Sleeping Beauty

by Jenni James

The sleeping girl has no idea she is asleep.

After Aleyna witnessed the cruel deaths of her family, she was put to sleep by Ezralon the unicorn. He has been keeping her safe, hidden in the forest, until her true prince could come and rescue her.

While Aleyna is protected in the forest, her spirit walks the halls of her ruined, deserted castle in a dream-like existence, believing everything is still perfect. However, she is halted in this state—almost as if time were frozen—until the prince awakens her.

Prince Darién of Lybrooke Court loves a challenge as much as the next man, but believes it will be a fool’s errand to rescue a ghost who is already dead! He’s convinced no one could have survived sleeping thirty years, so what is the point of rescuing a girl who is quite content to haunt on her own?

Of course, if Darién wasn’t so afraid of ghouls, this whole thing could be much easier to fathom...

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Fairy Tales, Young Adult, Retellings, Fairy Tale Retellings, Ebooks

Nook

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

CLEAN ROMANCE FOR TEENS:

*The Jane Austen Diaries*
Pride & Popularity (Aug 2011)
Persuaded (Aug. 2012)
Emmalee (Jan 2013)
Mansfield Ranch (Dec 2013)
Northanger Alibi (Feb. 2012)
Sensible & Sensational (July 2015)
Sand & Sun (2016)
The Wilsons
Queen Sydney

*Jenni James Faerie Tale Collection*
Beauty and the Beast
Sleeping Beauty
Rumplestiltskin
Cinderella
Hansel and Gretel
Jack and the Beanstalk
Snow White
The Frog Prince
Twelve Dancing Princesses
Rapunzel
The Little Mermaid
Peter Pan
Return to Neverland
The Forgotten Princess
The Princess With the Golden Touch
Little Red Riding Hood
(and more...)

MIDDLE GRADE READERS:
Prince Tennyson (May 2012)

EARLY READERS:

*Andy & Annie Collection*
A Ghost Story
Greeny Meany

WOMEN'S FICTION:

*Revitalizing Jane Series*
Drowning
Swimming
Crawling
Walking
Running
Soaring


CLEAN ROMANCE FOR ADULTS:

*Eternal Realm Series*
Eternity
Destiny
Divinity

Reviews

[Josie · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 1/2 stars. It was almost ok. I don't like giving bad reviews. I worry that the author might see the review and I hate to hurt anyone's feelings. But there were just so many things wrong with this book, I can't help but give it a low rating.
We'll start with the one positive aspect, it was a clever idea. But that's where the best of it ends. The idea was far from carried out to what I think it's potential could have been.
Aleyna (sleeping beauty) had to witness some violent stuff, so to protect her, an enchanted unicorn put her under a spell. While her body sleeps, her ghost wanders around in her old castle living a life of enchanted bliss.
Ok, lets stop there. It sounds like a great idea. Now when the prince comes, it won't be love at first sight, right? They will able to get to know each other emotionally without any physical contact, so the romance will seem real and developed, right? WRONG! Prince charming comes along and the first time they meet (ghost and prince) she reaches out her hand to him and he takes it and she starts to materialize and have a body and he gazes into her eyes and it is love at first sight. Literally. Ugh! There went all that potential. And then without even knowing each other, prince and Queen can't keep their hands off each other. I mean the day after they met he is nibbling her ear, and she is ok with this? If a man nibbled my ear the day after I met him, I would be so creeped out!
There was absolutely no character development and all the characters were lame! There were 4 men in the book and they had no character distinctions. I never could keep straight who was who (besides the main guy of course) and I wondered why the extra guys were even in there anyway.
The book kept talking about how Aleyna just needed to wait for a man to come protect her for the rest of her life and that just rubbed me wrong.
Besides the lack of depth and poorly written characters, there were typos everywhere. The dialogue was unnatural and clunky. I had to re-read the things people were saying before I got what they were actually saying.
So, just before I finished reading this I happened upon the authors blog and saw that she wrote and had published 13 fairy tale books in 2013. She considers this a huge accomplishment, which it is, but it isn't. It means that she has written 13 rough drafts that should be developed before being published! I don't think I'll read any more from this author and I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, least of all impressionable young adults.
And for reals, it pains me to write such a negative review.

