A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

This was my August TBR book and works for the Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge and for the Fairytale Challenge. I received this eARC on Netgalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is number 10 for the COYER Scavenger Hunt and a Booking Through Summer book.

Disney Press

If you have watched Disney's Aladdin, you know the story goes Jafar in disguise tricks Aladdin into entering the Cave of Wonders to steal the lamp and Jafar's plan is to kill Aladdin and take over Agrabah. You know at first that he does not get the lamp and instead traps Aladdin in the cave and Aladdin grabs the lamp, makes a few wishes, wins the heart of the princess, and then Jafar briefly has the lamp and makes a wish that dooms him to eternity in the lamp. Well, what if that did not happen. Liz Braswell, in what may be a twist series by Disney Press, creates a twist on the original Disney story. In her adaptation, the story starts the same with Aladdin imprisoned for "kidnapping" the princess, but this time Jafar is able to get the lamp and trap Aladdin in the cave for a few days. In the meantime, Jafar becomes Sultan and a great sorcerer, but still wants to marry Jasmine. He dooms this relationship by doing an unforgivable act and the princess plans her escape. Jafar tries to charm the populace by giving out gold and for a time free food. Jasmine and Aladdin know the true Jafar and the two are able to unite with the leaders of the Street Rats to try to stop Jafar's dastardly plans. Not only does he want to take over Agrabah, but also the world, with an army of undead soldiers and the power of the genie. Can Jasmine and Aladdin create a whole new world or will Jafar's evil schemes destroy Agrabah?

This was a fast-paced and dark retelling of Aladdin and both teens and adults will be drawn into Braswell's magic. It is a bittersweet story and without giving too much away, some beloved characters do not have happy endings. Braswell does capture all sides of Agrabah, the poor and the rich and magic and thievery. I loved trying to remember the original story alongside of her retelling although it did make me a bit sad that the lightheartedness of the original is definitely not there. She does capture the pure evil that is Jafar and in this tale, he is someone to be feared, and she shows how absolute power brings out the worst in people, especially people with a bent for dark magic. If you want to experience a whole new side of the Aladdin story, read Braswell's dark tale of tragedy and triumph and of love that is true despite the circumstances.  For me this is a 4 cup of cocoa read and reminds me of the dark original fairytales, like 1001 Arabian Nights, which I actually enjoyed. I still like the original Disney tale too, but this is a good contrast to that story.

ARC August Week 3 Update

ARC August hosted by Octavia and Shelly!

This is hosted by Octavia and Shelly at Read.Sleep.Repeat.

Harlequin Teen

I finally finished The Girl with the Windup Heart and it was a great ending to the series. I hope to get the review up this week. I am at 9% on Oblivion still, but I did manage to start A Whole New World and I am 35% of the way through it.

Atheneum Books

How are you all doing with the challenge?

Disney Press

Bout of Books 14 Day 7 Update and Wrapup

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal.

Day 7: I read 23% in A Whole New World and participated in the mini-challenge What to Read Next. I also posted on 6 blogs. I also forgot to post yesterday that I read 124 pages in Aphrodite the Diva.

Wrapup: Total I finished Tris's Book, The Girl with the Windup Heart, and Breakfast at Tiffany's. I started A Whole New World The Iron Trial and Aphrodite the Diva. I read/listened to a total of 829 pages! That is awesome for me. I also completed one mini-challenge and one Twitter chat and commented on about 12 different blogs and followed a few new blogs including Bingeing on Reading and Sarah Reads Too Much. Overall a very successful and fun readathon! I can't wait until the next BoB!

Thanks again to the hosts!

Bout of Books Mini-challenge: What to read next

 This reading challenge is hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much.

For this challenge you are supposed to recommend 3 and only 3 books you have read this year that you consider great and think that everyone should have on their TBR. You are also supposed to write a bit about why that is.

Just choosing three is hard, but I could think of two that blew me away this year.

1. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Bloomsbury). Dragons and half-dragons populate the world Hartman created. The love triangle is also interesting and necessary to the story, although this is more so in book 2. Seraphina is a strong female lead and Hartman's world-building was breathtaking.

2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Random House). I did not review this on the blog, since it was an audio review I did for SLJ and I have the awfullest time trying to write two different reviews of the same book. Her twists on the fae were beautiful and disturbing, basically everything you want in a dark faerie story. I loved the strength of Feyre and her romance with Tamlin. Maas really knows how to write strong flawed heroines.

3. The Girl with the Windup Heart by Kady Cross (Harlequin Teen), but only if you have read the prior books in the series, if not start with The Girl with the Steel Corset. My theme for these choices is strong female leads and Finley is one of the strongest. She has survived a Jekyll and Hyde personality thanks to some science experiments her father did on himself and passed down through his genes to her. She falls in love with a Duke, but manages to stay independent. She can beat up men due to her strength and fast healing. This was a great steampunk series and the characters were extremely well-developed. I loved all the different romances that were in each book and loved getting to know the characters. I will miss them.

Thanks to Sarah for hosting!

Bout of Books 14 Day 6 Update

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal.


I participated in the Twitter chat and was fun as it always is. I also finished The Girl with the Windup Heart by reading 43% in one day. It was a good ending to the series. I finished Breakfast at Tiffany's which I started a couple of weeks ago and I am still processing my thoughts on this one. I watched the movie years ago and I don't remember it being like the novella, but I may have been too young to pick up on some of it. I read to chapter 5 of The Iron Trial and I think it will work for the freshman reading challenge. It will just be a little on the easy read side.

I hope to visit a few blogs today and read a bit more. I would also like to do Sarah's mini-challenge, especially since I have not completed any mini-challenges this time.

Bout of Books Day 4 and 5

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal.


I wasn't home to write up my reviews of Days 4 and 5, so I am combining them into one post.

No socializing these past two days, but I did read 75 pages in Aphrodite the Diva and I have started a reread of The Iron Trial. The Iron Trial is one of our books for our High School Reading Challenge that the high school librarian and I work on each year. I hope to socialize a bit more today, but we will see.

Bout of Books 14 Day 3 Update

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal.

Day 3 Update: I finished Tris' Story, so one book down! I read 15% on The Girl with the Windup Heart and am a little over halfway through with it, so really good reading day. Lots of stress at work, so that is all I accomplished today.