don’t know what to think of this book, I was bored, I found it long and I didn’t appreciate the story even if it was original.

I think all of this is unfortunately related to the heroine who annoyed me throughout the book. She has such anger and hate in her that it’s irritating. She is never happy, she hates people, and she treats them badly when they try to help her.

I really found her horrible with Finch, so yes he’s not perfect but it’s not a reason.

One thing I liked was the fact that the story is linked to a storybook, but the other stories are not developed enough for my taste.

My review will be short since I did not like it.

Quick Word: A book that could have been interesting if the heroin was not so irritating.

This book is aimed at Young Adults, I'm not but I did enjoy it.
I was very quickly drawn into the story but It felt a little slow at times, the characterisation was fairly good. Alice was a little annoying, a flawed character but it does make a change and the reasons for her flaws become more apparent as the book progresses.
Real fairytales aren't all sweetness and light & good overcoming evil, the Brothers Grimm spring to mind. Overall not a bad read.

The Hazel Wood was utterly dreamy and whisked me away into the bustling city of New York and the eerie forests of the Hinterland.

Alice Prosperpine and her mother never stay in one place too long. Wherever they go, bad luck and peculiar incidences follow them. But when Alice's mother is kidnapped by characters claiming to come from her grandmother's book of dark fairytales, Alice and her friend Ellery Finch run headfirst into the danger, trying to find their way to her grandmother's mysterious estate, the Hazel Wood.

This book reminds me so much of the books I would read when I was younger. It is exciting and mysterious and just a little bit creepy, and it feels like magic is always lurking around the corner. The writing draws you in completely and the story is filled with twists that have you constantly questioning where the characters would turn next. Alice is a complicated and angry character, and made a really compelling lead. I loved how prominent the bond she had with her mother was and how powerful their relationship was. Alice's dynamic with Finch was also brilliant because of how different yet similar they are, and I loved seeing their relationship grow to acknowledge this.

As hooked as I was on the story, in the latter quarter of the book I found it a little difficult to follow what was happening. It didn't subtract from my enjoyment of the book too much, but I'd sometimes get a little lost along the way. But this is very possibly a me thing because I was tired and didn't want to put the book down, and I suspect will be amended when I re-read it!

The Hazel Wood has the perfect balance of character, story, and atmospheric writing that is so easy to fall into, making it addictive on all fronts. Reading it feels like dreaming; it's one of those books that makes the whole world around you disappear, which is a rare thing that should be treasured. I look forward to reading more about where Alice goes next in the sequel, but I will be thinking about this book all the time until then.

This was so dark and lush. The writing was flowery and full of depth and I very much enjoyed the way Melissa Albert created this very twisted tale. It was different and more original than I expected. I read a couple of other early reviews and saw that a couple of reviewers opinions whom I trust were actually saying it was a little too similar to Alice in Wonderland. And the fact that the main character's name was also Alice made me think it was a retelling. But even though it was a kind of portal fantasy and there was a lot of whimsical nonsense, I couldn't predict anything about this story so the plot and character traits were very different from 'Alice' in that way. This may be an unpopular opinion but Alice in Wonderland is probably one of my least favourite classics, I just don't enjoy it very much. And yet I loved this book. So if you aren't sure about whether to pick up this or not because it doesn't really seem like something you would be into, I would urge you to give it a go because for me it was well worth the read and I am so glad I requested it.

“Everyone is supposed to be a combination of nature and nurture, their true selves shaped by years of friends and fights and parents and dreams..."

The protagonist, seventeen-year-old Alice alongside her mother Ella has spent most of her life on the road running away from the overwhelming bad luck that seems to follow them wherever they go. But one day they get a letter saying her grandmother, an introvert author of mysterious, and deeply dark fairy tales dies alone on her estate; the Hazel Wood. Then things take a turn for the worse and her mother Ella is stolen away by a person whom isn't really quite a person. Someone who actually belongs in the Hinterland; the origin place of her grandmother's stories.

“You might think you have a really good reason, but nothing could be worth this. Nothing could be worth feeling this way. I feel like a changeling wearing someone else's skin. I can't remember what I liked, or what I wanted, why I worked or left the house or did anything. It's all gone... I think whatever I used to be, it dropped through the binding. I wish the rest of me had gone with it.”

