Malice in Wonderland by H.P. Mallory (Dulcie O'Neil #5)

I’m torn between 3.5 stars and 4 stars.  What pushes me to 3.5 stars is that Dulcie would go on these long tangents in her head about this situation or that situation and whenever Knight wanted to talk she would push it away saying she hadn’t had time to sort out her thoughts yet.  Ugh!  Shut up Dulcie!  We all wanted Knight to pay for how he treated you in Wuthering Frights, but make up your mind already!  And at time I found Dulcie to be… (Gasp) annoying.  She was always tired, she was grumpy and not the normal Dulcie.  Let her have a nap!  What pushes me towards the 4 stars was that it was still very well written.  I loved the scenes between Dulcie and Bram and Dulcie and Knight.  So you can see my conundrum.  Who’s ever heard of a 3.75 star? No one! 

This book picks right up where Wuthering Frights left off.  Knight just learns that Dulcie wasn’t willingly working for her father and actually help set up a sting on the latest and greatest potions smuggling.  He is apologetic, he is remorseful, and he wants Dulcie back!  Dulcie gets a crash course in how the resistance works.  Then not much else happens (besides Dulcie’s scenes of thinking in her head) until…something big happens and Dulcie must be moved for her own safety.  Bram is forced out of his fence straddling position (Is he good?  Is he bad?) and must make his decision and we finally learn why he was so well known in the prison in the Netherworld. 

The ending was a bit of a cliff hanger.  We got some answers to some things, but are left hanging…again. 

What was the dream about?  We never learned more about that!  I need to know…

Also only 85% of the content on the kindle version is Malice in Wonderland.  The other 15% is the short story released in “Kiss Me, Kill Me” (which I had already read) and some excerpts from Jolie’s book. 

I did have to get on Facebook to check out the pages for Dulcie, Bram and Knight while reading this to keep their images in my head.  For some reason Bram never looks as good in my head as he is intended to so I have to refresh myself. 

Wuthering Frights by H.P. Mallory (Dulcie O'neal #4)

4 Stars (only because I wanted to punch someone...read on)

I am slightly biased as I LOVE pretty much anything that H.P. Mallory writes. This is the fourth installment for the Dulcie O'neil series. It is a cliff hanger (like everyone has said), but pretty much jumped right in where the last story took off (which was a major complaint from the last Jolie Wilkens book).

I really hate watching movies or reading books where the main character gets dumped on repeatedly. This happens to Dulcie in this book. I started reading it, and then stopped because it just seemed that she was losing everyone around her and they all blamed her. At one point Dulcie gets beat up by this guy, Baron, and while Quill was trying to stop it from happening he never once says, "You are not going to wanna do that to Melchior's daughter." In my mind that is all it would have taken to stop what happened, but perhaps there is a reason for not saying that.

Dulcie didn't handle her situation the way I would have and she didn't say things to Knight that I think would have been beneficial to her case. Clearly everyone reacts differently in situations, but it makes it hard to relate to a character that seems to consistently not be able to make a choice that would help her.

Having said all that, the end of the story leads me to think that Dulcie's extremely long string of bad luck may be turning. I admit that I am mad at Knightly Vander. Dulcie is supposed to be his true mate, but he has immediately thrown their entire history out the window at the first sign of trouble. I would have liked for Knight to have seen past Dulcie's ruse and put the pieces together and try to help her. I can see that he wouldn't want to be played for a fool, but he seems to be pushing his version of what he thinks happened beyond what should be rational. But then again, who is rational when in love? But he is definitely not giving Dulcie the benefit of the doubt, and because of this, I am mad at him. I want him to think that he has lost Dulcie. My heart hurts for Dulcie in this book (yes, I know she is fictional, but the author did a good job of showing the hurt that Dulcie is going through in this book.