This was such a fun twist on Alice in Wonderland. I love seeing the new perspectives and the new antics that occur with familiar characters. Seeing Alice older and in a "regular" setting with fantastical twists was so much fun to read.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for allowing me to read this book for review purposes.

For me, I love Alice in Wonderland just as much as the next person and to read the after story of what happens when Alice turns 18 and is thrust back into the world of Wonderland is amazing to me.

What we get to see is a more dark and crazy.
I mean the concept of Wonderland itself was still very mindboggling as a child but when it's been so many years and you start to lose your memories of the place, the last thing you want to see is these creatures from the world you once were in, hidden in the new photographs that your taking.

The Red Queen has become more fierce and evil than ever, who knew that would happen, seriously....

Thank you Liz For an amazing and twisted new take on this old story, it was very much needed!

One would think that at my age I would have had enough of fairy tales or classics such as Alice in Wonderland but each time I see a new book tackling an old tale like this I get all excited inside. Unbirthday by Liz Braswell is a new take on the Alice in Wonderland saga in which Alice is now *gasp* grown but that doesn’t stop Wonderland from needing her to cross back over and save the day.

Unbirthday is actually the tenth book in Liz Braswell’s Twisted Tales series in which each book takes on an old classic. With each book of the series being a new version of a different classic story there isn’t a need to read in order as they all can read fine as a standalone or enjoyed in any order one chooses.

Going into this I was hesitant as usual thinking is this going to be different or the same old story I’ve read many times before or would it be so totally different that one wouldn’t be able to recognize the original. Once getting into it though it actually grabbed my attention and I began to enjoy this new version of Alice after she has aged. The time spent in Wonderland was just and wacky and wonderous which held the feel of the original while giving it a new twist. Definitely felt this was a fun book and will definitely put any others from this author onto my TBR.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

What an interesting concept and spin-off of the classical story of Alice in Wonderland. This is a great read full of fun and intrigue as you dive back into the world of Wonderland and follow Alice again on another journey.

Wonderland is in trouble, Alice is the one who is late this time. Can she save Wonderland? She is older and living in the real world, but when pictures from the real world start giving her glimpses of Wonderland she learns that she has to return.

Great story, a lot of fun to read.
5 Stars!

As if Alice in Wonderland isn't crazy enough, Liz Braswell brings the insanity to our world in the Twisted Tale of Unbirthday.

Alice loves taking pictures about town, but realizes that some of the subjects in the photos aren't supposed to be there, she begins to worry. Add in a girl who desperately needs her help and potentially the Queen of Hearts making an entrance into this side of the curtain, well, Alice has her hands full.

Wonderfully fun and quirky, Unbirthday is for anyone who loves Alice's tale and her great ability to find logic in a most unlogical situation.

I featured this book on my TV book segment on San Antonio Living:
https://news4sanantonio.com/sa-living/spooky-reads-to-get-in-the-halloween-spirit

*I received a copy of this book for an honest review.

I love Liz Braswell’s take on traditional Fairy Tales. These books are of interest to all ages but particularly teens and tweeting who like twisted tales with a little something different

The Disney Twisted Tale series is a great concept of asking a question and having the entire fairytale as we know it change. In this case, the question is "What if Wonderland was in peril and Alice was very, very, late?" This book follows Alice when she is 18, long after the story we all know and love happened. She now finds herself retuning to Wonderland to help save Wonderland form the Queen of Hearts, as well as her own world. Overall, I gave this book a 3 star rating because although I enjoyed reading it, I feel like there were some plot holes and slow points in the book.

I am a sucker for a fairytale retelling so I was excited to pick this book and read it. I always liked the story of Alice in Wonderland when I was a kid so it was interesting to read what happened afterwards and see what Alice has gotten up to in that time. I like that she still has a curious mind, looking for a bit of Wonderland in the regular world. Liz Braswell did a good job of describing Wonderland and keeping it the same as I remember as I kid. Sometimes it is hard to properly describe and build the setting but she kept the same nonsense and childish nature that is present in Wonderland.

It was interesting to see the underlying issues and talk about nationalism and discrimination against minorities and immigrants. I was surprised there was such a topic in a book aimed to tweens and teens. I also didn't expect the book to be switching between Wonderland and the real world. It was great to see Alice go on this adventure and save both her world and Wonderland and see her grow as a character and gain courage.

There were some parts of the book I found myself skimming because it was a bit slow or I started to lose interest. I feel like the book didn't need to be as long as it was. I enjoyed reading it but I don't think I would pick it up again, but will check out the other books in this series. I would recommend this if you are a fan of fairytale retelling or a fan of Alice in Wonderland.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this book.

