Unhinged by AG Howard

Unhinged by AG Howard

Published by Amulet Books

On Shelves Now

Reviewed by Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Delightfully Wicked, Enigmatic, and Sexy

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head

So, you know that I LOVED AG Howard’s debut novel, Splintered.  It was a magnificent re-imagining of the Alice in Wonderland story.  Seriously, falling down a rabbit hold never sounded so good.  Then came Unhinged.  Oh how glad I am to say that it definitely does not fall into the “sequel slump.”  Unhinged will pull you straight through the looking glass, right back into that mad, mad world of Wonderland.  Only this time, Wonderland is invading our world; and only Alyssa can stop it.

I will say I missed the creepiness of Wonderland, and more than once, I wanted to scream at Alyssa to shun our world and go diving back down the rabbit hole because that is where she belongs.  However, it was great to see how Wonderland could twist the reality of our own world.  The macabre and gruesome were anything but missing—creepy slinking goo piles of oil, a treacherous sister with spider legs, angry flowers bent on burying people alive.  All these wonderfully eerie creatures are hiding in plain sight, just waiting for you to turn the page and let them loose.

I really love Alyssa, even when she is stupid, I still love her.  She is strong and determined, and she is so very much like us.  Alyssa is tired of everyone telling her what she should and should do (who wouldn’t be), who she should and shouldn’t be—and there comes a point where you can really feel her frustration.  She wants to be Netherling at times, human at others—but she’s both, and learning to meld those two identities is her greatest struggle.  While I wanted to scream at her at times because she was missing the obvious, I still really enjoyed watching her embrace her true self (human and netherling, but stronger than both).

Oh the debate of boys.  I am still Team Morpheus all the way.  In fact, I really dislike Jeb.  He just isn’t Wonderland enough for her.  Even when he knew what she was in Splintered, he just didn’t give her what she needed.  He’s too vanilla while Alyssa is goth style rainbow sherbert.  Don’t ask me what that is, but you know what I mean.  I can see that Jeb is heroic and loyal, but he seems to drop her for his career in this book.  Not to mention that she can’t really be herself around him—even if he knew the truth, I think she would always be trying to be more human for him.

Now, I know you could argue that if she ended up with Morpheus, she couldn’t truly be herself either because he wants more of her Netherling side.  But, when you look back at all the memories of their childhood, he does accept her human side.  In fact, it is Morpheus that shows her how to meld them into her true identity.  I just wish she would see him for what he really is—he may hide behind illusion and riddles, but his love for her is clear (albeit selfish at times).  I love Morpheus’s personality—strong and protective, elusive with a big dose of grandeur, and sexy, sexy, sexy. 

AG Howard has brought Wonderland to life once again, and I praise her for making me such an adamant fan of her world.  Her poetic words bring life to the macabre creatures, and her imagination and creativity makes her characters a brilliant mystery.  And then that ending!!!  OH MY GOSH!!!!  I both loved and hated it—such a cliffhanger, but at the same time, I loved seeing Alyssa embrace her destiny.

Waiting on Wednesday: Unhinged by A.G. Howard

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights books that have not yet been released, but ones that you should pre-order today! This week's book that we are anxiously awaiting is UNHINGED by A.G. Howard.  It will be released January 7, 2014 from Amulet.

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Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.

 

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I absolutely adored Splintered!  It was definitely one of my Top 3 for this year, and I am dying to find out what happens next.  I had never been a big fan of Wonderland until this book, and now I am completely hooked.  I can't wait to find out what happens when Alyssa returns to the backwards world, and even more, I can't wait to get some more Morpheus!!!!

Splintered by A.G. Howard

Splintered by AG Howard

eARC received by Amulet Books via Netgalley

Release Date:  January 1, 2013

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Sinister, Surreal, and Seductive

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.

I’m just going to go ahead and brand this one of the BEST OF 2013, before 2013 even starts!  Splintered is that good!  I’ve never before wanted to jump down a rabbit hole so whole-heartedly!  A.G. Howard morphs Lewis Carroll’s classic into something new and deadly—a place where the macabre and morbid rule the world, where reality and fiction are juxtaposed in a tangle of webs, and where love and betrayal go hand in hand.  So close your eyes and take a leap down the rabbit hole—when you open them again, you will be in a world of wonder and chaos.

