Disney. Twisted Tales: Wenn Wünsche wahr werden

by Elizabeth Lim, Ronald Gutberlet (translator)

Ein neuer Band der Bestseller-Reihe Twisted Tales!

Von der Spiegel-Bestseller-Autorin Elizabeth Lim

Was wäre, wenn die Blaue Fee Pinocchio nicht hätte helfen sollen? Diese New York Times-Bestseller-Serie verwandelt einen weiteren Disney-Klassiker in eine erschütternde Geschichte, in der die Blaue Fee sich über das Feengesetz hinwegsetzt und eine dramatische Kette von Ereignissen in Gang setzt.

"Stern hell, Stern hell, der erste Stern, den ich heute Nacht sehe ...". "So beginnt der Wunsch, der alles verändert - für Geppetto, für die Blaue Fee und für eine kleine Marionette namens Pinocchio. Die Blaue Fee darf in dem kleinen Dorf Pariva eigentlich keine Wünsche erfüllen, aber irgendetwas an diesem Wunsch weckt ein lang verschüttetes Flackern in ihr. Vielleicht ist es die Hoffnung, die sie unter der Einsamkeit des alten Mannes spürt.

Oder vielleicht ist es die Tatsache, dass sie vor langer Zeit, bevor sie die Blaue Fee war, eine junge Frau namens Chiara aus eben diesem Dorf war, die einen einfachen Wunsch anderen zu helfen, ihr Glück zu finden. Ihre Schwester Ilaria hat sie deswegen immer gehänselt, denn Ilaria hatte große Träume, ihr verschlafenes Dorf zu verlassen und eine weltberühmte Opernsängerin zu werden. Die beiden standen sich trotz ihrer Differenzen nahe. Während Ilaria alles dafür gegeben hätte, dass eine Fee ihren Wunsch erfüllte, glaubte Chiara nicht an die Überlieferungen, für die ihr Dorf berühmt war.

Vierzig Jahre später widersetzt sich Chiara, jetzt die Blaue Fee, den Regeln der Magie, um einer alten Freundin zu helfen. Doch sie wird von der Scharlachroten Fee, ehemals Ilaria, entdeckt, die ihrer Schwester die Verfehlung seit Jahrzehnten übel nimmt. Sie beschließen, die Sache durch eine gute, altmodische Wette zu regeln, wobei das Schicksal von Pinocchio und Geppetto auf dem Spiel steht.

Werden die Schwestern einen Weg zurück zueinander finden? Oder ist dies, wie viele Herzensangelegenheiten, ein Spiel, das mit Bedingungen verbunden ist?

Genres: Fantasy, Retellings, Young Adult, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Audiobook, Magic

497 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 4, 2023

About the author

Elizabeth Lim grew up on a hearty staple of fairy tales, myths, and songs. Her passion for storytelling began around age 10, when she started writing fanfics for Sailor Moon, Sweet Valley, and Star Wars, and posted them online to discover, "Wow, people actually read my stuff. And that's kinda cool!" But after one of her teachers told her she had "too much voice" in her essays, Elizabeth took a break from creative writing to focus on not flunking English.

Over the years, Elizabeth became a film and video game composer, and even went so far as to get a doctorate in music composition. But she always missed writing, and turned to penning stories when she needed a breather from grad school. One day, she decided to write and finish a novel -- for kicks, at first, then things became serious -- and she hasn't looked back since.

Elizabeth loves classic film scores, books with a good romance, food (she currently has a soft spot for arepas and Ethiopian food), the color turquoise, overcast skies, English muffins, cycling, and baking. She lives in New York City with her husband.

Reviews

[megs_bookrack · Rating 4 out of 5]

When You Wish Upon a Star is the 14th-installment to Disney's A Twisted Tale collection.

If you are unaware, these books take our favorite Disney tales, twist one element and then explore what would have happened if that twist actually occurred.



They're like Disney's version of alternate history stories and I'm low-key obsessed with them. Also, important to keep in mind, these books can be read in any order.

They are completely distinct stories, each following a different set of characters, so you can start anywhere you want, with which ever story sounds most appealing to you.



In this story, we explore the question: What if the Blue Fairy wasn't supposed to help Pinocchio?

I have never read the source material, The Adventures Of Pinocchio, that the 1940-animated Disney film Pinocchio is inspired by. Additionally, I have only watched Pinocchio a handful of times. It actually scared me as a kid, so it wasn't one I necessarily gravitated towards.

