If you love enemy-to-lover stories mixed with forced proximity and Sleeping Beauty retellings, then A Dream So Wicked is perfect for you.
Instead of Sleeping Beauty (Briony Rose/Rosaline Briar) falling in love with Prince Philip (Monty Phillips) she falls for the son of her enemies (Thorne Blackwood/Vintarys Lemuria). Whereas, in the original Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent cursed Sleeping Beauty to prick her finger and fall into a sleep-like death, in A Dream So Wicked both families have multiple curses on them:
1. Rosaline if she touches Iron will be bound to it forever.
2. Vintarys can never look at his mother's face.
3. If either family draws the blood of the other, then their entire family will fall into a sleep-like death for a hundred years.
Of course, all of these curses come to pass in some way within the first quarter of the book. So, the rest of the time we're following Briony and Thorne attempting to break the sleeping spell on each of their families. As it will be lifted if they complete a task together that neither wants to do but will benefit each of their families. Of course, the more they work towards the goal they set, the less either of them wants it. As they both realize their families are corrupt and that they deserve better.
There are nods along the way to the original tale, while taking on a life of its own. So, Briony plays more of an active role in the curses rather than Sleeping Beauty. We also see that she loves dancing much like the original character and was raised away from her family by three pixies each represented by a specific color. And we to see that tortured past Thorne experienced, so he has a lot to grow from since he was raised to be a tool for vengeance against Briony's family. Also, the two have a past together due to Briony's daydream magic which allowed her to pull Thorne into her dreams for the past two years before they officially met. Though she wasn't aware that it was real, while he did but he came to enjoy those dreams so he never said anything.
There were so many great characters in this book. Briony despite growing up at a convent was witty, smart, and devilish. Thorne has a strong sense of honor as everything he does is for his family, but he also has softer moments when he's baking. Minka and Mr. Boris were hilarious side characters. I seriously love how willing Minka was to claw someone's eyes out for wronging Briony. And Monty was such a love-hate character, but he cemented his place when it was revealed that his games were actually his way of getting Thorne and Briony together, rather than actually trying to get with Briony.
I seriously enjoyed reading this book and I can't wait to see the adult fantasy romcom series that he'll be in called Fae Flings and Corset Strings. Especially since it's got Monty in it and given the games he played, I can only imagine what antics he's going to get up to in that series.
*I did receive this book as an ARC in exchange for a review*