Heartless / Marissa Meyer.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From Marissa Meyer, the #1 New York Times -bestselling story of Wonderland's most notorious villain: the Queen of Hearts.

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In Heartless , her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times -bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Before she was the Queen of Hearts in Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she was Catherine, the spirited daughter of royalty, destined to wed the King of Hearts but determined to set up shop as a baker with her best friend and longtime maid. In this whimsical standalone tale, readers follow Catherine's simultaneous courtships with the jovial king and his court joker, Jest, whose earnest boyishness makes him far more charming than his royal boss. Caught between her own desires and her mother's stop-at-nothing goal to make her daughter queen, Catherine must decide how much she will risk for a future with Jest. Meyer's Wonderland is a fun and more refined version of Carroll's, and readers will enjoy the obvious parallels. Jest and Catherine have a playfully clandestine relationship, but it's a slow build-up to the inevitable clash between what Catherine wants and what reality demands. Meyer's worldbuilding is extensive and impressive, and the persistent threat of a destructive Jabberwock lends tension, but the story lacks the high-stakes danger that fans of the Lunar Chronicles have come to expect. Ages 12-up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 8 Up-In this dark imagining of the origin of the Queen of Hearts, Lady Catherine starts out with the dream of owning a bakery with her maid, Mary Ann. Cath's baking skills land her the heart of the King of Hearts, but she is drawn to the mysterious court joker, Jest. As Cath begins to give her heart to Jest and is courted by the King, the kingdom of Hearts is darkened by the appearance of the Jabberwocky. To stop this beast, Cath will have to make costly choices and in the process may lose her heart forever. Meyer has created a bittersweet twist on the tale of the Queen of Hearts, and the story is as enchanting as Lewis Carroll's original. Through her narration, Rebecca Soler brings to life the quirky denizens of Hearts, including the evanescent Cheshire Cat, the giggling King, and the nervous White Rabbit, while also capturing Cath's shift from hopeful baker to heartbroken and heartless queen. Soler's voice has a storytelling quality that entrances listeners and perfectly matches Meyer's vivid writing. VERDICT Give this to fans of Meyer's "Lunar Chronicles," lovers of Alex Flinn's fairy-tale twists, and those who enjoy the classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. ["A must-have title": SLJ 9/16 starred review of the Feiwel & Friends book.]-Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Catherine Pinkerton's dreams may be complicated after one, she wakes to find a lemon tree has grown in her bedroom overnight but her hopes for the future are not. Cath, who crafts exquisite tarts and cakes, just wants to open a bakery, until the kind-but-idiotic king of their kingdom, Hearts, expresses an interest in her, and her social-climbing parents refuse to acknowledge her reluctance to be wife or queen. But when she meets the compelling new court joker, Jest, Cath is swept off her feet, daring to dream of the life she wants, even as she unwittingly sets off on the path that leads to her inevitable future as the feared, enraged, and notorious Queen of Hearts. Readers familiar with Carroll's classic will notice all the details of Alice's Wonderland falling ominously into place, but newcomers, too, will be swept up in Cath's doomed quest for freedom. Clever, whimsical, and mournful, this story of an infamous villain who was once just a girl will capture plenty of hearts of its own. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Meyer's Lunar Chronicles grew progressively more hyped with each release, and this high-interest stand-alone boasts an extensive prepublication marketing campaign.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2016 Booklist

Horn Book Review

When talented baker Catherine discovers that the King of Hearts plans to propose to her, it threatens to destroy her dream of opening a bakery as well as her budding romance with the mysterious Jest. This imaginative backstory for Wonderland's brutal Queen of Hearts (from Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) has an engaging heroine, but her descent into darkness is unfortunately too abrupt. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.