Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes

Book one in Queen of Hearts saga

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: May 3^rd, 2016

Source: eArc from the publisher

Rating: 4 hearts

Synopsis (From Goodreads)

As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.

When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.

Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinahs furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath.

Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Review

You all know that I’m a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland so when I see this book about the queen of hearts I put a request on it.

It’s not a retelling but it’s nice to read the name of famous character like the Cheshire or The Mad Hatter or Dinah.

This is the story of Dinah, who is the next Queen of Hearts, her father is a cruel man who don’t love her. He’s an horrible man who loves cutting head, he inspire fear in all his subject. Dinah wants one thing, be the queen and marry her best friend Wardley. The problem with this plan is her father, he introduces her to her step sister and he loves her, or at least he let her see this.

Dinah is a kind girl and I’m a little disappointed with her, she’s not confident; she’s not crazy, or evil. And most of all, she’s not acting like a future queen, she’s childish and selfish. It is better towards the end of the book, Dinah becomes more authoritarian and especially she begins to take responsibility.

The king is really evil, I don’t like him and it’s important in a book to have a character you love to hate. The king is this person for me.

I like Wardley even if I think that he is blind whit his relation with Dinah. He likes her even maybe loves her but he thinks of her as the future queen and not her lover. I like when he’s helping her even if he doesn’t want it. He’s always trying to protect her and I like their relationships.

If you are in need of romance, you won’t find it here but I hope there will be in the next book.

Cheschire is really intriguing, I don’t know if he’s a good guy or a bad one, it’s hard to say and I really have no feeling about it.

Vittiore, Dinah’s step sister is a real beauty and I don’t like her, I have a bad feeling, she’s too perfect to be kind and loveable, at least for me.

Queen of hearts is good, the story is introducing the characters and even if it’s a little slow in the first part of the book, the rest of the book is great. I want to read the next book but I don’t know if I can wait, maybe I will look for the first version.

Colleen Oakes has a very simple writing style and this book is very fast read. The characters have defaults and qualities as quite human beings.

This book is full of hint of Alice in Wonderland and it’s very nice for big fan such as myself. And If you like Alice, go read this book.

About the author

Colleen Oakes is the author of books for both teens and adults, including The Elly in Bloom Series, The Queen of Hearts Saga (Harper Collins 2016) and The Wendy Darling Saga. She lives in North Denver with her husband and son and surrounds herself with the most lovely family and friends imaginable. When not writing or plotting new books, Colleen can be found swimming, traveling and totally immersing herself in nerdy pop culture. She currently at work on another YA fantasy series and a stand-alone YA novel.

You can visit her webpage at: www.colleenoakes.net

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