The Hazel Wood by Melisa Albert
368 pages
Originally published in 2018 by Flatiron Books
5/5
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 . . .
I loved this book. This book was like taking a breath of fresh air. It is so different from any other book that I've ever read and I love it for that reason. This is a fantasy novel about a woman that wrote a fantasy novel similar to what the Brothers Grimm wrote or Hans Christian Andersen.
Alice Prosperine, or Alice Crewe, is the granddaughter of Althea Prosperine, the author of one of the most sought after fairy tale collections: Tales of Hinterland. Alice grew up never meeting her grandmother and her mother absolutely refused to let her read any of the tales from the book. This book is highly praised but very hard to find. We get a glimpse into Alice's life before, when her mother and her moved around from place to place never really finding a place of their own. Everywhere they went, they seemed to followed by 'bad luck'. Things like rooms being set on fire, their basement being flooded when it wasn't even raining and someone breaking into the place they were staying but never stealing anything. Flash forward and Alices mother Ella has married a man that Alice despises.
So basically everything is as normal as can be until Alice's mother is suddenly taken away from her and the only message Alice receives, through her stepsister, is to stay away from the Hazel Wood. The Hazel Wood is where her grandmother resides, resided as they had received a message informing them that she had died. Alice makes a friend in Ellery Finch who just so happens to be a huge fan of her grandmothers and he offers to help her find her mother.
In summary, weird things start to happen to them like seeing a fairy tale in the middle of the sidewalk, their car spontaneously fills with water at a motel and then they run into two fairy tales where they try to make Alice kill herself but she refuses so they kill Finch.
I don't want to spoil too much but I will say that I kind of guessed one of the major plot points about a third of the way into the book. There is a tale in the book called 'Alice Three-Times' and it kind of just gives you an idea of who one of the main characters really is.
I loved the characters in this book and while I usually hate the romantic plots in books, I was kind of disappointed that Ellery and Alice didn't end up together. I know he wanted a real adventure and crossing over into Hinterland was a huge turning point for him but it kind of disappointed me.
But I really did love this book and I blazed through it in no time. I would really love to read the fairy tales that are a part of the book though, I've heard she will actually be writing the Tales in Hinterland so I am definitely looking forward to that. Anyway I would definitely recommend this book and it's probably one of my favorites so far this year!