Took a while to remember what happened in the first book while reading this but I was able to eventually get there. Enjoyed getting back in the world and thought it was a good book overall.

I’m reviewing both books at the same time since they were read simultaneously. I truly love middle grade books for the wonderful characters that come from them. These books are so much fun. Magical really. Gracie’s journeys through these stories are so enjoyable. They’re so fun and her adventures and lessons learned are wonderful. These books are perfect for any reader, any age.

I received an advanced review copy for free from NetGalley

This is a strong sequel to Unwritten and focus once again on if Gracie really is a villain as she was written to be. Is it true that every story she jumps into she wants to help the villain or is she so much more then what her author has described as. One of the most interesting aspests for me that was explored in this book is the reason why some stories are written. In this series the author Gertrude has written what everyone who reads them sees as terrible stories. Gertrude says yes they are terrible stories but she wrote them as a way of processing her hurt and disappointment of her relationships in her life. She never meant for them to be published or for anyone else to read them let alone that the characters would come to life.

I hoping that as we continue on with this series that Gertrude will have processed all her hurt relationships and as a result she will then be able to write a true child’s story that she will be proud of. One her characters like Gracie would actually want to live in not escape.

This is a unique series that has a lot of heart, it discusses many themes that children sometimes struggle with thinking about. Would make for great discussions with parents. Topics such as Forgiveness, accepting yourself, being confident in who you are, freedom to live your dreams, consequences of holding things in and lack of apprenticing and of course the whole concept of villains and are they truly evil.

This second book in the series finds Gracie attempting to settle into her new normal in the real world after changing the ending to her storybook life where she had been cast as a villain. Gracie finds it hard to convince herself and others that she isn't a bad person, so she tries extra hard to be good. But nothing she does seems to be good enough. And then she starts having visions of fictional worlds again and fears that people in those worlds are real as well---and they're in danger. She eventually makes her way into one of them but finds that changing their story might not be as simple as she imagined and that the lines between good and evil might be much blurrier than she imagined. In some ways this book almost felt like two distinct stories: Gracie in the real world and Gracie in the fictional world. I enjoyed both parts of the book, but I thought that things especially picked up once she found herself in the fictional story. At first I felt like the two halves were a bit discordant, but I ended up appreciating how Gilboy pulled the themes from the first half of the book into the ending and tied everything together. There were also some twists to the story that I predicted that I think many middle grade readers wouldn't see coming. I didn't love this book quite as much as I did the first, but I thought this was a solid follow-up to Unwritten. I would recommend this series to kids who love fantasy and especially to anyone who has imagined living out life in a storybook!

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

Fantastic book! I stayed up all night reading this to my kids. They couldn’t wait to find out what happened at the end of each chapter!

DNF 25%

Thank you Netgalley and Jolly Fish Press for the ARC of this book.

So I have been pushing this book off because one I really didn't like the first book and just beginning this one I can see that some characters hasn't grown at all which irritate me.

Things I do like about this book is that you see the struggle that Gracie is going through thinking she can't change.

Another thing is you see Gertrude start to change. She tells Grace that just because she wrote her that way doesn't mean she has to stay that way.

Things I don't like and its why I'm not continuing with this book.

Audrey.. I think she is rude and only sees the bad and only wants to see the bad in people. Honestly I think she is the true villain in this story. She bully's Grace around all because she was a villain in a world that no longer exists and she thinks its okay. She isn't giving Grace a chance and I seriously want to toss my phone across the room because I can't tell at Audrey and tell her to stop it.

For that I am sorry but I cannot go on with this book.

Rewritten again tells Gracie’s story, but now that she lives in the real world with her parents and Walter’s in Gertrude Winter’s house. All of this because Cassandra escaped with the Vademecum and they need to remain hidden again.

Gracie was having a relatively normal life until she finds out that Gertrude had written a lot more stories along with Gracie’s own. Since she read a few of them, she starts getting glimmers again, just that this time they are not from her own story.

For making everything worse, Cassandra finds Gracie and tell her that the Vademecum has started recording every single movement and thought of Gracie, so they were never actually safe. And staying in the house puts everyone in danger.

Trying to escape from Cassandra, Gracie and Walter end up inside one of Gertrude’s story and the worst of them. A horror one.

Now Gracie needs to find a way to get the Vademecum from Cassandra, all while trying to survive the beast in the story and helping her new friends to change their ending as she did.

This book again grabs your attention immediately. It’s a nice and fast reading and even though it’s recommended for people between 10-14 years old I feel people of any age can enjoy it. At least I did and I’m in my 20’s. A really fresh turn into fairytales where you get immerse in a story that gets inside another story.

