I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book has a ton of potential, but it is not laid out well. I really liked the new take on the story, but I had a hard time with the characters. The biggest issue here for me is the writing style. The book is labeled as a YA retelling, but I feel like this is a kid's writing style. Every little action is over described.

I give this 2 stars because I honestly could not make myself finish it. It did not keep my interest and the run on sentences throughout drove me insane.

I was really happy that I’ve been able to read this book for giving a honest review for netgalley.

The story is a retelling from sleeping beauty. We will meet Aurora and prince Philip.

The story start with Prince Thomas who has to find a princess so he can become the King. He has not chosen a princes because Thomas doesn’t want to marry. He is still mourning he’s father who died 3 weeks ago. And not to forget that the people in the kingdom Orwell really don’t see Prince Thomas as a future king.

We meet Lucy and her best friend Jack when there out hunting. Lucy and Jack are both orphans. And Lucy also has to make a choice because she will turn 18 in a couple off days and the nuns want Lucy to find herself a husband.

When Prince Thomas is going on a quest to find himself sleeping beauty Aurora herself he’s faced with a tread. Someone doesn’t want him to return alive and with a bride. While Prince Thomas is on his quest he finds himself in the company off Lucy and Jack who are running away from the orphanage.

I enjoyed the book. It was sometimes hard to follow the story line. Like I was missing some pieces. But I loved how Lucy and prince Thomas start to chance. I didn’t really like Jack, I had a feeling that we could miss him in the storyline. because he doesn’t feel important.
I loved how the story ended. And that sometimes it’s hard to make the right choice. But that you have to follow you’re heart.

Slumber
By Becky Bird

2.5/5

This goofy retelling of Sleeping Beauty is absolutely ridiculous—sometimes in good ways, but mostly in less than ideal ones. Prince Thomas, a spoiled brat of a future ruler, is looking for the perfect bride—in the sense that he is looking for the most beautiful woman. After finding fault with many princesses, his advisor the Cardinal shows him a picture of Aurora and sends him off with a magic map to find her. But it’s all a plot by the Cardinal who is actually a sorcerer to steal the crown and the heart of the queen. When the bewitched royal guards attempt to assassinate the Prince on the way to Aurora, the prince is saved by Lucy, an orphan girl running away from her orphanage before she ages out at 18. She’s a tomboy who wears men’s clothes, fights with a sword, and excels at hunting. As Lucy, her friend Jack, and the Prince set off on their adventure to get the princess, the Cardinal continues to plot his takeover. Etc etc.


Potentially spoiler info below:

This story doesn’t know what it wants to be. It is set in a magical kingdom, but the world building is essentially zero. It takes modern concepts (and references) for granted—I guess in magical kingdoms with archaic social norms you can still age out of an orphanage at 18 like a kid in the US foster-care system. Another issue I took with the writing was the use of scientific terminology that adds nothing to the story or the characterizations, as none of the characters mentions even a passing interest. A particularly heinous instance, for example: “...as the fruit made contact with his parietal lobe...” Like no, Prince Thomas, you actually have a skull—a word more appropriate to the actual situation! All these instances did was draw me out of the story and wonder why those terms were used. You don’t have to specify that a puddle is “convex.” So I found that really frustrating. The writing itself is clearly tongue in cheek—the Cardinal, for instance, uses the phrase bibbity bobbity boo at once point. But the problem is that it feels very slap dash and occasionally overly colloquial. Of my many complaints, the last is a small one but set the mood for the entire reading; on the very first page, the author, describing the prince riding his horse, used the phrase “with reckless abandonment” which is not AT ALL the same as “reckless abandon” the clearly intended phrase. Starting out with something that so clearly should have been caught in editing made me instantly very irritated with this book. What this book needs is a good editor! In spite of my many complaints, I still liked the story enough to find parts of it enjoyable. It wasn’t wholly bad, just clearly very rough. It reads like a first draft. (an abbreviated version of this review was posted to Instagram).

