"A world where the impossibilities of our most farfetched dreams come true--that was the essence of Wonderland."
The characters were completely amazing. Alice Mae was true to herself, but completely different at the same time. She was strong, independent and loyal. She could travel between the real world realm and Wonderland, but needed the secret candies to keep her sanity in the real world realm. Ryley was obviously my favorite, I instantly fell in love with him and I loved the connection between him and Alice Mae. I liked that he had a mysterious past to everyone except for Alice, and her strange Aunts.
“Up wasn’t up, but down was up…and off to the side in a slightly twisted manner. I was falling down (or up?) a rabbit hole.”
Hearts was still the evil master who loved to say “Off with their heads!” and there is a devious back story behind how Hearts became the Queen was perfect. I’ve forever been in love with Cheshire Cat, since the original Wonderland by Disney. I loved his loyalty and the fact that he is always a spy. I loved how in this novel Cheshire was Chez, and that he was orange. The fact that he was orange brought back memories of when I had my cat Milo, he was an orange tabby and I absolutely adored him. It didn’t help that my favorite colors are pink / purple. I really liked how the Joker had an alternative role in this novel. The prophetic undertone was crazy good, too.
I loved how the story progressed and grew upon itself. Although I was a bit confused at the beginning, I quickly recovered. I wasn’t quite sure if I was supposed to be confused, because it’s Wonderland… or if I wasn’t understanding the beginning. I really got the feels with this novel. I mean I really went from ecstatic to devastated. Then at some points I was just utterly pissed off and upset. However, I was enthralled with the connection between Ryley and Alice. The devious plots were fantastic, and I thought that Sarah Pepper wrote this phenomenally.
I’m such a sucker for a dual POV. I love that you get to see into both sides of the characters, how they are feeling and how they react to the situations differently. I feel like every issue that went on was resolved in a beautiful way. I was super upset towards the end, but I’m glad everything worked out the way it did. I don’t think I would have liked it any other way. The witty banter between Ryley and Alice Mae was charming, along with how they hated and loved each other so fiercely at the same time. I won’t lie, this reminded me of my husband and I… and the song by Pink called True Love. The honesty behind the relationship that revealed the flaws between the characters was definitely a fresh interpretation for any novel, let alone Wonderland.
I loved this story, and I believe that Sarah did an amazing work of art with a twist from a classic. Honestly, I think I liked this version better than the original. I’ll always love Wonderland, and I think that now I’ll be more open to adaptations, even though I’m not sure any will be able to compare to this novel. The research and original thought put into this was beyond my expectations. I’m so glad that I got the chance to read this and I want to seriously thank Sarah writing this wonderful story. I suggest that anyone who is in love with Wonderland like I am, you’ll definitely enjoy this fantastic take on such an amazing classic. I can’t wait to read more works from Ms. Pepper!
Oh, and I absolutely love the cover of this novel! As well as the depth in detail between not only the cover and the story, but the lasting impressions that I now have of Alice Mae. It truly made this novel stand apart from the classic Wonderland.
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