Unwritten is an exciting, magical middle grade read about overcoming expectations and choosing your own destiny. It's meant for kids, yes, but tackles complex issues with heart and depth.

Gracie Freeman was born in a fairy tale. When she was just a baby, her mom used magic to transport them out of the story and into a normal life in Wisconsin. Now 12, Gracie wonders about the fairy tale world: who was she supposed to be? What mystery danger threatened her life, forcing them to flee their home and destinies? And what are these strange glimmers of fire, smoke, and a beautiful Queen that have long invaded her thoughts and dreams?

Tara Gilboy's Unwritten follows Gracie on her quest to find out where she came from, save her family and friends from peril, and figure out who she wants to be. Will she rise to the occasion and be the hero of her own story? Or is it possible she was meant to play the villain all along?

It's a fresh take on a story about stories. Unwritten asks readers to consider the weight of words, the implications of actions, and what it means to be good or bad, a hero or villain.  Readers will enjoy the solid writing, fast pace, and complex characters. This exciting, satisfying read is not to be missed.

Pub Date: 16 October 2018
Price: $11.99
ISBN: 9781631631771
Page count: 198 p
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press

I received an ARC of this work from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I could give 10 stars to this book!! I loved it so much. This book is amazing and perfect for the age group or anyone that enjoys this genre of book. It is highly recommended because of the fun read, fantastic characters and extremely creative story idea. As I read it I wanted to tell everyone about it!! This book is not be available yet, but I enjoyed it so much I have to let you know about it well in advance so you can get your preorder in as this will be a very popular book. I know I don't make that prediction very often, but this is a good one with everything you want -- fantasy, action and adventure. Preorder now to reserve your copy today!!

4 stars!
ARC provided by NetGalley, opinions are my own.

This is a fun middle grade book about a girl, Gracie, who was pulled out of a fairytale she's never read before. Driven by a hunger to know what happens to herself in the story, Gracie goes to the author signing of the woman who wrote the story. What happens that fateful night kept me hooked for the remainder of the story, when Gracie has to figure out her own fairytale ending...

I really enjoyed this book, Gracie is a fun main character, and can be sassy at times. The characters weren't flimsy and the writing style was beautiful, and sucked me in just like fairytales do. I've always loved stories about characters being written in or out of worlds, and this was no exception. There were plot twists and darkness within this novel that I wasn't expecting, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.

I'd highly recommend this book to parents of kids who want their child to be imaginative and inventive in figuring their way out of conflict, this is a great one. If the cover isn't enough to catch your attention, I hope my review helps.

Gracie and her mom live her our world. But they haven't always. They traveled from Bondoff, a storybook land when Gracie was just a baby. She'd always wanted answers to why they fled Bondoff so when the author of her story visits a local bookstore she sneaks off to find answers. However things go terribly wrong when the author, Gertrude Winters accidentally gets sent to Bondoff.

This was a super fun story that I think young readers will eat up! Not only will kids be able to relate to Gracie's struggle of trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be, but they'll also be able to relate to her family. As well as her hate/love friendship with Walter. Don't you remember your one friend from childhood you had that kind of relationship with as you both grew?
My only problem with this book was I wanted more story from the storybook. More answers, more background, more of what Bondoff was like and how evil queen, Cassandra came to be seen as evil.
I'm hoping there's more to come for these characters!

Unwritten, by Tara Gilboy, is a fun-paced middle grade novel, whose premise is unique and catching. The plot of characters taken out of a story was a fresh concept, and the complexity of the characters made them feel real. While I loved this book, there are some ideas that need to be handled carefully when recommending this book to children. Some of the themes, such as why the "author" wrote the story and whom she modeled Gracie after could affect students the wrong way, especially if they are going through difficult times at home. Gracie wasn't my most favorite character and I wished her story arc would've been spread evenly over the course of the story. It felt rushed, like she lingered on her old self too long. Gertrude was the most interesting to me, and her motives would be tougher for a younger audience to fully understand, as an adult I know the complexity behind her emotions and feelings. Overall, it was a fun read though a bit dark and serious.

