I'm always really intrigued by the concepts of the books in the Twisted Tales series, yet they tend to fall a little short for me in terms of execution. Sadly, that was the case for me for this book, although I will say I enjoyed Calonita's writing more than I have enjoyed past authors in this series.

We'll blame it on the Disney magic. These characters are so bright and vibrant on the screen, and I think that's something that is really hard to capture on the page. I just wasn't very invested in the characters and their arcs. While it was fun to revisit the world of Hercules for a little while, there wasn't a lot here that kept me invested in this knew rendition of a beloved story.

2/5 stars

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My curse with eARCs continues...

Disney needs to stop labeling the Twisted Tales series as YA… or at least whenever Jen Calonita writes one. From reading both Go the Distance and Mirror Mirror, Calonita writes in a bland MG style that does nothing to create distinct voices for Disney characters. Snow White and Megara are miles a part in terms of personality and YET, Meg could have easily been swapped for Snow White and almost nothing would have changed tone-wise! I believed since Calonita had done a decent job with the Evil Queen’s voice in Mirror Mirror, she might pull off Meg. But nope! In Go the Distance, Meg is desperately insecure and needs constant reminders about what it means to love and sacrifice and protect another. And while I can buy Meg being insecure over becoming a God and wondering if she wants to stay with Hercules for eternity, I don’t buy her not understanding sacrifice and protecting someone else when she verbatim did that IN THE MOVIE. She sacrificed herself FOR Hercules and died as a result!! Why Calonita went with this approach for Meg’s overall character development is beyond me.

Pros and Cons with minor spoilers below:

PROS:

Relationship Development: SOME of the relationships were developed well. The book was at its best when Meg and Phil were playing off each other, and Calonita seemed to have a better understanding of who Meg is when she’s bantering and projecting her insecurities onto Phil. The relationship dynamic between Meg and Katerina was also pretty solid.

Female Characters: LOTS of women in this book – and the majority of the time, they don’t talk about men! It’s more about Meg’s personal journey, what drives her, and who she truly believes she is. I appreciated that given in the movie, Meg doesn’t speak to any other woman.

CONS:

Writing Style: Terrible, which shouldn’t be the case when you have such a dynamic character in Meg. Even when the perspective shifts to Hades a few times, there’s no stark contrast in tone or style.

Relationship Development: Also a con because WOW, did relationships just flounder. Meg and Hercules especially! While Hercules is more or less in-character, Meg just shoves everything she learned in the movie out the window and doesn’t put her trust in Hercules – which again, directly contradicts the movie. Hades and Meg’s banter felt stale in this novel, don’t get me started on Hades’ subplot. I was really looking forward to it and there was absolutely no payoff from the hints given in the beginning. Boo.

Character Development: Like I said, Meg’s character development when you bring in the movie for context makes absolutely zero sense. There was no point re-hashing the same character beats in the movie and expecting readers to be happy with it. It would have been much easier and plenty more fulfilling if Calonita structured Meg’s motivation around her insecurities about being a God and what that could mean for her and her relationship with Hercules, rather than her not “understanding” sacrifice and love.

Structure: What was the point of the beginning of this book? Why did the book try to make Zeus the villain for five seconds only to immediately strip all that away? After the 20% mark, the book hits its stride in terms of narrative cohesion but a fifth of this book should NOT feel like filler.

Also, while it might have been seen as repetitive given Elizabeth Lim’s Twisted Tale of Mulan, we could’ve spent more time in the Underworld and a little more time in Hades’ POV.