I received a advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher and Net Galley, in return for an honest review. This is a great retelling of Sleeping Beauty and one I haven't heard before. It is told from multiple characters point of view, which gives the reader a more in depth look into the characters and the story line. I will admit I wanted to reach through the book and slap Prince Thomas like thousands of times in the beginning of the story, but I promise he gets better. Lucy is a strong female character, who doesn't care what people think of her, and doesn't care about her looks. Of course Aurora and Prince Phillip are in the story as well, and let's just say they are different from the one's that we know from Disney, but you grow attached to them. The author uses a unique spin on this retelling of a classic story, and it's one that is guaranteed to keep you up reading late into the night. I will admit when I started the book, I thought it would be the same old song and dance, but I was pleasantly surprised at the turn of events, and can say that I love this version so much more!

I'm a big fan of retelling and was super excited to get into this one !

Before you read : I just realized that the author is self-publishing her book. It might explain why I didn't like it as much as I could have. It only lacks an editor eye :)

We follow Prince Thomas, Lucy and Jack (both commoners) who end up on a quest to find Aurora, the most beautiful princess of the land, so she can be the prince's bride.

This absolutely sums up the books, as nothing else happens. I swear half the book is them running around in the forest trying to escape some danger. This is not what bothered the most though. Severeal things made this book disappointing for me. I mean, this is a Sleeping beauty retelling and she and Prince Phillip are not the main characters...

The biggest issue here for me is the writing style. I believe this is Becky Bird's first published book ever, and unfortunately, it shows. The book is labeled as a YA retelling, but I feel like this is a kid's writing style. Every little action is overdescribed ("Lucy scratched her head in surprise" ????? WTF ?), and it lasts through the whole book. It really bothered me and almost made me DNF the book after 50 pages of boredom (I swear I lost the count of how many times Lucy thinks "Ok, the prince is pretty" and 2 words later "Oh no he's not, I can't like him, he's annoying". It's supposed to make the flirt cute but is plain irritating)

Next up are the characters. They are BEYOND clichés. They're caricatures. I can't believe someone went over this and thought that Lucy was badass, that Prince Thomas was brave and human, or that Jack was a good sidekick. I felt like punching ALL the characters in that story. I mean there's litterally a line where the author writes that the villain lets out an evil laugh. That would be good for a Disney script, but not in a YA book.

Somehow, it got better after the first half of the book. I don't know why, but I feel like the writing was less forced after a while. It still wasn't perfectly to my liking, but it was readable. Maybe Becky Bird still needs to practice her writing styles a little more. I actually think she could write great children stories, and maybe afterwards she can find her style to write more mature books !

All authors need to start somewhere, and I'm sure that Becky will get better with time and experience ! I'll wait for her next novel and see how much she has improved :)


Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc !

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am disappointed to say that I did not finish this book. I love children's fantasy, but this fell flat for me.

Thomas is intentionally a brat, and four chapters in, has no redeeming qualities. While I expect he will develop over time, his selfish and bratty attitude makes him annoying and unsympathetic. His motivation is completely shallow and self centered. While I enjoy characters starting out as unlikable and growing over the story, I need to have something in common or an understanding of the character. Or, at the very least, enjoy their internal narration.

Lucy should have been more endearing, but her point of view felt like straw feminism, Her story felt like it was written in the 90's, filled with empty promises and redundant statements. She feels like the butt of a joke and part of an out-dated story.

I didn't expect the plot to be original, so the predictability didn't bother me.

The author also refused to use the word said, which was noticeably distracting from the narrative itself.

I wish this book had been a first draft, as I feel that is has a lot of potential. But between the characters and the writing style, I was unable to enjoy it.

This was such a different re-telling of sleeping beauty! Besides Aurora and her prince, you got another prince and two orphans. And no wicked fairy, but a guy from the church?! The prince who is not Aurora's is really a jerk. Only looking for beauty in girls and not what is in the heart. No wonder why our main girl, who is the most heroic, doesn't like him. But you know these fairy tale types of endings...it's all love.

Fairy-tales and Fairy-tale retellings are my jam. I LOVE them, I love to hear about them, I love to watch them, I LOVE to read them. I was so excited that I got approved for this. Once I started reading I quickly realized it was really a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" at all...sure Aurora and her prince were in it..but it was not focused on them. So, I was quite bummed about that. But overall, this book was a quick, easy read and I did like it. It just wasn't what I was expecting.

I give this 1 star because I honestly could not make myself finish it.
It did not keep my interest and the run on sentences throughout drove me insane.
Lack of punctuation and too much detail (most of it completely unnecessary) just ruined it for me.
I was so excited by the synopsis but this was such a disappointing turn out..

