Week 1 Review: Queen of Hearts

From Goodreads:
As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah's days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.

When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she's ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It's up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.

Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinah's furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath. 

Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

My Review:
I really enjoyed reading this book! There's been a few Alice in Wonderland retellings out there, and yeah, this was a pretty great addition to their ranks! This book was strange and weird and different, and I loved this take!

First off, I have to preface this review with the statement that I haven't read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books. I've seen some movies, and there've been a ton of references to them in pop culture, but I've never actually read the books, and I don't think I will, just because there's a ton of fantastic books being published now! But that means I can only base my comparisons on my half-formed thoughts that might not actually be connected, espcailly since this is more of a retelling prequel to the series!

I had mixed feelings about Dinah. On one hand, her father treated her horribly, and nobody seemed to notice, and if they did, they either didn't care, egged her dad on, or couldn't do anything about it. But on the other hand, she was a bit bratty, she's inheriting the throne, and there was just something about her. Maybe it's just that we know she's going to be the bad guy. But anyways.

Really enjoyed how the characters like the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit were in this book, what roles they played. I espcailly liked the Mad Hatter, that he's her younger brother. But that also made things a bit sad, to know how things are going to end up-and now finding out how they did and why.

This book was pretty great, and I can't wait to read Blood of Wonderland!

Author: Colleen Oakes
Series: Queen of Hearts Saga #1
Read: January 6th, 2017
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded great, and it's a 2017 Retelling Reading Challenge Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2017 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: May 3rd 2016

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4/5 Stars