Review: Alice in the Land of Clovers

Book information

Title: Alice in the Land of Clovers

Author: B. A. Lovejoy (Bethany Anne Lovejoy)

Where to buy: Amazon.

This review includes spoilers, read at your own risk.

I read in the reviews from this book that over half of them got a copy of this book. I did not, I bought this book myself physically, which took about three to four weeks before it arrived. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Patiently. And with great joy. Lucky I was that at least one site provided this book, it was hard to find, indeed. A book with no recognition or any popularity. Seems like a normal, average book, doesn't it? 

Well, I thought otherwise. Not even once lingered it in my mind that this book is bad and thus not having many reads. I gave it a chance. Why? 'cause I am a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland. When I was a little child I used to watch it so often, I lost count. Not once when I got told it was in TV I decided not to watch it. I always watched it. And my, did I watched a lot of different films. But only three truly satisfied me. I am picky when it comes to Alice in Wonderland, but still explorative. So I finished the book in two days, with many breaks to clear my mind every once in a while and here is a not-so-short review of mine.

'War was hell and magic wasn't real. I didn't need to be some famous man to say that.'

'That pocket watch is mine, as are you, now be quiet and-'

'Love is an afterthought, plenty of people fall in love after many years of being married. Alice doesn't like me yet, but she will soon. And I have checked every rule and law, I am allowed this privilege so long as she came on her own, which with all things considered, she technically did. So, I'm claiming her as mine.'

'I cannot speak to my own morality, I don't think it would be a respectable thing for me to decide what type of person I am.'

'We will always have tomorrow.'

'Friends take care of each other, Alice.'

'Things are much more entertaining with friends.'

'It is my belief that the important memories should be good ones, with the people who care about you.'

'His family sat at home mourning him, and you sat here sipping tea—'

'I appreciate this. All of this. I will always remember it, and you.'

'You are dangerous.'

'After you then my King.'

'You are heaven, and the moon, and the stars, and everything that is perfect in this world.'

'Fitz, I had a family. I had a sarcastic, well-meaning mother and I had a thoughtful, caring sister. I had a life, Fitz, and goals. I wanted to go to Oxford, I wanted to be someone, I wanted to become a professor! I wanted to write books and see the world!'

'I wanted to fall in love, real love, and have a husband who loved me back some day, who didn't want me for some crown or ambition—And now you have trapped me here.'

Alice Grey, a girl who was blunt for the year the story took place and stubborn and driven enough to believe or at least hope so that her father who disappeared in war time is still alive. One day, a disastrous day, with name-calling and tea spilling, she went to her father's grave, it was the day of his disappearance. While grieving and putting an end to believe in the Alice in Wonderland story her father always told her to bed, she notices on the ground a pocket watch. Inspecting it she finds out that this is from her father. First reluctant to take it with her she placed it on the ground again, where a white rabbit takes it and makes her run after him, until she falls into a deep, deep hole.

Dislikes

My, my, when I found out that there are erotic scenes I was about to not finish this book. I prefer if there are trigger warnings even if that spoilers the story a bit. But unfortunately, most books don't do that and Alice in the Land of Clovers wasn't an exception. It triggered me a lot and I didn't like that at all.

Too fast. No the pace of the story was fine. But I can't say the same about the characters pace. I just think the love between them came way too soon. And too sudden. It just happened. Out of the blue. That made it a bit unrealistic and gave me only half of the enjoyment. The good thing was that this only happened to one character, Kaeden, who transformed from shy to overly confident and talkative. The love between the two was also way too fast. They just met shortly before and from Kaeden's personality I wouldn't have thought for him to make it happen that fast.

Time. The book rarely informed the reader if it was day or night and if the days were skipped and if so how many. That made me have no sense of time. But I am not sure if that was made on purpose or not, as it's known that time runs differently in Wonderland than in the real world.

Vocabulary. It's England, but written with American vocabulary. Something's wrong, isn't it? I noticed that the author tried to adjust herself to new vocabulary but that didn't work quite well as there were still American words. As someone who has more British vocabulary I noticed this unfortunately a lot and it bothered me.

