I struggle with books where we have multiple timelines or characters and this was one of those. I inevitably get more invested in one part of the story and it's jarring when we jump back. I also was not particularly in the mood for dark and creepy, which were the vibes I was getting from this.

I was very confused while reading this book. The writing style was nothing special and I couldn't care for the characters.

This story is told through alternating points of view between Ivy and her mom Dana. Witchcraft seems to be a new thing in YA literature right now and that's the focus of this story. No thanks. I remember 2008 and all of the vampire/werewolf stories. Please don't do thay to us again. I didn't care for any of the characters here and there wasn't a compelling storyline to help drive the plot.

Melissa Albert’s storytelling feels stronger than ever in this engrossing novel that follows Ivy and her mother Dana in alternating chapters. Brooding teenager, Ivy begins to uncover the truth of who her mother really is in a story set in the suburban present while the reader is given the deliciously dark and compelling story of Dana and her best friend Fee, in the urban past.

Dana and Fee discover witchcraft as teenagers and quickly get in over their heads leading to life-long consequences of their dark practices. Both Dana and Ivy’s stories are compelling and skillfully interwoven. I was pleasantly surprised to not see the twist coming as the timelines of the characters began to converge and pick up even more speed. I enjoyed every suspenseful minute of this novel, will be purchasing it for our library, recommending it to our readers, and recommending that other librarians add it to their fantasy and paranormal collection as well.

An excellent tale of witchcraft and the perils found within, this book is a dark, slow-burn mystery that will suck you in and get under your skin in the best possible way. The Craft vibes are strong here, the magic dangerously intoxicating. Told in duel timelines, the present sees 17 year-old Ivy working to uncover her mother's secrets in order to both make sense of her life and survive the malevolent force bearing down on her family. The past story is a steady march toward calamity as said mother's secrets are sowed. The latter, steeped in foreboding, weaves the tapestry that the former, more suspense thriller, must unravel. It all works really well makes for a great page-turner. Definitely worth the read for anyone with a taste for the occult and multi-generational mysteries.

I loved this perception of magic and the timelines showcasing what is happening in the present with Ivy and how exactly everything started with her mom in the past. Both Ivy and her mom's point of views were compelling as Ivy tried to figure out what her mom and aunt are hiding and how it all relates to her. Introduce an encounter with a strange girl and a dose of revenge decades in the making, Ivy has little time to unravel the mystery of her mother's past and find out where she and her aunt have disappeared to. Thank you, NetGalley, for an ARC.

Wow Melissa Albert has done it again.
I’m so lucky to have been able to read an Arc of this because this book was absolutely amazing ! If you were a fan of the hazelwood duology than you will definitely like this! Mellisa Albert is on of the two fantasy authors that I genuinely enjoy and this book just goes to show why she is!!
An eerie story of a mother and daughter that has magic and witches with a hint of mystery. The story is told in a dual timeline/pov that eventually connects to the present and comes together nicely!

I could not put this book down! All the free time I had this week was devoted to reading this book! I loved the slow burn mystery aspect of the book as well!!! I need more of this book I was so sad that it was over when I got to the last page!!

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Now I'm scared to read The Hazel Wood.

This book is just mundane wording sprinkled with dead rabbits. The writing in this was killing me. There was such overkill with the metaphors. They were trying too hard to be original and I lost interest. I hate books that shift back and forth between the past and present, which this did. And the characters needed more work. None of this worked for me, unfortunately.

Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Our Crooked Hearts is a dark and sinister witch story. Written in different POV's and timelines we learn about Ivy and her estranged mother, Dana. As the story unravels we learn about Dana's literally haunting past and how it connects to Ivy's present life. I loved how well the characters were described and how they all flowed together. The creepy imagery gave me The Craft vibes. I was totally entranced and I couldn't put this book down. If you love disturbing books based off magic, I highly recommend picking up your copy of Our Crooked Hearts in June of 2022.

Melissa Albert has been on my radar since I devoured her debut, The Hazel Wood. Our Crooked Hearts was everything I hoped it would be and more. We get more of Albert's delightful, lush prose paired with an intricate, engrossing mystery plot. I loved everything about this book. I was invested in Ivy's story from the opening pages. While it took me a bit longer to get into Dana's timeline and story, I found both to be equally compelling by the end. Magic has a cost, and Albert shows us the risks and rewards with her usual deftness. Magical and haunting, I loved the complicated and fierce mother-daughter dynamics and messiness of family and love.

This book was wonderful. I read it in one sitting. Thank you so much to Flatiron and Netgalley for the e-arc. This was absolutely one of my favorite reads of the year.

I’m making a prediction that any contemporary YA fantasy lover (and I stress the YA) is going to fall head over heals for this book. This book was a lot of fun. Imagine the witches from the Craft, now imagine them grown up and keeping what happened to them a secret from their now child for that child’s… safety? For their own safety? From guilt? We don’t know. At least you won’t until you read it. All I can tell you is She knows something isn’t right, that something is being kept from her and that there are triggers in her memory that shouldn’t be there.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books publishing for letting me read this early for an exchange for an honest review!

This story is told in a timeline that jumps around allowing the secrets and truths slowly unfold for you. Because of this, the last half of the book was filled with excitement… but the first half can leave you a little confused on where this story is taking you. I’m glad I stuck with it though.

