Title: Splintered (Splintered #1)
Author: A.G. Howard
Publication Date: Jan. 1, 2013
Find: Amazon | Goodreads
Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.
A.G. Howard is the #1 NYT & International Bestselling author of several young adult retellings and spinoff novels, including her gothic Alice in Wonderland Splintered Series, and RoseBlood, a Phantom of the Opera inspired adaptation.
When writing, A.G. is most at home weaving the melancholy, magical, and macabre into her settings and scenes. In her downtime, she enjoys rollerblading, gardening, and visiting 18th century graveyards or abandoned buildings to appease her muse’s darker side.
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Goodness, it’s so rare for me to give five stars on a book that’s not, well, quite honestly, a classic. But, it can and does happen.
So, this is one of those reads that’s been sitting on my shelf, calling to me for quite some time. My fellow bookaholics understand. One of those that you want to read, but somehow just gets buried under all the others on my “TBR” list.
And now I want to kick myself for waiting so long on this one.
I’ve always loved Alice in Wonderland. And I also love retellings. So, of course, this story was right up my alley! From the start, I enjoyed every piece Wonderland-craziness that was infused into the story.
Howard took Carroll’s original story and interlaced it with romance, a tough heroine, and two pretty dreamy potential-suitors, and gave the reader a story worth swooning over.
I’d say that I can’t wait to read the next in the series, but, um, I already have.
I’ll just leave you with this:
“I’m waiting inside the rabbit hole, luv. Find me. His gaze burns the challenge into my soul like a brand.”
