Just Dance

Whatever After #15

by Sarah Mlynowski

Here is the fifteenth magical installment of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling series of fractured fairy tales for fearless kids!

Put on your dancing shoes!

Believe it or not, there's a fairy named Maryrose LIVING in my house. And she's sending me and my brother, Jonah, through the magic mirror and into the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. There, we meet the twelve sisters who sneak out every night to go dancing. But Jonah and I have our own mission. It's up to us to find the enchanted object that will give Maryrose her fairy powers back.

So now we need to:
-Get our hands on an invisibility cloak
-Follow the twelve princesses to their secret hideout.
-Learn some VERY complicated dance steps.
-And avoid being thrown in the dungeon.

We better wiggle our way out of this magical mess or we'll never help our fairy friend in time!

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Audiobook, Childrens, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Fairy Tale Retellings

176 pages, Hardcover

Published June 28, 2022

About the author

Sarah was born in Montreal, Canada. After graduating with an honors degree in English literature from McGill University, she moved to Toronto to work for Harlequin Enterprises. While she never met Fabio, she used her romance publishing experiences to fuel her first novel Milkrun.

Since then, Sarah has written four additional novels for adults: Fishbowl, As Seen on TV, Monkey Business, and Me vs. Me; the New York Times bestselling middle grade series Whatever After; the middle grade series Upside-Down Magic (with Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins); and the teen novels Bras & Broomsticks, Frogs & French Kisses, Spells & Sleeping Bags, and Parties & Potions (all in the Magic in Manhattan series), as well as Gimme a Call, Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have), Don't Even Think About It, Think Twice, and I See London, I See France. Along with Lauren Myracle and E. Lockhart, Sarah also wrote How to Be Bad, and along with Farrin Jacobs, she wrote See Jane Write, a guide to writing. Sarah also co-edited two bestselling charity collections (Girls' Night In and Girls' Night Out), and has contributed to various anthologies (American Girls About Town, Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday, 21 Proms, First Kiss (Then Tell), Fireworks, and Vacations from Hell).

Sarah is also a co-founder of OMG BookFest, a celebration of books aimed at the early to middle grade reader (ages 7-12) that brings together commercial and award-winning authors with underserved local communities for an exciting experience of books, games and activities.

Sarah's books have been translated into twenty-nine languages and optioned to Hollywood. She now lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

[amelia ⪩⪨ ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

am I too old for this series? absolutely.
am I going to stop reading this series after years and years. absolutely not.

[B.D · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟
A good, fast read. I was in a bit of a slump and reading this really helped me get out of it. This series was one of my favourites when I was younger and now I remember why. There were a few lines that were for a younger audience and were a little cheesy and it is a book for 8-11 year olds but I still really enjoyed the story and characters.

[Noelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, not the best.

I won't really go into detail here since this is just a kid's series, but the book was kind of boring and nothing really happened.

[Em]

I just read this because I used to read all of these books repeatedly when I was in elementary school, so when I found out about one that I hadn’t read, I decided, why not?
I don’t want to give a star rating to a children’s book, but I will say that the Whatever After series was a joy of mine and I used to love reading all of them, and even now I found this book to be short and sweet, and good for nostalgia’s sake.

[Clarissa Bush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out today!!

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely very funny it definitely cast a magic spell over me it was like binge-watching my favourite Netflix show; I couldn’t put it down I’m a person who likes to “push it aside” if it’s not appealing, but this book was I loved the ending about staying true to you I hope Best Wishes is just as promising as this one can’t wait to see what wizard Sarah will fix up next!

[~Bellegirl91~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh yes yes YES!! After this ending it sounds like for sure Sarah Mlynowski is going to write hopefully a few more of these! Or at least another one and now that I'm caught up with this series, I'm excited to see which story she sends Abby and Jonah in next or if she'll do another Special Edition with Abby's friends perhaps. Either way, I'd love to see more now and now knowing about the evil fairy Gluck from the two special editions and his role in the Maryrose story, it's time his story ends as well alongside Maryrose which sounds like isn't over yet. And as usual, this was better than the last book and cuter and so much fun! Now that I'm officially caught up since this came out just two days ago, I'm hoping to one day not only get this entire series for my future kids, but for my cute 5 month old niece who made me an aunt for the first time back in January and I'm hoping to one day read these to her! *heart eyes*

And also last note: for any mom who's looking for good, fun, clean stories for their kids, these are it and perfect even for little boys who will totally relate to Jonah and vice versa with girls and Abby. These are seriously so much fun and I'm absolutely loving them! Seriously the cutest books ever!