However, when I heard the pitch for this story and saw that it was being written by Elizabeth Lim, I knew I had to pick it up as soon as I could.



This is based on Pinocchio's story, yes, but this is really the story of the Blue Fairy. Who was she before? Had she always been a fairy? If not, how did she become one and who did she leave behind?

It turns out, the Blue Fairy was once a girl named Chiara, who lived in the village of Pariva, the very same small village that Pinocchio's father, Geppetto, is from.



I loved the direction that Lim took this story. I found it fascinating learning about Chiara, her complicated relationship with her little sister, Ilaria, and the process that Chiara underwent to become the Blue Fairy we all know and love. Even the village was fun to learn about.

I was immediately swept up into this. I feel like Lim's writing is completely immersive. Everything about it, from the descriptions, the setting of the scenes, the drama, the character work, it's all top notch. If you've never read anything from Elizabeth Lim, I actually feel like this one is a great example of her style.



The fairy aspects were really fun. There was a school where Chiara went to train and she had a mentor. I love those relationship dynamics, so was happy to see it.

It was also interesting to see the choices, or should I say sacrifices, that individuals had to make to even become fairies. Chiara struggled a bit making her decisions in that regard, but they were important decisions, so it all made sense. It never felt angsty, or overdone, in my opinion.



Ilaria, Chiara's sister, on the other hand, she was bringing all the drama. With dreams of being a world-famous opera singer, Ilaria's personality could be a bit grating.

However, with this being said, it did make perfect sense in context with the greater story. We needed that push-and-pull, that vast difference between the two girls' personalities in order for this story to have maximum impact.

The best part of this for me though, was seeing those connections to Pinocchio. Meeting younger versions of characters we know, for example, like Monstro, Stromboli and even a cricket.



Don't be alarmed though, long-time Pinocchio fans, he is in the story too! So that was fun, seeing him and the interactions between Pinocchio, Geppetto and the Blue Fairy.

Overall, I had a really good time reading this. It's a fantastic addition to The Twisted Tales collection. If you are curious about my rankings for all the books that I have read in this series, I will list them below at the bottom of this review.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney-Hyperion and Disney Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. It was nice to see a lesser known Disney character finally getting her time shine!!



My current ratings for the Twisted Tales series:

1. What Once Was Mine (Tangled): 4.5-stars rounded up
2. Reflection (Mulan): 4-stars
3. Almost There (The Princess and the Frog): 4-stars
4. When You Wish Upon a Star: 4-stars
5. Go the Distance (Hercules): 3.5-stars rounded up
6. As Old As Time (Beauty & the Beast): 3.5-stars rounded up
7. Straight On Til Morning (Peter Pan): 3.5-stars rounded up
8. Mirror, Mirror (Snow White): 3.5-stars rounded up
9. Unbirthday (Alice): 3.5-stars
10. Conceal, Don't Feel (Frozen): 3.5-stars
11. A Whole New World (Aladdin): 3-stars
12. Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid): 2-stars

[angie]

Anything written by Elizabeth Lim will be on my TBR.

[Books_and_Crafts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't go into this book expecting Pinocchio, this is the Blue Fairy's story.

It's cute :)

[Sherleen Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow ok can't wait. WOOP
Books by Elizabeth Lim's in the Twisted Tales series are hands down the best

[Panda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook (12 hours) narrated by Carlotta Brentan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion

While Carlotta Brentan is an award winning narrator, I found her to just be OK. Not bad or anything, or in the vicinity of difficult to listen too but a less than average enjoyability for me personally.
The audio was fine.

The book.

I did finish the entire thing.

I love fairy tales.

Pinocchio is special on a lot of levels. It is one of the few fairy tales with a lot of memorable characters who have been showcased in several other stories, movies, TV shows and other forms of entertainment. Everyone from our lovable puppet to his cricket conscious, his hard working father, the whale who ate them and their pets, the fairy... and I have to wonder as I am specifically not naming them if you cannot help but think of their names, who have been translated into over 260 languages. Seriously, Pinocchio is the third most translated book in the world. The other two books being The Bible, translated in 3,384 languages and The Little Prince translated into over 500 languages.

As much as I love a good fairy tale when I saw this twisted tale actually a twist on the Disney version of the story and officially put out by Disney, I was like OK... Let's see what's up.

The answer is really not much.

But, it's worst than that.

Disney's main Disney label is for families. Child friendly, but generally not written like a child's first board book, where they try and keep words short and simple, two to four letters, also monosyllables for babies first read.