Likes

The pace. The story pace was perfect. Many complained that the beginning was too slow and I thought so at first too until I continued reading and started to realise how important the beginning actual was, which many didn't seem to notice. It was done so that we can sympathise with Alice more when she says she wants to go back home. We readers get to know her life before the Wonderland starts so that we understand everything better. Who Peter is and why she sees him in so many Kings and why he was the first love of her life. Why Oxford is important to her. How her mother and sister are like and that she made a character development by saying that she misses BOTH and that when she goes back she will hug her Mum and tell her how much she loves and appreciates her. That all was so important that the start needed to be like this and also needed to take 41 pages.

Humour. It was humourous. Never did I laugh so often while reading a book as this one. I am not exaggerating, it was surely amusing and I liked the scenes that perhaps seem 'cringy' to some actually funny and the humour was top notch. As someone who doesn't like the comedy genre and staying away from it, this book gave me lots of chuckles. I really had my fun reading it.

The writing style. Except one word the vocabulary was rich in this book and with a great variety. I even learnt a few new words, as I never heard them before. I am pretty sure that the writing style has been adjusted to the timeline of the story and I must say that this was done, very well. One can feel like they are in that story themselves, thanks to such a amazing writing style. I also loved how it was detailed. Sometimes too much, but I always loved it. Nothing went missing and the fantasy of the reader was wide. Even though I have a great fantasy I am certain that with this much detail even a person with the least amount of fantasy can imagine it. The world building was so good therefore too as it was explained to the smallest thing. As soon as a character wore something new, it got described. As soon as someone spoke, it got described. As soon as we were in new surroundings, it got described. Everything got described. Perfect for fantasy book.

Characters. None lost their original personality from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. I certainly think that's important as that's what makes it Wonderland. And not any other land. No one is as mad as these characters, which each having their unique personalities. It stayed that way, with the only exception the Queen or rather King of Hearts who was rather shy than a person who loses his temper fast, as it was known in the original. But I liked it and kinda hoped for him to not be like that. As Alice was owning that personality already, even though she wasn't as extreme as the Queen of Hearts. It made just sense for him to be either the opposite, extremely shy or just like the original Alice, polite and curious. I also like that Alice didn't stay the same, regarding the personality, as it would then almost seem like a copy from the original, just that love is involved. With a few changes that were also good, it made the story more original and unique. I love how the characters were displayed. The Mad Hatter, William, didn't just talk gibberish the whole time and still could talk normally with sense. The Cheshire Cat, Claude, had his infamous grin always on and seemed always amused, but could also be serious if needed. The King of Hearts, Kaeden, wasn't just shy, but also brave sometimes, by asking for Alice's hand and a dance. The White Rabbit, Fitzgerald, as arrogant as ever, but unfortunately not seeming to be nice to Alice at least once. It's a love story after all, so I hoped for him to come to his senses, but perhaps he does so in the next book.

How it works: Only everything that is lower than 9 gets reduced from the final rating. Depending on how strong it inflicted the overall enjoyment of reading it affects differently. 

[ Story 10 / 10 ] +

[ Characters 8 / 10 ] -

[ Triggering 8 / 10 ] -

[ Topic/Genre 10 / 10 ] +

[ Writing style 9 / 10 ] +

[ Grammatic and spelling 10 / 10 ] +

[ Ending 10 / 10 ] +

Final Rating

4/5

Whoever decides to read this shouldn't stop reading it from one little thing. I also was thinking to stop and didn't and I am so glad I didn't. It needs time and patience to fully understand everything, and some stuff is only explained at the end of the first book. And the stuff that stays unanswered will get answered (hopefully) in the next books. I had my lows and highs with this book and I am amazed. I am looking forward reading the next book of this series, even though it will likely happen next year around the same season.

Started the book: 27. December 2023

Finished the book: 28. December 2023

Wrote the review: 28. December 2023