This was my first book out of the Twisted Tales series and I’m sad to say I had to DNF at 27%. I love Alice and Wonderland and all the retellings but this one was just very slow and I could not get into it. I will try again at a later date.

Super happy I started this series with Alice! I will go back and read the others then!! I really enjoyed this book.

This book is my new favorite of the Twisted Tales! Liz Braswell has written many of them, all beautifully twisted and well written, but this had the addition of nonsense. Any Alice tale requires a bit of nonsense to associate at all with Wonderland, but the mixture of real world problems with said nonsense is just brilliant. I can't wait to add this book to my shelf!

I have loved all of the stories in this series and Unbirthday is no exception. Fans of Alice in Wonderland should definitely give this book a try.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Unbirthday is my first foray into the Twisted Tales anthology series, however I’ve long been interested in the concept of it. And this one was a great one for me to start off with, since the source material (both Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories and the 1951 film) are absolute twisted madness already, and while I did like it, also felt that the Burton film compromised that a little bit to make a marketable action flick.

Meanwhile, Braswell perfectly manages to merge the nonsense of the original with darker elements that don’t overly impact the message that Wonderland is supposed to be wacky. Even while there is an adventure with a clear end goal and the Queen of Hearts is clearly more malicious then we remember, it is rooted in fun, and I couldn’t help cracking up on occasion, especially as the outside narrator interjects, particularly with their commentary at the beginning and end.

I did have some issues with the structural choices, particularly in terms of chapters ending abruptly, and then picking up in the next. While I do appreciate when chapter transitions can create tension, I felt like it sometimes ended in an awkward place, thus not stimulating interest in what might happen next.

I did still like this book overall, and if this is indicative of what can be found in other Twisted Tales, I can’t wait to try more. And if you love fairy tale retellings and Disney movies, I strongly recommend picking this one up.

A very droll sequel to the Alice in Wonderland stories. Alice is a very modern girl for her times, which are strikingly similar to current events. Alice has to return to Wondeeland to save the friends she wasn’t sure were real and also try to effect positive change in her real world.

Thank you so much to Disney Hyperion and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unbirthday is the latest in Disney's Twisted Tales and follows one of my favorites, Alice Liddell from Alice in Wonderland. This tale takes place well after Alice has been to Wonderland the first time, with Wonderland calling to Alice through the photographs she takes of people she knows. The characters from Wonderland need Alice's help to prevent the Queen of Hearts from ending existence and time itself. With problems of another kind in England, will Alice be able to be a hero for both worlds, or will she have to let one slip away to save the other?

I really want to like these Twisted Tales, but I have had yet to get into one until Unbirthday. The pacing was decent, the characters old and new were well written, but the plot just failed to truly hook me. I figured if any of the Twisted Tales would twist my perspective it would be this one, and while I was able to finish it reasonably quickly I didn't find myself hungry for the ending, just wanting it to be over. The new characters introduced were severely under-used. I feel like if the author had incorperated them into Alice's story in a more predominant way that it would have been a much more complete story. There was also a bit of a politically charged story in England that had such potential to serve as a real side lesson, but that also fell pretty flat for me.

Overall, this was worth a read; and those who enjoy the Twisted Tales are in for a real tea time treat. However, for me this was just a meh read. I'm giving it three stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves Alice in Wonderland, ages 12 and up

Thank you for the advance copy of the book! I thoroughly enjoyed this addition to the Twisted Tales series. It's such a fun, whimsical story that's full of the Wonderland nonsense, we know and love.

Alice is a great character. I love that we get to see her as a little bit older. Seeing Alice in both Wexford and Wonderland really adds some depth to her characer, which I enjoyed. I also really enjoyed the witty banter between Alice and her Aunt, as well as with all of the Wonderland characters.

The plot is engaging and entertaining. It's certainly a race against time and will leave readers turning the page. It certainly left me with a few edge of my seat moments. I do think at times it can be a bit jarring to have a cliff hanger and then start the next chapter to her waking up. While I understand the back and forth, sometimes it really does take you out of the moment and leaves a little bit of disappointment. Either way, it's still enjoyable, well-paced and full of adventure.

I definitely feel like it stays true to the Alice and the Wonderland we all know and love. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Disney, the Twisted Tales series and Alice in Wonderland. It's also perfect for those that love a great adventure and whimsical dialogue!

A full review will be posted on my blog, The Contented Reader, tomorrow (August 28th, 2020). A short snippet of this review has been posted on Goodreads. Thank you again for the opportunity to review Unbirthday!

