Torn Beauty: An Alice in Wonderland Retelling

Cursed Brides

by Kathryn South

Emma Everdell never believed her grandmother’s tales of fireflowers, curses, and magical kingdoms.

Magic wasn’t real. Curses didn’t exist. Until the night she falls into a coma… and awakens in Wonderland.

Now trapped in a cursed realm ruled by a tyrant king and terrorized by the monstrous Jabberwocky, Emma is hailed as the long-awaited Phoenix princess and thrust into a deadly bridal competition for Prince Ember’s hand. Winning his heart may be her only way home—but with a fiancé waiting in the human realm, she has no intention of competing.

Everything changes when her sister, Elyce, arrives to rescue her—transformed into Emma’s mirror image by a twist of magic. Together, the sisters devise a daring plan to masquerade as one girl, deceive the court, and trick the prince into falling for Elyce instead.

But in Wonderland, true love is the only force strong enough to break the curse. So, what will happen when Prince Ember discovers he’s been deceived?

420 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2026

Reviews

[LeeEllen Belcher (Caw) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warnings: violence, torture, brutal murders, manipulation, captivity, abuse, lying, stealing

This no-spice Alice in Wonderland retelling was whimsical, but with a very dark edge. While I enjoyed the world-building, curses, magical creatures, and the bridal competitions with deadly trials in this portal fantasy, some of the characters fell a little flat for me. There were redemption arcs, but I wish we had seen them in the characters own perspectives. Their redemptions felt rushed to me, and seemed to only happen because they needed to. Plus, I kept getting confused by the whole situation the sisters were in, due to the timeline and perspectives I believe. I felt a lot of sympathy for Timothy, the prince's best friend, and Tristan, Anisa's best friend from the real world. I did like the overall story and would recommend this if you don't mind darker themes.

Elyce and Emma loved listening to their Grandma Anisa's stories of Wonderland, even if they didn't believe them. Until they find themselves there, and Elyce magically looks like a clone of Emma. They're thrust into a deadly competition for Prince Ember's hand and to break the dark curse that's over the realm. To survive, they must keep their secret from him and his bloodthirsty father, King Brimstone. When the Prince begins to mirror his father's tyranny, the girls must find a way to escape back to their own world.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy with no expectation of a review. All opinions are my own.

[DayDreamer8912 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rate:4/5
Genre: Fantasy/Fairytale retelling
🚨TW/CW: Captivity, Torture, Brutal Death, Abuse, Lying, Stealing, Dragon Attacks

Read it if you like:
🌸 Multiple POVs
🌸 Story within Story
🌸 Alice in Wonderland retelling
🌸 Human world X Wonderland
🌸 Talking Animals
🌸 Gender Swapped Villian
🌸 Dangerous Deadly Trials
🌸 Sisters pretending to be one person

Favourite Moments
🌸 The moment that Emma when in to Wonderland and then Ellyce later.
🌸 The animals and magical creatures being helpful to them.
🌸 The trials.
🌸 Moments with Gran, Grandpa Tristan, Uncle Danny and Timothy.
🌸 Timothy help them to escape. (can’t spoil it)
🌸 The forgiveness that is shown. (can’t spoil it)
🌸 Prince and the King went to the human world(can’t spoil it)

Swoony Moments
🌸 He will do whatever he can to protect his love ones.
🌸 He is willing to do what it takes to be the man that deserve her love.

Synopsis:
Emma Everdell never believed her grandmother’s tales of fireflowers, curses, and magical kingdoms.

In the world, magic doesn’t exist. Curses didn’t exist. Until one day, she got into an accident and got into a coma, next thing she know that she is in Wonderland.

Now trapped in the cursed realm ruled by a tyrant king and terrorized by the monstrous Jabberwocky, Emma is hailed as the long-awaited Phoenix princess and thrust into a deadly bridal competition for Prince Ember’s hand. However, she is already engaged to whom she loves in the human realm and also have no intention to compete.

