Rexi is the main character in this sequel to Spelled. She still has big sidekick energy, but she’s learning how to make it on her own as she’s separated from the group from the first novel. Rexi runs into more fairy tale characters: Robin Hood, the Lady of the Lake, and Captain Hook to name some. While the concept and the plot are unique fairytale retellings, the execution is lackluster. Spelled was bad; the puns and spins on contemporary concepts into fairy tale terms were overused and desperately seeking attention. This book’s writing is worse with some added sexism and ableism thrown in. There’s so much mention of body image and Rexi looking like a boy that it’s uncomfortable and mostly unnecessary to the convoluted plot. Whether readers loved the first book in this series or not, this sequel can absolutely be skipped.

I sadly couldn't get through Wanted; there was too much being thrown at the reader with the crossing of stories. Not for me.

Rating: 4

Plot: This book picks up where Spelled left off and follows Rexi Hood and Dorthea on a quest to ensure that Rexi is not forgotten. Rexi’s plan is to steal Excalibur so that she can rewrite her story and hopefully be remembered.

Pros: This book was very fun and engaging. The plot moves at a reasonable place, while still setting the scene nicely. Rexi and Dorthea show some character development from the previous installment and it lends to a good character arc.

Cons: While the character development is improved from the first book, sometimes in the story Rexi and Dorthea tend to go backwards and revert to their old ways. It made the characters seem more immature than the first book at those times.

Overall: This book was yet another fun installment in The Storymakers trilogy. The way this book entwines cute fairytale rules with the chapters is amazing and once again the story is compelling. The story kept my interest the whole way through and left enough of a cliff hanger at the end of the book to interest me in picking up the final book in the series!

Not as good as the first, but get to be able to follow along for the third.

This was quite an amusing mashup of legend and folktale. Well worth the read!

This review is hard to write because while I really enjoyed Wanted by Betsy Schow, I was also really lost through the first half or longer of the book. Wanted picks up not long after the end of Spelled and is told entirely from Rexi’s perspective which is part of the reason I was thrown. To be honest this wasn’t my first attempt at reading it. I tried to read the book prior to it’s release last year, but was so lost I gave up. This year I bought the audio and listened and I’m so glad that I did!

Rexi is not an easy character to like. Her betrayal of Dorthea in the first book, her resentment towards her situation, and her woe-is-me attitude really grated my nerves. Not only that, but it seems as if she hasn’t learned her lesson. She is willing to do whatever it takes to be free of the fire opal that is tied to her life spark. I find it interesting that despite everything that has happened to her up to this point, she still doesn’t trust her new friends, which leads her to betraying them yet again.

I think my biggest issue with the book is how little I remember from Spelled. I could have really benefitted from a little recap. I was so lost at the beginning and it didn’t help that the narrator was the mean girl from the first book. Then throw in a different setting such as the Sherwood Forest and Camelot instead of Oz and I was really lost. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the Camelot mythology being included in the story, but it didn’t mesh with Dorthea’s Emerald Kingdom at all.

So at the end of the first book, Blanc is released from her prison, but still has her bindings in place so she cannot access all her magic. And we know that Rexi is being haunted by Morte, basically he’s the Grimm Reaper. Rexi died six times in the first book, every time Dorothea brought her back. I thought it was odd and couldn’t have imagined how she felt. Then this book opens with her dying again and we get to see it from her POV. I was a little horrified that each time she died Morte forced her to cut away a piece of her life line, losing a memory and in the process getting more of Dorothea’s memories and feelings. You can guess how bad that will end.

Overall I powered through Wanted listening to it in one sitting and I’m glad I did. While I was confused at the beginning, I found myself falling back into the story and remembering the characters and some of their hi-jinx from the previous book. However, I didn’t love Rexi, at least not at first. I will admit that by the end I enjoyed her character more than I ever did Dorthea. I would recommend to those that enjoyed the first book to give this book a chance and stick with it til the half way mark. If you can make it past that the story picks up and feels more familiar. Plus that ending!!! I immediately went and started reading the next book because I needed to know what happened. And let me tell you it’s worth the confusion of this book.

