Ensnared

Ensnared
by AG Howard
Splintered, book three

*Spoiler Alert - This IS the final book in the trilogy!*

After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She's determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles . . . and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world--a parallel dimension filled with mutated and violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that's gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that has ensnared it. But if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after? (Description taken from Goodreads.com) 

As this is the final book, I'll be somewhat cryptic in my review to try to keep from spoiling things for you who may not have read this yet... This was one of those books where I was SO excited to read it that I almost couldn't pick it up at all. I don't know if you ever experience that as a reader (I know my friend Jen from Yabooknerd shares this with me), that feeling where you just can't bear for a series to end and you're terrified that the book won't live up to your expectations and so you just keep putting it off and putting it off and suddenly you realize you've owned the book for YEARS and still haven't finished the series... (I'm eyeballing my copy of the last Vampire Academy series book as I write this)

Well, that's how it was for me with this book, until I finally put my proverbial foot down and forced myself to crack open the first chapter...and immediately got swept away into Howard's fabulously dark and twisted world once again. I love how deliciously twisted both Howard's settings and characters are in this series.  She takes  the familiar pieces from my childhood and manages to give them such an unexpected and creative twist, that though the idea behind the series is a classic, it really does take on a completely wonderful life of its own.  I never find myself actively comparing these books to Carroll's as I'm reading, only after the fact as I'm describing them to others. They exist in and of themselves. 

There had been some controversy, I guess, about the ending to this series. In today's readersphere, where everyone pits one romantic lead against another in the never-ending line of love triangles, there were readers who had pinned there hopes one way or another and inevitably some readers found their hopes dashed...in an interesting way.  In fact, as a reader who loves both a romantic and a realistic ending, resigned to the fact that often one cannot find them together, EVER, I was happy with this ending. In fact, it's what I wish would happen more often in the books that I read.  

Then, just after I finished reading, I was even more excited to find out that Howard will be releasing a novella set in this world, a collection of three short stories! I don't have to give up this Wonderland just yet. Oh Frabjous Day!

Full disclosure: Book Purchased for my Personal Library

Giveaway - Splintered by A.G. Howard!

You may all remember that I reviewed A.G. Howard's Splintered back in November and gave it a big fat GOLD STAR review because I loved it so much...

Well, I happened to come across a nice, shiny, new never been read hardcover copy that I don't need since I already bought my own...sooo... GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Have you been dying to read this one but haven't yet had the chance?
Have you wanted to own your own copy, but couldn't afford it yet?

Well, here is your chance to enter to win your very own copy!!!!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Splintered

Splintered

by A.G. Howard

 

Publication date: January 1, 2013

 

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. 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. (description from Amazon.com) 

I LOVED this book.  I was simultaneously torn between wanting to desperately tear through it to find out all the crazy/wonderful things that would happen and wanting to put it down periodically so that I could savor that first reading for just a little bit longer. 

Howard wrote some ravishingly dark imagery in her version of Wonderland. Every time you think you recognize something from the original, there is a creepy and distinctive twist.  Even Alyssa turns out to have facets that you would not expect. The characters have motivations that make for a more intriguing and power hungry tale than Carroll's version and ultimately, you as the reader have no idea who may survive this twisted place. 

I'm having trouble even formulating an effective way to describe exactly how much I loved this book. Suffice it to say that even though I received a review copy, I will most definitely be buying my own hardcover copy in January so that I can read it again and ooh and ahh over the gorgeous aesthetic details (the cover, OMG!) inside and out while I do...

For now, let me just say I'm giving it a GOLD STAR and that I demand you all READ IT!!

 

Full disclosure: Review copy received 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...

WANT!!! Minimalist posters for your favorite children's stories

Saw a great link to this site with MINIMALIST posters for your favorite children's stories.

These are amazing! My personal favorite is the Little Red Riding Hood one.
So simple, yet so evocative! LURVE...want.

And for my friend Becca over at Alice: Journey of a Fake Writer...

Here's another great Alice cover for you!!