[Kathy Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!! What can I say about Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James?! One word? Come on!! There is no way I can use only one word!! There are WAY too many going through my head right now!! To say a few... AMAZING!! PHENOMENAL!! STUNNING!! And my own all time favorite... FANTABULOUS!!

I absolutely LOVED Sleeping Beauty!! Not only do you get the romance, the happily ever after, the laughter, the friendship you also get the deeper meaning of life, of love, of overcoming trials and the realization that no one can get through things on their own. You are given family, friends, loved ones to help lift you up and get you through whatever life throws at you.

For anyone that really knows me knows that when it comes to doing book reviews, it is extremely hard for me and takes forever to write them! They have to be perfect in my eyes. I mean it's the least I can do for the authors who pour their hearts and souls into these books so that we, as readers, can be whisked away into a whole new world and escape from our real life troubles for just a little while. Jenni accomplished this and more in Sleeping Beauty!! She helped me to remember that no matter what I am going through right now, no matter how hard life gets, in the end I WILL be blessed more than I could ever imagine!

Within this book I have found my new favorite quote:

"I find that after our greatest trials and fears have been faced, then come the most magnificent and glorious of blessings."

Thank you Jenni for writing such an inspiring book! This is definitely one that I will be reading and sharing over and over again! You are an amazing woman and author!! I am forever HOOKED on your books!! Looking forward to what you have in store for us next!! :o)

[Jenni James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, this was probably the hardest book I've ever written and at times I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish it. In a lot of ways I felt like Sleeping Beauty, walking in a world of my own and not really being awake to the realities around me. I learned to face my fears this summer, but it also forced me to learn to love to write again. I hope you find something in this book that calls to you, but it was really a journey for me...

Thank you!

I love you all!
Jenni James

[Meret Magdi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars (:
This re-telling of the sleeping beauty is very creative..
I liked it..
But I cant seem to get myself to give it a higher rating :( ..
Sorry..

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is full of flat undeveloped characters, Alenya especially was a pathetic excuse--a princess who is suposed to be the chosen one but whose who purpose is to wait for another character to come fix everything (her MAN) who also spends most the book sobbing at her horrific past before being cured of that by the sexual advances of her prince. That's another thing, the book is obviously pushed to be "clean" but the exchanges between the romanctic pairing consists of them running their hands over each others' bodies and ear nibbling. Gosh if you're not going to make it steamy (which I am perfectly fine at) then keep your prince a gentleman! The big "twist" of the book is the princess's gory past which it is depicted as SO horrific yet Aleyna recovers in two days. The whoole basis of the plot is that it would take her years to recover and reintegrate into society after such trauma, well nope she's fine. The author couldn't even kill a character off properly: after a surprising (and pointless) death the character comes back to life after--opps did the unicorn forget to mention that massive spell he cast so that no one would die--ah well whats a happy wedding without a miraculous resurrection of whats-his-name? The whole book is sub-par. The basic idea is alright but it is not executed well.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really good! That first kiss was incredible. Loved the characters, loved the twist on the story. Great, great stuff!

Moral Note: Some mild to moderately heavy fantasy violence. Otherwise clean.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second fairy tale retelling I have read by this author. I liked this one better but it was still very silly and the story could be told in half the pages because the author repeats herself over and over. This one did get me thinking tho about being scared and keeping myself from doing the things I want. A little silly to have a short little fairy tale teach a grown woman something but it actually did. These are clean with some steamy kissing scene that just give you a good description of the kiss and that is all:}

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rmsooon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ive read " sleeping beauty faerie tale collection " ,, the idea was ok but i felt bored reading it ,, i gave it 2.5 out of 5

[Bonnie (A Backwards Story)]

Another tale with a unique spin from Jenni James. This one is hard to talk about without spoiling things, but essentially...while Aleyna (Sleeping Beauty) sleeps, she doesn't know that she's under an enchantment. She goes through life as though living each day anew, never realizing that everything around her is fake and that her castle was destroyed, along with everyone she loves. When people visit her castle, they see her wandering as a ghost. Prince Darién is dared to go to the ruins with three of his friends who know he's afraid of ghosts, and the revelations that are revealed stun everyone.

I thought the spin on this one was unique as well, and a careful blend of paranormal (ghosts) and fantasy (unicorns, etc.). Darién grows a lot throughout the story. His Achilles' Heel is his fear of ghosts, so the fact that he finds himself falling for the ghostly Aleyna frightens him. Only through his relationship with her can he begin overcoming his fear. There's also a new war coming as Aleyna begins to awaken. At times, there's a lot going on, but there are also more characters involved than in most of the stories in the collection. This one is really hard to give thoughts on without spoiling a lot!

