Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" (Once upon a Time)

I tried to like this story because I love Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and the original fairytale but in the end I just had to get rid of the book. The story started out fine but it went downhill later. I’m used to Sleeping Beauty being very feminine character so the idea of a tomboyish Sleeping Beauty doesn’t seem to fit into the story. While I did like how Aurore cared about her people I thought in some parts of the story she seemed kinda of obnoxious towards Ironheart like I don’t need your help and her narration of some parts of the story was too laid back. And the fact that she ended up with her own cousin was gross.

So you know the basic idea: Princess Aurore had a christening party which was interrupted by a slighted uninvited guest who casts a curse over the poor child. When she turns 16 she will prick her finger and one drop of blood will fall and Aurore will die. Another guest (not fairies in this version at least)utters a counterspell. Aurore will not die, she will fall into a deep, deep sleep that will last 100 years until she is awakened by the kiss of a prince. This was similar enough to the original tale, that I felt comfortable sinking into "Beauty Sleep"... but it was the differences that kept me intrigued. In this version, Aurore's older cousin Oswald lives in the palace and expects to be the heir to the kingdom, (mostly due to the dire predictions made about Aurore's life expectancy). The first part of the book was very good. It detailed Aurore's life in the palace, and how Oswald gained her parent's permission to allow Aurore to roam the palace gardens. Aurore gained plenty of freedoms after that and her parents became more relaxed in their protectiveness of her. In the second part of the book Aurore runs away from the palace and meets her destiny. I don't want to give any of the secrets away so I won't detail this very much except to say that I mostly guessed the twist, which was a little disappointed. My other complaint is that the author really spent a good portion of pages saying nothing at all. There was a lot of rambling and while some passages gave good insights into the characters and the ideas of magic and love, quite a bit was pointless. These pages caused my mind to wander and distracted from the otherwise beautiful story. "Beauty Sleep" was still very enjoyable and I look forward to other books in this series.

Mmm... I DID think this story was mediocre, which makes me wonder about the series. I think it is fine for young girls under 15. But knowing the Princess is 16 is enough to make me want more from the storytelling, which didn't happen. I feel you get what you pay for here. The author is a good writer, and got the book off to a tremendous start with her explanations of what magic is. Unfortunately, it goes downhill from there. You don't get your 12 fairies here, or even three fairies, or for that matter - ANY fairies! In my mind, that is unacceptable. You don't get a princess who grows up in the woods, you get a princess in pants! The cover-art is deceptive and the book is nothing like the painting you see there. So this didn't keep me. Part of her life was to spend time with the peasants, which lasted about two paragraphs. Aurore does connect with one major character, but seemed to have a bigger personality than what was developed. Although I finished the book, it was a strain to stay with it and see how the story would play out. For me, the romance and the mystery and magic were nil. I also did not care for some of the underwordly descriptions of supernatural occurrences (which were more off-putting than interesting). Being a student of the supernatural, I was not feeling it in this writing. (I got a sense that the company didn't pay the author adequately to write something memorable.) Again, OK for anyone under 15, who might be inspired later to write something better themselves!

This book was highly imaginative and magical, with twists and turns every direction. It's a wonderful tale that will make you want to stroll through a garden and enter La Foret. Pick it up for a magical evening of sitting under a tree on a spring day. I HIGHLY recommend all of Cameron Dokey's works in this series!

If you expecting the Disney verision of this tale then this really isn't the book for you i did enjoy the different spin on the tale of sleeping beauty it was a very good story and well written i enjoyed the book it was sad when the book ended because i just wanted to keep reading the story because i enjoyed it so much espeically with the twist at the end that you wouldn't expect!

Donkey's retelling are always. So wonderfully twisted yet still terribly enjoyable. This story immediately goes in a new direction and ends very familiarly. There are many memorable points throughout the story and a theme which burns true for any who may encounter it.

I love the retelling of fairy tales. The Once Upon a Time series is great. I've read most of them ,over and over and over. They are a wonderful re imagining of those tell. I'm not going to give any details so I won't spoil it for you. It is just a very good read.

Gave this book as a gift. My granddaughterLoved it.

Overall, this is an enjoyable book with some great ideas and twists on the fairytale. I haven't checked this, but I'm sure this was the first book that Cameron Dokey wrote for the series, as the style is not so polished as in other books and she seems to be finding her feet here. As such, it isn't the best.Some of the dialogue is uncertain; some sections seem overlong and stretched out, while other aspects of the story are not explored enough. There are also a few grammatical issues, and this book has more typos than any in the series I have read so far. I was put off by the prologue, which is completely unnecessary and not good to read, but after that it does pick up.The book is true to the fairytale, but provides some interesting new ideas and characterisation. Dokey's heroines in this series are all likeable, if remarkably similar (it would be nice to see some variety in their ideology, outlook and motivation). Still, her writing style is always engaging, and no fairytale collection would be complete without 'Sleeping Beauty'; the Once Upon A Time series is no exception.