Splintered

    When I was searching through the list for books that were available at my library, I didn't refresh myself on what they were about. They were on my list, that meant I had wanted to read them at some point. Right? I'm never going to look at what they are about. I'm simply going to keep typing in titles until one pops up that says "available".
    Splintered, by A.G. Howard, was one of those books whose plot I had no idea about when I picked it up. I added it to my stack, checked it out and didn't read the synopsis until just before I started the first page. When I did, I was excited. I have a huge love of fairy tales.I will pick up all the retellings I find and read them because I love them so much. They are the top of my list, above paranormal romance. When the book jacket informed me that this would be an Alice in Wonderland spinoff? Squee?

Review: 4/5

Overview:
    Alyssa is the descendant of Alice. The Alice who fell down the rabbit hole into wonderland. Ever since that fateful day all the women in her family have gone insane. They talk to plants and bugs. They generally end up committed or dead after having a female heir. Alyssa is heading down the same road, she believes. Naturally, it isn't something she wants. What teenage girl wants that? Her life is already a mess. She visits her mother routinely in the asylum. She's in love with her hot best friend. She has the bully who is out to ruin her life and date said hot best friend. It can't get any worse, right?
      Enter second hot guy. There is always a second hot guy. We wouldn't have a story if there wasn't a second guy, right? Of course not. Ooh, and this second guy holds the key to proving she's not insane? Proving none of the women in he family are insane? Also, add in an accent, because who can resist a man with fricken accent calling you "luv" and telling you to fall down the rabbit hole? (I can't. Ask my boyfriend. Just the accent part though?) Alyssa listens to him, because, hello? Accent? And she wants proof she's not insane. Really, the proof part may be the biggest reason. It is her last chance to save her mom from the asylum, after all.
    Without giving too much more away, what follow is a journey into the heart of Wonderland to reverse a curse, the meeting of strange and beautiful creatures and the choosing of who to love when the heart is split in two. There are surprise twists, twists you saw coming and some "really, Alyssa? Are you that stupid?" moments. How will she make it through a world that is nothing like the children's book we grew up on?

Thoughts:
    In general, I like the characters. I grew to like Alyssa. Like any female lead, she's beautiful and doesn't see it. I enjoy that she's a bit morbid and weird, being weird myself. Taelor is your typical mean girl whose been hurt deep down. Your male leads are Jeb the skater boy best friend and Morpheus, the Wonderland magical creature.
    Jeb is a down to earth good guy with a troubled past. He's incredibly protective over Alyssa and always there for her. I honestly like Jeb. I probably wouldn't pick him for myself because he reminds me too much of my best friend, who I happen not to be in love with, but hey. He's just that all around great guy. Except Alyssa IS in love with him, so there is all that tension there.
    Morpheus is the accent toting magical creature boy. This would be my pick. I usually pick the magical creatures though. He's confident (bordering on cocky, actually), secretive and beautiful. He's loved Alyssa her whole life and has been with her that long.
    Like any story, it lulls in a few spots and has some moments that were confusing. For the most part, it kept my attention. It was a nice spin off from a childhood story I happen to love. I like the new take. The story is unique. The scenery of Wonderland is different and sometimes beautiful. The creatures you know from the original story change into things you may not want to encounter in real life. Many spinoffs just spout the same story. (Not that I won't read them anyway.) Once again, I managed to pick a book that is NOT a standalone! That means I have to find more books in this series. This list is never going down.

Guess I better get reading,
Cho