Once Upon a Dream by Liz BraswellMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Once Upon a Dream has in interesting premise: what if Sleeping Beauty never did wake up? This book was a different take on a familiar fairy tale, which happens to be one of my favorites.
It took a couple of chapters for the book to really engage me, but once it gets going, the book becomes more intriguing.
While I appreciate the author's attempt to flesh out Aurora, her parents, Phillip, and even Maleficent, something about this book just didn't connect with me. Aurora had to face the fact that her parents had seemingly abandoned her, her "aunts" had lied to her for 16 years, she'd literally fallen in love at first sight with the first guy she'd ever spent any length of time with, she was in fact a princess living under an evil curse, and she's borderline suicidal. The author did a good job of addressing all of these issues and trying to get Aurora to work through them. A lot of if just felt a little forced or mechanical, however. To me the most sympathetic and three-dimensional character was Phillip--I kind of felt sorry for him and wished Aurora would just give him a break.
I did enjoy the book and am happy the characters got a semi-"happily ever after," and I would recommend it. The author does her best to turn Aurora into a stronger, more independent, heroine who fights for what she believes. I do feel as though the characterizations could have been better, though. Perhaps more "showing" and less "telling" would have made the book resonate better with me.
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