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.

Fun read, I wanted more though. I loved Spelled so I needed Wanted to live up to that and it fell a little short. It was still an enjoyable read.

I am so torn on what to think of this one. I had a lot of fun reading Spelled, but Wanted just didn't have the same appeal. If you love puns, there were plenty of them. The problem is, that is about all it has. The plot was basically Rexi dying and coming back to life, and shocking twists that don't have any real purpose.

Rexi, Robin Hood’s daughter, scrambles to make amends for accidentally releasing the wicked witch from her prison and mucking up everyone’s happily ever after. That’s sort of the problem, though: no matter what Rexi does, everything ends up an even bigger mess. But all that has to change now that Rexi is faced with becoming Forgotten, erased from Story forever. Rexi vows to do whatever it takes to break the curse that binds her to chipper princess Dorthea and rewrite her own story, to become a hero.

I think the best part about this book, for me, were the quotes opening each chapter. They were very tongue-in-cheek references to fairytale stories and characters. I also really loved the whole mixed up fairytale situation in Wanted. Instead of a gorgeous mirror mounted on the wall, the magic mirror has become a compact whose rhyme is broken. Rexi’s just-roll-with-it attitude made some of these unexpected shifts pretty funny.
The whole story has a pretty snarky voice, which sometimes grated on my nerves. There were moments I was like, okay, does Rexi actually like anything? But ultimately her deep desire to be wanted, to be valued by others and even loved totally won me over.

Fans looking for something a little older than the Ever After High books, but with much the same twisty-but-silly fairytale quality should definitely give this a read. I think it would appeal to fans of the School for Good and Evil books, too.

I really enjoyed this sequel to Betsy Schow's beloved Spelled which was a retelling of The Wizard of Oz. I was glued to the pages of this book and read it within two days. It has everything from the first book; humor, romance and danger. But it also has a lot more. It is darker to say the least. There is a lot more to fear in terms of characters' survival.

I loved it so much. Thank you!

I don't remember what I expected this to be, but it wasn't what I read. I didn't enjoy this book.

This book was better than the first book! It kept me awake just to finish it! I recommend this not only for fans who love the first book, but also for fans of Marrisa Meyer!

This series is more of a story mash up than a retell. You will recognize many characters from all different folktales, fairy tales and legends as well as references to popular stories. Our main characters practically run over them at every page turn. The first book is narrated by Dorthea and she is the reason that everything goes horribly wrong in this fantasy world. Her sidekick Rexi Hood, narrates the second story, and as hard as she tries she can not correct Dorthea's mistakes. Both characters struggle to do what is right but often mess it up in a big way. Prince Kato is perhaps my favorite character, he tries so hard to help both girls, but is also unsuccessful and often makes things worse.

There is a lot to like about these books. The constant puns and references to popular story culture is amusing. The evil characters always keep you on your toes as to what they are really up to. But it is a real struggle to keep all of the evil characters straight as they sometimes change personalities, as well as names, and can be good as well as evil. It can get very confusing. Dorthea and Rexi both got on my nerves at times. Dorthea because she is too spoiled and emotional which often gets in her way of doing the right thing. Rexi is more personable, but she is also gullible and too willing to do what anyone asks of her without thinking it through. Some of that is not entirely her fault though, as she dies many times (13?) and every time she comes back to life she looses some of her memory.

Overall I do recommend these books especially if you like a humorous take on the story world. I am very interested in seeing how the story ends. The second book had quite the twist at the end. I'm also curious as to who will narrate the next book, hopefully Kato, but I doubt it as he is not the most central character to the story. I also can't wait to see the next cover. It was definitely the covers that attracted me to these books in the first place.

This one had a promising beginning, but I just didn't like it. The author jumped right in the middle of the story, which is okay sometimes, but then didn't really make enough effort to catch the reader up to the action. The MC was a brat too and I just didn't care what happened to her. Not for me.

The main reason why I picked up this book was because of the beautiful cover. I give this book a 3/5 stars. The story in the beginning was very slow. so slow that I would set it aside for days at a time.

