Review: The Hazle Wood

The Hazel Wood
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Alice has spent most of her life on the road, always one step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at her heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her isolate estate - the Hazel Wood - Alice discovers how bad her luck can really get.

Her own mother is stolen away - by a figure who claims to come from the supernatural world where the fairy tales are set. Alice's only clue is the message left behind:

STAY AWAY FROM
THE HAZEL WOOD.

To rescue her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began...  

I picked up an ARC of this at YALC and recently got a finished copy in Fairy Loot and so I finally got around to picking it up and I thought I'd do a quick review for it! I've seen a lot of people loving this book and raving about it but I'm honestly kind of on the fence about it. 

On the plus side, this book was so very creepy, and there where plenty of plot twists throughout the book. I also really loved the way the stories where woven throughout the main plot. I really liked Finch too, but he wasn't enough to make up for my issues with the book. 

Aside from the time I spent confused and feeling kind of dumb, to be honest, I really didn't get on with the MC Alice. I just didn't like her. I thought she was kind of a cow to be honest, and I really didn't care what was happening to her. I get why she was like that because it's explained at the end of the book, but she was really very horrible, particularly to Finch who was going out of his way to help her. I can't really blame him for what he did to be honest. 

I also found the book to be quite slow and I pretty much forced myself to get through it because everyone had been raving about it and I felt dumb for not loving the book yet, and it made me feel like I didn't get it. However, once I'd finished the book....I still didn't really love the book. The plot just never fully drew me in, and while the writing was flowery, it was also kind of....pretentious. I didn't actually think this was a YA book at first to be honest. Overall it left me feeling underwhelmed and slightly stupid.