Review: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Summary from Goodreads:

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.


Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.


In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Review:


What I Liked:

Atmosphere/Setting. My favorite aspect of the novel was Meyer's great world building. She was recreated Wonderland amazingly with great details.  

Characters. The main character, Catherine was okay. I did enjoy the fact that the story was told in only a single point of view, it made reading/listening to it easier. However, I loved all of the side characters Meyer created that were inspired by Alice in Wonderland. My favorite one was Hatter. 

Retelling. Minus the romance this was a great retelling. Meyer used just the right amount of the original text but still came up her own story. I would love to see more retellings from her in the future. 

Writing Style. 

Audiobook. Rebecca Soler is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. I had DNFed this book in 2016 but I decided to try again with the audiobook read by Soler.  It was good decision because I ended up enjoying this retelling more than I expected. 

What I Disliked:

Romance.  The main thing that made me stop reading in the past was the romance. And I was still not a huge fan of it. Some of the plot twists explained the instant love or tried too but I did not care for that aspect. 

I recommend checking out this stand alone if you enjoy retellings. The audiobook was really enjoyable. 

Rating:

3.5 Stars out of 5 Stars