Alice spends her days in Kexford with her camera or her Aunt Vivian. She's unlike most 18 year olds, meandering at Mis. Yao's tea shop, visiting the children in the square, and learning more about the young lawyer she met there because she is curious. When she develops pictures she has recently taken in town, the faces are not of her subjects but of those she once knew from Wonderland. Returning to Wonderland she has to stop the Queen of Hearts' tyrannical rule.

Unbirthday is a great and very descriptive book about Wonderland. It compares her time she was there as a kid to now when she is 18. It is a very interesting take on a follow up to Alice in Wonderland. I actually found myself more interested in Alice's time in England (Angleland) than in Wonderland. Both sides were great!

Now what I didn't like. Nothing really. Alice was a little bratty but she was that way as a kid too. I would've liked to have seen her be a little stronger especially since she has been thinking about Wonderland. I also didn't care for how much description and detail there was. That probably has to be because I have never been a fan of Alice in Wonderland. Growing up it was my least liked Disney story. I probably would've given it 3 stars but I can't hold that against the actual book itself. That being said it is a great read! I can't wait to read more of the A Twisted Tale series!

Thank you NetGalley for providing the eARC of Unbirthday!

Synopsis: The story follows an 18 year old Alice as she embarks on adulthood in London, England. Her overbearing sister is trying to set her up to be married, which is the last thing Alice wants to do. She craves adventure and enjoys spending time in her aunt Vivian's black room developing photographs of people around London. But when she develops some recent film and some familiar faces begin to surface. Alice is faced with a brutal image of Mary Ann and must race against time to stop the Queen of Hearts and save Wonderland.

Review: Unfortunately, I just could not get into this novel. and DNFed at 25%. The pacing is brutally slow on this one and I found myself putting the novel down in favor of reading other things. I don't have the brain power to push through this one right now but would consider recommending it to those who love Alice in Wonderland. I might try and circle back to it at a later date.

Although I've always been a fan of Wonderland in all its iterations, the original story has a degree of nonsense that makes it a difficult reread for me. So when I read the synopsis of Liz Braswell's Twisted Tale featuring an older Alice and a new Wonderland adventure, I was excited to give it a try, and I was not disappointed!

Unbirthday features, as I said, an older Alice who is still a bit unusual in comparison with other English ladies but who still retains the curiosity and self-possession of the younger Alice. Over the years, Alice has developed a talent for photography, and looking through the lens allows her to see things from a different angle than other people, which fits her experiences in Wonderland, where nothing was quite what it seemed. However, her photography suddenly begins to reveal the denizens of Wonderland, and it's clear that they're in need of help. Young Alice was sometimes a bit of a brat, but this Alice has involved herself in the plight of the many immigrants and orphans in her beloved England, and her heart breaks for her old friends and their obvious distress. If only she could find another rabbit hole to fall down....

Of course, Alice does make it back to Wonderland, but it's a much darker place than it used to be, and the friends she does manage to find are scarred both physically and mentally. The Queen of Hearts is on a rampage, and Alice finds herself thrust into a leadership role in the Wonderland war. Unfortunately, her efforts can't quite live up to those of the brilliant Mary Ann, and Alice grows increasingly frustrated as, time and time again, others try to force her into a role that doesn't fit.

This aspect also features in Alice's "real" life, where her sister in particular is trying to force Alice to act like a respectable lady and find a nice young man. Braswell does a brilliant job of blending the storylines of the two worlds with similar problems for Alice to solve. Much as in Wonderland, England is facing an internal crisis of sorts as Ramsbottom, a man running for mayor, has a strong xenophobic streak that Alice opposes. It's not quite as awful as the Queen of Heart's murdering of her people for what she calls treason, but the two share the same theme of good vs bad leadership and doing what is best for the people. Likewise, there is an element of mirroring between the characters in England and in Wonderland. I loved that Alice's friends and family had counterparts in Wonderland, and although I figured out the identity of the Cheshire Cat's counterpart early on (there were too many reference of smiles and grins to ignore, and the name is a dead give-away), I still liked the revelation and the unique connection between the two characters.

My only complaint is the pace. The story could've been trimmed or condensed a fair bit in order to keep things moving, but as it is, there were times when I found myself skimming a few pages before something important happened again. While it's often nice to have a bit of down time--the characters can't realistically be in constant motion--and I did enjoy Braswell's descriptions of Wonderland, especially in comparison with the Wonderland of Alice's first visit, there were a lot of slow parts that detracted from the urgency of Alice's situation.

All in all, though, Unbirthday is a wonderful addition to the Twisted Tales series and a fantastic Wonderland "retelling." It's darker tone and more controversial topics reflect Alice's maturity as well as many of the issues present in the real world today. The older Alice is a wonderful lead; she's still imaginative and kindhearted, but she's lost a bit of the nonsense from her younger days and isn't afraid to take matters into her own hands rather than let choices be made for her. Braswell has done a great job of keeping the feel of Carroll's original Wonderland tale while creating a new story with both old and new characters to please a new generation of readers. If you're a fan of Wonderland, this book is for you.

