Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Title: Splintered

Series: Splintered #1

Author: A.G. Howard

Genre: YA, fantasy, retelling

Publication date: January 1st, 2013

Published by: Amulet Books

Source: the publishers via Netgalley (Thanks!)

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Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis:

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence.

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

My rating: ★★★★★
So, I never read the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," so all I had to go on was the old Disney cartoon and Tim Burton's movie (which I love!) And what did I think about this book?? Well, I thought it was awesome! It was a very interesting and cool take on the original with a very dark twist. It was almost like a the horror movie version Alice in Wonderland playing in my head! That's how dark and creepy it was! But guess what...I LOVE horror so I loved that about the book! I wouldn't dub this book horror, per se, though, because it wasn't. It's just the scenes and the creatures that played in my head that were uber creepy.

Talking about twists...there was a twist at the end of the book that I did not see coming! It was pretty...wow. And I love surprises!

Review: Misfit by Jon Skovron

Title: Misfit

Author: Jon Skovron

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: August 2011

Published by: Amulet Books

Source: The publishers via Netgalley

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Synopsis:

Jael Thompson has never really fit in. She’s changed schools too many times to count. The only family she’s ever known is her father, a bitter ex-priest who never lets her date and insists she attend the strictest Catholic school in Seattle. And her mother—well, she was a five thousand year old demon. That doesn’t exactly help.

But on her sixteenth birthday, her father gives her a present that brings about some unexpected changes. Some of the changes, like strange and wonderful powers and the cute skater boy with a knack for science, are awesome. But others, like the homicidal demon seeking revenge on her family? Not so much.

Steeped in mythology, this is an epic tale of a heroine who balances old world with new, science with magic, and the terrifying depths of the underworld with the ordinary halls of high school.

My rating: ★★★☆☆
Jael’s mother was a demon, making her half human, half demon…or how her mother liked to say: all demon and all human. Her mother died when she was a baby, so it’s been only her and her dad for a long time. Only the two of them, moving from place to place every year or two. Why? Because a powerful “Duke from Hell” has been after her her whole life. He thinks half breeds are an abomination, which is why he is set on destroying Jael. But I just think he’s afraid of her ;)