Rating: 2.5/5
The take of Alice with a camera and being more modern was pretty interesting. I guess I was hoping for more differences in characters, not just a photocopy of the original Lewis Carroll.
I wasn't very impressed with the pacing and felt like this wasn't one of Braswell's best stories.
What it lacks in pacing it does make up for in adventure. The side characters and stories seem to be the focal point while the main story of Alice saving Wonderland was on the back burner.

Overall I think this was my least favorite out of the Twisted Tales books.

Book Status: Disappointing

Aww mannnnn! I was so excited to read a book in the Twisted Tales series. I love fairytale re-tellings (I was obsessed with the Lunar Chronicles). But unfortunately this book just didn't do it for me.
It was so damn slow to start and didn't pick up speed at any point. It wasn't even a slow burn.. it waas just slow and soooo long. Some of the author's descriptive writing just got to be too much, especially in the beginning which annoyed me. There were just SO MANY ADJECTIVES!!!!! First Alice felt one way, then she felt a different way, then three sentences later there was another feeling- it was quite boring to be frank ("Breathless...excited... dizzy" all in one sentence??? Like Whyyy??). I'm by no means a great writer but it was just too much. There was potential if it was maybe half as long. Seems like Bradwell's writing style just isn't for me.
I also I found that I couldn't relate to Alice at all. She was supposedly 18 years old in the book but acted like she was 12. She whined all the time and acted like a little girl- not really heroine material.
Could have had potential had it been
Sucks that this was my intro to the Twisted Tales Series- I'll try and give one of the other books a shot.

ARC received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

There’s just something about all of the Twisted Tales books that make them absolute MUST READS for this Disney lover! This one was extra special to me, releasing during my birthday month - so I got to read the book AT the parks and that just made it extra fun for me!

I was particularly excited about the premise behind this title, with the focus on Alice if she was running really, really late & how that could affect everything about her story. A bit darker than I feel like some of the other twisted tales have been, my only complaint was how incredibly long the book was - it definitely lost me at times. 3.5 stars for me.

It’s interesting how much better some fairy tale/Disney retellings tend to work compared to others. Alice in Wonderland is one that hasn’t seemed to work particularly well for anyone except Frank Beddor (whether Lewis Carroll or Disney based), and Unbirthday was mostly no exception.

One of the biggest problems with this one is that it’s too long. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a fairly short book, and there’s a good reason for that: Absurdist stuff is best in small doses. In fact, it’s really only tolerable in small doses. Braswell did a decent job of toning down the crazy a bit, but shes also attempting to be true to the spirit of the original, which meant the book needed to be much, much shorter.

While the author made a valiant effort toward creating a more linear plot than the original book or movie had and included some clever turns of phrase, her Wonderland interpretation isn’t particularly unique or interesting.

And, ugh! Yet another book with a “protagonist as secretly talented amateur photographer” backstory. It’s an incredibly shopworn take and has never been an especially good one anyway.

Points for trying, I suppose, since a lot of the problems with this book are due to the difficulty of working with the source material itself, but if you want a really good Alice retelling, Beddor’s The Looking Glass Wars is the only way to go.

This is the first Twisted Tale I have ever read and I was ecstatic to see Alice in Wonderland as it is one of my favorite Disney movies. My biggest problem was how hard it was to get involved in the story for me. It took me about 100 pages to actually start enjoying it. Liz Braswell did manage to capture Alice in a favorable way along with inventing several new characters who seem to fit the story well. I just wish in the Wonderland scenes she wouldn't have pushed the nonsense aspect so hard.

Great addition to The Twisted Tales collection. I love these books so much and need to add this to my collection.

This was the first book I've read in the Twisted Tales series (and I'm already reading a second one) - I love the idea of the classic Disney tales retold with a twist. I love the original Alice in Wonderland books and movie, so I was looking forward to this. It takes place 11 years after the original book when Alice is 18 so I do like that it was more mature, but with many of the same characters. I also like that there was a touch on political and immigration issues, so there was definitely a touch of real world issues as well. I did find the pacing of the story a little mixed and overall a little slow. I was also a little thrown off by the in-and-out of Wonderland, but it was a fun little story overall.

I have found that I kind have mixed feelings on each Twisted Tales book I've read (except for "Reflection". Elizabeth Lim can do no wrong in my mind😌) and "Unbirthday" finally helped me realize what that is. Liz Braswell has a very dark writing style and tone. This was actually the lightest book I've read from her, which was interesting considering how dark Alice in Wonderland can go easily. I think a lot of my mixed feelings stem from the tones not working together.

