Two anxious young lovers lost in the woods. A beckoning mansion in a dark clearing. A short modern-day retelling of Hansel and Gretel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin.

It’s bad enough that Hazel and Gray have defied the demands of Hazel’s foul stepfather. The Monster has forbidden their romance. Now they’ve awakened in the forest, phones dead, hours past curfew. But not far away is a grand estate in the middle of nowhere. The door is open. In this short story about choosing your own path, the fury of the Monster that awaits them back home may be nothing compared to what lies ahead.

This one was definitely not what I was expecting when I thought of a Hansel and Gretel retelling. While I did like the twists in the story and the darker elements, I found it to be very predictable and had guessed who the ‘bad guy’ was going to be, and the connections between characters. I was not expecting what the house they found would be and didn’t realize just how far it would go with that, so I’m not sure how I feel about that. That being said the story did fly by and I found Nic Stone’s writing style compelling and easy to read.

Happy reading!