I am such a big fan of Kalynn Bayron and her unique stories and well-rounded characters. So I was unfortunately disappointed reading her newest novel as I felt that these elements were lacking. Bayron's first famous fairy tale "retelling" worked because it acknowledged the original and built upon it, continuing the story rather than rewriting it which allowed the author to have full control over plot. However, this novel was in fact a true retelling, which often fall into the pit of predictability and struggle to really become unique stories of their own. This book was also deceptively short, and found that the relationships between the characters never really had the chance to develop - so at the end, there is all this love between characters that seems unbelievable. I had also hoped there might be some tie-ins with the Cinderella is Dead novel, as this was said to exist in the same universe.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sleeping beauty and Snow White fairtytale retelling!

A kingdom plagued by an evil warlock who grants wishes with a twist, a princess born of pure power, and a mission to end the warlocks reign on terror

I really enjoyed this book as a break from the usual romantasy. This novel was more YA or even middle school focused and was packed full of action and unique blends of classic fairytales!

I wasn’t completely enthralled with this book as I found the world building lacking and no romance. My heart just wasn’t in it but I believe for the appropriate audience it is a thrilling book!

I loved this book so much! And I can honestly say, even when I thought I knew what would happen next, I absolutely did not. And my dearest, Eve! She is definitely fury, but it was great to watch her grow throughout the story and learn that you can accept help, even from unexpected sources. This book is also a beautiful tribute to mother/daughter relationships. It made me sit back and truly appreciate the village of women who raised me (and support me to this day). Also, I couldn’t help but resonate with the parts of the book that are about memory and stories. Stories change from person to person so perhaps, we’ll never know the “true story” but there’s so much power in the tales they become!

Kalynn Bayron's Sleep Like Death presents an intriguing dark fantasy world where wishes can become curses, and a young heroine named Eve seeks vengeance against the malevolent Knight. Eve, armed with the unique abilities to communicate with animals and conjure weapons from nature, is a compelling character driven by personal tragedy—one of her mothers was cursed by the Knight and trapped in the body of a songbird. Bayron's world-building shines in the vivid descriptions of the enchanted forest and the sinister presence of the Knight, adding depth and atmosphere to the story. However, the narrative sometimes falters with uneven pacing, making some sections feel drawn out and diminishing the overall tension.

The plot thickens as Queen Regina begins to exhibit strange behaviors, isolating herself and lashing out, adding urgency to Eve's quest. This subplot enhances the mystery and stakes, compelling Eve to question whether her powers are enough to save her family and the kingdom. While the central conflict is engaging and the characters well-crafted, some plot twists are predictable, which slightly lessens the impact of the story's climax. Additionally, the narrative could benefit from a deeper exploration of secondary characters to provide more emotional depth. Overall, Sleep Like Death is a commendable effort with a captivating premise, but its predictability and pacing issues keep it from reaching its full potential.

Sleep Like Death is a creative twist on the Snow White fairytale with an imaginative storyline and characters that possess depth and relatability.

This book follows a teen named Eve through multiple events that are loosely based on the Snow White story. The main difference is that Eve’s character was strong and incredibly talented with a touch of magic. The story intensifies when Eve witnesses her mother, the queen, exhibiting bizarre behavior in her chambers and the story unfolds from there. I loved the strength and depth at which we learned the relationship between mother and daughter as well as the originality in the story itself. What a fun read!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Kalynn Bayron, and Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books for providing this free ARC. This is my honest review! This published on June 25th!

I have posted my review on Goodreads, in my Facebook book club, and will make a post on Tiktok.

CONTENT WARNING: grief, violence, death, gore, mention of death of a child, murder, mention of torture, suicide

I’ve kept my eye on Kalynn Bayron since reading her debut, Cinderella is Dead, and her writing has only gotten better and better. So, my expectations were naturally high for this book. And returning to her writing roots, she took on a neglected fairy tale for this book—Snow White, although there are hints of other fairy tales woven into the story.

To start with, Bayron’s writing is incredible. Her stories are always written in a straightforward manner, although she includes vivid descriptions and makes it easy to immerse myself in the story. The book takes place in winter, and despite it being almost 90° where I live, I was nearly ready to wrap myself in a blanket and make some tea. I loved reading every page, and this is the kind of book that I couldn’t put down and walk away from.

Eve is the main character, and the only POV character in the story. We see everything filtered through the eyes of this teenager, who is nearly seventeen, and she has been training for her entire life to remove the threat of the Knight from their kingdom. She’s confident in her abilities, both physical and magical, but she borders on arrogant at times. I liked that she’s a flawed character—she makes decisions without thinking the consequences through, which is natural for a teenager; she has a short temper, but she’s able to leash it when needed; and she often speaks without thinking, making her seem insensitive to others. But it’s clear that she has a good heart, even if she’s typically so fixated on vengeance that she can’t always see what’s in front of her.

