Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed the first book in this series so was thrilled to get an opportunity to read "A Mirror Mended". I read a lot and so I place a high value on finding well written and fun novellas to mix in my readings. I am happy to say that I liked this book even more than the first in the series "A Spindle Splintered". This book finds our terminally ill heroine Zinnia still fixing fairy tales and setting the multi-verse to rights while maybe actually causing some damage to it. For the first time ever she finds herself thrown outside a Sleeping Beauty story and into a Snow White universe. This includes meeting an evil queen who has her own tale to tell. I don't want to give too much away especially for such a short novella. But there was a unique storyline and visits to some of our favorite characters from the first book. Additionally there is a even a bit of romance. These books are fun LGBTQ+ friendly fairy tale re-tellings and just the perfect mix of friendship, romance and all things fairytale. I thought this was supposed to be a duology but I'd love to see more in this series.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I swear, little fantasy novellas always hit the spot! A Mirror Mended is a fractured, sapphic Snow White retelling. Except this time Zinnia, our professional fairytale fixer is working with the evil queen to save her from her own fate all the while Zinnia is simultaneously trying to prevent the ending to her own story.

I loved A Mirror Mended even more than the first installment of this series, A Spindle Splintered. Zinnia Gray is a fun heroine to read about. She's snarky, hilarious, and self-deprecating. All qualities I love in a main character. I enjoyed how Harrow incorporated how gender politics weave themselves into fairytales. For example, how older women are often portrayed as the villains.

The audiobook narrator, Amy Landon did an excellent job bringing the snarky and hilarious Zinnia
gray to life. I am eagerly awaiting book 3 in the Fractured Fables novellas!

A Mirror Mended is a very innovative and sarcastic take on fairy tale tropes. I loved Zinnia's sarcasm and feminist takes on fairy tale themes. The retelling and time-jumping was really unique that I haven't seen in other books. I don't think you need to read #1 in this series to get this one. I also appreciated the queer inclusion. I am certainly. going to seek out more of Alix Harrow's writings when I want something fantasy, entertaining, and smart.

The narrator was great! good pacing, kept the sarcasm in the voice.

i liked this book less than the previous. it was a weak sequel that barely included the characters that made the first book worth reading in the first place.

Narration: 5 Stars
Story: 4 Stars

"A Mirror Mended" was easily one of my most anticipated releases of the year - I absolutely loved "A Spindle Splintered" & couldn't wait to see how the story continued, & while I did really enjoy this, I definitely have a few thoughts.

It's really, really rare for me to get spoilery in my reviews, but there's no way I can write this without talking about what worked & didn't work for me plot-wise. I'll start with what didn't work for me to end this on a more positive note. It really caught me off guard that five years had gone by between this & Spindle, it started off feeling like there was something missing & I wish we would've gotten to see more of her adventures with the other Sleeping Beauties. & the ending just wasn't all that satisfying - for something that was meant to conclude a duology, it didn't feel like an ending, I was left wanting so much more, especially for her & Eva. I didn't feel like we got any answers about Zinnia's condition & the whole apple bit was just a little too on the nose for me; but, on a more positive note, Eva was the true standout of the entire story. I loved her so, so much, I really understood & empathized with her & was glad we got to see another side of a character so traditionally villainized. Having the two of them encounter an evil Snow White was just icing on the cake, I would've liked to see them in that world a little more. & I just loved the audiobook narrator, she did such an amazing job of voicing all the different characters & gave the story that extra touch of magic I was looking for.

All in all, I'd recommend this series, even if I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way it ended - Spindle was incredible, & it was just so much fun to read a sapphic spin on some beloved fairytales. These would be perfect for Pride month if any of ya'll are looking for some fantasy recs! & thank you so much Alix E. Harrow, NetGalley, & Macmillan Audio for providing an ALC in exchange for a honest review!

This is exactly what I needed right now - what a whirlwind of thoughts. My main takeaway:

Life isn’t always a fairy tale.

They say that there are always two sides to a story, but for many, the fairy tale should have a definite good protagonist/hero vs. a villain. What Alix E. Harrow has done within this series is taken yet another turn in the realm of fantasy.

Time and who tells the story can change the intricacies of the narrative, but how many versions could you/would you want to live through? This tale is shorter so that things are quick/flow easily, but still allow you to picture the story in your mind. For the first in this series, I read a physical copy, but for this addition to the series I listened to it, which took this to a different level for me as it brought in different tone and added more emotion.

