Published April 16th, 2026 by Tor Bramble
Fantasy Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
💚 A dark, sexy, and twisted reimagining of The Wizard of Oz from USA Today bestselling author Nikki St. Crowe 💚
No one is safe on the yellow brick road.
Dorothy Gale doesn’t know where she came from. At the age of five, she was dropped on Em and Henry’s doorstep while a terrible storm rolled across the Kansas prairie. Now as an adult, Dorothy has made the most of her life on the farm. But when a cyclone tears through the night, ripping her, her dog, and the farmhouse away, Dorothy wakes to find herself far from home in the strange, cursed land of Oz.
Desperate to find her way back, Dorothy takes the advice of the Witch of the North and sets off on the yellow brick road to find a wizard . . . with a warning to avoid forest monsters, heartless mercenaries, and wicked witches. It isn’t long before Dorothy encounters the dark side of Oz, stumbling on a man beaten and bloody, tied to a pole in a cornfield. Not unlike the scarecrows on the Kansas farm.
With no memories, the mysterious stranger joins Dorothy. Rook is ridiculously handsome, endlessly charming, and somehow understands Dorothy in a way no one ever has. But when they cross paths with the infamous Tinman and his axe, Rook proves he may be hiding his own secrets.
Nothing and no one is what they seem in the cursed land of Oz . . . maybe even Dorothy herself.
Tropes:
Wizard of Oz Retelling 💚
Forbidden Love ❤️🔥
Rambunctious Dog 🐕
Journey of Self Discovery 👩
Hidden Identity 🫣
Witchy 🧙
Villain gets the girl 🖤
Cyclone Shenanigans 🌀
Murder 🔪
Morally Grey Characters 🩶
Hot and Equally Evil Brothers 👬
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MY REVIEW:
I am a life-long Ozian. I have loved and been obsessed with The Wizard of Oz ever since I first saw the film when I was three years old. I love the book, too, and collect anything and everything I can to do with Oz. So, when I saw that a new reimagining of the book was being released, I immediately added it to my TBR. And then when I saw the US version with those beautiful, intricate Emerald City spredges, I knew it was worth the extra cost to have it in my collection.
We all know the basic story: a girl trapped inside a house gets caught in a cyclone and wakes up in the land of Oz, and on top of the Witch of the East. She then follows the yellowbrick road all the way to the Emerald City where she sees the Wizard of Oz and asks to be sent home. But her return journey has a price: she must kill the Wicked Witch of the West. I’ll admit, being such a fan of the original, part of me was apprehensive about actually reading a version that was bound to be very different. But I couldn’t resist.
This retelling has a similar premise to the original. Except Dorothy is a teenager not a little girl, she has a boyfriend who she has sex with and smokes pot. The story once she’s in Oz follows a similar trajectory to the original, with minor changes that bring it up to date, make it a little more edgy or make it a little different. It did take me a little bit of time to get used to the more grown up version of Dorothy and some of the changes, but I was quickly immersed in the story and loved being in this version of Oz. But it was over far too quickly and I’m now left waiting impatiently for the second installment in the series.
A dark, gritty and sexy reimagining that Oz and fantasy fans will enjoy, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5
Thank you to Bookbreak for sending me a proof copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nikki St. Crowe is a USA Today Bestselling Author of several romantasy novels, including the #1 Amazon Bestselling Series, Vicious Lost Boys.
When not writing about villains getting the girl, and the girl getting the power, Nikki can be found with her husband and daughter on the shores of Lake Michigan hunting for the perfect sunset.
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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx
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