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite fairytales!

I was excited when I realize this was based on the Twelve Dancing Princesses, it is one of my favorites!
Jonah and Abby have to get a ruby for Maryrose, and so they decide to help the prince solve the mystery of where the twelve princesses go every night. That way, they get the ruby and save the prince from a death sentence!
But in the story, it is a soldier who wins the contest, so that adds snag so their plans towards the end.
In this version, there is a reason the princesses have to sneak around to dance and its facinating to see all the twists the author incorporates, really enjoyed it 😊

[Rissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright, we are cruising right along in this series! I have enjoyed:

1. Abby and Jonah are still such an amazing sibling duo that I love following for every single book! I also enjoyed learning about each princess and what they enjoyed doing. I didn't even think about tap dancing but there it was represented by a princess. I also loved getting to know Maryrose a bit more as she has been trapped in the mirror for the first 14 books. I think fleshing her out more is going to help the audience connect with her more and is a better option than her being stuck in a mirror.

2. I also quite enjoyed that the author seems to be having Abby and Jonah help Maryrose get her power back as there is quite a lot of books at this point. I think having her become a more active character working towards the ending of this series is a very smart idea and I hope to see it continue in the following books.

3. The plot was more exciting than normal because Abby and Jonah had the goal of helping Maryrose. At the same time, the author also keeps up the enjoyable and fun read of each book. It was just beautiful balancing that the author manages to pull off.

I only disliked:

1. The author has to explain everything at the beginning of each book which does get annoying.

Once again, a fun read!

[Isabel K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the start of the book Maryrose the fairy living in Abby`s mirror sent Abby and her brother, Jonah into the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Maryrose sent them there to get the Ruby crown, so Maryroses powers become stronger.

In the middle of the story Abby and Jonah follow the princesses to the dance. When they where coming back from the dance they dropped their proof of where the princesses where in the river. The next night they followed the princesses back to the dance and got proof of where the princesses where going every night.

At the end of the story the oldest princess became the queen, gave Abby and Jonah the Ruby from the crown and put a new one there instead.

My favorite character was Abby because she was very kind.
The first princess surprised me by giving Abby and Jonah the Ruby crown.
I would not change the ending because Abby and Jonah got what they wanted and the princess where able to do the any activity they wanted.

[Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful!! I had a lot of fun reading it. I think this book became my favorite from the series (even though I loved all the other book a lot too)😂🩷 It was interesting reading how all the princesses had different personalities and different passions/hobbies. I imagined Prince Gene was really cute and Abby described him having dark hair and dark eyes and I visualized him as hot by just that description 😂😂 Anyway, I’m glad these past two or three books in this series had innocent romance included because it shows character development and growth. Abby, Jonah, and now in this book Terry all made me feel like I personally knew them and it felt like they were more than just words on paper or just characters in a story. Them starting to have crushes is just so cute. I love it. Young love 🥰 so adorable♥️

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cute addition to the series. Like all the others, I read these aloud with my daughter. Although she's now much older than Abby (but was younger when we started), they are still cute and fun to enjoy together. This one wasn't as great, in my opinion, however. Without giving away any spoilers, I felt that Abby has shown enough growth over the books that she shouldn't have been so quick to try to solve the situation the way she and Jonah chose. It felt a little out of character. That said, it was still a cute story and I will still read the rest of the series with my daughter and recommend them to the younger audience they are intended for.

[Sarah]

I'm a sucker for 12 dancing princesses stuff.

I thought it was neat that they weren't going to some magic realm, they were just going across the river and hanging out with regular people.. an interesting twist on the tale.

i think the moral of this book was weak. Abby didn't want to go to the dance because the last time she danced she caused a disaster and human domino chain and destroyed a cake. pretty reasonable. then she learns to not be self-conscious about dancing, who cares if you're good? Silly bcuz she wasn't worried about looking/feeling silly/stupid, she was worried about CAUSING MASS DESTRUCTION

seven/senna? danced a tango with another girl. hm.