Yeah. The book starts out like that.

I almost noped out, but... Pinocchio! So I hung around a minute and someone started throwing in an extra consonant here and there and before you know it we had actual full on sentences.

Unfortunately the book just isn't that good. The story isn't that good. The style isn't that good. The creativity (my apologies for not finding a way to say that monosyllablistically) is not that good.

It's a cute story but it seems like it really isn't written for children due to some of the context of the story and yet the style is written rather childishly, even when they started using actual sentence structure, so I just have no fricken clue who this story was written for. I read the whole thing so I guess someone like me?

There are 22 twisted tales. I scrolled through the list and popped in and read some of the reviews and it seems that they are all pretty similar. Great synopsis, simplistic writing, unworthy story telling.

TLDR: Another unfortunate grouping of words.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, but for a book that is supposed to be about Pinocchio, he is barely in it and even when he is, it’s VERY brief. The actual story of Chiara and her family would have better suited as a stand-alone story, not tied to anything else.

The plot got slightly boring and repetitive in parts, but otherwise it was good. I doubt it is one I’ll be returning to, though.

For a series that should be a twist in the classic, this was not a twist to me - it was an origin story of the Blue Fairy.

[liv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though I usually enjoy a twisted fairy tale, I can’t say I had fun reading this. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, but it didn’t really fit the description of “What if the Blue Fairy wasn’t supposed to help Pinocchio”. The book never even got around to Pinocchio till the last 70 pages and even then it was more of a petty rivalry between sisters. I found that the backstory of the Blue Fairy lasted far too long, skipping over parts that might have been interesting in favor of small town drama. It would’ve been more interesting if part of the twist was that Ilaria was the Scarlett Fairy. Overall, an okay book, though I wouldn’t recommend it.

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

"After all, Mamma always liked to tell her: A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.”

"When You Wish Upon a Star" is an amazing addition to the Twisted Tales series. It is a story full of magic and enchantment, but also filled with a different type of magic: the ties between family and friends, a tale about sisterhood and the many ways one can come back from a bad place.

I really enjoyed reading this story. I loved the way it gives a background and history to the Blue Fairy, in which we get to meet her as Chiara, the person before the fairy. I really enjoyed reading about her life in Pariva, her conflict when deciding whether she should train to become a fairy and, most of all, I enjoyed reading about her relationship with Ilaria. I have to be honest, Ilaria was an antagonist for most of this novel and she made a great villain, the author did an amazing job at pitting them against each other, especially as the Blue Fairy and the Scarlet Fairy, but I did feel heartbroken at the way their relationship progressed and deteriorated over time... Of course, I will not spoil anything, but I have to say, the ending was truly heartwarming and sweet, even though it was not what I was anticipating!
I also really enjoyed reading their interactions with Geppeto (he really is super sweet and did deserve to have his wish granted, I'm with Chia on that one!) and, later on, with Pinocchio! Although Pinocchio wasn't the focus of this story, he is the trigger to the conclusion of many character's stories, so I loved the way he was included!

Another aspect of this book I really enjoyed, was the magic system and the workings and machinations of the Wishing Star! I think it was created in an interesting and unique way and since the origins of the Blue Fairy, the Wishing Star and other fairies are not touched up in the movie, this could very well be a possible explanation to the magic of wishes! I really did enjoy reading about the fairies! In this story, their counterparts, the Heartless, also make up a really good group of villains: thinking that an evil group of fairies could be responsible for such wickedness and despair, especially knowing what Pinocchio goes through with Stromboli and at Pleasure Island... it is a disconcerting thought, but it also gives a layer of depth and complexity to this story, especially, considering the way they became a separate unit to the Wishing Star fairies!

Finally, this is, in my opinion, a story about different people, with different dreams, wishes and aspirations that whose fates were tightly interwoven, for the good and the bad. It's a story about second chances and about realizing what is truly important and I really did enjoy it, it was sweet and made me feel happy, while reading!

As always, I can't wait to read another Twisted Tale!

P.S. Hate is a strong word, but I do hate Stromboli from the movie and book Stromboli isn't better at all 😬

[Anna Saval · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t really know what to say about this book…

First, it really dragged on. All the scenes in Paravia were slightly boring and really, really, really long. I was always like: Okay, nice, but when does the real story begin? (Answer: At the last few pages)

The title: „What if the Blue fairy was never supposed to help Pinocchio“ didn’t fit the book at all. It was not a Twisted Tale because there was no twist.

