I think the spin on the story in this book was excellent. The reader not only got to see character growth in Merida but in her parents as characters also. The story gave so much background on their heritage and customs. Some of the side stories were a little thin but overall I think the book was very good and would suggest it to others who like this genre.

One of the better titles in this series, I enjoyed Farrah Rochon’s interpretation of these characters in these settings and circumstances. However, the ending felt rushed and I was left feeling overall unsatisfied.

Merida is trying to escape her fate when she uses a spell on herself that was intended for her mother. As a result, Merida ends up back in time and interrupts the meeting of her parents, Elinor and Fergus. While Merida tries to figure out how to fix things, Elinor gives Merida a position in the kitchens and asks her to teach her survival skills. As they spend time together, Merida learns more about the life her mother had and Elinor learns that there may be another option. Overall, a story about understanding another person's perspective. It was nice to get more of the mother's perspective and then also the awareness Merida gains when working in a non-royal role. Fans of Brave and Back to the Future will enjoy this one.

Every single book in this series is fantastic. I didn't think it was possible to make me like Merida any more than I already do, but I love the perspective she gains when she is forced to consider her mother as a person in her own right.

This is my first Disney Twisted Tale novel, and the bar has been set pretty high. I loved Farrah Rochon's writing, she truly captured Merida's spirit on the page, which was a concern of mine. I really love how the story still revolves around the mother daughter relationship between Merida and Elinor - despite the fact they are the same age for most of the story. I definitely felt like I was reading a Medieval Scottish version of Back to the Future - and I'm not mad about it.

As a princess of the clan, Merida understands her roles and obligations. Her father has betrothed her to a man she’s never met, Merida wishes she could change her fate. Her mother, Queen Elinor, however, is insistent that Merida accept her fate. To change her fat, Merida visits a local witch and asks for a spell to change her mother. When Merida eats a cake intended for her mother, she finds herself in the past, before her parents had married and united their clans. Can Merida make sure her parents meet? Can she return to her own time?

The characters are likable and engaging. The witch is entertaining and adds comedic elements to the story. The plot is well written and add new perspective to Brave. Fans of Disney princesses, Brave, and retold fairy tales will like reading this book. Recommended for most library collections.

Please Note: A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are myown. No other compensation was received.

I absolutely loved this installment of the Twisted Tales series. This was the first book I have read by Farrah Rochon but it will not be my last. She completely embodies the spirit of Merida in her writing. The pacing and character building was fantastic. Having Merida go back in time to see her mother in a new light was magical. I look forward to including this book in my classroom collection.

Farrah Rochon has a way of telling this story that has you fully immersed in the world. I was so lost in what I was reading in the best possible way. While I am a huge Disney fan, this is only my second Twisted Tale read. I felt there was a perfect balance of the character we loved so much and what we knew of her and then hov her story shifts with the smallest change. I don't want to give too much away, but whether this is your first Twisted Tale story or you've read them all you won't be disappointed with Fate Be Changed! Thank you NetGalley and Disney Publishing for an ARC copy of this book.

Farrah Rochon does it again with this newest twisted tale! I absolutely loved her twist on Tiana in an earlier book of the series and couldn’t wait to see what she did with Merida. There are some things and characters not playing as important a role and that were essential to the original plot but for an alternative world still certainly quite enjoyable. It makes me look at meridas parents different as I did when reading one of the frozen books that offered Elsa and Anna’s parents backstory. It makes me have a better understanding of them and they become so sweet (and they already were to begin with).

This book very much relies on you having seen the movie recently, as it doesn’t much bother with imagery. The book is also slow to set up any of the intrigue it promises in the description (which made me very bored). The main plot also had seemingly very little to do with the original film’s story. I didn’t enjoy this book, and gave up on reading it, but I also feel I wasn’t the intended audience.

My thanks to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for providing me with a digital copy of the book to review.

This was a fun quick read in keeping with the rest of the flipped Disney fairy tales. In this case Merida goes back in time to meet her teenaged mother who turns out to have been not at all what she imagined. There are some unexpected twists, though at times the premise feels a bit contrived.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. I've read a few books in this series and this one did not disappoint. I actually liked that I don't know the story of Brave as much as I do other disney movies because it allowed for me to enjoy this story more. I love the little twist that this book brought to the tale of Merida and her family.

I really liked this one! I like how the chapters changed between Merida and Elinor’s perspectives. I loved seeing the way Merida came around and it was such a fun twist!

This is my first introduction to the Twisted Tales, and I absolutely adored it!

I have always enjoyed reading twists on classic stories, and seeing how one small change can make for an entirely different story. This book does the twist in such an incredible way. Seeing her transported in a "Back to the Future" way was a great choice! The reader was able to see a new side to Merida's parents and explore their meeting and relationship. What a great story for Brave fans!!

This book was seriously so much fun, I finished in a day. I love Merida’s story arc and the way she changes, and changes her fate. She is brash and learns so much. She is wise and kind and good. She’s just a really beloved character for me.

