Mad as a Hatter (Sons of Wonderland #1) (2025)

THIS.
BOOK.
OH MY FREAKIN' GOD.
I LOVED THIS BOOK SOO MUCH!!

Okay....going to try to calm myself down a bit because if I don't, I'm going to dolphin wail because I make absolutely no sense when I get all fan-girl. But, guys, this book is ridiculously amazing and has to be my favorite retelling of all time. The Hatter has always been my favorite character in the classic, the movies, other retellings, etc, and this book made me go mad for the Hatter all over again. I'm still swooning so hard right now and I want this review to be coherent and readable, but I'm honestly writing so fast because my heart is still skipping at what I just read.

This book isn't the happy and sweet Alice in Wonderland like you all know, or even a sweet retelling. The author classifies this book as a horror romance retelling of Wonderland and that's the best way I can honestly put it as well. It's the same Wonderland you know when it comes to the characters, but at the same time, it's not. It's neither here, nor there (sorry, Wonderland humor here) The characters are very different then you probably know them, but--in my opinion--I love the characters and this book more than the classic.

(Don't throw tomatoes, just my opinion! LOL)

There's a darkness to these characters that hits me deep in my heart. Wonderland isn't filled with light, but darkness and chaos. Wonderland is dying because of the new Queen, a Queen Clara Bee and others are destined to face in a battle for the good of Wonderland. I won't say anything regarding the Queen because, spoilers, but I will say that twist was phenomenal!

The characters in this book are what make this story so outrageously beautiful and dark. The Hatter in this story is truly mad, lost in his dark mind and losing himself a bit more every day. Clara Bee--the woman he's destined to lose his heart to--believes he's more than his madness though (couldn't agree more!) and I love her for it.

"I see the beauty in his madness. I see the man beneath it all, his soul begging for someone to bring him out of the loneliness."

Mad or not, the Hatter is a freakin' god amongst us poor morals. His madness intrigues me like no other character has before and I love how the author made his character so dark, yet, so....well, so Hatter. He's a tortured soul looking for light. Looking for his Clara Bee, who understands him and embraces his utter madness.

"Tempting fate would be great except you still owe a kiss. If I lost my pants, I'd lose my chance, to touch lips to lips."

"Suit yourself, My Dear Hatter, if that's really what you're about. But I hope you know exactly what you're missing out." I sing back.

"I like when you do that," he replies softly, his fingers gently squeezing mine.

"Do what?"

"Embrace my madness."

Clara, or Clara Bee, as everyone calls her, character surprised me so much. She started off as a bit stiff--lovable and kind, but a workaholic with no joy in her life besides her work--and then she falls down the rabbit hole (god, I love saying that phrase) and enters Wonderland and her personality really shines through. She's sweet, always rooting for those who have no voice, and decides that she wants to help Wonderland and defeat the Red Queen to save those around her--especially her Dear Hatter. I LOVE how she's so much like the Hatter, embracing his darkness and filling his heart with light and humor, and doesn't let anything back her down. She makes him feel something other than despair, and *clears throat* their chemistry is...it's freakin' hot, okay?

"Clara Bee, oh, Clara Bee, what is it you're doing to me?"

I summon the little bit of bravery I had before I came downstairs and speak. "Hatter, I'm in trouble it seems, I believe you promised to make me scream."

*THROWS PHONE ACROSS THE ROOM BECAUSE THE HEAT OF THAT QUOTE*

I CAN'T WITH THESE CHARACTERS!!

I want to go to Wonderland soooo badly! But only if I get to be Clara Bee.

And, guess what? There's going to be two more books in this trilogy!!! The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat will get their own stories!! I'm geeking out so much because not only will I get to hear more about the Hatter and his Clara Bee, I also get to learn more about these characters! I'm a huge fan of Kendra Moreno now and I'm running to get my signed hardback from her.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND! I can't say enough good things about this book and I'm telling you, you need to get this book ASAP. If you like retellings, dark fantasies, or anything Wonderland, you'll love this novel.

