I'm a big Alice in Wonderland fan, and this book piqued my interest with its cover (I love the simple yet effective design!) and the blurb.

And I wasn’t disappointed.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I especially liked the ending, even though it was really sad. The "full circle" aspect was there in a very chilling way.

The story oscillates between a third-person-limited POV of Alice and then the Queen of Hearts, Rosamund. Rosamund is delightfully written–she’s unpredictable, prone to fits of passion, and overall ridiculous. Some may complain that Alice is written “too young” for a fifteen year old, but at the start of the book, she has spent three years in isolation in a mental asylum, so it makes sense that her development was slowed by lack of human interaction.

I also liked how the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter were incorporated in as Royal Advisors Ralph and William. It made the story more connected without being too convenient.

Some of the other characters, though, deserved more! Pedro’s connection was milky for most of the story, and Thomas….I definitely wanted a little more out of him. His motivations were never really clear.

While I enjoyed that the book kept things quite “Wonderland-esque”, with animals being able to talk, games from the original book, Rosamund’s propensity to behead people, some things were too far, or not explained. It seemed like in some spots, there was weirdness just for the sake of being weird, and not for the plot. I also didn’t like that there was a character named Marilyn Montague who was an actress. Too convenient, sorry.

Overall, though, the writer did a great job of making a whimsical yet sobering book–dark but not too dark–and making beloved Wonderland their own. It may not be a life changing tome or the best thing I’ve ever read, but I definitely enjoyed it and wanted to keep reading to know what happened next.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the idea that Alice is was crazy and was in an Assylaum. I wish more of the setting would have been there I thought it was a good idea. I think H.J. Ramsay was able to pull off the same type of writing style as the original Alice in Wonderland which made it feel like a sequel. There were parts that were slow or I wished some characters like the Mad Hatter were different, but overall was a fun read!

Good use of original story and the characters.
I think possibly just to whacky for me,and I just found it slightly irritating.

Ever Alice by H.J Ramsay is a sequel to the story of Alice which we all know from Alice in Wonderland.

Thankyou so much Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC .

Ever Alice refers the originals as past events happened and now Alice has landed in an asylum. The doctor is a cruel person who made her parents believe that she has to be admitted and needs some different therapeutic treatments. Alice wanted to escape from there and one day she escaped with the White Rabbit to the Wonderland and trades one mad house for another. In this story she takes orders from the queen of hearts and finds herself in a wrong side.

It was really a great read in which we gets inside the head of villian as just as Alice.The queen of heart is a character which I loved much. The Wonderland is as crazy as the original stories and Queen of Hearts is very much crazy with her ramblings and delusions.
I disliked some parts where randomly added characters have introduced and the characterization was just felt like a budding flower. Not well characterized Hatter too can be seen which I really dislike. Some of the Alice's chapters were also stretched too much which made boring to me.

The whole book is good with lots of twists and turns. Eventhough it was slow at first by the end there were so many unexpected twists and turns made the story to give 3.5 stars.

I thought Ever Alice was well done and almost provided as a sequel to Alice in Wonderland if you ignored Alice Through the Looking Glass. It did share some plot points of Through the Looking Glass both book and movie (Tim Burton version). While there have been many books that take on Carroll's iconic characters, I have never seen any version outside of his take his plot as solidly as Ever Alice did. While time has passed and characters have evolved, they are still familiar to any Wonderland fans. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it, but I do feel it was struggling to find a solid plot line and felt a little rushed at the end. I have no idea if this is intended to be a series or if there will be a second book, but there was enough left on the table that I feel Ramsey could expand the Wonderland universe even further.

Ever Alice

This is sort of a sequel to the story of the Alice we know. It begins with Alice being sent to an asylum because she believed in wonderland. It refers to the originals as past events rather than repeat them which I liked. When she is there the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. The book leaves it open to which world is real. I did like that aspect but I also felt like it was just added in there to make the story a little different from others.

