I wanted to love this book. i mean look at that cover, but I just never got drawn into it. The main character didn't feel real to me and it was just a total miss for me. I skimmed most of it sadly.

I managed around 50% of this before DNF'ing. I just couldn't find it within myself to care about the characters, or what happened to them. I really thought the premise was intriguing, and the story itself wasn't badly written, but as someone who prefers books where they can bond with the characters I just couldn't get into it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked reading this, it was fairly enjoyable and there is a bunch of people I would 100% recommend this too. However, it wasn't for me. There were SO MUCH happening at once. Too many characters with not enough development, especially with the romance. I tick when I find insta-love or just romance for the heck of it. Unfortunately, I felt like it was underdeveloped and lessened my enjoyment of the book. Overall, it was a good read, the premise is really interesting and the writing really good.

Unwritten had a lot of potential, but the writing made it a struggle to read.

In Unwritten we meet Beatrix Alba, a young girl with a special power. Books whisper to her, and she is thrown into Zweeshen - a realm where all tales live. She finds out Zweeshen is under attack, and has to find a way to save it.

I liked the idea of a young girl being able to ‘communicate’ with books, and traveling through a realm where all her favorite book-characters are real. Beatrix was a lovely characters, as were many of the others.

As soon as I started reading, though, I struggled to get through the book. The writing style just isn’t as flowing or descriptive as what I’d hoped. Information was given in very abrupt ways, descriptions were chaotic and sometimes it was just hard to follow Beatrix’ train of thought.

In the end, this book just wasn’t it for me. The story was fun enough, but the writing itself was really off-putting.

Thank you Netgalley and Intense Publications for the chance to read Unwritten by Alicia J. Novo. The cover drew me to Unwritten and the synopsis urged me to read it.
Books whisper to Beatrix Alba. But they aren’t the reason she has never fit in. Bullied at home and school, she keeps a secret—a power of violence and darkness. When the spell that keeps her hidden fails, she’s catapulted into the Zweeshen, a realm where all tales live, and her dream of meeting her favorite characters comes true. But wishes are tricky, and behind its wonder and whimsy, the Zweeshen is under attack. A character is burning bookworlds in pursuit of a weapon to rule both stories and storytellers. To succeed, he needs a riddle in Beatrix's keeping that her Mother left her. Now he’s hunting her down. With the help of William, a cursed Conjurer, Beatrix must face an enemy who knows her every weakness as she searches for her Mother and the truth about herself.
I really wanted to love this book. The premise was fabulous and unique, and the first few chapters were wonderful and kept me reading. However, the story soon became bogged down with too many characters, some plot holes and I was not crazy about the epilogue/ending. However, I think a lot of teenagers will enjoy this book. For a first book it is not bad.

Being a book lover, I thought I would love this. The writing is beautiful, but I struggled to get through this. The only thing I felt strongly about was how much I hated Beatrix 's dad. Again, the writing was great. I might just be in a slump.

I really didn't like the main character in this book so I can't get around that. It also felt like a really long book but its only a little more than 300 pages.

I was given this book from three publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I'd give it 3.5 stars. I'm the beginning the author's routing style was hard to get though but I eventually adjusted.

The stories premise is essentially what every book lover has ever dreamed of. Beatrix goes into the world of stories and legit gets to meet her literary idols. Sadly we don't really get to many of those nostalgic hits you are going for.

Beatrix is a typical adolescent that thinks she knows better and keeps constantly putting herself in peril. She's also got nothing but lying adults around her making her quest foggy at best.

The cast of companions are fun, though some could use some more backstory and growth.

Eventually we're left with a mildly unhappy ending with lots of questions. The epilogue leaves us with even more. Here's to hoping the rest of the series will hold the answers.

Unwritten is a beautiful book. I don’t know how else to describe it. The book is written in such an imaginative and and lyrical way with a lot of metaphors and parables that in some cases almost comes across as a bit weird but at the same time are so very descriptive. While the writing may take some time getting used to, it fits this story perfectly. I don’t think I would have liked this book half as much as I do if it wasn’t written in such an eerie style.

I find it hard to believe that a book can be much more imaginative than Unwritten because the book encompasses the exact meaning of imagination. Alicia J. Novo has literary taken all books that’s ever been written and created a new world out of it. Not an easy task but nevertheless I think Alicia J. Novo accomplished it perfectly.

What I like most about this book is the concept of a realm where all tales live. A world where all characters lives and interact with each other. That’s why I’m drawn to books like Unwritten or Inkheart and TV shows like Once Upon A Time.