I love love love these books! I love the retelling aspects and I love the covers. They remind me of those Disney shoe ornaments that cost so much money but are so gorgeous. I plan on doing a big post once the newest book comes out.

The cover of the book is great, which was part of the reason why I had wanted to read the book.
This book is about a girl named Rexi Hood who is the daughter of Robin Hood.
The book had me confused quite a bit so i found it very hard for me to focus and understand what was going on.
So the book just wasnt for me.

Not for me, I wanted to enjoy the second as much as the first but it couldn't get into it like I was hoping. I am sure others will love it.

This is the second book to Spelled. When I read Spelled I thought it was quirky and entertaining to read. I really enjoyed the twists and turns in the retelling. Since I read Spelled in 2015 and Wanted in 2017 it had been awhile between stories and I think that affected how I responded to the book. When I picked up Wanted I was expecting to laugh and continue on with the story, but unfortunately I wasn`t able to finish the book. What I liked about the first book I didn`t like about the second book. I no longer liked any of the characters, I found them annoying and immature. I tried to read it, but I would sit there and read the same paragraph multiple times. Wanted is told from Rexis point of view. While I find her story intriguing I just couldn`t connect with the story.
I do want to give Wanted another try in the future, but I would read Spelled again before trying to drive into Wanted. If you really enjoyed Spelled I would say to give this book a read. I didn`t work for me, but that doesn`t mean it is a bad book and other people won`t love it.

Another fairy tale fail. I haven't read many spins on fairy tales recently that I actually enjoyed which is unfortunate since I love fairy tales so much. 

Wanted was a bit of a mess. It reminded me a lot of the show Once Upon a Time (which I stopped watching after a few seasons because it was also a mess). There are at least four different tales brought together in this book, each with its own twist. 

The problem with this book was that it was simply all over the place. The scenes didn't flow at all, as though they were written separately and pieced together. It left me more confused than intrigued which is never a good sign. 

I was interested in one of the new characters, Rexi Hood, but she ended up being more of a plot device, designated to sidekick land where she got to die and come back several times over (this isn't Supernatural, she's not a Winchester, we don't need this). 

What worked for this book is the creativity of the world. Like I said, I used to watch ONCE and I was initially interested in it because it did bring all the different fairy tales into one world where they influenced and interacted with each other. I saw that same idea here in Wanted but the execution left something to be desired. 

It wasn't a terribly bad book, exactly, but I doubt I'll be reading on in the series.

A fun, entertaining book that plays well on familiar stories while creating something new and fresh.

I think that this one might have been better than the first one. So glad that I got to experience this book after enjoying the first one so very much.

I love reading retellings. I liked the first book but I really couldn't get into the second book as much as I did with the first one. I felt like there was too much back and forth that left a lot of holes. I didn't want to post this on my blog because of the review I'm giving it. I felt like the author rushed to write this book. The characters were structured well and while some were okay, others were not likable. I felt it was messy. Too messy. I wish it was a little bit cleaner and more clearer. It had so much potential to be a great book. Maybe the 3rd book could be better and knock draw me back in.

I like that it switched to a different character for the second book. It gave the story more depth since we could now understand the minds of two different characters. I'm loving all the references in this series too.

Wanted was amazing just like Spelled, it makes me laugh at everything these characters do. I love how it takes a twist on Wizard of Oz and some of the other fairy tales and puts them all into one story.

Wanted is the second book in Betsy Schow’s Storymakers series, but whereas the first book, Spelled, was charming and fun, Wanted is merely chaotic and confusing.


