While not strictly a retelling, Take Your Medicine is instead like an AU that has these characters interacting with each other; the story is very much rooted in a contemporary setting though it often feels like it could be an urban fantasy. Alice has an illness that causes her to faint at moments of high emotion, which is why her mother, the Queen of Hearts, has her sequestered into a cottage during the summer, where Alice can catch up on her studies leisurely, and free from surprise distractions. Her daily routine involves maintaining the garden and orchards on the property, and on one such day she comes across Rabbit and Kat (they are nicknames, chill), two witches living at the edge of the property in a trailer. Alice's mother doesn't approve of their practice, so she forbids Alice from trying out their remedies for her illness, but out of curiosity and boredom, she goes to meet with them regularly. Soon, she also meets other friends of theirs, while also hoping that Rabbit's cure actually works.

The story has the quirky magic of Alice in Wonderland, in that it feels directionless like the original. (This is a compliment, mind you) Alice's meeting with them brings her new experiences, and a little understanding of chemistry and magic colliding. The romance is subtle, and develops spontaneously, though it is a little bit 'love at first sight'. Alice's experiences with a chronic illness, and people's reactions to it is also something the author brings out well. Ultimately, though, if you ask me how satisfying the story is at the end, I would say - it isn't really. The ending feels abrupt, and dare I say, open-ended? The introduction of the other characters didn't feel all that relevant to the plot either; it felt like they were there to insert 'Wonderland' characters into the plot. Alice's mother becomes more understanding, but it still feels like it could have developed into a more extensive story, even with the slice of life feels it gave me.

I'll be honest. I'm not an Alice in Wonderland fan. I do however find alternate retellings of Alice in Wonderland to be interesting, but only SOMETIMES. I dunno, I just find the story kind of... boring? Maybe it's because it was already so over saturated in media by the time it got to me? WHATEVER. This novella pricked my interest because Alice Lidell (I see what you did there) is 1] queer af, 2] has a chronic illness and is disabled and, 3] isn't white! She's actually a queer, chronically ill black girl! And also 3.5] this is kinda southern gothic and I am sucker for gothic anything. I was a Mall Goth. The aesthetic never leaves you.

OK SO! The blurb basically explains it all, Alice has a fainting disorder that is actually quite dangerous but she often pushes herself as her surgeon mother still can't find a cure and of course that can be extremely irritating for a teen that just wants to Live.

She often does the gardening with her mother in the morning and one particular day she ends up following some girls in the forest/swamp and they convince her that they can fix her with ~magic and witchcraft~. Not gonna lie, this first part of the novella - probably more of a novelette - is a bit confusing. I've read shorts before that set the scene pretty well so you don't get too confused, but I don't think that was executed too well here.

At the end of the day I did enjoy this little short, but it did feel a bit unfinished and like it still needed a bit more work. I wish it was a bit longer too! I wanted to know more about Kat and Rabbit, (get it.. like the cheshire cat and the white rabbit..) and even Al's mother! The ending also felt a bit rushed to me and that it was fixed so easily? Like we finally reached this moment and it was gone before I even exhaled.

Anyway it's worth a read if you enjoy Alice in Wonderland things, or are looking for a short fluffy WLW-F/F story about a disabled black girl. Also that cover is so beautiful. I'm nothing if not incredibly vain when it comes to book covers.

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I ended up putting this one down halfway through. I did not connect woth the main character as I felt she was quite whiny and this may have been down to her age or me but I just didn't care about her. The premise was interesting though and I liked Carmack used the language as it displayed a warmth and intrigue for the story.

I couldn’t finish this book. It just wasn’t for me. I appreciate receiving the ARC. I will not make any public reviews as it is not fair to review a book I didn’t finish.

Hannah Carmack
f/f, Young Adult
2 stars

I received an ARC of Take Your Medicine in exchange for an honest review.

This is a modern-day contemporary inspired by Alice in Wonderland. It has a dash of romance but mostly focuses on the narrator, a girl named Al (short for Alice), and her strange fainting spells that modern medicine have failed to cure.

Hannah Carmack’s prose was lush and descriptive, and this is the strength of the story. Alice cultivates a beautiful garden with her mother, and I love nature writing. Carmack brings us into the back country and the setting sings. Everything else...doesn’t sing so much.

