The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: A Hint of Hatters and Hazards

Series: Enchanted Confections #5 (standalone within the series)

Author: Scarlett Luna Strange

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Romance

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

A hint of hatters
A pinch of red velvet
And a taste of hazards that could change the realms.
Baking peacefully in the After Realm is exactly how Fiorra intends to spend her eternity—until the last man she ever wanted to see appears out of nowhere. He brings with him all the complications from their old life, and shatters not just her peace, but the peace of the entire After Realm. And this time, she can’t leave him behind.
Nilsorn has no idea how he ended up in the After Realm, but he knows one thing: he has to get back to Wylionis. With no memory of his previous life, finding a way home seems impossible, especially when the key appears to be a beautiful baker who greets him with an irrational hatred and a fierce determination to avoid him at all costs. They may have only just met, but Nilsorn is going mad as he wonders what piece of the puzzle he might be missing.
Fiorra’s baking and Nilsorn’s quest are in more danger than either realize, as the jabberwocky has entered the After Realm. Unless it’s destroyed, darkness will overtake everything and everyone. But to kill the monster, they first have to find it, and the jabberwocky might be closer than they think. – summary from Amazon

*I received an ARC from the author, and all opinions are my own.

A Hint of Hatters and Hazards is a unique Alice in Wonderland retelling with second chances and adventure!

I did like this book, but it took me awhile to get into it. Alice in Wonderland is not my story, and I really struggle with retellings of this story. Because of this, it took me a bit to get into the story, but I did end up really liking it.

One of the things that I really liked about this book was that it was Wonderland-esque. It didn’t follow normal rules and the way characters talked was wacky, but you didn’t need any prior knowledge of the story to understand the place. The wackiness of the world was really fun, and I loved how Nilsorn struggled so much understanding the world.

I did feel like the mission to stop the jabberwocky could have been discussed a little more and a more central part of the book. I did like that aspect, but I felt like more of the story was focused on Nilsorn getting his memories and Fiorra trying to escape her past.

The characters were amazing! I loved Nilsorn and Fiorra so much. Nilsorn was very grumbly and determined. I also loved Fiorra. I felt like more of the story was focused on Nilsorn, but the parts with Fiorra gave us another part of the story and we got to see the After Realm in a different way. These characters had been mentioned in other books by Scarlett, which made it a little hard to follow the story. I think if I had read those books first some things would make a little more sense.

The other characters, Bracil and Lilith, I also enjoyed. They weren’t in the story very much, but I still enjoyed them. They also have nice friendships with the main characters. Fiorra and Lilith had a nice friendship, but I really liked seeing Bracil and Nilsorn’s growing friendship.

I did love the redemption arc and the second chances. Nilsorn wakes up in the After Realm with no knowledge of his life and has to slowly regain it as the book continues and he adventures across the After Realm. Him regaining his memories is heartwarming. It was definitely sad when they were fighting the jabberwocky. It showed who they were and how they cared for each other. Thankfully everything ended happily.

A Hint of Hatters and Hazards is a wacky Alice in Wonderland retelling with second chance romance and adventure.

A Hint of Hatters and Hazards is releasing on June 5, 2026.