Witches, curses, monsters, and magic come together in this story about three people who’s lives are intertwined. Aziza El-Amin is the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts and she makes it her duty to protect the world from the magical creatures. She’s bargained with wood nymphs, rescued tiny fairies from cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from parks... but when a dark entity awakens in the forest slowly destroying the boundary between the the human world and the fairyland...things are about to get out of hand. Then she meets Leo Merritt, a boy who was cursed to forget his true love on his sixteenth birthday. Leo is determined to beat his family curse and get back his memories of his true love, but he’s hit one dead end after another. He feels a giant hole in his life and feels haunted by just the thought of his true love. He’s desperate for answers and thinks that only Aziza can help him. In exchange for her help he will provide backup for her nightly patrols. But during one of their patrols, a creature in the woods begins to set its sights on them, and their only way to survive is with the help of the mysterious young necromancer named Tristan, who is hiding his own dark secrets. Tristan has made a mistake, he’s entered into a servant bond with the hag of the woods in exchange for one wish he’ll owe her 9 years of his life as a servant... unfortunately she’s made him do unspeakable things and he just wants to get out of it by now.... and the reason he entered into the bond in the first place? To break the curse of his beloved. Tristan, Aziza, and Leo must stop the hag of the woods, but there is a price to be paid and secrets will be revealed... there will be consequences and they will have to see if they can trust each other enough to survive. This is the first book in a trilogy and it definitely was a good start. The story is perfect for fans of The Hazel Wood and The Darkest Part of the Forest, I am excited to what happens to the characters in the next books and definitely enjoyed this one!!

Spoiler

: Aziza kills the hag and in turn frees all the trapped spirits as well as entering into the new contract with Tris, Tris is actually Leo’s true love and entered into the contract to break it, but he only served one year and now he is bounded to Aziza for the next 9 years. They entered into a contract in which: she only has to make sure he doesnt get on a boat. Tris still has not told Leo that he is his true love. Leo found out his younger sister Hazel is actually a changeling and that his parents killed the fairy that took his real sister, and said fairy cursed their family before dying. Leo still doesn’t remember Tris but is warming up to him. Aziza and Tris don’t tell Leo that Tris is his true love as even mentioning the curse hurts Leo’s head. The story ends with Leo insisting that Tris comes to live with his family and him.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*