Splintered

Author:  A.G. Howard

Series:  Splintered, Book 1

Year: 2013

Publisher:  AudioGO

Narrator:  Rebecca Gibel

Goodreads 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.

I didn't know much going into this audiobook except that it was based off Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It took me a bit of time to get into the story. I wasn't sure about Alyssa and none of the characters really caught my attention at first. Then as the book went on and it shifted over to Wonderland, I got interested in what was happening. I liked seeing how Howard used the setting from Carroll's Wonderland and, like Carroll, played with words and showed how at first the words you read can be deceptive and mean something totally different than what you can expect. So, in the end, Howard pulled me in.