2*, 328 pg, Published Feb 2015
Fantasy, Young adult, LGBT
# teenagers, fae, slow-burn
The Darkest Part of the Forest begun with an exciting story about two brothers, a boy, and a girl, who live in a strange little town with magical creatures and a glass coffin in the woods. The residents use lotions or fragrances to keep away the Fae populations because it is known that the faeries have their own set of rules and it is better to never meet one. They wear their socks inside out and they put oats in their pockets, not to be tricked by the mystic creatures.
They have a lot of tourists every year because strange things happen there and all the tourists want to see the horned sleeping boy, who never woke up from his glass coffin. They tried to wake him or to break the coffin but it did not work; also, whoever tried to intervene, suffered a dreadful fate: broken legs, bad luck, or even death.
When Ben and Hazel were little, they were both dreaming about waking the horned boy; they both thought that he is a prince and they will be his knights. Hazel would clean the stained glass and Ben would speak with the boy as if he was has his friend. As they grew, they understood that it is probably that the prince would never wake up.
The storyline alternates between the present and the past, describing irrelevant facts or events and the writing was not good. At 25 % I thought that the pacing it's slow but because I wanted so much to like this book, I kept reading. I read almost 60 % and after I skip-read because I was so bored, that I thought that I'm gonna fall asleep and never wake up, like the boy in the story.
The characters were awful. Hazel is a 16 years old girl, who kisses boys because.. why not? She has a crush on Jack, a changeling, but because he loves another, she just makes out with other boys.. a lot of boys, even if she doesn't like them (why would someone write such a thing?). Actually, I think that Hazel is a little obsessed with Jack because she kept his chewed gum after taking it from him when she was 10 years old, and chewed it herself (tasted like watermelon she said). One night, at the party in the forest, Hazel kisses Jack but soon realizes that she could have jeopardized their friendship relationship because Jack is her brother's best friend.
Ben is 17 years old and wants to be loved. He has a relationship with a guy from his school when he was 13, but that didn't work out so now dreams about the sleeping boy and dates boys who met online. (yeah, very encouraging for young boys and girls).
After more chapters of remembering irrelevant things, at almost 20 % of the book, the horned boy disappears from the coffin and the all town is wandering there he is. Also, Hazel wakes up that same night with pieces of glass in her skin, and with muddy clothes and feet - she suspects that she helped the boy escape-. Because Jack is Fae, he gives Hazel a warning not to try to find or help the Prince, but she disregards the warning and she does what she pleases, and finds herself in a big mess.
In the end, we find out why he was sleeping, who put him there, and also we find out more irrelevant facts about Hazel's parents, their house, their pets, Jack's parents, Jack's Fae mother, and so on...
I did not like the pacing of the book, the first part was boring and slow, but everything went crazy in the last quarter or so, of the book. This could have been an amazing story for young teenagers, if not all the kissing and nibbling, and partying. I would say that this book is not proper for children and also, it is not interesting enough for the adult, so this is why I don't think it deserves more than 2 *
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