And something I DID NOT EXPECT— the enemies to lovers storyline between her parents is THE BEST VIBES EVER. I love a good time travel book as much as the next person, but the implications in this were a lot of fun, and the tension between these two was seriously great.

I would love to see more of them. But seeing what I saw was so so good. Also, this was a dual POV with Eleanor and Merida. So fantastic.



TW/CW: some minor injuries/stabbings

This book was such a fun read! I’m always a fan of the Twisted Tale series, and I was intrigued from the get-go about how Merida’s story might be flipped in this book. I received both a digital and audio copy to review, so I began by flipping between the two formats. While I enjoyed both, I ended up settling on listening to the audio only because the narration was so excellent! We love a narrator with a Scottish accent!

This book moves quickly right from the beginning, which I really appreciated. Sometimes retellings drag at the beginning because they try to set up the story and prep the reader for changes, but this one picks up right as Merida is riding in the woods after her big fight with her mother. She ends up at the witch’s cottage, but that’s when things start taking a turn. When I realized what was going on, I was initially a little skeptical. A teen sent back in time whose presence prevents their parents from falling in love, which the teen then has to fix? Sounds familiar and done to death. However, the story continued to travel down its own unique path with a great storyline and such lovable characters.

The story is full of mystery, adventure, and a bit of romance. I loved getting to know Elinor and Fergus in a different light, and now I kind of have a bit of a crush on King Fergus, which is a little confusing. The shifting POVs between Elinor and Merida really highlight the two women’s similarities in a deeper way than seen in the film. I was enchanted the whole time and definitely recommend this title to any Brave fan!

Princess Merida of clan DunBroch would rather marry herself than wed any of the chieftain's sons presented before her. Merida has never lived up to her mother’s lofty expectations, and this newest demand forcing Merida to strengthen ties with an allied clan is no exception. In an attempt to avoid the inevitable, Merida escapes into the nearby woods where she comes across a witch, whom Merida asks to make her a potion that will change her fate. What Merida receives is not quite what she expects, though it does grant Merida and her mother new perspectives on their lives and offers them the opportunity to reconsider their interactions with one another.

This young adult novel provides an alternate trajectory for the Disney movie Brave, showing readers a second perspective from which to view the events in that story. The beginning of the book is nearly identical to the film, when Merida disguises herself to play for her own hand in the Highland Games. From there, the stories are identical until the witch gives Merida her spell, because the cake is eaten by Merida instead of her mother. Merida travels back in time to the days leading up to her mother’s own betrothal, and the two young women discover exactly how alike they truly are.

The novel itself moves quickly thanks to its good writing and relatively short chapters. Throughout the narrative, the perspective shifts from Merida to Elinor and back again, which permits readers who see into each of the character’s minds and better understand their behaviors. Fans of Disney’s Brave will appreciate this novel approach to the original tale, especially if they are older and more confident readers. Thanks to the design and relative simplicity of the text and plot, this book is well suited to both confident middle grade and older readers as the story is accessible from several perspectives. Engaging and thoughtfully presented, this is an enjoyable addition to library collections for young adult readers.

Fate Be Changed was engaging, thoughtful, and reflective. I have read several of these Twisted Tails over the last several years and was raised on many of the Disney Princess movies. When I came across this one on NetGalley I was very excited for the change of the witches spell and how it would play out. Merida's character is one that as an adult I fell in love. It was refreshing encountering her personality that is SO independent, limit-pushing, and loving character. I also think about my former first graders, who loved her and embraced being like her. There were many years of them dressing up for on Halloween as Merida.

Fate Be Changed is unique and the twist shows not just Merida's thoughts of change but a beautiful viewpoint of how changes in a family happen for the better. The family line of Merida was explored, refined, and and definitely evolved from who Merida was, who Elinor was and her life, and the rules that Queen Catriona imposed on her daughters life as an expectation. I also never really thought about Elinor and Fergus story line as teenagers and young adults, this book gave me understanding and compassion for them and their past to pave the way for their children to live their lives freely. There were also parts that I just was laughing out loud of the exchanges between their characters.

I thought that Fate Be Changed was well thought through for character development and plot. I also really appreciated that Farrah Rochon gave a voice to Freya, the witch, who gave Merida a different spell. In the movie portrayal the "wood carver" was quite different. I appreciated that even Freya had a personality and that when Merida went to "change her fate" that Freya wasn't just a crazy old witch with a love for bear carvings and retelling historical lore of the past.

All in all, Fate Be Changed was a good page turner and reflective read with great plot points and character development. Thank you again to NetGalley, Disney Publishing Worldwide, and to Farrah Rochon for the ARC.

Farrah Rochon is such a fantastic author, her take on Merida and an alternative Brave storyline is so good and enchanting. There's just a much mother-daughter bonding as in the original Brave, if not more, and her writing lends so much depth to Merida and Elinor and their relationship. This alternate story is also just lots of fun!

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

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

Fate Be Changed is part of the Twisted Tales series that takes familiar beloved Disney characters and reimagines their stories. This is the story of Merida,frustrated and annoyed by her fate and wanting nothing more than to choose for herself what her future holds. Little does she know that her mother once felt exactly the same way.