Hello Blogging World!

Misty

Hi everyone, it’s Misty again. I don’t usually empathize or root for the villain but this book had me doing just that.

Jonny

And I’m Jonny. Mirror mirror, in my hand, I feel like the best Jonny in the land!

This buddy read and rant is for A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables #2) by Alix E. Harrow. 

Blurb:

A Mirror Mended is the next installment in USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s Fractured Fables series.

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty, is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can’t handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White’s Evil Queen has found out how her story ends, and she’s desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone. Will Zinnia accept the Queen’s poisonous request and save them both from the hot-iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?

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***Brief disclosure***

Jonny is an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate and earn a tiny commission for purchases made through the links in this post. It’s a great way to help him keep things running on his blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase. 

Buddy Read Book Rant:

Misty

Ok so how did you feel about this one? I surprisingly enjoyed it more than the first one.

Jonny

I loved it! The first book I gave a 4 star rating, but this was I gave all the stars. There was so much to love. I really enjoyed spending more time in the fantasy universe than in reality.

Misty

I have the first one 4 stars too. This one still wasn’t quite a 5 star for me but it’s close. I’m giving it 4.5 stars. I agree and I think that’s a big reason why I enjoyed this one more. We are mostly in the fantasy world and even the few times we are in the real world just flowed better in this one and made more sense.

Jonny

Ooo, we almost had a twinsies situation! Yeah, the fantasy world was great and there was a lot more worldbuilding. We got to see all these differentiations on fairytales and each one felt really vibrant. It really had me on the edge of my seat. And when we did have to return to reality (boo!) you’re right on the money. It made sense and there was purpose behind it.

Misty

Yes I loved getting to see all of that even if it was just a glimpse at times. And the different takes on all the fairytales was so fun to see. I’m only familiar with the Disney versions so reading these is kind of like a learning experience for me. I love how the author is flipping the stories on their head and making us see all the different sides and possibilities etc.

Jonny

Yeah, it was really entertaining. There were more classic versions and more creepy versions and a part of me felt like a little kid wanting her to keep hopping from tale to tale. Oh, me too! I’m not familiar with a lot of fairytale origins, but you could tell the author really did their homework and didn’t make it too confusing for us. There were definitely some moments of genius in this book for sure.

Misty

Im not familiar with a lot of them either but this is an easy non complicated way of learning about some of them. After what we learned in this one I’m curious what’s going to happen in the next book.

Jonny

Oh totally. I appreciate the explanations of the different styles she was referring to. Me too, I need more! I’m seeing some conflicting information on the internet. I’m not sure where I originally saw the hint at a third book, but the novellas were packaged together back in 2024 and I’m not seeing anything else, so the series may be over. It’s super sad because I really am super hooked on this.

Misty

If this is the end I feel like it’s a good ending however I would totally read another book if there ever is one. There’s only one thing that I have questions about and that’s involving the apple in the end. Other than that I think this is a very fitting ending. I’ll have to look and see if I can find any time information about a 3rd book.

Jonny

Yeah, I think the story did have a good end, but I think the apple at the end leaves it open to another book in the future. Oh, I meant to ask! How did you feel about the “evil queen” known as Eva?

Misty

Ok I just found the authors Instagram page and scrolled back until I found something about these and it looks like it’s just a duology.

Normally I’m not a villains girlie but I actually liked this one. I loved seeing her growth and learning her story. It definitely makes you think differently about stories and villains in general. At least somewhat.

Jonny

*sobs* Por que?! 🙁 Okay, I will have to fanboy out about their other books. Yeah, I’m kinda picky about my villains, and Eva fit the bill of what I prefer. Smart and dangerous, but complex in a way that just made you love her more with each passing chapter. Right. Every story has two sides, and sometimes a story only looks at one side where there’s depth on the other side we might not know about.

Misty

Like you said though she ended this one in a way to potentially have more books at some point. Exactly and this shows you that not everyone is inherently evil. Don’t get me wrong there are truly some evil people out there but sometimes we just need to see both sides of the story and we don’t typically give the villains the time of day.

Jonny

Right, that’s what I’ll hope for. Crossing my fingers! Yeah, it’s easy to misunderstand the other side of a story if the villain doesn’t get the time of day. I just love how this one flipped the stories on their heads. Gosh, I’m so glad we gave these a chance.

Misty

So true!! I’m glad we did too. I’ve had the first book on my TBR for a while. Glad we decided to binge them this month.

Jonny

Absolutely! Thanks for helping me continue to broaden my horizons. Sometimes it is just so rewarding and this is a perfect example of that.

Misty

You’re very welcome!! Glad to help!! I love reading outside of my comfort zone. I’ve found some of my favorite books that way.

Jonny

Aw, thanks bestie! Fingers crossed we can find another stellar read soon. Looking forward to next time. 🙂

Misty

I hope our next one is just as good if not better. Thanks as always for buddy reading with me. It’s always fun.

That’s A Wrap!

Thanks for joining us on our buddy read and rant of A Mirror Mended! We had a lot of fun, and hope you did too! We will definitely be doing some more buddy reads in the future, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, why not check out Misty and Jonny’s other fun buddy reads?

Buddy Read: A Spindle Splintered

Buddy Read: Monster Blood For Breakfast!

Buddy Read: Creep from the Deep

Buddy Read: Revenge of the Living Dummy

Buddy Read: Shadow War

Buddy Read: Shadow Flames

Buddy Read: Shadow Pawn

Buddy Read: Shadow Walker

Buddy Read: Slewfoot

Buddy Read: Cemetery Boys

Buddy Read: Ravensong

Buddy Read: Wolfsong

Buddy Read: Magic Bites

Buddy Read: The First to Die at the End

Buddy Read: They Both Die at the End

Buddy Read: Under the Whispering Door

Buddy Read: The Burning World

Buddy Read: Warm Bodies

Buddy Read: The Wicked Deep

Buddy Read: The Locke & Key Series

Buddy Read: Dark Lover

Buddy Read: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain

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