The Hazel Wood - Melissa Albert

★★★★.5

Immersive story-telling, plot building, and gripping content.

The Hazel Wood is one of those books I would categorize as 'expect the unexpected.' I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories that consist of: fairytales, witchcraft, fantasy, horror, creepiness, stranger-things/house-of-hollow vibes, etc.

The Hazel Wood is about a young girl, Alice, who is constantly 'on the run' with her mother, Ella. It seems that bad luck follows them. They never remain at one place for too long before it, eventually, catches up to them. Ella's mother, Althea Proserpine, is the famous author of a fairytale book called, Tales from the Hinterland, released in the 70's. The book is so incredibly popular, but copies of it are far and few in between. One cannot find a copy of the book anywhere.

Throughout the book, major plot twists occur, and Alice is left to fend for herself. In search of the person she loves the most, and longing to find who she is and why strange things are occurring to her and around her, Alice stumbles onto and INTO something she never thought a reality. Where, inevitably, she learns just what, why, and how her life has turned out the way it is.

Overall, this book had me hooked from the very first chapter. It's a definite page-turner and I gasped so many times in between. It took me a couple of days to finish because I wanted to drag the reading experience as much as possible. I am excited to read the sequel to this book and I hope it's just as good, if not better, than The Hazel Wood.