The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert – A book review

My fingers are trembling right now. I literally just finished reading this book. And I can’t explain how I’m feeling right now. I haven’t felt like this in a long time. It is a sort of adrenaline rush that is similar to how I feel after watching a particularly scary movie, with an ending that I like. That makes me feel safe, yet spooked.

I bought the paperback copy of this beautiful book (they didn’t have the hardcover in the book store here, but seriously, even the paperback book cover is so beautiful and mysterious!!!). I bought it because this was one of my summer reading challenge books (you can see my list here), recommended by Modern Mrs Darcy’s list (thank you for this!!!), and also because, I wanted to own a copy of this beautiful book! #greedybooklover..ahem

So, this is me, starting to read this book last Friday evening, with my usual glass (or three) of beer, super excited to get into it. Little did I know, that the smile, was soon going to be wiped out, and I was going to spend the next few nights being hooked and spooked 😀

I want to say so much about this book, but I don’t want to spoil it for the other readers and I don’t want you guys to spend too much of your time navigating my jumbled thoughts reading this review, when you could be reading the book!! So, here is a summary of what I liked and did not like about the book 🙂

Things I loved in this book

• I went in expecting one of the fantasy genre YA books. But whoa!!! This felt like fantasy, fairy tale and horror- all combined into a blast of a story! It completely surprised me and I was hooked from the first line! ” Althea Proserpine raised her daughter on fairy tales“…oooooo!
• Multiple stories within a story- what’s not to like?!
• An angry and uncompromising leading lady- yeah, now that’s what I like. Tired of reading about complacent heroines, which is why YA is so good these days 😀
• Its a dark, dark fairytale- loved a twisted spin. I want to read more such stories- any recommendations, readers? 🙂
• The world building seemed amazing to me. The concept was completely new to me
• The Kurt Vonnegut tattoo reference! Awww..I was wondering what the tattoo was, until I find out later what it was. I also wonder if there is any fan art of Alice and Ella’s Hinterland flower tattoo around? (Note to self, search internet for fan art) 😀
• The ending was good, left me satisfied. And no, this isn’t a romance story, which was very refreshing, for a change

Things I didn’t like:

• It says on Goodreads, this is The Hazel Wood #1 – I think I will die of excitement and waiting while book 2 and book 2.5 come out in 2019 and 2020 I think..sighh! I want it sooner!! And do you know, book 2.5 is called, Tales from Hinterland!!! What?!!!! I’m absolutely getting my hands on that one- need to set an alarm to go off two years later..haha- yeah, thats my complaint 😉
• I wanted Ella’s character to have more details. I wanted to know about her experiences in the Hazel Wood and with the Hinterland- maybe that is what we will know in Book 2- just guessing 🙂

So, loved this book, and would love to hear your thoughts on whether you were as spooked by the book as I was? Also, can you recommend similar books to me- that will have less romance, more fantasy and have some dark or twisted stories/plot? 

It’s mid week now, and I’m just gearing up for the weekend, and will continue reading The Widows of Malabar Hill (completely different genre) from tomorrow. Have a great week everyone, and will post in something soon over the weekend!