My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: Our Crooked Hearts
Author: Melissa Albert
Format: ebook (borrowed)
Pages: 339
Publication Date: 6/28/22
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Categories: Young Adult, Witchcraft, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Contemporary, YA Thriller
THE SUBURBS, RIGHT NOW . . .
Seventeen-year-old Ivy’s summer break kicks off with an accident, a punishment, and a mystery: a stranger whose appearance in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night, heralds a string of increasingly unsettling events. As the days pass, Ivy grapples with eerie offerings, corroded memories, and a secret she’s always known—that there’s more to her mother than meets the eye.
THE CITY, BACK THEN . . .
Dana has always been perceptive. And the summer she turns sixteen, with the help of her best friend and an ambitious older girl, her gifts bloom into a heady fling with the supernatural, set in a city of magical possibilities and secret mystics. As the trio’s aspirations darken, they find themselves speeding toward a violent breaking point.
Years after it began, Ivy and Dana’s shared story will come down to a reckoning among a daughter, a mother, and the dark forces they never should’ve messed with.
Content Warning: violence, blood, animal death
I went into this one expecting nothing and thoroughly enjoyed it! I’ve read Melissa Albert’s Hazel Wood series and honestly thought her books were not for me. I was curious about this one because it was about witchcraft and with the way she writes, I thought maybe…just maybe, this would be better than The Hazel Wood. Here’s what I thought did and didn’t work for me:
+ The witchcraft is dark and sinister, just how I like it. At first we follow Ivy, who’s a teenager who comes upon a strange girl in the woods. After that the story sucks you into the mystery of the girl, and Ivy’s mom’s secretive past. It’s one of those stories where I don’t know where it leads but it takes you on a twisty, dark journey until all the secrets are revealed. One of the best things about this story is how it unfolds.
+ The story is told between Dana’s past and Ivy’s present and I think it was well done and I was interested in both timelines. It merges together in the climax of the story. The writing is lyrical and dark, and I especially liked when we are in Dana’s past which is set in the 1990’s. I could visually see it all (since I grew up in that time).
+ There are some choices that Dana makes that affects Ivy and it’s something as mother and daughter that puts a wedge between them. Even now as I think about it all, I wonder if Dana could have done something else different to keep her daughter safe from her past.
+ There is a tiny bit of romance, but it’s not a main focus of the book.
~ The beginning may seem a little slow because it’s building the story of the past and it is also part mystery on Ivy’s part.
~ The book is atmospheric but if you aren’t into lyrical prose, this might not be your thing. I’m on the fence with her writing but I feel like for this type of book – where it’s creepy, mysterious and edgy too – it works. Witchcraft and Melissa Albert goes well together! It gave me flashbacks of the movie The Craft – especially when Dana is telling her story because her story is set the 90’s.
Tropes: family secrets, best friends for life
Why you should read it:
- there is witchcraft and I love how twisty this story is
- Dana and Ivy’s mother daughter relationship is strained – but you have to find out why
- atmospheric, creepy, thrilling and so dark
Why you might not want to read it:
- a little slow to get into only because it is a mystery but it picks up once the pieces fall into place
- lyrical prose
My Thoughts:
I didn’t know what to expect with this one but I enjoyed it a lot! I was craving a good, spooky witchy book and this had all those elements and more. I was really invested in how Dana and Ivy’s story intertwined and how the consequences of Dana’s past would surface. If you like dark, witchy books with a few twists, you might enjoy this one! I hope the author writes more books like this one!
📚 ~ Yolanda
Other books I’ve reviewed from this Author:
The Hazel Wood by. Melissa Albert – 3.5 STARS
The Night Country (The Hazel Wood, #2) by. Melissa Albert – 2.5 STARS
Quotes From the Book:
He’d had all these ideas about who I was—that’s one of the perils of being quiet, people invent personalities for you—”
~Melissa Albert, Our Crooked Hearts
A mother can be a paring knife, a chisel. She can shape and destroy. I never really thought I would become one.”
~Melissa Albert, Our Crooked Hearts
magic was a thing with teeth, and a history as old as the world.”
~Melissa Albert, Our Crooked Hearts
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 
2 thoughts on “Our Crooked Hearts by. Melissa Albert | Book Review”