I am absolutely stunned at how much I enjoyed this book! I never really took to Alice in Wonderland while growing up and I especially do not usually like horror type stories and so this has got to be the only horror or scary novel I have ever read that actually kept my attention!

These characters are incredible! The world-building is fantastic. You cant have fantasy without good world-building. I loved the drama, the romance, the action and so I am 100% reading the next book and basically anything else this author writes! 5 well deserved stars Ms. Moreno!

The plot is fascinating, I give you that but to be honest, I am not really a fan of the instant love between Clara Bee and the Hatter. What made things worse for me is the involvement of sexual intercourse, just not my cup of tea.

However, the world building and the writing style themselves are amazing. :)

A dark and sexy retake on Wonderland and its inhabitants.

After following Mr. White a man she thought to be a potential client. Clara finds herself in Wonderland. But it is not the world she grew up hearing about in stories. It's a dangerous place. After meeting Hatter, a sexy but completely mad man, Clara finds out she is part of a prophecy. One of three to help bring down the Red Queen and to bring a Son of Wonderland to his knees.

This was a very enjoyable story. The horror aspects of this book shared similarities to the Splintered series by A.G. Howard, a series I love, but where that was YA, this book is definitely adult. The chemistry between Clara and Hatter is fantastic, so when we finally got to a more graphic scene. It was off the charts HOT. I'm always a little wary about sex scenes in books. For me, they have to be done right. And if they are done too often I lose interest. This book was done right.

The story itself was interesting. Lots of twists to the classic, making it its own. I'll be interested to see how the story progresses. I do think the author confused the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts though. They are two different queens in the Alice stories. But maybe that will explain itself later in the series? I don't know.

Recommended age 18+
There are graphic sex scenes in this book and should not be read by anyone under age.

Es un muy buen inicio de saga, lo leí muy rápido y ni siquiera lo sentí

I have to give this 3 stars because I loved horror Wonderland and the main characters had a sweet relationship, but the author didn’t handle her characters as well as she could have, which was a pretty big disappointment. There was a bit of a disconnect in how they were described and how they acted. For example, Hatter doesn’t seem nearly as mad as he’s described, and I didn’t see any of the darkness that the MC, Clara, is supposed to have.

I like dark Wonderland books, especially when the MC isn’t an Alice character because Alice characters tend to be fairly stupid for some reason, and this is definitely a dark Wonderland book; everything is grotesque and violent. For the most part, the writing mechanics were good. However, the author used “peak” instead of “pique” twice. Still, that’s better than a lot of authors that I read manage to do.

As for the characters, I like the MC for the most part. She’s intelligent, and I like that she doesn’t mind weird. She accepts her circumstances easily, and she doesn’t have to scheme ways to relate to Hatter. She just instinctively starts speaking in rhymes to match him. However, I thought the author could have pushed her further. At one point, Hatter comments on her darkness, but I honestly don’t know what darkness he was talking about. She’s not a dark character at all, even if she has to make hard decisions at times. Later, Clara says, “Wonderland has revealed the broken pieces inside me even as it fixes them,” but again, I didn’t actually see that happen. I had no idea what broken pieces she was even talking about until I was able to guess based on the later sentences. I also like Hatter, but he was the biggest disappointment in the book for me. He is the Mad Hatter, and the synopsis of the book even mentions that his madness will pose problems in his relationship with Clara, but he rarely seemed mad to me. I guess the author thought it was enough to just make him speak in rhymes and riddles for the most part, but I really wanted more. Plenty of other characters spoke in a similar way, so what makes him any crazier than they are? He has one mood swing and then one suggestion that he’s seeing stuff that isn’t really there; two brief instances of madness are not enough for a character with “mad” in his name. For me to consider a character mad, he’d have to be really unpredictable, and Hatter didn’t have that. Still, I thought he was cute, particularly when he seems to panic when he sees Clara’s tears. More important, I like them together. I don’t like how soon Clara tells Hatter that he’s perfect, but I like that I could almost immediately see why they would work. Similarly, I thought that the following quote was sweet but that it was said too soon: “‘Never be sorry for who you are,’ he says, more serious than I have ever seen him. ‘Because who you are is everything to me.’”

