Book Blog #2, Splintered

Splintered
By A.G. Howard

Alyssa gardener is a descendant of Alice Liddell. After being able to hear plants talking, she thinks that she is going to end up in a mental institute, just like her mother. She visits her mother often, and her mother tells her of her past and that their is a curse on their bloodline that causes them to have certain magical powers. Alyssa goes down the rabbit hole to try to break the curse, only to find that Wonderland is a much scarier place than the original childhood story and that she somehow knows quite a bit about the people that live there and the place.
The first paragraph is:
"I've been collecting bugs since I was ten; it's the only way I can stop their whispers. Sticking a pin through the gut of an insect shuts it up pretty quick."
To me, this is a mystifying introduction, because you wonder why she kills bugs and why she needs to shut them up. For me, this pulled me into the story very quickly because it made it so I had a lot of questions about what would happen next and what her personality is like.
Throughout the book, there is a lot about relationships and the conflicts they create.

To be Read list:
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey