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Sep 26, 2015
When you’re related to Alice Liddell, be prepared, your life will literally turn upside down. Alyssa Gardener is the great-great-great granddaughter of the famous Alice Liddell. The one and only who inspired Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland book with her insane imagination. Except maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t insane or imaginary. Alyssa gets bullied at school, especially from Taelor, all because of her relationship with the insane lady. That someday she’ll end up like everyone else in her family- in an Asylum. Hated being made fun of, she isn’t alone. Neighbour, friend and secret crush Jebediah- Jeb- looks out for her, his intense green eyes, fiery red hair and an under-the-lip piercing makes everything better. Though Alyssa acts as if she’s completely normal, but she knows everyone is right, she is insane. Alyssa can talk to bugs and insects. She hears them everywhere and anytime, inspiring her unique collage pieces of bugs. Afraid of ending up like her mother, she always covers herself up to hide any resemblance to her mother, especially the one secret they have in common. But one fateful day, when she visits her mother, nothing goes as planned. When her mother realizes her secret she cautions Alyssa not to go looking for the Rabbit Hole or even go looking for anything related to wonderland, but it’s too late. After already finding a mysterious blue moth, nothing can be undone what’s been done, except one. Using the riddle her mother told her, Alyssa brings the feather, white gloves, Alice in Wonderland book and more Except, she can only prepare herself so much. In an epic adventure in fixing Wonderland, Alyssa can’t believe her eyes from what she sees- Wonderland is farfetched from the Lewis Carroll story. I guess that what you get from trusting and eight-year-old- but before she can get started on fixing Alice’s mistakes and reversing the curse on her family, she somehow brings Jeb into this wreck. As they travel around Wonderland, guided by Morpheus- Alyssa’s childhood, directly from Wonderland, who may or may not be telling the truth- she can help think, what else did Alice get wrong? As Morpheus talks about they’re childhood and how he taught her everything she knew, Alyssa is overwhelmed by confusion. As secrets are uncovered and lies are told, questions pop up from every possible way. Why are her memories of Morpheus foggy? Why are they cursed? Who cursed them? How do you break the curse? Why did Alice think she was stuck in a bird cage for eighty years of her life, when she has a family? And most of all, who’s lying to who? In this epic twisted tale about Wonderland, you could never look at life the same. A.G Howard made a very impressive story for her first time book. The raw depth of the characters seem to really get to me. How everybody’s life isn’t perfect, but it’s when you realize it and realize you can’t fully change the past, but move on and make the best of the rest of your life, it’s really quite spectacular. The imagination it took to sew this book together, page by page, is surreal. I love the warped storyline. How everything can change in perspective depending on the age. I found the huge plot twist phenomenal- its genius! Though I found the beginning a little slow, I still definitely recommend this incredible book.