Search

Search only in certain items:

Hag: : Forgotten Folktales Retold
Hag: : Forgotten Folktales Retold
Kirsty Logan, Daisy Johnson, Emma Glass | 2020 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’m a huge fan of fairytales, so I was all over this collection of updated versions of local tales. I hadn’t heard of most of them, and I’d be hard-pressed to choose a favourite (but I do like the mermaids and selkies!).

What I especially liked about this collection, is that at the back of the book are all the original stories. So I could read the original before the updated version. It was so interesting to see how the authors updated them.

There are some phenomenal authors here. I’ve already read other books by Daisy Johnson, Naomi Booth and Kirsty Logan, have some of the others on my TBR, and now I can add some others to that list. This is one of the best things about reading anthologies: new to me authors!

So yes, I’d recommend this!
  
40x40

Christina Haynes (148 KP) rated The Hazel Wood in Books

Feb 24, 2018 (Updated Feb 24, 2018)  
The Hazel Wood
The Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert | 2017 | Mystery, Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.4 (33 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Hazel Wood
The Hazel Wood
By Melissa Albert
Review: Christina Haynes

Have you ever wanted to go into the world of fairytales. To see their stories unfold, to learn more about them and not just through the pages of a book?

Alice used to want to know more about them. When your Grandmother is the famous author of the ‘Hinterland’. A world where Fairytales are dark like the story of ‘Alice three times’ of course you would want to know more. Especially when you haven’t met the woman and your mother never talks about her.

But when you do finally enter the Hinderland you see that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Alice and her mother Ella have been on the run all of Alice’s life. Ella grew up on fairytales and Alice grew up on highways. They have both been running from this bad luck that always seems to follow them wherever they go. Which Ella believes comes from her mother, Althea.

Althea Properpine was traveling with a man and when their affair ended she vanished. Alike with Agatha Christie, she returned and no one knew where she had been. Unlike Agatha she remembered – she was in the Hinterland. A place where her stories began.

Althea’s books cannot be found anywhere, she has a huge fan base who never reveal the pages of her book. Everything about her is a mystery, even her home, The Hazel Wood.

Her only known interview was with Vanity Fair and even then no one could say where she lived. Her first husband Ella’s father died when she was young, she then married Greek royalty and then vanished to her home at The Hazel Wood. At eighteen Ella left home with her baby Alice and never stopped running.

One day Ella receives a letter in the post informing her of Althea’s death. To which Ella believes is a miracle, because now her bad luck won’t exist. So she marries and settles down, creates a home they both longed for. Until one day, the bad luck finds them and Ella is taken away, by the Hinterland. Ella leaves Alice a message “STAY AWAY FROM THE HAZEL WOOD” This is the start of the Fairytale that Alice joins.

Alice seeks the help of a boy at school, Ellery Finch who is a super fan of Althea and her stories. Together they travel to where The Hazel Wood is. But is Ellery a friend or just a super fan.
“Look until the leaves turn red, sew the worlds up with thread. If your journey’s left undone, fear the rising of the sun.”

4 ☕ – I REALLY LIKED IT

Love, Christina ?
  
Prue and Ophelia take on jobs as maids to the Coops, Americans who are traveling to their castle in Germany’s black forest. Almost as soon as they’ve arrived, a cottage is discovered on the property that looks like a dwarf cottage, and fairytale experts are brought in. The next day, Mr. Coop is poisoned with an apple. What have Prue and Ophelia gotten themselves into?

I love fairytales and fairytale reimaginings, so I had to give this cozy mystery series a try. It was so much fun. The story was fast paced, and the fairytale aspect provided a nice twist to the cozy formula. The characters were sharp as well, and the author made perfect use of a multiple viewpoint story. Can’t wait for the sequel.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-snow-white-red-handed-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
The Hazel Wood
The Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert | 2017 | Mystery, Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
7.4 (33 Ratings)
Book Rating
Deliciously dark take on fairytales! Creepier than I expected, I almost didn't want to read it after dark lol. And that cover is gorgeous!

I'm a huge fan of anything related to the fair folk so this was right up my alley. As soon as I started reading it I didn't want to put it down, the writing immediately grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. The plot was one of the most unique I've read among the fairytale genre. I adored the Tales of the Hinterland referenced throughout, they were so interesting that I'd love to see them published as a companion to The Hazel Wood.

Fans of books like Holly Black's The Cruel Prince or anyone who likes their fantasy on the darker side will love The Hazel Wood!

**Thanks to Flatiron Books for sending me an advanced review copy! All opinions are my own.**