I thought it was clever how the author intertwined the various smaller stories and tales inside the one main plot. I actually want to know more about them. There are so many possibilities for great stories within this world. How they all worked together to create a sort of puzzle, made the read overall very mysterious. Also the lyrical verses and rhymes made it even more eery to read.

“There are no lessons in it. There's just this harsh, horrible world touched with beautiful magic, where shitty things happen."

I fell in love with the side characters as well, one of my favourite things was the fact that all these strange individual characters were very fleshed out and each of them had a depth to them. None of them felt superficial and I applaud the author for this because there is usually always a side character in a story that is lacking somewhere. But when it came to this book, I didn't feel that way at all. Maybe it's because I was so intrigued by the 'fairytale' characters and I wanted to know as much about them as possible. But I ate up all the extra intricate details. Speaking of which, the world building was astoundingly intricate and the descriptions left nothing to be desired. I easily imagined this story and it was so vivid in my mind.

“Once upon a time there was a beautiful queen who thought words were stronger than anything. She used them to win love and money and gifts. She used them to carry her across the world.”

At first I was pretty torn on what my feelings were. It took me a while to get fully invested in the story and the characters. The first third or so of the book felt very jumpy and disjointed but the flow definitely improved eventually. It was creepy and odd and made me laugh a lot. Some things were just so weird that I couldn't help cackling. (If you've read it then you'll know about the car/water scene, that is just one of the instances where I laughed way too much, but honestly it was great.) I do however feel that the first half of the book could have been done in a quicker way and the last half more spaced out. Because it went from, forgive me for saying this but, kind of boring to fantastically captivating and fast paced. Almost too much so toward the end. But the interesting plot twists made up for it.

"I feel like I’m playing a part in a movie where all the sets have burned down. And the script got erased. And the cameras have no film, and we’re in a haunted movie lot in a bad part of town."

Overall I found this a very captivating read and would recommend it. I will absolutely be looking out for more from Melissa Albert especially the follow-up novel to this book and the Tales from the Hinterland.

RATING: 4 Stars

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars. Wanted to love it, but it fell flat.

Before I read The Hazel Wood, I was super-excited about it. I read the blurb on Goodreads a couple of months ago. The book sounded like the kind of magic realism I really enjoy. It brought to mind The Bear and the Nightingale and The Raven Cycle, and I couldn’t wait to read it.

The first couple of chapters drew me in, although I felt the writing was quite monotonous and lacking the rich description I expect from this genre. As the novel went on, this became a recurring issue and extended to the characters, including the protagonist, who I felt were rather one-dimensional.

I kept reading because the writing is good and I wanted to see if the story would suddenly develop into something that would warrant the buzz. However, I became more and more confused and I’m still not really sure what the book was actually about. I kept rereading passages to try and figure out the chronology, even the characters’ setting, but it was very disjointed.

I also found a few of the pop-culture references cringeworthy (although I appreciated the Francesca Lia Block mention). There was one in particular about Etsy that I found really jarring and not in keeping with the solemn tone of the narrative.

On the FLB note, I did feel the author was heavily inspired by her, but The Hazel Wood lacked the sparkle-and-glitter of FLB’s tales. There was no one to root for here; no heroine. FLB writes amazing heroines.

The pace was off, too. The first part really dragged, then the ending was very rushed.

Overall, I was disappointed by this book. I was so excited to read it based on the blurbs, but it just fell flat.

I received an ARC copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Wow this book was good. So dark and creepy and just wonderfully well written. I found myself becoming lost in the story which considering how tired and stressed I was while reading it was pretty impressive.

I have to admit that while I initially had high hopes for this book, I did see some negative reviews that put a little bit of doubt in my mind. Thankfully though this book was right up my street. I am a huge fan of retellings and all things fairy tale and this, while not really being a retelling, certainly has the feel of one albeit a very dark and creepy one.

This is a story about stories where the lines between the real and the imagined become decidedly blurred. It’s a little confusing and frustrating at times and occasionally nonsensical but there’s so much mystery and so many twists that it’s difficult to put down. The world the author builds is incredible and draws you in so completely that it feels real. It’s dark and disturbing pretty much all of the time and I found myself getting genuine chill in places.