For example, in "Part of Your World" it was hard to shift from Scuttle making a joke to Ursula using a blood sacrifice to summon the ancient gods. It's an attempt to age up the Disney stories we know and love, but it doesn't always work well.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, this one actually worked decently well. Shifting from seeing a death in a photograph to characters speaking in whimsical jokes and riddles worked well for the overall madness of Wonderland.

However, still gave it three stars. Which is no way a bad rating. I didn't have a bad time reading it, there were no major flaws that left me wanting to slam my head into a wall, most of the characters seemed quite themselves, and there were several things that amused me. However, that was the best it got.

There were never any moments I felt emotionally attached to any of the characters. Never had that connection where I found myself even lightly hoping things would turn out okay. There was nothing that set this story apart in my head. The second I finished, I nodded and set it down and that was it. I didn't think about it again until I remembered I needed to review it lol.

Maybe that's a me problem. Maybe if I'd read it at another point in time, I'd feel differently. But pairing my apathy with the fact this book is probably 200 pages longer than it needs to be, I can't give it higher than 3 stars.

It exists. It was enjoyable. I don't regret reading it. But I will probably forget I read it in a week.

If you really, really love Alice in Wonderland, you might really like this. Or you might hate it. It can be hard to predict how people will feel seeing characters they really love in someone else's hands.

But if you're like me and feel quite 'middle of the line' when it comes to Alice in Wonderland, I can't see you feeling much more than boredom when it comes to this book.

Fans of Disney remixes will love this take on Alice. It’s a darker take, and it ties the Alice story to xenophobia in London. Alice is a fierce fighter and staunch feminist. This book is best for older fans - grades 8 and up.

I was expecting a fairytale-inspired story of “what happens after” that kept the lighthearted feel of the Disney version it was based on. While this book was definitely witty and light in tone, its content most certainly was not. I was pleasantly surprised to read a story about an 18-year-old Alice returning to a Wonderland in desperate need of saving, and that dove into politics. Alice’s time in her home town of Kexton revolves around her attempts to stop a xenophobic man from becoming mayor and instituting his anti-immigrant policies. These mindsets are explored in a nuanced way that adheres to time-period appropriate ideas while hinting at more modern concepts around governance. The devolving situation in Wonderland acts as a warped mirror for the events in Alice’s world, playing out situations in both child-like and adult versions. While the novel is intended for teens, I found it incredibly enjoyable and thought provoking.

During her regular photography endeavors, Alice finds that the photographs of Kexton residents she takes show Wonderland creatures in peril when developed. The photos have a clear message: something is wrong in Wonderland and Alice must come save them. Alice must balance her role in saving Wonderland with her life in Kexton, where she finds herself with increasing responsibilities.

The novel follows Alice as she bounces between Wonderland and Kexton. In Wonderland the Queen of Hearts has begun a campaign of terror, murdering anyone who stands in her way. There remains a hardy group of rebels who are attempting to defeat the Queen, but they need Alice’s help. Her role in the Wonderland resistance steadily grows, and Alice struggles to figure out the answer to her friends’ problems. In Kexton, Alice begins to get involved in her town’s mayoral campaign. The leading candidate is running on an anti-immigrant platform, something Alice vehemently opposes. Just as in Wonderland, Alice is uncertain how to help her town’s residents, but she is determined to try. As the novel progresses, the problems in the two worlds begin intertwining and escalating, leaving Alice increasingly confused and desperate.

Alice is a delightful main character! She is a perfect blend of child and adult, sense and nonsense. While much older than she was upon her first trip to Wonderland, Alice retains the same child-like curiosity and interest in the bizarre. This blend means that in Kexton Alice is a bit of an oddity and just barely within the bounds of socially acceptable, but in Wonderland she is far too rational. Her growth over the course of the novel helps Alice transition from the last traces of her childhood and into adulthood. It is wonderful watching her decide what childish things to retain and which to let go of as she matures. She is by no means perfect, but her heart is always in the right place.

Abraham Joseph Katz, who goes by Katz, is a young lawyer and the son of immigrants. He meets Alice when she visits the part of town populated with immigrants to take photos of them and to talk to them. He has a clear sense of justice and a need to protect his community from the burgeoning anti-immigrant sentiment in Kexton. Katz has only one flaw: he is not on the page often enough. I love his interactions with Alice, both of them engaging in a type of witty banter they cannot find elsewhere. I know he needs to be a secondary character, because Alice’s growth feels more impactful when the relationship is not the main focus. He is just so fun and charming and engaging that I wanted to see more of him.

