Unhinged

Unhinged 
by A.G. Howard
Splintered, book two

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole. She was crowned Queen of the Red Court and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the boy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly appealing Morpheus. Now all she has to do is graduate high school.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

Could she leave Jeb and her parents behind again, for the sake of a man she knows has manipulated her before? Will her mother and Jeb trust her to do what’s right? (description from Amazon.com)

Okay, before I say anything else, I just have to ask...does anyone else get creeped out by this cover? Don't get me wrong, I LOVED this book just as much as the first, but every time I look at Morpheus on the cover, I find myself actually shrinking back mentally from the story...it's so disconcerting. 

Anyway, moving on...let me tell you how I devoured this book as soon as I couldn't see the cover any more.  I think my imagination just takes me in a different place, but man, can A.G. Howard create the best world inside your head! 

Alyssa's world is darker, creepier, and just plain more addicting than the original Alice's could ever have been.  I love peeling back the little layers of not only Wonderland, but our own to find the secret and creepy things that might be hiding underneath.  As much as Alyssa's dilemma about how she feels with both Jeb and Morpheus is fun to read...it's really the world and Alyssa's power within it that keeps me totally captivated.

I'm itching to dive back down this rabbit hole again.  Soon, I hope!

Full disclosure: eARC received from NetGalley, ARC received for review from VOYA 

Anxiously Awaiting...Splintered!

Splintered
by A.G. Howard

Publication date: January 2013

For sixteen years, Alyssa Gardner has lived with the stigma of being descended from Alice Liddell -- the real life inspiration for Lewis Carroll's famed novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But cruel jokes about dormice and tea parties can’t compare to the fact that Alyssa hears the whispers of bugs and flowers ... the same quirk which sent her mother to a mental institution years before.

When her mother takes a turn for the worse and the whispers grow too strong for Alyssa to bear, she seeks the origins of their family curse. A set of heirlooms and a moth tied to an unusual website lead Alyssa and her gorgeous best friend / secret crush, Jeb, down the rabbit hole into the real Wonderland, a place more twisted and eerie than Lewis Carroll ever let on.

There, creepy counterparts of the original fairytale crew reveal the purpose for Alyssa’s journey, and unless she fixes the things her great-great-great grandmother Alice put wrong, Wonderland will have her head.

I have to confess...I just saw this over on Stories and Sweeties' Waiting on Wednesday and I loved it soooo much that I had to put it up here, too!! This story sounds amazing! I love whenever authors take on our classics with a dark twist.  I think this one will be great. I just wish we didn't have to wait so long for it...