Spelled is a semi-retelling of The Wizard of Oz with some Baba Yaga and other fairy tales thrown in. It had its issues, but on the whole it was a cute story with good character progression and relationship developments. Wanted, however, seems to take all of the things that annoyed me in the first book and expand on them, and what comes out is just a mess.

The main character in Wanted is Rexi, the sidekick from the first book. After the events of Spelled, Rexi’s life force is tied to Dorothea, which basically makes her immortal – in the same way that Jack Harkness is. Rexi can die, but Dorothea is able to bring her back. The problem is, every time Rexi dies, she goes to the underworld – Nome Ore – and is forced to sacrifice a link from her chain, aka a memory, in order to return. It’s a little dark and disturbing for an otherwise campy story. Also, Rexi’s link to Dorothea means that she gets her memories and her emotions, which results in a weird, completely unnecessary love triangle that doesn’t make any sense.

There was just too much going on in this book. In the first one, it was mainly just The Wizard of Oz, so it wasn’t too bad. In this book, we deal with Robin Hood and Camelot and a whole host of other myths and stories. At one point, Rexi goes to a villains’ school or something and meets the kind of villains you would expect to see in a fairy tale world – Captain Hook, etc. – but she also meets Hannibal Lecter (…not what I was expecting, but okay) and Rasputin, who has no business being in a fairy tale world because he was actually a real person.

Props for the Monty Python reference, though.

Wanted actually starts off okay – a little dark, but what can you do – and introduces some interesting ideas on how we view certain stories and legends. For example, the way this book tells it, King Arthur was the bad guy, and Mordred was simply trying to save the kingdom. But the closer it gets to the end of the book, the more it goes off the rails. It comes across like Schow had a page limit she was trying not to go over, and she ended up having to cram a whole lot of stuff into the end in order to presumably set up a third book. All that means is that things go crazy, end kind of abruptly, and when it was over all I could think was, “…What?”

I genuinely enjoyed Spelled, but it was a slog to finish Wanted. It just didn’t have the same charm.

Somewhat confusing in the beginning. I enjoyed the story. Very interesting ending. Can't wait to see where this goes.

I read the first book a little over a year and a half ago, and I don't really remember it all that much. Which after reading this book, I probably should have reread beforehand. I was a little lost in the beginning, but once Schow moved away from it and more into Rexi's story I started to really enjoy the book.

Probably for half the book I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Rexi and all the situations she was put through. Half of the time it wasn't even her fault, but Rexi was the one who had to deal with the fall outs. For instance, in the first book Rexi sacrificed herself for Dorthea and then Dorthea brought her back to life. The catch was that Rexi's life is now attached to Dorthea's. In this book, Rexi seems to be dying a lot. At least 10-15 times, and each time she has to give up a memory to the Grim Reaper and eventually she started to become more and more like Dorthea. This unfortunately created a love triangle between Dorthea, Rexi, and Kato. Although, I am not really sure how Kato was developing feelings for her since he is "in love" with Dorthea. The whole situation didn't make much sense (except from Rexi's point of view) and Dorthea's jealousy was just uncalled for.

One aspect that I didn't like about this book was the fact that it seemed to jump around a lot from situation to situation. It seemed a little chaotic and not flushed out completely. At some points it even got a little confusing. Especially since I was reading an eArc copy, in the beginning of each new chapter the first letter of the word would be somewhere else in the sentence. This book definitely suffered from the middle book syndrome. All it really did was set up for the final book in the trilogy without really advancing that much plot-wise.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I liked that Schow incorporated different legends instead of just fairy tales into this story. She also created some very interesting curve ball situations that was very creative. I hope in the third book Rexi gets to be involved with the love interest I want her to be with. ::crosses fingers::

2.5 I wish I could give it more stars

This is a hard review to write since there were some really great things in this book that I really liked so I want to say up front that I will be reading the next one. But, that said the flow of this book was wonky for me and it drove me a little crazy I had a hard time following the story and it seemed so jumpy more like someone skipping along instead of walking you through the story.