The Wonderland characters are so interesting, because they mirror the Kexton residents, “older” versions of characters from the animated film, and yet are completely nonsensical. The author does an amazing job of balancing all of the outside influences on these characters while also making them feel individual and real. Of the Wonderland creatures, the Mad Hatter plays the main role as Alice’s companion. He is still the same Hatter Alice knew, and yet the war started by the Queen of Hearts has forced him to become sane to survive.

The Kexton residents are a bit boring in comparison to the Wonderland creatures, for obvious reasons. However, as the novel progressed I became more invested in the events and people in Kexton than those in Wonderland. I really appreciate the way the residents of Kexton fall along a scale of xenophobia. Gilbert Ramsbottom, who is running to be the mayor of Kexton, falls squarely in the xenophobic category with his mayoral campaign entirely focused on making England for the English. His character and those of his supporters are handled in a very nuanced way. There is room both for those who are truly anti-immigrant and those who have been swayed by pretty speeches and a lack of individual thinking. On the other end of the scale lies Alice’s eccentric Aunt Vivian who is violently against the burgeoning nationalism in Kexton and works to undermine it. Besides this, it is very clearly implied (in a period-appropriate way) that she has a romantic interest in women and an anti-establishment mindset. The Kexton residents grow more and more interesting as the mayoral race heats up and Alice grows increasingly involved in combating Ramsbottom’s xenophobia.

I am so impressed with this author’s writing. It is incredibly difficult to make a novel enjoyable that is written to be purposefully confusing. The author makes excellent use of an overall facetious tone and delight in nonsense to make the confusing events in Wonderland fun. The reader experiences the same frustration Alice does with not understanding what to do in Wonderland, but it never becomes frustrating to read. The author also managed to use a light writing tone to engage with events and ideas that are very dark and adult in nature. There are deaths galore in Wonderland and violence against immigrants in Kexton. The author is able to balance making these events feel both as serious as they are and retain the overall sense of parody in the novel’s tone. The blend of lighthearted writing and increasingly dark events is unusual and logically should not work as well as it does.

SPOILERS

When we first meet Katz, I expected him to end up being the Mad Hatter’s real world version. The way he spoke in riddles came off as nonsense and madness. In hindsight, all the signs were there that Katz was the Cheshire Cat of Alice’s world. He spoke in riddles, he was always appearing randomly to help, and he spoke to Alice differently than those around her. I love that Alice figures out who Katz’s Wonderland counterpart is without needing to use her camera to show her. It demonstrates that just as Katz sees all of Alice, including how Wonderland has changed her, Alice sees all of Katz. It was really surprising to find out that the Cheshire Cat could travel between Wonderland and the real world and had spoken with Katz before about Wonderland. Poor Alice spent a good deal of time wishing she could get advice from someone in her world about what to do in Wonderland, but knowing they would think she was mad. I like that Katz sees himself as very separate from the Cheshire Cat, each shaped by their own world and connected without being the same person. Alice’s relationship with the Cheshire Cat in Wonderland does not match up with her burgeoning romance with Katz. Alice’s relationship with Katz is very much a part of her adulthood, while Wonderland – though shockingly violent – belongs to her childhood. Making it clear that Katz and the Cheshire Cat were not the same being fit better with the feel of the novel, which shows an adult Alice the ways in which Wonderland’s madness would drive her to despair if experienced regularly.

I really liked the way the author had the situation in Wonderland mirror the political atmosphere of Kexton, and the way the politics of the novel were handled in general. Ramsbottom wants an England just for those he deems worthy and is willing to kick immigrants out to ensure the primacy of good English blood. It is the adult version of the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, who will execute anyone who gets in her way of collecting the most toys and winning the game. She does not care what happens after, so long as she can be declared the winner. This is Ramsbottom’s mindset about immigrants and Englishness. There is no real point to maintaining English purity except to continue to claim superiority. The author also includes subtle digs at Queen Victoria in a discussion about what makes a good queen. I appreciate that in a novel that concerns itself with the way rulers oppress their own people that the author acknowledges that Queen Victoria would not be considered a good and righteous Queen by those outside England (India for example).