I’m not going to say much about the story as I think you really need to read it for yourself but essentially it’s a voyage of discovery for Alice as she tries to find her mother after she suddenly disappears. She uncovers a link to her recently deceased grandmother’s collection of dark fairy tales and has to find her way first to her grandmother’s estate, The Hazel Wood and then to the place that inspired her stories. She’s pretty much on her own with no other family and no money or resources so has to rely on a boy from school to help her but he seems a little too excited about going to the Hazel Wood.

The story is told entirely from Alice’s point of view and she is very much the focus of this story. There are other characters but they generally appear briefly, play their part and then move on. I’m not sure I would necessarily say I liked Alice but I’m not sure you’re supposed to. She’s cold, sharp and angry and not very nice but I did admire her determination and liked how the author developed her over the course of the story.

It was though, the other characters who left more of an impression on me despite only their relatively brief appearances in the story. They tended to the eccentric, with erratic sometimes violent behavior and talking in riddles (this is where it goes a little Alice in Wonderland). It’s rarely clear whether they are there to help Alice, are playing with her or using her for their own ends. I can understand some may find them frustrating and annoying but I just loved the mystery around it and found myself wanting more of them. There were a couple of characters in particular who I really wish we’d gotten to understand more about but if I’d gotten everything I wanted the book would probably be twice as long.

The one problem I will say I found with the characters however is that I thought the relationships between them were a little lacking. There just isn’t enough time spent fully developing them and consequently I didn’t feel their connection to each other. The relationship between Alice and her mother for example is key to the story, the whole plot is Alice trying to find her, but because her mother only appears briefly I didn’t feel any closeness. We have to rely on Alice’s assertions of how much her mother means to her which for me is not the same as showing it. Similarly the relationship between Alice and the boy who’s helping her just felt a little odd and uncomfortable. That may be intentional but even by the end there was something incomplete about it.

That being said though I did love the story. It drew me in completely, so much so that I almost missed my stop on the train. I especially loved the dark fairy tales that are told as part of the story and would really love it if the author wrote the whole complete collection at some point. Almost every story is left unfinished or interrupted and they were just so creepy and dark that I want to know how they end.

Overall, despite a few niggles over the relationships I have to say I really loved this story. It’s one I’d recommend to anyone who likes fantasy and fairy tales with a dark twist.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. As always all thoughts are my own.

The Hazel Wood is due to be published on 30th January in the US and 8th February in the UK.

I ENJOYED…

- I found the writing and Melissa Albert’s storytelling captivating. I loved her writing style and felt instantly immersed into the story. The moments of tension, happiness, creepiness and everything else went right through me as I read. To be completely honest, I aim to write like her someday.
- The Hazel Wood was very imaginative: I love how it took a little of its inspiration on fairytales, yet spinned it in its completely own way. The stories that are told within the story, of princesses and ice, murder and revenge… it felt like reading fairytales, really, if slightly creepier than the ones I am used to.
- Unlike popular opinion, asking for there to be more of the book set in the Hinterland, a.k.a the magical place here, I was quite happy with the rhythm of the story somehow? I liked how everything set up slowly, how they went onto a quest, how the real world gradually changed around them as weirdness arose. That was really, really cool to read.
- I really liked the characters, especially Alice, our main character, and Finch. Alice was complex and hard to fall in love with, yet I rooted for her and wanted just as badly as she did to find out the truth about her family and who she was. Finch was such a precious character, I fell in love with him right on the first page and wanted to hug him at all times.
- I appreciated that there was no real romance here. Where, in your usual fantasy book, you always find a hint of romance and kisses here and there, here… well, there just was an interesting and slow developing FRIENDSHIP I really appreciated. Did I want more? Yes, because I am like that. But I also appreciated that it stayed a great friendship.
- I also really loved the fact that this book was so family-centered, with the strong relationship between Alice and her mother, Ella. They had such a strong bond and I loved Alice’s determination and love for her mother showing all through the story.

I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…

- Unlike popular opinion again (or, from what I have seen and heard), I kind of found myself disconnecting a bit more from the story as it went on in the Hinterland, a.k.a the fantasy world in this story. Somehow, the beginning, the quest, the mystery, the real world becoming weird and everything, had me REALLY hooked. The last third of the story, set in the real Hinterland, found myself a bit… lost, somehow? Maybe that’s because there was so little in the actual book developed in the Hinterland, I didn’t quite have time to get accustomed to its rules and strange characters.
- I wanted to get to know Alice’s mother maybe a bit more. I feel like we got a great mother-daughter relationship, yet I missed some… I don’t know, bonding moments, real ones, really showing Ella off a little bit?
- I was expecting a bit of a mind-blowing ending that I did not get, somehow. It was a good ending and wrapped things up nicely and left me with no questions, yet… I don’t know, I wanted fireworks and I just had a beautiful sunset.