I have gotten very much into retellings of stories/fairy tales/mythology from other perspectives, and this walks that line of retelling and new fantasy concept. I think it leaves it quite open to other worlds out there in addition to the ones you’re served in the book. I like the idea that it’s almost interactive with the readers perception to add to the background stories. There are endless possibilities with a multi-verse of interconnecting fairy tales.

Getting the villains story is also a fun take. No one starts as complete evil, but turn towards dark roads based on how they’re raised, who they can trust, inner turmoil, etc. This side of things opens up for a more complex character.

Without giving any spoilers, let’s say this was a nice, short story that brought a little spark of fantasy to my otherwise normal day.

Thank you so much to the author, Alix E. Harrow, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the arc audiobook of A Mirror Mended!

I love this series! The first book was great and I loved this one just as much. I will always love and recommend books with a disabled main character plus this book is hella queer. I would definitely recommend reading this series!

Zinnia has been saving sleeping beauties throughout the fairytales multiverse and she's honestly bored of it. But something unexpected happens and she's thrown into a different tale, Snow White, by the evil queen who has read her story and has no intention of living that ending.
Zinnia is, as usual, very horny and hilarious. A tall evil gorgeous woman is keeping her prisoner and her evil heaving bosom is not helping Zinnia keep her mind out of dangerous naughty territory.
It was fast but not rushed, and very funny. I read it in one go because I wanted to see the ending but also because it was truly unputdownable.
I loved the narrator of the audiobook! She did an amazing job!

I love a good villain story. The villain getting to choose their own story? Even better. I loved A Spindled Splintered so it was a no brained to read A Mirror Mended. I love Zinnia’s sense of humor! Alix E. Harrow’s writing is phenomenal. It was the perfect mix of modern and fairytale. I can’t wait for more! The narrator did a good job as well. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this read in exchange for a review.

I liked this one, but felt it was lacking the spark of the first in the series. The narrator, who also narrated the first book, was great. Definitely recommend this series in audio. I did enjoy this book, but I just wasn't as engaged with the story as with the first one. There was less humor, and while I liked the message of this one and its emphasis on flawed and sometimes unlikeable characters, it dragged for me a bit. Plot wise this one just didn't work as well for me, maybe because the first one had a novelty this one lacked. I'd still recommend it as a quick fantasy listen, but I didn't love it as much as I did the first in the series.

Such a satisfying sequel that both reimagines the original characters’ plotlines and makes believable conflict to be resolved. Pop culture references do get a little too out of hand, but thats a personal preference. The length and topic is unique and bingeable. I hope this series woll come with many more installments of different folktales.

This was fun and quirky and not what I expected. I had thought it was a standalone until I started it, but I think you get enough context from the beginning to be able to hit the ground running. The concept is a multiversal story where the MC goes into different fairytale universes and saves the day. But this time she's supposed to help the villain. I listened to this audiobook in one take as I did errands, and I really liked the narrative voice and how the story played around with agency and expectations, especially in regards to storytelling and happy endings. I'll probably go back and read the first one when I am in the mood for a short novella.

7\10

Zinnia Gray has been crashing through the Sleeping Beauty multiverse saving princesses from their fates for five years now. She's getting a little tired of the same tale, but the thought of actually going back to the real world and dealing with her own life is not something she even wants to contemplate. Then there's the fact that she and her best friend Charm have not spoken to each other in months. So, Zinna continues saving the day for others.

After one such happily ever after, Zinnia looks in a mirror and notices an unfamiliar woman looking back at her. Suddenly Zinnia is transported through the mirror and into a version of Snow White, coming fact to face with the Evil Queen herself.

Narrator Amy Landon returns for Zinnia's second book. I've listened to Ms. Landon in a few other audiobooks and I enjoy her as a narrator. She does a great job of really making the characters come to life as is the case with Zinnia. There were a few spots that I had to go back a relisten to because the narration kind of became quick and jumbled, but I realized: "it's just Zinnia's character coming through". Sometimes overly descriptive and a little fast-paced, but I feel like Amy Landon really embodies the character of ZInnia and does a great job of distinguishing between all the other characters within the story.

The first installment in this series dealt a lot with fate and changing the hands we're dealt. I'd say that Mirror Mended follows along in the same vein, but goes even further with its commentary about good vs. evil. Is the villain always a villain? Or only when the protagonist is telling their side of the story? There are, after all, two sides to every story. I really like that Alix E. Harrow took such a classically villainous character like the Evil Queen (here known also as Eva) and gave her more, gave her a backstory which is something lacking in all the iterations of Snow White that I'm familiar with.

