Heartless – Marissa Meyer

This book was absolutely incredible. Heartless is the first book I’ve read by Marissa Meyer and I loved every second of it. I was hesitant to read this since I’ve been in a bit of a book slump from the Throne of Glass series, however, this book made me want to read constantly and definitely helped me out of it. 

Plot

Heartless follows our main character Catherine Pinkerton who is favored by the King of Hearts. Unfortunately, she isn’t interested in the King and would instead open a bakery with her best friend, Mary-Ann. Her parents disapprove of her dreams of baking, and they believe that it is no life for a member of the nobility, let alone a girl who the King has set out to marry. 

One night at the King’s ball, Cath meets Jest, the new court joker, and immediately dreams of being with him. Cath and Jest begin a secret courtship where he shows her the magic that can be found if she only knew where to look. 

This story is how the Queen of Hearts became the Queen of Hearts that we know and love. 

After falling in love with a court joker who is ripped from her grasp, Catherine is forever changed and becomes the cold-hearted Queen of Hearts. 

Characters

Our main character Catherine Pinkerton is so well-written, and I immediately fell in love with her character. I could relate to her a lot, with her love of baking to having a best friend that she always counted on, and having Cheshire, the cat as her sort of pet. Throughout the book she went through a number of different things, including her parents’ disapproval of her baking. Along with that, she was unwillingly pursued by a man she had no interest in, but had no way to get out of it. I think that makes her a compelling character and just gives her what she needed to be the Queen of Hearts. From the beginning, I knew what would become of Catherine, however, I absolutely didn’t expect it to be because of these events. It is pretty easy to see why Catherine turns into the cold-hearted Queen of Hearts, though. 

The court Joker is also a main character in the book. I think that he was such an interesting character, and I wish I knew more about him. I feel like everything was so mysterious with him, and we only got bits, and pieces of his life figured out. Of course, I wish I had more time with him, and it completely shattered my heart with his ending in the book. 

“Sometimes you heart is the only thing worth listening to.”

Setting

The kingdom of Hearts sounded magnificent. I am obviously a huge sucker for magical kingdoms and magic in general and this book definitely gave me everything I needed. I feel like this kingdom was just the perfect setting for a story such as this, especially with all the different side characters that were introduced and the magical buildings. 

One of the most exciting settings from the book was actually a treacle well in a meadow. At the beginning of the book, the treacle well was described as a myth; however, it became clear that it is not. The treacle well was magical, but creepy as well. I think that this was one of the most important settings in the book as well. Not only is it where Cath and Jest finally admitted everything to each other, but it is also the way to the Looking Glass which is needed to pass into the Kingdom of Chess. 

Writing

Since this is the first book I have read by Marissa Meyer, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed her writing style. It was different from many of the authors I have recently read and I found that I liked the change. 

I think that the writing in this book is definitely going to make me read some of her other popular books, and I hope that I enjoy those ones as much as this!

In Conclusion… 

I loved every second of this book! It had a beautiful love story, combined with magic and a world that I also adored. I recommend this book to any Alice in Wonderland fans, as well as any romance lovers who enjoy a bit of magic. I think that Marissa Meyer perfectly created a story that shows exactly why the Queen of Hearts is so cold and…well…Heartless. 

Rating: 5/5⭐