Death of the Mad Hatter (Twisted Fairytale Confessions, #1)

by Amanda Boer and Angelique Verver

[limabean74]

I am a HUGE fan of Fairytale Re-telling. I have read quite a few and have a long list of them I plan to read very soon. It is actually a book type I love to read other then YA and Middle Grade. Something about taking the fairytales we loved as kids and twisting them into something new and original giving them a different spin is fascinating to me. I love seeing how the story would go if done different. One of my favorite Fairytales to twist is Alice in Wonderland so when Sarah offered me this book to read and give an honest review I was super excited and couldn't wait to see what her wonderland was like.

Stories about Alice in Wonderland or just Wonderland itself can be a hard book to rewrite. I have seen it done very well. The Death of the Mad Hatter by Sarah J. Pepper completely blew me away.

The story revolves around two main characters Alice Mae and Ryley Edward Edgar. I absolutely loved Alice and Ryley, the chemistry they had was amazing it wasn't love at first sight (sort of) they really had to work for it. You can feel the confusion, the pain and the love they had for each other throughout the book. Ryley is your average teenage boy who gets whisked into a world that is complete and utter chaos and he must figure out how to survive in a world he never knew existed. He is adorable and really grows through the book and not from eating or drinking ;)

Alice is a fantastic character, she was my favorite, I loved her madness and how quirky she was. She screamed confusion in the way she talked. She had so many secrets and a big heart that I think she didn't even realize she had and pure innocents. I really think she is a fantastic "Alice" and she was written so well, she is not that Alice you remember but she is fantastic. I was also rather fond of Mr. Ruth but you can meet him yourself when you read the book. He is a very loyal Rumperbabbit :)

The Queen is after Ryley and she will search far and wide for him. She feels threatened and needs him to be eliminated. I think the queen was scary and someone I would not want to cross paths with. The Jack and Joker were just as creepy as you would think an evil person in Wonderland should be. It gave a twist to the book that I haven't seen done and It gave so much to the story. This is not the Alice you read as a kid, it's much darker.

The story is the part that really blew me away. Whatever you know about the original Wonderland put it aside because wow this is such an original take and such an amazing telling of this story. It was so WELL DONE!! Sarah did a fantastic job making wonderland her own, taking a place we all know and making it so different and original but with the same madness and nonsensical chaos that is suppose to come from wonderland. I absolutely loved it and I loved her wonderland. The beginning I was a little confused but as the story progressed and when the present and past come together it become very clear what is going on and all your questions are pretty much answered. The ending was such shock I really didn't see it coming. I think my favorite part of the story was the romance between the two characters or was it the secrets. You know what it was? The entire story, I loved it.

I gave this book 5/5 stars, I recommend this to anyone who loves a great story with fantastic characters, A story that will keep you thinking about it even after you put it down, I'm sure I will be thinking of this 3 months from now and recommending to anyone who will listen to me. I wish the story would continue I really want to spend more time in her version of Wonderland.

I am really looking forward to reading more from Sarah she is a wonderful storyteller and I want to spend more time in the worlds she creates :)

more reviews at http://love2readalways.blogspot.com