Most of if was just something like „Blue Fairy- The Origin“ and had nothing to do with the story about old Gepetto and his son. This story was, in my opinion, only an addition but not the main part of this book.

It’s just a tale about two sisters, one eternally good, one evil, but not quite, separating, fighting and reuniting. Nothing new, nothing interesting and nothing good.

I was about to put down this book several times but I kept going just because I wanted it to be over.


I didn’t quite regret reading it but I expected much, much more of this book. Hoping for the next one to be better!

[mads · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The magic she believed in was of a different sort. The sort that cheered a pall of melancholy, that fed a hungry belly, that warmed a cold heart. She believed in kindness, in compassion, and in sharing what fortune she had---with those who needed it.”

➳ 3.5

TW: abuse, alcohol, animal cruelty, blood, bullying, child abuse, death, death of a loved one, grief, kidnapping, physical abuse, trafficking.

Once again, Elizabeth Lim proves she is incapable of writing a bad book and I love her for that.

I was incredibly hesitant to pick this particular story up due to a lifelong distaste of the movie, but Elizabeth Lim wrote it and that fact was enough to make my decision.
To my relief (and probably the disappointment of others), this book has very little to do with Pinocchio/the events of the movie itself.

This book is about the Blue Fairy, her past and what led her to grant Geppetto's wish. It's really about sisterhood, family, compassion, and the complicated morality behind our choices (with any of the actual Pinocchio story happening in the last 20-ish% or so.)

So, I would recommend this but with the caveat that this is not Pinocchio's story. If you go in expecting/wanting that, you'll be sorely disappointed. But if you want a sweet family story with magic and the vibe of Pinocchio captured rather well, I would definitely suggest giving it a try.

Overall, I'm honestly surprised at how much I liked it. I can't see myself ever rereading it or thinking of it much in the future, but it was a good time and I'm glad I read it.

[Cheyenne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
First of all, I really enjoyed this book. It was fun to read about the fairy and her sister. But the thing I didn’t like, was that 90% of the book was about how she became the blue fairy and about the heartless. Only in the last 10% we got more about Pinocchio and why she couldn’t make that wish. I would have loved to see more about Pinocchio. I did really enjoy the young Geppetto.
Overall a really fun book to read

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.8

This book was really good. It had one of the best stories and characters archs of the twisted tale series. The only problem I have is we don't get a ton of time with Pinocchio. Most of the book is the blue faeries past which still is great and the book is still really good. I just would have liked more time with Pinocchio. No spoilers for this one because I think it is best to just read the book. One thing though Illria who is the scarlet fairy she had such a good character arch and she just is a really great character. Final thing out of all the books I have read this one will go in the 5th place out 10 books.

[Amelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the record I cried 5 times 🥲

This was such a beautiful story about sisters finding their way back to each other and love winning in the end🥹

I love fairytale spinoffs because I feel like I understand the book better by reading them (ex heartless by Marissa Meyer)😭💔 like the cat and fish being named Cleo and Figaro it's the little details like that that really make the book for me

Anyways this series might be my new obsession and I'm prolly gonna be broke soon because of it but it's ok! 💸🕳️🥲

5 stars! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[ashlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish that in the description the author would’ve made it more about the blue fairy and make it more her story since that’s what it seemed like. Only about 30% of the book is about pinocchio but, other than that it was a very enjoyable book i didn’t expect to read it in a day but it was truly that good.

[Laura.has.too.many.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

* You don't need to read the other Twisted Tales story to enjoy this one, they are not connected.

Chiara Belmagio has been one of the kindest souls in the town of Pariva, so there is no surprise that she has been chosen to apprentice with the wishing fairies. However, her sister Ilaria wants to keep her home, as she finds her sister should support her in her dream to become a famous opera diva. But then both sisters get snagged in the fairy life, one on each side of good and evil. Forty years later they collide again, making a wager over a wish that concerns they old friend Geppetto. Either one can win, but one fairy will lose everything.

Pro's:
+ I like how this book is not really about Pinocchio, but really about the characters and the world surrounding the famous Disney story. I think Pinocchio is annoying and I was afraid before reading this that he would be in this story a lot.
+ It was nice to get to know the story behind the magic and since it was so well written that it wasn't boring for a single minute. The different perspectives from Chiara and Ilaria and I felt like the story made sense a lot.

