Unwritten by Tara Gilboy is a middle grade fantasy. Twelve-year-old Gracie Freeman is living a normal life, but she is haunted by the fact that she is actually a character from a story, an unpublished fairy tale she's never read. When she was a baby, her parents learned that she was supposed to die in the story, and with the help of a magic book, took her out of the story, and into the outside world, where she could be safe. But Gracie longs to know what the story says about her. Despite her mother's warnings, Gracie seeks out the story's author, setting in motion a chain of events that draw herself, her mother, and other former storybook characters back into the forgotten tale. Inside the story, Gracie struggles to navigate the blurred boundary between who she really is and the surprising things the author wrote about her. As the story moves toward its deadly climax, Gracie realizes she'll have to face a dark truth and figure out her own fairy-tale ending.

Unwritten started of as a hard read for me, be quickly changed to an engaging adventure. When readers meet Gracie she already knows that she came out of a fairy tale along with some others, and that the author is coming to visit a local bookstore. I found all the information to be a little overwhelming and it felt a bit like a recap so I felt like maybe I had missed a previous book . However, once the major action got moving I was fully engaged i the story and it worked much better for me. I liked the struggle of the main characters in dealing with the two sides of themselves and their two stories. I really liked the idea of how we can overcome what is written, or destined, for us by taking the time and care to make the right choices. I found the secrets and lies to be good plot devices, and realistic for people to cling to in situations like the ones they faced. The thoughts and ideas about people and characters shared by Winters (the author in the story) were profound, although a little heavy handed at times. I liked the general feel of the characters, and how the interacted. I also like the fairy tale world building and character building that was done. So much really worked, but when the story was finished I had mixed feelings. I liked it, but I did not love it, and could come up with no definable reason why.

Unwritten is a solid fantasy, with good amounts of action and character development. There is room for a sequel, but still a satisfying conclusion- so who knows there could be moren in the future.

“What if every story ever written is a world in another dimension, waiting for us to find it?”

I was enchanted by this book from the very beginning. It explores the complexities of good and evil, and the power we have to write our own story, regardless of the roles and labels others have placed upon us. There’s action, drama and so much heart.

Gracie may look like a normal 12 year old girl but she’s actually the creation of Gertrude Winters, an author whose unpublished story includes Gracie, her mother and Walter, a boy in her class and an aspiring scientist. Gracie gets story glimmers, glimpses of what her life would have been like in the story, but she doesn’t know the whole story and is frustrated that her mother won’t tell her.

When Gracie learns the story’s author will be coming to her town she can’t resist. Here is the opportunity she’s been waiting for! If only she can speak to the author then she may finally find out who she really is and what her story contains. Things don’t go quite as planned and Gracie, her mother and other characters wind up in the world of the story.

I was captivated the entire time I was reading. I loved the greys in this story; the villains weren’t all bad and the heroes didn’t always make the right choices. I was easily able to imagine the story world and wanted to stay longer to meet more of the people who live there.

While this book works well as a standalone I’m greedily hoping for a sequel and/or spin-off. I’m interested in knowing what happens next for Gracie, Walter and Cassandra in particular. I’d also love to see how Gertrude, the author of Gracie’s story, would react if another of her storybook characters walked into her life and wonder what their story would be about.

I would like to know more about Cassandra, particularly her background and more about her motivations. She was an intriguing character who deserves more page time. I’m not sure if this was intentional or not but Cassandra in this story has some similarities to Cassandra from Greek mythology; although different in so many aspects they were both able to foresee the future.

Jomike Tejido’s cover illustration is absolutely gorgeous and captures the essence of this story so well. I’m not sure I would have read this story’s blurb without that cover sucking me in and I would have missed out on a gem.

Over the course of a single book Tara Gilboy has cemented her place in my ‘Have to Read Everything They Ever Write’ Hall of Fame. I can’t wait to read whatever comes next!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Jolly Fish Press, an imprint of North Star Editions, for the opportunity to read this book.

Unfortunately I won't be able to read this book, as I forgot to send it to my Kindle before it got archived and my library doesn't have it.

It took me forever to get around to reading and reviewing this, but I'm glad I did!

It was a fast-paced and enjoyable book with likable and easily definable characters. I will definitely be looking out for more from this author in the future!

"Unwritten" is a fantasy middle grade novel with a similar basic premise to the YA novel "The Hazelwood", and I actually enjoyed "Unwritten" more.