Unwritten by Tara Gilboy
Reviewed on Cole Campfire Blog, Friday August 31st.

The premise of this story reminded me of a cross between Magic Treehouse meets The Chronicles of Narnia where there is a magic book and hidden fairytale land, and an evil queen out to get you. I was super excited to read it!

Gracie is a very likable and relatable character as she battles her self worth and choosing her identity. In the story Gracie finds out that she was from a fairy tale that her parents escaped from, and the author of the story is having a book signing in her town.

Since her mother hasn’t told her all that she wants to know about the book, and her past, she is compelled to find this author. Things don’t go as planned at the bookstore as everyone ends up in the fairytale and it’s up to Gracie to find their way out.

I absolutely loved this book! Not only is it a fun and entertaining story but I felt deeper messages tied in about self doubt, character, making peace with your past, and parental separation. I think lots of children in this age range can relate to the feelings Gracie has toward her absent father, and wanting to know details from their family’s past. Even for me I was taken back to being a kid as I read this story.

For children in this age range, I think it’s a wonderful read! Thank you to NetGalley, Flux and the author, Tara Gilboy for this advanced reader copy!

This story takes place in our modern world but utilizes characters from a story-land place called Bondoff. From reading, I came to understand that Bondoff is a Lord of the Rings-esque kingdom written by a successful author who has no idea that her characters have broken through to live in her own world. However, Gracie, naturally curious and a bit devil may care when it comes to the rules, seeks out the author when she can't get the answers she wants from her mother. Gracie ends up in over her head when Ms. Winters, the author, goes missing at the signing after touching something Gracie gives her.
This book was full of promise. Gracie's a rebellious and courageous young girl with a strong ethos she doesn't know she possesses. Bondoff seems like a magical place despite the characters', and Gracie's mom specifically, aversion to it. Mystery surrounds the identity of Gracie's father, and whether he is alive or dead, good or bad, is something Gracie will have to grapple with in order to find out who she really is.
My criticism lies not in the basics, the grammar, storytelling, or character dynamics. Those things are all solid. Where I struggled a bit with this book was developing connection to the characters. Maybe it was because I'm an adult and Gracie and Walter are just at a different life stage than both my children and me. Yet, reading this I felt very similar to the way I felt while watching the show I've abandoned, 'Once Upon A Time.' At the outset I expected to really like it, to see childhood staples come to life off the page. In reality though, the characters just didn't have the same enchantment I wanted in them. Also like the show, just because I didn't love it doesn't mean you won't. The writing is good, the pace is smooth but quick, and the author doubtlessly has chops.

A super-cute fairy tale read that had a lot more depth to it than I was expecting. The story follows Gracie, who has always known that she and her mother escaped an evil villain in a fairy tale. Her mother managed to get her out of the fairy tale world and into the real world when Gracie was still a baby, before the awful fate that the author wrote for them could be played out. Gracie’s curiosity gets the best of her, though, and she talks to the author (who has no idea that her characters are alive), sending her to the fairy tale world.

Once she gets there, she realizes that everything she’s been told about the world is not exactly as she’d been led to believe. Her relationships with her family get very complicated and she even has to face some possible ugly truths about herself. The story is full of twists that I didn’t see coming, and quite a bit of character growth. It’s the type of book that you don’t want to put down, and I highly recommend it!

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

<i>Unwritten</i> by Tara Gilboy is the book that I wish I had when I was a kid. With the most entertaining middlegrade plot I’ve read all year, this book ranks high on my list of books I’m happy to have read in 2018. A gorgeous cover and a most creative plot give this book two huge reasons to love it. My only disappointment regarding <i>Unwritten</i> is the fact that my niece, at four-years-old, is a little too young for me to buy her a copy.

Featuring a young girl called Gracie who is a character from a story and has escaped the fairytale land of her homeworld because to have her tale play out is to die, <i>Unwritten</i> breaks the mould a little as it presents the question of what if book characters knew their fates and what if they tried to escape them? How much are characters truly the way they are written? Gracie has escaped the evil Queen Cassandra and lives in our world now, but though her mother has told her of the fate she would befall if she were to play out her story, Gracie has never stopped wanting to know the truth of it all. And so, with no answers from her mother, she embarks on a journey to find them for herself.