I saw a review that complained about Take Your Medicine’s lack of plot, and I was eager to read the story immediately, because I quite like plotless books. However, when I finished this one, I was left thinking: What was the point of that? The writing was descriptive but didn’t wow me enough to be worth reading on its own. I recognize that it’s a novella, but the characterization felt flimsy even for its short length. Okay writing, not-quite-memorable characters, not much of a plot: What is the point?

Al’s new friends and the love interest are self-proclaimed witches who think they can cure her Vasovagal syncope, while her mother is a doctor.

“And how were [the witches going to cure you]? Some sage and lilacs?” [Mother] rolled her eyes. “Naturalists like that are dangerous.”

The point seems to be an argument between modern medicine and homeopathic cures, science and magic. I’m totally uninterested in this debate.

Also, in this retelling all of the characters have names inspired by Alice in Wonderland, which was really the only thing that reminded me of the story at all: the mom is nicknamed the Queen of Hearts, then there’s Kat (Cheshire cat), Rabbit, the TD twins, and Alice herself. Okay, great. But at one point Alice’s mom tells her that she was named after the protagonist of Lewis Carroll’s story, and it kind of jolted me, because I had assumed that Alice in Wonderland didn’t exist within the world of this story, or else Alice would have stopped to wonder why everyone in her life is named after a character in the book.

Overall, this story is about homeopathy, which I am totally not on board for. Hannah Carmack also wrote The Seven-Sided Spy, which I was interested in picking up, but the pedantry in this novella makes me a little wary.

Buy the book

I requested this book on NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book and to be honest I have nothing bad to say about it. It was a light, quick read, not thought provoking but that would definitely make your day.

One aspect that I enjoyed about this book was the mother-daughter relationship. The bond between Al and Laura is so strong and beautiful and it will melt your heart for sure. You can just see how much they care and respect each other and even though sometimes they do not disagree on some things they do not let that come between them. I liked Al a lot because she is so real and she doesn't let her condition dictate her life.
The writing style was great, respecting the southern accent and the southern way of talking. It was easy to follow it and I didn't have any problem regarding not understanding words or phrases.
The romance in this book was slow burn and it started as a friendship, Rabbit wanting to help Al with her condition. It is a girl-girl relationship and it felt very real, no elements of magic in it or forced love.

All of this being said, I really recommend this book if you are looking for a light contemporary that includes a beautiful relationship between a mother and her daughter and a cute lesbian story.

Fantastic take on Alice in Wonderland. I how this story took a fresh look at an old story. The characters were fun and it made for a great afternoon read. looking forward to more from this author. I enjoyed the F/F addition, and while not central to the story was delightful. For everyone who has ever suffered a frustrating chronic illness I think much of this story will ring true.

I didn’t enjoy the book, it was too dark for me once she hooked up with the witchcraft and undesirables.

*i was given an e arc by netgalley and Nine Star Press in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. I normally really enjoy YA books, but this one didn’t do it for me. I feel that I may have enjoyed it more if I would have read it when I was younger and really into everything Alice in Wonderland. I found the story really boring and without much plot. I really wanted to love this , but unfortunately is only a 2 star read for me.

[Excerpt]:
Give me an Alice in Wonderland retelling any day, and I will one hundred and ten percent be there! Or anything Greek myth-related (Hades and Persephone YES) or in the vein of a fairy-tale (Beauty and the Beast, Maleficent GIMME). So when I first saw the cover, I thought, “What an interesting title. And the art is pretty.” And as soon as I read the synopsis about VVS and that it has Alice-in-Wonderland-esque vibes, I immediately requested a copy.

What I did not know was that this story is actually a “novella.” In my e-reader on my laptop, the book is only 107 pages. I had no idea this story was so short, and I was really surprised – can there really be a fully fleshed story in such a short amount of space? This normally wouldn’t be much of a problem on its own, but….this story is totally unrelated to any other book or series; it’s a novella, but a standalone.

The story, in essence, follows Alice, who lives in the prairieland of Alabama and was recently diagnosed with VVS, or in simple terms, a fainting disorder. When she experiences intense emotion (fear, surprise, love, excitement, anger), she tends to pass out. I at first had a hard time suspending my disbelief…until the part when Alice talks about how she’s supposed to go through life without really feeling. She has to be in control of her emotions at all times and suppress them, or else she’ll faint and possibly give herself a concussion or seizure. When put that way, I really felt for Alice and her condition and what dealing with VVS would mean for the rest of her life.
[Full review on my blog!]

