This book is so hard to rate because on one hand it was just okay but that ending turned it into something else entirely that I really enjoyed but is that enough to save it?

“Ever Alice” finds our infamous heroine trapped behind the walls of an asylum and with a new treatment threatening to take away her memories of Wonderland she finds herself thrown back into the looking glass and on a secret mission to kill the Queen of Hearts.

So this book sets up an interesting idea that’s been played with in other works of fiction and the one that stands out most in my mind is an episode in season 6 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” where the lines between fantasy and reality blur and you’re left wondering which world is real.

Wonderland was just as maddening as it’s original interpretation though there were some choices that left me scratching my head, most notably was the random Marilyn Monroe character. I got her as someone who was supposed to play that role in the story but what was with the very on the nose similarities between the two? It felt really strange especially since the author was going for a bit of a Wizard of Oz “it wasn’t a dream it was a place and you were there, and you were there...” type feel only with Monroe being born well after the year in which this takes place. I don’t know that was too sharp of a contrast for me and I found myself snapping out of the world whenever she made an appearance.

Like I said above this book is just okay and it’s not until the last few chapters that it became something I really enjoyed and maybe I need to reread it and see how much or little foreshadowing is in the book leading up to the reveal but as of now I’m sticking with my rating.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**

This book was received as an ARC from Red Rogue Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I always love renditions of my favorite fairy tale Alice in Wonderland. This one however took kind of a dark twist where society has labeled Alice as insane and admitted her into an insane asylum. Her friend that helped her escape to Wonderland in the first place the White Rabbit escapes her again from the Asylum and she is ordered now in the Queen's court and ordered again to kill the Queen and reign as the new Queen of Wonderland. This out of all the renditions I have read in my career has to be my favorite because it had so much action and conflict that it became edge of your seat excitement and not want to be put down.

We will consider adding this title to our YFantasy collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Fun and quirky, Ever Alice by H.J. Ramsay takes you on a wonderful adventure through the House of Hearts and the upside down world of Wonderland. Nothing is normal for Alice. Put in a mental hospital for her crazy ramblings about a white rabbit with a stop watch, she, unlike her mother, father, and sister, knows deep down that she's not mad.

Forced to transfer to a different hospital that participates in cruel tactics that 'treats' their patients, Alice is scared out of her mind and desperate to go home. The rabbit appears just in time to whisk her away to the palace of hearts, which is full of interesting people and creatures—"from the flower pickers to the pillow stuffers, from the pillow stuffers to the icing makers, from the icing makers to the tea stirrers, from the tea stirrers to the envelope lickers, and so on and so forth."

What I love most about this book is that we get inside the head of the villain just as much as the heroine. The Queen of Hearts is a character I absolutely love to hate. With her crazy ramblings and delusional beheading tendencies how can I not? Everyone should give this book a try! With the subtle and witty humor, I promise you'll get a good laugh.