Things got interesting when her sister Ellyce came to rescue her and Ellyce was transformed into Emma’s mirror image by the twist of magic. Together, they came out with a plan to be one person, and trick Prince Ember into falling for Ellyce instead.

Will they able to pulled off the trick? And one thing about Wonderland is that true love is the only force strong enough to break the curse. Read Torn Beauty to find out!!

Review:
This story has two worlds which is the human world and Wonderland. And it brings us to the past and present to know the story better and how did they get the curse. You can enjoy reading multiple POV while reading the story.

Both Emma and Ellyce have Phoenix powers and they are considered as Phoenix princesses and one of them is going to save Wonderland because of the brutally of the King which also rub it off to his son the prince who doesn’t have any role model to follow.

One day, an accident happened and Emma was transported to Wonderland and have to go through the brutal trials after awhile Ellyce came to her rescue but the catch is Ellyce look exactly like Emma and the twin switch-a-roo started. They work together to go through the trails and of course with their animal friends’ help.

Love that Ellyce and the prince best friend Timothy see that there is good sides of the prince though other people doesn’t really see it.

Love the moments with Timothy, Grandma & Grandpa Tristan and Uncle Danny. There are such lovable characters that help the prince and also the king to just make them see what real love is. I wish I could see more of the story about how they change too.

Lots of forgiveness in this story. It’s not easy to forgive a person that hurt you badly but with God’s help we can do it. Can’t spoil the whole story you will need to read it to find out.

P.S When will I find a guy like Tristan and also Timothy haha..

I was gifted complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own Thanks to @wordsandwonderinsouthafrica for the ARC.

This is the last book of Cursed Brides series written by 8 amazing authors. It is an Alice in Wonderland retelling. It is a little bit of Narnia vibes because the time in Wonderland and human world is different.

You can purchase this book on Amazon and it’s available on KU.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Sinister Alice and Wonderland Retelling

If you liked the high-stakes nature of the 2010 Alice in Wonderland film, you are in luck. This book has an evil king and incredible worldbuilding. The descriptions of Wonderland were nothing short of wondrous, and iconic characters, such as Danny/Lord Chapeau (Mad Hatter), the Jabberwocky, the white rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat, deliver. The idea is original and unique. Anyone who enjoys exploring the possibilities of Wonderland, the wonder and the sinister, will want to give this book a read.

Torn Beauty is the product of a collaboration between four authors: Kathryn South (main), Avin Khalaf, Ashlyn Sanders, and Celestia Morris. With this in mind, I was impressed at how seamless the chapters flowed together. Nothing indicates that this book had multiple co-authors. This is an even more impressive feat considering the timeline and tight deadline to deliver this book.

That said, the tight deadline also explains many of the other issues I had with this book, primarily relating to plot, characterization, and romance. The plot moved quickly with multiple gaps in time. There are five different character point of views and alternating timelines between the past and present. Weeks and months pass between chapters in the same time period, and while the reader receives some information, I felt like there were often pieces missing, which made it harder for me to understand certain events and characters' motivations. The characters had potential but their development, especially the redemption arcs and romances, seemed rushed. The happy endings therefore, to me, felt undeserved because they never really paid the consequences for their actions aside from some guilt and community service. This book has multiple couples, including two love triangles. The only two males who I felt were green flags were Tristan and Timothy. I actually really liked Tristan's romance because he displayed genuine love and care towards Anisa, contrasting perfectly with King Brimstone's fiery love. King Brimstone and Prince Ember were such fantastic villains that they were giant red flags for the Everdells, which made me strongly dislike their romantic relationships, particularly Ember's.

Overall, this book has an amazing premise and worldbuilding. I saw in other places that the author is considering revising and releasing another edition in the future. I think it has incredible potential. As it stands currently, I think readers who enjoy YA fantasy, dark fantasy, and Alice in Wonderland retellings should check out this book.

Note: The author uses British spellings throughout Torn Beauty.