Go the Distance by Jen Calonita
“I’m a Big Tough Girl, can tie my own sandals and everything.”
Hercules is now a God, but if he wants to stay with Meg something has to change. Crazy thought Meg becomes a God… Can our favorite sassy Tough Girl handle this to be with Wonder Boy?
~~~~~~~~~~
Ya’ll when I saw that someone was finally making a book about Hercules and Megara; I lost my mind! Also screamed and danced around my room when I got approved for the ARC and then watched Hercules on Disney+. Finally, finally; my favorite couple is in the spotlight and it was absolutely fantastic! I was so happy our girl Meg got recognized, she’s so underrated. I always hated it; I dressed up like her for Halloween about 4 times.
I couldn’t put it down, Meg’s story was touching and powerful; giving us a greater sense of her guarded and strong willed personality. The writing had me on the edge of my seat constantly and I would sometimes scream at Meg for her choices. I absolutely loved the detailing of the world and everything she had to go through.
But there are also some powerful messages in this story as well cause Disney nowadays has some pretty good messages. If Disney actually had anything to do with drafting this book. I would imagine they had a voice, cause anything with Disney’s name on it Calonita does an amazing job with also tying the story with Greek mythology and what the Gods/Godesses are known for and their characteristics.

Thank you for the E-Arc NetGalley. For anyone that loved Disney’s Hercules this is an awesome twist on Megaras story. It was chalk full of adventure and there are tons of good lessons to be learned from her travels. I could practically see and hear the movie version of this in my head it was that entertaining. Super fun 5 star read..

ARC provides by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“Go The Distance” is your typical hero’s quest story with one event leading to the next. Meg undertakes the journey in order to join Hercules on Mount Olympus and along the way she comes to accept the events of her past in order to be ready for her future.

Hercules has long been one of my favourite Disney movies, and I always wished that Meg could join him on Mount Olympus so this book seemed like it would be the perfect continuation / addition to that tale.

If I am being honest, this book got a lot better as it went along. I felt as though the characterizations were off and the plot points were a bit contrived in the beginning. However, in the last third of the book things definitely fall into place and everything felt a lot more genuine. One of my favourite parts of the story was how the myth of Persephone and Hades was woven in and I wish that had more time to develop— yet this was Meg’s story so it makes sense why it was just a brief subplot.

All in all, “Go The Distance” was a solid read, hence the three star review. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read the ARC but it won’t be a book that I purchase for my collection

This is my first time reading one of The Twisted Tales books, and I was so excited! I love retellings, I love fairy tales, and I love mythology, so this book was absolutely perfect for me!

One thing I realized pretty early on is that this book is marketed as YA, but it is definitely more lower YA/middle grade storytelling. I would say the ideal age range for this book is lower teens, which is totally fine, but just a little more juvenile of a book than I was expecting.

The story starts towards the end of the Disney movie version of Hercules, now I love that movie, its one of my favorite Disney movies, but it is so far removed from any semblances of mythology. The most obvious example? The happy, loving family man Zeus. (Not to mention that Hera is not his mother and if I remember correctly, Hercules actually murders Megara at one point. Go Mythology!)

One thing I loved about this book, it stayed in tune with the cutesy Disney-ness, but added a lit bit more of the original stories and character traits into it. Starting with, when the animated Hercules says that he wants to stay with Megara, and becomes a mortal (which not gonna lie, was my only issue with the film, what a shit ending), this time around Zeus says NO. This God stands up and says WE DID NOT DO ALL THIS WORK FOR YOU TO BE A HUMAN, BOY SIT YOUR GOD BUTT DOWN AND BE DONE WITH THIS MORTAL GIRL. (I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the idea). Which honestly, is how the movie should have ended in the first place, but I digress…

Than we have Hera step in with a quest for Megara – if she completes it, she will make her into a God as well, and then she can be with Hercules forever! Which I personally think is a poor decision, she only just got her soul back, has only known Hercules a few days, but you know, true love and all that nonsense.

Speaking of the true love of Megara and Hercules, it was really annoying that she constantly referred to him as “Wonderboy”. I get it – it was the nickname she gave him in the movie but it was CONSTANT and unnecessary. This book really loved its nicknames in general. Megara referred to Pegasus as “Peg”, Phil calls her “Red”. Does no one use full names around here?

Megara’s quest seems simple at first – she has to find Athena’s flute. From there the quest turns and Megara is forced to confront her past, her ex, Hades, and learns many painful truths along the way.

