Book Review: "Mirror Reader" by Karen Duvall

 

When a god abducts her daughter, she’ll risk everything, including love, to get her child back.

Long ago, the real Alice in Wonderland used a spell to imprison Hawaii’s gods. Over a hundred years later, the gods are free and vowing revenge on her descendant and namesake, Alice Dodgson. One of them kidnaps Alice’s little girl.

Alice’s mirror magic is no match for the angry gods. She must ask for help from Keoki, the man who broke her heart… the man who unknowingly fathered her child.

Keoki is mirror-world royalty and is entitled by law to have sole custody of his little girl. As much as Alice still loves him, she can’t fathom a life without her daughter.

Alice and Keoki team up to search for the child, and face danger at every turn. They’ll encounter a lethal demigod, doppelgangers, ghostly night marchers, the Hawaiian pantheon, and maybe Alice in Wonderland herself.

But even if they survive the obstacles in their path, will their love prevail? Or will their secrets be too much to overcome? - from Booksirens.com

This eARC was provided by Booksirens.com and I am giving an unbiased review.

This was an interesting re-telling of the classic Alice in Wonderland story. It is set in a current time and of the regular world in the location of Hawaii. The main character, Alice, is a descendant of the original one, and is a mirror traveler - able to step into a mirror world of our time, which happens to be a Hawaii set back closer to the late 1800s. 

Without getting into too much detail, Alice is thrust into a 160 year old issue of the Hawaiian gods being entrapped by her great-removed ancestor, and their recent escape. One god in particular kidnaps her daughter, whose father is of the mirror-world, and our adventure takes off. There is a bit of lost-love being reunited, discovery of parentage, and family history throughout the storyline.

Overall the story was well thought out, though at times I felt the details of what was around them needed more description. This was a good tale, and is able to be read as a stand-alone.