Fairy tales are one of my hobbies. The history is a fascinating look at how time (and sensibilities) can distort the original source material. But what I love most are the modern-day mashups. Marissa Meyer does this wonderfully in her Lunar Chronicles series, combining fairy tales with my other passion, science fiction.

So I was not surprised to find her latest novel, Heartless--an Alice in Wonderland retelling--a really good read.

Lady Catherine Pinkerton, heiress to Rock Turtle Cove in the Kingdom of Hearts finds herself in the middle of an unwanted courtship with the King of Hearts himself, when all she wants is to open up a bakery with her best friend and ladies maid, Mary Ann.

This might sound like a ridiculous premise, but I assure you, once you get into the story, you can see how subtlety (and not-so-subtlety) Meyer weaves reference to Lewis Carroll's Wonderland (and Edgar Allan Poe and Mother Goose's nursery rhymes) into her novel.

I will admit, as a scholar of Victorian England (which the social structure of Hearts is vaguely modeled on), I found a couple bothersome discrepancies. Let's take Catherine's other love interest, Jest, the court joker. During their first meeting he removed her corset laces from inside her dress. It's an impossible feat, the magic he's known for, but it is also akin to unhooking a woman's bra without her permission (I will grant that she was fainting from tight-lacing). But it wouldn't have gone unnoticed. Catherine's dress would have split at the seams wig her corset undone underneath, if it was really as tight as described.

Another corset faux-pas is Mary Ann's confusion on how she got out of the corset herself. Contrary to popular belief, corset's were never tied so that you couldn't untie them yourself. Many had front laces that could be undone in a pinch, but most were tied in the back with long enough laces that they could be removed by oneself.

But those are really minor offenses in a fictional world that is not (nor proclaims to be) anything like the real Victorian world it's very loosely based on. Not when there are sentient card decks and talking animals wandering about.

I especially liked the handling of the love story in this novel. Like most YA there is one, but instead of your typical love triangle, we have Catherine choosing between love (Jest) or duty (the King/her parents' wishes). But even among the love story is her dream to be a simple baker--a dream she won't give up, not even for love, though fate may have other plans.

All-in-all, it's a wonderful (pun intended) adaption of Carroll's works, with a smattering of Disney/other Alice movies thrown in for good measure. A fun retelling from a unique perspective that will entertain and inspire the most die-hard fairy tale fans.