Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Title: Splintered
Author: A.G. Howard
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Amulet Books (Jan. 1, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 5 Solid Stars!!

Goodreads Description:
 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 Review: 

  Holy crap this is going to be a hard review to write. Not because I don't have words to describe how amazing this book was but because I am left a little speechless by it.

The best way to describe it? Deliciously dark.

This. Book. Blew. Me. Away.

I watched the book trailer for this when it first came out (something I don't always do) and it was amazing. I knew if the trailer was that fabulous that the book had to be epic. I was so right!

The trailer, although fantastic, was nothing compared to the actual story.

The synopsis of this book says that it is a “stunning debut novel” and it couldn't be more correct.

It isn't often that I am at a loss for words but I really am with this one. I really hope this review will do this book justice.

The imagination and vivid imagery that went into creating Wonderland is truly a work of art. I felt like I was there. Mixed in with the chaos, the beauty, the darkness and the strange. I didn't know half the time if I should be in awe or horrified by what was happening.

Follow this tantalizing world with a touch of romance and two very different swoon worth men (in totally good versus bad sort of way) and well, you really do have a masterpiece that will keep you entertained, turning the pages and totally enchanted.