Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: self-Published

Genre: Gay Romance/MM

Tags: Urban Fantasy, Alice in Wonderland Reimagining, Morally Grey

Length: 371 Pages

Reviewer: Karen

Purchase At: author’s page, amazon 

Blurb:

If you came here by choice, enjoy the party. If you didn’t… good luck. You’re going to need it.

Lysander Carroll hasn’t known Warren White for long, but he’s certain they’ve got a future together. Then Warren is abducted in broad daylight by men driving a van marked Wonderland.

When the police refuse to investigate and every piece of evidence mysteriously disappears, Lysander realizes there’s only one way to get Warren back.
He’ll have to go to Wonderland himself.

Wonderland plays by its own twisted rules, where sex is currency, truth is negotiable, and manipulation lurks behind every smile. Caught between suspicion and irresistible attraction, Lysander can’t decide whether the enigmatic Nico Ravenscar wants to save him, claim him, or ruin him.

As he’s drawn deeper into Wonderland’s web of secrets, corruption, and depravity, Lysander discovers the most terrifying truth of all.

Getting in was the easy part.
Getting out may be impossible.
He came to rescue Warren.
Wonderland may decide to keep him instead.

Locked in Wonderland is a dark, steamy romance loosely inspired by Alice in Wonderland, featuring a mafia-like ruling family, a morally grey love interest, strange characters that speak in riddles, and a corrupt trial.

CW: an element of dubious consent, abduction, murder, coercion, drugging, tattooing without consent, a slave auction, mentions of human trafficking, and a secondary character who likes non-consensual pet play.

Review:

I am so grateful to this book because it pulled me out of my mid 2026 releases reading slump. It’s quirky. Through the Looking Glass and Alice in Wonderland are already (very) quirky. This book sits right on top of a morally bankrupt world, Wonderland, which is off the coast of maybe England, don’t think it’s directly mentioned, but it has an urban fantasy vibe. Just like the blurb says, Lysander’s boyfriend is kidnapped in broad daylight and even though it’s only been a two week relationship, Lysander wants answers. The police won’t help. The flat that Warren lived in, the one that had been ransacked immediately after his kidnapping, is now pristine with people living there who claim to have always been there. Which, as you can imagine, is a mindfuck. It sets the scene for the book. 

I shook my head. “The door was hanging off its hinges.”
“The door was fine, and they talked to several people in the building. No one heard anything. No one saw anything. And no one knows a Warren White.”

Long story short, even though a mysterious man warns him off going, Lysander manages to get himself across to Wonderland. A place he thinks the rich and the pompous go to for kicks. It’s interesting that a place not too far off the mainland is steeped in so much mystery. The processing committee is bizarre, to say the least. Percy and Lola set the tone for the rest of Lysander’s time spent in Wonderland, including the way they tattoo him. Not the usual flamingo.  

Everywhere Lysander goes is strange, he can’t get a handle on what the hell is going on. People talk in riddles and it always ends up that you owe the house, even a drink or a game Lysander is lead to believe is free isn’t. Which gets you into trouble in Wonderland’s various establishments. There is always a price to pay. And all roads lead back to the Harts. You especially don’t want to come to the attention of the Hart’s son, the sadistic Kellan.   

What the fuck! “He can’t—”
“He can,” Omar said flatly. “He’s Kellan Hart. I already told you he gets whatever he wants.”
“Objects maybe. Not people. People are different.”
Omar looked at me with something akin to pity. “In Wonderland,” he said, “everything is fair game.”

The fact of the matter is that if Kellan Hart wants you, he gets you. He’s utterly spoiled and entitled. If you’re not gay or bi, or fluid, too bad. He’ll have you anyway. 

The overwhelming emotion from the crowd wasn’t outrage. It was relief. Relief that Kellan hadn’t chosen them. Something about that was infinitely more disturbing than the abduction itself.

Locked in Wonderland has a nod to plenty of the original characters via contemporised descriptions or names-

Instead of a pocket watch, it’s a wristwatch

Tom Cheshire instead of the Cheshire Cat 

The Duchess gets a new spin-

“Oh, darling.” There was a pitying look in Dahlia’s eyes. “You paid for half of them,” she explained gently, as though speaking to a child. “We loaned the rest to you. You didn’t win, so now you need to pay them back.”

Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are represented by Zane Dum and Zeke Dee. 

Donovan Doyle is nicknamed Dodo.

The Harts run Wonderland in a way that would make any crime family proud. They are into some murky shit. There are drugs, human auctions, non-con and dubcon sex. A Kangaroo Court. 

The MCs: The romance is what I would call a reverse romance. It starts out sexually and builds momentum to relationship. It took me a while to warm up to Lysander. I was sold on the fact that he was trying to help someone who was kidnapped, not so much on the fact they were in a relationship, but ‘I have a boyfriend’ served a purpose. Lysander certainly goes though a lot in Wonderland and he has to adapt. Has some help. I may be awful, but I wasn’t going down that rabbit hole – pun intended – for Warren. Nico, however, he had my attention from the start. Loved. Him. Enigmatic. Cool but edgy and morally grey. I mean, he grew up with Kellan Hart although he wasn’t Queenie and Henry’s biological son. He’s up there as one of the most intriguing fictional characters I’ve read. 

The sex in this book certainly deserves the author’s TW of non-con/dub-con. It’s hard to fully explain without giving anything away. The story most certainly leans into erotica for about half of the book – that’s an approximation – although that doesn’t mean that there’s tons of sex, because there isn’t. It works. That’s all I can really say. Sorry. It’s cryptic. Anything else leads to spoilers and this book is best read within the spirit of how it’s written, mind games for Lysander – and the reader – trying to make sense of what’s happening in Wonderland.

“You’re a plaything, Lysander,” he said. “That’s your purpose here.” His thumb stroked lazily over the zipper. “What’s the point of a plaything if nobody plays with it?”

Locked in Wonderland was a refreshing, entertaining read. I like a good reimagining of different classics or pop culture favourites. I also enjoy things on the morally grey side of life. The story gave me both. The themes within this book are dark but the book isn’t necessarily dark, although it has unpleasant aspects. It also has a possessive/obsessive MC. Love that. Locked in Wonderland gives the reader an entertaining, well written story by a known author. Not AI. For the overall package, also, that cover is GORGEOUS, it’s 4.5 Stars!