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.

The author really outdid herself with this story, a twisted tale of Disney's Brave. In this story, Merida eats the spelled cake rather than her mother. In doing so, she disrupts a major part of her family's history, threatening bith her life and the very freedom she covets.

Merida is one of my favorite princesses, and I couldn't wait for her tale, and it did not disappoint! The story had a great pace and it was really great to see Merida get a better understanding of her mother, and her mother's life.

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for the advanced reader copy of this twisted tale.

I own a few of these twisted tales but had never actually read them so this was my first. I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it despite having seen the original Brave movie a few times. I felt that this story really sucked me in and had amazing character development.

I found the story engaging even as an adult who is fond of fairy tales. It didn't every seem slow.

I think any child (or even adult) who loves a good fairy tale even if they are unfamiliar with the movie Brave would like story.

Fate Be Changed is an interesting reimagining of Brave with a mashup of Back To The Future and perhaps a smidge of Teen Wolf--but with a bear. Merida has to find a way to get her parents together after not truly knowing about her mother's past as an aristocrat. This story stays true to the heart of Merida, who wants to live by her own rules and not be tied down by tradition despite her attempts to ensure her parents remain consistent with their traditional marriage. It was a good read to revisit familiar characters in a new light.
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fate Be Changed is a truly enjoyable Disney Twisted Tale. This could be a stand alone, and you don’t really need to watch “Brave” before reading. That being said, the changes in the story are intriguing, while keeping the true nature of the characters intact.

This novel stands on its own, whether you have watched the movie Brave or not. Using the same characters, and focusing on Merida, this novel is a twist on the plot of the movie. Instead of Merida's mother Elinor eating the cake, Merida eats it herself, and finds herself transported back to a time when Elinor was an unwed girl, about to be betrothed to someone other than Merida's father Fergus. Merida has only a short time to change history back to what she remembers before she turns into the Mor'du, the mythical bear. Working against time, Merida encounters numerous obstacles in her quest to unite her parents, as the hair on her hands, then her chin, legs, and body, begins to grow, thicken, and darken.

Based on the mythology of the Scottish Highlands, this is a fun book for readers of all ages, with a primary theme showing that our lives are based on our choices, and secondary themes about family, duty, and responsibility.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I cannot express how much I love Farrah Rochon’s writing! She perfectly captures our beloved characters from Brave and gives them the story they deserve in this new Disney Twisted Tale, Fate Be Changed!

Remember in the movie when Merida runs off to the Witch to get a spell to change her fate? Well, the witch gives her a different spell this time that will indeed do the trick! But Merida ate the cake intended for her mother and gets sent back to a time before the clans were united, before her parents were married and before the threat of war.

One person is all it takes to change the future and Merida has set off events that may not be recoverable. It is up to her to fix the past to secure the future in this wild and adventurous twist of a tale!