The main character was flawed, her decisions not always right, but her actions felt rather realistic and I liked that she didn't just forgive people right away. It made her feel more real and I definitely enjoyed reading about her journey.

I really liked that the author addressed some really complex subject matters without becoming preachy. I also liked the focus on the villains of the story and how everyone can be the villain of somebody else's story.

The ending was somewhat weak, but the author can always remedy that in the next part of the series.

This book has a really sweet premise and, truth be told, I'm a sucker for all things fairy tales. Gracie is a girl out of place. Her whole life has already been written out in an unpublished story that she's never seen and, seeing as how she is as inquisitive as they come, her only goal is to find out what it says. I loved this premise and, for the most part, I felt like the book stuck true to that idea. It just took a little while to really get going.

On the list of things I loved, is the whole theme throughout this story about finding your true self, regardless of what others want for you. It's a beautiful idea to introduce to young readers. Gracie's whole life has been mapped out, but now she has a chance to be whatever she wants. The question plaguing her becomes which version would be her true self. Watching her war with herself, and grow to understand what was most important in her life, made me smile. It's lovely to see an MG character really dive deep into who they are. I can't say that this whole book had as much depth as Gracie's personal growth, but at the end of the day that was my favorite part anyway.

What made this a bit of a rough read for me was simply what I said above, that it lacks some depth. While Gracie's story is very sweet, and definitely original, it's in such a hurry to get to the climax that it skims over a lot of what I would have loved as a young reader. When I read a book in this age group, I always try to read it from both my current perspective, and from when I was a young reader. This book was a good read, but it didn't quite hit that memorable mark.

It was a really good, easy read, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were fun, as was the storyline, and I was disappointed when the book ended!

This was a good middle grade story. There are definitely some good messages in it about just being yourself and don’t let others make you someone you’re not. I liked the aspect of being able to go in and out of a fictional story. I think that is pretty much every readers dream. Gracie didn’t always make the best choices but she learned from her mistakes and tried to be a better person. There were a few spots where the story moved slowly but it would start moving again shortly after. In some ways this had some similar aspects to Chris Colfer’s middle grade fairytale series so I would recommend this to anyone who liked those books. It seemed like this left it open for a sequel, without leaving us on a cliffhanger, so I look forward to seeing what happens next for Gracie and her family.

I received an eARC from netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a great middle grade a story. Gracie seemed a bit bratty at the beginning but now that I've finished I get why she was written that way. There were a lot of "what will happen next" moments and I loved it. I also loved the way they could travel from our world to Bondoff. Overall, I really liked Gracie story.

I love books set within a book. So, this one caught my eye. It's a fun, fairy tale, read that I enjoy. We start out in 'our world' for a while and I enjoyed the push and pull between the lead character and her mother, because it has a really reason behind them. It was great fun, but I enjoyed it so much more once the characters got put into the book within the book. I like how the lead character, Gracie, who fights for what she wants, she's strong headed, and a powerful character. I love the message of believing in yourself and overcoming things, staying true to yourself. The friendship and family is a strong message in this book and I think that's an important thing to have in a book for a younger group.

This was a great middle grade that I enjoy bunches!



ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Unwritten is about Gracie Freeman and her family. Gracie is a normal twelve year old who discovers she is really a character from an unpublished fairy tale. When her parents discovered she was supposed to die in the story, they took her out of the story, and brought her into the outside world. Gracie is desperate to know what the story says about her and, because of a magic book, is pulled back into the story.

Tara Gilboy offers a charming fantasy in which Gracie desires to find out about herself and what the story's author wrote about her. Is she a hero, the villain, or a minor character? Is she supposed to be good or bad? Can she change or is it predetermined?

Unwritten is a short novel with 198 pages, according to Goodreads, but has a lot of depth to it. Authors meeting their characters or characters coming to life is not a new idea but it's unique in the way the author handles the situation. You'll have to trust me. I do not want to spoil anything.

I would enjoy reading a sequel or from a different character's point of view. Unwritten is Tara GIlboy's debut novel.

Unwritten by Tara Gilboy, 200 pages. Jolly Fish Press, 2018. $12.

Content: G ( a little bit scary, but nothing over the top)

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Gracie is in the 7thgrade and she knows that her mother and she escaped from the land of Bandoff from within the pages of a book when she was little. Now the author of that book is coming to Gracie’s town and she wants answers. Despite her mother’s warnings and threats, Gracie storms off and involves the author, starting a chain reaction involving the evil within the book and pulling all of the characters – and the author – into the story. But Gracie is not who she thought she was in this world. She will have to defy her own nature in order to save those she loves and right her wrong.