*I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Elizabeth Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Alice in Wonderland twist was quite a bit different than what you would expect. The main story of Alice in Wonderland had mostly previously already happened before this. Grandmother Arisa was sent to Wonderland to compete it in a bridal competition. She meets the mad hatter, the chestire cat, the rabbit with a pocket watch. Even though Grandmother Arisa did not win, the king was still deeply in love with her, which caused the jealous wife to place a curse on her and her children. These were all tales that were stories she had told her grandchildren, Elyce and Emma. Though, they never actually believed them, until they were forced into their own bridal competition for Prince Ember’s hand.
There were multiple viewpoints: Emma, Elyce, Timothy, Ember, and Grandma Arisa. It’s important to read the beginning of the chapter to find out whose perspective the chapter has set for their viewpoint and the time frame in which it is placed. It was a little confusing to begin with since Grandma Arisa’s backstory began as a story and then is retold in her experiences in between current events.
I thought it was a creative way of approaching the Alice in Wonderland story. There were many plot points that were in the fairy tale that remained true, the roses being painted red, the queen of hearts, shrinking down to a small size. It was unique how the author told this story. I enjoyed this story and would recommend it! It has dark fantasy vibes, so I would be warned if you weren’t interested in reading a story like that.
I received an advanced reader’s copy for my own review.

[Kat Crowder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark Retelling

This book is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland with several twists. I loved seeing the different characters from Wonderland in a new light. The worldbuilding in the book was fun and easy to imagine and follow along with. The story is told from multiple POV and was interesting to see from different sides of the story.

This book is part of the Cursed Brides series where the FMC is cursed to participate in a competition to become the wife/queen of the prince/king. The book does have a competition but it is not a large part of the story. The curse that is on the kingdom is mentioned throughout the story. The story has a few main characters involved in the competition and the timeline is very different. I found the first third of the book to be confusing but after that it was easier to understand what was going on. I thought I knew how the book was going to end but the authors have a few surprises in store!

One warning I would like to give is there is very graphic descriptions of killing and lots of mention of torture and other things that may be disturbing. It can be very dark, and several of the characters are manipulative, angry, and delight in torture. I didn't find it to be too much but if you don't know going into it then you may be very surprised.

[Tris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Alice and Wonderland retelling:

I really enjoyed this book, it's YA so I want people to remember that one. It's also very dark with notes of torture, murder, and dangerous tasks.

Overall it gave me vibes from the original Alice and wonderland which I thought was cool. We had whimsy, but also a dark looming curse. These two elements were combined quite beautifully and overall it was well done.

In my experience, if a book doesn't have at least one character I can dislike, it's not any good. This one has several! And for that I loved it.

The curse aspect was also very wonderland esque, these characters seemingly had no reason to behave in such a manner and yet they did. I also really loved how the original story was tied into this book, with some of the original characters as well. But it was still uniquely its own story.

I enjoyed the redemption arcs as well, I won't spoil those but they worked in this story.

If you're looking for a dark book without spice this is definitely a go-to, while the themes are quite dark I did not find them overly explicit just described. I found this chilling and dangerous and enjoyed every minute of this book.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely gave off Wonderland vibes. It was twisty, a little mad, and a tad confusing.

Even though it was labeled with the timeline, I had a hard time figuring out what was going on.

The character development/redemption arcs were very sudden and fell flat. I could barely tell a difference between the twins.

It felt like were scenes missing that were alluded to which would’ve helped with character and relationship development i.e. taking walks in the garden.

Tristan was the best character and deserved better.

While this wasn’t for me, it could be for you. Give it a try.

I received a voluntary ARC for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

No spice (just kisses)
No explicit language
PG-13 Violence/gore
⭐️⭐️⭐️interesting idea/plot but not executed well

[Kayt · Rating 5 out of 5]

PLEASE NOTE!

I am working on the paperback but I want it clean of typos and I need to fix some formatting. I also want to add a disclaimer telling people that it was written in British English and has 4 foreign words in it and some made-up fantasy names (it IS a fantasy after all and not historical fiction, lol) So there are things that need to be done that are taking longer than I planned. Please have patience. I'm sure the paperback will be available next week.