Joanna Ruth Meyer

The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain. When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren’s quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king who is trying to stop her.

Into the Heartless Wood

Ralie Sutton

One of my favorite romances, built in a fantastically unique world.

Charlie Winchester 

Shirain Tair

A deeply atmospheric and dark tale of twisted forests and kingdoms. What starts out as a love story thwarted by a malign star, grows into a tragic battle of lost souls and hearts. 

Story Eater

Beautiful, imaginative and emotional: Into the Heartless Wood takes your heart and soul, dances them through young love and sorrow and gives them back to you awe and wonderstruck. 

When I first read that this was supposed to be a gender-bent Beauty and the Beast, I had a different narrative in mind for where I thought the story should go. For me, it felt more like The Little Mermaid, with a girl who lives in a different world and falls in love with a boy from another. 

The characters were amazing, including the villains, and the world-building was so stellar that it perfectly matched them and gave them a world perfect enough to neither eclipse nor overemphasize. 

This book surprised me more, I feel, than any other book I picked up in 2020. I don’t even think I had any expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised and will most definitely be purchasing this book for my personal collection to match Echo North. And, of course, anything else Meyer writes in the future because she’s on auto-buy for me now.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, for which I give my own opinion.

Kion Oxley

Cute little read with spooky vibes. 

Seren deserves the world <3

Nickie Mohler

I really wanted to love this, but it was just ok. I was bored.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Into The Heartless Wood

Author: Joanna Ruth Meyer

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Recommended For...: fantasy lovers, retelling readers, ya readers

Publication Date: January 12, 2021

Genre: YA Retelling

Recommended Age: can’t recommend, DNFed

Publisher: Page Street Kids

Pages: 368

Synopsis: The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain.

When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren’s quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king who is trying to stop her.

Review: I DNFed at 16% in. While the story seemed pretty good, it was really confusing to read. The writing was kind of all over the place. The writing also feels so middle grade when it's adult and I feel like it's luring kids into reading stuff above what they might be comfortable doing. The character development and world building was also hit and miss.

Verdict: It was a weird book.

Kaeli Wolf 

Exquisite. The writing is amazing and the story is heart-wrenching.

K.J. Haakenson

I literally have no words. This book was totally unexpected and completely stunning. The world was dark and magical, the prose was unbelievable, and the ending UGH MY HEART <3 Do yourself a favor and read this book. (Also, I would love to give Owen and Seren a hug, thank you.)

Into the Heartless Wood

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