I just did not like this writing style at all. This one wasn't for me- if it hadn't have been a review copy, I would have dnf'd it. I usually enjoy twists on fairy tales, but the writing style, tone, and pacing just did not work for me. I found it difficult to follow what was happening or even to care about what was happening.

This book is loosely based on Sleeping Beauty. However, when Princess Bitsy pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep, she finds herself living in a nightmare. This story is a bit dark, but the author cleverly weaves a bit of humor into the story. It was an easy read with short chapters. I enjoyed watching Bitsy become more humble, mature, and confident in herself as the story continued. I also enjoyed the bantering between Princess Bitsy and Peregrine. It was quite entertaining. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending where it seemed that the story would repeat again.

This book wasn't my favorite, but it was a good book. It's kind of like a sleeping beauty story. The story is what she is dreaming about while in a sleep. The story was entertaining, and the plot was good. For some reason, it just took me a bit to get into, and then I could easily be distracted from it.

Everyone knows the story of Sleeping Beauty, but no one ever discusses what, if anything, she dreamt about while she was asleep - until now. Princess Elizabeth Clementine DeBoudas Roix - Bitsy to her mother - is under a curse, one that will put her to sleep unless she marries before her 18th birthday, a curse her parents never told her about. But as a less-than-exquisite looking young lady, Bitsy is having trouble finding an appropriate prince. Her father, the king, sets her up to meet and marry Prince Wencesslont the Third, whom the king has not seen since childhood, but the prince has not kept himself in shape, and is roughly as wide as he is tall. In an attempt to avoid a private encounter with the prince, Bitsy hides, and finds a spindle, which she pricks her finger on. While her father laments her enchanted sleep in his journal, Bitsy finds herself in another world - one where her own home is unknown, and where she is, for the first time in her life, entirely on her own.

This is an entertaining novel, and shows how Bitsy grows as she is finally allowed to be her own person, instead of fulfilling just the role that society has determined is appropriate for a princess and heir to a throne. As an intelligent, multi-lingual, and educated young woman, Bitsy finds herself much more competent than her parents - especially her appearance-focused mother - let her to believe. Hopefully, a future volume will explore the changes she makes in her own kingdom after her awakening, with her new understanding of both herself and the workings of the world. Recommended for teens and adults.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this book but sadly didn't. I did enjoy a few things but it truly wasn't enough for me.

I really tried to give this book a chance, but I could not get into it. I read what I could but ended up as DNF, or sort of rapidly skimming the latter half. I think I definitely misunderstood the premise, as the overall plot of the story was not what I was expecting. But sitting that aside, I couldn't bring myself to like the protagonist, the plot, or the writing. While this cliche can sometimes work, Bitsy is the plain protagonist who is just so different from everyone around her, but this protagonist doesn't make it work and I could not connect with her. I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters, and the writing dragged the plot out that I just got bored very quickly. I think it was supposed to read as Bitsy communicating with a reader as a way to connect, but it felt a little condescending or just too young (and this from someone who enjoys reading middle grade even), and she ended up using way to many words to describe every simple thing, which made me want to yell "get to the point!" I try to be positive about most things I read, and I'm sure there is someone out there who would enjoy this book. But I could not get myself to finish it unfortunately.

This was...hard. I don't really like leaving bad reviews, but I gotta be honest when I say I just didn't like this book. I rounded up to 2 stars because there were some things I enjoyed, but they were VERY few and far between. I struggled to read it and was not interested in the characters, the story, or even the writing style. It left a lot to be desired.

A multi genre retelling of the famous fairytale, Sleeping Beauty. Instead of falling asleep to await her prince, this princess wakes up. Wakes. Up!

In a land as a princess, Bitsy has always been told how plain and graceless she is. When her parents are starting to allow potential prospects for marriage to meet Bitsy, she creeps away from the palace. When Bitsy pricks her finger and falls into another world, Bitsy must learn how to fight what she wants in life.

Creeping Beauty is a great story for all teens and young adults, and possibly some adults, to learn from. Fight for what you want and what matters to you. Don't settle just because it's expected of you. Loved it and would recommend to everyone!

Thank you to Harper Collins Children's Books, Netgalley, and Andrea Portes for the advanced copy.