I’m always on the lookout for a good retelling, especially for Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, which is one of my favorite classic stories. I’ve enjoyed a few retellings for it in the past—like L.L. McKinney’s Nightmare-verse series. So I had high expectations for Unbirthday. Unbirthday feels very much like a continuation of Disney’s 1951 film, Alice in Wonderland. The characters—Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and Dodo—have many similar characteristic (namely in appearance and behavior) to the characters of the movie or they could also more closely resemble those from the original story. With the story being set 11 years after Alice’s initial adventures in Wonderland, so there were differences, namely in the contents of the story. And overall I enjoyed Braswell’s take on an older Alice.

Alice is eighteen in this story, remembers Wonderland fondly as a dream, and looks for magic in her every-day surroundings. Overall, I enjoyed Alice’s perspective here. There was a blend between her regular life as well as her fantastical adventures once she returns to Wonderland. The transition between the two settings was done quite well, and I enjoyed many of the new characters introduced early in the story. Wonderland was full of nonsense and whimsy, and it was all-around pretty fun to read about. Due to the story, however, there was a much darker tone to Wonderland as a whole—in fact, it was downright sinister.

There was a part of the story that dealt a lot with politics—elections, rallies, the candidate, and social injustice—and many of those aspects mirrored real issues that are currently happening. In Unbirthday, Alice was involved with it, and it did take over much of the story outside of Wonderland. However, I did enjoy the complicated connections Alice formed with those around her, and some of my favorite characters included her aunt, Vivian, as well as Katz.

Unbirthday was a great Alice retelling. It had the whimsy and the wonder—and the randomness that’s a hallmark of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—but it also didn’t shy away from the more serious aspects of its story

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Disney-Hyperion) via Netgalley for this review, thank you!

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 4.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

It was absolutely ridiculous and absurd and perfect. Alice's voice was written so wonderfully and read flawlessly. I'm very grateful to have been given the opportunity to read and review an ARC copy through Netgally by Disney-Hyperion and Liz Braswell! This is the first "Twisted Tales" I've had the pleasure of reading and it's fitting, as Wonderland is my absolute favorite childhood memory. It's nice to see a grown version of Alice just as I have grown and lost a bit of my childhood nonsense.

Five stars

Looking for a twisted story to your usual Alice and Wonderland, then look no further and dive right into this book! Braswell keeps you on your toes with the spellbinding mystery that unfolds in this book.

**Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Hyperion for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my rating**

As many of you know, I am a HUGE Disney fan. So it's probably a surprise to find out that this is the first of the Twisted Tales I've read. I love Alice, as well, so I was glad for the opportunity to start the journey out here.

The story is split between Alice's problems in England and in Wonderland. England is undergoing a mayoral election where the leading candidate is incredibly xenophobic (If you're from the US, you'll recognize a lot of the White Nationalist dog whistling the current President does in Ramsbottom). Wonderland is facing trials in the form of the Queen of Hearts executing her citizens for "treason" and seizing their property for reasons unknown to Alice until about halfway through the book. Alice sets out to make both situations right with the help of her Wonderland friends, as well as a lawyer friend named Katz.

I liked that Braswell gave Alice a photography hobby in this book. It features heavily in the plot line and was a new skill I hadn't seen before in an Alice retelling, but one that certainly would have been unusual for a woman in this time period. It stuck to Alice's spirit of curiosity and creativity in the face of cultural norms, so I thought this was an excellent addition to the character. I also like that Alice really comes into her own and accepts who she is as a person by the end of the novel. She has a clear, definitive character arc where she goes from unease about the situations but thinking there isn't really anything she can do to realizing her worth and doing her best. All this to say the characterization of one of my most beloved characters was well executed.

I thought the idea of Alice's real world problem being xenophobia in her fellow countrymen was an interesting approach. As I mentioned before, the country I currently live in has a lot of that going on right now, so the rhetoric the mayoral candidate, Ramsbottom, uses was familiar and unsettling. That said, I thought the "solution" to this problem was a little simplistic. It was very "Wonderlandian", but as Alice is an adult at this point, I would expect her to realize that what happens at the conclusion is a one-time interruption that isn't really going to make much of a difference to the people attending Ramsbottom's events. They would already be aware of his xenophobic views and likely share them, so I don't think it would have worked the way it is presented. Clever idea, but not as impactful in practice as it would be in theory.

