After the Forest by Kell Woods
I picked up Kell Woodsâs first novel, After the Forest, which turned out to be just as delightful as her second, Upon a Starlit Tide.
After the Forest is a dark and enchanting fantasy debut from Kell Woods that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of âhappily ever after.â
Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.
Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.
Greta has a secret, though: the witch's grimoire, hidden away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.
But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.
And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magicâmagic she is still trying to understandâmay be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.
I completely devoured this book, finishing it in only a couple of days. Iâm a gamer as well, and I can always tell Iâm really enjoying a book when Iâd rather keep reading than pick up a game. That was the case here. Hansel and Gretel has never been one of my favorite faery tales, but I enjoyed this story immensely, and loved the interweaving with another faery tale, Snow White and Rose Red. Some things were predictable/obvious to me, but that didnât stop my enjoyment of the story.
I will say that thereâs an error in the book description (though not in the story itself): the book takes place fifteen years after the incident with the witch and the gingerbread house, not twenty.
After finishing this book, I read âBefore the Forest,â a connected short story that can be read quickly. Fair warning that it has some pretty dark themes.
Would re-read?: Absolutely
My Affiliate Link for After the Forest: Bookshop.org
My Affiliate Link for Before the Forest: Bookshop.org
A final note: Thereâs one scene in the book where a song is mentioned and a bit of the lyrics is provided. This is a real, lovely folk song called âMy Love is Like a Red, Red Rose.â I recommend listening to Josienne Clarkeâs and Ben Walkerâs version when you get to that part.