A creative and sensual novel that doesn’t disappoint.
A magic portal transports an overworked entrepreneur to a fantasyland in a loose, erotic spin on a classic tale.
In this steamy, contemporary reimagining of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—the first in a planned series—Alice Hightower was abandoned as a child and now, at 49, insists on controlling every aspect of her life. As the ambitious CEO of Excellcardia, a revolutionary biomedical company about to launch a breakthrough cardiac device, she’s found great career success. However, her cynicism toward love has kept her single, and she regularly discusses her anxieties with her psychiatrist. As with Rea’s rousing second novel, Conjuring Casanova (2016), the author doesn’t waste much time on narrative exposition. Instead, she quickly sends her protagonist through a time-travel portal, located just behind Alice’s balcony door, through which she visits bygone eras and fantastical dimensions. Alice dons outfits that mysteriously appear in her mirrored closet at home, dressing in 1970s bell-bottoms to tour with a British rock band, satin lace to attend a Roman orgy, and a formal ball gown to enjoy a Venetian carnival. Everywhere she goes, her sexual desires are described in meticulously detailed scenes. Leaving behind “the serious, conservative CEO that was Alice in the daylight,” she revels in her new, secret persona. Running alongside these adventures are clinical notes from her psychiatrist, who suggests that Alice may be suffering from inherited, high-functioning bipolar disorder, which has a sobering effect on the novel’s hypersexual fantasy. Still, the vast majority of this work is lavishly embellished with descriptions of historical locales and sexy, insatiable characters, making it an explicit, erotic treat for adults. Whether Alice is tickled by the affections of twins named Don and Dan or washed ashore with swashbuckling pirates, open-minded readers will appreciate and savor Rea’s literary creativity. The author’s fresh, flirtatious take is provocative and lucidly described; eventually, though, reality catches up with and even surpasses Alice’s imagination, forcing her to reevaluate her career and her capacity for love.
A creative and sensual novel that doesn’t disappoint.Pub Date: July 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-953735-76-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Melange Books, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.
Kova offers a fantasy novel set beyond the Nightgale Mountains in the walled fortress of Vinguard where citizens live in fear of the next deadly dragon attack.
Vinguard’s residents are always on guard against the threat of dragons, but they must watch more than just the skies. Living among them, hiding in plain sight, are the “dragon cursed”—people who, at any moment, may transform into terrifying winged beasts and destroy the city from within. For most of Isola Thaz’s life, she’s been told she’s the reincarnated savior of Vinguard. But just as she begins to suspect that she may be dragon cursed, she’s tossed into Vinguard’s Tribunal—a contest in which every 18-year-old competes in tests of skill and might to separate loyal citizens from the dragon cursed. As she’s sequestered for this rite of passage, Isola hesitantly allies herself with a handsome fellow competitor named Lucan. However, as the teens face such trials as fire-breathing automatons (“The silver beast comes to life with a swing. Its claws shear through the dim light”), starvation, and actual dragons while unarmed, Isola begins to feel that Vinguard’s traditions come at a cost that’s too steep. Meanwhile, Vicar Darius, Lucan’s father and the leader of Vinguard’s shadowy theocracy, the Creed, is desperate to take Isola’s powers for himself—and, to that end, he puts her into increasingly tortuous situations. However, neither he, nor Isola’s teenage rivals, are very compelling antagonists; instead, they come across as caricatures of cruelty. Still, the novel is fast-paced and action-oriented with a punchy prose that prioritizes movement over fantasy aesthetics. A sometimes-fraught romance between Isola and Lucan slowly blooms, but Isola’s relationship with her family forms the true emotional core of the narrative. Although the worldbuilding in fairly simple, the story sets up a massive mystery that promises big payoffs in a potential future installment.
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781649377838
Page Count: 448
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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