I requested to read this book through Netgalley mainly because of its beautiful cover, but the story itself was absolutely delightful as well.

It's not exactly a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, but more likely to be inspired by the classic fairytale. Instead of entering Wonderland, our Alice here entered a sort-of-magical Kyoto Forest, where its nothing like the Kyoto that she used to be familiar with. And not only she got a white rabbit in a waistcoat as her companion, she also got a cute frog in traditional Japanese clothing.

Alice returned to Kyoto to escape the harsh treatment by her uncle, and she planned to become a maiko, an apprentice geisha. But her plan did not work when she learned that this Kyoto she fell through was not the Kyoto in the normal world, and she had to go through a journey to find the truth about this world, and how she would be able to stay in it.

I love how sweet Alice is, but she also carries a great pain in her and all I want is for her to be happy. Since this is only the first volume of the story, there are much to be uncovered, but there's also a prospect of Alice reuniting with a childhood friend from Kyoto, whom made a promise to marry her when they meet again.

It's rather obvious who they boy might be, but I'm curious and excited to know how they're going to meet again, and how their relationship can work because Alice is still an outsider at this point, and the boy has a rather high social ranking in this Kyoto Forest.

I'm definitely considering getting the paperback because the illustrations are just stunning! I'm dying to know follow Alice's next adventures too ♡

Many thanks to Netgalley and Tokyopop for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.