I enjoyed aspects of this unique feminist driven tale of Sleeping Beauty with a twist. Instead of falling helplessly into a slumber to await her prince’s kiss, Bitsy, the fated main character, falls into a world of crime, evil and a thrilling unpredictable adventure.

While the overall premise for the tale was great, I did think it was a bit juvenile in the tone throughout and didn’t enjoy the first person POV with the fourth wall breaking. Personally I don’t care for tales with such a narrative. I found Bitsy to be a real “pick me” character with very little depth.

I desperately wish it hadn’t ended on a cliff hanger as I believe there’s is no continuation and a few bits were left unanswered. However, I enjoyed the world building and like the idea of the other world in which a hero is needed before it is destroyed.

Thank you so much to @harper360ya for sending me an e-arc of Creeping Beauty by Andrea Portes via @netgalley

I’m typically a fan of twisted fairytales but I found this one very hard to get into. This was a DNF for me at about 10%. I’m not one to give up easily but I was just not a fan of the way this story was written from the beginning. Thank you Netgalley and HarperTeen for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book felt more juvenile for most of the book than I was expecting. I did like the fact that this book is a bit of "what was going through Sleeping Beauty's mind while she was asleep?" and what true motivation might the Villain have in making her sleep.

A lot of the book was a bit sluggish with the first person view from our Princess. I don't think any of the characters were fully developed enough for me to really enjoy this. But I did read this book pretty fast (probably because of the juvenile ness) .

I really didn't get why Peregrine (when we last saw him) did what he did. I never bought that he wanted a relationship with the Princess.

When I first came across Creeping Beauty on NetGalley my interest was piqued. A fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty where the princess isn't dependent on a prince to save her? Count me in! Sadly, this book was not what I was expecting. While there were a lot of things about this book that had me disappointed, there were also a lot of things I really enjoyed.

First of all, the atmosphere of the story was everything I'd expect from a fairytale retelling. While reading I really did feel like I was in a fairytale, and the descriptions were well done and gave me clear pictures of what the world looked like. However, the world-building could have been more well-done, and the world didn't make a lot of sense. The story had a vibe similar to Caraval, as you were never quite sure what was real, who you could trust, or what was happening. This is one of the things that kept me interested and ultimately made me finish the book. I wanted to learn how the story ended and why everything happened, as we weren't shown why she fell asleep, to begin with, and I couldn't quite piece it together on my own.

That being said, the plot kept hinting at a plot point that never saw the light of day. We were led to believe that Peregrine would be the Prince Charming that would wake her, but she ultimately saved herself, sort of. Although I'm normally all for the princess/heroine saving herself. However, as the book kept hinting at the feelings and tension between Bitsy and Peregrine I was left feeling deprived of their love story.

Although Bitsy and Peregrine were well-defined, three-dimensional characters with clear motives, all of the other characters were not. The characters felt flat and one-dimensional. I would've loved to see more growth and backstory to some of the secondary characters, especially Keela and her son, as well as Shakvi and the rest of the Azelle. As mentioned Bitsy and Peregrine were both well written and they both had well-developed arcs throughout the book.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the first 70% of the story but as we got towards the climax and the ending it started to feel rushed and everything that happened felt very convenient. When we finally met the villain of the story, they were defeated too easily and in the moment we had no idea how Bitsy knew what to do. The villain, as well as all the other characters, didn't really have a clear motive for their actions, and the motive was only revealed after the conflict was resolved. After the conflict was resolved we finally got to learn who the villain was and why she put Bitsy to sleep, but it didn't really make sense. After everything is revealed the story ends with Bitsy having a strong urge to prick her finger on the spindle again. It is only hinted at how the story ends, and we're left with an open ending.

Although I do really love the open ending and being able to kind of choose what happens next, the ending leaves much to be desired. The questions we had during the story were barely answered in the end, and it felt rushed and forced. I enjoyed the journey a whole lot more than I did the destination.

2.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a retelling as much as the next person but this one didn't hit the mark for me. First of all the title made it seem like a horror story, but alas, no horror was found.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s for this ARC.

Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite stories and retellings always pull me in…. This did not.

