The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

My interest in this first began with it's title, "The Hazel Wood." From there, I was enchanted by the cover. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but it was just so darn pretty. The complexities of the cover lighted my imagination and I knew that I had to know more.

I will be the first to admit that I never read the teaser and when I started reading this book, I had no idea where it would go. I had no idea how dark it would get. It delighted me to my soul.

This story tells of a girl, Alice Proserpine, and her mother Ella, the grand daughter and daughter of the mysterious cult-fairy tale writer are running from bad luck/curses.

You get a brief history of all of the places Ella and Alice lived over the years before settling in New York City.

After her grandmother passes we are engulfed in this massive mystery of very dark fairy tales and a journey that takes Alice and her friend Finch to upstate New York into the Hinterlands in search of the home that was left for her, The Hazel Wood.

We are given a few of the fairy tales in full and the rest are left to mystery (hopefully unraveled in the sequel, "The Night Country" that was released on January 7, 2020. I have my copy on hold with the Libby application through my local library. I still have about eight weeks to wait on that one, but I am very excited to see where Melissa Albert takes this story and these unique fairy tales.

I rated this book four stars out of five because I feel as though more/most of the time should have been spent in the Hinterlands, the half woods, and The Hazel Wood. Of the ten fairy tales they alluded to, only a couple were divulged. That, in all honesty, just wasn't enough.

I was shocked by the quality and darkness that surrounded the fairy tales and I cannot wait to get back into this world. It was much better than I expected it to be.