Sarah Beran

This book was a really fun Retelling of Puss in Boots and I appreciated that the author added a brief summary of the original fairy tale at the beginning because this isn't a fairy tale that I was as familiar with. The characters are all really fun and I enjoyed all the different ways each character interacted with Faye's inherited cat Baldwin. This book is connected with Callie and the Pumpkin Seed: A Cinderella Retelling and all the main characters (except Baldwin) were originally introduced previously so it is more enjoyable to read them together but it could probably work as a standalone as well. I look forward to reading more fairy tale retellings by this author in the future since I have loved each one so far.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.… (more)

A Wishful Hope was an absolutely wonderful retelling of Aladdin and the Magical Lamp, though I have to admit I’m not sure if I ever read the original.

There were a lot of things I loved about this book. Starting with the characters. Dan (short for Aladdin) is selfless, honest, brave, kind and protective. He is patient with Aida (the Genie) who has a completely justified mistrust of all humans and first isn’t only snarky and sometimes even rude, but doesn’t try to make Dan’s life easier even though she could, being a Genie.

I loved how their relationship developed and how she tried to interpret every nice and selfless act of Dan as a hidden agenda (because this is what she was used to) until she couldn’t anymore and had to accept that Dan really only had her best interests at heart.

Their love story was special and so sweet. I usually don’t expect slow burn from a novella but this was done very well.

But what I loved most was definitely the brotherly relationship between Dan and Jasper. This 12 year old street kid might have stolen the show and it was just heartwarming to see how Jasper and Dan both tried to protect and make sacrifices for each other in their own ways.

A story with a Genie in a lamp from a Christian perspective was absolutely intriguing and I loved how Beran wrote prayer, faith and subjects as sacrifice, hope and trust into the story.

I’ve read not all but quite a few novellas of the Hope Ever After series and enjoyed all of them so far. I absolutely recommend this one and the series in general.

I already put a few books by Sarah Beran on my TBR since I enjoyed her writing and the messages woven into the story a lot!

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own.… (more)