I received a copy of this in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Creeping Beauty is quite the interesting twist on the classic Sleeping Beauty. Our main character is Bitsy who falls the same fate as the original Sleeping Beauty.
With that said... the book wasn't all I hoped it would be. It was slow at times.. really slow.
The plot seemed to adventure all over the place, and sometimes the storyline felt like it was going out of order?

I finished it, I wanted to love it, but it was just... rough.

This plot was all over the place. It was a struggle to finish this book. I didn't care about any of the characters, not even the main one, who I felt I couldn't connect with at all. I just had no idea what was going on at any point, and I couldn't bring myself to care. It's sad to say that the best thing about this book was the cover, but that's the unfortunate truth.

Unfortunetly, I have to say that I did not enjoy this very much at all and almost considered DNFing but decided to continue for the sake of giving it a chance and an accurate review.

When I saw that this was a Sleeping Beauty retelling where the princess is transported to another world when she pricks her finger on the spindle. The concept sounded really interesting so I was excited to give it a try. However, from the very beginning is was a struggle to get through. The author felt the need to use a very extravagant vocabulary and it was so overdone that it ruined the flow and made it all sound very unnatural. She also liked to use flowery prose where it just wasn't needed.

At the same time, the whole story came off as very juvenile. If the subject matter had been a little less violent or suggestive, I would have said this read like a middle grade novel, not YA. The FMC felt very one dimensional and I just felt no connection to her, nor did I with any other character in the story. I also really disliked how every so often she would address the reader with "and dear reader" which happened in the beginning, but then just stopped so it seemed to serve no purpose.

Also, the fact that one of the male characters literally sells her into slavery to someone he knows will abuse her in terrible ways, but later its forgiven and she starts to fall for him? I'm sorry what? This seems to dive into very dark romance territory and not something I would be putting in a YA book at all. Also the FMC hasn't even turned 18 yet, and this man is supposed to be an aging adult unless I missed something.

The only reason I didn't rate it one star is because its not the worst thing I've read and I'm sure there are some people out there who will enjoy it, but I just did not like this one at all.

Unfortunately this book was a rare DNF for me. I made it 50% of the way through. It had a lot of potential to be a really great plot and storyline, but was too disjointed and out there for me (and I am a huge fan of twisted fairytales). The concept of Sleeping Beauty finding herself in an alternate world had so much possibility but unfortunately didn't deliver.

Creeping Beauty by Andrea Portes is a wonderfully unique and beautifully written story.
I liked how everything about the book, the setting, the story and the characters was written. I was utterly fascinated by this book.
A riveting, dubious, multigenre retelling of one of the most beloved fairy tales: where instead of falling asleep to await her prince, this sleeping beauty finally wakes up.

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

Thank You NetGalley and HarperTeen for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I’ll start with the good which is the cover. I also liked how things begin and when everything goes down with Bitsy I’m eager to go on the journey with her. But it feels like she bounces from one place to the next and meets one uninteresting person after another. The King’s journal entries were the only decent part. As Bitsy went all over the place my care for her situation pretty much disappeared. It was Alice in Wonderland minus all the interesting characters. Also, I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. I guess this one wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for ARC.

A quick fantasy retelling of sleeping beauty. I enjoyed this book. However, it felt a bit rushed at times, and the story could have integrated more fully. There are characters you think will be important than not mentioned again or just faded out of the story. The story still flowed well enough to keep me engaged.

A fantastical, thought-provoking read featuring a princess out of her element in a harsh world.

Princess Bitsy, used to being ignored by her more conventionally attractive cousins, has perfected the art of creeping off to read a book instead of attending whatever social occasion is at hand. But now, she's being introduced to potential suitors, and it's becoming harder to disappear. until she stumbles across a room she's never seen in the palace before and pricks her hand on a spindle. Then she falls down, down, down to a brutal world inhabited by warring factions, fighting over a cruel trade in magical potions. Meanwhile, her parents try everything possible to wake her up, including a series of kisses from princes.

I found this use of first person a bit jarring. I tend to prefer more poetic prose, while this author favored short sentences that kept the reader right in the action. Bitsy was interesting as a bookworm princess forced to struggle to survive in a place where she didn't understand the rules or the allegiances. She forges unexpected allies along the way as she explores her destiny as the One Who Fell from the Sky, the only one who could defeat the ancient cruelty known as The Veist.

The ending was unexpected and thought-provoking, forcing both the reader and Bitsy to wonder what's most important in life.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a retelling on Sleeping Beauty!

After the princess, Bitsy pricks her finger on a spindle, she enters an unfamiliar world. In it, everyone is beautiful and aging is not a thing. Filled with twists and unpredictability, there is a lot to uncover.

I think the author took on a distinct writing style and the tone is interesting, but I felt like it was written for someone way younger. The plot felt like it was going in different directions so it was a little difficult to get into the story. However, what I liked was the ending.

If the characters were written with more depth and the plot that is more clear, I think that would have been better.

2.5 Stars

Creeping Beauty is a hard book to review. This book was not my cup of tea. At the beginning, I didn't like it at all. Everything was so extreme. Bitsy was SO plain, the prince was SO fat, her cousins were SO vapid.
Then she literally falls into another world. At this point, Bitsy is just describing random things to us, and asking the reader what their world is like. It was bizarre. But then it starts to take in an Alice in Wonderland type feeling. She's in this weird place, where weird things are happening. I became much more engaged and invested in what was happening. The writing style was not to my taste, but I was interested.
And then the end was a disappointment to me. Or maybe I didn't even understand the end. There seemed to be some plot holes.
Overall, this book wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for an early copy for review.