I love the idea of these story and I felt it was well developed. I fully recommend this book.Rewritten again tells Gracie’s story, but now that she lives in the real world with her parents and Walter’s in Gertrude Winter’s house. All of this because Cassandra escaped with the Vademecum and they need to remain hidden again.

Gracie was having a relatively normal life until she finds out that Gertrude had written a lot more stories along with Gracie’s own. Since she read a few of them, she starts getting glimmers again, just that this time they are not from her own story.

For making everything worse, Cassandra finds Gracie and tell her that the Vademecum has started recording every single movement and thought of Gracie, so they were never actually safe. And staying in the house puts everyone in danger.

Trying to escape from Cassandra, Gracie and Walter end up inside one of Gertrude’s story and the worst of them. A horror one.

Now Gracie needs to find a way to get the Vademecum from Cassandra, all while trying to survive the beast in the story and helping her new friends to change their ending as she did.

This book again grabs your attention immediately. It’s a nice and fast reading and even though it’s recommended for people between 10-14 years old I feel people of any age can enjoy it. At least I did and I’m in my 20’s. A really fresh turn into fairytales where you get immerse in a story that gets inside another story.

I love the idea of these story and I felt it was well developed. I fully recommend this book.

After thoroughly enjoying the first book, Unwritten, I definitely wanted to pick this one up when it was available. This one pulls you right back into Gracie's story not too long after the ending of the first book, and you quickly realize the different difficulties that the group is facing and the repercussions of the events of the first book. This book really becomes a discovery and acceptance of self for Gracie as they once again come up against Cassandra.

I really enjoyed Gracie's journey in this installment, and while I didn't really like some other character's behavior, Gracie did come to internally work through the pain caused by a number of things and definitely grew up a bit in the process.

3 manage-your-storyline stars

This is a middle grade fantasy very much in the vein of "Once Upon a Time". {Even if Cassandra wish for in her best day to be like Regina (maybe she is more alike Cruella) ...and Gracie wish for to be like Henry}

Gracie is a 12 year old that, after the first book, has abandoned the literary world of Bondoff to the real world.
Her parents, her friend Walter, and his parents, live with the author Gertrude Winters. Gracie wants to live a normal life, go to school, have friends, and prove to everyone that she is not a villain (I guess she hasn't seen 'Descendants' yet and hasn't found out that the villains are 'it').

But she is still persecute by 'glimmers' - visions of another places and terrible things.

When one of her nightmares haunts her into her new life, she is forced once again into a story of which she knows nothing except it's some gothic horror. The story there feels there too simple and rush, just a tale, and Gracie appears somewhat pigheaded insisting that the characters must flee to the 'real world' as if that were the only solution for everything; and by then we already know that it is not. Without the rules of the magical contraption we are just improvising here.

Since everything is about a writer and her characters resisting their destinies, a relationship between destiny and self-determination can be inferred throughout this story. About our past, and how we can exceed our limits. About how a person, a relationship (in this case, the writer with her daughter and her ex-husband), can determine not only her life but other lives.


“Run away? Walter said that’s what you have done.”
“I didn’t say we ran away,” Walter interjected. “We wanted to be free from the things Gertrude wrote.”
“It sounds like running from who you are,” Bryant said.
“We are not the things Gertrude wrote about us!” Gracie said.
Bryant raised one eyebrow. “Why shouldn’t you be? Aren’t we all a culmination of our pasts: where we come from, our family histories, our heritage? Don’t those things make us who we are today? Who am I without Blackwood Hall? It’s my inheritance, my legacy.”


Walter, in the other hand, shows that is up for more maturing and growth.

The book feels like something is missing. I'm not sure what.

I like that it's about love for books.

Romance? No.
Diversity? Hmm, no.
Bad words? No.

------------------------------------------
(In Spanish)

Esta es una fantasía para niños muy similar a "Once Upon a Time". {Incluso si Cassandra desearia en su mejor día ser como Regina (tal vez ella se parece más a Cruella) ; y Gracie ya se desearia ser como Henry}

Gracie tiene 13 años y, después del primer libro, abandonó el mundo literario de Bondoff para ir al mundo real. Sus padres, su amigo Walter y sus padres viven con la autora Gertrude Winters. Gracie quiere vivir una vida normal, ir a la escuela, tener amigos y demostrarle a todos que no es una villana (supongo que todavía no ha visto 'Descendientes' y no ha descubierto que los villanos son la bomba. ) Pero todavía se ve perseguida por 'destellos': visiones de otros lugares y cosas terribles.