“Now, stop thinking like a human  Nethering logic resides in the hazy border between sense and nonsense.”  ARC, location 1891-1892

I was never a huge fan of the original classic, but this re-telling just blew me away.  I love how A.G. took parts of the old story and interwove them to create something new and modern.  Her world was captivating and creepy—and I could just see this playing across the big screen.  Seriously, if I had to choose any book to be a movie, this would be it!  It’s got the madness that would make it part horror and the sexiness that would bring teeny-boppers, twenty-somethings, and older YA readers straight to the movie lines.  A.G. took the setting of Wonderland and turned it into a macabre dance---the flowers have become killers, the white rabbit has become a humanoid/rabbit type skeleton, and the cards are vicious monsters.  Take Caroll’s Wonderland and throw it off kilter—somewhere between psychotic killer and mushroom hallucinations—and then you have A.G.’s world.  Terrifying and beautiful sprinkled with a dash of insanity and a pinch of sex.

I really loved Alyssa—Alice’s great, great, great granddaughter.  She is tasked with going down the rabbit hole to fix Alice’s mistakes.  She’s strong and confident, with a morbid fascination with bugs.  I loved the attention to her clothes—a punk style that fits the strangeness of Wonderland perfectly.  She was always getting new “costumes,” and I really enjoyed seeing her personality show through each of them.  Plus, they added to the setting and the surrealism of the world.  Alyssa is smart and witty, and even those she is vulnerable in some aspects of her life, she doesn’t let that waiver her conviction.  She presses forward, no matter how unnerving or creepy the creatures or her tasks may seem.

And

The

Guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh the guys!  The guys in this one are great!  There’s Jeb, Alyssa’s best friend from the mortal realm (who she has a complete crush on), and then there’s Morpheus, her estranged friend from her childhood who is now her guide through Wonderland.  Jeb is your typical best friend with a crush—he is a little shy and doesn’t know how to say what he wants.  That part of him is endearing, but unfortunately, I found him a bit boring.  He was predictable and plain compared to Morpheus. 

I think many readers will like Jeb better than me, but what can I say, I like the macabre Morpheus.  He says it best himself: “Mysterious.  Rebellious.  Troubled.  All those qualities women find irresistible.”  ARC, location 3982-3983  He hit the nail on the head with that one!  Those are the YA guys I tend to fall head of heels for!  A.G. describes Morpheus as similar to The Crow (you know the old 80s movie with the guy in leather and a white-painted face?)—and I loved The Crow!!!  “He’s a contradiction:  taut magic coiled to strike, gentleness at war with severity, a tongue as sharp as a whip’s edge, yet skin so soft he could be swathed in clouds.”  ARC, location 1837-1838  Morpheus is full of charisma and is extremely skilled in seduction.   I found myself wishing that Alyssa would just throw herself on him so they could have a hot and steamy, make you sweat scene.  He is what happens when you make the macabre sexy.  Long dark hair that falls into his face, dark smoky eyes that pierce your soul, black tipped wings that will sweep you off your feet, and the heart that is always too hard to read.  Yum!  I couldn’t get enough of Morpheus, and I am hoping beyond all belief that A.G will write a sequel just so I can have more of him.

This could be a stand-alone novel, but it was also left a little open where a sequel can be written if A.G. Howard decides to in the future.  (Please, Please, Please!) 

Splintered:  Astounding.  Morbid.  Sexy.  Unpredictable.  Enchanting.

I could go on and on, but I won’t!  Instead, I will urge you to buy this book when it comes out in January!  If you’re looking for something different, and are a fan of dark, gothic-like novels, then this will be perfect for you!

I’ll leave you with a final quote I loved:

“He’ll come for you.  He’ll step through your dreams.  Or the looking glass…stay away from the glass, Allie!”  ARC, location 481-482