A cute enough retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Lucy is a fun lead character- not your typical teen female who bats her eyes at good looking guys. Lots of moxie! I like that this is a pretty tame book that I can suggest to younger tweens/teens and those who don’t want a lot of “trash” in what they read. Not many like it! Write more!

Slumber by Becky Bird is described as a YA retelling of Sleeping Beauty . In fact it tells the story of one of the Princes sent to awaken the sleeping Princess Aurora, and the misadventures he undergoes along the way while he is accompanied by an orphaned runaway Lucy, so it really approaches the well known story from a different angle. I would say that this book feels like it is written for the younger YA reader, in fact in some ways it seems more like a middle grade book and this is not helped by the characters being written as though they are much younger than their stated ages. I think this is probably the biggest fault I had with the book, as otherwise I did enjoy the story and liked the Lucy character a lot, and if I had gone into it expecting the more juvenile style I would probably have rated the book slightly higher. I will say that the character of Prince Thomas was not as well written or developed as that of Lucy , which is a shame as it is clear that the author can create fun , believeable and interesting characters. The writing was a little clunky here and there, and the book felt just a little rough around the edges, but Lucy, the fun story and clever alternative take on an old favourite go a long way to making up for these minor flaws.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I got this book to give an honest review. So, I will give you that. I was excited to get Slumber by Becky Bird. Since it is a fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I am a sucker for these kind of stories. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I hoped it to be. I feel the author was trying to go with a “Princess Bride” approach by making the story funny and charming. But it kind of fell flat. The characters reminded me of cartoon ones. For they were overly exaggerated. For example, Princess Aurora was extremely superficial. Prince Thomas was all mighty. Lucy was too “Tom boyish”. And don’t get me started on the evil Cardinal Lionel. The story is about Prince Thomas finding a bride so he can take over the kingdom. He did not think any of the ones he met were beautiful enough to reign with him. So, when he hears about Sleeping Beauty he goes on a quest to find her. Not knowing it will be a quest sabotaged from the beginning. He once again runs into Lucy. An orphan who doesn’t care if he is the crown prince. She and her sidekick Jack are trying to runaway. But when they run into the Prince they become victims to the danger he is in. They all must work together to survive. Which is hard to do with 2 strong willed people. I actually did like Lucy a lot. But when you add in a conceited Prince Phillip and a pathetic Princess Aurora. It was overkill to a story I’ve always loved. Maybe, that’s why I’m so harsh on my review. Everything I loved about Princess Aurora was killed by this author’s new direction of the story. I was happy that we did get a happy ending. One that did make me feel warm and fuzzy. Just felt it failed in being funny. It I do commend the author for trying to do something different.

Fairytale - very sleeping beauty adjacent

I give this 3.5 stars because it was good and held my interest throughout, but there wasn’t anything about it that really stood out as original as far as fairytales go aside from the fact that Aurora and Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty are in it and It isn’t a retelling of that story.

This story is about Prince Thomas whose father died not too long ago and his Mother the queen is pushing him to marry a girl of royal blood in order to become the king. However, Thomas is vain and spoiled and wants to find a princess that is perfect so that her beauty is a match to his handsomeness and he rejects every girl that is presented to him.

The Cardinal, who turns out to be evil and magical, shows him a picture of sleeping beauty and tells him that she would be perfect. Her 100 year curse is nearly over, Thomas just needs to travel to her kingdom and give her true loves kiss and travel home. Though the Cardinal spelled the guards to kill the prince on the journey.

A runaway orphan girl Lucy, and her friend Jack come upon the prince while he is being attacked and Lucy saves the Prince and they decide to go on the quest together. When they get there they meet another prince and they all travel together. The characters are pretty great and the story is fun. It is entertaining, I liked it quite a bit.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Slumber is a fairytale retelling where Princess Aurora is a supporting rather than main character - and a fairly shallow one at that! Prince Phillip also appears as a handsome, heroic supporting character, with a knack for strategy.

Along with these expected characters we are introduced to: Prince Thomas, who is, in the beginning, an obnoxious, sexist boy, but who thankfully grows and matures as a result of his adventures; Lucy, an opinionated tomboy who is eminently likeable; and the endearing Jack whose bumbling provides many humorous moments.

