Holy Hinterland crows, that was good. Read this at night, with a cup of tea and the lights dimmed so you can be scared silly like I was. :D :D

this is the first book that has made me think that the author statements/praise on the back cover are completely made up. i mean, unless i have a defect copy, the fact that stephanie garber, karen mcmanus, seanan mcguire AND jennifer niven all adored this is highly suspicious, because this story is a hot mess.reading this (the plot specifically) reminded me of every time i have to untangle my headphones - it only becomes more and more of a mess until i get so frustrated and i throw them across t...

THREE THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK.1) I heard that this book had The Raven Boys vibes and I was sooo excited to read this book and find out more as to why it resembled one of my favorites series of all time BUT......literally,FUCKING LIESSSSSS. I SEE NOTHING, N O T H I N G, ABOUT THIS BOOK THAT RESEMBLES MY FAVORITE BABIES OF ALL TIME. TO EVEN COMPARE THE TWO IS SACRILEGIOUS WTF. People say,"Oh, the writing!" NO."Oh, the atmosphere!"NO."Oh, the story!"HELL TO THE FUKCING NOPE.JUST NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

This book took me almost 4 months to read because every time I picked it up I just felt dread. That may be a bit harsh considering I really enjoyed the beginning of this book but I quickly found that it just was not what I expected or wanted. This was marketed as a fantasy so I was very confused when the fantastical elements didn't even come into the book until 2/3 of the way. If you're gonna sell me a fantasy you better deliver. I also was very uncomfortable with the way Finch, the only person

Seventeen-year-old Alice has never had reason to believe her grandmother's book of dark fairy tales is founded in truth - until now. When her mother is kidnapped by a mysterious figure who claims to be from the Hinterland – the dangerous supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set – she must join forces with a classmate, Ellery Finch, whose cult-love of her grandmother's fairy tales are the key to finding the realm where her mother is being held captive. The Hazel Wood pays homage...

Did her insides match her outsides? Was the way my life dripped off me like water, barely leaving a mark, normal? Okay, so this was not a book for me. I really wish I hadn’t received an arc of The Hazel Wood and had instead waited for more reviews to roll in first. The blurb makes it sound exactly like the kind of dark fairy tale goodness I love, but if someone had - more accurately - explained that this is a book about a girl called Alice who gets sent to Wonderland the Hinterland where she

Finally, I had an unpopular opinion………...but in the fun way!Honestly, even though hating the books that everyone loves makes me feel #quirky and #unique and dare I say...not like other girls, it gets old. Hating the books your friends love = no fun. https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...Liking the books your friends hate, on the other hand: A BLAST.All the shenanigans and special-snowflake-ness of an unpopular opinion with none of the pain and full-on suffering of reading a bad book! I should

3 Stars. Not my favorite book I’ve ever read, but still enjoyable.I don’t have particularly strong feelings about this book. The writing was fine. The characters were okay. The world was probably the most interesting element of the story, but nothing amazing in my opinion. I really enjoyed how the story takes place in modern day New York City and the fairytale elements are hidden beneath. I found the fairytales/whimsical elements of the story to be it’s strongest point. I genuinely enjoyed my ti...

"Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt."You know those Disney princess fairytales, the ones where the damsel in distress is saved by Prince Charming and they get married and live happily ever after? Yeah, this isn't that story. Think of the old school Brother's Grimm fairytales, and then imagine something even darker and you'll have a clear picture of what this book holds for you. That's not a criticism; one of the surest ways to get me to commit to reading a book is to tell me it's an old

Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:Alice Proserpine has always led a drifter’s life with her mother Ella. They scrape by on the edge of homelessness, constantly moving from place to place, staying with friends until they wear out their welcome, bad luck relentlessly dogging their footsteps wherever they go. And they never speak about Ella’s mother Althea, a reclusive author who lives in a grand, nearly impossible to find estate called the Hazel Wood, and who was famous for Tales from the

This book was so deliciously dark & creepy.Overall I really enjoyed it but it just wasn't a full 5/5 for me.The main character was horribly mean and made me not like the book as much.I did enjoy the actual stories from 'Tales from the Hinterland' a ton though, that I would love to see a full length novel of.I enjoyed the concept of this book but the second half got a little weird and took many different directions and honestly was hard to keep up with.I would recommend this if you like dark, cre...

UPDATE: I've been getting this question a lot, so I'll answer it here: The Hazel Wood is not an Alice in Wonderland retelling. I just like the name Alice. ;)For the curious: a first chapter excerpt lives here: http://ew.com/books/2017/06/07/meliss...(And thanks for being curious!)

My mother was raised on fairy tales, but I was raised on highways. Ever since Alice could remember, she's been on the run with her mother from bad luck. I remembered less from my own life than I did from the books I read. Alice's grandmother was the author of The Hazel Wood - a haunting collection of scary fairy tales - that despite Alice's curiosity, her mother forbade even speaking of them. And then one day, Alice's mother disappeared. And the people (creatures?) that took her lo

"And while they're being told, stories create the energy that makes this world go. They keep our stars in place. They make our grass grow." You want to read a mysterious, crazily intriguing book, this is it. My heart was racing for the first 7 chapters because I had no idea what was going to happen and during the rest because I couldn’t wait to see where the Story was going (pun intended- if you’ve read it you’ll understand).This is just so AMAZING. I don’t know how it possible to make somet