Inspiring Insomnia

This review and others are posted at Inspiring Insomnia.

Alyssa is back home from Wonderland, enjoying a normal (or what passes for normal in Alyssa’s world) life in high school with Jeb by her side. This relative peace comes to a screeching halt when a wave of water summoned by Morpheus sweeps her back to Wonderland. Queen Red has seized parts of Wonderland, and Morpheus threatens to wreak havoc in the human world unless Alyssa agrees to help.

Oh, wait a minute…that was just a dream…perhaps. A very vivid dream. Actually, Alyssa nearly drowned in a storm drain, and she wakes up three days later in a hospital, uncertain of what is real. She soon learns that Morpheus has inhabited a human form, and he’s posing as a foreign exchange student at her school. This serves as the source of enormous frustration for Alyssa and fun for us, the readers. Morpheus is the master of gentle tormenting, and he doesn’t hold back in dishing it to out to Alyssa and Jeb. Even though I’m firmly Team Morpheus, I enjoyed Jeb a lot in Splintered. But he definitely suffers here in comparison to Morpheus, although Morpheus is so charismatic and intriguing, that would probably be the case for any guy. It’s starting to seem that the main thing Jeb has going for himself is his muscles, and I suspect (and hope) that Alyssa will sever this love triangle soon.

Splintered gave us an incredibly imaginative look into Wonderland, but in Unhinged, the action takes place in the mortal world. Thanks to Howard’s writing, it is no less exciting, and there is still danger (and a CLOWN) lurking around every corner. I also love that some very surprising secrets involving Alyssa’s parents were revealed. It’s interesting how these secrets compare and contrast with Alyssa’s life, and I get the sense that there is still so much more to uncover.

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.