I couldn’t help but feel confused about the Knight and the nature of the deals that were made with him. Every single deal that was made seemed to go badly in the most cruel of ways, and there wasn’t even one deal that was made that didn’t end in misery. If this was the case, I didn’t understand why even the most desperate of people would go to him to make a deal, knowing that it wouldn’t end in the way they were hoping for. If there were a few deals that went well, I could understand this more, since some people would hope that they’d wind up happy, but even getting what you hoped for ended in cruel and torturous ways, negating the value of the deal.

However, this story completely subverts the traditional Snow White story, which involves tension between Snow White and her “evil” stepmother—there’s the presence of the evil other woman, who views Snow White as a rival and not a daughter figure—yet in this book, that isn’t the case at all. I can’t say much more about this because I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but don’t expect to see the Snow White story that you’ve heard since childhood. This one gives agency to the women in the story, but especially Snow White, who isn’t a damsel in distress, but a strong, confident, and able young woman who is in a bad situation and needs to learn how to let people help her. So basically she’s the anti-Snow White, although there is still a romance subplot in the story.

I was a little surprised by the romance aspect in the story, mainly because there was a lot going on in the story, and the pairing is different than what I’ve seen in Bayron’s other books. She still has queer representation in the story, and the world is a queer-centric one, where same sex relationships are common and viewed just like heterosexual relationships.

Overall, this was one of the best fairy tale retellings that I’ve read in a long time, although I would have liked to see the Knight at least make one or two successful and happy deals to understand why people would still consider making deals with him. Without that, it didn’t fully make sense to me. But aside from this one snag, the story was written beautifully and tightly plotted. If you like fairy tale retellings with empowered women, queer-centric worlds, and subverted retellings, this is hands down the book for you!

A truly unique retelling of Snow White that takes everything we know about both the Disney version and the Brothers Grimm original story and flips the script, even providing a backstory to how the tale came to be. This novel has many things going for it: Eve, a brave, powerful, yet fallible protagonist; the Knight, a conniving villain; the secretive yet charming love interest and battle partner, Nova; and formidable side characters such as the queens and the Kingfishers.

I did find that the story dragged on at parts particularly Eve’s inner thoughts as she navigated her feelings of distrust, confusion, and rage. The readers, myself included, need to remember that Eve is 16-17 years old in this novel and is having her world turned upside down. Despite the story dragging, the characters were so complex that I felt they each needed more pages to explore them.

The Knight is fascinating especially once you learn about how he came to be so powerful and preyed on the queendom to grant the wishes of the towns people. I wanted to know more about Nova and what powers he may possess but alas, the focus was rightfully so, on Eve.

Kalynn Bayron is setting up a universe of fairy tales retold and I’m so here for it. I can’t wait to see which princess/story she decides to tell next!

Kalynn Bayronn will always be my go to author! She writes amazing Black strong Female Main Characters who are well written. She raises the bar for writing fantasy and Sleep like Death is no different. It involves a girl with magical abilities, a dark enitity who grants wishes at a twisted price snd a Queen who is trying to save her kingdom and daughter.

Kalynn Bayron is quickly becoming one of my favourite YA authors, and this book is a stunning example of why. Her take on Snow White is interesting and was written in a way that even when I knew how the story traditionally went, I was surprised by the way that the plot went, and it was so exciting to read, especially once the actions that we recognize from the fairytale really began. The writing was so visceral, and the slightly uncertain note to the story being truly wrapped up made it feel more like an upgraded fairytale than anything. Honestly, I would probably read about Bayron’s interpretation of just about every fairytale, and I think that SLEEP LIKE DEATH combines several types of fantasy to make a book that was definitely worth the read.

I’m honestly not sure what I was expecting going into this book, but once we truly got into the action I was hooked. The first part of the book, while interesting and fun to read, wasn’t as entrancing as the last 3/4ths but I think that’s more about me starting a new book than anything. Eve’s character was so interesting and I feel like you almost could have read an entire other book exploring her and more of the world that was built around Queen’s Bridge. The structure of the story is a little untraditional to some fantasy, but Eve’s story carries through into a more traditional arc.

As far as characters go though, my favourites were definitely the Kingfishers and I wish I could say more about them, but I don’t want to spoil something so just know they’re great! I really just loved how Bayron took elements of Snow White and created a different story in the tradition of the original, and how the characters were able to generally have nuance even in shorter times on the page. I look forward to any potential fairy tales she tackles in the future!

What a clever twist to Snow White!!! In many ways Sleep Like Death is very similar yet it still stands in a lane of its own. Not gonna lie this book gave me bursts of excitement when I was able to put different clues together. I also love how the author wove a few other fairytales into the mix like with the Knight. I kept thinking I know this character from something else then by the end of the book it all made sense.

