Hey, You Guys! I Wrote a Review!

So, I've been on vacation from the blog for the summer. What'dya want? Now I'm getting back into the swing of school/Deep/writing/blogging/life and to prove it, I've done something productive. I wrote my very first book review of Goodreads. It's not War and Peace but I'm pretty proud. I'm trying new things. It's a good thing. Check it out:

Her Mad Hatter by Marie Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you're looking for a romance novel that's fun, easy to read, and not smutty, "Her Mad Hatter" might be the book for you. The first in Marie Hall's "Kingdom" series, "Her Mad Hatter" tells the story of Alice Hu, a young woman who has been in love with Lewis Carroll's psychologically unbalanced 'hero' since childhood. Little does she know that the fictional character she daydreams about is real and he's spent centuries looking for her: "His Alice".

While I did enjoy the novel quite a bit I must point out that it is not without flaws. There were several typos and inconsistencies that I feel could have been corrected by a good copy editor. Maybe that's just my inner English teacher, but it did frustrate me as a reader.

The plot was simple which was a good thing, as I was looking for something I could easily escape into, but I was left with a lot of questions about The Hatter and Wonderland. I wish the author had taken as much time developing her hero as she did in creating her heroine. I feel the novel would have been greatly enriched if the author had taken the time to explore The Hatter's back story as well as Alice's.

He's been in Wonderland a long time. What does he do when he's not dealing with an Alice? Why is he so tortured? What has driven him mad? How does he know the work of Edgar Allen Poe? How is he older than the story that created him? Who is The Hatter? This I cannot tell you as in my eyes he remained almost entirely two dimensional.

Leonard the mouse could have been used to tell us more about The Hatter to great effect. He's supposed to be The Hatter's best friend, and yet we see him twice, and even then, only briefly. Unfortunately, this is the case with most of the characters. With the exception of Alice the cast is undeveloped, but none so glaringly so as The Hatter. I needed to know more about him, and a little more about Tabby, Leonard, Alice's family, and the situation with Alice's grandmother would have also helped to make this a fuller and richer narrative.

One thing the author did not neglect was the constant inner struggle of these characters. While I understand that this was in order to build dynamic tension, the whole "Will he? Won't he? Should I? Could I?" bit got a little old. I never really bought into the Hatter being Mad - he was just, as Alice says herself "damaged goods". I believe the author could have lightened up on the inner turmoil of these two by adding more outer conflict between them. There was a lot of internal dialogue without a lot of action.

However, I did really enjoy the book. I was especially taken with the scene where the Hatter lead's Alice through Wonderland to his home, and then through the winding corridors to her room. I found it to be totally engrossing. I also enjoyed the romance aspect of the story because despite my protestations, I am a hopeless romantic. While I would have liked some variety of language regarding the physical manifestations of arousal (there just aren't that many ways to describe being turned on, are there?) I appreciated the fact that the lusty parts punctuated the story instead of being the whole story.

All in all, it was a fun read and I will be reading the rest of the series some time in the future. My biggest complaint is that I just wanted to know more about the characters, large and small.

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