Heartless, by Marissa Meyer

Heartless
by Marissa Meyer
Pub Date: November 8, 2016

Usually, I do not read books I know end unhappily. I also didn’t like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. Still, I couldn’t resist Heartless. The story explains how the “off with your head” Queen of Hearts became the ruthless, cruel, intelligent woman she is in Alice in Wonderland. The journey has several twists and turns that explain different stories from Lewis Carroll’s classic and kept me guessing. Even though I knew how it would end, I had to keep reading because I wanted it to end differently. I couldn’t put the book down, and I couldn’t help but cheer for the woman I knew would become the merciless Queen of Hearts.

Before becoming the Queen of Hearts, Catherine was simply a girl who wanted to change her destiny. Instead of being a member of the royal court who must marry the wealthiest man who offers for her hand, Catherine wants to open a bakery and make the most amazing confections in all the land of Hearts. The King loves eating anything she makes, and Catherine hopes she will be able to get the King of Hearts to give her the title “Royal Tart Maker of the Kingdom of Hearts.” Unfortunately, the adage “the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” applies with the King of Hearts. He proposes to Catherine, and Catherine knows she can’t refuse even though she doesn’t love him. To make matters more complicated, the mysterious Court Jester may be the kind of man she could lose her heart to.

To give you an idea of how amazing this book is, it made me appreciate Alice in Wonderland and Into the Looking Glass. I found myself remembering passages from the stories, and wanting to reread the books to appreciate this book even more. Catherine is the kind of protagonist I like: intelligent, strong, independent, loving, and loyal. I love how Marissa Meyer is able to create so many ties with the original stories, while still writing something original that can stand on its own. I would recommend this book to fans of Alice in Wonderland, those who love a good romance with a strong female protagonist, and for readers who love a good story plot with intriguing characters. This is definitely a book to put on your future reading list. I am so elated I received a pre-published copy!

The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan

The Lost Hero
by Rick Riordan
Pub Date October 12, 2010

When I saw the new book by Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo, I was excited to get my hands on it. The plot sounds fabulous: a god being demoted to be a mortal teenager who has to live at Camp Half Blood with his own children. Before I could get my hands on it though, my niece informed me I must read The Heroes of Olympus series first. With a five book series before me, I knew I needed to get started right away.

If you have not tried Rick Riordan, I strongly implore you to read his series. When I studied gods and goddesses in school, I couldn’t make them stick in my head. Basically, I remembered Zeus. Reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians made the gods and goddesses more real and relatable, especially how he adapts them to the modern day world.  His books make demigods seem possible, and I love that dyslexia and ADHD are signs of the demigods’ powers in his stories.

                The Lost Hero focuses on three demigods: Jason, Piper, and Leo. The three meet up at a camp for troubled youth where they are attacked by wind spirits, and escape to Camp Half Blood– the camp that protects demigods from monsters. Their first day at camp, these three demigods are sent on a quest to save Hera, the queen of the gods. If that wasn’t hard enough, Jason doesn’t remember anything about his past, Piper is worried about her father being kidnapped, and Leo has abilities he can’t reveal. No one believes Jason, Piper, and Leo will succeed in saving the day, but the more insurmountable the odds, the more fun the story becomes. Jason, Piper, and Leo meet multiple gods, monsters, giants, and villains as they complete the first part of their quest in this series. I am excited to see what happens in the rest of the series.