This is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland set in the modern day with a magical realism element. Plus, there's an LGBT element in it! Doesn't that sound awesome? I thought so too, but once I really got into this novella my excitment withered away, because Take Your Medicine is just...boring. It's a boring story. Al has no character arc, the setting is neither wonderous nor intriguing and all the characters are as dull and uninteresting as drywall. It's so, so disappointing because I could see Carmack's ideas. I saw what she wanted to do with this story, what she was trying to say, but it just didn't come across as authentic. The novella is short, but it somehow feels both too long and suddenly very short. It's like she just kept writing and writing the first thoughts that came to her mind, but didn't add anything to the story, realized that, and panicked by shutting the whole thing down immediately. This novella is nothing more then words on a page and that is something that just disappoints me to no end.

I've thought about this a lot and I have realized I have literally nothing to say about this book. there is no character arc and no real plot and no real resolution and no real romance. this novella had no arc, no... anything?

I don’t even think I can write a full review. this was just... not even a novella. maybe a decent short story with good atmosphere and writing, but not a novella by any means. maybe the marketing should just be changed.

Take Your Medicine is a southern gothic retelling of Alice in Wonderland. Its main character, Alice Liddel, is a black girl with vasovagal syncope, a chronic illness that has no cure and makes her faint often. When she meets two girls who claim to be witches, she starts to wonder if they can help her find a cure.

I DNFed this book because the writing wasn’t working for me. I did like the descriptions – the atmosphere was perfect – but the dialogues felt forced, many scenes felt rushed, and the writing just didn’t flow well. Everything felt disconnected. I also don’t like when the characters’ accents are written in the dialogue, it always feels overdone.

When I say this is a book about witches, I don’t mean this is a book about magic, even if there’s a good amount of weirdness (it’s an Alice in Wonderland retelling, after all): this book is about holistic medicine, and in the part I read there was no magic. I only skimmed the second half, and I liked the ending, but I don’t know how I feel about the f/f romance because I didn’t really read it. I don’t know if this was long enough to develop it consistently, as it’s a novella and 20% of my ARC was actually an excerpt from another book.

Apart from the atmosphere, the only thing I liked about this was the chronic illness representation: it felt real. There’s a scene in which the main character tells another person there’s a thing people do that makes her faint, and that other person immediately does it (a normal thing can hurt Alice! So funny!). I don’t have Alice’s illness, but I can say that this kind of reaction from people who think illnesses are no big deal is sadly very true.

3.25 Stars. This is a YA novella that is a modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland. The story is well written and sweet, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. I think if I was 16 years-old, I would have loved this. I would actually recommend this novella for people wanting sweet F/F stories that a young person could read. This is the type of book I wished would have been in my high school library back in the day.

When I read the blurb about this being Alice, with witches, I was looking for a real magical adventure. But that’s not what this book is. It’s actually realistic holistic medicine as compared to magic. It doesn’t make the book bad in anyway, it was actually interesting, I was just looking for something different.

On the good side, the book is well written. The setting of the south was fantastic. It’s so well described that you feel like you are actually there.

I’m not sure I would call this a romance, but the main character Al does have feelings for another character. It is very much at the beginning stages, but still sweet. I liked how Al’s sexuality was not a big deal. She had never had feelings for a girl before. She was asked if that was a problem that she does now, she said nope, and that was it. No long coming out process, it just was what it was. There was a refreshing youthful innocence about the whole thing.

The biggest issue really for me was the length. I knew this was a novella, but it felt like the story just abruptly ended. I was at the 80% mark in my Kindle, so I was extra caught off guard. I guess most things were resolved, but the ending just didn’t sit right.

While this was a well written story, it was not to my personal tastes as much as I hoped. I believe people will find this to be a very sweet story. As I mentioned above, if you are looking for a light lesfic story that a younger audience could read, this would be a good choice.

P.S. I just have to point out that the cover is beautiful. NineStar Press has been putting out some really good covers lately.

Cute modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland that I found quite confusing at the beginning but it developed a strange charm - the characters took some getting used to but then they're fascinating and I really liked how all of Carroll's iconic characters are clearly identifiable but the author also managed to turn them into new, original figures.