Alice and her mother were always a step ahead of bad luck until one day it caught up to them. Living in New York, Alice’s mother had married a wealthy man and seemed to have stopped believe in their bad luck. Working in a coffee shop, Alice see’s a familiar face from her childhood. A man who had kidnapped her to take her back to her grandmother, a famous author of dark fairy tales, at her home in the Hazel Wood. When she spots this man, he doesn’t look a day older than he did ten years ago, so she doesn’t believe her instincts. When she gets home and finds her mother has been kidnapped by the people they had been running from, Alice has to find her grandmother’s estate, hoping that is where her mother is being taken. This is a story of adventure and self discovery for Alice and like the dark fairy tale’s her grandmother wrote, her journey also follows a dark path.
As I started reading The Hazel Wood I loved the world that Melissa Albert had created. Alice, like Alice in Wonderland, seemed to have fallen down a dark hole and as Alice and I learned more about the fairy tale’s that her grandmother wrote it became hard to second guess where the story was leading. When Alice got to the Hazel Wood and her existence was revealed I’ll admit that it became harder for me to like. This was not a Disneyland fairy tale and even though there was a happy ending I didn’t feel very happy at the end.
I had mixed feelings about this novel. The writing was excellent and it was a unique story but in the end I felt “meh”. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Click this link to purchase! The Hazel Wood: A Novel
Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved
The Reading Chick 
Oh I’m sorry to hear you felt a bit meh about this one – I have to admit that, just like you, I enjoyed the start of this book a bit more than the ending, I’m not sure why? I think I really loved the atmosphere that was set at first, all of the intrigue, but in the end, I wasn’t really convinced or didn’t have too much time to be convinced of the fantasy world we got. Still, it was a promising story 🙂
Lovely review 🙂 x
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Maybe thats why I liked the beginning better. There was more tension, but then when she got to Hazel Wood I didn’t like where the author took the characters. The ending was pretty dark and less hopeful? I don’t know… meh! Lol. Thanks for commenting!
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I also felt a bit meh about this one! I was pretty gutted about it, since I got the ARC on Netgalley and was super excited to read it, but it just didn’t feel like it worked for me. I’m so glad I’m not alone in that feeling.
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I’m glad I wasn’t alone too! I didn’t hate it but that ending! Ohh, it was so unsatisfactory!
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Great review! ❤ I’m sad to hear you didn’t like it much, I want to read it soon. I’ll try to keep my expectations low because I’ve heard many mixed things about it.
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I actually did like it. I thought it was a really interesting premise. I just didn’t like the last 1/3 of the book. It was disappointing after how it’s strong start. Still, that’s just my opinion. You may love it!
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