Without spoiling any of the details – I really loved Meg’s quest and how it dove into her past and the moments after she sold her soul. My biggest problem with Meg in this one was how STUBBORN SHE WAS. She took “strong independent female” to an unnatural degree and was determined to do everything alone, even if it put her and others in dangerous situations. It was annoying, and I kept waiting for her to learn from her most recent mistake, but it took her so much longer than I wanted her too.

Since this is a cutesy tale – Megara does eventually learn from her mistakes, heals her past wounds, brings together happiness and joy, and all those wonderful Disney feels.

There is also a subplot involving a different love story, when Megara and Hercules first arrive at the beginning of the story, there are whispers of how harvest season is starting soon, and Persephone is nowhere to be found. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone who doesn’t know, but if you do know the story of Persephone you can probably guess where she is. I loved the inclusion of this story and expanding the Disney world of Gods a little bit.

Overall, this was an adorable story. A little younger feel then I was originally anticipating, but it was cute for what it was. It’s a story about dealing with grief and pain, of learning from your mistakes, but most of all its a story about love and forgiveness.

What can I say each book in this series just gets better and better. I love these what if alternative endings to beloved Disney movies and can't wait to see which movie gets picked next

Well...that was certainly disappointing. I didn't get my hopes up since Calonita seems notoriously bad at writing retellings from the scathing reviews I've seen of the other twisted tales that she has written. But I'm still bummed because this is Hercules we are talking about. One of my favorite childhood movies with a very underrated heroine (yes it's mainly about Herc but Meg is still a heroine in her own right). This book really did Megara dirty. How? by turning her into a glorified Mary Sue.

We all know Megara. Fearless, sassy, and snarky.

Things are pretty much as bad as it can get for her being basically property to the God of the Underworld Hades all because she tried to save your boyfriend's life who turned out to be a two timer. Let's just say things don't miraculously go her way and she does end up being crushed by a pillar in order to save Herc. Pretty as low as it gets.
YET she did what she had to do and did her best and ends up the girlfriend to a god. Not too shabby.

BUT this version of Meg was an insult to her character. This book was her quest to become a god but everything went right for her. When things hit the fan she could fix it. She just knew how to do everything from using a bow to playing a flute so well it put Cerebus to sleep. What irked me most of all too was her reckless behavior. Meg is smart not hot headed and quick to make stupid mistakes.
As for the plot it was just weird and all over the place. The gods helping her out was an interesting touch but the conversations felt so stilted and awkward. Just none of it worked and in truth Meg would have most likely died due to these quests she did and would have never made it to Hades but the plot had deus ex machina after deus ex machina to make everything just fall into place for her in the most unrealistic way possible with no smooth transition.

So your probably wondering why this got stars at all. Well...I had to give it some few good points. It was an interesting premise to have Meg become a god and to have this who redemption arc with her cheating boyfriend and her having to be the better woman in an awful situation. I also liked the whole Hades and Persephone story line was thrown in there since it's one of my favorite story lines in Greek Mythology since for some reason I always liked this version of Hades and it's cute he's got now something to make his dreary immortal existence worthwhile. I'm also glad she did end up a god (even though that's obvious that would happen) and her and Hercules now have a happy ending as immortals together forever. I always have had a sweet spot for happy endings.

Anyway if your a hardcore fan of Hercules I wouldn't recommend it. (less)

Step aside Herc, it's Meg's time!

So, this book series Twisted Tales is entirely hit or miss even within the audience. People either love it, or they don't, and this happens on a book by book level. I love the movie Hercules (and all it's total inaccuracies) and was hoping this one would come to light. And when it did - THANK YOU ITS ABOUT MEG.

That being said, I have so many mixed feelings. Meg's backstory is the usual tragedy - missing dad, mom raised her as best she could, fell in love with music, met her former love, and traded her soul to save him... then get abandoned. Then Hercules happens, yadda yadda, happy ending right? Nope. Zeus tells her she can't be with Herc because she's... mortal. So she has to prove herself worthy by saving her ex's current wife. OUCH.

The premise is great, the story is entertaining, but I feel like Meg deserved better. I might be reading into it too much, but her character seemed a little hollow. It's marketed as YA, but this book is solidly Middle Grade with the writing level and the characterization. As MG it's good, as YA, it's lacking.