As for the plot, I like that Clara is a lawyer in the real world because I think that prepared her well for Wonderland deals. However, I thought the author went a bit too far and made the MC an idealized lawyer/employer. For example, the author made Clara have a Perry Mason moment, give the finger to her sexually harassing boss before she quit to start her own firm (as if she’d never have to deal with him in professional settings again), and leave the shares of her firm to her employees in her will. It just seemed too perfect to me, but I didn’t really worry about realism after we left the real world. That said, I liked that the author made sure that Clara was on birth control, even though she wasn’t in the real world anymore. I really liked the way that things ended with the Knave because I thought it fit this story. Some stories claim to be dark but then hand out happy endings like party favors.

Presumably, book 2 will be about White and his soul mate and then book 3 will be about Cheshire and his. I don’t really care about White, but I’m excited for Cheshire’s story. I just hope the author is better able to show the traits that she tells us about because that was the main issue preventing me from loving this book.

First book of 2023!

I have to take this off my chest, I hate those covers!

This book was definitely not my cup of tea. The setting was nice but the rest?

This book was so ridiculous at times and it was definitely insta-love, which I don't like that much. I'm not planning on reading the rest.

2.5 ⭐

Clara es una gran abogada, no sé deja intimidar por nadie y le gusta pelear por los indefensos pero un día llega un cliente algo peculiar que tiene orejas de conejo y habla de una reina roja lo cual ella piensa que solo exagera pero cuál es su sorpresa que al seguirlo se encuentra con el país de las maravillas pero no es como los cuentos, es macabro y tiene una profecía y al parecer Clara es parte de ella.

Pues aquí estamos releyendo estos libros pa continuar con la serie, pensaba que podía seguir sin importar que no recordará nada pero la verdad no, empecé el último libros y neta estaba súper perdida, la verdad son libros muy entretenidos en mi opinión pero si tienen varia falla, mínimo este por qué no recuerdo nada de los otros 🫠 el romance es súper instalove, lit tenían dos días casi de conocer y ya se estaban jurando amor eterno, cero desarrollo de personajes, la trama también es muy mehh, o sea Clara no lo piensa en dejar todo por la profecía que lo cuál es entendible después de ver todo el horror que pasaban pero igual nunca se preocupo por su anterior vida, también la profecía que ella tenía que cumplir siento que no fue nada especial, era algo que incluso algún habitante podría haberlo hecho por qué esperar a Clara 🤨 mejor solo hubieran dejado que estaba destinada amorosamente a alguien, sería mejor, en fin, la verdad no fue tan bueno perooo eso ya lo esperaba, recuerdo que mejoran espero si sea así 🤞🏻

👑Mad as a Hatter by Kendra Moreno👑
Una lectura fantástica, desde mi punto de vista. Se trata de una versión del clásico "País de las Maravillas" mucho más macabra, violenta y horrenda.
Y a pesar de que se trata de un libro corto de poco más de 200 páginas, hay acción en casi cada capítulo. 👉Este volumen es el primero de la trilogía que está ambientada en esta versión tergiversada de "Alicia en el País de las Maravillas", que tiene como protagonista a Clara; el segundo y el tercer volumen, sin embargo seguirán a otras dos protagonistas (una por cada libro). Esto significa que el final del primer libro es bastante abierto y que el desenlace de toda la trama no tendrá lugar hasta la tercera entrega.
👉En cuanto a la protagonista he de decir que me ha sorprendido gratamente. Ha terminado siendo una mujer fuerte e independiente y, que a pesar de que en ocasiones llega a cuestionar su cordura, reacciona de forma bastante coherente en la mayoría de las situaciones.
👉Hasta dónde sé, no han traducido el libro al español, pero la lectura del mismo en su versión original es bastante sencilla (a mi parecer) puesto que la autora no utiliza estructuras ni vocabulario complicado.
En conclusión; me he leído este libro en 24h, ya que resulta ser adictivo y lo he disfrutado MUCHÍSIMO. Lo recomiendo 100%
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

why is it never ME who is asked to bang a hot humanoid monster in order to save the world