Now of all the characters one of my favorite was Grump if stay ready was a person it would definitely be him. I loved Eve’s character too she was stubborn at times but also very brave. Holding magical powers with the ability to conjure weapons from her surroundings and a gift for communicating with animals. She trained her whole life to take down the Knight and would stop at nothing until that destiny was fulfilled. There are so many things I could and want to say about this book but I’ll keep my spoilers for now. I honestly feel like the author did a fantastic job with this one and I hope everyone enjoys reading it too. Special thanks to @coloredpagesbt @kalynnbayron  @bloomsburybooksus for my #gifted copy!!!

Kalynn Bayron stuns again with Sleep Like Death! I just absolutely adore every book she writes. Sleep Like Death is incredible and absolutely unputdownable. This “Snow White” reimagining takes the original version of meek and mild Snow White to badass and fierce Eve. Bayron is a master storyteller and that shows in her writing.

Sleep Like Death is one of Kalynn Bayron's best books yet. Her elevated writing, the fascinating world, and the way she plays with the tropes of Snow white to create something utterly rich and familiar is the kind of thing you can only get from this author. I can't wait to read her next one!

Kalynn Bayron has always been an auto-buy author for me, so when I heard that she was doing a Snow White retelling, I jumped at the chance to read it!

I was hooked from the first page and could not put this down. There is just something about Bayron’s writing that feels so immersive and I just get lost in the stories. It was everything that I had hoped for and more!

This is a MUST read if you love:

🍏 Books that you can devour in one sitting

🍎 Damsels getting themselves out of distress

🍏 All of the Once Upon a Time vibes

🍎 Happily Ever Afters

Thank you so much to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

I loved Cinderella is Dead and really hoped this one would be just as great. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. The characters didn't feel developed enough, nor did the story. Really disappointing.

thank you so much to netgalley and colored pages blog tours for the early copy in exchange for an honest review!!!

yeah no, i still can't believe how i read this in a day 😱😱
it started really slow but once the Knight came to be and started to learn more about our horrible villain i couldn't stop, even if i wanted to. it reads like a real YA, with the MC very stubborn and convinced she can take him, but the way she keeps making mistakes and realizing she needs to stop and think before she acts it's something that really got me. every single side character had my heart, when the retelling aspect started playing out i could only hope that they would be okey. and then there is Nova, who i wasn't expecting at all but it made me smile with his snarky comments that infuriated Eve and made me swoon. i just adored it so much, it consumed my thoughts during the day because i needed to know how it would play it. i gasped out loud SO MANY TIMES because i didn't expect most of the twists. and i adored how it connects with other fairytales, now i really wanna grab Cinderella is dead because this one was my first read of the author, and i'm sure it won't be the last one.
adored it so much, definitely a new fave 💜💜

Wow….. this was so amazing that I cant even put it into words!
Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron was a phenomenal YA read that gripped me from the beginning.
From the beginning, I was hooked on this story and these characters that I was so obsessed with.
There was plenty of action in here and I loved the twists at the end of the book.
I love this author and her writing is so wonderful.

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

This book was so good. I loved it. The characters were dynamic, and you could see the struggles of being a teenager or the struggles with a mother figure and how this affects their own growth and development. This book had me laughing and crying and screaming. It does such a great job with affecting the emotions. an amazing world with an amazing main character that is dynamic.

Thanks to Bloomsbury USA Children's Books and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was pretty disappointing, to be honest. It started out strong but all these uninteresting side characters bogged it down. I wish the protagonist used her OP magic more often.

Also thought it was hilarious how people STILL kept making deals with the Knight despite all of his deals turning into crap. "I want to be the best singer in the land!" Gets turned into a bird. Literally everyone knows about these bad deals and STILL makes them. I thought everyone in the book was an idiot--especially the arrogant protagonist who kept getting most side characters dead. Not a very enjoyable read.

Sleep Like Death is an enchanting, introspective story about fairytales–specifically Snow White. It doesn’t stop there though. Somehow it seamlessly weaves several other fairy tales into the mix. Intricately twisting them so they are reminiscent of the tales we’ve heard as children but different–at their cores the overall “lesson” is the same though. I would have never seen how ANY of these fairytales could be worked into one story and still be so amazing. Kalynn Bayron has done one of my favorite fairytale retellings hands down. I can’t wait to see what else she comes up with. I would read this again in a heartbeat.

Kalynn Bayron has taken another classic fairy tale and reimagined it in a way that has injected new life into it while still feeling familiar. The story of Eve and The Knight will captivate you and have you burning through the pages. As with Cinderella is Dead, the pacing here is excellent. There’s never a dull moment. The characters are fully realized and the villain feels terrifying and dangerous.
I couldn’t put it down. Read it!