Book Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Okay, I finally have a few moments to tell you about Splintered! First let me tell you again that I really loved this book. I honestly think it is my favorite new read of the year. I am writing my review while watching (more like listening) to the forth lecture from my course on metadata...so I apologize now because there will be typos.

Have you ever wondered what happened after Alice went down the rabbit hole? Alyssa Gardner knows. She knows that she, just like her mother, and her grandmother, and her great grandmother, and her grandmother before her, will go insane. Just like every female descendant of Alice Liddell has since she returned from Wonderland all those years ago. In fact, Alyssa fears she is already inheriting the family curse because she can hear insects and flowers speak to her. She had held the madness at bay for a few years with her beautifully morbid works of art but Alyssa is unsure how much longer she will keep her secret hidden. She fears she will end up in the same asylum as her mother before she even graduates from high school, before she even has a chance to be kissed for the first time.

Alyssa would do anything to have a chance at a normal life. To have a chance at love with her handsome and talented next door neighbor, Jeb. To have a chance at a life out of the shadow of the asylum.

But Alyssa is losing hope that this will ever be a possibility for her. As she notices stranger things occurring around her, she begins to question her family's past. Just as her curiosity hits its peak, her mother's mental health takes a drastic turn for the worse and Alyssa must get to the bottom of the family curse before it is too late to save her mother. In order to save her mother, Alyssa must do the one thing she fears the most. She must find the rabbit hole and journey to Wonderland to undo the mistakes Alice made and to lift the curse from her family's bloodline. With the unexpected aid of her crush Jeb and her mysterious and seductive Wonderland guide, Morpheus, Alyssa plans to do just that. However, once through the rabbit hole, Alyssa learns that not all is as it seems, including who she always thought she was.

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In A.G. Howard's deft hands Wonderland takes on a darker, more twisted, and by far more seductive role than the world originally created by Lewis Carroll. I always worry when a favorite book, legend, or myth is taken up by another artist. It is understandable why writers and artist attempt to add on and recreate the works of those who came before them. After all, the potential for greatness is very palpable and tantalizing but way too many grab the low hanging fruit and only manage to make a pale shadow rather than a transformative creation of their own. Howard's work is not one of those who grabs hold of the overly ripe fruit and pass it off as a tasty, yet stale, pie. Rather she manages to be one of the few who borrow, tweak and reform the classic work into something new, tasty, and delicious. I for one cannot wait for a second slice.

Let Me Tell You About My Sunday...

It was wonderful. I did not get a few things accomplished on my list but I am okay with that fact. One of those things was t review Splintered by A.G. Howard, and for that I am sorry. I will get to it later this week, I promise. I really loved this book, so I am excited to tell you all about it.

What I did get done was help The Man rearrange the living room. This is something that has needed done for a while but we put it off until the need to install a window unit air conditioner made it absolutely necessary. This rearrangement of furnishings prompted a flurry of cleaning (by flurry, I mean a few moments of sweeping, dusting and rubbing the wood down with lemon oil. No other room was infected by this brief moment of productivity). The result of the switched around layout is very nice, cozy, and very ascetically pleasing. It also maximizes the rug to floor ratio, which means more protected areas of hardwood from giant dog claws. We love Seamus dearly but he is a force of destructive nature wrapped in a cute reddish brown package that has proven hazardous to our newly laid hardwood floor.

I also finished two small projects just in the nick of time for school. Caught up, well, almost caught up, on my reading for both classes. And otherwise enjoyed a nice relaxing night watching back to back episodes of Supernatural with the man (thank you Netflix). I enjoyed a few lagers, I knitted a little (I am making some really cute Christmas presents...shhhh, they're a secret) and topped the evening off by going to bed with a good book. How perfect of a day was that, I ask? For me they do not get much better.
In fact, this Monday morning is proving the opposite of yesterday, and I have only been awake for forty minutes. It is not a horrible day but some things are not as they should be, speaking of which, my coffee is finally done. A nice big cup of coffee should smooth some of the nasty out of this Monday morning.

Time to go look at some cute animal pictures.

P.S. My Monday just got better. After a few sips of the magic juice, I realized I had not set my alarm clock for the wrong time and The Man did not forget to program in the right time for the delayed brewing on the coffeemaker...I just woke up two hours early! I don't start work at 9 AM, I start at 11 AM. Bonus hours!