“–Me gusta cuando haces eso.
–¿Hacer qué?
–Abrazar mi locura.”

•• ¿De qué va la historia? ••

Clara creía que era normal que un hombre con orejas de conejo acudiera a su despacho. Hasta que este abre un agujero que la transporta al País de las Maravillas. Sí, ese País de las Maravillas del que tanto hemos leído en los cuentos. Solo que ahora es completamente diferente. Ha sido destruido y arrasado por nada más y nada menos que la Reina Roja.

Allí, Clara descubre que ella es parte de una profecía que salvará al País de las Maravillas. Clara debe derrotar al Bribón y ganar el corazón del Sombrerero. Pero ninguna de las dos tareas será demasiado fácil. El País de las Maravilla está plagado de criaturas peligrosas y el Sombrero está completamente loco.

Pero Clara dará todo de sí para ayudar al Sombrerero, White y Cheshire a salvar al País de las Maravillas y así evitar que más de los suyos vayan al Más Allá.

•• ¿Qué pienso de la historia? ••

Cabe resaltar que, hasta este punto de mi vida, NUNCA he visto o leído “Alicia en el País de las Maravillas”. Pero cuando leí la sinopsis, y luego de escuchar buenas críticas de unos amigos, supe que tenía que darle una oportunidad a esta historia tan extraña.

No sé lo que pensaba la autora cuando se le ocurrió esta historia, pero se lo agradezco. La forma en que adaptó el mundo y los personajes ya existentes a una historia completamente diferente y retorcida fue simplemente única. Me gustó bastante la trama de la historia y siento que los futuros libros tienen el mismo potencial de crear algo grande.

Hablando un poco sobre la relación de Clara y el Sombrerero. Bueno… al inicio sinceramente me molestó mucho el insta-love que se crea entre ellos por el simple hecho de que existía esta profecía que los destinaba a estar juntos. Sin embargo, con el pasar de los capítulos, me fue gustando más su relación. Clara fue aceptando y amando su locura, y el Sombrerero iba siempre sujetando su mano por cualquier peligro. Sí tuvieron escenas lindas. Y otra MUY candente.

¿Lo recomiendo? Sí.
Siento que fue un buen primer libro introductorio que además da cierre a la pareja principal para poder dar paso a la segunda chica de la profecía en el segundo libro.
Sí hubo cosas que me disgustaron un poco, como la escena de sexo entre Clara y el Sombrerero, pero en lo general todo fue muy interesante. El libro está escrito en una manera que te conectas con la historia original y simplemente no puedes dejar de leer en ningún momento.

“¿Y esa persona que entra en tu órbita? Bueno, puede que sea el amor de tu vida, después de todo. Aunque esté un poquito loco.”

My mind,” he taps the side of his head, “is where I suffer. Inside my thoughts, there’s chaos, insanity, fear. I cannot fight it. I cannot push it away. But inside all that chaos, there’s you, shining bright, my own star to light the way and show me the path home. Never be sorry for who you are,” he says, more serious than I have ever seen him. “Because who you are is everything to me.”

Wonderful!

I love everything about Alice in Wonderland and love retellings, and this one is now my new favorite one. The Mad Hatter is my favorite always has been since I was a kid and this being a story that he has such a huge part in was even better.

This is not your typical Alice in Wonderland, this is more on the horror side in Wonderland, and its up to the MC Clara Bee to save them all.