<i>Unwritten </i>is a fairly simple book with a plot that follows a simple formula, but it truly was impossible to put down. I read it in the span of a few hours and loved every second of it. While some plot points were easy to predict and did not come as a surprise to me—an adult—I imagine it would be an exciting shock to read the twists and turns this novel takes its readers on. I really enjoyed Gracie’s story and you can be sure I’ll be buying it for my niece when she’s old enough.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. </i>

I did find it enjoyable as a middle grade read and really hope Tara Gilboy continues with Gracie's story. I believe this will be a fun read for the audience that it is intended for.

Copy received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unwritten is incredibly in-depth for being just under 200 pages. I wasn't expecting such a detailed story or a unique story line, but that's what I got from reading this book. The plot is so original-- if I had to describe it in one word, it'd simply be "magical." I loved the main premise of a character being rescued from a storybook in which she is supposed to die. I thought that being taken to the real world from a piece of fiction would have its setbacks, and it certainly did; the "story glimmers" in the beginning of the novel were an exciting addition, one that I wanted to have happen.

By far, my favorite part of Unwritten was the rising action. That doesn't mean that the rest of the story was poor-- all of it was good, but the beginning needs to hook the reader in, and that's exactly what it did. I loved the start because it revealed almost all of the conflict right then, and there was no guesswork necessary. Of course, there's the wondering of how they're going to rescue a certain character of two, which is solved towards the end-- and in a great way, too.

The only thing I wish that was different about Unwritten was that it could have been longer, or part of a series. If this was the first in a series, the book could get a lot better than it already is. Gracie could have been developed even more, which I would have liked to see instead of just the main problem being solved. Every character was amazing, though, even Queen Cassandra, who you will love to hate.

Unwritten was unique and suspenseful with a strong protagonist, which is what I want the most out of my middle-grade novels. I loved this book, and I recommend it to anyone who loved (or still loves) to read fairy tales. Overall, this alternate view on a kid's story-- showing what would happen if one of the characters destined to perish was taken out of her destiny-- is definitely a read I would recommend.

Thank you to flux for the arc of this book.
It was an ok read, wasn’t great, wasn’t bad, one of those you could pick up and put down and pick up and know where you had left off.
It’s an interesting concept for a book, but it really didn’t grab me or get me excited to finish it.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all let me just say that I LOVED the premise of this book and I only wish that there was a YA version so that it could go into more detail and background of the story.

Gracie is a young girl who was taken out of a storybook world into our world as a baby and is trying to find out more about where she came from.

Without going into spoilers I will say that I really enjoyed this book and although short (190 pages) I really got on board with some of the characters and willed them to do better. As I said previously I would have liked a little more backstory for the motivations of the characters however as I am not the target audience I think it would be fine for them.

Overall, I think everyone should give the book a chance as it is an easy and enjoyable read.

3.5 stars overall. This was a fun, enjoyable read that had a solid premise and adventure. There were some inconsistent moments such as a certain age of a person being described, but the behavior being exhibited didn't really line up with the setting. There were times that I wished descriptions were a bit more fleshed out, especially with the settings and places. Still, I felt this was a fun book that many will likely enjoy. It's a great adventure story that will be sure to entertain with a plot that has just enough unique touches to feel new.

The beautiful cover was what attracted me to this book and the synopsis sounded familiar enough to be an intriguing and fun genre of a familiar fantasy-reality blend. However, because this is a format that's pretty much been done (admittedly, we're probably more used to the idea of a real person in a book world rather than this flipped concept), we have many examples to help compare and relate.

So, I passed this to my 10-year-old daughter -- the perfect target for this book and she said it could've been written better. There are some books like it and they're more enjoyable than this one. Some parts were confusing, especially in the opening . She wishes there were more character build up and description, especially on the main characters. If the author had taken more time to develop, she thinks she may have liked the book more.

Overall it was ok.

3.75 Stars

What will you do if a dark horrible fantasy story comes to life and you find out you are one of the character in the book that eventually dies? Oh I never want to be written in any kind of story after reading this.

