Thank you to Netgalley, Bonnie Zaffre and Rachel Burge for my arc of The Twisted Tree. 

Martha feels more than a little out of place since she lost her eyesight in one eye after falling from a tree in her grandmother's garden. Ever since it happened, Martha has been able to read people's thoughts, emotions and memories just by touching their clothes. Determined to find out the truth and not getting any answers from her mother. Martha concocts a story about where she'll be and catches a flight back to Norway to visit her grandmother. 

But when Martha arrives, she is devastated to discover her grandmother is dead and a strange boy has taken up residence in her cabin. Oh yeah and there's some big scary creature on the loose and it seems Martha is the key to putting everything right again. Trapped in the money cottage as the snow begins to fall, Martha must face her fears and save the day. Or rather the world. 

This was a wonderful and relatively short fantasy/reality story. Martha was a great heroine and I loved the combination of fantasy, Norse mythology, creepiness and romance. That doesn't sound like it would work but it really did! 

I really enjoyed this and I'm hoping there's going to be a sequel after some questions were left unanswered in the end!

I had a feeling I was going to love The Twisted Tree (Norse mythology in a Norwegian setting with a stunning cover to boot) and it more than lived up to my expectations.  I even got to practice my Norwegian in places! 

The story of Martha's post-accident trip to Norway, seeking answers from her beloved grandmother regarding her strange new 'gift', had me hooked right from the start.  I was naturally drawn to both Martha and Stig, admiring their bravery in the face of such grizzly creepiness.  The sense of menace they experience during their time in the cottage was palpable and the visceral quality to the descriptions of other-worldly creatures was spot on.  This would be a great winter read to hunker down with. Du vil elske 'The Twisted Tree'... det er deilig!!

The Twisted Tree is an amazing debut from Rachel Burge that combines a ghost story with Norse mythology. By the time I reached the end of the first chapter, I was so unsettled that I had to keep reading, and I nearly finished it in a sitting! Burge weaves the mythology into the narrative and provides her protagonist, Martha, with an interesting supernatural power and explanation that I found to be intriguing. I only wished that it could be explored more! The book was very atmospheric -- this is the perfect book for Autumn/Winter -- and this lended itself to the narrative to make it that much more creepy and unsettling. Although the book has slight romantic elements, it is not romance for the sake of romance -- it is used to help Martha explore her self-confidence and self-image after an accident. The book focuses more on Martha's relationships with her female relatives, specifically her mother and grandmother, and her place in her family's narrative. I wish that her family's place in the mythology would have been explored more, but it's just because I loved its inclusion so much and I don't know much about Norse mythology! Overall, I would highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to more from this author.

This is catogorised as a "Teens and Young Adult" book so I'm certainly not part of the intended demographic but nevertheless as someone who enjoys a well written spooky tale I must admit that I found this a most enjoyable read. Combining such diverse themes as romance, disability, Nordic mythology, ghosts, monsters and broken families the story ultimately is about redemption and coming to terms with the past and who you are. 

The story begins with Martha, a young adolescent girl who has deceived her parents and is now rushing through the airport on her way to a remote Norwegian island where her grandmother lives. We quickly learn two key things about Martha that are central to the story, firstly she has been disfigured and blinded in one eye due to an accident which appears to have occurred at her grandmother's and secondly that as a result of this accident she is now in possession of some kind of supernatural power that enables her to read a person's memories and what emotions they feel by touching their clothing. When arriving at her grandmother's isolated cabin location she discovers that it is now inhabited by a rather strange boy who like her appears to have run away and is also search for something.

The story basing itself on Nordic Mythology and with enough chilling moments will I think entertain most readers and can be comfortably completed in one or two sittings. At its heart this is essentially a rather quirky love story between two rather troubled young people but the somewhat enigmatic ending leaves open the possibility of a further story. I especially liked how the tension was built up and the supernatural element at the cabin was slowly introduced. As the book progresses to its conclusion it become increasingly fantastical which is fine but perhaps I would have preferred a more psychological and enigmatic telling of the tale. Nevertheless the writing is descriptive and the plot line thought out and I'm sure it will appeal to its targeted audience.

The Twisted Tree combines Nordic Mythology, a contemporary setting and a ghost story together in what is a twisted tale that involves romance, secrets and lies, the underworld and a remote island in Norway! 

We meet Martha who is desperately unhappy after an accident left her blind in one eye and with a scar on her face. A bizarre result of this accident was that she can ‘read’ people from touching their clothes. She can sense feelings and memories and see a part of them when she connects with their clothes. 

She believes her Grandmother will be able to help her understand what’s happening to her and she packs a bag and heads to a remote island in Norway to visit her. After an interesting journey Martha arrives on the Island to find a strange boy living in her grandmother’s cabin. After the strange boy tells her that Mormor is dead and she’s missed the funeral things get even more peculiar. 

I’m not going to tell you much more at this point as there is no way to tell you more without being a completely spoilers based review

The Positives:
•	The mythology. For me this is one of the aspects of this story that made it stand out to me. I really enjoyed once we got into the actual mythology and the way the story was intertwined with it I felt like the story really took off and came into its own. The way of intertwining the mythology with the ghost story aspect makes this book stand out.
•	The fact that this is a debut novel. I know that’s not really a positive about the book itself but I feel like this author has a real point of view and it excites me that there could be more to come.
•	The writing style- This is linked to both of the above points. The way that the author pulls all of this together is done in such a natural way that it really draws you in 
•	The use of the Norwegian language. The way that it became natural in the story to have so many mentions of words and phrases was so well written. I actually feel like I learned something! 
•	THIS WOULD MAKE SUCH A GOOD FILM!!
•	Stig and Martha – I really liked both of these characters, I felt like the author went outside the box for them. They were different, unique, had an interesting story and it was nice to see someone who was slightly alternative without being ‘OMG THEY ARE A GOTH’ 


The Negatives
•	Mormor – I just wish we had seen more of her. Without making this a spoilers review, for someone who is so key to the story I didn’t feel like I got much of an idea of who she was, her own personality and just her.
•	The pacing – while I really enjoyed this book I did feel like the scene setting and getting Martha to the Island and getting to the cabin and essentially the story itself took too long. The ‘events’ of the story then felt rushed a little bit.
•	Events that added little to the story – there were a few things that felt a bit ‘non-eventy’ to me that dragged out that first portion of the story and kinda added to the bit above ^^^
•	The fact that its YA. Okay so this isn’t *really* a negative but more of a ‘God damn I wish…’ from me. I would LOVE to see this story written as an adult story with even more spookiness and more in depth psychological aspects to it


Overall this was a 3.5 out of 5 for me. I enjoyed it and would absolutely read something else by the same author. I found it an engaging read and something slightly different for me. I’d recommend this if you want to get away from fantasy while still having some fantastical elements to it. 

I've rounded up to a 4 for Good Reads as it was a positive 3.5