Review: the hazel wood

The Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert


I don't really understand the hype around this one.

Alice and her mom never stay in one place to long because of the horrors/bad luck that find them. They blame Alice's grandmother, who lives in the Hazel Wood, a mansion that has a strange history surrounding it.

Alice has never met her grandmother. According to her mother, she's not interested in having a relationship with her so they play the avoidance game. The only thing Alice has is the idea of this book of short stories that her grandmother had written.

When the horrors come to find Alice one last time, they end up taking her mother. Now Alice, along with misunderstood new friend Finch, are on the hunt for both the Book, the Mansion, and her mother.



The writing was beautiful but the story couldn't hold my interest (and it creeped me out so that may have been a part of it too) but it had many unanswered questions and if this is a standalone, it feels unfinished. 

The World that was created was not explained enough for me, but I liked the characters and the vibe of the small love story that was there (though never follows through because time is a weird concept)

Hope were a lot higher considering how much it was loved by those around me, but just wasn't for me.

This was definitely one of those "bandwagon" buys, and if I knew what it was about I doubt I would've picked it up on my own. 

At least the cover is pretty...