Madness in Wonderland (ARC Copy Review) (Part 3 - Plot & Theme)
Hello, all. Welcome to the ARC copy review of Madness in Wonderland.
We’ve already done the overview of the book; last week, we talked about character. Now it’s time to wrap things up by looking at the plot and theme.
As stated at the start of this review series, I was provided a free, digital copy of this book by Ms. LeMieux for the purposes of this review.
With all that established, let’s go down the rabbit hole.
STATS
Title: Madness in Wonderland
Series: N/A
Author(s): Mindy LeMieux
Genre: Romantasy
First Printing: September 4th, 2026
Publisher: Self-published
Rating: 8/10
SPOILER WARNING
Mild, unmarked spoilers for Madness in Wonderland will be provided throughout this review. Heavy spoilers will be confined to clearly labeled sections. I will keep the first paragraph of any given section spoiler-free.
PLOT
Small Stakes
I know the premise promises a prophecy and saving the world, but the story is honestly a lot more grounded than that.
Maddie wants to go home so that she can get her revenge and get her career back. That is the main plot. Needing to face the Jabberwock and a "secret mastermind" are presented more as obstacles along that journey rather than being the things we should worry about most. Maddie is just trying to go around or through these things to get to her main objective.
Even when the fate of two kingdoms is at stake, it's not presented as some apocalyptic. If Maddie fails, the kingdoms will fall under the sway of an injust ruler, but most of Wonderland will survive that just fine. It honestly feels like the most dire consequence of that will be that Maddie can't fulfill the prophecy, and thus, can't go home, if that happens.
This is nice. It keeps the focus on the romance. Maddie and Simon's feelings aren't trivialized by some extential threat.
Contrivance
Plot contrivances aren't a good thing, but if limited to the start of a story, they are a lot easier to forgive.
Madness in Wonderland has two major contrivances. The second comes at the very end of the story to crowbar in a specific Happily Ever After. The first, and far larger, one is that gets Maddie to Wonderland in the first place.
Maddie falls down a rabbit hole in a cave she stops to explore on her morning run. A cave she has run past many times. A cave she will surely run past again. Yet the one day she chooses to go into the cave, the specific time she goes into the cave, is mere hours before a meeting with her attorney that she believes will guarantee that her revenge is a success.
Really? Of all days, this is the one?
This is beyond contrived. I was flabbergasted throughout the entire scene. I'd know Maddie for less than 15 pages, and she didn't even offer that much for me to understand about her character, yet it was obvious that Maddie would not do this. The only reason Maddie has to worry about her revenge throughout this book is because she acted out of character.
Still ... while this is a massive contrivance, at least this was just to get the story started. The damage is contained to the scene itself. That makes it very easy to shrug and move on.
Twists (Heavy Spoilers)
The Mastermind
The conflict that drives the second and third acts of this story is that the Red Queen's cousin is trying to kill her and usurp control of all of Wonderland. This isn't the twist I want to talk about though. The actual twist I want to cover is a character named Glover, the advisor of the Red Queen.
Glover initially presents himself as an ally to Maddie and Simon, promising to help with the attempt to free Simon's sister from prison. To this end, he provides disgusies to help Simon and Maddie sneak into the castle. Unfortunatley, not only does this plan fail, but the Queen is also sent into an apoplectic rage when she sees Maddie is wearing one of her necklaces. The later reveal is that Glover was actively trying to sabotage the rescue. This was a means to manipulate the Queen for the mastermind's plan.
Even before the official reveal, though, there are hints something is off. One of Maddie' and Simon's allies in the rescue attempt is surprised when they mention that Glover was involved in helping them prepare, stating that he never asked Glover to get involved. The necklace that upset the Queen was also given to Maddie by Glover. The pieces fall into place before the narrative spells things out for us. This means the twist, though a bit of a surprise, flows naturally from established information.
The Jabberwock
The story really builds up Maddie's encounter with the Jabberwock. The prophecy says she has the "face" it, and past precedent indicates that this means fighting it.
Then Maddie finally confronts it, and ... it just wants to talk to her.
The prophecy about saving Wonderland talked about unifying the Red and White Kingdoms with love and understanding. The Jabberwock (or, to use his proper name, Jubjub) is not an exception to this. He's been waiting for a Chosen One who can magically understand him so that he can politely explain how to free him from his prophecy role and how to leave Wonderland.
This twist isn't necessarily set up, but it does compliment the theme, and it presents Maddie with new variables that help her to complete her character arc. I think this was an effective choice.
Happily Ever After
After her chat with Jubjub, Maddie is presented with two magic doors. One will take her to what she wants, and what will take her to what she needs.
Obviously, she picks the Need door, and it teleports her to Simon so they can defeat the mastermind together. After, Maddie has a choice. The doors will exist for a full day. She can choose to stay in Wonderland or go back to our world.
This is where LeMieux made a choice that could have derailed the ending: she let Maddie have her cake and eat it, too.