Con's:
- It was a bit of a disappointment that we get only into the story of the movie when you're through 75% of the book. There was so much pre-story that I feel like Disney could almost make a movie about this story too. I'd wish we got a bit more in the events of the movie where the Blue Fairy interferes and the time in between, but I guess there wasn't more there.

Well, for a book about Pinocchio, one of my most disliked characters from the Disney universe, this book wasn't that bad at all. I love how this is about everything else and even Monstro gets more love in this book than Pinocchio. I wish we got into the events of the movie a bit earlier in the book, but I guess there wasn't a lot of material for the author to work with to begin with. It was fun read and these Twisted Tales books are always quite easy reads, even though this entry was quite big amount of pages. I keep loving these books and I have more to review in the near future, but I hope Elizabeth Lim will be able to write more of them.

[Emerald Spurgeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, but this one was actually so so good. I’ve never been a huge fan of Pinocchio, but this one, obviously, is about the blue fairy instead. Her life before she was a fairy and how she became one was not what I was imagining and I was definitey not expecting to like this one that much but it’s in my top 3 of the Twisted Tales.

[Ally Chappius · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book so much. Every time I picked it up, I didn’t want to put it down. What an incredible story of sisterhood, family, and love.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable take on the Pinocchio story. The focus is on the blue fairy and her sister and their relationships with people in the town including Gepetto. This retelling definitely adds depth to the story.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Audiobooks for providing a copy of this audiobook for review.

I absolutely loved this story. While this is still a retelling of Pinocchio, I was happy to see that the focus was on the fairies. The family dynamics and the conflicted emotions throughout the story made the entire adventure more enjoyable. I loved the Blue Fairy’s character and being able to see her interact with others made her a far more interesting character. There were difficult choices to be made, and I found this to be a very character driven book.

[Keisha Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was extremely slow, long and drawn out. It was so boring and borderline do not finish. Not only that the author actually used the term moon cricket?! She definitely could have just used the word cricket because she most definitely didn't look up the meaning of the word before she used it to see how racist it is.

[RavenReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best of the series. The Blue Fairy origin story more than a Pinocchio retelling. A beautifully written story.

[Ylenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una storia davvero carina che, da amante della favola di Pinocchio, non vedevo letteralmente l'ora di leggere. E' il primo romanzo della serie "Disney Twisted Tales" che leggo, e ora che ho conosciuto lo stile di scrittura dell'autrice, intendo recuperarli tutti, uno per uno, anche perché l'idea di fondo trovo sia davvero geniale. Personalmente, mi è capitato più di una volta di pormi la domanda "e se...?" su cui l'autrice ha strutturato i suoi retelling, ed è stato un vero piacere conoscere più a fondo il passato e la storia di alcuni personaggi che magari, come il caso della favola di Pinocchio, rimangono un po' in disparte, o non vengono proprio menzionati. E' un'opera di fantasia, certo, però l'ho trovata davvero strutturata bene, nell'immaginare proprio la vita, i luoghi, le abitudini e gli affetti di personaggi che finalmente vengono approfonditi di più, rispetto a quello che abbiamo visto nei cartoni animati Disney. In questo caso specifico, gran parte della storia è incentrata sulla vita della Fata Azzurra di Pinocchio, che scopriamo avesse un nome, Chiara, ed una vita prima di diventare apprendista delle Fate sulla Stella dei Desideri, e poi fata a tutti gli effetti. In questo spaccato di vita passata ci troviamo a Pariva, un piccolo borgo in cui ci si conosce tutti ed in cui la vita è semplice e contadina, scandita dalle abitudini. Qui brilla per bellezza, bontà e generosità la giovane Chiara Belmagio, figlia dei fornai del paese, sempre disposta ad aiutare gli altri senza chiedere in cambio niente per sé, con una coscienza molto spiccata, a cui dà ascolto sempre, come se fosse un trillo, o una voce interiore che la guida in ogni situazione. Accanto a Chiara conosciamo il fratello Nicolò, ma soprattutto la sorella Ilaria, che sarà la sua nemesi e antagonista principale in questo romanzo, e scopriremo addirittura essere la causa di tante disavventure che capiteranno a Pinocchio, come l'incontro con il Gatto e la Volpe e il suo arrivo nel Paese dei Balocchi, nonché l'idea malvagia che lì i bambini si trasformino in asini. Quello che mi è piaciuto molto, oltre a scoprire le origini della Fata Azzurra, è stato anche conoscere un giovane Geppetto, timido e gentile, amante della musica e dei bambini, e vederlo in una luce un po' diversa da quella del vecchietto a cui siamo abituati, e a cui si ritorna nella parte finale della storia. I riferimenti ai vari momenti chiave della favola che abbiamo conosciuto nel cartone animato Disney ci sono tutti, cosa che mi ha fatto estremamente piacere ritrovare. Ma, su questi, sono stati sviluppati innesti nuovi che hanno reso ricco e piacevole alla lettura questo retelling. Una storia che va letta per sognare un po', e che consiglio.