[Mel (Daily Prophecy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://thedailyprophecy.blogspot.nl/2...

I really liked it. Another original retelling about Sleeping beauty. I haven’t read anything with this paranormal twist before. Aleyna has been put into a sleep by the unicorn Ezralon. He is waiting for the perfect time to wake her and he is also protecting her from harmful memories. In the mean time, he let her ghosts wander in a fantasy world where she is surrounded by people.

Darién is challenged by his friends to find Aleyna. There is a myth about her ghosts and Darién, despite his fear of ghosts, decides to put it to the test. He doesn’t believe the stories, until he falls in love with Aleyna’s ghosts. I liked that Sleeping beauty is in an induced sleep to keep her protected and the battle was good. Aleyna is a girl with great spirit and I liked her chemistry with Darién. It’s a pretty severe case of insta-love, but that's what you can expect from such a short fairytale.

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

In all the fairy tales...Sleeping Beauty just lies there...beautifully sleeping!
But...
What if that were not so?
What if Sleeping Beauty were in fact roaming the castle...
Conversing with the servants...
Helping the cook...
Can it be?
Or is it a dream...
Just a dream in Sleeping Beauty's...sleeping mind?
Will the Prince come and wake her...and if so...will she be able to fight off the evil Villeria?
Or is living in a dream world better protection from the true world around her?
An amazing retelling of a wonderful story!
Jenni James is definitely one of my favorite authors!
I LOVE her books!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mar 2021 Review: I liked it a lot better this time around. Writing was good. Sweet, simple story. I’ve read too many poorly written stories to know that it doesn’t matter the length of the story, short or long, it has to be well written or it’s not worth reading at all. This one was good.

Oct 2013 Review: 2 stars. I've read a lot of fairy tale retellings, so I was biased when I read it. Comparing it to others, I found the story okay but not too different from the classic Sleeping Beauty story.

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of Jennie James' rewrite in her fairy tale collection. Fun read with a fun twist on this well know story. I was kinda disappointed at the end when they finally beat the sorceress. I was hoping that the enchantment would have restored the queen's castle.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was okay. I didn't think it was amazing or anything but it wasn't bad. I liked the spin on a classic fairytale but it just seemed to fall a little flat for me.

[Aeron Trahaearn · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book to death!!!!awesome remake!!

[Nikki H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this retelling of sleeping Beauty and as always jenni james doesn't disappoint and I can't wait to see what else she has in store for the rest of her series

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. Kinda cheesy.

[Book Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a little strange.

The author wants everything to be okay to the extent that she fails to build the foundation that would actually create a possibility for a positive future. Reincarnation is used to skip building the romance between the main characters, other than glossed over allusions to bonding through conversation.

(Mild spoilers)
No one ever addresses the issue of trusting magic for protection. They address not allowing fear to dictate actions but they never address that both the original family and the protagonists are relying on magic for a rescue, but somehow relying on magic works out for the heroes and not the initial family. Trusting God and also choosing to love their neighbors as themselves would actually have provided protection from fear and granted the heroine the gift of self-control as a fruit if the Holy Spirit. Instead magic takes away her self-control and attempts to give it to the hero.

“Good” magic stops the heroine from grieving while the guardian and hero repeatedly try to scare her out of processing her grief when her own brain has determined she is ready. That is a very unhealthy message because grief doesn’t go away just because you deny it, avoid it, or replace the loss. The only way to get through grief is to feel the pain of the loss, fully acknowledge what was lost and the impact of that loss, and then do something concrete to honor the memory of the good things the lost person, dream, or item contributed to the life of the grieving one so that they can then let go.

Additionally, the trauma of the Queen is so vast it lays the foundation for the plot and then she gets over her post traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks the instant she decides to be strong. This idea is not only unhelpful because it doesn’t work that way but it could also inadvertently shame trauma survivors who don’t realize they don’t have ptsd or experience panic attacks because they are mentally weak but instead because their mind and body are still trying to process the precipitating threat or crisis and save them. The right brain takes pictures and adrenaline stops it from communicating with the left brain so later, when the person has less adrenaline, the right brain brings up the pictures for the left brain to process. Writing down the images helps the left and right brain to connect, allows the left brain to apply meaning to what happened and explain it, desensitize them to stimuli that trigger panic attacks over time, and then reframe the incident so that the victim can take back control by creating a plan to develop coping skills to enhance their resilience and safety. EMDR therapy can also help.