The Romance the grows between Clara and Hatter is just beautiful, spicy, and just heartwarming. The Hatter sure does have his way in making you fall in love with him quickly with just the things he say.

I can't wait for the next book

I thought the ideas in this were interesting, but there wasn't much character development or relationship development. The characters are the same at the beginning as they are at the end, and the fated mates idea is the entire substance of their relationship. There is no push and pull, no will-they-won't-they, nothing of substance to make me invested in their relationship. She's there, he's there, they are "destined", they are into each other. Zero feels.

I did like the re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland and the world-building. I just wish I cared more about the MCs. Although, I am curious about Cheshire.... I'm just not sure if that curiosity is enough to get me to keep reading. Time will tell.

4.5☆

I liked the quirky and the gore, it never got me bored. He-he!😄 This was absolutely and maddeningly enjoyable! I think I won't be able to imagine Wonderland the same way again without remembering this retelling. 🤪 This book is definitely not for everyone though.. but it's good! 🎩

Another interesting one... I do like Alice in Wonderland retellings - especially if they dive into a darker wonderland. That's what roped me in initially. I did like the characters, though at the same time I really struggled to connect to them. But I still like the main pairing. I liked that Clara and the Hatter spent time together before they actually get some action on. They also fit quite well together, especially since the Hatter didn't seem as mad as he was supposed to be... I also came to care for Cheshire and really want to read his book, so I guess I will continue with the series.

Oh my giddy aunt! This book was a whirlwind of magic and intrigue. I was hooked from the very first line and could not put this one down!

The characters are believable and the imagery is fantastic, I really felt like I was in Wonderland with Hatter and Clara.

Full review here:

http://bookshelfadventures.home.blog/...

3.5 estrellas en realidad

As someone who has never watched nor read 'Alice in Wonderland', I was a little worried if I would catch/understand any references between the original story and this amazing retelling. And amazing it is! This version is perfect for Alice fans or peeps who, like me, have never heard the story before!

Kendra's talents as a storyteller are awe-inspiring and she blows me away with her writing every single time!

Her writing style is witty and sassy, and I found myself giggling at the voice of her MC, Clara.

I cursed real life so many times this week for interrupting my time with the Hatter, but it was so freaking worth it in the end!

The story will grab you by the collar and make you beg to know what happens next! The world building and characters are pure genius, leaving the suspense for the next release in the series on a high.

If this is the work of a newbie author's debut novel, then sign me up for every single one to come!

And that formatting!! Nicole JeRee is absolutely fabulous!

Make sure you grab yours. There's a little madness in all of us. Why not add a little more?

So I have to admit that Alice in Wonderland has never really been my jam. But this retelling has definitely changed my opinion.
No, this is not the Wonderland that we're familiar with. And no, these characters aren't who we were told they were. But that's what makes this story so amazing. Everything has a touch of darkness that truly pulls this story together.
Overall, I truly enjoyed this story. And I will definitely be continuing this series.

DNF around 70%. I just couldn't talk myself into picking this back up. The characters were blah and the style unpolished. 😕 I hate to give up, but also no reason to force myself to go on.

This review was originally posted at https://bit.ly/3gCPU6I.
Clara is a defense attorney that has always fought for the underdog against large corporations. Now, she may face her biggest challenge yet when Mr. White approaches her to "defeat the queen". She takes the case, thinking that it is a metaphor only to be transported to the actual Wonderland. Wonderland is not what it seems any longer as Alice has become the Red Queen and is destroying life as they know it. The once beautiful and exciting land is now one of carnage. However, there is a prophecy that states in order to begin the process to save Wonderland "Clara Bee" is destined to lose her heart to the Hatter and defeat the Knave. But she can't care for someone just because it was foretold. Will that even be a problem?
I seen an ad for this book on Facebook and immediately purchased it. The cover of the book looked like an evil Benedict Cumberbatch and it is a favored story. Besides, anything that is dark and twisted in relation to Alice in Wonderland I am all for. For instance my favorite video game is Alice Madness Returns. Also, The Mad Hatter has always been my favorite character.