Unwritten was a middle grade fantasy story about 12-yr-old Gracie who was desperate find out about her birthplace which was an unusual world a story. The book was mainly about battle of good vs bad within ourselves; finding true self and being what you want to be not what other says.

Characters-

Gracie was grumpy, impulsive, and stubborn girl. Gracie and mom’s views looked selfish. I didn’t like the way Gracie kept blaming someone else for her action. Even her mom kept blaming Gertrude for writing a story. I mean how Gertrude could have guessed the story might come to life!! I couldn’t see any development in Gracie’s character till the very end which was a minus point about the book. Do I like her? Not sure! I just liked how she acted in the end.

The secondary characters who were also a part of Gertrude’s story were also complicated. I couldn’t point who to call good or bad till the third half of the book. It seemed like all characters were flawed and there was a touch of suspense to all of them which was plus point.

I pitied Gertrude most. I could imagine how she might have felt for being blamed of writing the story. I found her more sensible and practical person than the characters she has written.

What I liked-

The plot was most interesting and instantly dragged me in the story.

Gracie and her mother were the characters from the story written by Gertrude Winters in which they we’re supposed to die. The place in the story called Bondoff was Gracie’s birth place. Gracie was having visions of things that would have happened in the story, if her parents have not taken her out of it. Ever since her mother told about Bondoff and reason of visions, Gracie was desperate to find out more about the story and what was her character in the story. In trying to get the answers, she disobeyed her mother and went to see Gertrude Winters and messed up things terribly.

It was third person narrative written from Gracie POV. I was intrigued to know the story of Gracie and her mother. World and characters were twisted and complex. There was so much unpredictability and uncertainty that hooked me till the end.

I had lot of question in first few chapters only – how the characters of the book can come alive in first place, did someone cast magic on story or something? What were the characters like in the story? How they found a way to the real world? The answers were revealed one by one in first half of the book still I couldn’t help but think what was going on. It was like as soon as the answer to one question was given the new one popped up. Book progressed so fast that it hardly gave a time to think over it.

The second half of the book was fabulously written. The twist was unimaginable. I couldn’t guess a thing. At around climax finally Gertrude revealed things about story she wrote. I so loved what she said in this part. It was utterly mind blowing. The book became more intriguing at this point and couldn’t put down the book.

Till climax I wasn’t sure what to think about characters, whether they were good or bad. At the end the development in the Gracie was satisfactory and I loved how they all turned out and owned up their mistakes. End was unpredictable and satisfactory.

There were some insightful messages in the book that I loved-

It said about how deeply we get affected by what others say or portrays us or think or write about our character. Do we really need to know what we truly are from someone else perspective? How having the impulse to know what people think about us, we give them more power over us. Like Gracie’s mother said, we can be what we want to be. To be good or bad depends on us.

The importance of anger management also displayed nicely in the book. The message of having control over the anger and not to let anger control over us was remarkable.

why 3.75 stars-

Book was too short and had a serious tone. Character development was very late in the book and it became frustrating seeing Gracie asking the same thing ‘how she was written in the story’ and acting based on it rather than finding something within herself. I’m not sure I liked her or not.

More suspense and less drama. For middle grade book I expected a bit of entertainment in the story as well.

Overall, it was interesting book with dark magical plot, complex characters and insightful messages. I like it. Middle grade readers (age 8-15 yrs) will enjoy it but I cannot say about other readers.

I like The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is a book that deals with a long-term problem faced by every human. It starts from when we master walking to when we are no longer able to do so.

The struggle with human nature is a daily occurrence. Striving to rise above our selfish impulses or sacrifice temporary desires to help another is part of life demands. Every human wants to be the hero of his own story. But there is also a side of humans that want to hurt others, self-sabotage, do away with obstacles no matter what it takes... all in the bid to get what we want.

This constant fight is at the root of existence and one of the subjects of Tara Gilboy's new book, Unwritten.

In Unwritten, we see fairytale characters escape from an unfinished manuscript written by a writer named Gertrude Winters. Ms Winters' characters are on the run from a villain that seeks to capture and draw them back into the story. But the escapees are determined to live their lives outside of what has been written about them.