A kiss will not create healthy trauma processing because the victim of trauma heals by regaining the control that was taken from them during the traumatic event. Falling in love is not an adequate replacement for retrieving control over one’s self by connecting both halves of the brain to allow the person to process what happened when control was taken from them. The requirement of a magic kiss by a prince to stop forgetting trauma leaves the control in the hands of the beloved instead of giving control back to the victim, which exacerbates ptsd instead of fixing it.

The Queen finally does demand control of herself from others eventually and also acts to regain control of herself, but her control of herself is never connected to her ability to be free of her own trauma, which was a much greater enemy to her wellbeing than the villain who created the catastrophe that caused it.

The other books are not bad, they are light reading about clean victorian romances with some benevolent sexism that was not present in this particular story and I really enjoyed that part. The supporting characters are recognizable 2 dimensional tropes from the fairytale genre that feel plugged in to how the author wanted the story to turn out rather than being introduced using illustrations of their relationships. It wasn’t bad, but it was more like reading a screenplay than watching a movie. As for the unhealthy messages about properly handling grief and trauma, I think that the author was just trying to do something different with, “Sleeping Beauty,” and didn’t realize that using mental health issues as an allusion for sleep is not an allegory that works because true love might save a Queen from a Sorceress, but it won’t save her from herself, from processing her own grief, or connecting the left and right sides of her brain. Her left brain must tell her right brain what happened and writing connects both sides when speaking will not. Then, she can rebuild her life by honoring her own right brain for trying to help her get answers by presenting the images it can’t explain alone to the left brain and also act by addressing the narrative the left brain explains has occurred and reassert control over her life. Once she is a whole person in full possession of her own agency, she can love a prince and he can rescue her from being lonely.

[Elentarien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed the *concept* of this book more than the actual execution.

In its defense, it was a nice light read. No real depth to it, but for a few hours of reading without having to think to far, it was enjoyable.

The *concept* of the sleeping princess wandering her spooky, abandoned castle as a ghost was rather cool, I will admit. I like the fact that, regardless of the fact she's sleeping, she had a *chance* to get to know her prince before the happily ever after. I even liked the creepy concept that the castle was a bit frozen in time. . .with the remains of those killed still laying about, the families possessions still there. It added to the creep factor. While I protested that it had been a 'mere' 30 years since the disaster, this supported the fact of things remaining as they were that night. (After all, if it had been 100 years, how much would have survived? I'm really not sure blood stains and fabrics would have survived even 30 years, given insect activity, but its more believable than if they had remained after 100 years.)

I even liked the prince. Though a bit too much emphasis was put on how he was the best warrior in the land and no one could beat him. Then that 'fact' was not even used. What was the point of repeating it, then?

After that, I found the story sort of broke down.

The prince had a serious fear/phobia of the undead. A good 'weakness' for him, in this case. Yet, when they actually get to this 'haunted' castle, apart from him being 'uncomfortable' and not liking to be there - there is no further issue with the castle being haunted or ghostly. Its as if he suddenly just 'got over' his fear. While its casually mentioned a few times. . .nothing is actually DONE with it. There is no struggle for him to do what needs done, regardless of the fact he's terrified. At no point did things *really* seem to bother him. Why give him a fear, throw him into his personal nightmare. . .then do nothing with it? What really was there for him to overcome?

The queen, much the same problem. She was being kept asleep to protect her mind against the horrible things she had to remember. She gets impatient, insists the prince break the curse. . .so regardless of ALL warnings that she can't handle it, he does anyway. . .and she has no real issue with it. She is able to push things to the back and deal with it later. What?? It was causing her severe distress when it was coming back, but when she doesn't remember the problem even happened, and all protections are sddenly ripped away. . .she's just fine?? (I mean, I get you hardly want to debilitate your character and make her unfit for life when you're trying to write her having a happy ever after but why set her up like that if you're not going to follow through?)

