Heartless by Marissa Meyer

“To be all right implies an impossible phase. We hope for mostly right on the best of our days.”

Synopsis: (as seen on Goodreads)

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland – the infamous Queen of Hearts – was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favourite 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.

My thoughts…

I started reading this book while in a bit of a slump so it took me longer than usual to get into but once the story started to unravel I really fell in love with this book. It made me feel all sorts of feelings, it filled my heart with bliss then proceeded to shred me apart.

I loved the stories of Wonderland since I was a really small child so going into this I was excited but apprehensive because the world is so creative and crazy I didn’t want it ruined in all honesty. Safe to say it wasn’t. Meyer added her own twists and flavour to the world without overdoing it and changing a great deal. It was a very believable heart wrenching love story.

The descriptive writing was something that really stood out for me. There were times when Meyer was describing Cath’s desserts and my mouth was actually watering.

Sometimes I get irritated by the female protagonist but Cath – except for one action which I suppose was inevitable – I actually enjoyed all about her. It just made it all the harder to get to the end because it was never going to be a happily ever after. Cath’s relationship with Mary Anne was really enjoyable to see and it did actually shock me that Mary Anne basically betrayed her. I get to an extent she was worried but I don’t know it was a shock for me. I knew Cath was going to walk through that door to save her but it didn’t make it any less frustrating, the split second of oh my god they are going to make it was brutally ripped away from me and I was suddenly reminded of where this plot was heading. Another relationship I found really interesting was between Cath and Chesire, I love Chesire in general and I was really happy he was included in the story.

Onto the other half of the relationship. This always seem to happen but when a pretty boy with a cheeky attitude appears in a book I instantly think we have a connection. Forget Catherine I AM RIGHT HERE. Jest was a very likeable character even when he revealed his true intentions you could tell he just wanted to do what he thought was right. I really wished I had got to read more about his friendship with Hatter and their own adventures. The ending for Jest was quite abrupt I didn’t even clock on to what was happening at first and when I realised I was just in disbelief for a good while. Literally broke me into pieces. Being so used to books ending all love and happy smiles it was sad but almost a little refreshing for something to have a bitter ending.

A character I hated throughout this whole story was Catherine’s mother. I may actually despise her. She was trying to live through Catherine and the whole fat shaming made me want to punch her. LET HER EAT THE FUCKING SWEETS. When she didn’t let her eat her dessert I was like no way. No. Way. Let my mum try and do that to me I’ll take her hand off. Her Dad was spineless.

I feel like the Jabberwocky plot line was thrown in there and at first I didn’t know how I felt about it. I still don’t to be very honest. I think maybe there could have been more development just because it was overshadowed a lot by the love story and courtship with the king, that was definitely the main focus regardless of whether it was meant to be. I would have appreciated knowing more about the pumpkin seeds that Hatter had tried to give to Peter.

The ending was really depressing in the best way possible. Obviously, you know getting into this book where it was going to end but seeing Cath at the beginning to how sour she is at the end really does break a girls heart.

My Rating…

So, this got a 4/5 star rating, which is pretty high! Even though going into this book my mind wasn’t fully in it due to my temporary slump I was so pleasantly surprised with how this turned out. I think what stopped this story reaching the full five was the fact that I was in a slump and felt like I couldn’t be pulled out of it and the development of the whole Jabberwocky and Peter was a bit off for me, I just needed slightly more explanation. This was my first Marissa Meyer book and it’s made me want to read The Lunar Chronicles so bad! I don’t think I will ever look at the Queen of Hearts in the same way again and “off with their head” will never mean the same.

Also I am aware and sorry that this post has been so late in the week college got the best of me for a quick minute and when it came to Wednesday I had completely forgotten but better late than never!

Keep reading xoxo