Published: June 28, 2022
Author: Melissa Albert
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Horror, Witches, Mystery, Paranormal, Fiction, Magic, Thriller
Audience (Grade Levels): Grades 9–12
Number of Stars: 5-Stars
Goodreads Link: Our Crooked Hearts
Triggers: Death, harm to animals (depictions of animal sacrifice and dead rabbits as warnings), witchcraft, drug use references
Review By: Sara Kahrs
Publisher’s Summary:
Secrets. Lies. Bad choices. Dangerous magic. . . . This is Our Crooked Hearts, a contemporary fantasy “so precise and enthralling that the only explanation is that Albert herself is a witch” (Booklist, starred review)
On the way home from a party, seventeen-year-old Ivy and her soon-to-be ex nearly run over a nude young woman standing in the middle of a tree-lined road. It’s only the first in a string of increasingly eerie events and offerings: a dead rabbit in the driveway, a bizarre concoction buried by her mother in the backyard, a box of childhood keepsakes hidden in her parents’ closet safe. Most unsettling of all, corroded recollections of Ivy and her enigmatic mother’s past resurface, with the help of the boy next door.
What if there’s more to Ivy’s mother than meets the eye? And what if the supernatural forces she messed with during her own teen years have come back to haunt them both? Ivy must grapple with these questions and more if she’s going to escape the darkness closing in.
Straddling Ivy’s contemporary suburban town and her mother’s magic-drenched 1990s Chicago, this bewitching and propulsive story rockets towards a conclusion guaranteed to keep readers up all night.
Review:
I fell in love with Melissa Albert’s writing in her first novel The Hazel Wood and she continued to dazzle me in this novel. I honestly couldn’t put it down. Albert knows how to keep things mysterious and allow the reader to know enough to start drawing conclusions but not enough to be completely predictable. Her descriptive language allows you to imagine the world and her characters. Even though this is a fantasy world, Albert’s writing makes magic feel possible. The way she ties it to emotion and the way we sense the world around us, makes it natural and easy to understand. Both Ivy, and her mother, Dana are flawed humans but Albert writes them in such a way that you root for them even if you don’t completely like them. She immerses you in the story with her figurative language and poetic prose that flow and make reading enjoyable. This book is great for anyone who likes dark/creepy fantasy and books involving witchcraft.
As an addition for educators and librarians looking to add this to high school collections, Our Crooked Hearts is a stellar example of how to execute a dual-timeline mystery without losing momentum. The narrative splits beautifully between Ivy’s contemporary suburban struggles and her mother Dana’s raw, magic-drenched youth in 1990s Chicago. Albert’s ability to ground supernatural occurrences in intense teenage emotional realities—such as the desire for agency, the burden of family secrets, and the terror of losing control—makes the magical system feel chillingly authentic. The gothic atmosphere is palpable, and the eerie clues left in Ivy’s path provide excellent suspense that will keep reluctant readers hooked. While the book contains dark themes and animal harm warnings that require consideration for younger YA readers, its exploration of mother-daughter dynamics, generational trauma, and the consequences of our choices makes it a deeply valuable and unforgettable read for older teens.
Classroom & Curricular Connections:
- English Language Arts (Dual Timeline & Parallel Narratives): This novel is an excellent study in narrative structure. Educators can use it to teach students how dual timelines intersect, examining how Dana’s past decisions in the 1990s directly mirror and shape Ivy’s contemporary experiences, building narrative tension across generations.
- Creative Writing (Atmospheric World-Building & Sensory Language): Albert’s highly poetic and sensory-rich prose can serve as a mentor text. Teachers can guide students to analyze how she uses figurative language to tie supernatural magic to raw human emotions, challenging students to write their own descriptive scenes using emotion to fuel setting details.
Readalikes
- The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
- The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert
- House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
- The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
