Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

My Rating: ★★★

Catherine is a talented baker who dreams of owning and running a bakery with her friend. Unfortunately, fate has other plans for her. The King of Hearts is so taken by Catherine's beauty and baking that he wants to wed her, and her parents refuse to see her do anything but honor her duty as their only daughter. She is forced to fight fate and choose to take a chance and live out her dreams or become the queen she was always meant to be.

I was really excited when I first heard about this book. Not only is it a Alice's Adventures in Wonderland retelling, but also a Queen of Hearts origin story. I love origin stories, and the idea of following a tale that tells the story of the Queen of Hearts is an exciting one.

Unfortunately, Heartless did not live up to my excitement, but I may have built it up more than I should have. It's a great story, but it lagged a bit for about half the book. Again, I may have had higher expectations than I should have, so I think I was just expecting something more. That said, it's an entertaining story. The characters are wonderfully enriching, so it's exciting every time we meet a familiar face as the book continues. I love the little bits of foreshadowing that are cleverly weaved in as the story continues.

It was occasionally hard to follow Catherine because she was so blinded by her dreams and opinions as well as perspective. However, it did make sense for someone of her age in a Young Adult novel, as well as someone who dreams more than they pay attention to reality for a large portion of time. All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I hope to see more retellings from the perspective of villains in the future.