I still liked it. But I might be starved for Hercules content.

This is an interesting version of the classic myths. I believe what the author was going for was a real-world parallel and I think that was done well, although, when it comes to true myth and Greek history it is not very accurate. I do not think the book is meant to be accurate, I just think that the fact should be mentioned. Overall I think this was a good read.

I absolutely loved going back into the world of Hercules! This book picked up right where the movie left off (with a little twist) and took you on an adventure with Meg and it. was. fantastic.

*Disclaimer I received a free copy of this book, this will not change my thought or feelings towards it at all*

As a fan of the Twisted Tale series, I have to say this one was quite enjoyable especially coming from Jen Calonita who for me typically is way usually a let down often for this series. But it was overall all really good. Some of the things I didn’t like were that the beginning was way to slow and dragged out. The end was very rushed and Phil was quite annoying for me. Some of the things I really enjoyed were the last half of the book, Meg and the lesson that Meg learned I really enjoyed. I also loved the new characters that were introduced. I thought the pacing was very good for the middle of the book while I said earlier the beginning was slow and the ending was rushed. Over all the ending is what really (for me at least) boosted it from a 3.5 rounded up to a 4.5 rounded up.

*This review will be posted on Goodreads March 1st and on Amazon and B&N April 6th*

“Go the Distance” was an amazing twisted tale brought to us by Jen Calonita. I have always loved these books because they showcase the “What if” questions we have always wanted to know at the end of a Disney movie. This book holds true to the story of Hercules and Megara while bringing a brand new story that keeps you entranced the entire time. I cannot wait to see what the next story is about but would absolutely promote this to my class to read. 10/10 goes to this book! :)

Hercules is one of my absolute favorite Disney movies and it's because of Meg. She'll always be my favorite Disney character and I really, really, really like Elsa. But Meg, she's much more like me all the way down to the cheating boyfriend. I think this series is meant for younger readers if I'm honest but I still enjoyed it. There were some inconsistencies I felt with Meg's characterization at times. But, I enjoyed the Hades inclusion in the story. All in all, this was a really fun read. Again, I think younger YA readers would really enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion (Disney Publishing Worldwide) providing an advanced eArc in exchange for my honest review.

When reading the synopsis of the book, I was thrilled. Megara (affectionately known as "Meg" or "Red") has always been one of my favorite, underrated Disney characters. I have always loved her wittiness and "I've got this!" kind of attitude. Also, as someone who LOVES reading Greek mythology, it was a fun adventure encountering the various gods/goddesses that I have read about before.

While Hercules has proven himself to be worthy of taking his rightful place as a god, Meg (with no such inheritance) has to prove her worth by confronting her most challenging task... admitting her love and finding the meaning of it. Meg has to encounter hilarious situations that her impulsive attitude lands her end. With each adventure, she begins to find the meaning of the quest in the first place. By the end, she recognizes her true feelings for her "Wonder Boy" Herc. I actually LOVED the book. Calonita did a PHENOMENAL job of capturing Meg's personality and spinning a story about her.

I was excited for this book, but I seemed to have overlooked the fact that this series leaves me feeling…odd. Something is just off about the characters that makes reading these twisted tales a weird kind of fanfiction experience.

I’ve only read the Frozen twisted tale, and like this one, Go the Distance isn’t bad, but it doesn’t feel right.

Watching these movies growing up, you’re used to one story for so long, and characterization that you’ve seen hundreds of times. The characters in these twisted tales always feel off, like you can tell they have no connection to the source, even if these books are written under the Disney umbrella.

The plot is okay, if not basic. Meg has to prove she’s worthy of becoming a goddess by helping her ex and proving her vulnerability. That sounds like things Meg from the movie needs to work on, but really, in terms of the movie, she actually does accomplish that kind of redemption by dying for Hercules. However, for the sake of drama (and the “twisted” tale) I guess that’s something that needs to be revisited.

The one thing I actually really liked about this book is the fact we get to learn more about Meg’s ex. Why she’s so hurt, what happened between them, why she won’t say she’s in love with Herc. It was interesting, it was new, and the unnamed character from the movie actually provides a clean slate for the author. It’s a good tie in to the movie, but that’s the only part I liked. Meg, Phil, Hercules, even Hades all felt so out of character. At times Hades was the most similar to the movie which was amusing, however I was really uncomfortable at the inclusion of the Hades & Persephone relationship; Disney Hades is definitely not a Hades you want to picture with a young, naive goddess. (It’s skeevy at best.) Hercules was also so bland! Like always screaming “Meg!” and spinning her around. Boy does it one time in the movie and this author just runs with it. He was included in probably 15ish pages and he adds basically nothing. I get this story is about Meg but it’s sad to see such a strong character reduced to the sidelines like an extra.