While somewhat predictable the story has charm and is a quick, easy read.

This book is a retelling of the classic fairytale "Sleeping Beauty," but with a twist. It's not really about Aurora, the most beautiful woman in the land. We have Prince Thomas--check, we have Aurora--check, we have the evil cardinal villain--check, but then we have two orphans, Lucy and Jack, plus another prince. All of these characters weave together the story to bring a new freshness to the fairytale. I loved Lucy--all spunk and fearlessness. Jack was the comic relief and Prince Thomas goes from a spoiled man-child to the hero the story demands.

I did find the POV changes a little jarring sometimes and there should be an formatting indication that the scene has shifted between the Prince et al and the cardinal. It would have made for a smoother read. The book was a quick read and I found it quite enjoyable.

A cute little retelling of sleeping beauty that has a shallow prince AND a tomboy orphan girl.

I felt a connection to Lucy, and I was egging her on, especially when she was blunt. Jack was a cute side character, and I would've liked to see more of him in the book!

I felt like the ending was cut a little too short for my liking, and it was predictable, however, for a short read, I found this likeable.

Rating: 3.75/5

(This review will feature on my blog on the 25th of July!)

This is a sweet, fun little story, ideal for Middle Grade readers.


The writing is rather clumsy. Some descriptions are bizarre, and there's a lot of telling. Still, you can look past those aspects if you just want to enjoy the story for what it is: an innocent adventure. The humour will tickle you. The antics will make you smile. The world is "the vague, magical royal kingdom", but it's enchanting all the same.

The plot is predictable yet high-spirited. The characters do learn lessons, and their relationships are lovable. Lucy is feisty with human weaknesses. Thomas is sexist and arrogant, but he too learns the error of his ways. Jack is delightful, and provides awesome comic relief. He's like a lovable little brother.

This novel might not be a contender for Sleeping Beauty retellings, but it is childish in a cute way.

So I'm gonna start off by saying that this is enjoyable. It really is! I'd probably put this in the rainy-day pile. It's one of those books that is just good to read to pass the time.

If you're looking for more, then I'm sorry to say that this doesn't bring anything new to the table as far as retellings go. While it has an interesting plot, it is ultimately extremely predictable. Even it's own summary gives away the entire book. The characters themselves are nothing special and just seem like recycled royal characters that you'd find in many retelling novels. The romance is predictable as is the ending. Don't go in expecting something grand or unique, because this will only disappoint you in that aspect.

Now despite all that, I did find it really enjoyable to read. I think it's a good book to pick up when on a flight, during a storm, or even when you're just bored. It gives you just enough to stay entertained despite how predictable it is. We all have books that fit that sort of bill, so this would probably do well if it was used for those purposes.

ARC provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book has a ton of potential, but it is not laid out well. I really liked the new take on the story, but I had a hard time with the characters. The story itself would go from one scene with a set of characters to a different scene with different characters and back with no changes in the page, other than it being a different paragraph, also viewpoints would change from one sentence to the next, so you thought you knew who was talking, and then it would change. Consistency or perhaps adding a chapter or mark when the character or scene is changing would do a lot for this book. Also, the relationship between the two main characters is aggravating. One second they are fighting and venom is spurting out from their pores, the next they are snuggling? The Prince has qualities so ingrained in him that he is horrible and thinks its ok, and I really don't think the length of the book would be enough time to correct his character flaws, it may be good to make him bad with redeemable qualities instead of mean and unaware.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

This is a wonderful fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I found this to be a quick read and I just fell into this fairytale world. love retellings and this is a Sleeping beauty retelling. It is a different retelling as it is from the perspective of a different prince trying to get to Aurora while Prince Phillip is also trying to get to her. Phillip and Aurora are side characters as the story mainly focuses on Lucy and Thomas.
Lucy is such a great character! She is strong, independent and hates dresses. She can use a bow and arrow and is such a badass. I really enjoyed her story and I felt connected to her as she reminded me a little of myself. Then we have Thomas who is an arrogant Prince sent out to marry a Princess before he becomes King. I enjoyed his story and how he developed.
I loved all the fairytale elements in the story, I enjoyed the evil Cardinal and I found him to be a little creepy. I enjoyed the ending.
The only thing I would say against this is that it is a little predictable. I would have also liked to know what happened to Jack after the story.