3.5 stars

”There’s no belonging, Beatrix. There is only creating your own world and inviting others in. You invent your homeland. Remember that. You only belong to the words.”

Unwritten has amazing world building. I mean, it’s a world where all our fictional characters live. I’m almost sure that our main character, Beatrix met Elizabeth and Jane Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

The characters are wonderfully created, each of them having a unique and distinct personality. Except the love interest, because he just felt like a rip off of Will Herondale. His name is literally Will, what do you expect?

My favourite thing about this book was definitely the Zweeshen. I would honestly love to live in a world with all my favourite characters. But that’s not the case here. Beatrix is an unwritten. She doesn’t belong to any story. So she’s deemed as an outcast. But there’s a threat looming over the Zweeshen. And she does everything she can to protect it.

That’s what I loved about Beatrix. She did everything in her power to restore order to the very world that didn’t want her. Everyone hated her. But she still saved them. And I loved that. It was about time she taught them all a lesson.

The ending did feel a bit rushed. Everything happened in just a few lines and I couldn’t really make sense of it at first. It also ended rather abruptly.

Emma was definitely my favourite character. She’s so outgoing and is always up for an adventure. She’s trying to find her own story and joins Beatrix so she can feel it for herself.

The romance was supposed to be an enemies-to-lovers but I don’t think we got enough of the enemies part. It was just Beatrix completely hating Will for a few chapters till her thoughts changed. I don’t think Will ever hated her though.

Overall, the plot and world building was spectacular, though I think it was in the characters and their development where the story lacked.

”’home’ doesn’t have to be where you were born. You can create yours wherever you choose.”

Beatrix is taken to a land of books, where each person is actually a character from a story. Unfortunately one character is taking books and burning them, therefore destroying the worlds written inside. Along with trying to prevent this, Beatrix has a complex riddle to solve, in a letter left by her mother.

This one took me a little while to get into, and even then I was still confused by some things. I felt as though some parts were rushed, and needed further explanation. I liked Emma, though she seemed so much older than her apparent age, but Beatrix got on my nerves at times. She just doesn't like to listen.

A decent read, but I am not yet sure if I will continue with the series.

My first thought when I fisrts started reading this book was wow this thing os gourgeous. And from then the book didn´t seize to amaze me. One of the best parts of it, in my opinion, is that it finally asnswered a question that represents every readers dream: What if you were the child of a fictional character?
Obviously, I enjoyed it a lot, not only by it´s beauty and amazing characters but by the story itself. This totally will definetely be in my shelf. Loved it very much.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing this eArc! This book is BREATHTAKING. An absolutely fantastic world and characters. Please read this book!!

Before I get started, I have to acknowledge how stunning the cover is. It's creative and beautiful and definitely made me want to give it a read even more after reading the synopsis.

But now for the real review:
This book is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. With stories like this, I often find myself wanting to skip ahead at certain parts, such as those containing world-building, slow-moving plots, and irritating characters (main or side), but that was not at all the case with this book.

Alicia J. Novo managed to write world-building in a way that was not only not entirely dull and boring, but also in a way that I found genuinely interesting. Learning about the Zweeshen was captivating rather than drawn-out.

The plot was not at all sluggish, yet it didn't move too quickly either—the perfect pace. It was easy to just sit down, read, and enjoy the ride into Beatrix's world (or worlds 😉). I'm glad I decided to dedicate an entire day to reading this book because I just could not put it down once I started it.

The characters were excellent, with each of them a beautiful and quirky addition to the story (you'll have to read to know what I mean by that). As I usually find with heroines, it was easy to get irritated with Beatrix. She has a quick temper and is impossibly stubborn, but it's also so in-character for her to be this way that I found it admirable, and it definitely added to the story. In fact, it would have been odd if she hadn't acted this way, so I actually enjoyed that.
The rest of the characters are brilliant. I won't say anything specific about them so as not to spoil anything for anyone who wants to have a read, but get ready to fall in love with these characters.