I also thought having the Queen of Hearts on the cover was kind of misleading. The Queen of Hearts is the "villain", but we don't see her at all until one chapter towards the end and she's only in that one chapter. We see the effects of what she's done, but she does it after some nudging from another character who is probably the actual "villain", although his motives come from a place of depression and grief, not antagonism. The actual "villain" is a strange choice and the depression angle made more sense, but I still think some Wonderland fans will be scratching their heads at that one.

While I think there are some issues that perhaps weren't handled as well due to lack of time or weak plotting (depression, the motivation of the Queen of Hearts), I do think there are others that shine brilliantly (xenophobia and Anti-Semitism). Braswell did an excellent job highlighting the effects of these issues on the victims and the kind of scare tactics used by those who hold these abhorrent beliefs. I think these issues are very topical and will resonate with the reader.

Overall, I thought this was a solid entry in this series. I'm glad I got to start with Alice and will go back and read some of the others I have. This book is whimsical but touches on topics important to the modern reader. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

A Very Merry Unbirthday to Alice!
In UNBIRTHDAY, 18- year- old Alice is called back to Wonderland on her unbirthday.
It's no wonder she is glad to return, her world is filled with xenophobia and corsets.
Since Alice is a young adult the Wonderland she revisits is more adult, too, there is actual blood and dead Wonderland characters!
Although Wonderland is not as fun as it was before, it's still a favorable escape to the real world Alice keeps returning to in UNBIRTHDAY, even though the latter now contains a romantic interest.
Braswell's fantasy novel contains many of the literal misunderstandings that made the original story and movie so beloved, and also suggests traces of the more recent modern films. Still it does not completely capture the ridiculous essence of the timeless tale. However, I'm sure YA readers will enjoy it.
Thank you for the (physical) ARC, Disney Hyperion!

This was probably one of the most interesting Alice in Wonderland retellings I have read because it is not only based on the original book but also the Disney movie. I really enjoyed the way that Liz Braswell represented the world of Wonderland. She has gotten the zany and nonsensical feel of Wonderland down perfectly. Especially, the characters. I loved that she adds games into the book for Alice to play, similar to Through the Looking Glass.

The depiction of Alice's character also impressed me. She has grown up since her past journey into Wonderland but you can still see that she has the same spunk and want for adventure. She questions the nonsense but goes along with it too. I liked seeing her in England with her photography. That was a great addition to the book that ties it in with Lewis Carroll.

Alice retellings are my favorites and this is definitely a great addition to them. This was my first of the Twisted Tales YA Series from Disney, but it definitely won't be my last. Can't wait for Go the Distance next year. I love Hercules. I also have to pick up the others, especially Part of Your World.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC copy of the book* I can't wait to receive my own copy.

I found myself drawn into this book immediately, like when Alice fell down the rabbit hole in the first book. I admit I found the book to be topsy turvy at times and full of nonsense, which is just the way Wonderland intended.

Alice is how 18 and a budding photographer. She spends all her time looking for things that remind her of Wonderland some 11 years ago. However, as she starts developing her recent photographs, she finds the characters of Wonderland staring back at her, pleading for her help. It turns out the Queen of Hearts has now gone more mad, if you can believe it, and is killing citizens of Wonderland in a grand blood lust to gain all the toys. This book revisits some favorite characters from Carroll's original novel and adds some new ones, including an explanation of Mary Anne.

I most definitely saw elements of Disney's Alice in Wonderland in this story, which is of course where Liz Braswell starts with inspiration. I have read several of these re-tellings and they all leave me kind of creeped out, which I think is the intention. However, this book is extremely dark. Think along the lines of the real Grimm's fairy tales, although I think at times even this book gives those a run for their money in the fright department.

I loved that Alice had some gumption in this book. She still has a vivid imagination but she is no longer the silly little girl that was lost in the first book. She is determined to save her friends from the Queen of Hearts and stop her from the End of Time.

I liked this book but I sometimes had a hard time following it. Sometimes the nonsense was just so overwhelming I found myself having to go back and re-read parts to understand what is going on. I definitely feel like Braswell brought the original feelings of Wonderland back and added richly to the original story. This is not a book for the younger audience, as I in my 30s found parts of it to be scary. It is a deliciously frightful Stephen King version of Disney fairy tales. Liz has done it again.

I've only read a handful of the Twisted Tales books, but I have liked each and every one of them. Including this one. As an Alice in Wonderland obsessed person in general, I could not request this one fast enough, and I was not disappointed. I loved how it made an already bad villain worse, depicted the Mad Hatter even crazier than most adaptations ever touch on, and gave a new spin on a pretty stagnant character. The story is a little long sometimes for what feels like no reason but it doesn't detract from my overall opinion too much. As someone with high standards when it comes to Alice retellings I was impressed. Recommend wholeheartedly.