Netgalley Book Review: Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School #1) by Jen Calonita

Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School #1) by Jen Calonita

Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

Pages: 256

Format: ebook

Source: Netgalley

Read: November 20th to 22nd, 2015

~Summary~

Would you send a villain to do a hero's job? An exciting new twisted fairy tale series from award-winning author Jen Calonita.

Full of regret, Cinderella's wicked stepmother, Flora, has founded the Fairy Tale Reform School with the mission of turning the wicked and criminally mischievous into upstanding members of Enchantasia.

Impish, sassy 12-year-old Gilly has a history of petty theft and she's not too sorry about it. When she lifts a hair clip, she gets tossed in reform school-for at least three months. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there's more to this school than its sweet mission. There's a battle brewing and she starts to wonder: can a villain really change?

       

~My Thoughts~

It actually took me a couple of chapters to get into it for some reason. I don't know why. In the beginning we see that Gilly steals things from royals so she can help provide for her family and thinks she's doing this for good reasons. But then she gets caught for the third time and gets sent to the reform school. At first she hates it and sees Flora up to no good- can the Evil Stepmother truly be good now? So she hopes to find something worth as blackmail to get out of there. Instead she stumbles upon something bigger and needs to be a hero her friends need.

Flunked is a light, fun, and charming story. I was breezing through it and sometimes I was even sitting on the edge of my seat. I absolutely love the school building! The inside is constantly changing, the halls are moving and I truly loved this element, I think this was my favorite part of the book! I also enjoyed the classes that she went to but I was hoping for more magical classes. The classes we saw were a bit boring but I understand why she needs those lessons. I was just expecting more.

Also, I felt like this story was moving fast. Like, she's there one day and the next she's completely comfortable there. That just seems odd. Maybe it was just because I was flowing through it so quickly. It is an easy read after all. Sometimes things were moving seriously fast that I didn't feel any connection to any of the characters. I feel like we learn only little bits of them, just things you can see with your eyes. And I understand why we didn't see much of Gilly's roomie, I saw that coming a mile away.

Overall, I enjoyed it though I think I was hoping for more magic. I don't know, there was magic but I thought maybe Gilly would be learning it and she does but we don't get to see it. Hopefully in the next book. And the little twist at the end was great but I felt like it was too easy for them to defeat the bad guy. But we do know they'll be back, so we'll see how things go down in the next one, Charmed.

*Was given a copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review*

Sweet Readings Everybody!