I can't wait for the next book in this series, and to see what comes of Beatrix and her friends.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. It was one that I truly enjoyed!

First, I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book thinking it was YA, but I would probably classify it between YA and middle grade. It definitely read much younger than I was anticipating. However, it was still really cute. I think I would have loved this book in middle school. This book follows Beatrix, who can communicate with books. She finds out she is actually an unwritten character from a book and is trying to find her mother in her story.

The characters were predictable and were hide to differentiate. They didn't seem really unique. However, the plot was very fun. I felt lost at times, but never so much so that I wasn't enjoying the story. I won't be continuing the series because it is an age range that I'm not interested in, but I would recommend this to a younger audience.

First and foremost, the cover is enough to draw in any reader as it is simply gorgeous. Despite the idea that you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, this one is an exception as the cover creates a magical image. The pen’s image on the cover gives an illustration of possibility and potential and the theme carried in the actual novel. Unwritten is the first novel in the Zweeshen Chronicles series. This is, at its core, a book about books, so your imagination essentially begins to run wild at all the possibilities before you even start reading the first page.

Beatrix is a seemingly average teenager that is dealing with the recent death of her grandfather. She does not get along with her father and her mother passed away when she was seven. She feels alone in the world as she does not have any friends at school and the only escape she has is with her books. Magic is in her blood and she has a special relationship with these books as she discovers secrets about who she is. Through a series of events, she is transported to the world of Zweeshen, the land of books. Honestly, I am all for this place being real and for me to taken there immediately, even with any potential obstacles. She is unsure about who to trust and how she supposed to accomplish her tasks. She is determined to figure out the riddle left on her mother’s letter and to find out more about who she is.

Beatrix was a character that I found myself going back and forth on as she was a teenager that acted like a more stereotypical teenager. She is 16-years-old and makes a lot of questionable decisions and has many moments of immaturity. Although I found myself annoyed at her in many places, it was difficult to fully fault a teenager for acting like a teenager. Essentially, imagine a teenager that thinks they know everything while actually knowing almost nothing and you’ll understand part of her character. Beatrix and William, the one tasked with keeping her safe, are love interests in this story. Unfortunately, I did not find myself invested as I feel like it came out of nowhere in a way. As with most novels, it is more apparent that these two would get together, but the way it happens is just not quite there to make me care about the two of them together. I feel that the two of them needed more time to build their friendship and then transition to the romance as it felt a little too sudden. I did like them together, but I just wish there was more build up before it actually happened.

The world-building in this story is immense as every genre of novel imaginable comes together in one setting. There are familiar characters from a variety of stories that all make an appearance to take part in Beatrix’s story. The pacing was very slow for me and I found myself putting it down a few times. The beginning is meant to be a little slower as the reader is introduced to Beatrix and her life. When we get to the Zweeshen, it still took a bit for me to get into it as there was a lot of information to keep track of as the world is not only introduced to the read, but it was introduced to Beatrix. Once the actual quest begins and we follow Beatrix on her journey, I found myself captivated and I ended up reading the rest in a single sitting.

The general premise is Beatrix trying to save the Zweeshen from a threat, so the story follows her on hero’s journey. However, there are additional twists and turns that add additional subplots creating a woven plot. At times it felt like too much was going on at once, so I wish there was a little more time for the reader to keep track of every piece. Everything leads to an ending that I did not predict and I cannot wait for the second in the series to read more. The ending is difficult to describe, even to myself, as I am not 100% I understood everything. It is difficult to tell if it is just how I read everything or if it was an intentional decision by the author. Overall, this is a story with great potential and I am very curious to see where the author will take the series next.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the author, Alicia Novo for this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

This book was good. It was a little hard to get into at first but it was sooooo good later on. I can't wait until the next book drops.

I thought that Unwritten was an interesting premise, and whilst I did enjoy parts of it, I wasn't really all that sold on the book as a whole. I didn't understand the magic system, and I felt like it was all meandering in terms of the adventure side of things.

