The Darkest Part of the Forest

Why is Holly Black so awesome? I love her books so much for so many different reasons. Her characters are my favorite characters in any books. I want them to be real, I want them to be my friends. Coldest Girl in Coldtown and Darkest Part of the Forest are currently just standalone novels. Paranormal standalone novels are so hard to find, usually it's mostly contemporary novels. Holly Black’s standalone novels are so amazing that I don’t want them to be standalone novels - I want there to be a very long series of them. They literally blow my mind.

This book is about a town called Fairfold which is bordered by a forest full of fairies. Tourists come to Fairfold to see a horned prince who lies in a glass coffin in the middle of the woods. This prince has been in this coffin in the woods for decades and won't wake for anything.

"He didn't so much as stir when Ben's best friend, Jack Gordon wrote IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS in Sharpie along one side - or when Lloyd Lindblad took a sledgehammer and actually tried." 

Hazel and Ben are the main characters. They are brother and sister and played in the woods hunting Fairies when they were little, pretending to be knights. They both would talk to the horned prince through the coffin, and they both had a crush on him. When Ben was a baby, he received a gift from the fairies in return for his mother painting them a beautiful painting. One day when they were fighting fairies, Hazel got hurt because Ben's gift wasn't strong enough. So, Ben insisted on taking a break until he could get better at his gift. But Hazel didn't want to stop - so she bargained away years of her life with the fairies so he can get better at his gift. Now, Hazel is a heartbreaker and Ben is gay but they both don't fight fairies anymore. 

All of a sudden weird things start happening. Hazel starts receiving cryptic messages, people in the town start getting hurt, and the horned prince's coffin is smashed and he is no longer there. 

"It wasn't like he was real. It wasn't like he could love them back. It wasn't like he'd ever have to choose. Except now he'd woken. That changed everything." 

If you loved Coldest Girl in Coldtown, you will love this too! I feel like the book is so dark and well written that it borders on adult. It isn't your typical YA novel - it is sophisticated and it really makes you think. It's a really fun fairytale that is told in modern-day with aspects of older fairytales scattered in. The characters are amazing. Who do I love more Jack, Severin, Hazel, Ben, or Carter? I feel like I love them ALL - I want to marry them, I want them to marry each other, it doesn't even matter to me. The relationships are so amazing and I am convinced Holly Black had to sell her soul to be able to write like this.