THE STORYBOOK OF LEGENDS BY SHANNON HALE

Genre: Middle Grade, “Fairy Tale Retelling”(ish)

Series: Ever After High by Shannon Hale

“I mean, without the antagonist, there would be no story! It’d be like: ‘Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to be loved, so she met a prince and got married and lived Happily Ever After, The End’? That’s not a story; that’s a bumper sticker.”
– Shannon Hale, Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends

Youtube: Ever After High 

Synopsis:
At Ever After High, an enchanting boarding school, the children of fairytale legends prepare themselves to fulfill their destinies as the next generation of Snow Whites, Prince Charmings and Evil Queens…whether they want to or not. Each year on Legacy Day, students sign the Storybook of Legends to seal their scripted fates. For generations, the Village of Book End has whispered that refusing to sign means The End-both for a story and for a life.
As the daughter of the Evil Queen, Raven Queen’s destiny is to follow in her mother’s wicked footsteps, but evil is so not Raven’s style. She’s starting to wonder, what if she rewrote her own story? The royal Apple White, daughter of the Fairest of Them All, has a happy ever after planned for herself, but it depends upon Raven feeding her a poison apple in their future.
What if Raven doesn’t sign the Storybook of Legends? It could mean a happily never after for them both.[Goodreads]

I first found this book by watching the webisodes that Autumn @ Kitty Cat Reads recommended me to watch.  These are absolutely adorable and are created by the same people that created Monster High! It is just too much cute to handle and I knew I just needed more story and I was completely satisfied with the first book in the series of Ever After High, The Storybook of Legends by Shannon Hale!

The stories of Ever After High revolves around the lives of fairy tale characters children. The main characters are Apple White, daughter of Snow White and Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen. The children of fairy tale characters head off the Ever After High to learn how to prepare to follow in the footsteps of their parents.

This was an absolutely adorable middle grade fantasy (fairy tale retelling) The characters were so dynamic and entertaining. All with their own quirks and similarities with their parents. The language used was fantastic and really gave a youthful vibe that fit perfectly in the world, which was absolutely hexellent! There was adventure and drama and some great messages about being yourself, accepting who you are and making your own decisions to follow your own path!

I was able to finish this in one day and just could not put it down. I got so engrossed in the world and fell absolutely in love with all the characters! It is a fast paced enjoyable read that had me laughing and wanting more. I immediately picked up the second book in the series because I just could not get enough of this world and characters!

Overall if you are looking for a fast, highly enjoyable and super adorable (and precious and cute all all other words that convey the deep love I had for this book! ) read that focuses on stories we are all familiar with from our childhood this is definitely a book for you. Also I highly recommend watching the webisodes because they are just perfect (and different from the book in ways that give you more stories and the background to more characters!)


I will stop now before my fangirling becomes too much!