Things I liked.
It did respect and was similar to the original wonderland, full of nonsense. Wonderland was wonderful and the characters we know we're changed to fit in the wonderland in Ever Alice. Some changes I liked but others I didn't.
The Red Queen Rosamund, she was by far by favourite character. The chapters in her POV were great. She is very paranoid and so she should be because everyone wants the throne.
No on can be trusted in this book which was an aspect I liked. There are a few twists and turns in this book which I did not expect.

Things I disliked.
Randomly added character Marylyn Monroe, not sure why she was really there or why that name was used. Also the characterisation of some of the characters I also didn't really like for example The Hatter.
The romance - I'm not the biggest fan of romances but this felt like it was just thrown in there and i didn't really think it was needed.
Alice's chapters did bore me a little at the beginning but I stuck with it and it did get more interesting.

This is a book that overall I thought was just okay. This is a strange book, it felt like wonderland from the original while also feeling a little like a stranger. I didn't feel like it did anything new. If you really like the character of Alice then this book is for you.

Thank you netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh. My. Word.
I've loved this book from start to finish. It has moments light humour, moments I found myself chuckling away to myself, moments where I cried and moments where I was utterly shocked. I love retellings of Alice in Wonderland and Ramsay's style gives this story exactly what it needs in exactly the right places- hits the balance between light and dark and blows the reader away. The writing is so lewis-esque that is just a delight to read. Utterly fantastic - will be recommending this to everyone!!!!! Thank you so much

I wanted to love this continuation of such a beloved story. I gave it so many chances but in the end I had to skim read to get to the twist others had mentioned.
The issue with the book for me is that the tone and imagery jars with what I already know and expect of Wonderland.
This final shift would normally work if the plot and characters offered something new, however it’s been done before with Alice, Dorothy and even Buffy.
The book will find a willing and eager audience; fan favourites a back and relatively well written. Some of the book is told from the perspective of the Queen of Hearts and it is here where the narrative is at its strongest and kept me reading.

Loved this take on an old fairytale! Very imaginative and sequel like! Can’t wait to encourage my students to check out this Alice novel!!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderfully absurd take on Wonderland.

Alice is scheduled to be lobotomized after being institutionalized for talking about her adventures in Wonderland.

The White Rabbit rescues her and the adventure starts as Alice is tasked with killing the Queen of Hearts.

Ever Alice is a sequel/reimagining of the classic Alice in Wonderland story.

This was a fun and quirky book with a lot of twists and turns. However I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped. The book tried too hard to sound English but it was quite jarring the overuse of words like ‘Mum’ and American slang slipping in like ‘someplace’ and ‘gotten’. I wasn’t wxpecting the POV to focus so much on the Queen’s character and found her annoying (although that was the point!).

All in all this was a fun story and if you like reimaginings I’d definitely read it, but it didn’t hit the mark for me.

I received an arc of Ever Alice from Red Rogue Press in exchange for an honest review.

Ever Alice presents itself somewhat as a sequel to the original stories and refers to the originals as past events rather than retells them.
We’re presented with a story told from Alice’s point of view as well as the Queen of Heart’s view which was very refreshing and gave a brilliant contrast between the two characters.
This was an enjoyable read but as someone who is a big fan of retellings (with Alice as number one) I didn’t find it overall life changing but think as a book in it’s own right, ignoring the retelling aspect it’s a good read.
If you aren’t someone who is obsessed with everything Alice and rather someone who likes the sound of the story definitely pick this up.

I was incredibly impressed with how the writer managed to keep the level of madness in their writing consistent. Everything was backwards and wrong, with most ordinary items being replaced with something unbelievable, not to mention the sheer amount of crazy food and drink combinations. This version of Wonderland was very fun and captivating because of this.

The Queen of Hearts was definitely my favourite character she was written absolutely brilliantly and it was great to be in her mind. This version of her was a much more intensified show of madness showing how deeply the Queen was affected rather than just an evil queen who wanted everyone beheaded.