OVERALL

The Hazel Wood was a really great debut and I understand the blogosphere’s frenzy about it all. I was captivated by the story and its characters, by the imaginative world-building and relationships. It missed a little something for it to be a mind-blowing read, but I would still recommend it to the ones that like their fairytales dark and mesmerizing.

Okay, can we just take a moment to swoon over this pretty, pretty cover? I'm a bit sad that my ebook version didn't come with this, but I can only imagine how glorious it will look on the shelf. Sigh. 

So I had pretty high hopes for this one, going in. I tried to apply for it on Netgalley a few months back and got rejected, but it turns out I'd been applying for the wrong region. There's also been a huuuuuuge amount of hype surrounding this debut, with quite a few people speculating it will feature in some book subscription boxes when it gets released. So yeah, quite a few of you might find yourselves an owner of this stunning book. Also, it was pitched to me as really dark fairy tales, and since I love that kind of thing (Angela Carter is still the GODDESS of dark fairy tale retellings though), I couldn't wait to check it out.

The book started really strong for me. I liked the whole urban setting, and Alice stood out from the first. I found myself super intrigued by the grandmother, and I loved how it opened with a 'snippet' from an article about her. There's so much mystery surrounding her character, and I think that's largely what propelled me through the book. Some of the other characters were fairly cool, especially later on in the book, but I did think that Finch might have done with a little fleshing out, especially since he turned out to play quite a major role in the storyline. The interwoven fairy tales were also a biiiiig draw for me, and I totally couldn't help shivering while reading them. They were so dark! But they were also really compelling, and I like that they were also fresh and new, rather than presenting retellings of familiar fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. There was clearly a lot of research on the genre done by the author, which wins her a lot of kudos in my mind.

Moving on to the cons in this book, and I have to say the ending didn't do it for me. Which is a shame since I was really excited for about 2/3rds of the novel, and then it essentially pulled the same plot thing out of the hat as The Fandom did. I mean, I do vaguely like the concept of exploring agency and the process of writing, but I just felt like it was something I'd seen before. It also didn't help that the ending just seemed to lack any of the things I actually liked Alice for-- her strength and tenacity, her ability to think on her feet... they were all kind of washed away in favour of a very meh ending. I don't want to be too spoilery, since I know the book isn't out yet, but I do think it might have benefited from being a bit more character driven rather than plot. It sort of seems like the author had the plot fixed in her head and wouldn't change it, which sometimes works but here it fell a bit flat. 

That being said, I will happily pick up book two when it comes out. I'll be very intrigued to see where Albert takes it, considering how she ended this one. 

Overall, I'd give The Hazel Wood 7.5 stars out of 10.

A really unnerving and compulsive read. Alice has spent her entire life running from bad luck, is it possible that she herself is the bad luck.
Dark storytelling for a teenage market that works on a number of levels.

This book is so good, I couldn't stop reading it, my heart pounding in my chest. I think I forgot to breathe more than once, reading it, like it was going to help me read faster...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book!!

I decided to read The Hazel Wood because it intrigued me with its different take on fairy tales. At the moment I am enjoying the re-imaginations of fairytale and like the idea of reading one with a dark take. 



Alice is a seventeen year old girl who has spent her life on the road, always leaving when her bad luck finally catches up with her. When her Ella mother receives a letter saying her Grandmother the recluse writer of a cult dark fairy tales has died. That one letter means they can finally settle down and have a normal life. But Alice bad luck finally catches up with her and her mother is stolen away by 'Hinterland' cruel supernatural people from her grandmother fairy tales. With the help of Ellery Finch a friend from school, and a super fan of her grandmother works she heads of to the one place her mother told her not to go Hazel Wood the home of her grandmother. Alice will final find out there is more truth in her grandmother stories, that even connect to her own. But will Alice let someone else write the ending to her own story or will she write her own.



This story starts out as a normal story and then as the books progress it starts to become weirder. This book is creepy and enthralling you feel like you have step into the rabbit hole, but you can't stop yourself from following Alice to the very end. I did have to re-read so part of the book as I can't a little confused what was happening as it goes an eccentric when Alice finally gets to Hazel Wood.  Alice as a character I neither like nor disliked her, I just was fascinated by her and her world. I did like the character of Finch I would hope if there are other books in this series that we get to see more of him. 

