Review of Ensnared by A.G. Howard

Title/Author: Ensnared (Splintered #3) by A.G. Howard
Publisher/Date published: Amulet Books, January 6th 2015
How I got this book: bought it
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She's determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles... and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world - a parallel dimension filled with mutated and violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that's gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that has ensnared it. But if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after?

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST 2 BOOKS IN THE SERIES***

It's probably no secret that I have a LOT of love for this series. I've discovered a new love for Wonderland and creepy crawlies (as long as they don't come near me) and suprised myself by falling for the 'bad' guy. And obviously I couldn't wait to start Ensnared, especially after the ending of Unhinged!

So over the course of this series, my heart has been broken a couple of times, and I felt torn, like Alyssa, between Morpheus and Jeb, but Morpheus just has been holding a special place in my heart, especially since Unhinged. And Ensnared only proved that I was right to prefer our favourite moth, because HELLO LOVELY! OMG, Ensnared just filled my heart with ALL the Morpheus feels and I just wanted things to work out for him and hug him and let him be wicked and himself and just ALL OF IT OK? I saw him be a better person at times because he loves Alyssa while at the same time staying his wonderful self. And I just love him so much.
The reason I'm leading with all of these boy-related feels is that I just can't keep them in and because I felt that the one issue I did have with this book is that I was just waiting for Alyssa to get over Jeb and be with Morpheus, because OMG, WHY NOT??? I mean, I felt like Jeb had given up on them and was holding her back and just. I was just over him. So Alyssa trying to win him back was just not what I wanted her to be doing. But I guess he does have his moments and all... I'm just not fully convinced by how this love triangle was handled.

I was really hoping we'd spend a lot of time in Wonderland, but AnyElsewhere is a pretty good second, cause it also has lots of weird and quirky creatures and a whole lot of magical things for me to love. I love how A.G. Howard always mixes in the creepy and the dark twisty things, it's awesome. And I love how Alyssa has learned to embrace that side of her, the Wonderland side of her. How she can be dark and vengeful and jsut amazingly powerful and a true queen. I loved seeing her accept and treasure these qualities.

Also, while I get how her dad is being protective and such, I still think he's also pretty annoying. I mean, UGH, I just didn't like him, he was also really trying to hold Alyssa back, even after he gets his memories back and it didn't feel just protective, but like one of those people who don't want their loved ones to rise above them. It never felt like he accepted her for who she is.

I loved how there were twists and turns and you never knew if you could fully trust anything you were seeing/reading and so, SO many of these twists revolved around Morpheus and I just cannot over how much love I have for him! He IS Wonderland and amazing! I totally loved how A.G. Howard handled the two sides of Alyssa and the effect of this on her heart and learning more about Red and just EVERYTHING.

To sum it up, I pretty much adore this whole series and REALLY want to go re-read it as a whole and it's also made me excited about reading Alice in Wonderland with my book club this month, which I was dreading a bit. It's dark and twisty and swoony and just a whole amount of amazing writing that I could get lost in for hours at a time! Also: MORPHEUS. Go read it if you haven't already!

My rating: 5 stars