4 ⭐ CW: underage drinking, drunk driving, animal death/animal sacrifices, death of a parent, self harm 

I won an arc of Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert from Flatiron Books. Thank you for gifting me a copy! This new book from Albert is just as creepy and atmospheric as This Hazel Wood, but a bit more grounded in reality despite the presence of magic. Albert is excellent at weaving fairytale magic into a contemporary setting. 

We follow two timelines and POVs: the Suburbs now with Ivy, and the city then with Ivy's mom Dana. Weird things start happening to Ivy and she knows it's all related to her mother somehow, who is acting weird as well. In Dana's pov we see her back story and what led up to current events: secrets, lies, super-bad choices, and witchcraft. 

This was a fast paced read that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Like Albert's other books, this one is creepy AF and has a complicated mother-daughter relationship. We also get a lesbian secondary character, Ivy's Aunt Fee. I felt like I never knew what to expect, which is a big upgrade from The Hazel Wood. I love that it ended in an ambiguous not-quite-happy-ending kind of way. 

This story is really a reflection of a mother's shame of her poor choices when she was young and the shame of hiding things from her own daughter. It's also a warning to not underestimate your children when they are the ones more capable of protecting you. It was a mad dash to the end with just a hint of sweetness to lighten the load. If you like creepy, witchy things in a thriller-like environment, this book is for you.