Splintered by A. G. Howard

Publisher’s summary: This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

My Take: Wow! A.G. Howard’s imagination is phenomenal, and she did a fabulous job creating an amazingly vivid picture in my brain of the colorful and twisted world of Splintered! I could almost swear that I was watching an awesome movie instead of reading a book! But that didn’t actually happen since there isn’t even a movie version of Splintered in existence! Obviously I’m completely BLOWN away by this book!!!

I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know much about the Lewis Carroll version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the Disney movie, but it was so long ago that I don’t remember much from it. I’m wondering if I would like Splintered even more than I already do if I had read the Lewis Carroll version. And, guess what? I’m so enthralled with this book that I’ve even purchased the Audible version of Splintered! As long as the Audible version has a good reader, I think Splintered will be fabulous in audio. But I think I’ll read the Lewis Carroll version of Alice first, before I devour Splintered again.

From the very first page, I knew that I would like Splintered. I was instantly won over by the fact that Alyssa (the main character) uses real bugs in her art because the bugs actually talk (whisper) to her…and she uses her art as an excuse to kill the bugs to keep her sanity! And then, when I learned that Alyssa’s mother is institutionalized in a mental hospital and every mother before her was crazy, yep, I was won…all over again. OH and Alyssa is also a skater chick…seriously! This book rocks!

One of the many other things I loved about this book is that Alyssa discovers that Alice’s perception of Wonderland was completely off; it was the perception of a child trying to make sense of the crazy things that might have happened to her “down the rabbit hole.” But was Alice just crazy? Is every female descendent in the family doomed to be psychotic? You’ll have to read it and see!

The first thing that Jaime from Two Chicks on Books asked me when I finished Splintered was, “Jeb or Moth?” (Moth is her nickname for Morpheus). Obviously, this is a question about what dude I’m “teaming” for! I am 100% Team Jeb. I liked him immediately when he was first introduced in the story, and, besides, Morpheus pissed me off throughout the whole book.

Well, that’s all I’m going to say about this book. I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone else thinks! OH…and when I listen to the audio version, I’ll write a separate, short review about it.