I was captivated by the description of the book and the cover is absolutely stunning I just had to read it and was disappointed that it really didn't meet my expectations. It started off strong for me then turned into a slow read/burn. The first few chapters I found myself laughing at some of the remarks and I was so happy for Bitsy when she fled a marriage that was going to be pushed on her and my heart was jumping when the spindle was mentioned. That was when the book went into a downward spiral for me.

The book was giving a lot of Alice in Wonderland vibes and there were too many chapters when describing her entering another realm, i felt like it could have been put into one singular chapter. I found it really difficult to connect with any of the characters in the story. The plot has potential, I just feel like the output of it just did not land.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for sending and allowing me to read this book.
This is a very good novel. I'm hoping this author writes more in the future because I've really enjoyed what shes written so far.

Creeping Beauty is a twist on Sleeping Beauty but instead of telling the story, it tells what she experienced whilst asleep. Will her Prince Charming come and kiss her awake or will she have to fight her way out herself?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The cover was beautiful and I skipped some of my other ARC’s to read this first due to that! I really liked this story by the end. I found the beginning to be a little disjointed. The sentences were short and choppy and it was hard to get into. However, I’m glad I stuck with it as by the halfway point I was drawn into the story and eager to see how it played out. I never saw the twist at the end coming and it left me wondering with the last sentence.

This is a Sleeping Beauty retelling, but it almost read more like Alice In Wonderland. Our princess, Bitsy in an attempt to escape a suitor, pricks her finger on a spindle and wakes up in a different world. In this world she has short, strange interactions with many different characters that do not make much sense to her. The longer she stays in the world, the more she learns about the evil governing force called The Wraith who is oppressing all of the people. They band together to take down The Wraith, and Bitsy is faced with a hard decision.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. However, the writing seemed so immature. The dialogue was comical not because it was funny, but because nobody would converse that way. The descriptions were so repetitive (if I heard her world described as baby blues and pinks one more time I was going to DNF). Bitsy as a character was boring. The only character I kind of liked was Count Peregrine, but his relationship was Bitsy didn't make any sense. Quite honestly, I have no idea what the actual point of her whole journey into the dream world was. The author obviously left the ending open to a second book, but I will not be picking it up.

I love fairytale retellings and the synopsis for this book sounded very interesting so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately the writing style didn't appeal to me. I didn't like/couldn't connect to the main character. This one just fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen for the ARC.

So, unfortunately, this was a DNF for me pretty quickly. The writing style felt childish even for the target audience, the "twist" of the main character being literally... able to... creep... felt silly, and every action the main character took made me resent her. There is nothing that I dislike more than a POV character who moans about people being judgmental of them then turns right back around and being judgmental themselves.

The minute we hit the alternate world or whatever it is that's going on there is when any interest was obliterated. I signed up for Sleeping Beauty, not whatever it is that's going on here.

I feel bad being so harsh but this feels like it has so little going for it beyond maybe the unconventional physicality of the heroine (but even that is cheapened by her being, as aforementioned, judgmental of other people).

Overall Creeping Beauty was interesting and had good character development. This took me a long time to get into. I think a part of that was that it was very long (3 parts maybe could have been split?) I also couldn't really figure out what the goal of the main character was for a while.

The journal entries from the king were very helpful and made it pretty interesting, that the whole thing was happening in her head. I would have liked to have known if the prince was Perrigrine or not. There was a lot going on and I felt that it sort of jumped around a bit. I really enjoyed how the princess learned to fend for herself and became stronger in many ways. I felt like it was trying to recap sleeping beauty in a lot of ways but also some others as well and it wasn't entirely clear.

It would have been more highly rated for me if there was more of a focus on one thing rather than the multiple things that that were going on. I also felt the ending was very abrupt and didn't really wrap things up for me.

While the concept of this book was one that appealed to me, the writing just did not live up to the expectations. The fairytale that inspired this retelling is my favorite, so I might have had to high of expectations for the story. This might be one that I give a second chance.

It was very YA fantasy. Slow read. 3 stars because it was well written but didn’t wrap me into the story like I hope it would. Thank you to the publisher for the arc. I read this on NetGalley.

This is a YA fantasy retelling, and it felt like one.

Please, don't get me wrong: there is a plethora of YA fantasy retellings that I hold very close to my heart. But in 2023 where the market has been hugely saturated with them--it needs to stand out. CREEPING BEAUTY did not do that for me. Sleeping Beauty has been the subject of many retellings over the centuries and this one failed to stand out. Compared to CRUEL BEAUTY (a favorite), I was quite interested, but that is an older title--and while still holds up well--in a shifting market, it felt odd for the publisher to promote this work using that.

This is a book that might work better if marketed for a younger audience, but I did not get that was the publisher's intention. The writing style was nothing outstanding (I cringed at the "Dear Reader"). The story was not outstanding. The characters were not outstanding. This book was a flat stretch of "sameness" in the YA market and fails to elevate its interesting premise through any narrative elements.

Several years ago this book might have fared well. But it will not in 2023.