A Dream Within A Dream: A Wicked Thing Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

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Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for A Wicked Thing! Today I'll be sharing my review with you - and don't forget to enter the giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above or see the section below.

A Wicked Thing
Author: Rhiannon Thomas
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 24th 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

Synopsis:

Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of Sleeping Beauty and what happens after happily ever after.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Rhiannon Thomas weaves together vivid scenes of action, romance, and gorgeous gowns to reveal a richly imagined world … and Sleeping Beauty as she’s never been seen before.

“I never thought what happens after Sleeping Beauty wakes up would keep me at the edge of my seat, breathlessly turning pages. But Rhiannon Thomas has taken the familiar and the cliched and turned it into a tense, fast-paced read full of plot twists and revelations, set in a world at intriguing and perilous.” - Sherry Thomas, author of The Burning Sky

“The book is welcome twist on the classic helpless-princess-saved-by-dashing-prince one expects from a fairy tale…. Fairy tale and fantasy fans alike will breeze through this retelling and eagerly await her next chapter.” - School Library Journal

“One of the best fairytale retellings I’ve ever read. Thomas uses the well-known back story of Sleeping Beauty to craft an entirely new future for Aurora that is anything but happily-ever-after. Starting the story after the moment that usually signals the end of the fairytale gave this book an original spin and makes it stand out among of sea of simple retellings. Don’t miss this great debut!” - Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI

A Wicked Thing is an unique and truly enchanting young adult fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The original spin that the author puts on the book is the continuation of the story - what happens after Sleeping Beauty wakes up. I know I've always thought about that while reading fairy tales or watching movies. It always finishes with some handsome prince coming to save the damsel in distress; they get married and then everybody lives happily ever after. That might be enough when you're younger, but as you get older and wiser, you begin to question things about these fairy tale endings. What happens after the wedding? How - and why - would the girl be completely fine with marrying some random dude she's never met? They always seem to get married right away - again, they don't even know each other! And then the real question - what happens after the story ends? Is there really a 'happily ever after' (highly doubtful) or do these people come back to earth and reality sets in? What then? The questions can go on and on, which I've found myself doing after reading the fairy tale retellings that are a huge trend right now. Sorry - I don't buy it. The world doesn't work like that - hence why it's a story, but I still think it kinda tricks us as young kids into thinking that Prince Charming will come for you one day, he'll be really hot and you'll get married, and live happily ever after. It's such a huge disappointment when we get old enough to realize that this definitely doesn't happen and we were essentially duped. Enough of my ramblings about fairy tales, their endings, and the impact on young children - I could keep going forever, so I'll stop while I'm ahead.

I'm really enjoying the trend of fairy tale retellings that's going on right now. I love the different twists and spins authors are putting into the stories, giving them new life and bringing them back into the reader's radar. As soon as I read the description for this book, I knew that I absolutely had to read this one. Finally - an author addressing the very thing that I've been complaining about - what happens after Sleeping Beauty wakes up. And everything isn't rainbows and unicorns. I fell in love with the concept of the book that day and couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. I had some really high hopes for this book because it sounded so different from everything else out there. I'm so incredibly glad to report that it not only lived up to my ridiculous hopes and expectations, but it far surpassed them. Every aspect of the novel is amazing - the characters, the setting and world the author created, the plot itself. I loved the setting/world that the author creates in the book. It pretty much goes along with what the original story says - castles, royalty, kindgoms, etc. - and even the world Aurora wakes up to is incredibly realistic. The author uses a great amount of vivid imagery and detailed descriptions in every little part of the book, which makes it truly come alive for the reader. I found myself captivated by the end of the first paragraph and continued further into this amazing world until the last words of the book. It was so easy for me to imagine myself beside Aurora during the story - I could basically see, hear, smell, and feel everything just as she does.

Aurora is a wonderful main character for the book. Sleeping Beauty is always portrayed as this shy and docile princess who doesn't really say much and is so grateful for the prince who saved her. I absolutely loved how the author wrote Aurora's character in the book. She may be shy and a bit docile at first - I mean, she just woke up from a curse that had her sleeping for a hundred years and everything and everyone she knew is long gone. She's disoriented, unsure of her role in this new world, and just trying to cope with all the information and losses she learned about. After she settles in for a bit, the real Aurora appears - and she is a strong, opinionated, and determined chick who figures out what she wants to do versus what she should do - and doesn't let anything get in her way. She's so easy to identify with and absolutely love right away. I loved watching her character change and grow throughout the book - it was a huge transformation for her and incredible to witness. The plot was exactly as advertised - a look at what happens after the fairy tale ends. There's a lot of various situations that arise that most people don't think about. There are going to be families planning on how to take over the throne, wars are probably going to break out because of these families all wanting the same thing, and what about the princess? What about her marriage to the strange prince - and the life that comes after that? This story addresses all of these obstacles and problems with candor and frankness.

The last thing I want to talk about is the writing style. The author uses third person point of view in the story, which is normally my least favorite because I don't feel as connected to the characters or as deeply involved in the story. I was surprised to find the opposite happened for me with this book. I really felt like I knew Aurora as a person and, as I mentioned earlier, I could easily slip inside the world the author created. It was if I was experiencing the story through a first person point of view, even though it clearly wasn't. It takes true talent, in my opinion, to be able to transport a reader that deeply into the story, even using first person point of view - but to be able to write it with such clarity and intensity from a third person point of view is ridiculously astounding. When I found out that this is the author's debut, I honestly thought that my mind would explode. There's no way anyone would be able to read this novel and know it's a debut. The amount of raw talent and storytelling abilities that this new author has cannot - and should not - be overlooked. I know I'm fangirling and rambling on, but I don't know any other way to express my thoughts and feelings about the book. It was enchanting, thought provoking, and wholly original (among many other things). I absolutely LOVED this book and I'm SO excited that it's the first book of a series!! I know this is going to be a favorite that I re-read a ton of times. I can't recommend this book highly enough! If you're a fan of the whole fairy tale trend happening, or if you enjoy romance, historical fiction, action, adventure, fantasy - basically any type of fiction - you need to read this book. Seriously. READ. THIS. BOOK. NOW. I swear you won't regret it and might just find a new favorite for your shelf too. A small note to the author (if you read this): Thank you for writing this phenomenally stunning novel! You have an incredible talent for writing and have gained a new huge fan! Also, I will probably (make that definitely) be stalking you for any news on the next book. :)

A Beautifully Written Fairy Tale Retelling That Will Mesmerize You From the Very Start - A Definite New All Time Favorite!

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Rhiannon Thomas is a recent graduate from Princeton University, where she studied English and Japanese, and smuggled bubble tea into the library on a regular basis. She now lives in York, England.

As well as reading and writing YA fiction, she runs the blog FeministFiction.com, where she discusses TV, books, and all kinds of fannish things from a feminist perspective.

I don't hang out on Goodreads much, so if you want to contact me, please swing by my personal website or message me on Twitter.