First of all...I have not only the ARC, but bought it as well. Let's start with the fact that I'm a tad bit obsessed with Alice in Wonderland....so this had me right there. The book drew me in at the first sentence.....I KNEW I wouldn't be able to put it down! Nope, I wasnt!! It gave new life to the queen of hearts and made my heart go out to her.....she actually felt real and relatable. Amazing writing and spectacular talent!

In direct contrast to my reaction to the synopsis, I found this book to be very uninteresting. The story dragged as if it were wearing cement shoes and the characters were frustrating and seemed to respond in action that completely contradicted their innermost desires. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

Marissa Meyers has shown as far as I’m concerned that she can retell that crap out of a fairytale or classic. As far as retellings go, I want to recognize the original, and I want the nostalgia of the original piece BUT I don’t want to feel like I’m rereading it….like there’s nothing new. Make no mistake, Heartless is nothing like the Lunar Chronicles, and I’m not going to compare them, but I want to tell you one thing I really admire about Meyers’ work. In The Lunar Chronicles Meyers took well-known fairytales and set them in a completely new world and Meyers did that new world justice. It was well developed and complex…and then she wove in pieces of the some of our favorite tales into this new setting, added some of her own ingenuity and you had this new product…<I>something borrowed but something new.</i> In Heartless, Meyers took an old setting…carved out a piece of it for her to build on and told a completely new story within a story….<i>something borrowed but something new.</i> My hats off to Meyers but she did both wonderfully.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. One of the many strengths that comes to mind right off the back is the descriptive imagery. Whether it was Cath’s baking or Hearts, or a tea party—I could smell it, I could see it, I was there.

I loved the characters. I’m no author (writing is terrifying actually) but I’m always sooooo impressed when not only are the main characters fully fleshed out and developed but when secondary characters are complex and layered as well. No flat characters here you all.

My advice to you while reading this is to have snacks handy (seriously the food descriptions will have you drooling) and guard your feels…this is after all about how the Queen of Hearts became the Queen of Hearts.

Even though I did purchase this title because I really enjoyed it and the cover is gorgeous….
I also received a free digital copy of this title via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Feiwel and Friends and Netgalley for the review copy!