Almost There: A Twisted Tale

Farrah Rochon

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Amazon Summary:

The 13th installment in the New York Times best-selling series asks: What if Tiana made a deal that changed everything?

Sometimes life in the Big Easy is tough. No one knows that better than Tiana, though she also believes that hard work can go a long way. But when the notorious Dr. Facilier backs her into a corner, she has no choice but to accept an offer that will alter the course of her life in an instant.

Soon Tiana finds herself in a new reality where all her deepest desires are realized: she finally gets her restaurant, her friends are safe and sound, and most miraculous of all, her beloved father is still alive. She's got everything she's ever wanted. . . .

But after a while, her hometown grows increasingly eerie, with new threats cropping up in unlikely places. Navigating through this strange new New Orleans, Tiana must work alongside Naveen and Charlotte to set things right―or risk losing everything she holds dear.

My Review:

6/10

Let me start by saying that I loved Princess and the Frog growing up. This is the 13th book in one of my favorite series, Twisted Tales. And this is Farrah Rochon’s first book in the series, so I was really excited to see how a romance writer would be able to write a dark and twisted book, especially for Disney. And with this book, I was mixed.

First, let me talk about the setting first. I found that the way the author describes New Orleans in the 1920’s was pretty accurate to real events going on during the time. I could really picture NO (New Orleans). Also this book did take place on the Bayou for a chunk of the story. Which she really brought it to life. This story had all the same characters from the original movie, but with one new one. This is the perfect transition for my next topic.

The new character in this story was Tiana’s dad. The movie sort of brushed over the topic of how it really impacted Tiana. Tiana finally has him back, after making the deal with The Shadow Man. And the author really talked about Tiana’s struggle after loosing her father, which I felt added depth to the story. So that was what I loved about this book, and here comes the dreaded part of talking about the negatives of this story.

The big negative of the story was the fear element. I felt like there were a lot of opportunities to get really dark and scary, but it really didn’t get to that point. It was in my opinion the least scary in the series.

Something else was that it did feel really close to the movie, almost like I was watching Princess and the Frog. The journey on the Bayou was so close to the movie, it didn’t really differ from the movie.

Lastly, was the fact that after Tiana made a deal with the Shadow Man, and got her wish, it included that Prince Naveen would forget about his adventure on the Bayou, and how he and Tiana are in love. So the whole time throughout this book, I just wanted to step in and say “GET TOGETHER ALREADY! YOU GUYS LOVE EACH OTHER” but I couldn’t, and it made me upset, and annoyed me.

OVERALL:

Fans of Princess and the Frog would absolutely love this book. It is more targeted to 13-15 years old, and the other novels are for a much older audience. But I did enjoy reading this Twisted Tale.