Our Crooked Hearts

Reviews

Micky - bookphenomena

These two characters were not close and reading these stories in tandem worked so well. While this may sound ambitious to some, it actually teased the story along at a steady pace, increasing the tension with every page.

M Murphy

Figuratively looking over your shoulder was on the menu with characters that were very investable in, good and bad. Melissa has treated readers to her own skilled magic within the pages of this story, divulged in more than one voice and across more than one time line. Thank you to Penguin for the early review copy.

I am a horror wuss so many would probably not find this scary. Genre-wise, this is YA with a sense of thriller, fantasy and mild horror (in terms of atmosphere) and one scene that got me a bit freaked. Our Crooked Hearts has the deliciously creepy and dark atmosphere I associate with Melissa Albert’s writing voice.

The story was told between chapters of Ivy a teen, a witness to sinister goings on and then chapters from her mum's teen years discovering magical crafts. I was not disappointed. It is both steeped in the eager joy of shared secrets by the innocent and warped by powerful greed. I had lots of theories along the way.

As a reader, adding up the clues and working the whole picture out, was the mission. This novel brought to life a world of magic, tantalising and full of wonder, as well as cruel and rife with devastating costs. For Ivy it was about following breadcrumbs, remembering the past and fighting for family.

Years after it began, Ivy and Dana's shared story will come down to a reckoning between a mother, a daughter and the dark forces they never should have messed with. As unnatural offerings appear on her doorstep, she's haunted by fragmented memories from her childhood, suggesting there's more to her mother, Dana, than meets the eye. Headlines:Hella creepyDifficult familial relationshipsMagic bubblingThis book had a pretty spine-chilling start and that atmosphere pervaded throughout the book. Too late she realizes that the powers she's playing with are also playing with her.

”Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House Children’s UK, and Netgalley for granting me a free copy of this novel in exchange for my impartial review. I struggle to put the entire premise of this book into a short blurb, while still doing it justice, so I share the publisher’s:“Ivy's summer kicks off with a series of disturbing events. Dana's tale starts the year she turns sixteen, when she embarks on a major fling with the supernatural.