A fun take on the YA fantasy novel and the classic fairytales I grew up reading. It was a quick read, well written and enjoyable characters. I look forward to reading the next books in the series.

4/5 stars
audiobook- 2x

Thank you NetGalley and Kaitlyn Davis for gifting me a copy of this audio book in return for my honest review.

I liked the narrator she was clear and expressed the characters well. I do think her pacing would have been too slow for me but that’s why I read it at 2x which sounded like a normal reading voice to me.

“I wish I could say I was the hero of the story. A resister. A rebel. Someone who lived to bring an end to the queen who stole my childhood--my mother, my life, my very world. But I'm not. I'm not the good guy. I'm the one who puts the good guys in their graves."

From this first quote Kaitlyn Davis had me hooked. I love a good fairy tale retelling and this one didn’t disappoint. This was a totally new and refreshing story line from your typical retelling. I loved how this quote also came back into play later in the book. She didn’t just state it and forget it which was a fun full circle moment for the reader!

Jade is a wonderful character, she was only a child when the earthquake hit New York City destroying almost everything in place for a town straight out of a story book. Jade has been stripped of all her emotions from an evil queen with magical abilities. She has spent 10 years emotionless and training to become a member of the queens guards to “protect” the city, but really all resistance has been killed off years ago due to the queens magic. So Jade spends her day staring at New York Cities destroyed skyline.

Then purely by accident she meets the queens runaway son, Prince Ash. He starts to make her feel things that she hasn’t felt in 10 years. I loved listening to their relationship as it grew and matured.

One issue I have with it is that it has so much wonderful build up and then the resolution was just kind of blah. When I read it I was like huh, that’s it? That’s all it took to break the curse? So technically it should have been broken earlier correct? There were also moments that were very predictable and it ruined some of the book for me. It was what dropped my rating from a 5 to a 4. I will be reading the 2nd book and I’m hoping some of my questions from this book are resolved.

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was effortless to read (or listen in this case). The narrator made the book and brought it to life. It was so easy, easy to get into, easy to keep listening and easy to get behind all the characters.

I likes the set up of the story and found the plot was one to instantly get me hooked. There’s rebels rising up against the cold hearted queen, a soldier who is the only woman amongst her ranks and set to a task to infiltrate the enemy. There’s magic, drama and romance. Couldn’t want for more really!

The storyline was steady and entertaining I found. It was a satisfying story, I loved the start, introducing me to the world and smiled at the ending and enjoyed the ride in between.

Thank you to the author and publisher for this audiobook on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.

I enjoyed this twisted take on sleeping beauty. It was a YA fantasy full of magic, battles and love. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a wonderful job telling the story. I will have to check out book 2 in the series

Gripping read, the twists and turns will keep you turning pages. And the cliff hanger ending has me waiting with baited breath for book 2.

Wow! This book was so good! I know this book was published a while ago but its such a timeless read. I really enjoyed listening to the audio version and I can't wait to check out the rest of the series. So well written but still feels like an amazing story that you remember like a warm hug!

The story starts out with a little girl, Jade, out in NYC with her mother and an earthquake happening. A beautiful Queen rises up and Jade runs to her as her mom screams for her to come back and not go towards the queen. Fast forward ten years and Jade is living in a kingdom with all of her emotions stripped from her by the queen.
One night Jade is out and runs into Prince Asher who the queen has been searching for the past ten years.
The storyline kept you intrigued and I wanted to know what happened. Plus I want to know what continues to happens so thank goodness there’s another one coming out.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy

I hate giving a review to a book I could not finish but this was a DNF for myself I just could not get into this book. The narrator just bored me and had such lack of emotion while reading it in my opinion. I gave it 3 stars only seemed fair since the narrator was not the author's fault I may pick myself up a copy and read it myself. Thank you for the opportunity.

Pretty solid fantasy/dystopian crossover with great heroine. Didn't care much for the romance.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is charming and romantic, and is such a quick read. I thought it was excellent on audio, and flew through it. As a fan of fairy tale retellings, I would definitely recommend it especially if you enjoyed “The Selection” by Kiera Cass.

Earthquake hits New York and young Jade goes to someone who she thought could save her and her mom but come to find out the "princess" was not who Jade thought she was. Years later Jade is sent on a mission to capture the prince. Should be a simple enough assignment for Jade but she didn't take into account all that she would learn while with the prince, including how he plans to kill the queen.

I really enjoy retelling of fairy tales and I thought this would be interesting. It was interesting but it felt too simplistic of an issue and solution with the queens magic. I liked the independence of Jade but after meeting the prince emotions started to cloud her judgement. I realize this is suppose to happen. I'll have to read other books in the series to see if they are different..

Started out listening to it at normal speed then sped it up between 2.5 and 3. The narrator was clear and conveyed the characters well.

This is a retelling of sleeping beauty that involves betrayal, mind control & true love. This time there’s a twist though, it’s the boy who gets cursed, not the girl. So the girl must do everything she can, including regicide, to save his life.

I think the concept definitely has a lot of potential but I must admit I did get quite confused at times just not really knowing what’s going on. I also feel like the ending was pretty abrupt & nothing was really resolved? I’m hoping the sequels might help with that though.

But other than those minor issues I enjoyed it & would recommend if you like other Disney retellings!

sadly could only listen to the extract but certainly sounds intriguing! the descriptions of things are as such you can visualise them
i will look out for the book once published