I had high expectations of this book when I first got it. The book did not disappoint. I made my husband read the first page after I did because I was immediately enamored and have discussed multiple points of the book with my best friend during the time that I have read it. She is just as excited about it as I was. This book is a great new continuation on Alice in Wonderland. Everything is explained nicely and I have no negative comments to say at all about this. I hope that everyone who likes Alice in Wonderland gets a chance to read these books. I will definitely be reading the others in this series.

I really liked this book. I liked the setting of twisted, dark Wonderland, I liked the characters, especially the three Sons of Wonderland,I liked the villain of the story and I liked the plot and premise of this book. I only have 2 complaints (that's why 4 and not 5 stars). The first one is the insta love thingy (I really, really hate insta love). Some might say it wasn't insta love because the heroine, Clara, says she didn't fall for the Hatter right away. But the whole story happens in a week or 10 days. So yeah, it totally was insta love. My second complaint is that the heroine was supposed to be in her 30's but the way she acts and talks I'd put her in her early twenties. She gave off new-adult vibes. But that's it, those are my only two complaints. Everything else about this book I liked and I'm really looking forward to reading Late as a Rabbit, the second one in this series.

Well then... haha.
Mad as a Hatter is an unique retelling of Alice in Wonderland. And when I say unique.... I mean truly unique. haha. This won't be your typical cheesy romantic retelling either.

This book features our FMC Clara who, for all purposes, is quite.. average/normal until she sees this stranger with bunny ears... I'm sure you can see where this is going from there, right?
Except this Wonderland is .... not very safe. And apparently Clara is Wonderland's only hope.

I loved Kendra Moreno's take on the Mad Hatter's character. The character was spicy and intriguing in so many ways... and whew... this book was great. I'm definitely going to read others in the series!

this book accomplished 2 things really well. making me almost scream out in anger and being the worst book i’ve ever read. emphasis on worst.
i don’t even know where to begin. i suppose with Clara. or stupid Clara Bee. this woman is 34, and because of her, now i’m scared to ever be 34. i’m 101% sure that absolutely no girl over the age of 15 thinks and acts like her. not even one. there wasn’t a sentence in the whole book that made me turn down my dislike for her in the slightest. the way she speaks of the events she’s living, the way she reacts, the way she thinks, the way she speaks… it’s all wrong, but maybe if she would’ve been 17 i wouldn’t have given in a second thought. she’s completely insufferable.
then, this AMAZING Clara Bee, the savior of Wonderland, meets the Hatter. contrary to her conversation with Cheshire, in which she tells him that she didn’t fall in love with the Hatter seconds after she met him, she did exactly that. ok, maybe not seconds, but “the instant connection” is there from the very beginning, and after a few hours, she tells him that she loves him. and for what? what did he do? they didn’t even have one single serious conversation. they just droll over each other while people are literally dying and then proceed to confess their undying love for one another BECAUSE OF FUCKING WHAT? fate… ( but no, no, no, Clara Bee “writes her own fate”…. yeah sure she does )
in the first few minutes, i actually liked the Hatter. and i was hoping he would be as mad as everyone seems to describe him ( including himself) throughout the book, so that i would finally have one thing worth of me finishing the story. turns out, there are 200 pages in which the MAD Hatter is not even 0.001% of how mad he should be ( except for the fact that he sometimes speaks in rhymes, that’s the 0.001% ). honestly, March is the only one crazy here, but we only get the bare minimum out of him…
i see that this book has the horror genre included? please, tell me where! i was almost seconds away from passing out of boredom instead of fright. oh and all the “some things are better left unknown” parts? yeah, i know, i adore them too. they speak volume of how well and interesting the world-building is done and also how immersive it is… the AMAZING Wonderland
the fact that i didn’t feel any incoming tears while reading the battle at the end of the book… that has never happened to me before. i almost cried because i didn’t cry.

if you didn’t figure it out by now, this was a rage read :) though i can agree that the storyline had some potential… if only it was done better and Clara fucking Bee didn’t exist…
BUT there was one little thing i liked. Cheshire :)) that’s why i gave it 1 full star instead of a 0.25

This was one of my favorite retellings of Alice in Wonderland. Kendra threw everything into this book - romance, horror, love, sex, violence, and heart.

