Author friend Lyndsey Hall is part of a multi-author collection of fairy tale retellings where the villain gets their own happy-ever-after. I decided to sign up to read the ARCs for the entire series.

About the Book

Falling for the Mad King by Sydney Winward

A witch without magic. A king without a heart. A wonderland falling apart at the seams.

Ellie Strife never cared about getting caught as long as she got her revenge. But after she fails to cast her second curse on the king’s twelve daughters, she is banished to the Mad Lands—a place where logic ceases to exist, flower vases sprout legs, and the unexpected becomes the norm.

Rylan Rhapsody, the unpredictable King of Hearts, is a man who hides more than one secret behind his smile. Chaotic, charming, and powerful magic of his own, Rylan is just as likely to make you lose your mind with his babbling alone as he is to make another ridiculous decree.

After getting his heart stolen from him, quite literally, Ellie must help him get it back. She needs his heart to restore her stolen magic. Rylan needs her cunning to save Wonderland from falling into a state of destruction.

What begins as a reluctant partnership spirals into something unexpectedly love. But when their adversary makes their move on the chessboard, only one of them can pay the price. And in Wonderland, even love demands a sacrifice.

Falling for the Mad King is the sixth book in the To Win a Dark Heart series which retells fairytales as old as time, but this time it’s the villain’s turn to get a happy ending.

Check it out on Goodreads.

About the Author

Sydney Winward is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance author who dabbles in the occasional historical fiction. She loves building complex worlds filled with magic, strong characters, and emotional stories.

Sydney is the best-selling author of The Bloodborn Series and the Sunlight and Shadows Series. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, thinking about stories, or going on adventures with her children. She lives in Utah with her husband and three amazing kids.

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My Review

Honestly, there was just way too much madness in this book for it to be an enjoyable read – it felt like I was in a room full of six-year-olds on a sugar rush. The heart of the story (pun intended) is good and kept me reading despite all the madness and not particularly liking the main characters. I didn’t like any of the characters as I found no redeeming qualities or reasons for them to have acted as they had. The only thing that made sense was Rylan’s roses and fear of touch.

The imagery from the original Alice in Wonderland was used in interesting, if sometimes deranged, ways. The way the heart was used and the magical twist about it in the end felt vaguely familiar from something else I’d read, though I can’t remember where.

Alice was a villain for the sake of being a villain: her cause wasn’t clearly defined other than she thought Rylan to be a tyrant (which wasn’t too clearly shown, either). I might have missed something in the madness…

Ellie’s whole personality was “scorned sorceress” until she embraced the madness of Wonderland. I’m not sold on the how’s and why’s of her cursing the princesses… At her age she ought to have more emotional maturity than a heartbroken teenager.

Rylan seemed to be insane just for the sake of being insane. His use of the roses and the reasons behind it was the only true show of character that made him interesting.

The romance between Ryland and Ellie made weird sense…

If you want a trippy read, you’ll probably enjoy this.

*I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest opinion.

Do you enjoy fairy tale retellings and no-spice fairy tale mash-ups? Have you read anything by this author?

*FYI, my reviews are my honest opinion and if something bothers me, I tell it straight. How else will anything change? My opinions are based on being a voracious reader and book buyer, not an attack on the author.*