First the Good:

I like Fairy-tale mash ups and have since I started watching ONCE. So the blend of The Wizard of Oz and Baba Yaga still from Spelled, with the addition of Robin Hood and parts of Camelot was a new and interesting twist. I liked what Schow did with the possible thought that maybe Guinevere was the evil one and Mordred wasn’t really the villain he was made out to be in the stories.

"Mordred’s not as bad as all the legends say.” I picked up my crossbow and put it in the corner. “And need I remind you that all the stories and wanted posters say we’re the bad guys who ruined all of Story? So it’s like that crazy lady was saying. You can’t believe what you hear cuz the winner is the only one that gets to tell their side.”

Plus the possibility of a potential romance between him and Rexi was something I was completely on board with.

I again love all of the Fairytale spoofs and play on words. There are even a few Monty Python references thrown in for added measure.

*** The Knights of Knee gave Mordred a potted bush as a sign of friendship, but as they moved past me, the knights whispered that the hybrid poison-ivy plant should free up the throne by morning. And they weren’t the only ones playing the game of thrones. ***

It made a lot of the dialogue in the book really fun for me and yes sometimes it can me a little cheesy or campy but I really enjoy that part of this book so it totally works for me. But I think it will be a love it or hate it thing for a lot of people.

At the beginning of each chapter there is a fairytale rule or quote. They are all pretty funny and there were a lot more from the villainous side of Fairy in Wanted. They are one of the very special things in this book.

“Rule #9: Dysfunctional families are a cornerstone of fairy tales. If you want to be a happy ever after, it’s imperative that you get an evil stepparent. If your parents are perfect, try getting cursed by an evil fairy and raised by strangers.”

—Definitive Fairy-Tale Survival Guide, Volume

“Strong people don’t put others down; they lift them up. Makes the fall that much more satisfying.”

—Red Queen, Lots of Heart: How to Get a Head

The quest for Excaliber and Rexi’s character growth was also one of the best parts of the story. With learning more of her backstory before coming to the Emerald Castle as a servant you could see why she has had the motto of save myself first and screw everyone else. But it was good to see her become closer to Dorthea and Kato and feel like she was possibly part of a family.

Now for the bad…

This story read a little like a patchwork quilt. It’s like a lot of segments woven together and sometimes I had a difficult time telling when we had transitioned from one square to another one. The entire thing with Baba Yaga’s head and finding a body for it for instance was totally confusing and I couldn’t really make sense out of it.

The other thing I didn’t really love was Rexi’s continued deaths. I mean she died about 13 times in this and every time she did she lost some memories and took on more of Dorthea’s traits and memories which lead to some very awkward and unnecessary feelings for Kato. I’ll just mention right here that I hate love triangles and it isn’t really a real one since Kato is clearly Dorthea’s one true love but still I didn’t like it and it felt super uncomfortable and forced. Maybe that was the point and how it was supposed to feel.

Then we get to the ending that just went kinda crazy and a bunch of stuff happened all at once and I have no idea wtf I just read. I reread that last 5 pages a few times trying to figure it out but alas I’m still not sure. Again maybe that is the point but I hate feeling like that at the end of a book. I mean Rexi is a daughter of the trees and I still have not freaking idea what that means. She is being groomed for something by Verte and again I don’t think we got to the point were we found out what that was yet either.

This book just felt incomplete. For me this book felt like maybe it needed another 50 pages to flesh it out a little better or possibly not just relaying the story through Rexi’s PoV. This could have really benefited from multiple PoVs in fact.

I can tell that Schow was trying to set it up so the next book would probably answer most of the questions I have but there was just something missing from the magic of Spelled.

Overall:

I’m glad I read it because there are a lot of fun things and creative unusual twists. I will totally read the next book because I really need to know how everything comes together at the end (I think that is the end anyway). If this is more than a trilogy though it is this series last chance to pull itself together and give me some coherent answers.