For example, one of the escapees, Gracie, who is a villain in the manuscript, has behaved otherwise since living outside of the story. As the power of the story pulls her to behave in an obnoxious way, she fights against her scripted self to do what she thinks is best for herself and her family. All through the book, we witness Gracie torn between who she is supposed to be and who she desires to be.

Unwritten by Sarah Gilboy reveals the difficulties of trying to do what is right versus what is easy. It also shows that internal struggles, though personal, needn't be borne alone.

Many thanks to Jolly Fish Press for review copy.

I really enjoyed the concept of the story, it’s unique and full of great ideas. A story within a story. Tara was able to bring both scenes to life, both in the real world and in Bondoff from the characters behaviour, the detail in the environment to the outfits they wear. It’s a clear distinction which really allows the reader to get lost in the scene.
I really liked how our ‘writer’ Gertrude Winters, uses a different representation of herself to make her characters in the story. She believes the best characters are the villains which is who she relates mostly too. A certainty that the villain could get her own happy ending.

‘”I wrote the story during an awful time in my life.” Gertrude Winters seemed to grow stronger as she talked. “Everyone I loved acted as if they despised me. I was tired of stories that only celebrated heroic characters. I’d done bad things, but who hasn’t? We’re not all good or bad. It’s why I wanted to write a story that honoured the villain.”
“At the bookstore, you said villains were fascinating,” Gracie said. “Your favourite characters.”
“Because what does it mean, really, to be labeled a villain? No one actually thinks of herself as a villain. We are all the heroes in our own stories.”‘

I liked Gracie as a character, she’s young and naive, with all the secrets kept from her, she finds the courage to find out the truth. When she’s put in difficult situations, her responses are realistic and relatable. She gets upset, she gets frustrated but she pushes on because she has no other choice. All she wants is to get her life back with her mum whilst fighting against the possibility that she could turn into the character in the story that everyone is afraid of. She’s frustrating at times because she’s constantly ignoring her parents advice but she’s young and confused after all so you can’t blame her too much on her actions.
Walter was an interesting character, it’s a good concept to include a character that doesn’t even believe in their own story. He believes that fiction is a waste of time and that science defines everything. He also immediately forgets who he was in the story unlike Gracie with I personally found odd. As a character, he was difficult for me to relate too, the nerdy kid with no friends who has a role to play whether Gracie likes it or not as he was originally from Bondoff like her, so it was intriguing that he ended up playing a huge part in the end since he was just the ‘sidekick’.

‘What good is a hero who fails to see a story’s magic?’

Overall I thought the book was good, but I felt it was missing a bit more detail. It’s target audience is definitely for the younger generation who are looking for a romanticised fantasy book but may lack character development and in-depth scenery. What was Cassandra’s happy ending to fight for it so badly? Where did she end up? Why does wanting a happy ending make her the villain? I felt the author could have also included more additional characters rather sticking to just the main ones. Bondoff felt incredibly small and lonely with it’s limited population.

I was getting serious Inkheart flashbacks as I read this book; however, the plot was not nearly as well thought out nor the characters as interesting. It had the potential. It was totally there. The execution was somewhat lacking. I didn’t truly understand the full extent of “magic” in this world.

The characters were probably the worst part (which they definitely shouldn’t be). I can’t honestly say I liked any of them. Gracie was whiny as was her friend. All of the adults were wildly useless even though they seemed as though they should be responsible.

As a middle grade book, it’s cute, adventurous, and interesting. It doesn’t cross into the young adult sphere very well though because of the unlikable characters. It was okay, but I won’t be reading it again.

This book read quickly, at a blistering pace. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters, both in and out of their book "main state," so to speak. Lately there have been a whole bunch of middle grade novels that get into some of the darker, grittier concepts that these kids will find when they step into the YA shelves, and I am here for it 100%. When you assume you're the hero of your story, but then find out that no matter what happens you're actually, shockingly, the villain ... stuff really starts to go haywire. This book "goes there," and I love it for that. Give Gracie and her story a shot this October, and lose yourself in her world.