The Shrike & The Shadows by Chantal Gadoury and A.M Wright - Bookin' It With Jen

First things first - that cover. Holy crow! It's gorgeous.

A more grown up telling of the story of Hansel and Gretel, with a dash of Red Riding Hood mixed in. 

I really enjoyed the more adult theme of the book, the Shrike is much scarier with a tree of death than a witch with a house of candy! I also appreciated how evil she truly is for no real rhyme or reason, just because she can and she wants to. On the flipside of that I wish that there had been a better explanation as to where the evil itself came from, as we learn more about her history its obvious that she wasn't always evil, she was overtaken by something in the woods that we never really get an explanation of. The ending was also very unsatisfactory to me, it was much too abrupt. Perhaps there is sequel planned? I liked this book but it didn't enthrall me the way I expected it to, probably because of the aforementioned gaps in backstory and world building.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with an advanced copy for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.