A WHOLE NEW WORLD By Liz Braswell

February 6, 2024 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD By Liz BraswellA Whole New World by Liz Braswell
Series: A Twisted Tale #1
Published by Disney Press on 9/1/15
Genres: Fairy Tales & Folklore, Fantasy & Magic, Retellings, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 313
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin. When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war. What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

Short and Sweet Review

A Whole New World, is a retelling of Aladdin, instead of Aladdin getting the lamp and three wishes Jafar gets them. Jafar uses his first two wishes on becoming the sultan and one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world. Agrabah used to be a decent city but now the people live in fear and are even more worried about what Jafar’s final wish will be. Now Aladdin and Jasmine have to band together and lead the people of Agrabah into a rebellion.

I went into this book looking forward to seeing how different things would be if Jafar got the lamp and the wishes instead of Aladdin and honestly this book was boring. I feel like the things Jafar did were predictable and its like we knew what he would do in the book because he had the same motives in the movie. Aladdin on the other hand felt like he had no personality and he just wanted to save everyone in Agrabah against Jafar’s rule. Aladdin and Jasmine work together in this book and there’s obviously a romance but I feel like it fell flat and there were no sparks, it was like they had to be together because that’s what the reader would be expecting when you hear their names together. There wasn’t a lot going on in this book that made me feel like I needed to be glued to it, quite the opposite in fact. I just think everything was too predictable that it made this book boring and it didn’t help that the characters are so flat and one note.

I love retellings and seeing where an author can take a new idea but this first book in the A Twisted Tale series was a disappoint. I usually don’t say this but I do feel like the movie tops this book 100%.

Filed Under: Reviews

ALMOST THERE By Farrah Rochon

September 28, 2022 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ALMOST THERE By Farrah RochonAlmost There by Farrah Rochon
Series: A Twisted Tale #13
Published by Disney-Hyperion on 9/6/22
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Retellings, Young Adult
Pages: 464
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Sometimes life in the Big Easy is tough. No one knows that better than Tiana, though she also believes that hard work can go a long way. But when the notorious Dr. Facilier backs her into a corner, she has no choice but to accept an offer that will alter the course of her life in an instant.

Soon Tiana finds herself in a new reality where all her deepest desires are realized: she finally gets her restaurant, her friends are safe and sound, and most miraculous of all, her beloved father is still alive. She's got everything she's ever wanted. . . .

But after a while, her hometown grows increasingly eerie, with new threats cropping up in unlikely places. Navigating through this strange new New Orleans, Tiana must work alongside Naveen and Charlotte to set things right―or risk losing everything she holds dear.

Short and Sweet Review

Almost There takes place where Tiana has the choice to make a deal with Dr. Facilier, where in the movie she didn’t. Now Tiana has her father back, has a restaurant, and Louis is human. The deal Tiana made has obviously ruined the balance of the universe and some its coming to collect to make things right.

Tiana is one of my favorite Disney princesses, but she was just off-putting in this book, I really didn’t like her which made me sad. Tiana makes the deal and we see her basically a year later living her dreams of owning her restaurant and having her dad by her side, but now that its been a year Dr. Facilier and his friends on the other side want Tiana to pay up, weird things start happening down in the Big Easy and only Tiana can fix it. Tiana has always been a hard worker she was like that in the movie too but now she really doesn’t take breaks and she was rude to Charlotte and Naveen, she even went as far as ducking them while they were dining in her restaurant. Charlotte, Naveen, and Louis just wanted to help Tiana but she just wanted to do everything on her own and she would snap at them. One part that annoyed me the most was when Tiana found someone that could help her but then she wanted to dismiss that person and say they couldn’t be trusted. Like Tiana is the last person who should be deciding who is trustworthy after making a deal with the shadow man. Another thing that upset me was the deal Tiana made not only did it bring her what she wanted but she affect other peoples lives without a second to consider what they wanted. The ending was okay I guess, I felt bad for some of the characters who were still affected by the choice Tiana made.

I think this book was just okay it wasn’t great and it wasn’t bad but it made me think about how much I really appreciated the movie and how Tiana was portrayed there.

Filed Under: Reviews