 Hello my darling extraterrestrials, I really like starting my videos like that, it kind of came about after the first few videos but I mean it's totally a dual purpose nickname like first of all I like to think that I'm putting these out into the inner, the innerverse, the INTERVERSE, the internet but also the universe and the universe via the internet I guess and so like it's it's there for any and all to see but also like everybody knows that readers are dreamers and like are there for not of this earth, head in the clouds and also it's totally gender neutral so like anybody can be an alien. This has been a tangent by Kim. Okay we're focused, today I am talking about the Hazelwood by Melissa Albert. I made a mistake when I started this book, my roommates had gone to bed and I had not and it was 11 and I started reading this book and I found a nice pausing spot around page 245. This is not good for my sleep cycle guys but seriously this book is a page turner. Alice grew up on the road, her and her mother Ella crisscrossing the country crashing with friends, staying in motels, in trailer parks, in abandoned warehouses but somehow the bad luck keeps finding them. Stay too long in one place, you start to get comfortable, you start to feel safe and then things start to go wrong. Alice's grandmother is a reclusive author with a cult following for the single volume of sinister fairy tales she published in the late 70s. Alice has never met her grandmother and when she passes away the bad luck turns rancid. Ella is kidnapped, Alice is being stalked and it all has something to do with her grandmother's book. Alice and her classmate Ellery Finch who is also a member of said cult following follow the breadcrumbs to try and find Ella but what they find is much worse. This is a skin crawling eyes in the dark is your standing lamp really a man in a trench coat creepy ass fairy tale and you will love every minute of it. One thing I really like about this book is that there's absolutely no romantic plot line like exactly once Alice worries that Finch has a crush on her and that's a lot about it. Now I noticed that Alice describes girls very differently than she describes boys with girls it's an analysis of how they see the world and how they react to things and with boys it's like why are you trying to be my friend I've literally done everything in my considerable power to make you leave me alone so I'm feeling some LGBT vibes from the Alice corner genre wise this book feels like magical realism embedded into a psychological thriller but what I really appreciate is that at no point during this crucible that is this book for Alice does she ever really question her sanity she's been through enough to know don't get in that mysterious cab don't do it. She doubts a lot of other things but she never starts to gaslight herself into believing that none of it is real she's seen some stuff you could attribute that to the fact that the bad luck has been chasing her and her mom her whole life but her gut instinct is more reliable to her than the opinions of random strangers it doesn't matter if they think it's real she knows. Also Alice is wicked she has a serious anger management issue and I love that. Apparently I'm on an angry female protag kick because I just read Cruel Beauty and Nix is very angry also I know that this is already on everyone's TBR because it's on the New York Times bestseller list but nonetheless if you are into deeply creepy fairy tales about making your life your own by any means necessary check out the Hazelwood by Melissa Albert. Now be honest have you already read this one what is your favorite creepy fairy tale? Why can't penguins fly? Come chat with me in comments.