I know these are called twisted tales, but honestly what’s really twisted about this story? It takes place where the movie leaves off, when Hercules is welcomed back to Mount Olympus; it literally has no bearing on the original Disney story. How can you look me in the eye and tell me this isn’t canon fanfiction? I would have liked to have seen Meg have to accomplish something during the course of the movie. Like Hercules dies when trying to rescue her from the river Styx and Meg has to go on her quest from the point to save herself, since she sacrificed herself for Hercules in the first place. That’s a twisted tale! But of course, it’s Disney- they only kill parents, not love interests.

I would have also liked to have seen more about Meg’s dad. He up and leaves in the prologue, but I feel there was a real chance to include him in Meg’s quest. They included the ex who jilted her, why not her dad? Her quest was so easy compared to what Hercules had to go through to achieve godhood so it would’ve been nice to Meg actually go through more than two steps.

Overall, not the best thing I’ve read. It’s not twisted, technically, and there’s still a happy ending. Kind of boring, really. But I like Meg and she does get some good growth throughout.

This is my second Twisted Tales book I’ve read and my goodness I enjoyed it. I was filled with so many emotions and I kept thinking “these are the same characters from a childhood favorite?”

In this book, the focus is on Megara, and rightfully so. Though while this book feels more like a sequel, the twisted part of this is “what if Zeus didn’t allow Hercules to stay on earth with Meg? And Meg had to do her own heroic quest?”

What I loved about that, is Zeus refusing to let Hercules become mortal again felt more in character of non Disneyfied Zeus and therefore felt more realistic (as realistic as you can get with Greek Gods that is).

I definitely recommend this for fans of Hercules, especially fans of Meg. Even if you’re not and you’re just a Greek Mythology fan in general, definitely recommend giving this a read.

First off, thank you NetGalley and Disney Books for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Second, wow!!! This book blew me away, and I am shook. I like how there was so much tension and drama throughout this. It made it easy to like the Gods of Olympus. Usually, it’s not easy to like them. However, it also made for a more fulfilling story in terms of the main characters progress. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, she had points in which she felt things were too hard, but in the end she persevered. She is a good example of how life isn’t easy, and that’s what I really enjoyed about this book. Meg was determined to be a God to stay with Hercules, almost failed, and still managed to realize that there are greater things in life then being selfish. I really enjoyed how the writing style made this easy to read, the plot was paced nicely, and how the story has great drama to keep a reader reading. Well done, Jen Calonita.

I was really excited to have the opportunity to read an ARC as the underrated Meg as its protagonist. I'm a bit torn on how I feel about, so I will start with the good. I really like that it is a clean read that picks up after the movie ends. It was an intriguing take on what could have occurred after. I enjoyed learning about a more in depth backstory for Meg, and it was pretty faced paced and had engaging adventures. I also thought it had some really nice and positive messages. Meg evolved a lot over the course of the book, even though it is quite a short period of time, as she makes some tough, but selfless choices.

For the not so great...first off, depending on what you are expecting, the writing really read more like a middle grade than a YA book. The speech was fairly juvenile and simple. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps, something to be aware of going into reading it. I also felt like this Meg was quite a bit different than the one we all know and love from the movie. She certainly doesn't come off as brave and sassy as much. Reading from her perspective and being able to hear the fears and insecurities of her, is very likely a reason for some incompatibilities in personality. Also, the author likely wanted Meg to have more obvious character development through the story, and the contrast of her having weak moments can help this effort.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were parts I didn't love, and the juvenile speech and oversimplification of some characters annoyed me at times. The interaction with Meg and Hercules was so little that I was rather disappointed. However, I still found the plot to be engaging and appreciated that it was a clean read (this is increasingly harder to find, even in YA books, sadly) with only nondescript kissing a few times. I loved that it was from Meg's perspective, which is a pretty unique take, and the integration of other Greek gods' stories. I would probably rate this lower in terms of YA, but for middle grades I would give it a solid 4.