Again - as seems to be my main compliant with all these books so far - the 'insta-love' . "I don't know you. We just met 5 minutes ago, but oh, you're so pretty, I just love you. Lets make out. Great, now I'm willing to die for you. Lets live happily ever after!" Ugh. Please!! I realize the story may have taken some serious tweaking to get in some actual time for a relationship. . .but the readers would appreciate believable romance!

The villian. The usual 'big bad witch' wants what she wants when she wants it and of course, makes life nasty for everyone in the process. But. . .in the end. . .she seemed rather easy to defeat. There was not a ton of struggle there and suddenly all was better. I realize that it was built up so the Queen was 'very powerful'. . .but. . .it all seemed very easy.

The ending. . .the princess saves her prince. Ok. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind endings where the girl does the saving instead of being saved. But it seemed like a lot of points were missed here. The prince was built up to be the hero - she needed him. He was the best fighter around and only he could do it. . . .yet, when it came down to it, apparently all that was needed was someone to distract the witch. He could have been ANYONE. What was the whole point of him? Apparently the queen had it all under control and didn't need a hero, she could do it all herself. *sighs* I would have preferred an ending where the prince actually did something USEFUL - and saved his queen. . .while the queen ALSO did something useful and saved her prince and together they finished off the threat.

I did rather like the end where the friend that had been killed suddenly reappeared, unaware of what had happened. It was a little. . . convenient, but I kind of liked it. We can overlook the convenience for a minor character. :)

All in all, I did enjoy the story, but the 'problems' made it hard to sit through without wanting to scream.

[Xena Elektra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ahhh, so I kind of feel bad about this because after seeing the general rating/reviews I think I knew this was a bad choice BUT I have a dilemma of trying to hit my reading goal that I've *cough* been slacking on.

So I was like what's the shortest thing on my list. And it was this series. Now I'd previously read two and had mixed reactions. One I hated one I liked. Maybe some are better than others? That's what I told myself and plunged in with no real preconceived notions.

This was... bad. I don't want to spend a lot of time picking it apart and really I don't think it needs a ton of that partially due to it wasn't that long and partially due to there was really just a few key issues.

The good. The idea. This feels so lame to say but it's true the idea was good. I'd never seen this kind of take on Sleeping Beauty. Some of the particulars are a bit hazy but basically a good person put a sleeping spell on the princess/queen so that she wouldn't age or have to fight against the evil character. But also b/c her mind couldn't handle the trauma and it put her in a fantasy world.

She appears as a ghost in her castle to everyone else but she sees a castle that's fine, village that's fine, people that are fine. Everything is perfect and basically it's one day after another.

The trick is not in waking her up. That's obvious. It's not even the getting to her that's hard. It's the if we wake her up will her mind snap as all her memories rush back and will the bad guy descend and complete her task.

So that setup I think was good.

The bad:

Characters - There's 3 guy friends of the MMC with little to no personality. I couldn't even tell you which was which. The two MC's have more personality then that but the FMC seemed very weak and the MMC totally ruled by his desire to bang the FMC.

Love story - The characters admittedly fall into love at first sight and I don't care if they admit it or not it was awful. We're talking they see each other and by day two are unable to keep their hands off each other. No even the first night was bad. On their second interaction. After the previous one literally being let's walk up the stairs to your chambers.

Some of the most painful lines ever read that were supposed to be romantic but were just horribly awkward. Made more so by the fact that THEY JUST MET.

The MMC is warned that if she gets snapped out of her sleep state too fast she might die or have a mental break down or bring awareness of the fact she was awake to the enemy. NONE OF IT MATTERS. B/c he can't resist her!!!

I mean he decides she's got this even though she's melting down and then wakes her up with no real repercussions. Her mental state is fine. But it does drawn the enemy down with none of them prepared. There's some short term injuries and so on but like... it was horrible.

Plot - I mean, similar to above, guy gets dragged to find a ghost on some childish boyish adventure to prove he's not afraid of ghosts. Which we're never really told that backstory. They go to castle and have some painful romance interactions. Day 2 or 3 we're at the final battle of which just makes the whole thing silly. She was put to sleep so she wouldn't mentally snap by dealing with memories and so the evil person wouldnt' find her. But then he finds her and instantly undoes all that but it's okay b/c the evil person is easily defeated even though she does find them unprepared right away. And the mental break is just not there.

So what was the point? I don't know. Seems like she could've skipped the nap.