I really enjoyed the fairy tales in the story and would be interesting in reading more of them, they reminded me of the Grimm fairytale with the dark and not so happy ending. 

The Hazel Wood will be a book that people either love or hate, I enjoyed the book and read it in just 2 days as it is beautiful written. But I can understand why people didn't enjoy it.

I would give this book a go if you like;

Mysteries with a strange twist
Dark fairytale
Creepy stories


I give this book 4 out of 5

What a creepy and mesmerizing story. I don’t think I’ve read a book like this before.

When Alice grew up she would move from one state in the US to another with her mother whenever “bad luck” would find them. Or when one of her grandmother’s fans found them. Although Alice has never met her famous grandmother, who had written a book of dark fairy tales.
One day Alice’s mother gets kidnapped and Alice has to try to find her. Can it really be the Hinterland (the world from her grandmother’s book) that kidnapped her?

The writing was great and drew me in from the beginning. It kept me wanting to not put the book down before I haven’t finished it.
I had my differences with Alice. She isn’t what you would call a likable character. But she certainly was an interesting character. While the story progresses we are just as clueless as she is.

If you are a fan of dark and twisted stories then this is the right book for you!

<b> 4/5 stars. </b>

I really enjoyed this! I was immediately intrigued after reading the synopsis.

This book reminds me so much of Alice In Wonderland but with a much darker twist. The characters are very interesting, the plot is quite unique - i haven't read many books like this myself - and the writing is beautiful.

I've seen a lot of people say the first half of this book is slow but i disagree personally, I enjoyed this book and I never felt bored as it was building up the story. I think it was perfectly paced and it eased into the story at the correct pace for me. However, I do think once the story hit its climax, it kind of fell flat for me. When i got to the end of this book, I was just staring at the end like....that's it? After so much anticipation and build up....nothing really happened. This book was a 5 star book to me until the very end of the book.

The characters are amazing. Alice is the main character in this book and I just loved how sassy, confident & independent. You could feel how much she cared for her mother and she would do anything to get her back. Finch is sweet, caring and just cute. He knows a lot about Alice's grandmothers fairytale book and wants to help Alice in the search for her mother, who's gone missing, presumably kidnapped. The start of the book has a lot of flashbacks which goes through times with Alice and something I loved is the fact you could read some of the dark fairytales from Alice's grandmothers book yourself.

I think if you're a fan of dark fantasy, you will like this. I also enjoyed Caraval, which is probably why I enjoyed this as it's a similar genre. I will definitely read the sequel coming up, I am interested to see what happens next.

I have always wondered at how books can be scary? How can reading words on a page in the comfort of your own home give you a sense of horror or dread? How is it that books can have such power that, that the horrors they describe can effect us in such a way as to make us fearful when there is nothing to fear? I didn't understand these feelings until I read The Hazel Wood. 

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert was a dark and intriguing story that has all the magic and mystery of the fairy tales we know so well. This book however goes one step further, it describes a world in which fairy tales could be real, a world where there is truth to the stories that we heard growing up. I think the elements of realism is what made this book so damn creepy, the elements of truth within the story and the possibility that somewhere the stories are real, that someone did live this life. 

"I told you, she was like a war reporter. She didn't write this stuff into creation-she wrote about something that was already out there."

This quote I think is a good description of how this story is told from the point of view of Alice Crewe. Alice grew up on the road with her mother and bad luck following her wherever they went. She has a cold anger that sometimes gives her a more dispassionate point of view to the events that unfold in the book, but somehow still full of feeling and emotion. This anger is her armour and I found Alice to be a realistic and flawed character who would do anything for the people she cared about. 

The characters in this book are believable, the stories woven into the story are fascinating and the whole mystery of The Hazel wood had me intrigued from the first page. The depth this author managed to achieve was so good that the fairy tales in this book could themselves be published. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the original fairy tales, the ones where every step The Little Mermaid takes is like knives in her feet and the evil stepsister cuts off her toes to fit into the glass slipper.

