A very interesting tale. A rebellious princess turns into a slave, then a trainer and finally a great leader in order to return home. In the process she turns everything on it's head. On the others side of reality, princes are flocking to kiss her awake, proving that they are Prince Charming. Being turned into an amphibian is the their price for failure. Once she's back, she's offered the change to leave again for the place that had reshaped her.

The dark and deadly world of Heartless meets the empowering twist of Cruel Beauty in this thrilling, unpredictable, 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 really enjoyed Creeping Beauty. I'm a suckered for fairy tale retellings and this one was really clever. I especially loved all the various settings throughout the book. The character development was stellar even for some on the lesser characters. Finally, Bitsy is a strong, fearless FMC throughout the entire novel.

Thank you @netgalley and @harpercollinsch for allowing me to review Creeping Beauty.

I almost don't know what to say about this. Creepy Beauty was just painful to read. I can count on one hand the number of books I've DNF'd and still have fingers to spare, so when I say I wanted to put this down a couple chapters in, you know it's bad. Initially, I thought it was because I was reading it while I was sick and just not in the right mood or headspace, but I looked at the other reviews and saw that, for once, I'm not in the minority opinion. I honestly had to force myself to get through Creepy Beauty, and even then, it was one of the most painful reading experiences I've had. (And as someone who doesn't DNF books often, I've had my fair share.)

All I can say is Andrea Portes tried.

She tried to make it funny and edgy and original and progressive. Unfortunately, none of those things actually worked.

The book is broken up into sections that open with entries from the king's "diary," something he does begrudgingly because he's a Man and only writes about his feelings out of love for his wife who's forced him to do so. It's supposed to be humorous and a little "down with the patriarchy!", but it's just forced and cringe and feels like a really bad, prolonged dad joke. Then we have Princess Elizabeth "Bitsy" whatever her last name is, which really has to be some kind of bad joke because, Bitsy? Really? She is not like other princesses. She's plain and nerdy and has mastered the art of "creeping" (a word, that unfortunately, appears far too often in the book) so she can escape her dreadfully vain cousins to go read. She wants her servants to be her maids of honor and breaks the fourth wall because she's a modern woman trapped in a patriarchal society. I mean, Portes really tries to give Bitsy a distinct and unique voice. It just...doesn't work.

Bitsy is an extremely underdeveloped, one-dimensional character and just grating as a narrator. It's like that new Persuasion movie that I refuse to watch. There's a jarring disconnect of trying to be hip and trying to fit the tone of a period piece, and it just isn't handled with enough finesse to work successfully. Her character arc is so clumsily done. She goes from being a naïve, helpless girl to a clever and strong warrior in the span of a few pages. It's like reading a self-insert story by a thirteen-year-old. Like, we've all be there, but is that a story that needs to be shared with the rest of the world? Probably not.

Creeping Beauty wants to be a dark fairytale retelling, but the writing is too juvenile. The content makes it seem like it's geared toward an older audience, but the writing almost feels like it's written for a middle grade readers. One of the reasons it was so hard for me to get into the story is because the plot is barely there until things start to pick up around the 50% mark. (Even then, things don't improve significantly.) There's just no development. The chapters are incredibly short, so the storytelling feels super choppy. The worldbuilding is completely watered down, and there's no emotional pull from the story. The attempts to make Sleeping Beauty an empowered strong female character were sloppy and heavy-handed and hampered by the random bit of romance thrown in toward then end. (Not that they're mutually exclusive, but the romance really came out of left field and was abruptly dropped without any kind of resolution.) I honestly can't say whether the "twist" at the end makes sense or if I was just so distracted with trying to get through the book that I missed some important piece of information, but the climax and ending feels haphazardly thrown together.

I love fairytale retellings, but Creepy Beauty is unpolished mess of a story. I think Andrea Portes was trying to go for some kind of Sleeping Beauty x Through the Looking Glass dark fantasy mash-up, but it feels like she just took a bunch of random elements, threw it in a blender, and called it a day. Unfortunately, the only good this book was good for was trying to help me go to sleep.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.

As someone who loves fairytale retellings, I was excited by the premise of this book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

The beginning of the book was great for me, I was enjoying it despite not loving the characters. From there onwards, it went downhill. Not a single character was likeable and the plot wasn't explored in a way I believe it could have been. I had to push myself to complete this book.

I was anticipating this book but sadly it wasn't for me.

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.