I did read that the author churned out 7 fairy tale books between jan-june this year. And really my opinion is that it needed more time. It needed the freedom to be longer so we could have natural romantic development, character growth, and logical plot progression. Instead everything is shoved in very little space and I don't believe was edited much further than an early draft stage.

First drafts are amazing. But they still need more love. In an attempt to be fair to the author I did decide to quit the series after reading this and the rumplestiltskin book. I do not believe it'd bring me enjoyment to continue.

[Diksha Patel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James is a retelling of the classic fairy tale that takes readers on a journey filled with magic, romance, and adventure. However, while the concept of the story is intriguing, the execution falls short of expectations.

The characters lack depth, and their actions and motivations are often unclear, making it difficult for readers to connect with them. The dialogue feels forced and unnatural, hindering the flow of the story. The pacing is also uneven, with some parts dragging on while others feel rushed.

Additionally, the writing style is simplistic and lacks the descriptive language that would bring the world and characters to life. While the book has its moments of charm and sweetness, they are not enough to redeem the overall lackluster storytelling.

Overall, the book has potential but falls short in execution. The story lacks depth and the characters are underdeveloped, leaving readers feeling disconnected from the narrative. It's an easy read that may appeal to those looking for a quick and simple retelling of the classic fairy tale, but for those seeking a more compelling and engaging story, this may not be the right choice.

[Ru4repeat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found so many parallels between Alyena finding out all that she didn't recall from her past and having to act based off info she is given from others, to when an individual is advised to sacrifice something now for something better later, i.e. forgoing premarital intimates in order to be blessed more abundantly in marriage."
Excerpt from the novel: "Patience little one, it will come--you will understand all--and you will be able to hold his hand for as long as your heart's content, just wait. Wait. And you will understand why... Do not question right now. Listen. Do not think. Do not overanalyze... just know this is all for your own good. You have accepted my counsel and advice since you were a little girl, do not allow your frustrations to overrule my advice. Keep your head clear."

[Isabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoo boy. So much wrong with this book. Insta-love (2 days to be exact), flat characters, an easily defeated all-powerful evil sorceress, cheesy “romantic” lines, tons of interesting plot points that were mentioned once and then forgotten, etc....

The prince and queen met each other and then almost immediately had their hands all over each other. Insta-love? More like insta-lust.

One of the worst lines: “I may have freed you,” his gaze caressed her worn features,” but you have forever captured my heart.”

One of the characters died for literally like 2 days and then magically came back. Also why does no one question a talking unicorn? Is this a normal thing in this world?

It wasn’t the worst book ever, I was able to finish it, so I couldn’t give it 1 star. 2 stars it is.

[Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprised how it took me exactly a month to finish. My time spent reading this was very pleasant tho and I'm actually interested in slowly checking out the rest of the series. It was fast paced for the most part. And cheesy. Loved a lot of it, but gave it three stars due to grammar errors and dragged out bits that made my eyes roll those are for now important things for my reading experience as well as how accessible it is to read. Usually not a person who goes for this type of read but i am glad i did in this case. Personally gave me some Twilight-like nostalgia that i completely ate up cause it was just what i needed at the time.

[Lesli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to leave a negative review, but here we go. This book was easy to read but hard to finish. I'm not sure why I finished it, I guess it out of a sense of accomplishment and determination. It was too simplistic for me. This book was never the right book for me. Even though I read plenty of romance this book is a love at first sight story and I hate love at first sight stories. I despised the premise of predestiny especially with the love at first sight. I'm sure there are plenty of readers out there that wouldn't be bother by these plot foundations but it wasn't for me.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting spin on the Fairy Tale "Sleeping Beauty". There was a bit of violence but appropriate for the story. There were a few places that I wanted to edit a bit. How many times does Aleyna and Darien need to break Ezralon's rules even after they have been warned. The pain that comes with it. Essential to the plot yes, but maybe 1-2 times less? I loved the Unicorn Ezralon. One of those Fantasy books that drew me in and made me think "Fantasy is not so bad"

[Sydney Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating twist on a classic

I loved this book so much, and I am super excited to buy the other ones! The twists on the classic fairy tales are so entertaining and captivating! Definitely buying another one, although I don't know which! There are so many interesting looking ones!

[Ann Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked that this book was a bit different than the usual Sleeping beauty story but there is no depth. The characters are shallow with no real difference in their slight personalities. The story had tons of holes and no real explanation for the characters motivation. Overall a rather disappointing quick read.