*****5 Stars!

“Love means opening your heart to another, no matter the consequences.”


First off I would like to thank Disney and NetGalley for allowing me to read an arc of this book, I am so honored to be given a chance to give an honest review for this book.

Go the Distance is a continuation of Disney’s Hercules but with a new twist, what if Zeus refuses to allow Hercules to live out his life on Earth with Meg? Hera comes up with a fair solution and that is to offer Meg a chance to prove her worth and earn a spot among the Gods on Mt. Olympus. This offer sends Meg off on a hero’s quest that will not only prove her worth to the Gods, but it will force her to do some soul searching herself and put her face to face with a past that she wished to keep buried. Now she must see if she has the ability to overcome her past and come to understand the true desires of her heart.

This book is written so beautifully and written with the perfect pacing, I was hooked the moment I finished the first chapter. Hercules had always been one of my all time favorite Disney movies and the start of my fascination with Greek Mythology, I had watched it so many times I had nearly worn out my poor VHS tape. I found that this book was able to answer so many questions I’ve had floating around inside my head for years, which only added to my love for this book. Growing up I always found Meg to be such an interesting character with her sassy and sarcastic attitude, she was so unlike every other Disney heroine. As I grew older I had come to realize how relatable her character truly was, I was always left wondering more about her. What brought her to this point and formed her core beliefs and attitude towards life and love? I absolutely love how this book was able to go into detail about her childhood and how she was brought up and how that upbringing made her into the person she was in Hercules.

Her character development throughout this book was so profound and much needed; her issues of commitment were put on full display and what brought them about and made them take root. Throughout her journey I loved seeing her peel back the layers of these issues one by one and put them on display for the readers--it made her so vulnerable and even more relatable than she had been in the movies. As children love was so straightforward and simple in our eyes, and as we grew older we realized that it was messier and more complicated than we expected, so if you were a fan of Meg when you were younger I think you’d very much enjoy reading this book as an adult. There is something very special about relating to a character you’ve loved so much as a child now as an adult. Like Meg we’re forced to question ourselves in adulthood and come to a similar understanding of what we want in life and what path we should take to get there. The process of understanding our own hearts is a quest in itself, just like the quest Meg had undertaken.

I also loved the author’s ability to really get into each character; everyone was so perfectly written, in my mind I couldn’t help but read all the dialogue in the story in their voices. It felt so authentic to the movie yet also so unique. This brings me to another one of my favorite points of the story and that’s Hades. Not only was he so perfectly written, I couldn’t seem to get James Woods' voice out of my head while reading his parts, I love the character arc she had set out for him. With my love of Greek Mythology came a very intense fascination with the tale of Hades and Persephone, I remember when I was younger I was always a little upset that they never added Persephone into the story. So, when Persephone made her appearance in this book it made me so beyond happy! I loved seeing her love story with Hades play out in this particular universe, it was so unique and fun to be able to read. The way Hades and Persephone seemed to compliment each other so perfectly really brought the moral of this story to light--if someone like Hades could open himself up to love and allow himself to not only be vulnerable around the person he loved, but placed his trust in the palm of her hands, why couldn’t Meg be able to do the same with Hercules? Hades loved Persephone and that didn’t make him weak despite his reputation, it only made him stronger with her at his side. Thus proving that love does not make a person weak, it only makes them so much stronger than they had been alone.

The title of this book, Go the Distance, was such an appropriate choice for this story because everyone has to go the distance in their lives to be able to not only find their true authentic self but to find the place where they belong in this world, just like both Meg and Hercules had done the same. Going the distance might be hard and scary at first, but one must have faith and follow their own individual path to get the answers they seek.

This book was such an absolute delight to read, it brought back so much nostalgia from my childhood and I enjoyed being able to connect to this book and the characters in a new way. This is a book I would highly recommend to everyone, especially if you have a love for Hercules and Greek Mythology. It was such a positive and enchanting read and not one I would be able to forget.