REVIEW: The Hazel Wood - Melissa Albert*

Title: The Hazel Wood (#1)
Author: Melissa Albert
Series: The Hazel Wood
Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 355 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

*E-COPY OF BOOK RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW - PAPERBACK COPY WAS BOUGHT BY MYSELF FROM MY OWN MONEY*

Goodreads Blurb

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate - the Hazel Wood - Alice learns how bad her luck can really get. Her mother is stolen away - by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: STAY AWAY FROM THE HAZEL WOOD.

To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began . . .

Thoughts

I have heard so many good things about this book, and it has been residing on my bookshelf since it came out. So I decided 2020 was finally the year that I would read it.

I have to admit going into this book I thought I knew what to expect and Albert just completely did a total 180. I found this to be quite a creepy book, now it takes a lot to really weird me out, but this did give me a case of the heebies. I loved the story, and I found myself not knowing what was going to happen next.

I found myself loving Alice, and Finch as characters, they worked so well together, and Finch worked so well moving the story on and helping Alice find The Hazel Wood. I also found myself liking Ella as a character, especially when you find out what is happening with The Hazel Wood and how Ella and Alice are roped into it all.

I found the twist at the end totally unexpected, but the majority of this book was unexpected to me, and I did like it. The only thing that I did find wrong, was in some sections of the story, I found it slow going and sometimes there was a time jump or the setting of the story changed and this just wasn't explained too well.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book and I will be reading the sequel (it is currently residing on my bookshelf, waiting to be added to a monthly TBR.