I also didn't really connect with Beatrix which didn't help my enjoyment of the story. I do think there is potential there, but it wasn't enough to keep me holding on for more, and I don't think I'd pick up the sequel.

5/5 stars

I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Beatrix has always longed to belong. Her home is not one she feels welcome in and school is a nightmare. To make matters worse, a violent power resides within her--one she struggles to control. Thanks to her Grandfather, a spell kept her powers hidden, but it fails, leading others to find her. She's thrown into the Zweeshen, a world made up of every tale ever told. Struggling to come to terms with her identity as well as the fact that this is yet another place she doesn't belong, Beatrix clings to a letter left by her mother. However, a villain burning books is causing the death of worlds and is chasing Beatrix. With the help of William, a conjurer, and many other characters from various stories, she is left with a mission to save the Zweenshen from destruction.

I want to live in the Zweeshen. The concept of a place where fictional characters are real is like my dream come true! Not to mention the fabulous world-building that makes Zweeshen so unique--this a world that I would love to call home, minus the people who run the place.

I wasn't expecting to give this book 5 stars. The pacing was a bit rough, and I found it hard to get into the story initially. But the plot managed to suck me in after the first few chapters and I ended up really enjoying this read!

Other than the pacing, I liked most of the other things in this book! William and Emma are my two favorite characters! At times, I was more invested in their lives/stories than I was in the main one! The plot was interesting, and I was desperately rooting for the main characters by the end! I was also glad to see this was more-or-less an enemies-to-lovers romance. But, out of everything, the world-building was the best part of this book for me! I'm incredibly intrigued by this world and I will definitely be reading the sequel!

I would recommend this book to YA fantasy fans or to readers who would love a world comprised of fictional worlds and characters from stories!

Content: pretty clean! Some minor swearing, some violence/disturbing descriptions, some bullying

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 3.75 stars

As a reader, there is nothing that you want more than to live within the pages of your favorite world or even become a character of your own. And this is exactly what Unwritten does.

The world of Unwritten reads a lot like a classic fairytale, magical and sometimes a bit confusing. There were moments where the world building was a bit off for me, but it didn’t make the book overall unenjoyable. The world took me back to books that I’d read as a child and all of the dreams of living in fictional worlds that I’d had in elementary school when I found my escape in books (and still do, obviously).

The characters were fairly strong as well, having relationships that didn’t seem too unrealistic or off-putting while reading. Beatrix’s history was very well built and added so much to the story that put layers into the world that I hadn’t expected.

Overall, I recommend this book if you’re wishing to escape into a fictional world—since that’s exactly what the main character does in this story. If you love magic and fairytales, Unwritten has the atmosphere that those stories have (and even a few references to those stories, as well).

Unwritten was a magical escape to a world of stories where we follow a character to whom the books whisper to.

That said i did not particularly enjoy reading the book. My biggest issue was the structure of the plot in the sense its not the type of plots I personally like reading. It was more so an adventure that soon turned into meandering and that was the part that lost me as a reader. On top of this i simply did not like the banter with William or the entire character dynamics set within the book. The dialogues, especially felt boring and forced. And as with the main character, while i loved her at the beginning and felt the build up of a well defined character arc, the story simply did not deliver. There was no emotional impact with the built up finale that the entire book seemed to have been leading towards, simply for the fact that it was not something we saw the character care about. Yes we’re TOLD the character cares about it and how much it HAD impacted her, but in the present timeline, it felt a weak straw to grasp to balance an entire story arc on. The fact that this was an immensely overdone trope, the kid who lost a parent on a journey to find them, yep, you can pretty much guess how the rest of the story went based on that alone; because there no nuances. Ill also mention that the writing style was not one I particularly enjoyed reading, it felt boring paired up with the slow pacing and meandering.