... I ...

Oh dear, did I just create that hole from banging my head against the wall? Sorry 'bout that.

It just got bigger? Yeah, you might wanna wait on the plaster for a little while.

I finished this book at midnight and I don't know when I fell asleep because I could not stop thinking about this book. And not in a good way, I'm sorry to say. I enjoyed the first book in the series, Spelled, well enough, but everything that I didn't like and more was amplified in book number two.

Let's start with Rexi. I didn't like her in Spelled. I don't think I mentioned it, but she was a jerk and even though she saves Dorthea in the end, she doesn't really change. Nor did she change during Wanted. And don't even get me started on the fact that we completely switched main characters. About a week has passed from the ending of the first book to the beginning of this one and yet we're thrown into a different character's head. I really wanted more of Dorthea, but then I got Rexi, who did I mention I don't like?

Then there's the whole issue of "What the heck is going on?" Mentioned in my review of Spelled, there were times when I got totally lost, believing this was going on only to discover that they're actually fighting this guy way over here. How did you get there? I wish I knew. There were so many details that were skipped over that I honestly had a hard time following the action. I needed more explanation.

My biggest issue was the romance. This is the source of the head banging. I honestly don't even want to talk about it because it made me so unhappy. I will say that I like Mordred. Mordred's cool. I get the feeling that there might be something there, but because of the whole other romance that was going on, I just don't know. Rexi, why couldn't you have just liked Mordred? Then half of the things that made me hurt the wall wouldn't have happened and my father wouldn't need to do some construction work.

Now, after all of that, I bet you were expecting one star. I was too. The thing is, I actually finished the book. And much as I might not want to admit it, I would read the next one if that were to happen. Why? Mostly because of the ending. It was kind of a cliffhanger, though not really a cliffhanger that made me really need to read the next one if there is to be one. (I'm not sure if I want that or not...) Anyway, if you liked Spelled, then I would read this one, but if you didn't (or even if you did), skipping it is a definite option.

Two things I do remember from Spelled; and not just because I looked back on my review for it, I loved the mix of stories and Rexi was my favorite.

Just my luck because in this one we get twice the amount of both; so many new stories mixed in and this time it's Rexi telling the story.

It's not just a fairy tale mash in this one but well known legends and a bit of pop culture too, which was so much fun. And I think that's the overall point of this book: fun. Betsy Schow must have had so much fun coming up with some of these ideas because I had a blast reading it.

It's so imaginative and yet so familiar because you will know the characters and little things referenced. It's like looking for easter eggs in movies, but you really don't have to pay too close attention because you won't miss any.

As I already mentioned Rexi was always my favorite so I absolutely loved getting to spend time with just her. Not that we don't see all the characters from Spelled, they do show up and have some pretty interesting plot twists themselves. But, for me, Rexi has always been the best because in the first book she wasn't the hero, it was naturally expected that she would fall into the role of "faithful sidekick;" and she herself made it obvious that she is no sidekick. Which is what makes the story being all about her so great, we get more from her, her background, and who she really wants to be.

This is a fun adventure, great escape and a pretty interesting story all around.

This novel is a follow-up to Spelled. I had to review the first book to remember all the craziness that happened!

Rexi, Dot’s side-kick--so to speak--in Spelled, has her own story with this novel, which is ironic. For the entire novel, Rexi is trying to not be erased from all the stories. She repeatedly dies, but Dorothea is able to bring her back despite the king of the dead wanting her as well. Every time she dies, Morte clips more of her storyline, making her forget her stories/life. In this novel, they are bridging the gap between fairy tales and legends. For example, Rexi is the daughter of Robin Hood, which would mean that she should be really good at stealing. Alas, it always goes awry.