A nice enough “within these pages” story. There is no new territory covered here, but it is a good paperback option for those kids who like the Land of Stories and Half Upon a Time series.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS

I did not have time to finish because of a busy schedule but I loved what I had read and love the concept of it! If I would have read this as a kid I would have been so in love and inspired!

This is a creative, engaging story. My rating 4.25.

Gracie tries to live her normal life with her loving mother, but she is troubled. Her mother has told her that they are characters from a story until her parents rescued her with the help of a magic book. Gracie wants to know the full story but her mother refuses to tell her. Gracie knows the name of the author and sneaks out to meet her at a book event. Gracie meets the author and challenges her to tell her about story. The author tries to appease Gracie but things go strangely amiss and the characters are drawn back into the book. Once in the book, the characters have to try to remember who they are in the real world. Gracie especially struggles to determine if she can change her character and the story as written.

This is a creative modern day fairy-tale. The characters are well developed, and I enjoyed the comradeship between Gracie and her geeky scientist friend, Walter. There is a wicked queen who controls the magic but she doesn’t control all of the characters. The story is appropriate for middle age girls but a nice, quick read for adults too. I recommend this engaging tale to those who love ‘book’ stories and fairy tales.

I received the ebook through NetGalley.

I really liked Unwritten. It reminded me of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. In both books, the main character is a girl who was taken, as a baby, from a second, fairy tale world. There are other similarities, too, but I don't want to spoil Unwritten. If you liked that book, though, you might like this one, as long as you keep in mind that The Hazel Wood is for young adults, while Unwritten is suitable for younger readers. The book did get very dark at certain points, but I've never been one to recommend hiding children from darkness in stories. Overall, I found Unwritten empowering, with its message that we are the writers and directors of our own stories. Gracie can be unlikable, but she tries to be better. I'm not sure if there's going to be a sequel or not, but after that ending, I certainly hope there will be!

When I first saw this book on NG, I was super excited for it! Unfortunately, it kind of let me down. The plot felt a little rushed, and the world building wasn't the best. Overall, I liked it for the most part, I just wasn't the craziest about it.

Gracie has always dreamt of fire and it scares her. Her mother has told her that they escaped from a story because Gracie was supposed to die by a fire in the story. But when Gracie meets the real author of the story she finds out that what she has been told may not actually be true. The author gets pulled into the story and Gracie, her friend Walter, Walter's parents, her mom, and Jacob (who is her dad, who knew) all go in to rescue the author. Once in the story though all but Gracie and Jacob lose memory of their other lives. Can Gracie fight the story life and the truth of who she was written to be?
This had a very Inkspell feel to it and I think that made it difficult for me to truly engage in it. Overall, I think it was good and it left an opening for a sequel.

My 11 year old nephew read this book on my kindle and he really enjoyed it. He said he especially liked the dark aspects of it and how it didn't try and dumb things down. He got a little annoyed with Gracie as a character but said by the end he was warming to her more. Overall he enjoyed it and would recommend.

Unwritten was a cute story. The cover alone was enough to draw me in! I really liked Gracie and I feel like middle school age girls will be able to identify with her. The whole story was just fun!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unwritten is a very good middle grade fantasy book. I don’t usually take middle grade books, but sometimes if something catches my eye I will pick one up to see if it’s a book I can pass on to my 10 year old girl. I think she might like this one. It has definite draw for a kid who likes books and reading, which mine does.

Twelve year old Gracie is a kid with an interesting past. She is actually a character in a book. Her parents had run away from the book into our world many years earlier. Gracie knows about her past but she is still so curious about where she came from that she seeks out the author of her story.

I think there are a few things that are quite good about this story. Firstly, it deals a lot with how a young girl can learn to fashion her own sense of self apart from whatever expectations may have been placed on her. Can we each make our own stories or are we locked into one particular ending? It gives a girl a lot of autonomy to understand that she is the author of her own fate and I think this is a valuable lesson to learn. Gracie also learns a lot about how to deal with her emotions. Anger and frustration are difficult to manage at that age. I think it’s hard for kids to know how to experience their anger and not feel like a “bad person”. It’s a confusing time, but the love of her family, friends and her own resilience enables her to overcome the obstacles she finds in the book world.

It’s a quick and easy read. I think I’ll probably pass it on to my daughter and see what she thinks about it. I have a feeling she’ll like it. At her age I would have.

Song for this book: Lullaby – Dixie Chicks