I'll admit I don't know as much about the Snow White story (beyond Disney) as I did about Sleeping Beauty. In that regard, I felt like I wasn't as connected with the story and how it unfolded as much as I was with the first book. I was surprised by the five-year narrative break between the stories as there is a lot that has obviously happened that needs to be reconciled. I just don't think we get that full reconciliation due to the fact that there's simply not enough space or time to expand upon that within the length of a novella.

Overall, though I think I enjoyed not being as familiar with the Snow White tale as it meant that every turn was unexpected, and ultimately, I enjoyed visiting another fairy-tale realm. I love the idea of people not being entirely who you think they are on the surface level. Eva was my favorite part of the story and that's honestly something I'd never thought I would say in regards to the Evil Queen.

There was a more definitive ending with A Mirror Mended than with the previous book which tells you directly that Zinnia's adventures will continue. I think there's still space open should Alix E. Harrow continue writing Zinnia's stories. There are certainly plenty of Fairy-Tales that need fixing.

I will start this off by saying I would buy and ready Alix E. Harrow's grocery list if she published it. She is an automatic buy author for me. When I found out that she was doing a fractured fairytale series I was beyond excited! The first installment, A Spindle Splintered, was a fantastic Sleeping Beauty retelling. This book we follow Zinnia Gray on her latest adventure into a familiar, or is it, fairytale with Snow White and it doesn't disappoint. While staying close to the tale's true theme, we experience it through a more modern eye with contemporary values. The only thing I disliked about this was a quote Zinnia uses that is straight from a TikTok sound. It removed me from the story and just felt forced. Overall I truly enjoyed this book and would recommend the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I liked book one so I was happy to read this one as well. It is almost as good as the first, but maybe a bit more "here's a random event" to push the story along. The emotional depth is a bit less than the first book, but there is the fight between Charm and Zinnia goes on for most of the book, but has a good resolution. Lots of aching looks and wlw flirting. but not in a coy way. There is a hilarious line in here (from a meme) and you will know exactly what I mean when you hear it!

A Mirror Mended is the tale of Zinna Gray, who is avoiding her own fate by trying to repair all of the versions of fairy tales for happier endings. She delves into all the versions of Snow White, while avoiding her own tale, Sleeping Beauty. Ultimately, she realizes that sometimes the hero of the story isn't always good, and the villain isn't always bad.

This is shorter length, maybe a novella?, LGBTQ+ fantasy and a follow up to A Spindle Splintered. The audio narration was good.

The narration for this was fabulous. Zinnia is so awesome. I loved the versions of Snow White thought the book. I am a huge fan of retellings. Eva was such a great character. I loved her. These are awesome feminist explorations of the fairytales. I cannot wait to read more from this author. I hope there will be more in this series.

A Mirror Mended was an excellent conclusion to the story started in A Spindle Splintered. This time our main character breaks out of her own Sleeping Beauty storyline and into the Snow White multiverse. I really enjoyed that the evil Queen is the other major player and gets a redemptive end. Overall, the character growth was lovely. I found the multiple universes a little more confusing this go around, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment. The audio narrator was also excellent and really brought the MC’s voice to life.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook of A Mirror Mended. Having read A Spindle Splintered last year, I was very excited to find out where Zinnia Gray's adventures had taken her next. I loved the narrator, Amy Landon, whose voice was perfectly whimsical for a fairy tale story. Unfortunately, she wasn't enough to carry the story for me. I really struggled to get into this sequel. and found myself working hard to figure out what was actually happening from chapter to chapter. Overall, I was bored and just waiting for the story to finish, almost stopping at 70%.

Zinnia Gray, 5 years after jumping into other fables, is still running away from her fate, but now she has landed herself into a different story arc than her own, and has met the evil queen who.... she maybe has some feelings for?

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. It is still well written, and I enjoyed the evil queen, but I didn't like another book of Zinnia just... running away, again. And yes, she has a romance with an evil queen, that I just didn't care about and didn't feel real. Her interest in Diego at the beginning felt more real, and I think he only had 1 speaking line, if that.

I wanted more from this book. It was okay, but it didn't live up to the Zinnia of the first book.

The narrator, on the other hand, was fantastic and I think really made this book for me, and kept me listening. Well done.

I did receive a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.