In this novel, Rexi is trying to get Excaliber, Arthur’s sword so that it stays out of Blanc’s hands. If she gets it, she’ll have too much power. Many characters from the second novel reappear, but their personalities change and they have a shorter time on the pages. To be honest, I didn’t like this novel as well as the first. We hardly saw the characters we were interested in from the first book; it truly focuses on Rexi who isn’t that interesting. The novel seems chaotic and hard to follow as Dorothea is going crazy because of her powers; Kato shows up occasionally to give Rexi a faux love interest; and, Oz has the role of storymaker with no story telling ability. I could never get interested because the story just ran around--something happens, she dies, something happens, she dies, old character shows up, something happens, she dies.

Perhaps I wasn’t “in the mood,” but this novel just didn’t do it for me. You definitely need a background in the Arthur and Robin Hood legends--just a little, not full knowledge. Give it a try if you read the first book. Otherwise, I can show you some more captivating novels for your reading pleasure.

4.5 Stars

In Spelled we were in Dorothy's head, in Wanted we are in Rexi's head, my favorite character in the series. Because of that, this is, so far, my favorite book in the series.

Throughout this book I felt so bad for Rexi again. Having to deal with people not wanting you around and not appreciating what she does for them. You get to see how she feels and why she attempts on running away.

There was some twists and turns that I didn't expect . Modred (pretty sure I spelled that wrong) is so confusing. Like, I understand he doesn't like her, but by the end he does (I guess) and still thinks she's a guy, then change to female pronoun.

I'm never like love triangles, but I can deal with this one, even though I know my girl Rexi is going to burn so bad.

In the end, all I want is for Rexi to be happy, because she deserves it.

DNF - 40%

Wanted is the second book in the Soelled series and this time follows sidekick character Rexi Hood as she tries to make her mark in the land of fairy tales and magic.

I quite enjoyed Spelled, the first book in this series and though it was a bit silly and juvenile at times, I was mostly just amused and entertained. However with Wanted, I kind of feel like everything that I didn't like about Spelled was multipled tenfold in this book. It just felt a bit rushed and messy and I was just so confused the way it seemed to jump all over the place all the time. I would think Rexi was going to one place and had a goal and next minute she'd be somewhere else. It felt like a map with a start and an end but then the middle was just a bunch of squiggles.

I also think a proper recap would have worked at the beginning as I did find I had forgotten a lot of the finer details from Spelled and scrambled to figure who was who and what was happening at the start.

I struggled following the beginning of the book. Once I got into it, I enjoyed the story

I was so excited to get this book but very disappointed once I started reading. I loved this author's first book in this series and was pleasantly surprised by a story written in such a unique and different way. I found this book difficult to get into. The story seemed scrambled and hard to follow. Thanks Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely loved Spelled so I knew I had to read this follow-up, Wanted. It was just as fun, quirky, and original as Spelled. I loved the characters especially Rexi. It's definitely not a feel good story, it's very dark, and that's what I loved most about it. I have been loving darker fantasy lately. I just finished Vassa in the Night and I liked Wanted just as much as I loved that book, and that's saying a lot. I would love to read more books set in this universe. It's wholly original. I went from not like Rexi in Spelled to loving the evolution of her character in Wanted. The humorous bits and snark were there in Wanted, but I think were better done in Spelled. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more.

Wanted is the second of the Storymakers Series and I was intrigued by the idea that the Legend of Robin Hood was being retold. But it became clear very quickly that Robin Hood was just one inspiration; the book takes from many fairy tales novels, and legends. While some of the interactions are intriguing too often it seemed like the author was trying to force together as many tales as possible even though it made no sense. For example: Hannibal Lector is included in passing as well a parody of a Taylor Swift song. The author seems to be trying too hard to cover as much material as possible and trying to be hip to younger audiences.
This installment follows Rexi after she is revived several times thanks to her sister's power. The story moves slowly as Rexi deals with more deaths and thefts that would make her father proud. The book picks up the pace when Rexi becomes entangled again with Gwenevere and the Lady of the Lake. This is where the author starts to spin the story and we get a second, thought provoking look at an old tale.
Rexi's story ends emotionally and you finally feel for the character who isn't very likable. But all this is mitigated by the "ending" to the book.