[Sara Moller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm probably very biased in this review since Sarah Mlynowski is my all time favorite author, but I loved this book. Just like its predecessors in the series, Just Dance shakes up traditional fairy tales and turns them into fun, feminist stories with important messages about being and loving yourself, as well as the importance of family and friends. With lots of laughs and also heart, like all of Mlynowski's works, I finished this book in one sitting. As usual, I can't wait for the next installment!

[Mary T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this whole series and then listened to them all with my boys (now 10, 8, 4, 3). My 4yo, who is currently in a "Turn that story off!" mood for audiobooks, liked this one. I knew it came out in April, but I kept checking to see when the audio version would be available on Hoopla. We listened to this on our way home from a family vacation in Michigan.

I liked this one, but it wasn't one of my favorites, hence the 4 instead of 5 stars. But overall, I LOVE the series (I can't think of a series of 15+2 books that I've kept up with reading all of them as an adult).

[Rhonda D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abby and her brother Jonah enter another fairy tale, this time to help the fairy of the mirror, Maryrose. The Twelve Dancing Princesses have shoes that are worn every morning. No one knows where they go or what wears their shoes out. Abby and Jonah must help the story (and not mess it up) while finding an enchanted ruby that will help Maryrose.

This is a fun series and the larger story of Abby's life (along with Maryrose) is fun to follow. We listen to these and the narrator isn't my favorite but is true to the character (kid-like).

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these stories cause they're short and sweet, with the right amount of childish fun! I started and finished this installment while cleaning and I enjoyed seeing the ballerinas stand up to their dad and he actually seeing them for the first time. I didn't like how all this HAD to happen at the end, but I can overlook it for the sake of the happy ending. If Sarah Mlynowski comes out with more books in this world, I will definitely pick them up!

[noorie]

oops i accidentally just finished reading this after reading heartless (because the ending for heartless made me sad) but i mean yaya i honestly don't know if more books are gonna come after this but i have a feeling that it may be the last book since the fairy (i might have forgotten her name) got her power back. i dunno im just gonna hope another book comes out hehe

[Kendal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute book, although we grabbed the latest in the series without ever having read the earlier books..whoops. But we didn’t feel lost and it was easy to get into and Ruby enjoyed it. I just realized that there weren’t any pictures, and Ruby was totally fine with it. A year ago she still preferred for there to be pictures to help hold her attention.

[holden caulfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOOOOVED this one!!! It was so fun and sort of different from all the other books since Abby and Jonah were working against the princesses to help the prince. I was hoping this one would combine two fairy takes again since the mirror is broken, but I think me not knowing the 12 dancing princesses story kept me interested enough

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was pleasant. My kids adore this series and I enjoy reading it with them. Its a fun read no matter your age though it is centered/focused more for kids. My kids are still in elementary school and they can't wait for the next book!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read adaptations of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," but none of them were as entertaining as this one! It has it's own self-contained story, as well as furthering the larger story of Abby, Jonah, and Maryrose. Can't wait until the next one!

[Alannah Allocco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading this series since I was really little and I like to read them with my niece now so I can talk about them with her. This one was definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite, in the series and if I was younger I would've given it 4 or 5 stars for sure.

[Makenna Anderson]

i do not care that the main character has not aged in ten years and the fairy has been trapped in the mirror for that amount of time as well- i will read the newest releases of these until the day i die.

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book # 15 features 12 dancing princesses. Abby and her brother Jonah go into the mirror to find the ruby in a crown to take back to Maryrose. Along the way, they have to navigate through some tricky situations. Great fantasy book. Kids will enjoy this latest book. Highly recommended for Grades 4-5.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another great book in the series, and with a lesser-known fairy tale it was fun to have even more of an element of surprise than the stories that we're more familiar with. My daughter and I were sad to have caught up to the last book in the series - hoping for more to be published soon!

[Emily Strite · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m writing a fairy tale book that’s a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, so I decided I want to read some books that are Twelve Dancing Princesses retellings. This one is for a younger audience than I’m writing for, but it was still quite helpful and gave me some really good ideas!

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! This one is based on the 12 princesses fairy tale. Love this series& this author!

[Erik Qualman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great series to read with my elementary girls!

[Maggie Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much I really feel this Author never ever disappoints. I read this book in one sitting and I have loved this series for the start can’t wait for the next.