Let's start with the MC, Clara. She is exactly as she needed to be in a Wonderland retelling. She is smart and educated (a lawyer), which makes her quick on her feet. She isn't going to let anyone take advantage of her, especially with the fine print on magical deals made with other wonderland characters. She has a strong sense of duty to fulfill the prophecy written about her. I didn't find her annoying, needy, or a damsel in distress. Quite the contrary actually. Clara is strong, sexy, confident, and brave.

And Clara's relationship with the Hatter... hot damn! Hatter oozed a crazy flavor of sex appeal. It was some sort of instant attraction between them, and the love followed appropriately after. And Kendra definitely did not skimp on the sexy scenes. *fans face*

Kendra has a way of adding a lot of heart into all of her characters, making their personallities and struggles relatable to the reader in a way that other Wonderland retellings failed to do. The story moved along quickly, and I didn't feel like there were any lulls that I wanted to get past. Every scene was meaningful and exciting. The next two books, at least, were set up during the course of the story, and I'm excited to see what happens next. Awesome book!

Was an okay read. The main character's go-with-the-flow nature because "she's a lawyer and nothing fazes her" got old quickly. It was too unrealistic in that regard, so much so it was hard to suspend reality for a while and get sucked into the story. But the story did have massive potential. I am a little tempted to try the next books in the series, but I'm also mostly not. This is a very short read and it took me a long time to get through it. Long time means this just wasn't for me and it would be in my best interest to try other books instead of continuing on with this series.

Don't expect to be able to put this one down

I am an avid fan f Alice in wonderland tales and when this one was recommended by one of my reader groups I decided to give it a chance, I am far from disappointed!

The characters and plot line sucked me in faster than expected and I don't regret my lack of sleep due to this book. My only upset is knowing I have to wait for the next installment.

Seriously worth the price and lack of sleep.

I enjoyed this retelling a lot actually. I'm not a horror person, but even though this book was labeled as horror, it wasn't over the top or too gruesome to me (and I'm a major wuss).

This book is adult in nature, the main characters do have sex but it wasn't in-depth in its descriptions so I wouldn't label it as erotic.

I loved that this was a fantasy novel with an adult main character. Clara is in her 30s and I found that I really liked that fact more than anything else. It was nice to read a book that went into world building and had an adult character to really push that just because one is an adult, they can't still have adventures. She was a lawyer who fought for the underdogs and this translated well into her role in Wonderland. To me she expressed healthy emotions. Yes she cried at different points, but it made sense and didn't come across as her being a weak, sniveling female character and I'm thankful the author didn't portray her as an emotionless woman either that can be seen too often as trying to hard to make the woman appear tough. She was a female and had emotions like even other human and they were expressed healthily and appropriately. I've read some reviews that she fell in love too fast (it was after two days) but with how fast paced this book was it made sense. It was written to be a somewhat standalone novel between the Hatter and Clara so I wasn't expecting some epic wooing on the Hatter's part.

Hatter was definitely not the animated Disney hatter I grew up with but he wasn't necessarily the Johnny Depp hatter that I have come to love either. He was a new rendition of the character entirely and I loved getting to know him.

I think this book could have been longer, I felt that the climax was rushed. So much emphasis was put on Clara being the first one in a prophecy for how to save Wonderland. I understand that, as Wonderland is dying so of course it needs saving and since Clara is new to Wonderland she needs to hear this prophecy and understand it and find ways to achieve it. But when it came to the part she was supposed to fulfill, I felt the author rushed through it. It was so much build up, for it to be resolved in one chapter and it didn't seem quite as fulfilling.

