Week 53 Review: Heartless

From Goodreads:
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

My Review:
Oh, I was so nervous about reading this book! I love her Lunar Chronicles books, but this was a villain origin story, and of the Queen of Hearts-and I'm not the most familiar with Alice in Wonderland. But yeah, I had a great time reading this book!

This world, I kinda hated it on behalf of Cath. I mean, she dreams of opening her own shop, but because she's female, she's not allowed to. And that just had me tensing with frustration of the unfairness of it all.

Her relationship with Jest was heartbreaking, because it was a forbidden romance, it was expected that she'd marry the King, who she didn't even like. And knowing that she's going to be the villain, I knew that something was going to go wrong. And it just made me so sad that they wouldn't find a lasting happiness together. 

I had a sneaking suspicion that this book would hit one of my buttons, that the characters would make poor decisions, and get them into a bad situation that they had to get out of. And oh, do they do-but they don't get out, and oh, that ending, it hurt!

This was a really great read, and I can't wait to read more by Marissa Meyer! 

Author: Marissa Meyer
Read: December 29th, 2020
Source: Bought
Reason Why: Love her writing! And it's a 2020 Retelling Reading Challenge Book and a SAC 2020 Book!
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: November 8th 2016

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars