Heartless by Marissa Meyer Pages: 449
Published by Feiwel & Friends on November 8, 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy & Magic, Paranormal
Source: Paperback ARC from Publisher
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland―the infamous Queen of Hearts―she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.
Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.
In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
“Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.” I mean COME ON! How amazing does that sound? Heartless by Marissa Meyer is a standalone young adult fantasy. It is the story of the Queen of Hearts long before she was the Queen of Hearts. It acts a prequel to the Alice in Wonderland stories and it was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016. For a number of reasons. I absolutely love retellings, re-imaginings and stories about villainous characters. Not to mention Wonderland is one of my favorite story book lands of all time. So this one was a no brainer for me. And if you can believe it, this is my first Marissa Meyer book. (I know, I know! I have the Lunar Chronicles sitting on my shelf but I have yet to read them. Be sure to tell me how crazy I am in the comments below. :p) So with all of that perfect sounding hype, I was a little scared to pick up Heartless. I mean it sounds perfect, but…what if I don’t love it as much as I was expecting. So, I put off reading it for a little while. But, I couldn’t put it off forever. every day when I went into my library to pick out my next read, it was staring at me from my bookshelf, telling me that I would rather be reading Heartless. And eventually I caved. And I have to say…it was EVEN BETTER THAN i WAS EXPECTING! Heartless has everything I love in a book- it has amazing characters, it has romance, and it has wonderland! I loved this book so much!
Heartless tells the story of a long Cath- who loves to bake. (it’s how she wins the heart of the King of wonderland- and no that isn’t a spoiler, you can tell that just from the first chapter.) I loved seeing Cath so passionate about baking, and watching her thoughts wander to baked goods and new ideas when she is talking to someone else was so endearing to me. Like when she was thinking about creating salted caramels at the ball. While I was reading and getting to know the young Cath I couldn’t help but stop and wonder how on earth she turns into the ruthless Queen. And that is what made Heartless so magical and wonderful. Marissa Meyer stays true to the wonderland flair in her story and with her characters but she also is so gifted with her character development that Cath turns into a completely different person in your mind. This book has made me want to go straight home and binge read all of Marissa’s other books.
There is a great romance in Heartless as well. As soon as I was introduced to the Joker, I was itching for the romance to develop. This is a really hard romance because I knew it was (most likely- see I am still unwilling to accept it!) be doomed from the start because I know how the Queen of Hearts story ends, but it didn’t stop me from falling completely in love with Jest. Marissa Meyer has such a way with her characters. you can’t help but love them. I wanted Cath so badly to open up her bakery and run away with Jest, even though I know this is a prequel to the wonderland tales. It didn’t matter, I couldn’t let them go.
bottom line: Heartless is an incredible standalone book. I know people will be comparing this to Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles and I have no idea whether they think it is better or not. Since this is the first book I have read from her, I can’t compare them, but I will say this. Heartless is a magical read that will have you thinking about The Queen of Hearts in a different light. I think this is a perfect origin story for this famous villain of Wonderland. I loved it so much. I have an exclusive cover edition coming to me and I can’t wait to buy every cover out there for this story. It is one of my favorites of 2016!
One of @BookBriefs top picks for 2016! See why in her #Review of Heartless by @Marissa_Meyer @FierceReads Click To Tweet
About Marissa Meyer
One of my first spoken words was “story” (right along with “bath” and “cookie”), my favorite toy as an infant was a soft, squishable book, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I first realized such a job existed.
When I was fourteen my best friend introduced me to anime and fanfiction—over the years I would complete over forty Sailor Moon fanfics under the penname Alicia Blade. Those so inclined can still find my first stories at fanfiction.net. Writing fanfic turned out to be awesome fun and brought me in contact with an amazing group of fanfiction readers and writers. As Alicia Blade, I also had a novelette, “The Phantom of Linkshire Manor,” published in the gothic romance anthology Bound in Skin (CatsCurious Press, 2007).
When I was sixteen I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, affectionately termed “The Spag.” (Random factoid: This is also the restaurant where my parents met some 25 years before.) I attended Pacific Lutheran University where I sorted mail that came to the dorm, carted tables and chairs around campus, and took writing classes, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature. Knowing I wanted a career in books, I would also go on to receive a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pace University (which you can learn more about here). After graduation, I worked as an editor in Seattle for a while before becoming a freelance typesetter and proofreader.
Then, day of days, someone thought it would be a good idea to give me a book deal, so I became a full-time writer. CINDER is my first novel, though I have an adorable collection of unfinished ones lying around too.
I now live with my husband and our three cats (Calexandria Josephine, Stormus Enormous, and Blackland Rockwell III), who go in and out, in and out, about eight hundred times a day. My favorite non-bookish things include Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, re-watching episodes of Firefly, and playing all manners of dress-up.
czai
this sounds like what I expect it to be – predictae but you end up loving it anyway. I mean you have an idea how it will go or end but you still loved every part of it. Great review, Michelle!!
Morgan
Yay I’m so glad you liked this one. I have it but haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet but I love hearing great reviews because it makes me even more excited 🙂
Jared
Sweet?! I’m convinced, I Now have to read this! I love Marissa’s work and wasn’t sure if it was good or not!
Thanks!
Ali
I’m glad you liked this so much! I’m reading this one after I finish my current read, so I hope I enjoy it as much as you did!
kimbacaffeinate
I loved this one too Michelle. I loved the Poe references and of course I am a big fan of Wonderland. Wonderful review!
Megan
Your review for this book oozes how much you loved it! That’s another reason to add to the long, long list of why I should read this.