First of all, thank you to NetGalley, Xpresso Book Tours, and The Parliament House for the e-arc to review!

Hans and Greta are two outcast orphans living in Krume, a village on the outskirts of a haunted wood plagued by a witch. The witch is known as the Shrike, and she terrorizes the villagers by taking the men and leaving their hearts as a bloody token of her visit. When Hans and Greta are soon met with accusations of being witches themselves and are forced to enter the wood the Shrike calls home...

First things first, I absolutely love the premise and the idea behind this story. It is a dark and twisted Hansel and Gretel retelling that definitely gives the creeps. The setting is well done, evoking foreboding and dread. The writing had flashes of brilliance, however, between those flashes I felt the writing lacked a bit, becoming mundane and too simple.

I had such high expectations for this book, so ultimately I was left a bit disappointed and there are two main reasons why.

First is that I actually had a lot of trouble connecting with both Hans and Greta. I found Hans to be rather unlikeable. There were mentions of how he wasn't acting how he normally was but since I felt I never got to see the supposed 'real' Hans, I didn't feel affected by anything he was going through. With Greta, she was far too naive for me and seemed to be crying all of the time? Granted, she was going through a lot but I found myself being annoyed with her rather than sympathizing.

Secondly, the story felt so slow. I felt like there was no clear goal with the plot and that I was just a passenger on some wayward vehicle with no set direction. This wouldn't have bothered me as much if the characters were more well-written and likable, then the more emotional part of the journey with the two characters would have been more captivating and able to carry the story better.

Overall, it wasn't bad. There were parts I really liked, the overall intent behind the story, the setting, the twist at the end, and of course there was Barin. But some inconsistent writing and lack of plot points as well as two protagonists I wasn't completely sold by have let this story down a bit.

If you like dark, spooky tales that are definitely more mature in theme, I would recommend you give it a read and see what you think!