of the entire world being controlled by the Story, Alice and Ella escaped and were on the run in our world. The population of The Hinterland was dark and evil - the stories did not have happy endings and the characters lived them over and over again.

I was intrigued by Althea - was she cruel or merely a victim or prisoner of her own making? Others stuck in and around The Hinterland made different choices. I would really really like to read a copy of The Hinterland (any chance of that happening Melissa Albert?).

This was fast-paced and well written. I couldn't put it down and I although I finished this morning, I am still thinking about it. I hope to see more from this author.