I apologize, I DNF this book at 28% I wasn’t captured. I may try again at a later date. I love Alice in Wonderland, but for some reason I couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’m not in the right headspace, because I truly wanted to enjoy this book.

Alice in Wonderland is one of my all time favourite books/movies and this captured everything I love about the original Alice.

Very gripping and couldn’t put the book down!

Some fun and gore in the magical world of Alice in Wonderland. The retellings of Alice are a bit out of fashion for me at this point, but this one does try to set itself apart in a rather violent fashion. Not a bad read, just not a standout one.

I love Alice retellings and this one was wonderful! I really enjoyed the aspect of Alice being in an asylum!

This was a DNF for me, and will not be going on my blog. I am such a huge Lewis Carroll and Alice and Wonderland fan, and I do not think that this jived well with the original work. What I did like initially was the unique take on the existence of Wonderland from a asylum perspective, but I got a bit perturbed at how Alice was treated regarding mental health. Aside from that, all the whimsy was gone from this, which is something that has made the original a lasting classic. The characters were a bit cookie-cutter, and generic YA characters. They lacked the complexity of the original. The plot was good initially but then fell flat, and the novel overall just ended up being a bit bland and generic for me.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book. I tried several times to engage with the characters, but although the concept was both compelling and well-conceived, I couldn’t connect with the story enough to push through it. Now, more than year after I first started it, I’ve given up trying. This Alice tale just wasn’t my cup of tea.

As an Alice fan I really enjoyed this book a lot, as we see her thought crazy by her peers, even if she knows she's not
as she goes down the rabbit hole once again to scape the new hospital she's being sent.

Had no problem with the pacing or H.J.'s characterization!

I am a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland and am always interested in a re-imagining, but this one could not seem to keep my interest. I enjoyed the writing style and found it to be similar to the original stories tone, but the plot was slow for me and I didn’t connect to the characters.

I received an advanced copy of Ever Alice from NetGalley and the publishers - this has not affected my review.

Let me preface this review by stating that I love the world of Wonderland and most adaptations of Alice.

From the synopsis and other reviews, I was highly anticipating getting to this book, but I felt incredibly let down whilst reading it. With the set up of the mental institution in the real world, I was anticipating something along the lines of Suckerpunch (the movie); however, the conclusion of this aspect of the book fell with a whimper rather than a bang. There was so much potential for a truly dark and gritty ending, but it honestly felt like it had been forgotten about and the author suddenly remembered she needed to conclude the real world thread of the plot.

I found Wonderland fell flat of all my expectations, all the whimsy that it was known for was completely gone. Take away the Queen of Heart's childish personality and the contrarian meaning of some words (e.g. unwelcome means welcome etc), you end up with a very generic fantasy kingdom with not that many fantastical elements.

The characters were also quite two dimensional and lacked any complexity. Some of them, like Lillian the rat when she was reintroduced, felt like they were forgotten about and didn't really seem to serve much of a purpose. Alice and Rosamund didn't feel like they had much character development between the two of them throughout the book.

Throughout the book, I felt that the author did a good job of setting up different plot points, only to have them fall completely flat when she tried to carry them out. As stated above with the real world thread of the plot, it felt very rushed and clumsy when the different plot points came together and concluded.

Additionally, some of her nods to irl figures just seemed to be too on the nose - with Lady Godiva and Marilyn Montague, who was basically Marilyn Monroe during her heyday. I felt like they didn't really serve a purpose to the plot and it only served to break what little immersion I had in Ramsay's version of Wonderland.

I had doubts about whether this could mesh with the Carroll original, but it is a very interesting take on the story with an older Alice returning to Wonderland. Hats off to the author - very well considered, beautifully crafted and one I will read time and time again.

The premise made me think of one of my most favorite video games - Alice: Madness returns. Sadly, the premise is the only thing of this book I enjoyed.