WOW, this one blew me away.. I truly didn't expect to binge read this in a day, but I did. A story about witches and a complicated mother and daughter relationship. It's creepy and dark and I love how the story is woven. It juggles back and forth between the past and present. And it's done flawlessly. I absolutely loved how the mystery slowly unveils as well without losing it sense of urgency. So far, one of my favorite reads this year. Thank you so much Netgalley and Flatiron books for this arc!!

Ivy Chase discovers that her mother, Dana Nowek, is a witch when Dana's adolescent mistakes come back to haunt her.

Albert turns her talent for dark fairytales and complicated mother-daughter relationships to the subject of witchcraft. The story splits between past and present. Ivy investigates her mother's strange, secretive behavior and discovers a hitherto unknown amnesia, while flashbacks show Dana's teenage days of falling into a makeshift coven with her best friends, Felicita "Fee" Guzman and Marion Peretz. In Ivy, readers have their relatable, everyman teenage girl (who, unpredictably, turns out to be not-so-ordinary). With Dana, they have a front seat roller coaster ride to the joy and agony of female friendships, the hubris of youth, and the hard decisions and sacrifices that demarcate childhood from adulthood. Although the two women are rarely in the same scene, the complex bond between them, burdened by love, mistrust, and deception, resonates on every page. Additionally, Albert's writing sings with the most beautiful descriptions, many of them biting and visceral. With a carefully-placed word or two, she can change the entire atmosphere from mundane to dangerous, and from rage to tenderness.

My one quibble is Ivy: compared to Dana's feverishly compelling chapters, which hurl towards an inevitable tragedy and burn with tension, Ivy's portions are bland, mere filler space for the reader to catch their breath. Additionally, Ivy's romance with neighbor boy Billy is extraneous at best.

Our Crooked Hearts is a standout in a market flooded with fantasy witches. Give this to teens and adults who gravitate towards The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and want their witches to get into toil and trouble.

Our Crooked Hearts is exciting and different. Ivy and Dana are our protagonists, and the perspective switches between the two. I, like many other readers, enjoyed Dana's more, but I understand that there wouldn't be a compelling story without Ivy.

This book is fun and creepy, in all the good ways. It's less fantastical than The Hazel Wood, but it still gives off that mysterious, eerie vibe. The ending was a bit rushed. I understood having the Billy storyline in there, but it almost pulled away from the mother-daughter storyline that I was more interested in.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book -- 4 1/2 stars!

Melissa Albert continues to enchant me with every novel. I raced through this book and still couldn't believe it was over. What if magic was real? Does it keep a hold on you? The book asks these questions, and I have to say it must be real because Our Crooked Hearts still has a hold on me.

Melissa Albert's new book, Our Crooked Hearts, exceeded my expectations in so many directions. I knew it would be dark, and it is. And twisted. And a story of a mother's and daughter's relationship, the love, the mistakes, the ugly and beautiful, and the thread that connects them. This was one I stayed up late reading.
Get ready to be scared and for good reason. Teenage girls dabbling in magic seems like a fairly normal plot, except when the magic is real and overpowers them; when it gives them power to do things that cannot be undone, for better or worse.
The story is about Ivy, a smart, introverted teen who is trying to discover who she is and understand her mother who seems harsh and self-centered and definitely weird. It's also about her mother's teen years and how she and her friends got involved with magic that changed their lives forever. The narrative switches between present-day Chicago from Ivy's POV and the Chicago of twenty years earlier with her mom, Dana, telling the story.
There are some intensely dark and scary scenes, so if you like fantasy and horror YA, you definitely will be thrilled. I highly recommend Our Crooked Hearts! The release date is June 28, 2022; pre-order your copy wherever you purchase books.
*I received a free e-galley from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the novel. I am rating this book with my own opinion and have not received anything in return.

I was a huge fan of the Hazel Wood series and immediately jumped at the chance to read Our Crooked Hearts before it’s release date. It definitely piqued my interest based on the description alone.

This is a dark, witchy story with alternating pov’s between Ivy and her mom Dana. The layers to this story were really well crafted, and timed impeccably for reveal leading up to present events. The spirit of Astrid, occultist books, and side characters really lent a dark and creepy vibe to the story. There were a handful of scenes that had my skin prickling, but honestly had wished for more of a consistent vibe with that.

I unfortunately found the pacing to be very, very slow and at times I found myself losing interest. I found the character growth to be lacking. I understand why Dana did what she did, but the redemption for it felt lackluster and the ending felt very rushed. I am disappointed that this book didn’t live up to what I was expecting, and didn’t leave me with that super creepy can’t get enough feeling.

It was still a fun witchy read, with some unique elements, but I just didn’t love it. I hope others read it and love it, because Melissa Albert truly is a talented writer.

Put this one in the win column for Albert. I love the worlds Melissa Albert creates, and I couldn't get enough of the Ivy and Dana's story.

I LOVE this book!
It has everything you could possibly want from a book about witches and black magic. It's haunting. It's sinister. It's dark. And it's sure to get under your skin. All the wtichy goodness that made The Craft such an amazing movie is captured in this book, and I absolutely recommend reading this now.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.