Remember how I mentioned Simon's missing parents? In the falling action, Maddie realizes that his parents are her landlords. When they went missing, they were sent to our world to facilitate the prophecy and ensure Maddie got to Wonderland (however that was supposed to work).
This is the second big contrivance that I mentioned earlier. That isn’t really an issue, though - the story is effectively over at this point. The issue is that Simon and his sister want to be reunited with their parents. They agree to go with Maddie to our world, rather than her settling down with Simon in Wonderland.
At first, I facepalmed when I read this. Yes, it makes sense, but Maddie choosing to stay in Wonderland meant letting go of her revenge and choosing happiness with Simon. Erasing the binary means that she didn't have to let go of revenge at all. It reverses her character arc and undermines the theme.
Thankfully, LeMieux turns things around. The epilogue reveals that Maddie accepted a settlement for her lawsuit, rather than letting things go to trial, and settled into a new life with Simon rather than going back to the old life she left behind when she got fired. This preserves the growth and the theme.
THEME (Heavy Spoilers)
Revenge - or, perhaps more broadly, resentment - is the core theme of Madness in Wonderland. Multiple characters are motivated by a desire to correct or punish a past grievance:
Maddie herself wants revenge on her harasser and former boss. Her chief motivation to return to our world is to get home in time to win the lawsuit against them.
The Red and White Kingdoms are separated by a long-standing grudge. I can’t actually remember what the origin of this tiff was (though I’m sure LeMieux stated what it was), but the specific cause doesn’t really matter. What matters is that Wonderland physically split to separate the two as a result of this feud, with a magically chessboard filling this rift, and the kingdoms have been working to satisfy the prophecy that will supposedly reunite them.
The Red Queen’s cousin has a grudge against the Red Queen for not dying in childhood, thereby keeping the throne from passing to her.
Technically, we consider the fact everyone thinks the Jabberwock needs to be slain is another form of grudge, given what the actual solution ends up being.
The prophecy (which I don’t think we every get an official wording for, just paraphrases) is all about unity through love and understanding. The Red Queen and White King are preparing for a political marriage, but they have been raised together since childhood to foster a more romantic love between them. The Queen’s cousin directly threatens this plan with her efforts to kill the Red Queen and conquer the White Kingdom. As for the Jabberwock, Maddie’s ability to overcome him (so to speak) comes down entirely to her ability to understand his speech (a very literal ability to understand someone else).
Is this the deepest exploration of this idea? No, but it is effective. It ties into Maddie’s character work.
When the time comes for Maddie to face to Jabberwock, she has this epiphany about how her own desire for revenge against those who wronged her is, in spirit, the same as that of the Queen’s cousin. Obviously, she was deliberately wronged, where the Queen’s cousin feels entitled, and their methods certainly differ, but that’s not the point the story is making. The focus is on letting resentment rot in the heart. Maddie realizes that winning the lawsuit won’t truly make her happy. She needs to let that anger go. This, in turn, frees her up to stay in Wonderland with Simon.
Now, I did criticize this from a character perspective. Maddie has this epiphany very abruptly, undergoing development that could have been spread across multiple chapters within the span of a few pages. From a character perspective, this doesn’t have the emotional weight that I think LeMieux was hoping for.
Through a thematic lens, though, this epiphany. It does make logical sense for the final epiphany to arrive at this particular point in the story. Maddie's willingness to find a flaw in herself and grow from it gives the theme more weight. All the different resentments that define this story come together into one satisfying moment.
I’m mentioned in the past how a theme, while not essential, can lend a story a sense of cosmic significance that makes the events feel so much more satisfying. Madness in Wonderland is a great example of this. This Romance is perfectly functional on its own. With the addition of this theme, the predictable Happily Ever After feels so much more earned. The Main Couple are able to be together because a core lesson was learned.
IN TIME FOR TEA
Madness in Wonderland is a perfect example of the phrase Keep It Simple Stupid.
LeMieux knew the story she wanted to write. She wrote that story, then marketed it honestly. Once the story began, she didn’t bait the audience with any conflicts she didn’t intend to follow through on or toss in worldbuilding elements that exist only to stir up drama or write herself out of corners.
This is a story that, beginning to end, promises the audience a lighthearted Romance with a Happily Ever After, and it fulfills that promise.
Romantasy doesn’t need to be this simple. It can have complex worldbuilding, intricate and overlapping schemes, and vast casts of characters. If it’s going to have these things, though, the author should commit to thinking these things through and utilizing them. If the author only wants to write the Romance, she should just write the Romance.
I highly recommend checking out Madness in Wonderland for yourself, especially if you are considering writing your own Romantasy. It’s a great example of how to write a story that delivers on its promises.
If you’re looking for more Romantasy content, you can also check out my free web serial, A Chime for These Hallowed Bones. It’s an Enemies to Lovers story that’s Alchemized meets Fourth Wing, featuring necromancers in a Desi-influenced setting. Chapters 1 through Chapter 11 Part 3 are currently available!
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