Despite all this i would still have to acknowledge the world building. While its not unique or original, it was still well defined. Even though I personally did not care or enjoy it, I can see how people would enjoy meeting Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, Sherlock, and a certain red haired female character named CASSANDRA. On top of this, the descriptions i would say are written well!

All in all, this was not a book i enjoyed.

Note: i got an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Myth: 3.5/5

The premise of this book was so fun! It leans in hard to books about books in a delightful way. Imagine a city that can take you to any book world and characters from books are the inhabitants. This is really a book for readers, it’s a love story to reading and writing.

The story read a little young. It seems categorized as YA, but the characters and plot are very early YA. Beatrix’s friends, especially Emma, read closer to middle school grade.

Magic: 3/5

As it’s a world of book worlds, magic abounds. There are all kinds of magic, though my favorite was Beatrix’s fury. I think this was setup to be an expansive story, so I expect we’ll see more of other character’s magics later, but I did have a little bit of a hard time with the Fantasy Magic distinctions.

Overall 3.5/5

A love letter to readers and writers. Unwritten introduces a huge world of worlds and I think we’ll just have to wait to see what we get to explore next.

Can we talk about this cover too? STUNNING. The perfect mix of university city and the magic of writing.

DNF at 17%

I really wanted to like Unwritten. I honestly feel bad about DNFing it. It has a great premise and a fabulous cover.

But I honestly struggled a lot with the little bit of the story that I did read.

Right away, we're shown Beatrix's magic/power. But it isn't really explained. It's almost as if in an attempt to avoid info-dumping. Novo swung to the other end of the spectrum and didn't give enough information. There were a number of points in the 17% that I read where I was confused about what was going on. The pacing felt off.

I also struggled to connect with Beatrix as a character. I loved her love of books, but other than that I didn't really connect to her.

While I feel bad about DNFing Unwritten, I, unfortunately, have a number of novels and manuscripts that I need to read and review at the moment, and don't have the time to press through a novel that I'm not engaging with. Maybe I'll come back to Unwritten in the future and try it again. But right now it didn't do anything for me.

2.5 stars
This story has young adult fantasy following Beatrix, who gets sucked into a world she never knew existed. where the stories she read all her life are actually real and she is one of them, Maybe? On her journey to finding her story, she feels like everything is against her on finding the truth. It reminded me of the show, Once upon a Time or the movie The Pagemaster from Disney, which are some of my favorite shows, where you literally become part of the book. The cover is amazing and I loved it. It was fun reading about famous characters that would pop up in this city of millions of stories and treated like celebrities. The story had a lot of interesting Ideas and concepts, however I wished there was more world building and explanation of this marvelous world that Beatrix has found herself in. There are a number of ideas, mysteries, objects, and the set up of the world were all great, but some of it I had no idea what was happening, they needed to be more flushed out for the reader, especially when this is a concept that I don't see a lot and can’t fill in blanks myself . I also think that there was so much that was trying to happen in the story ,that I really think that this book should have been made into a duologue. It seemed that we really just skimmed the surface, to get the basic idea of what was happening before the story jumped to the next dramatic scene, but in the end hurt the overall story . I think if it was more focused on one or two major plot point then other things like the development of the romance, world building and friendships would have been believable and better connected to characters. With so jumping around and also made it hard to remember characters, they were added so fast, but fleeting. Overall, this book was ok but the execution was just not there for me. I do think the potential is there and I love this idea of a world of stories.
Trigger warning: death, sickness
I received this advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion .

See this review and more at my blog, The Scribe Owl!

Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2/5 stars

I was completely prepared for this to be the best book I'd read all month, but unfortunately, it let me down. The premise sounded fantastic but the book just couldn't deliver.

I was really expecting to enjoy the book about books trope, but we just weren't clicking. I read a good amount of classics, but due to copyright and all that the author could only mention old books, most of which I hadn't read.

