Splintered (Splintered Series #1) (Volume 1)

Dark & Delicious
One thing I really loved about this book was how dark it was. It took the fanciful, beautiful, wondrous Wonderland (;p) and corrupted the Hell out of it! It became a land full of grotesque creatures, dark backstories and motives, and more intrigue than I could have expected from a fairytale retelling. Not only did it emulate the original world, but it also embellished and broadened Wonderland to make it its own world. Loved it!

Female Incompetence
Alright. I didn’t want to comment on this, but I feel it’s necessary because it bugged the bejeebus out of me while reading. That would be: the men. All the men in this book are just like: “I know what’s best for you. You just sit in this chair, let me do the talking, and don’t make any decisions for yourself.” Thus making Alyssa a pawn, which, unfortunately, made it feel as though Alyssa was not doing anything so much as allowing things to happen to her. I would have liked her being a more active character because she did have a strong personality.

Realistic in the Unrealistic
This probably sounds quite strange, especially given that Wonderland is known for being ‘unrealistic’ and a bit topsy-turvy, but this story was realistic. Every aspect of the world, the plot, the characters was realistic. They made sense and didn’t simply fall to the whims of the fantastical and nonsensical. Thus, the story, though littered with ‘crazy’ was easy to understand and follow, which made it all the more enjoyable to read.

Jeb
Jeb… What do I say about Jeb? You mean, besides the fact that he’s a control freak? Other than he believes Alyssa is weak and can’t make any decisions on her own? Ignoring when he continued to act like a self-righteous, pompous, know-it-all?! Yeah… not sure what to say about Jeb.

Morpheus
Ah. Morpheus. The dark, brooding, mischievous, delicious, broken, wonderful Morpheus. He comes across as one of the ‘antagonists’ in this story and rightfully so because of how he screwed over Alyssa’s family. However, no matter how many things he did wrong or how many times he screwed up, I couldn’t not love him! He’s soooo… I don’t even know! I just loved him. Probably because he wasn’t a self-righteous ass (see above)!

Currently reeling in from being spun around like a spinning top. Finishing this book has left me feeling some kind of magical.
Alyssa is a descendent of the little girl Alice that inspired Lewis Carol's books. History has it that the bloodline of this family mainly the females are all mad starting with her great great grandmother. Alyssa find herself feeling different and expericing things differently. She then stumbles across a family secret that shakes her world, topsy turveys it (upside down or back into place?) All in the reader's perspective.
I like how the author creates this person (Alyssa), her "likes" became mine, her aches became mine as well.
I find myself guitlily enjoying her love triangle that she is in. I was constantly swaying between this guy and that. I dont want to spoil anything for anyone, but yeah she has to kinda choose. But darnit did i love the process! lol Even at the end of the book with all these adventures she encountered throughout the book still beautifully haunting her, and being that there are sequels I'm guessing my vicarious curiosity will be satiated in that aspect.

So yeah, I reaaaally liked this book, not my usual contemporary romance new adult genre, but enough attraction from characters to dip my toe into this realm of fantasy reads.
I liked it enough that i ordered the next one.
That's a big deal for me.

Absolutely amazing. I'm addicted to the series. Usually, I'm torn between the M.C's love life. But, I got closure

DNF. Archaic, inaccurate, toxic

I listened to this on Audible and absolutely loved the narration! There was just a little too much description and detailing for me.