All Catherine wants to do is bake. Not marry the King, never marry the King. Unfortunately for her, she's already doomed, she just doesn't know it yet. I have to hand it to Meyer, this book had me fooled till the very end (or rather the final few chapters). I knew that it had to end badly for Cath to end up as she did but I didn't want to believe it. I wanted the ending to be happy. I like that some of the iconic quotes and characters made it in. But do you know what I LOVE? The food. So much food. Especially in the beginning. If Marissa Meyer ever made a cookbook...none would be her match. I hated the King, as I'm sure a lot of us did. I wished he'd just leave her alone and let her be with Jest. But I also didn't like Mary Ann. And that was even before she did what she did. It wasn't exactly her fault but I still wish Cath would've chosen differently. Giving the Jabberwock an identity was pretty great actually, instead of it being a random beast that plagues the land. That wraps everything together nicely. Jest was a ray of sunshine and he deserved nothing of what he got. I'm still bitter about that. And Cath...she had opportunities to run but made the stupid choice almost every time. Your parents hate you Cath. Just go. Live your dream. If our heroes ever made it across it would've been a different book and I'm going to pretend that's what happened because the ending is too painful.

First book in a long time that was able to make me cry. The author does a great job at depicting the helplessness of the main character.

A truly amazing book that is heart-warming and intriguing. A thrilling plot that links wonderfully to Lewis Carroll’s ‘an Alice in wonderland’. Thank you Marissa Meyer for being such a great storyteller - 5 stars!

Genuinely, one of my favourite books of all time. I've reread it three times in the last year already, and will probably reread it again! The fantastical themes alongside the characterisation and the heart-dropping revelations... You find yourself really rooting for these characters and I adored every moment. Five out of five stars!

Heartless tells the story of the young Lady Catherine Pinkerton. A young woman growing up amongst the nobility of the Kingdom of Hearts, who wants nothing more than to open her own bakery alongside her maid and best friend Mary-Ann, but instead becomes the feared Queen of Hearts we all know from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Heartless is in effect a re-telling, an origin story featuring a well-known character and giving her a new back story. Whether this is in line with what Lewis Carroll had imagined for his own queen we can only guess, the idea of rewriting a character's history intrigues me. Personally it's something I generally enjoy, I like seeing something familiar from a different point of view, and Heartless was no exception to the rule. Heartless as you might expect contains a number of characters you will be familiar with if you've read the original or seen either of the Disney films. The Cheshire Cat, The Caterpillar, The Hatter and The March Hare all feature, as does The White Rabbit, even the Jabberwocky makes an appearance. I have to admit I've not read Lewis Carroll's novel and it's been a long time since I watched either of the films, there are probably a huge number of other characters that I missed. I did smile at the familiar game of crochet played with flamingos and hedgehogs. There are also several new characters introduced within the book. Mary-Ann is Catherine's current maid, best friend and future potential business partner - While Catherine may be the best baker in all the kingdom Mary-Ann is the logical one with the business brain. My thoughts on Mary-Ann varied, as a secondary character we don't find out that much about her, we really only see her in her interactions with Catherine. By the end I was frustrated by some of her choices but also understanding of her underlying motives and what she was trying to achieve. Another major character that is introduced is Jest. The mysterious newcomer who suddenly arrives in the Kingdom of Hearts to take up the position of the Court Jester. I really liked Jest, I found him to be a great combination of humour and mysteriousness. If you've read the synopsis it will come as no surprise that Jest is Catherine's love interest within the novel, knowing her mother would never approve of a relationship with Jest, especially when the King of Hearts wants to make her his wife, Catherine finds herself in a secret courtship with him. I've seen some reviews that say the relationship is a bad case of insta-love. I'm not sure I agree, there is certainly a case of instant attraction when Jest first appears, but I can't say I would blame her, she certainly wasn't the only person to be enthralled with him during his first appearance. I personally enjoyed the relationship between Catherine and Jest, although there are several twists and turns along the way. Of course the main character isn't unknown to us, however the young Catherine introduced at the beginning of the novel is a world away from the feared queen you know her to become. Her journey from idealistic baker, somewhat trapped by her mother's expectations both of and for her, to murderous ruler is a relatively long one, Heartless is around 460 pages long. A large part of the book is spent slowly building to the climax, and once it reaches this point is very rapidly moves on to the end. I completely understand the need to set the scene and build the relationship but I would have liked the balance to shift to slightly less of the build up and more focus on the events that led to her becoming the Queen that we know and the immediate aftermath. Without giving anything away I've also seen some reviews that criticised some of Catherine's actions, particularly towards Mary-Ann, however given the circumstances I can understand Catherine's reactions, and once she had set herself on that path there was really no way back. Would I recommend it? Yes - Heartless may take a little time to get started but it really drew me in. I loved all the little hints and inclusions from the source material, I fell in love with Jest and found myself intrigued by the circumstances that changed Lady Catherine from the young girl who made a world-class lemon tart into the feared queen I remembered screaming 'Off with their head!' from my childhood. Despite knowing how the story must end I could help but hope it wouldn't.