Hazel and her brother, Ben, live in Fairfold, where humans and the Folk exist side by side. It rests on the ground, and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Set in the same world as The Cruel Prince! Soon the teens are simultaneously trying to wake the mysterious boy and grapple with the dark forces plaguing their town, struggling to make sense of their lives.A girl makes a secret sacrifice to the faerie king in this lush New York Times bestselling fantasy by author Holly Black.

They all find themselves faced with the unexpected, from cryptic notes that appear in Hazel's locker to people turning up missing or spellbound, and one mystery leads to another. Jack is also the BFF of her brother, Ben, who's gay and a talented musician. Among them are 16-year-old Hazel, who, for reasons she doesn't really understand, finds herself making out with every guy in town - except for Jack, the one she actually likes, who's a changeling. Generations of teens have indulged in romantic fantasies about him and held drunken parties on his coffin. Somehow connected to the Folk is the horned boy who sleeps in an enchanted glass coffin in THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST, who's been there longer than anyone can remember. Then you notice all the charms and magic signs scattered around the town and the fact that the locals never go out before stocking up on iron filings, filling their pockets with grave dirt, and otherwise trying to ward off the supernatural beings who live in the forest, with whom the town has an uneasy truce. Characters, especially teens, use lots of strong language, including 's-t' and 'f-k.'Īt first, the little town of Fairfold seems charming, rustic, and ordinary. Make-out scenes abound (with opposite-sex, same-sex, and human-faery couples), one of which involves partial nudity.

Protagonist Hazel, 16, has been slaying monsters since she was 11 (when a monster killed her dog) she also flirts with and kisses every boy in town, for reasons even she doesn't understand. The glass coffin in the woods, in which an enchanted faery boy sleeps away the centuries, has been the site of drunken teen make-out parties for generations. The Folk have killed humans in horrific ways, including drowning and running them over with horses. Parents need to know that The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black ( Doll Bones, The Spiderwick Chronicles) finds confused small-town teens dealing with hormones, boredom, and their town's strange relationship with the supernatural Folk who live in the forest. Getting drunk (and making out with random people) is a regular activity among Fairfold's teens.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

The darkest part of the forest book