Do you ever pick up a book already knowing how it ends but deep down you hope the author will change their mind at the last second? That was me with Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I knew what I was signing up for—a story about the Queen of Hearts before she became the villain everyone fears in Alice in Wonderland.I knew for whom I was signing up - a story about the queen of the heart, before she became a villain, everyone is afraid in Alice in Wonderland. I knew that there is no white horse, there is no clean story, which is never ending with a joy. But I was there, my eyes were burning at 2 in the afternoon, flip the pages like this time. Spoiler: it wasn’t. But the power of this book is that you desperately wish it could be.
Before she was a cruel queen of hearts, Catherine Pinkaron was just a girl who wanted to bake. He did not dream of crowns or states. She dreamed of butter and sugar, warm pies and fluffy cakes and a small shop she runs with her best friend, Mary Ann. He dreamed of happiness, of freedom, he could really taste a life.. But of course, in the kingdom of Hearts, daughters of Marquesses don’t run bakeries. They get married off like bargaining chips, and for Catherine, that means being courted by the King himself—a man so sweet, clumsy, and clueless that it almost makes you feel sorry for him. Almost.
Then comes Jest. Oh, Jest. If you’ve read it, you know. If you haven’t—brace yourself. Jest is the King’s new joker, a boy with yellow eyes, a dangerous smile, and secrets tucked between every card trick and riddle. He’s freedom dressed in black and gold. He’s laughter in a world that wants Catherine to sit still and look pretty. He’s the dream that makes her reckless enough to hope. And maybe that’s the cruelest part—because hope is exactly what destroys her.
Catherine is not some shallow villain who shouts with his head! Without any reason. He is stubborn, flawed and sometimes painfully naive. But he is also loyal, soft and bravely compared to thinking. I loved her because she felt so real - her desire to make the right lemon, her disappointment with her ultra, her secret desire is that she hides under the layers of politics. On the other hand, it is not impossible to fall for the gesture. He is quick-loyal, endless loyal, and simply has enough secret that you want to believe that he will find a way for both of them. His theft kisses, hidden glimpses, plans to remove late night plans-it all seems to see a spark fly in a dynamite-filled room.
But Wonderland doesn’t care about sparks. Or maybe it cares too much about putting them out.
What I loved about this book is that it creates a world that is eccentric and frightening at the same time. Mayor maintains the nonsense and attraction of Wonderland of Lewis Carol - the speaking animals, tea parties that never end, the Cheshyar cat who slips through views with the sly riddles - but there is a darkness under the attraction that creeps slowly. Blood flows in the light of the day. Jabberwock stings at night. A kingdom that feels so bright and silly on the surface hides teeth that are sharp enough to shred your dreams in an instant. It’s all sugar on top with something rotten inside—just like Catherine’s life.
Even when you know how it ends, you can’t help but bargain with every page. Maybe Jest and Catherine will get away. Maybe they’ll open that bakery. Maybe her mother’s shrieks and the King’s clueless grin won’t matter. You cling to it. This is a real heart break. The tragedy is not a sudden hit like a slap - it is a slow knife that you see the sink deep and deep, powerless. When everything Catherine loves gets ripped away, piece by piece, you can feel her heart harden. You see exactly how a girl who only wanted to bake pies becomes the Queen who yells for heads to roll. And the worst part is you don’t blame her.
Meyer doesn’t soften the blow. She doesn’t give you an escape hatch. There’s no twist ending that redeems everything with magic. Catherine’s fall feels so real because it makes sense. It’s not about her wanting power—it’s about her losing everything else first. Love couldn’t save her. Not even her own courage could.
Some lines from this book still stick to my ribs like cold dread. The last page hits like a punch you saw coming the whole time but hoped you’d dodge. Catherine’s final transformation into the Queen of Hearts is one of those moments that made me just stare at the ceiling in the dark, thinking, God, what if she’d run faster? What if they’d kissed sooner? What if… But Wonderland isn’t a place for what-ifs.
It’s funny because I picked this book up expecting to be entertained. Instead, I got my heart broken by a girl who never really wanted to be queen. I pulled in a romance that assured me, then punished me for it. I remind me that the villains are not out of anywhere - they are manufactured, pieces by pieces, from their options and the possibilities of their lost. Sometimes people never break because they are weak. Sometimes they break because they loved too much.
It’s not a perfect book. Pulls some parts, and romance feels that the spots have run into the spots. But when it is a hit, it hits hard. I loved how the mayor cared me a lot about a character, whose story I already knew would end in red and anger. I wanted to reach through the pages and wanted to draw Catherine into my kitchen, let him laugh about Bake Cupcake and Stupid jokes, protect him from the world that wanted to cage him. But books do not work like this. And Wonderland definitely doesn’t.
When I stopped heartless, I felt a little empty, like someone smelled and swaps my happy story for a careful story, which I did not ask. But maybe it's Maybe some stories aren’t there to comfort us. Maybe they’re there to remind us how fragile dreams are when the world wants something else from you.
So would I recommend it? If you want a comfortable, felt-a good story that leaves you warm and fuzzy-not. But if you want to hurt a little, if you want to see a girl fighting for her little dreams and lose them in the most painful beautiful way - so yes. Read it. When you whispering at three o'clock in the morning, the poor Catherine wakes up to the roof, I did not warn you.
sometimes love is not enough. Sometimes sweetness rot. Sometimes the queen of the heart is just a girl who wanted to bake. And this is the reason why after a long time of the last page, the heartless sticks with me. Now tell me- will you put your heart at risk for a love which you know is wasted from the beginning? Because Catherine did. And Wonderland never forgave her for it.
