This was a really neat retelling! The book takes place years after the original, when Alice is 15 and she once again follows the white rabbit back to Wonderland. I loved Alice in Wonderland growing up so I was excited about this.

At first I didn’t quite know if I would like this but once Alice went back to Wonderland I was hooked. I just had to keep reading to find out what happens to Alice and the fate of Wonderland.

All your favorite characters are back such as the Queen of Hearts, the white rabbit, the Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire Cat. There are some new characters too that you'll learn about!

I really liked that the book was told from both Alice and the Queen of Hearts’ perspective. Having the queen’s point of view was very enlightening. It gave her character more complexity and dimension from previous versions.

I found that the style and tone of the book was a good continuation of the original. The retelling keeping with the spirit of the original while offering a unique twist.

Overall, I really enjoyed this Alice retelling. If you love Alice in Wonderland, give this book a try!

You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

Actual rating of 3.5

Did you ever wonder what happened to Alice once she escaped Wonderland? What the conversations following her ordeal must have been like? Look no further. In this story, Alice is fifteen years old, and she still remembers everything about Wonderland. This in turn finds her admitted to an asylum by her parents to help deal with these delusions she keeps speaking about, and they must be quick about it because Alice's sister Mary is to be married, and Alice is expected to attend. So when Alice's regular Doctor is unable to fix her, he seeks the help of a colleague in Europe, who has been trialing a new procedure to help with madness. Alice is terrified, she doesn't want the procedure, but there's no way out of it, until the White Rabbit appears and grants her an escape. Now back in Wonderland, Alice finds herself immersed into the world that everyone told her was not real, only this time, things are different. This time Alice has been beseeched by the Aboveground Organisation to take out the Queen of Hearts...Will she be able to do it before it's Off With Her Head?

I was pretty excited when my request for this ARC was accepted. This story then proceeded to sit on my kindle for around twelve odd months because I over-requested last year and ended up with so many ARCs to get through. What excited me about the premise of this story was that it reminded me a lot of a game I played in my youth called American McGees Alice. In which, the game opens with Alice's house burning down and her becoming committed to an asylum because, from memory, I think her parents died in the fire. In the game, Wonderland was severely warped and wasn't the quirky and fantastical place of the original story, it was cut throat, terrifying and downright broken in what it had become. So I was kind of hoping that this would be similar to that. In a way, it kind of was, but for the most part, it was nothing like what I had hoped, but that's okay.

There are some gruesome parts to this wonderland, but for the most part it jumps between "something's not right" to childish in parts. But I feel that this may have been the intention of the author. The Queen of Hearts comes across incredibly childish, and we're not actually privy to her age or anything, so I had this bizarre image of a woman in her 50s with the mind of a 10 year old, basically. For some reason though, this really worked for the story, because what is more terrifying than a ruler who has the mindset of a child?

The 'quirkiness' of Wonderland was still there in this story, however, I found it to be somewhat warped, not to the extend of my beloved American McGees, but warped none the less. The story itself managed to give the feeling of unease and discomfort with it's descriptions of foul smelling and tasting teas, scratchy blankets, prickly pillows and lumpy mattresses. So I feel like the slight spin that Ramsay put on their version of Wonderland did come through in the execution.

One of the twists I had picked virtually from the beginning when Alice is first escaping back to Wonderland from the asylum in Europe. However, I hadn't picked ALL of the twist, so one part of it did come as a surprise in a rather circular way (I'm not going to go any further into this or give comparisons to what it's similar to as I feel like this blows the biggest twist in the book).

The story is told through third person perspective, alternating between Alice and Rosamund the Queen of Hearts. Alice came across rather flat for me, and more like a plot device than a character, which I was a little disappointed about. There were a lot of characters, and they were all given screen time, I just felt as though Alice didn't come across as the protagonist the way she should have considering it's a continuation of her story. But the more I think about it, I feel like this was done for a reason and has to do with that big twist I was talking about so I'm gonna shut up about it now. One character I didn't quite understand was Marilyn Montague, I don't really understand her purpose in the story or why she was a carbon copy of Marilyn Monroe...maybe I missed something?

The biggest problem I had with this book was the pacing. For the first half, it was incredibly slow going, and while things were happening, they just weren't that interesting. I considered DNFing at around 28% but decided to stick with it, and I'm glad that I did because once you get past the 50% mark, I felt like the story really picked up the pace and I became invested in what was going on.

All in all, this was an interesting extension of Alice's story and I really enjoyed reading Ramsay's take on what life possibly could have been for Alice after her escapades in the original story. If you find yourself struggling in the first half, do try and push through because the ending is worth it and I feel that the story really does pick up in the second half.

I received this book as an eARC for free in exchange for an honest review via Red Rouge Press and Netgalley.

I was really excited to read this retelling of the alice in wonderland story I loved as a kid ever since I watched the movie for the first time. And it started off very promising with the descriptions of wonderland that seemed to really show the reader the weirdness of it all. That being said I think where the book fell flat was in the plot where there seemed to be a lack of a driving motivation moving everything forward. I also feel like the queen's character though intriguing at times, never really went that far past mustache twirling super evil villian character.

If you love worldbuilding this could be a great read for you, but being a plot loving reader myself, this was a miss.

Alice's belief in the white rabbit and her adventures in Wonderland cause her family to think she has gone mad and send her to an asylum. There she starts seeing the rabbit again, who gives her the chance to escape from the asylum and return to Wonderland. The Queen is out of control, constantly ordering heads chopped off and the rabbit needs Alice's help to kill her.
The point of view switched between Alice and Queen Rosamund so fast that it was hard to keep track of either side of the story. It has some of the whimsy of Alice in Wonderland though it doesn't work quite as well as in the original.

Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

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.

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.