The cover is gorgeous though!

I did not enjoy much about this book. I thought the plot was fine but the writing style took away from it. It is a sleeping beauty retelling. The main character in plain princess that gets taken away to another/alternate world that is darker in all ways possible compared to hers. There is a romance interest and hard choices have to be made. I thought it was a real interesting take on the classic fairytale, but it just missed the mark for me. I felt like the themes and concepts the book was trying to discuss were for an older YA audience but the tone and the characters acted like younger YA characters. The writing style did not really work for me either. I did not like particularly how the character would break the 4th wall. I really did not like the ending. Is there going to be another one? If not then this book ends on one heck on a cliffhanger.
This is a 2.5 STARS for me.

I had really high hopes for this novel but unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. I liked the setting of the other world, it gave a very Alive in Wonderland type vibe that I did enjoy. I did enjoy the characters and thought that they brought their own uniqueness to the story. Bitsy was a great main character and I thought that her development through out the novel was great. unfortunately this book has a lot of unnecessary pages in it. I found some of the story because disjointed with the amount of filler that was in it. it made it really hard to stay in the storyline.

Creeping Beauty by Andrea Ports ⭐️

A retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I was able to get 64 out of 291 pages in. I really wanted to like this book, but I just wasn't able to get pulled in. The good: descriptions and pacing. The bad: Princess Elizabeth (Bitsy) and plot.

Thank you to the author publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was really excited about this book and I think that it had a great idea of a plot. Unfortunately the book just fell a little bit short for me. Bitsy seems a bit middle grade while other parts of the book are YA/NA. It felt a little disjointed and I couldn’t connect with the characters or the story line.

The author has such a creative mind and the book just needed a little more maybe beta readers to help the author with missing plot points and flow. I still think the author did a great job and for people who like a little more whimsy and Alice and Wonderland type chaos may really enjoy this book. I look forward to reading others by the author as I loved her imagination.

Creeping Beauty caught my eye as it was described as a subversive and feminist take on Sleeping Beauty. I love reimaginings of Sleeping Beauty so couldn’t wait to dive in. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work for me. The story follows Bitsy a plain princess and heir to the throne. Her parents want her to marry but are finding it difficult to find a suitable match. When Bitsy accidentally pricks her finger on a spinning wheel, she is transported to a world where beauty is the most important thing and people will do anything they can to make themselves beautiful. Will Bitsy be able to escape and return to her kingdom, and will she be the same person when she gets there?

The story does have an intriguing premise, but the plot felt very disjointed. It is quite a quick paced tale and the writing was easy to get into but I was hoping for more atmosphere in the sinister and cut throat land that Bitsy is transported to. The story didn’t really come to a satisfying conclusion and I was expecting something more to happen before the story came to an end.

Bitsy as a main protagonist was fine but I didn’t particularly connect with her and I didn’t feel like the romance worked at all. There were other characters I was more interested in and wished we got to know more of. Overall Creeping Beauty is a different take on the Sleeping Beauty tale. If you’re looking for a fairytale reimagining this could be something you’ll really enjoy but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Sadly this one didn't quite hit the mark for me. I loved the concept of falling into a deep sleep and simultaneously into another world and the world building is the start of something great but the story and characters didn't quite connect for me.
The writing felt like it would fit better in the middle grade zone, however the content is defiantly YA/NA so the two didn't flow so well.
Bitsy feels very middle grade in her language and innocence, the way she creeps away from trouble and minds her manners but dealing with very adult situations such as slavery/trafficking felt a little off brand for her and the situations she ended up in felt misplaced for her character. It makes for a great fairy tale but I think it would be better pitched with less adult themes and moved into the middle grade category to suit the nature of the writing and the characters.
Speaking of characters, I didn't manage to connect with anyone in the story given that I found it hard to relate to them within the storyline. That said the main character does go through an arc and develops in character, I just didn't connect well with that journey.
Im sure with some more editing and a way of this book 'finding itself' the concept could be great but as it is, I just couldn't invest in it.
Plus sides, the cover is gorgeous and the world building was creative and intriguing.

Massive thank you to Harper 360 for sending me this arc via Netgalley, as always I'm immensely grateful for including me in your mailing lists.