Blog Tour: Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School by Jen Calonita

Hi everyone! I'm super excited to be part of the blog tour for Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School by Jen Calonita. I have a MAJOR weakness for anything to do with fairy tales, and this book caught my eye right away with its synopsis and super cute cover. Below, you'll find information about the book and author as well as my review for the book and a giveaway. Enjoy!

Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School

By Jen Calonita

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

March 3, 2014

Advance Praise for Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School

“Charming fairy-tale fun.” –Sarah Mlynowski, author of the Whatever After series.

“Flunked is spellbinding and wickedly clever. Gilly is smart, spunky, and a hilarious narrator!” –Leslie Margolis, author of the Annabelle Unleashed and the Maggie Brooklyn mysteries.

“Flunked is a fresh and funny take on the enchanted world. (And who hasn’t always wanted to know what happened to Cinderella’s stepmother?”)”  -Julie DeVillers, author of the Trading Faces identical twin series and Emma Emmets, Playground Matchmaker.

“A reform school where all the teachers are former villains.  Kinda writes itself, right?” -Betsy Bird’s Librarian Preview

Book Info:

OUR MISSION:

To turn WICKED DELINQUENTS

and FORMER VILLAINS

into FUTURE HEROES

Gilly wouldn’t call herself wicked exactly…but when you have five little brothers and sisters and live in a run- down boot, you have to get creative to make ends meet. Gilly’s a pretty good thief (if she does say so herself).

Until she gets caught.

Gilly’s sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School- where all of the teachers are former (super-scary) villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother. Harsh. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there’s more to this school than its heroic mission. There’s a battle brewing and Gilly has to wonder: can a villain really change?

Amazon | B&N | BAM |!ndigo | IndieBound

Jen Calonita is the author of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series and other books like Sleepaway Girls and Summer State of Mind, but Fairy Tale Reform School is her first middle grade series. She rules Long Island, New York with husband Mike, princes Tyler and Dylan, and Chihuahua Captain Jack Sparrow, but the only castle she’d ever want to live in is Cinderella’s at Disney World. She’d love for you to drop her a line at jencalonitaonline.com or keep the fairy tale going at http://books.sourcebooks.com/enchantasia/

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Excerpt from Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School-

There’s a boy up there, standing on the crystal chandelier! He has slightly curly blond hair and is wearing a uniform—­a navy sweater vest over a white shirt with khaki pants—­but his boots are muddy. He’s stepping on priceless crystals with cruddy boots? Is he insane?

“Jax! What are you doing up there?” Kayla whispers heatedly.

“I’m cleaning the crystal for Flora,” Jax says and rolls his eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making

a break for it.”

Kayla applauds. “Yay! This time I know you can do it.”

I shade my eyes from the light bursting through the stained-­glass window next to the chandelier Jax is perched on. “Busting out? Why?” I ask Kayla. “I thought you said this place was cool.”

Jax laughs loudly and looks at me. I feel slightly stunned. I’ve never seen violet eyes before. “FTRS was fun for a while, but strange things have started happening and I don’t want to be here when something bad goes down.”

Strange things? What kind of strange things? Why does Kayla suddenly look pale?

“He’s exaggerating,” Kayla tells me, but she doesn’t sound convincing.

Drip. Whatever Jax is holding is leaking. Kayla and I move out of the way so we don’t get wet. “Grease,” Jax explains to me. “It lubes the window.” He swings the chandelier, and as it nears the window, he uses a fork to try to pry the window open. “A few more tries and I’ll have it.”

“Then what are you going to do, genius?” I ask. “You’re two stories up.”

Jax’s eyes gleam. “I’ve jumped from higher spots before.”

“It’s true,” Kayla says to me. “Jax once jumped from the gym to the dining hall turret. That was three stories up. We call him the Escape Artist. One time he even managed to break into Azalea and Dahlia’s rooms and borrowed their keys to the indoor pool so the whole dorm could take a midnight swim.”

“Impressive,” I tell him. “And I thought I was good at tricking obnoxious royals.”

“She stole a dragon’s tooth clip from one this morning,” Kayla fills him in.

“Nice,” Jax says. “Your first pull?”

“No, I’ve been doing it for a while,” I brag.

“Me too,” Jax says. “My father is a farmer. You can only get so far trading vegetables. I needed to kick things up a notch.”

For some reason, I don’t think any of us are going to make the transformation Headmistress Flora is looking for. “Why do you want to break out so bad?”

“I’ve got places to see, and Enchantasia isn’t one of them.” Jax swings the chandelier so hard the crystals clang together. The window latch pops open, and I watch Jax leap from the chandelier to the tiny window ledge. I’m in awe. Jax looks down at us smugly before pushing open the window. “Are you sure you two don’t want to join me?”

“There’s no time for us,” Kayla says. “Get out of here. Wait!” Her eyes widen. “You deactivated the alarm on the window, right?”

“There isn’t one,” Jax insists. “If there was, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” But when Jax lifts the window, we hear:

EEEEEE! EEEE! EEEE! Unauthorized exit! Unauthorized exit!

The shrieking sound is so intense that Kayla and I cover our ears. Within seconds, Flora is out of her office and running toward us.

Swoosh!

I feel something brush past me and I whirl around. When I look up at Jax again, a large, muscular man with a long mane of hair is hanging on to the window ledge, his furry hands pulling Jax back by his shirt. How did the man get up there without a ladder?

“Mr. Jax,” the man says in a low growl, “we really must stop meeting like this.”

Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz Link: Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz

If you get sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School, it will help to have an ally. Take the quiz and find out who your mentor would be.

Review: 

Short and Sweet:

I really enjoyed this edgy and fun fairy tale adventure!

To Elaborate...

Gilly, daughter of a shoemaker's family, toes the line of good and bad. She doesn't steal to be cruel; she does it because her family is starving, and they need the money. After one two many times of getting caught, Gilly is sent to the Fairy Tale Reform School, a place where everyone can learn to be good again and stop venturing the path of villianhood. At first, Gilly is ready to plan an escape route home, but after meeting a few friends and finding evidence that suggests something dangerous is coming, Gilly just might find she's found a home.

Full of spunk, fairy tale puns, and lots of entertainment, I really enjoyed this book by Jen Calonita. Gilly is a great protagonist who has a lot of room to grow as a character. I love her journey from the beginning to the end, especially the parts about her far from perfect relationship with her family. It feels real even in the middle of all the fun fantasy.

The world building is probably my favorite part of the whole story. I love the details of the professors' backgrounds and all the unique friends that Gilly makes. There are a few times where there seems to be too many characters to keep up with, but the author does a good job of reminding the reader who is who.

The ending left me hoping for a sequel. I really enjoyed getting to know Gilly and her friends, and I hope to see more adventures from them! I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good middle grade that blends the feel of Shrek, Ever After High, and plenty of originality into its storyline.

4 Hearts!

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