Review and Giveaway: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Author: A.G. Howard

Genre:  Fairytale, Fantasy

Pages: 384

Published: January 1, 2013

Publisher: Amulet

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Source:  I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

"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."~Goodreads

Sometimes a book comes along that grabs hold of you with every quirky, wonderful thing it has and doesn't let go.  You become completely engrossed in the author's world and when you have to come back down from your cloud  it's completely disorienting.  Splintered is that book.  Like many of you I grew up loving Alice In Wonderland.  I'll admit it gave me some pretty interesting nightmares as a kid but mostly I fell in love with curious Alice, the goofy Mad Hatter and especially that clever albeit creepy Cheshire Cat.  So, with that being said, I'm always apprehensive when a re-telling or continuation comes along.  Luckily Splintered does real justice to our Alice.  Howard pays tribute to Carroll's story while at the same time creating her own version.  The mixture of Carrollian nonsense and whimsy mixed with real emotion and depth of character make this the perfect companion to the original tale.  I think Mr. Carroll would be proud.

LIKES:

• Wonderfully dark - Howard definitely does not shy away from the unsettling and morbid.  That's part of what makes this such a cool reading experience.  Alyssa, our heroine, is an artist.  Her medium: dead bugs.  This could be considered just gross until you find out that she can speak to bugs.  Just as a little taste here's the first couple of lines of Splintered:

"I've been collecting bugs since I was ten; it's the only way I can stop their whispers. Sticking a pin through the gut of an insect shuts it up pretty quick."

          And we're off to a running start.  Wow.  Now, I admit that I have an aversion to bugs so I feel no sympathy for them.  Had this been a sentence about puppies I would have shut the book immediately.  However, bugs are fair game and this line is just so raw and full of angst and ick that it sucked me right in.  This darkness follows throughout the whole story.  One of the best parts about this book is Alyssa having to face her own darkness.  It really enhances the story and makes it a lot of fun to read.

• I actually like the (sort of) love triangle -  Okay, so I don't know if this can actually be considered a love triangle, but that's probably why I enjoyed it.  Alyssa loves Jeb.  They are obviously meant to be together.  He's sweet, trustworthy, fun and super duper hot, also human.  Then there's Mothra *cough* I mean Morpheus.  Also hot, and snarky, amazing and magical.  But her love for Morpheus seems more platonic.  They have a mutual admiration for one another and an unbreakable bond.  Even if he wants more.  Still, I loved the back and forth between the guys.  It added a lot of humor to the story.
• MORPHEUS!!! -  Three things you need to know about this guy: he is the ultimate bad boy, he has an adorable British accent, and he has an insurrection hat.  I'm sold.  The only problem was that I couldn't picture him as he was described.  I adore Once Upon a Time and all I could picture when reading this was Jefferson.  But I'm cool with that.

I mean seriously how can I not?  Good grief.

• Plenty of Wonderland for purists - One of the things I was most worried about was how Wonderland would be portrayed.  Would it be recognizable?  Gladly, Splintered is filled with allusions to the original book.  One of the most fun parts of reading this book was finding all of the little Alice Easter eggs hidden inside its pages.  Although all of the characters have been changed in some way, they are still recognizable and Howard ties the stories together brilliantly.

DISLIKES:

• Sometimes Alyssa makes me shake my head - Okay so it's not like Alyssa is stupid by any means but some of her decisions can be filed under "things that make me go 'hmm'".  A great example is when she decides to get a forged passport and fly to England by herself.  Apparently our heroine has never seen Locked Up Abroad.  
• Too much explanation of things we should be able to figure out on our own - this is probably the only thing that really bothered me about this book.  Although they were relatively few, there were several instances where the author explained too much about the plot, when it would have been more fun to figure it out on my own.  Luckily this didn't happen too often and it didn't really damage the reading experience.

Even with the couple of flaws that I found I have to give this book five stars.  I was completely captivated by Alyssa, Jeb and all of the netherlings.  Howard has managed to create a new version of Wonderland that is just as exciting, enticing and mad as the original.  I know it may only be January but I would be surprised if this one doesn't end up on my best of 2013 list.  It was just that good.  I can't wait to see what else A.G. Howard does with her writing. I'll certainly be first in line to read her next book.

And now, I have some great news for all of you!  Since I have my own finished copy, I will be giving away my ARC copy to one lucky reader.  All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter to be entered.  Please make sure you follow the rules below.  Good luck all!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THE RULES:

• Must be 18 or older (13 or older with parent's permission)
• Must have a US mailing address
• I am not responsible for packages that are lost or damaged in shipping.  

 

Review: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Author: Jackson Pearce

Genre: Fairytale, Paranormal

Pages: 324

Published: June 7th, 2010

Publisher: Little Brown

Rating: 3/5 Stars

"Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?"~Goodreads

Although Sisters Red  is, on the surface, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood,  it is, at it's heart, much more than that.  While the original tale was meant as a cautionary fable about listening to your parents and not talking to strangers,  Sisters Red is a story about loyalty, duty, and above all, family.

