This situation is further complicated when Cath finds herself captivated by Jest, the Kings’ new Court Joker.

Unfortunately, Cath has caught the eye or rather the pallet, of Hearts’ foolish and ineffective king and Cath’s mother the domineering Marchioness wants nothing more than her daughter to be Queen. Possessed of an astounding gift for baking, Cath dreams of breaking free of the dull aristocratic round of balls, tea parties and social niceties that makes up her life, and instead opening the finest bakery in all of Hearts. Set in the kingdom of hearts, a world of talking animals, animate furniture and occasional bouts of unpredictable magic, the story follows Lady Catherine Pinkerton, the 17-year-old daughter of the Marquess of Rockturtle cove. Heartless is a prequel to Lewis Carroll’s 1863 classic Alice in Wonderland, being the history of one of the most recognizable characters in fiction The Queen of Hearts. I was wondering if there was any hope for the protagonist, when suddenly there followed a soprano admonition of “Catherine!” in the key of startled, accompanied by a few arpeggios to the tune of “that was unexpected?” when the whole performance culminated with “wow! you’ve got to read this” my interest was definitely piqued. These opened with a rather resigned “well this is rather fluffy, even for a YA book”, progressed to “I am getting really annoyed with the main character!”, and finally descended into the rather dire tempo of “I wish she would grow some balls!”.

Before I began on Heartless, I got the pleasure of experiencing my lady’s reactions at second hand.

Heartless marissa meyer series