Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read an advanced eARC!
I guess I was totally oblivious going into The Forest Grimm, because I had no idea this wasn’t a stand alone. Let me tell you I was FLABBERGASTED with that cliff hanger! I need the next book asap!
Each of the fairytales had a nice twist on the originals! I enjoyed the pace of the plot. There were a few slow moments, but it was a quick easy adventurous read!

This book worked so well for me. I gave me massive once upon a time vibes but the early seasons. It also hard a darker twist with the both the forest and the tarot elements. I also really liked the main characters all thrree of them and the various quests that made up the whole story!! I also really binged this book and loved all the subtle nods to fairytale characters!! Def excited for book 2!!

Very typical YA storyline. I was hoping it would have more of a wolf-ish background….but no luck. The writing is easy, but at times very dull?

Nothing memorable about this story….

The Forest Grimm by Kathryn Purdie follows Clara, a seventeen year old girl who lives in Grimm’s Hollow. Her village is being plagued by a curse after someone tries to use a magical book for an evil purpose. In desperate need to save her village, Clara embarks on a trip into the Forest Grimm to find the book. The only probably is the forest is cursed and everyone who enters it is lost forever.

This book had such a good premise but I feel like it failed at every point. Having a forest with Grimm’s fairytale creatures could have been so amazing! This story was some how convoluted but also very surface level. I never connected to any of the characters. The romance felt weird and unnatural. There was really no point in the book having the fairy tale characters it had. I feel like that added too much on top of the story about the cursed village. Nothing really got the opportunity to shine.

The good thing about this book is that it is easy to read. I didn’t dnf this book because I was just along for the ride to see where it went. It looks like this will be a series in which case I don’t plan on continuing.

The Forest Grimm was a fun YA mish-mash of traditional fairy tales. There were elements of Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and more all within a magical forest. The MC, with the help of two friends, is determined to find her mother and other townspeople that have disappeared, but what they find is altogether monstrous. Overall, I enjoyed the mysterious and plot driven elements of this tale, but I found myself bored at times. The main story has resolution, but be warned this is not a standalone.

I have to start off by saying how much I love anything having to do with fairy tale retellings, in particular the tales of The Brothers Grimm, so when I had the chance to read and review The Forest Grimm by Kathryn Purdie, I jumped at it. I was immediately drawn to the cover, followed closely by the title itself and then the book's description. I love stories where villages or towns are isolated for some reason from the rest of the world, usually because of a curse, and the quest to break the curse by the main character of the story. I'm happy to say that this book did not disappoint! The characters were likeable, the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, and the myriad of fairy tale characters our MC, 17 year old Clara, meets in the Forest Grimm were very interesting to say the least.

In summary, I enjoyed this book very much and can't wait until the next book in the series becomes available.

5/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kathryn Purdie for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This enchanting new novel from the New York Times bestselling author Kathryn Purdie sets a new standard for the fairytale mashup.

Villager after villager start to disappear when a murderous wish on the magical Sortes Fortunae poisons the nearby woods. But despite a grim tarot reading from her fortune-telling grandmother, Clara is determined to rescue her mother, lost to the Forest Grimm years prior.

With the help of her childhood friends, Axel and Henni, Clara vows to bring home each of the souls lost to these treacherous woods.

All your favourite fairytale characters are here: Rapuzel, Cinderella, and even Hansel and Gretel. But they may not be quite as you remembered them.

"The Forest Grimm" is a twisty tale full of adventure, terror, and romance, and is entirely unputdownable from beginning to end.

ARC provided by NetGalley & the publisher.

I have only read the Bone Grace series, which I enjoyed! I like fairytale retellings, so I thought I'd like this. I got to about 32% and I just wasn't invested in the story. There is nothing wrong with the writing, it is solid and good writing.

I just felt it was rather boring, so I skimmed a bit more, and the mashup of all the fairytales was just not working for me. And I felt that there was a lack of character development.

I wasn't invested in the story at all, and while there is some action and the book proceeds at a clip, it just wasn't working for me personally.

Overall, this book ended up not being for me, but I definitely think this is going to appeal to people who love fairytale retellings.

Love the idea and premise of this book but i think the exaction was lacking in my opinion. I really liked the story and characters for the most part but the writing wasn’t my favorite and hard to get into

3.5 stars!

This book did feel very magical and I really loved it overall. I loved the different stories woven together to tell Clara and her town’s story.
I felt pulled out of the magic usually during the dialogue between characters, it felt childish to me - particularly between her and Axel. No 19 year old boy I have ever known talks like that…
I disliked Henni and felt she was a drag as well as way too passive. Ella also was rude. Clara was great despite her friends - brave and unrelenting in her search to recover her mother.
Overall, I’m glad I read it and can’t wait to read the next installment of this story!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed how the author created this world and then wove so many of the Grimm's Fairytales into its lore. It was very creative and fun to read. It is a bit dark and twisted, just like the original Grimm's Tales, while also being refreshingly clean. I liked all of the characters and the sweet romance. I do think the wondering in the woods went on too long and that this should have been a standalone. I was unaware that it was the start of a series and probably will not pick up the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this arc.

