Whatever After: If the Shoe Fits: Changing the Fairy Tale with the...Crownie?

I was going to do a Cosmic review, but of course, being that i rushed out of my house on the way to the airport, I left it at home. I was bored, so today, in between sightseeing, I cracked it open and I read it. I was surprised at the result. The cover made it appear that a kid like me wouldn't be caught dead reading on of these 'girly' books, but they actually have a ton of humor and action.

Summary: "The Magic Mirror isn't working Jonah". Having spent three nights in Abby's basement knocking on the mirror which had sucked them into Snow White's fairy tale, Abby deemed that the mirror only worked once. Of course Jonah tries just one more time.  And the mirror works, sucking them into an alternate world. They land in the coat room of a fancy ball, where a "mysterious gorgeous princess" emerges. It's Cinderella. Concerned only about getting home, Abby and Jonah follow her to her home, only to find no escape magic mirror...and ruin yet another fairy tale. Cinderella, who'd lost her glass slipper at the ball, accidentally drops it on her other left foot, breaking the shoe and her foot. So all they need to do is wish up her Fairy Godmother to fix her foot, she marries the prince and everything is happily ever after right? Wrong. Her Fairy Godmother wants her to be "independent" and once she shows that she is she'll heal her. Long story short, after a bunch of failed attempts, the brownie is reinvented as a "crownie". Things get crazy after confrontations with her family and a not so evil sister?

What I liked: First of all, I want to mention this book isn't for girls. While to cover (which made even me slightly embarrassed when I read this in front of friends) makes the book appear "girly", it's actually filled with lots of action that every good novel should have. It's got everything the normal fairy tale Cinderella has with a bit of a twist, and Mlynowski takes you on an intense ride which is surprising considering the fact she's working with something so light and fun. Also, notice how I'm reviewing the second book before the first one? It's because these books are what I call a "Solo-Series" It's like the Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs; each book can stand alone and you won't have missed anything, but if you read the books like a series, everything makes more sense.

What I didn't like: Hmm this one is tough. The problem with me saying "the cover is too girly" is because that's the catered audience- young girls at the lower end of the spectrum. This is kind of like that one girl that is so good they can play on the boy's soccer team; it's such a good book that it can compete with the more popular novels at the higher end of the MG scale, yet it still satisfies the need that it's supposed to satisfy. I guess I'm not really being a critic here because seriously, this book is good. If I were really pessimistic, I would denote every tiny flaw, but nothing is wrong enough to destroy the fact it's a great book.

Rating on 'the scale': 8.5

Why? This book is amazing. Period. The only problem is as a 13 year old, it's a little to weak, and I crave more adventure and intenseness, but I'm sure as a 9 or 10 year old I would probably rate it as...

Rating on 'the scale' (if I were a 9 year old): 9.1

Why? (Ctd.) It's got a lot of adventure and it's based around such a sole concept (Redesigning Fairy Tales) that everyone can relate and enjoy the sly humor and adventures the main characters go through. It's an all around book.

Related: The Whatever After Series by Sarah Mlynowski (who by the way is a good friend of Stuart Gibbs, which gives her some serious swag)