Dinah, former princess of Wonderland is on the run to escape a sudden catastrophe of murder of her brother set by her father, the King of Hearts. Now deserted in the peculiar but lavish Twisted woods along with her war stallion, she is given an option of never coming back to her once-known kingdom or fighting till death for the right of her throne. When she is confronted by one of the King’s sworn enemies, she finds herself fighting her own battle inside her breaking heart. Even before she can decide to go to war, she must struggle to find what she truly wants and the dark secrets that lay beneath it.
What I loved the most was the heartbreaking romance of Dinah and Wardley, her childhood stable friend. Though her love for him is endearing for all readers, she finds that Wardley’s feelings are far beyond what she thinks. The situations that come to her in the woods are also tragic with detail and does leave her with more of a shattered heart. This is the second installment to the Queen of Hearts Series and as it leaves off on an anticipating cliffhanger, I hope to find the third book soon with her as queen.
The undeniable thing about this novel is the beautiful way Dinah’s old caregiver, Harris describes the sense he feels of the unbreakable queen coming back as a new, changed being. His suspenseful thought was not on how she would come back as the heir of Wonderland, but who she would be when she got there.
Reviewed by Ashley, Grade 6, Tuckahoe Area Library
HCPL TeenScene's Read + Review 