[kendall₊ ⊹ · Rating 4 out of 5]

When You Wish Upon a Star was a really good retelling. I loved the back-story for Chiara The Blue Fairy. I did feel like at the end there was so much that went right and it was just too perfect (if that makes any sense at all). I also loved the back-story for Geppetto, it was so sweet.

Over all it was a pretty satisfying read.

My ratings:

1# What Once Was Mine by: Liz Braswell- 5 stars
2# Almost There by: Farrah Rochon- 5 stars
3# So This is Love by: Elizabeth Lim- 5 stars
4# Part of Your World by: Liz Braswell- 5 stars
5# When You Wish Upon a Star by: Elizabeth Lim- 4 stars
6# Conceal Don't Feel by: Jen Calonita- 4 stars
7# Mirror, Mirror by: Jen Calonita- 4 stars
8# Reflection by: Elizabeth Lim- 4 stars
9# Go The Distance by: Jen Calonita- 4 stars
10# As Old as Time by: Liz Braswell- 4 stars
11# Once Upon a Dream by: Liz Braswell- 3 stars
12# A Whole New World by: Liz Braswell- 3 stars
13# Unbirthday by: Liz Braswell- 2 stars
14# Straight On Till Morning by: Liz Braswell- 2 stars

[Rachaelbookhunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if the Blue Fairy wasn't supposed to help Pinochhio? That is the twist in this tale of the puppet who became a real boy. This story is not all about him however. It is really more about two sisters and what happens when one becomes the Blue Fairy.

Chiara and Ilaria couldn't be more different. Ilaria has big dreams that don't involve her small village. Chiara just wants to help people but doesn't believe in magic. When Chiara gets a chance to make her dreams come true it changes everything.

This is a sad and rather dark story. I enjoyed the focus on the sisters' relationship and I could understand the pain both of them went through. The writing is perfect for the story. You truly feel like you're inside of a fairy tale.

The story isn't as twisted as I was expecting but it also doesn't feel like completely like a Disney tale. Rather it makes me feel like a storyline that would have been perfect for the TV show Once Upon A Time. The characters are memorable and are the heart of this enjoyable read.

[Johanna Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the Disney stories Pinocchio definitely is not a favorite and I was a little apprehensive in picking up this book. I was immediately hooked from the first chapter. It is more of a backstory on the Blue Fairy and what was going on with her while Pinocchio was on his journey. I really enjoyed the depth given to both her and Geppetto’s characters leading up to where the Pinocchio story picks up.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started off really intriguing, and I was excited for the storyline. The sister dynamic was nice, but I felt that Chiara was a bit over-the-top nice that it got pretty annoying. As far as the magic system...it felt that it didn't always line up to me. I am not a fan of the dark, heartless magic parts and it got very witch-like toward the end. All in all I felt that it was way too long and it was a miss for me.

[Kaz :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, amazing, stunning-

This book is more about Ilaria, than Chiara, the Blue Fairy, but honestly (considering Chia never really wavers and also Ily’s pov means we get to see lots and lots of Geppetto) I’m never going to complain. This book is fantastic- a wonderful look at sisterhood and how relationship and dreams can be torn apart and rebuilt. Loved it.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite in the series! I was slightly bored at the beginning but once it picked up, I didn’t want to put it down. I really like how Elizabeth Lim writes and hope she does more of the Twisted Tales. Honestly the biggest issue I have with it is that it wasn’t really a twisted tale at all and more of a backstory of the Blue Fairy and how she is connected with other characters from Pinocchio. So that kind of bothered me but the story was so good that I got over that and just enjoyed it!

[Gwen Kubberness · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story was amazing I love how they took the story about Pinocchio and did all these twists and turns made a whole brand new story it was utterly exciting

[Jadyn Simental · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this in the beautiful city of Orlando, Florida miles away from Disney world before my trip there. It really raised my spirits with a wholesome story of sisterhood and kind hearts. so happy I chose to read this before heading to the happiest place on earth :))