Ivy: Daughter of Alice

by J.A. Armitage, Zara Quentin

***FULL SERIES***What happened after the happily ever after?You all know the story of Alice in Wonderland, but did you ever wonder what happened after the fairytale ending? Well we know. Not all afters end up happily, sometimes the real adventure starts much later...QUEEN OF CLOCKWORKThe citizens of The Forge live in the long shadow of the memory of the late Queen of Hearts and her strict enforcement of the aesthetic code. Miss Ivy Rowntree is one of the city’s inspectors, but her true passion lies in making pocket watches—she’s never met a watch she couldn’t fix, or a puzzle she couldn’t solve.That is, until Ivy is commissioned to ‘fix’ an antique pocket watch that hasn’t worked for 18 years. To make matters worse, the city’s clock tower strikes suddenly back to life and the late Queen’s soldiers are sighted on the streets, inducing fear in the hearts of the citizens.Even riddles of a long dead Queen are nothing to the puzzle of the dark-eyed stranger haunting her dreams…HEIRESS OF DELUSIONMiss Ivy Rowntree may have discovered the identity of her dark-eyed stranger, but Raven remains as mysterious as ever. Worse, with clues that the late Queen of Hearts supporters are rallying their forces against President Alice, the milliner appears to know more than he’s telling.Raven might be the puzzle that Ivy can’t resist—but how much danger is she willing to put herself in to find the answers to her questions?THRONE OF CARDSMiss Ivy Rowntree might have solved the mystery of her dark-eyed stranger, but after an evening in his company, she finds herself questioning her work, the laws of The Forge, and everything she knows about the city she’s lived in all her life.If that’s not all, the appearance of an exotic princess on Alice’s doorstep will make Ivy question everything she knows about herself and her family as well.GODDESS OF HEARTSMiss Ivy Rowntree and her allies throughout Melfall stand together—both beautiful and unbeautiful—to defend their city from the robot invaders. Even as she fights to protect her loved ones and the citizens of The Forge, Ivy’s own trusted instincts tell her that something more is at play. Who is really giving orders to the Hearts? How much will they sacrifice to win?Following famous fairytale characters, eighteen years after their happily ever after, the Kingdom of Fairytales offers an edge of the seat thrill ride in an all new and sensational way to read.Lighting-fast reads you won’t be able to put downFantasy has never been so epic!

382 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 12, 2021

About the author

Born in Leeds, I lived a very normal life until I got bored one day and decided to travel the world. Since then I've worked on a Banana Plantation, cleaned ACDC's dressing room and been a professional clown.
I climbed to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and the top of Kilimanjaro. Nowadays you'll find me being a climbing frame for my two young children, working in a school, and renovating my home.
Did I also mention I wrote some books?
I hope you enjoy them!
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Reviews

[Marjorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been curious to see the mechanically minded Forge and their wonderful contraptions since it was alluded to in earlier books in the Kingdom of Fairytales. The Forge was a wonderful mashup of steampunk technology, flamboyant Wonderland style, and urban fantasy - including vampires. It is a kingdom where aesthetics are paramount, creating a veneer of beauty of over a reality that is not nearly so perfect.

Ivy has a mechanical affinity, able to sense if machines are as they should be, and a knack for fixing what is wrong. But what about when things are mysteriously right? Clocks that haven't worked in 18 years suddenly keeping perfect time. And that is just the beginning of strange happenings happenings and mysteries that seem to be popping up all around her.

I loved all the nods to characters, events and settings from the original and the way they were cleverly twisted, even a riddle involving a Raven.

Book 1 introduced the beautiful kingdom of Forge which places highest priority on esthetics; book 2 peels back the veneer to reveal what lies beneath the perfect image presented to the kingdom. Hints were there, but this book really explores the ugly results of policies favoring beauty above all (hint it's not the people). It seems nothing in The Forge is quite as it seemed and with the tick tick ticking is is possible the Red Queen is still around?

This book delves into social justice issues, but not in a heavy handed way. As Ivy gains an education there also seems to be a bit of romance brewing - maybe more than one romance from a comment Pearl dropped. Wonderland references continue to be wrapped into the story in a delightful way. Oh, and if you liked Gaia and the Genie you will love their appearance in this book. It was really cool to see characters cross over from one arc to another. This story is completely independent from theirs - no real spoilers or such. She helped add a perspective to the changes affecting the people of The Forge, many of the same problems plaguing other kingdoms including growing fear and unrest among the people and a dark leader thought defeated apparently rising in the shadows. This is an honest and voluntary review of an ARC