I'm not sure what exactly was so bad for me, but I just couldn't stomach this book. It took me MONTHS to go through. Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's the authors own version of Alice. When I read retellings I expect books to have at least some canon platform but here it's like author invented everything other than characters' names.

The dual POV doesn't help. Alice is boring. QoH is annoying and repetitive.

All in all, didn't enjoy it.

It took me a while to get invested in this book but overall was a good story. I will say it was darker than I anticipated but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing! The characters weren't as fleshed out as I would have liked, which is part of what keeps in from 4 stars.

I have no clue why it took me so long to read this book.

HJ Ramsay made it so like the Lewis Carol classic that I had to take breaks to completely understand what I had just read. The descriptions was wording and language was absolutely amazing, I completely loved it.

The turns it took were very unexpected. The premise that Ramsay took to the “Alice” persona was incredible. The way I suspect people in Carol’s time would have actually reacted.

It was incredible.

I am a big Alice in Wonderland fan, so I was keen to read this continuation of her story. Some parts of the novel were great, like the way that the author really seemed to capture the quirkness and whimsy of Wonderland itself. That being said, I did feel that the 'wonder' part of Wonderland didn't fully get met here - it's supposed to be a place where unexpected and wonderous things happen, and I didn't quite get that here.

Alice herself wasn't as Alice-like as I expected her to be, and the pacing for the whole novel felt off.

Another thing that bothered me with the book was the inclusion of Marilyn Monroe. I did not see any point in including her in a book about Alice in Wonderland. She served no real purpose except to replicate her rendition of 'Happy Birthday, Mr President' and it just felt disjointed and unnecessary.

Overall, it was an okay read.

I am such a fan for all things Alice in Wonderland! The amount of different takes and reimagining's of this classic tale that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed, is something that I am not ashamed of. So, when I saw Ever Alice by H.J. Ramsay on NetGalley, I jumped at the opportunity to request it and read it. What made this even better is that this book is pretty much a sequel to the original Alice books and what happened to Alice and everyone afterwards. 

This book follows Alice now that she is older, 15, and still under the belief that Wonderland is real, worrying her family who believe that she has lost her mind. With Wonderland needing her back, with the White Rabbit trying to convince Alice that he's real and that her friends need her, Alice has a decision to make. 

I really enjoyed this version and found myself flying through the book with it's quick, quirky and easy writing. We get to go back and visit and see our favourite characters from the original, with a little difference, they all have different names! This was a little confusing at first. But once I had been reading for a while and from the brilliant character descriptions, you can easily figure out who is who. This is another great example of how the writing was great, as you didn't have to have everything thrown at you. 

When I think of Alice in Wonderland, I do automatically think of the Lewis Carrol and the poetically writing of his and how he puts that together to creates the story that is Alice and the world that is Wonderland. Although H.J. Ramsay's style does work well, it isn't Carrol. There is definitely a strong attempt with the "opposite" words and I did appreciate that. 

Without spoilers, the ending is possibly the best part!

This was a really interesting take on a classic story, and while it wasn't my favourite, I did thoroughly enjoy it! I love Alice in Wonderland, so this was a fun read! (Also love the cover so much)

This was a very imaginative and unique take on a universally loved classic with well developed characters and plot.

A solid YA novel that was a good purchase for my library. Students have read and enjoyed it, and I purchased it because of this review copy.

Being a big fan of Lewis Carrol I knew I had to read this book. It is a clever continuation of the story and it adds new characters while remaining true to the original characters. While being very humorous I did find the pace slowed a little at times but it was a very good read.

Drink Me into oblivion. Ever Alice is an Alice's Adventures in Wonderland retelling which begins after the ending ends. That is to say, it begins not long after the ending of Lewis Carroll's novel, telling the story of what may have happened to Alice after leaving Wonderland. Mad indeed.

Unfortunately the story wasn't often engaging and I didn't find it the enjoyable, whimsical, fantastical read I expect from a Wonderland retelling. Overall the settings, characters, development, and story arcs were rather bland and tedious.