The March sisters have spent the better part of their young lives hunting Fenris with Silas, the woodsman's son.  While the sisters are as close as they can possibly be they have differing outlooks on their lifestyle and chosen profession.  Scarlett is older.  She is scarred and mutilated from the attack that left her grandmother dead and she and her sister alone in the world.  Scarlett is hard, determined and deadly with a hatchet.  She believes that it is her duty to kill the wolves and avenge the death of her grandmother and the destruction of her own life and beauty.  The only things she cares about more than killing fenris is her partner, Silas, and her little sister, Rosie. Rosie, meanwhile, hunts because she knows that this is what Scarlett expects from her.  She values her sister's love and trust above all else.  However, Rosie longs for a normal life and she is terrified that this will drive a wedge between herself and Scarlett.  Then there's Silas.  Silas and the girls have grown up together and he and Scarlett have been partners for years, but there may be something blossoming between Silas and Rosie that could destroy everything.  When the three of them pack up and head to Atlanta to try and stop the coming of a powerful new fenris they are all forced to look at their lives in a new way.

This story is unique and well-written.  It has a lot of heart and, even as someone who doesn't particularly care for werewolves, I thought it was pretty creepy.  I loved the way that Pearce told the story and the bond between the sisters was palpable.  However, I didn't really feel like I connected as much as I would like to with the three main characters.  Scarlett, in particular, was a difficult one for me.  She was so angry and hard that I couldn't really love her character.  Maybe this is a sign that she was well written and believable but I would have liked to have felt something more for the character.  What saved the story for me was the action and the exploration of the group dynamic.  The fight scenes were amazingly well-thought out and executed (particularly the final one - I was literally cheering).  I feel like I wouldn't want to meet up with Jackson Pearce in a dark alley.  Along with this the relationships were really well done and while I may not have connected with each character individually, I did connect with the way they felt about each other.  So I'm giving this one three stars, but a good three stars and I can't wait to read Sweetly.

For more on my feelings, feel free to watch the video below:

Entwined

Author: Heather Dixon

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 480

Published: 2011

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Rating: 5/5 Stars

"Azalea and her younger sisters dance in the mysterious silver forest every night, escaping from the sadness of the palace and their father’s grief. What they don’t understand—although as time passes they begin to get an inkling of the danger they are in—is that the mysterious and dashing Keeper is tightening his snare with deadly purpose. Luckily, Azalea is brave and steadfast. Luckily, a handsome young army captain also has his eye on Azalea. . . . Lush, romantic, and compelling, this debut novel by Heather Dixon will thrill fans of Shannon Hale, Robin McKinley, and Edith Pattou"

My mom insists that she was never really into fairy tales when she was little.  I insist she's lying.  Maybe she wasn't the dress up like Cinderella and run around the backyard pretending to talk to woodland creatures type, but I promise you that at one point in her life someone read her a story about a princess in a far away kingdom, etc, etc and she pictured herself in a big poofy dress holding court over the the family dog and her rather large collection of gerbils.  Little girls (even the non-girly types) love princesses and talking animals and handsome princes. That's why Disney was invented right?  Fairy tales: it's what we do (I feel like that should be on a shirt somewhere).  I, myself, spent the vast majority of my childhood playing princess with my stuffed animals and I have the crown (and the superiority complex) to prove it.  But I digress, why do we really love fairy tales?  I maintain that it is because they are so contradictory.  There are always two sides to a good fairy tale.  First, the fluff.  The beautiful princess, the charming castle, the enchanted forest and the handsome prince.  But something sinister lurks in the dark.  In all of these stories there is fear.  Witches, dragons, imprisonment, and (almost without exception) death.  That's what makes the story so great.  You're enchanted, but you're afraid at the same time.  


Entwined in a fairy tale lovers dream.  It is beautiful, witty and tragic.  There were times during the book where I laughed out loud (usually because of the main character's closest sister, Bramble), there were times when I was grinning like an idiot and there were times when I was so freaked out I had a little trouble going to sleep.  This book is magic, plain and simple.  Dixon tells the story of Azalea and her eleven sisters.  Their mother has died and their father, the King, is distant and can't be bothered with them.  The house is in mourning for a whole year and the girls are forbidden from dancing, which is the only way they find comfort.  They find a magic passageway that takes them to a silver forest where they can dance every night.  However, the sinister Keeper wants something in return.  Meanwhile the girls struggle to come to terms with the death of their mother and the absence of their father all while trying to navigate the sticky world of romance.  This book is not just about fairy tales and princesses though.  The main theme of the story is the importance of family.


This is Dixon's first novel and she has done a magnificent job. One of the most amazing things was the character development.  There are the twelve princesses and the king and queen, the household staff and several friends as well as Keeper and by about the fourth chapter you felt that you knew everyone!  I found myself going "that's so Bramble" or "why does Delphinium have to be so grumpy" as I read. I truly did not want this book to end.  The whole experience was just too much fun.  It was sweet and spooky and quirky and hilarious all rolled in to one big shining package.  I have been scouring the internet looking for news of a sequel with no success thus far.  I really hope Dixon decides to continue the story of Azalea and her sisters, they are too charming for her to stop now.  This is a must read!