There was also a Marilyn Monroe reference in the book and although completely random it was absolutely hilarious and I was crying reading it, it completely surprised me and was perfectly slipped in.

I didn’t feel like too much of the story was original which is very hard to accomplish in an already overdone retelling. I found similar aspects to the Disney film and Tim Burton’s as well as Christina Henry’s ‘Alice’ retelling.
However, I was surprised by the amount of twists and turns in the story, no one could be trusted and at times it felt like anything could happen. As parts of the story started to parallel the original story of Alice there would be a snap change and the unexpected would happen.

Having Alice’s last name be ‘Liddell’ I found a little pointless, it was only brought up once and it felt a little like ‘I know the origin, I’ve done my research’ rather than there being any reason for that choice.
Alice Liddell was never suggested at being mad or needing to go into an asylum (as Alice Liddell in the book does) it’s just suggested that the story was written for her entertainment or that she was the muse and inspiration for it.
I found it a big leap to then almost suggest that the original Alice Liddell (who was a real person) thought she went to Wonderland, was mad and now has to be locked up in an asylum.
Other people have retold Alice with the asylum point of view but by using the real name, to me, it made it a lot more suggestive that this child was really like this and I didn't find it needed.

The idea of a romance really drew me into this book and I have to say it did disappoint me. I didn’t feel like it was well thought out at all, it didn’t add to the story and was kind of just thrown in like ‘Oh by the way she fancies this boy’ and no further development.

The English traits and Americanisms played in my head a lot. I may be wrong but I got the impression that the author wasn’t British. Alice was written as British and I was very impressed how throughout the whole novel any mum was referred to as ‘mum’ or ‘mummy’. However, early on while in England, Alice uses the words ‘hot buttered biscuit’ and it’s very petty to dwell on, but I was immediately picturing a warmed rich tea biscuit covered in butter which any Englishman would know is not a great image.
There was also one sentence that confused and got to me, it was when a male described getting ‘kicked in the knickers’. This is not an important plot line or spoiler but it really played on my mind, like what on earth did he mean. Knickers of course is an english word for a lady’s undergarments and I immediately pictured the man in frilly woman’s knickers which i don't think was the intent. Then I considered it being a spelling mistake for ‘knackers’ meaning a delicate male area and it just really stuck in my head as to what the author meant.

I preferred the Queen’s chapters to Alice’s view. I did feel throughout the book that Alice didn’t really need to be here. Yes it’s an Alice retelling but I was confused at why she had to go back to Wonderland in the first place and then while there she didn’t really change the story for me. Towards the end we are presented with an explanation as to why this is but for me the book wouldn’t be dramatically changed if the author ctrl+F her name and then deleted.

Overall I did enjoy reading this book. It was fun and the Wonderland created had great depth, not to mention I never knew what on earth was going on with everyone and who would be the next one to reveal a secret. I wouldn’t reread but I’m happy I got the opportunity to read it and if anything should attract you to this book it has to be the mesmerising madness of the Queen of Hearts.

If you enjoy the synopsis definitely pick it up but if you’re looking for a different side to the Alice story you already know well, I don’t think this book will greatly add to your reading experience in my opinion.

I loved Ever Alice. This is probably one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. The whole idea behind this book was so unique and fun that I think it would be difficult for anyone to dislike this story. All of the characters were well developed and likable. The book itself was told from the perspectives of three people, two of them being Alice and Rosamund (the dreaded queen of hearts). The third POV character was a doctor and we only heard his thoughts for a page or two near the end. His knowledge of affairs concerning Alice was very cleverly woven in to clear up a question or two the reader might have had. Or perhaps to raise a few, if they hadn’t been preceptive enough to catch the clues sprinkled throughout the story. The plotline was paced well and fantastically crazy. I constantly found myself dreading the approaching ending yet unable to stop reading at the same time. Anyone mad enough to pick this book up won’t be disappointed.

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.