I was very generously given an uncorrected proof of this book from Wednesday publishing. I had a great time with it! I really enjoyed the way Kathryn wove the Gimm fairytales into her own story. The world building was great and I really like our main character. I was hooked from the second I read the words "tell me the story of how I die". That was a great hook line in the summary but even better used in the book! From the second I picked it up I didn't put it down. It was a wonderful ride and I found myself already wanting to get the sequel before I was done with this book. I can't wait to be able to grab a finished copy and wait with all the other fans for the next installment.

I really enjoyed this YA mystery, interwoven with fairy tale characters and a sweet romance. Perfect for teens and adults alike!

Clara, Axel, and Henni have found a way into the Forest Grimm and seek to free those who have been lost. But the forest has twisted their loved ones beyond recognition. And if the Book of Fortunes is to be trusted, they will have to do things that feel completely wrong in order to set all things right.

Henni's presence in the story often felt cumbersome. I wasn't always sure why, exactly, she was there. And the magic was unpredictable. I won't go so far as to say there were plot holes, but definitely spots in the story where magic came into play that just felt like perhaps I had missed something that might have helped me understand what was happening.

This book will have a sequel coming as well, which I look forward to! The language and content are clean (if a bit gruesome, along the lines of Grimm's fairy tales!)

The Forest Grimm is a fairy tale lover's dream of a book! I truly enjoyed it. In fact, I could hardly put it down. I was fascinated with the world Kathryn Purdie made for us. Everything from the people in town to the Forest Grimm itself fascinated me. This book has adventure, slow burn romance, traveling, friendship being tested, the meaning of sacrifice and love!

While I loved the twists that Purdie puts on the fairy tale characters are fantastic, my favorite part of The Forest Grimm is Clara. Our main character is brave and strong, fierce and compassionate. Clara is also disabled. She has what Purdie calls an "S curve spine," also known as scoliosis. Clara wears a heel lift in her shoe to help adjust her gait which is a common treatment in helping lessen the pain. Personally, as someone who has chronic leg pain, reading about a character who goes through something similar is incredible. Representation matters. Having a disabled character in a fantasy world is incredibly rare. I'm forever grateful to Purdie for this. Reading about Clara and her disability and seeing how it realistically affected her journey was something that will stick with me for years to come.

While it was not bad, it felt like another YA fairy tale retelling book that failed to make good on promises and premises. I liked the premise, thought it was an interesting take that had not been done before. Unfortunately the writing did not deliver. While the plot was sound, the characters fell flat. I think it would appeal to younger readers who would enjoy a simpler tale with an interesting take.

Okay so I liked the concept. But I think this one is maybe just too young for me? There was something I can’t pinpoint that I didn’t like. I love that it’s fairy tales like Red Riding Hood and other Grimm fairy tales. I think it was neat to weave that into the title.

But the pacing was slow and then fast at times, like it couldn’t find a common ground. I also felt like I could just put it down any time and be fine. I wasn’t engrossed in the story.

2.5 rounded up to 3

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I was SO pleasantly surprised at how unique and interesting the story developed into being! There are so many fairy tale retellings out there, and this one stands its ground. I loved the mash-ups, the characters, and the whole adventure. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

This story was a cool mashup of different fairytales and the cover is quite beautiful! The prose was gorgeous, and I can definitely see this being a great book to curl up with for the fall!

Kathryn Purdie's The Forest Grimm was a delight to read, a true fairytale. It was whimsical, dark, and magical with a touch of mystery.


Clara's stubbornness is also gonna get her killed but she already knows that it's literally in the cards. However, Clara is determined to save her mother, who went into the cursed forest, even knowing it's her end. Clara cares for her friends, is brave enough to face her fate, and loves her mother with her whole being. Clara is easy to like.


Among a wonderful cast of characters, there are a few important ones. Axel, Clara's childhood friend who she has a close bond with. He's a charmer but in the best possible way, Axel is a kind soul who helps those around him including going into the forest. I adore him. Henni is Clara's best friend. She's the sensitive artist who seems super sweet but there were times when Henni wasn’t sweet at all and got on my last nerve. Finally, there is Clara's Grandmère, that is a woman with secrets.


A forest that is as magical as it's deadly, yes! A midnight ball, a deadly path, lush gardens, a gothic castle, and more. Kathryn's world-building was perfection and the plot, genius. While the story itself is an original fairytale it very much feels like an origin story. The little village of Grimms Hollow is where the Grimm fairytales start. All the stories are true, they're just the twisted versions that we know. Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and more are all represented just not in the way that readers would think. Like I said genius. I'm a sucker for a magical Forest and Kathryn gave me that with the and more. There were at least two plot twists that blew my mind, making me enjoy the story that much more.


This is my first Katheryn Purdee book. Gods, are they all like this, hauntingly beautiful and emotionally devastating. That ending, my heart broke a little bit for Clarathought. Originally I thought that The Forest Grimm was a standalone, turns out it's not. The forest awaits in the second book, The Deathly Grimm. I can't wait to see what twisted fairytale the main characters encounter next.

The forest Grimm is a dark thrilling twist on classic fairy tales. I found it hard to put down especially as each grimm character was introduced. I thoroughly enjoyed the slight terror and goosebumps I felt reading this late at night. The humor disbursed through the book was done perfectly to take an edge off the darker aspects. Not only did you get the classic fairy tale vibes and characters but I also had a sense of Alice in wonderland as I was reading it. Maybe it was the mushrooms and dark magic. I loved the slow burn/it was always you, romance aspect. All in all I am excited to see where this series goes.