*I received a digital review copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are entirely my own*

I'm a sucker for fairy tales, so I was super excited when I received this ARC. The Hazel Wood is indeed a brilliant fairy tale, only not of the 'and they lived happily ever after' variety. More like the 'I'm not scared, I just fancied sleeping with my light on tonight' type. The story is creepy, original, complex, and did I mention creepy?? It has a dark, gothic vibe about it that reminded me a lot of Wintersong, which was one of my favourite books of last year. I devoured the first half, and I was convinced that it was going to be a solid 5 star rating, but once Alice enters the Hinterland things got too messy.

SPOILERS AHEAD

So once you think about it the fact that Alice was THAT Alice was quite obvious, but while reading about it I was so immersed in the story that to me it was almost a shock. Since I was liking the first part of the book so much, I thought this was going to be the best bit (we were finally getting into the Hinterland!) but unfortunately that was not the case. For starters the story went from complicated to bonkers. Random characters start to pop up out of nowhere whenever Alice needs a hand, or a complication. Things that seemed insurmountable get solved in the blink of an eye. The redheaded guy we've heard about from the beginning of the book is a character from Alice's own story who was once in love with Ella, but that's exactly all the information we get about it - no background story, no development, nothing.

But the thing that bothered me the most was Finch. I loved that the most important relationship in the book was that of Alice and her mother, but this being a YA I assumed there would be a love interest, and Finch filled the role ok. Only their relationship didn't make any sense - I get that Finch wanted to be friends with Alice because he is a fan of her grandmother, but what did he saw in her? And what did Alice see in him?? Basically their first interaction is when Alice goes to him for help to find Ella. The romance is never fully developed, but it's obvious that something's going on. And then Finch dies!! I was trying to get over the shock of his death when it turns out that he was only left for dead, and he's come back to help Alice rescue herself from her own story, but sorry, he's not coming back to the real world with her because in the meantime he has found his true love and he's staying with her in the Hinterland *insert confused and really annoyed face here*

The other thing that threw me off was the language. I loved it in the first part, and it's not that it got worse in the second part, but it became heavier with metaphors that sometimes felt silly if I'm being honest, and the pop culture references also got out of hand.

So while I enjoyed the book and I will rush to buy the Stories of the Hinterland if Melissa Albert ever decides to write them, I'm also a bit disappointed because the first half of the book had so, so much promise that was only partially delivered in the end. Still highly recommendable for any fan of dark tales, only don't read it at night :)

Interesting book with an intriguing story. Not really enough depth for me.

This book, as other readers have said, seems like two books that didn't fit very well together. I enjoyed the road trip but the fantasy elements just didn't gel with the rest of the book.

Real fairy tales aren't pretty and sweet. The Grimm Brothers would be proud of Ms Albert. It was an enjoyable read which I will be going back to reread. I would highly recommend this novel.

this book was delicious. It was so creepy and magical and amazing and I adored every second: I loved the world, the characters, the stories, the writing style, everything.

- the world. The Hinterland is so well-written: everything feels like it's coming to life, straight out of the page. All the minute details are mentioned, and I was getting the chills reading about the forest and the people and the stories.
- the characters. really realistic! none of them were the perfect, lovable human; but it was the flaws that made them amazing characters. (Finch was my favourite and I hope that my cinnamon roll is happy.) I loved Alice's anger tendencies because they were actually described so well?? Honestly it made me angry too.
- the writing style. bY FAR THE BEST PART. (IN MY UNBIASED OPINION.) everything was expressed so clearly and with so much feeling (for the parts in Alice's point of view), I was really freaking creeped out half the time. (this is a good thing.) It was just so BEAUTIFUL.
- the plot. so I can't say a lot here without giving away spoilers, but the theme of the story was pretty unique. also so many plot twists, my head hurts.

overall, a really good book which I LOVED.

​Fairy Tales have always intrigued me. Not your saccharine sweet Disney versions but the dark, complex tales passed down the generations by the spoken word before they were captured in print by Perrault and The Grimm Brothers, when they provided entertainment lessons for the community.
The Hazel Wood has the elements of these original stories which creates a dark YA fantasy novel. It was well written and it was hard not to fall into the adventure with Alice. She has had a nomadic childhood with bad luck following them whether she went with her mum Ella. She is not a pleasant character with a tendency for uncontrolable anger leading me at times to wonder about her actions. There are many unique characters dotted throughout the story and it is surreal especially part two which I found reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. I enjoyed it.
I would recommend it to those who