Cliffhanger!!! I'm so glad I'm immediately starting the next book because that ending!! Gahh!!!

And then poor Chaol! To be the one burdened/trusted with that knowledge... I'm dying to see how the story plays out in the next book.

I didn't know this followed the same people from the Sleeping Dragons series, and I'm excited about that!

I was extremely disappointed that the first and second chapters were the completely unedited short stories that focused on Apple and Raven. That annoyed me a bit, but at least it was only those two stories and not all six of them! The silly pop culture and technological references (Tailor Quick, One Reflection, MirrorPod, MirrorPhone, hext message) were quite amusing to me!

I do think that Apple is kind of catty and, considering she's supposed to be Snow White - all pure innocence and goodness and whatnot - it conflicts with her "planned" role. For example, her "dwarf lackeys" apparently have names like Frank and Phil, but she laughs at them, calls them silly, and then renames them to Snoozy, Snappy, Pouty, and Sloppy in spite of them obviously not liking those names. She also doesn't see anything wrong with people ignore the fact that in spite of Raven being a very nice individual, she is prejudged because of her mother and the role that has been pre-determined for her.

In spite of the expected shallowness, I was pleasantly surprised with the book. I was especially pleased with the tidbits of really good advice that were sprinkled in so subtly that the preteens reading this won't even realize that someone has given them advice. All in all, a book I would recommend to early middle-school children.

I love that the Mad Hatter has a daughter that's as crazy as he is! I also like that, even though she's not listed in the title, this drabble is as much about Clara Lear as it is about Madeline Hatter. I'm assuming that she's the daughter of King Lear from the Shakespeare tragedy and not some other King Lear that I don't know about...

"At the grand Legacy Day ceremony that fall, Briar would sign the Storybook of Legends and magically bind herself to be the next Sleeping Beauty." The six free drabbles (of which this is the third) all focus on a character entering their second year at a fairy tale high school and taking over their parent's fairy tale, somehow. I'm not sure how it's supposed to work, but I'm definitely intrigued.

I find it amusing that, in spite of all the princes available from the fairy tales, the only drabble featuring a male is about the son of the Hunstman from "Snow White" and "Little Red Riding Hood." I also legitimately laughed so hard it hurt when I read this: "... they enacted the Hunstman-To-the-Rescue Move. With shoulders back, chests out, they tore off their shirts, showing that nothing - not even a shirt - could get between them and Saving the Day." Yes, in order to "save the day" a Huntsman must be shirtless. Awesomely hilarious! Oh, and he is vegetarian and regularly sabotages his dad's hunting traps.

I find it amusing that Cinderella's daughter is obsessed with shoes, but what else can you expect when her own fairy tale hinges on a glass slipper, right? Outside of her shoes, Ashlynn doesn't care what she wears - which is a good thing since, if she's late, her clothes "sizzle into rags" whenever she's late. Shallow, yes, but still intrigued in the overall story. (I'm just hoping that she's not preachy about being a vegan in the books because that would be annoying.)

I could not stop reading this!!! One of my favorite quotes from the book:

Anti-choice protesters are a human comment section. Don’t waste your light.

This book was powerful. These are stories from people who have had an abortion, in their own words, and also interviews with people who work to provide abortions too those who need them. I was already vocal about being pro-choice before this book, but now I'm amped up!! Knowing that if I were to ever end up pregnant I would get an abortion, I feel more at ease knowing just how many people have my back even outside of my own support circle.

I love the setup for the next parts of the story. And I love the new characters we meet here.

Okay, this monstrosity was clever. Yeah. But it's also filled with body-shaming and just some unpleasant stuff.

Spoiler

I was really hoping it would end with something like:

My beaver is fine just the way it looks,
If you don't like it, I'll smack you with my books!

Instead it was highly predictable in that she had it "groomed" and suddenly everyone is happy with it.