Cuando una de sus pesadillas la persigue hasta su nueva vida, se ve forzada a entrar una vez más dentro de una historia de la que no sabe nada excepto que es acerca de horror gótico. La historia que se siente ahi demasiado simple y apresurada, solo un cuento, y Gracie parece algo majadera insistiendo en que los personajes deben huir al "mundo real" como si esa fuera la única solución para todo; y para entonces ya sabemos que no es así. Sin las reglas del artilugio mágico, solo estamos improvisando aquí.

Como todo se trata de una escritora y sus personajes que se resisten a sus destinos, se puede inferir una relación entre el destino y la autodeterminación a lo largo de esta historia. Sobre nuestro pasado y cómo podemos superar nuestros límites. Sobre cómo una persona, una relación (en este caso, la escritora con su hija y su ex esposo), puede determinar no solamente su vida sino otras vidas.

Walter, por otro lado, muestra que está listo para una mayor maduración y crecimiento.

Al libro parece que falta algo. No estoy seguro de qué.

Me gusta que se trata de amor por los libros.


¿Romance? No.
Diversidad? Hmm, no
Malas palabras? No.

Rewritten by Tara Gilboy is a very interesting book. The author has her storybook characters jumping from one story to the next as they try to get away from evil and monsters. Well written plot and interesting perspective. Thank you to Net Galley for sending an advance reader’s copy.
After learning the truth about her own fairy tale, twelve-year-old Gracie wants nothing more than to move past the terrible things author Gertrude Winters wrote about her and begin a new chapter in the real world. If only things were going as planned. On the run from the evil Queen Cassandra, the characters from Gracie’s story have all been forced to start over, but some of them cannot forget Gracie’s checkered past.

Even worse, Gracie discovers that her story is still being written in Cassandra’s magic book, the Vademecum. As long as Cassandra has the Vademecum, none of the characters are safe, including Gracie’s mom and dad. In a desperate attempt to set things right, Gracie finds herself transported into another one of Gertrude’s tales—but this one is a horror story. Can Gracie face her destiny and the wild beast roaming the night, to rewrite her own story?

This is the highly anticipated sequel to Unwritten and it doesn't disappoint. Gracie and Walter are off on another adventure when they are kidnapped by their nemesis. Will Gracie be a villain in this next story or will she get to rewrite her story? Read this amazing story to find out!

I find this series to be a lot of fun. I think that the premise is cute and the characters are so much fun. I do not know if this was a duology or if there are plans for this to continue, but I hope it continues. I think it's a nice getaway storyline for Middle Grade readers.

Rewritten by Tara Gilboy is magical! Gracie is no longer a villain in her storybook world of Bondoff, and is trying to enjoy her life in the real world with her parents, her friend Walter and his parents, and the woman who wrote and created their story. But then Gracie’s old nemesis shows us and kidnaps her. To escape, Gracie jumps into another story, but this one is a horror story with a beast that prowls around Blackwood Hall. Gracie knows the end of this story will end with someone eaten alive, and she tries to convince the brother and sister living there to leave. When they refuse, Gracie must figure out how much she’s willing to acknowledge and accept her old villain self in order to help and save her friends.

I absolutely loved traveling with Gracie as she tried to figure out who she is supposed to be now that she’s no longer a villain. Ms. Gilboy has created a wonderful story world where characters come to life and make decisions of their own, apart from their author and story plot. This book is creative, surprising, and a super fun ride for kids and parents alike. I highly recommend Rewritten and I’m looking forward to Ms. Gilboy’s next Gracie book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a strong sequel to Unwritten and focus once again on if Gracie really is a villain as she was written to be. Is it true that every story she jumps into she wants to help the villain or is she so much more then what her author has described as. One of the most interesting aspests for me that was explored in this book is the reason why some stories are written. In this series the author Gertrude has written what everyone who reads them sees as terrible stories. Gertrude says yes they are terrible stories but she wrote them as a way of processing her hurt and disappointment of her relationships in her life. She never meant for them to be published or for anyone else to read them let alone that the characters would come to life.

I hoping that as we continue on with this series that Gertrude will have processed all her hurt relationships and as a result she will then be able to write a true child’s story that she will be proud of. One her characters like Gracie would actually want to live in not escape.

This is a unique series that has a lot of heart, it discusses many themes that children sometimes struggle with thinking about. Would make for great discussions with parents. Topics such as Forgiveness, accepting yourself, being confident in who you are, freedom to live your dreams, consequences of holding things in and lack of apprenticing and of course the whole concept of villains and are they truly evil

A fun younger middle grade read. This is the 2nd book in the series and I would suggest reading the 1st book before this one. Gracie & Walter are off on another adventure. I enjoy the lesson of no matter your past we determine our feature. This is a fun, fast paced, entertaining read!