I did not see the ending coming. Who would have guessed that the End of Time does not erase Wonderland entirely, but simply ends this iteration of it before starting the next? Wonderland is a world of game pieces, and when Time ends the next game begins. The version Alice encounters is a game of War, with different Queens battling each other with card soldiers in the same way the card game works. While Alice spends her entire time in Wonderland desperately trying to save that world, she was in actuality just called in to keep the Queen of Hearts from causing so much harm while trying to win this game of War. It surprised me that not only will Wonderland reset itself to a new game after The End of Time, but the different residents will take on slightly different roles and personalities. After such intense buildup, this ending should have felt anti-climactic, but it fits Wonderland perfectly. It is a logically illogical ending that stays true to the feel of Wonderland.

I love how the events in Wonderland and Kexton begin to mirror one another, as does Alice’s role in them. It is perfect that the end result in Wonderland makes it clear that Alice’s job was not to fix everything, but to just try to improve things. The same can be said for Alice’s role in Kexton’s increasingly xenophobic mayoral race. At the end of the day, Alice cannot be expected to fix everything singlehandedly. For one thing, she is only one 18-year-old woman. For another, she cannot even vote. Yet, the small actions Alice takes to show the town the true nature of both its immigrants and Ramsbottom do matter. Alice photographs an immigrant woman holding the stone with a message telling her to go back to where she came from that was thrown through her store window. Putting this photo in the newspaper does not get rid of Ramsbottom and his ideology immediately, but it shows the true cost of his ideas. Similarly, the pantomime Alice organizes to interrupt Ramsbottom’s rally and mock his agenda does not vanquish the nationalism in Kexton. It does contribute to Ramsbottom losing the mayoral race, ensuring that these nationalist ideas will not become law. The end result in both Wonderland and Kexton are very real-world endings; there is no villain that can be defeated, resulting in everything going back to the way it was. I like that Alice’s return to Wonderland moves away from the absurdity of the original story, giving her a very nuanced and realistic ending.

I have been wanting to read one of Liz Braswell's Twisted Tales for years, and I am so glad I finally had a chance.

Poor Alice is all grown up now, but she still dreams of returning to Wonderland, she just cannot seem to figure out how to get back. Then one day, out of nowhere, the residents of Wonderland start appearing in Alice's world begging her to come back to help them. Wonderland has gone off the rails, and not in the typical silly way. Can Alice find a way to balance the practicalities of being a grown-up with the nonsense of Wonderland in order to save all of her friends?

I really enjoyed reading this book. I love diving into the continuation of the stories or discovering another angle to them. I will absolutely be reading more of Liz Braswell's stories.

I had so much fun reading this book. She wasn’t excited about returning to Wonderland at first, especially when people said it was up to her to save this strange place. At first she doubts there is much that she can do, but when the stakes get higher Alice decides to give it a shot. As this story comes to a close, we see Alice get her happily ever after in a truly satisfying way.

I got this book from Netgalley for a read and review.

I for one did not realize that this came out so soon after I received my ARC and was in the middle of maybe two different books and so I didn't get to this book as soon as I should have and waited until I finished 'So This is Love' which is another book in the same series of retellings.

Do I think that Alice in Wonderland really deserves a 'Twisted Tale' retelling as it in itself is a twisted tale? I don't think so, but it's a big part of Disney and the culture and so it got a book and it's sort of carved a spot in YA Lit as a trope. "You're going to do an Alice in Wonderland story? Well, good job everyone loves that! How are you going to tell the story?"

One that stands out to me from other retellings is that instead of a nudge to the original author of Alice, Lewis Carrol, she mentions her sister and that hatters used to drink mercury. Knowing a lot of history about the original content makes it interesting when people don't automatically mention him.when the book ends. That for me is something that I love to see.

Of all the books in the series, this is the one that speaks the closest to the world we live in now; racism and the world of politics and conflict with family and art. Loving someone who you know your family would have problems with and living in a world that's killing kids and innocent people...but, for me, I get a lot of that now and we're still seeing it every single day, and it's depressing. It's supposed to make you sad and to think about these things more than you're already thinking about it. She's achieved her goal in that.

Some very distinct notes that I put in here that I liked to point out:

I feel like Alice can be identified as an autistic woman and there's nothing that really points this out but something in my mind tells me that she is and I like it. Maybe it's the hyper-fixation on Wonderland and photography and having to get something done but Autistic Alice feels right to this story.

Alice said you had no right to assume she was a girl and I liked that about her as well. The casual throw away of 'Don't assume you know what I am just because of what I look like on the outside' is very Classic Wonderland to me compared to all the other Alice things I've seen out there

Words like 'Fwipped' made me giggle because it was just so unique that you wouldn't find it anywhere but here.