Our love interest was weird. First of all, he was literally Will Herondale but not as sweet. One, they're both named Will. Two, they both have that "oh no, anyone who loves me DIES" thing going on. I won't go into much detail in case you haven't read either book, but it's the exact same.

It wasn't that Unwritten was a terrible book. I wasn't that bad. But I don't think it's what I needed right now and it just didn't interest me.

I think I speak for all readers if I say that stories like this just speak to me. Readers ending up in books, books coming to life, literally, fictional characters ending up in our world and readers ending up in worlds where fictional characters are real. So, when I saw this book on Netgalley I didn't hesitate and knew right away that this was something for me. I was therefore quite looking forward to finally starting the book.

The book was not what I expected. I still think that the idea is good, the premise is good and I also think that the plot in general could work, but even though I tried, I really tried, I just couldn't get into it. If this had not been a review book, I might have not finished it and that doesn't happen often to me. Although I could totally see the potential in this book and what this book could be, I somehow never really felt it.

That's partly because the book feels chaotic. The pacing is chaotic. At times scenes are written down in full detail and then all of sudden scenes are skipped over as if they are not important. And the same goes for the world building. At times we get very lengthy explanations, about the politics, about the mythology, about the rules and concepts. And then something is mentioned in passing, without background.

And the same thing happened to the plot. I wasn't quite sure what the plot actually was, what the point was, where the book was going. There were moments I thought I knew, but then the book changed direction again and the ending felt unsatisfying. Last but not least, the characters never really felt alive. If you ask me about their personalities, I wouldn't really be able to describe them. Our heroine is stubborn, annoyingly so actually. Her hero is protective and secretive, but that's it. I didn't feel the chemistry, I didn't care about them and therefore the story didn't really matter to me.

I still think the concept and idea are nice, but the way everything was written just didn't work for me. But hopefully it will work for others!

This book was truly the perfect book for readers. The world-building was so innovative and the characters were complex, the story was captivating, and overall it was a fantastic read. Whenever Beatrix met a literary character, I totally geeked out alongside her. William was such an interesting character and I really enjoyed seeing their relationship progress. The other side characters were so much fun (especially Emma! Her character was utterly lovable) and they were all distinguishable from one another, which I really appreciated. I was definitely left with a few questions at the end, but I guess that means I'll just HAVE to read the sequel (which I am definitely not complaining about). I wish we'd gotten to learn a bit more about what exactly being an Unwritten entails, but Zweeshen had so many other mysteries and complexities within itself that I never felt bored. The idea of living in a world filled to the brim with stories is something I think every reader wants at least just a little bit, and Novo did such a good job of creating a purposefully imperfect yet enthralling world. The concept of the story was so unique and it was honestly just a really exciting world to spend a few hundred pages in.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. Netgalley requires me to rate books and I did not want to mark this as a DNF on Netgalley because I have many thoughts about this book. On my Goodreads review, I will remove the star rating.

I had to DNF this book after chapter 5. I believe this is the author's first book and unfortunately, it reads like one. Unwritten had great potential but the execution is abysmal. The characters are completely one-dimensional, especially the main character and her father. The magic is never clearly defined or explained. The author throws explanations at you but they don't stick and it just felt like I was reading bullet points in a rough draft. The action scenes moved way too fast and were confusing with characters popping up left and right out of nowhere. Plot devices were conveniently thrown at you. The "character test" that Beatrix had to perform before entering the book world made absolutely no sense.

I can see a lot of readers picking up this book due to its cover but this book is a perfect example of "don't trust a book by its cover". If you want a story about a girl who travels in a magical land within the pages of a book, please just go read Inkheart. Inkheart masterfully captured this storyline 18 years ago and it still holds up today.

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.

Now he’s hunting her down.

Joining forces with William, a cursed conjurer, Beatrix must face an enemy who knows her every weakness in a realm where witches play with time, Egyptian gods roam, and Regency heroines lead covert operations. And with her darkness as the only weapon, she may have to sacrifice everything to save a world that rejects her.