I received this free eARC from Netgalley but all opinions are my own. Thank you Netgalley and Jolly Fish Press.

“Writing has brought me so much trouble.”

In the six months since they returned to the real world, Gracie and some other characters from Bondoff, their storybook world, have been living with Gertrude Winters, the story’s author. They’re all in hiding from the story’s villain, Cassandra. Cassandra still has the Vademecum, a magical book that can generate portals between the real world and the world of the author’s imagination.

Gracie is struggling to distance herself from the character Gertrude created for her. This isn’t easy when everyone remembers what happened while they were in Bondoff.

“She wished she didn’t have to keep being reminded of the past.”

Gracie meets siblings Mina and Bryant when she travels to Blackwood Hall. Their world is nothing like Gracie’s storybook dimension; they are characters in a “feminist gothic horror novel”.

“Don’t read that one. It’s too scary for children.”

‘Rewritten’ tackles fractured mother-daughter relationships, the difficulty of forgiveness and the struggle to rewrite our stories. A number of themes from the first book continue to play out here. Running through both books is the difficulty of breaking out of roles that others place upon you. A couple of characters battle both the urge to run away from the past and the desire to confront it.

The lines between good and evil remain somewhat fuzzy. The villains aren’t always immediately obvious and their actions aren’t always intended to have dastardly consequences. One character who has been written as a villain is desperately trying to prove to themselves and those around them that that’s not who they are. Even those who appear to be heroes can have selfish motivations and make questionable choices.

Gracie, who I loved without reservation in ‘Unwritten’, started to annoy me when her recaps and ruminations became repetitive. I didn’t always agree with the decisions she made in this book but I have to give Gracie credit for her imaginative decorating choices. Her bedroom ceiling features quotes from books in glow in the dark paint! Why didn’t I think of that?!

While you could read ‘Unwritten’ and ‘Rewritten’ as standalones, I’d recommend reading them in order. Given how this story ends I’m definitely expecting this series to become a trilogy. I haven’t had enough page time with Cassandra yet and am crossing my fingers that she’ll wind up with a happy ending. Yes, I know she’s supposed to be the villain so technically she shouldn’t get one, but I’m still holding out hope. I’m also looking forward to Walter being given the opportunity to shine.

It was Jomike Tejido’s cover illustration that originally drew me to ‘Unwritten’ and, even though I was unaware a sequel was in the works, as soon as I saw the cover of this book I had no doubt that this was it. Just like last time, I decided I needed to read this book before I knew what it was about.

“You can’t stop reading the stories. It’s your destiny.”

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

This looked so interesting, that it prompted me to grab the first book. I didn’t love the first one, my biggest issue being that this felt like much younger MG than 10-14 (which was what it says it’s for)

This one had some of that, but the writing seemed significantly better to me - less stilted and repetitive, and something my 7 year old would enjoy and be able to read, still maybe on the young end of MG.

I’m definitely interested in reading more of this series.

I wasn't the biggest fan on the first book but was very willing to give the second one a try. Unfortunately nothing in the first few chapters made me want to read on with this book. I have been reading a lot of middle grade in the past few years and the writing and plotting is just not up to par with this book/series.

I enjoyed 2018's Unwritten, about a girl who discovers that she's a character from a book, escaped into the real world with her parents, but now having 'glimmers' of the story written for her. I wasn't wholly expecting a sequel, but it works: there's still a lot of aftermath to deal with from such a revelation, and Gracie's attempts at a normal life might not go as smoothly as she hoped.

Indeed, her 'normal' life is less happy than any of us would want, especially with the constant suspicion over her former 'villain' status. She's not the only one: the author of Gracie's book, Gertrude Winters, is appalled that her writing lead to such misery - and worried that her other, unpublished, stories might have similar consequences. And when Gracie flicks through some of the pages, it's not just her own story she's having glimmers about...

This was a nice, easy read, just what the current times call for. It's still got its moments of darkness, but Gracie learns a lot about herself and her purpose, and about her friends. It's perhaps a little heavy on her inner woes, with other characters appearing a little flat or pantomine-ish (Cassandra), but overall the story works well.

There were many hints that there could be further adventures for Gracie et al - I kept forgetting this was a children's book, and quite short, and thus kept expecting her to go into one of the other stories. I'll be looking out for those adventures!

This book was amazing as the 1st one. Before reading this do read the first book so you will under the story better. The charcter and story was well written. Can't wait to read more of this book.
Thank you netgalley for providing with an E-Arc in exchange of an honest review.