There were grammatical errors, but not a lot and it didn't deter me from reading. The biggest grammatical error was capitalization in that some words would be capitalized for one sentence and two sentences later they weren't. It felt like the author was trying to emphasize them, but then either didn't remember doing so or it was just all accidental.

The world building was done well in my opinion. Wonderland was never a place I wanted to go and after reading this book, it still isn't on my list of fantasy places to travel (I'll stick with Hogwarts thank you very much).

I would recommend this book to adult/older readers who like fantasy books, Wonderland, world building, and romance.

This could have been so much more. There was so much potential.

Look, I'm a sucker for anything Alice in Wonderland. Whether it's a retelling or loosely inspired on it, I will be interested. This book didn't quite capture me at the start. Alice being the vilain is unique, but also kind of ruins one of my favourite Alice characters, so yeah, there's that

Obviously, this book focuses on the Mad Hatter. There's a whole lot of him, and or female lead, Clara, mentioning he is mad, but there's very little in his actions to show us that. He seems pretty normal, with the exception of the occasional ryhmes.
Clara is decent, although she does talk about her 'darkness' and I never saw any darkness of her. Ever.
My favourite character was Cheshire (are we even surprised at this point? I guess I'm just destined to love Cheshire in any and all Wonderland books), so when we got to the prophecy and I realised there would be a book about him, I was super happy. Am I going to read it? Not sure yet.
White was barely there, but seemed interesting enough (and the next book is about him), so that was fun. I don't usually like the white rabbit all that much.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum seemed super interesting, but we barely learn anything about them. Their description is the most intruiging so I wish we learned more about them.

The story was okay. After I got into it, it got better, but once the romance got going the plot kind of seemed to take a backseat, only coming back at the end. So I guess I could say I liked the middle part? There's no push to keep on reading, because I didn't quite connect to the world. It's description felt a bit flat, with lots of repetition (lots of dripping, usually blood).

I wish this scary wonderland was scarier. There were some really good descriptions at the start of the book that intruiged me, but they were quickly destroyed by the authors need to fill in the blanks anyway, as if the readers are too stupid to figure it out. (The table cloth for example. A description followed by "there's only one thing it could be." I liked that, I really liked that. Then in the next paragraph she decides 'no, maybe my description wasn't clear enough anyway, I'll just tell you what it was in case you couldn't figure it out.'). Let readers figure things out on their own. You don't have to spell everything out.
I wish there was more focus on the plot. I wish the romance was less insta-lust?/insta-love and more actual romance. I wish there was more actual character growth. It was enjoyable enough, but I just wish it was more.

I liked this a lot!

I'm a bit of a sucked for dark fairy tale re-tellings, and Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourites to re-tell.

Despite everything happening quite quickly without a massive about if build up (usually my main grip with books that are under 200 pages) I enjoy d the plot and the characters.

The concept is a cool one: three women are prophesied to bring about the end of the evil Red Queen of Hearts (who this is is revealed at the start) and each will fall in love with a Son of Wonderland (three of the original characters who's fate is linked to Wonderland - these being the Hatter, White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat) and join together to fulfill the prophesy.

Clara Bee was a good character, who was in her thirties! Not normally have a heroine who isn't in her early twenties, so that was a nice a change, and he age shows with a maturity and the kind of no nonsense attitude where she takes things in her stride. The Hatter was intriguing as well, although I possibly would have liked him a little darker. For all him 'madness' he didn't seem that bad. But their romance was sweet and I liked it despite feeling a bit rushed.

The Wonderland setting is delightfully creepy and filled with horror; I just wish we'd got to explore more of it.

While this hasn't quite cured my book hangover from reaching Stunich's RH alternative Alice series, it was an enjoyable read I'd recommend to fans of dark re-tellings!