Review: Heartless

Heartless
Rating: 3.5
Buy or Borrow: Borrow
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. 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 a secret courtship.

Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans. 

Whenever a book is really, really hyped...I'm always wary. Mostly because half the time it's so hyped but it's not all that brilliant. I loved The Lunar Chronicles series, and I loved the novella Fairest that's all about the villain of the series. It was emotional, it made me feel for her so badly, and it gave you such an interesting insight in to the character and her motivations. So I was pretty excited for this book, and seeing what Marissa would do with another villain! 

I liked Catherine well enough, I felt for her and everything she went through in the book, it wasn't great, and then at the end my heart broke for her. It was unfair. It was sad. But you knew it was coming. Knowing Alice in Wonderland you knew there was no way the whole thing could be avoided. 

There where other brilliant characters, Chesire was fun and I thought it was interesting he was friends with Cath, plus there where a lot of other familiar faces including Hatter. I really liked Hatter and I was sad to see what happened to him, although I think the book should have maybe gone in to it a little bit more. I really liked Jest, he made me chuckle more than once and I was devastated by how things ended for him. He was such a fun character and I was so curious to know more about him and his past. Oh and I loved Raven, he's all "lady hath stumbled this midnight dreary" and "Nevermore" and I was like *heart eyes*. 

We have the romance between Jest and Catherine, that we all knew wasn't going to end well. Cath's problems with her parents and the King, and then the mystery of the Jabberwocky which I think I enjoyed the most! I was so curious and I wish it had been in there more. 

My problem with the book that was upon finishing it...I just felt kind of meh about it. I didn't strongly like or dislike it. I think the problem was that while I enjoyed the writing and how it fit so well with Alice in Wonderland, and you know...the food descriptions made me so hungry....I found myself skim reading for parts of the book because not much happened for most of the book. And while I know Cath didn't want the King, it got to a point where it all felt a bit silly to me, like just say no. Just. Say. No. But she doesn't, she keeps going along with things and then whining about everything and it got to a point when it was kind of annoying. It didn't really grab my attention at the start...then it did...then I found my attention wandering...and then I was interested again. It took me a fair while to read. 

While I liked Cath and Jest together and thought they where cute and everything...the instalove aspect bugged me as I'm not a fan, and the whole thing Cath had with the King and her parents and her inability to say no. Like she was kind of stringing poor Jest along. I know it wasn't going to end well, I know this all had to happen, but I feel like the book could have been shorter, or some things could have been improved on.