Our Crooked Hearts

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A GLITTER-EDGED RAZOR OF A BOOK, SHARP AND KEEN. The magic here is real and visceral, with powerful consequences. I fell into this book like Alice falling into Wonderland, and I didn't want to leave. Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians Every line reads like an incantation, and the result is a book pulsing with magic, one that holds the reader firmly under its spell." - V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world. GENRE and PLOT DETAILS are mandatory in the header/ topic title. Do NOT create vague topic headers like "Romance" or "YA Fantasy" or "Looking for this book." Threads with vague headers will be CLOSED.

i think... this book was just not for me. i loved the cover. loved the premise. witchcraft spookiness. hell yeah! and honestly, the story line was good enough. it was almost there. RUTHLESSLY ENTICING, Our Crooked Hearts is a story about fierce magic and even fiercer young women. It caught me in its web and held on tight. This book pulses with a bewitching darkness, and I loved it. Kat Ellis, author of Harrow Lake Though her previous efforts have been more explicitly fantasy focused—Albert’s The Hazel Wood duology is a delicately layered dark fairytale in which characters from a storybook realm known as the Hinterland are not only alive but capable of crossing into our real world— Our Crooked Hearts is a more contemporary sort of tale, told across two interconnected timelines that are bound by both love and the supernatural. (As well as no small amount of female rage.) Nevertheless, they return to the car and her boyfriend drives her home, where she proceeds to break up with him. Not the best start to summer break.Secrets. Lies. Super-bad choices. Witchcraft. This is Our Crooked Hearts, a darkly gripping contemporary fantasy from Melissa Albert, the New York Timesbestselling author of The Hazel Wood

Es cierto que tiene cosas obvias y predecibles, que los personajes tienen cosas para poner los ojos en blanco y que esperaba un poco más de la historia, pero me ha dejado buen sabor de boca, me ha dado una inquietante historia de brujas perfecta para esta época y me ha tenido pegada a sus páginas porque estaba deseando conocer la verdad. There is a dark and ominous feel to this book. I couldn't stop reading, every part of the story was so intriguing. My favorite character was Billy. I loved his cheery acceptance of Ivy's magic in his youth and later his hope tinged with sadness. Like a puzzle box that somehow contains a more interesting version of The Craft. . . . It all boils down to the roiling cauldron of mother/daughter issues at the core of this story, and the twisting mystery of it all is very satisfying to unravel. All that plus teen witches—what more could you ask for?” — NPR.org (Best New Book of Summer) I lingered on the curb. My lip was throbbing, my body pounding with exhaustion, but it was laced with the featherlight euphoria of being free. My eye went to the darkened second-story windows. One of them lit up a minute later and I looked away, regret and bottom-shelf vodka muddling queasily in my stomach. Time to get in bed, I figured. Before my night found one more way to go to shit.

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Overall, this was an absolutely incredible read that I highly recommend to dark urban fantasy lovers and fans of witchy books.

There was a Taco Bell cup in the center console with an inch of meltwater in it. I swished it over my teeth and swung my legs out of the car, spitting blood onto the grass. My lip felt tender in the loamy air. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. Albert’s fast-paced storytelling is both thrilling and accessible. . . . Teens who enjoy drama, secrets, romance, and mysteries with a twist of magic will love this one.” — SLJ (starred review) A mother can be a paring knife, a chisel. She can shape and destroy. I never really thought I would become one. Half of the book is also set in Chicago in (approximately) the 90’s and features teenage witches. The teenage witches in the 90’s piece gave me hardcore nostalgia for The Craft.i’d like to thank netgalley, flatiron books, and melissa albert for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! this book follows ivy and her mother dana as ivy begins to learn more about her mother’s past. albert truly wrote the perfect witchy book full of twists and turns that kept me intrigued the entire time. it's haunting, sinister, and gruesome - i absolutely loved it. None of the parents in this book can be described as good parents, but they also aren’t bad people. They are imperfect and passing down what is likely generational trauma. Our Crooked Hearts does a wonderful job exploring a gray area that reflects real life. Some parents, not out of malice, don’t know how to be parents which is still harmful to the child. That’s a hard space to navigate. i fully expected this to be one of those typical YA-allegories about girls fed up with being vulnerable in the world and taking empowerment into their own witchy hands; girlbonding and messing with magic as an outlet for the rage and dissatisfaction that permeates adolescent girlhood. and there is some of that: Ivy's mom has kept secrets for years. When strange things start to happen, the strained peace between Ivy and her mom snaps. As the truth begins to immerge, she knows nothing will stay the same. I am obsessed with Melissa Albert’s expertly crafted, layered and bewitchingly complex world and her prose is second to none. I absolutely loved the dual POVs which explore both Ivy’s life, both in the present and her memories of her childhood as well as her mothers’ teenage years and her actions and choices which lead to the events that take place in the present.

Haunting and beautiful, full of messy girls drunk on messier magic and told with electric prose brimming with sharp metaphors.” — The Bulletin (starred review, Blue Ribbon title) Secrets. Lies. Bad choices. Dangerous magic. . . . From NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Melissa Albert comes OUR CROOKED HEARTS, a contemporary fantasy "so precise and enthralling that the only explanation is that Albert herself is a witch" ( Booklist, starred review)

Melissa Albert

year-old Ivy is heading home from a party with her boyfriend Nate in the middle of the night when a strange woman appears nude, on the road. What follows is a summer that will change life as she knows it forever. Even though I didn't agree with quite a few of Dana's choices as a mother, I could definitely sympathize with her. I feel like Albert built her character out enough that it was easy to understand her motivations.