What sets this book apart from most other fantasy books I’ve read is that I didn’t get attached to the characters as much as to the story. Usually it is the other way around for me. It’s not that I dislike any of the characters in Unwritten, absolutely not, but more that I like the characters as a group while them as individuals didn’t feel as important.
The story however, was captivating to say the least. I couldn’t put the book down and ended up finishing way faster than I would’ve thought.

Usually, I never struggle to write a review after I’ve read a book I liked but in this case, I had a really hard time coming up with the right words to express my feelings and thoughts about this book. I feel like no matter what or how I write, I can never write a review that does this book justice because it’s just so very unique. I think that what you make of this book really depends on who you are and what you’re drawn to in a book.

I cannot promise that you’ll love this book. I cannot even promise that you’ll like it (even though I definitely do). All I can ask is for you to give Unwritten by Alicia J. Novo a chance because it’s too good of a book not to.

Title: Unwritten
Author: Alicia J. Novo
Pub. Date: May 8, 2021
Rating: 2

This will be a short spoiler free review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not rating this book. For NetGalley purposes, I’ll give it a 2 – only because of the premise, which sounds like something I should like. I do intend to give this book another chance in the future. It’s just not holding my interest right now. Nothing has happened that has me invested in the world or the characters.
I’m also a little confused by the world – and it’s strange, because I kind of get it, and then I kind of don’t. But I think this is due to my lack of caring.
I didn’t connect with the MC, and I lowkey missed the inclusion of magic. I thought this was going to be a book about a girl who gets sucked into the realm of stories and gets to live out her favorite ones. But the magic system and the world of Zweeshen just seems really convoluted and I didn’t understand it.
But my biggest complaint is the writing. While it’s descriptive and pretty, it’s also a bit tedious. There seems to be a lot of extra word – to paint a vivid picture – but sentences were just long and did nothing for me. The book was already struggling to keep me engaged and I just grew increasingly bored.
The MC was kind of surface, as were like, all the characters surrounding her. I did not understand why her classmates were that terrible to her. And her father – didn’t understand that either. Other than they were used as a plot device to show how close the MC is with books and stories – their actions seemingly served no purpose. They were just mean for the sake of being mean. And that’s boring.

I really thought that this was going to be a new favorite, or at least a really cool concept that I was going to urge all my friends to read. I love it when books break the fourth wall (so to speak) or use literary works in unique ways – it’s so clever and it’s one of my favorite things.
I don’t know why I didn’t click with this book. I’m not discounting it entirely; I do want to try and give it fair chance. I’m just not going to sit around and continue to try and force myself to read it.

This Young Adult Fantasy Book set in the world of Zweeshen, where books, authors, Libraries and Stories rule the world. The book has the main character Beatrix Alba, who is a potential Tamlian, she and William, a cursed conjurer, go on an adventurous journey through out the book. The book is fascinating, whimsical, and full of magic and stories you would want to read about. I enjoyed the concept of the book thoroughly and I cannot wait to read the further books in the series. The cover and the writing style of the author is just flawless.

I really wanted to like this book because the magic is interesting and the main character is sympathetic. Unfortunately, the quest was overly complex - and in the end, pointless. The main character ended up right back where she began, with the main goal of her quest unfinished and without even the hope that she has some way to conclude it in the future.

Unwritten follows in the tradition of books like Inkheart or the Imaginarium Geographica, with stories come to life and cameos from well-known characters from the classics.

After the death of her grandfather, Bea is whisked away to the Zweeshen, a parallel world where characters live after their author has written them into existence. Bea is confronted with some of her favorite characters come to life, new struggles as an outsider in this strange place, and an unfolding mystery around her mother's identity and disappearance several years before.

In concept, this is very much a book lover's book. There are lots of character cameos, and terminology in the Zweeshen plays on the fact that it is a world constructed by words in fun terminology that alludes to the writing and publishing process. I particularly like the detail that both original characters and later adaptations coexist as separate personalities in the Zweeshen.

I have tried on multiple occasions to get into this book but I just can't.

It feels like a very young version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. There was a lot of descriptive writing but it felt like our was being told to us not hinted or shown so I lost interest each time sadly.

I'm thinking I might just be the wrong age group but do highly recommend this for middle school and teen readers

This is really a dream come true for bookworms everywhere. Falling into a world that you are reading. I loved Beatrix and the character she is. I loved the world that Novo created which is vast and detailed. I am highly looking forward to the next book in the series and can’t wait to see where it goes.

I was so blessed to receive this book as an ARC from NetGalley. This story’s concept is so cool and I couldn’t wait to read all about it. Although I really liked the concept and I found the story super engaging, I felt like there was a little too much conflict surrounding the main character. I also found parts to drag a little, but overall this book was a great read for any young fantasy reader and I can’t wait or more.

This story’s concept and this unique and creative book world was just pure genius! I just LOVED it and I want to live there, PLEASE! There were just so many cool things about it and I instantly fell in love. I loved the way that the book world focused on authors, characters, and their readers. As a reader myself, this is like a dream for me and actually reading it was SO AWESOME! I really enjoyed the random cameos in the book and found all the magical creatures to be truly intriguing. However, there were a lot of features and random details in this book world, but I need a glossary ASAP if I’m going to continue on this crazy ride.

Beatrix’s introduction to this book world was also very shaky at best and this is what led to the confusion I had about the dynamics of the book world. I really enjoyed Beatrix, but boy did she have to fight for EVERYTHING. No one was really on her side in the beginning, maybe they were friendly towards her, but they didn’t really help her navigate through this new world and no one really accepted her part in it. The constant conflict coming for her from all sides was sort of exhausting to me and also made me want to skim some scenes, it was just too much and I wish the author would have dragged out the conflict in other books.

There were also SO MANY CHARACTERS in this book and a lot of their roles were very necessary to the plot and only led to even more confusion for the reader. There were just too many and it was hard to form any bond with any of them. However, I did LOVE Beatrix, William, and Emma. Beatrix was such a cool character and I loved her fire and her spiteyness. It was fun reading about her navigating through this crazy fictional world. She didn’t take crap for anybody and I loved it! William was also such a wonderful enemy to lovers male specimens, but his and Bea’s relationship was a little out of nowhere. HOWEVER, EMMA IS THE TRUE MVP! I loved herrrrrr and want to know more about her story!

Overall this book world was AWESOME and I can’t wait to continue this series.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author. I have reviewed honestly.

This book had imaginative and creative qualities that made it magical in its own way. Unfortunately, the writing style just didn't work for me, so I did struggle a bit to get through it. Awesome idea, just not presented to my likings.

In "Unwritten" by Alicia J. Novo, Beatrix takes a leap of faith in the hopes of finding her mom, only to discover how high the stakes really are.

When Beatrix chooses to leave Earth behind on the possibility of reuniting with her mother, she doesn’t expect to find herself at the centre of an age old divide that threatens Zweeshen with another civil war.

Novo builds a world where characters live beyond their stories. While this magical world contains as many destinations as there are books, most of the action takes place in a heavily bureaucratic city. Zweeshen was not what I expected. Instead of a world where Beatrix magically fits in, she is an outsider again where most openly dislike or even hate her. Alicia J. Novo delves into the consequences of this xenophobia without holding back. Beatrix faces hatred, multiple attacks, and a government that’s out to get her from day one. This has a profound impact on the story and added complexity to it.

Beatrix is an interesting character. Having grown up in an emotionally abusive home and having been bullied at school, she’s guarded but yearns for acceptance. Novo strikes a delicate balance between the two, making Beatrix a complex and realistic teenager. As for her character arc, I thought that was one of the book’s strongest aspects. The connections she makes on Zweeshen allow her to grow and reflect on her past, as well as see a future for herself.

However, the romantic relationship was underdeveloped. One minute Beatrix dislikes her romantic interest to the point where she doesn’t even want to be in the same room with him, then, within a few chapters she’s falling head over heels for him. Meanwhile, his motivation for staying away crumbles just as quickly despite the danger hanging over their heads. I felt this took away from Beatrix’s character arc, which I otherwise enjoyed.

Another aspect of "Unwritten" that I didn’t like was how flowery the writing was. Novo embellishes her writing to the point where I was tempted to skim through whole passages. While she paints vivid descriptions that do bring the world to life, she also adds unnecessary descriptors for more mundane actions. This didn’t make the text hard to get through, but it did make some parts feel like they dragged on unnecessarily.

This also has to do with the pacing of the book. While the plot was fun and I enjoyed the various twists, I found the pacing to be uneven. Many chapters end in a cliffhanger and the next starts after a time jump with Beatrix going back to explain what happened during the two. I liked that structure at first, yet the novelty quickly wore off the more it was used. More than once I went back to make sure I hadn’t missed anything only to have Beatrix explain the transition later.

Overall I enjoyed the story of "Unwritten" by Alicia J. Novo, but found the execution to be lacking. Novo’s strength lies in her characters rather than other aspects of the book and I hope to see that developed more in the sequel.

This is one of those books that just didn't suck me in and make me love it even with so much promise. Maybe I am just in a funk and will try again another time but oh, now is not that time for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an eARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to go through with this. I might come back someday.

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.