Thank you for allowing me to read the advanced copy of this novel! I enjoyed reading this so much, that I went out and bought a physical copy as well, so I can read it over and over again!

I've seen major fanfare for Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay in my feeds for years, so I finally decided to look into what all the fuss is about. I'll admit, I've been reluctant ever since I learned that the second book was canceled, leaving Stacey pretty heartbroken on social media. I was afraid this book was going to end with a cliffhanger that would never be resolved, but luckily there's no real cliffhangers. There's room for more story, but it's also wrapped up enough to be satisfying as a standalone. Phew. The beginning starts out very slow and dumps a TON of information on readers, but about a third of the way through things pick up. There's also some great swoons. A solid retelling that really does deserve a second book.

This book has been on my reading list for YEARS. I don’t know why it took me so long to read it, since it has a lot of things I like: star-crossed romance, references to familiar fairy tales, alternating viewpoints between Aurora and Niklaas, capricious magic, and political intrigue.

I loved how the fairy blessings that Aurora’s mother passed to her also became curses in their way. She meant them for good, but the magic didn’t work quite the way she and Aurora expected. That created some interesting situations for Aurora to navigate.

PRINCESS OF THORNS spins some darker themes into its fairytale story in othere ways, too. Aurora’s mother is THE Sleeping Beauty Princess from the fairytale, only in this story, the prince wasn’t the hero from the original story. Niklaas bears his own curse– one ordered against him and all his brothers by their immortal father– in which he’ll turn into a swan at sunrise on his eighteenth birthday. I liked the ties to other fairy tales and how even those familiar things were reimagined.

The only thing I struggled with at all was a moment in the climax (which I will try not to spoil) that left me feeling a bit let down. It felt like a thing happened because Aurora wanted it badly enough, and I found myself wishing that there had been something more concrete that she had to do instead.

On the whole, though, I really enjoyed this book and I kind of wish that Aurora and Niklaas would go on to try to break his brothers’ curse and confront his father in another book. It looks like there was some discussion of a sequel at one point (there was a Kicktraq fundraiser for one) but I don’t see any recent news about it.

I think readers who enjoyed A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY by Brigid Kemmerer will love this one.

🔎Book Review🔎
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🔎Main Characters: 3/5🔎
Aurora is our main character in Princess of Thorns, and her origin is a little confusing. She’s the daughter of Sleeping Beauty (yeah, weird things were going on with the names). Her mother fairy-blessed/cursed her before she died in order to protect her and her younger brother, Jor. Aurora grew on me as the story went on, but I wasn’t feeling her or her backstory at first.
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🔎Secondary Characters: 3/5🔎
Love interest Niklaas also had a rough start (read: was a jerk). But again, as we get to know him, he grew on me as he showed some character depth. Other secondary characters include Crimsin (also thought I wouldn’t like her, but she was surprisingly cool), and our one/two antagonists, the ogres. I was NOT into the Ogres at first, but I actually dug where Jay took the plot with this one and the surprising depth she gave our villain.
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🔎Writing Style: 3/5🔎
Is this a theme? I had a hard time with getting into this novel at first. Once Jay got into the plot though, the writing really took off. I was pretty disappointed by the worldbuilding. I didn’t need chapters upon chapters of what things were, but some sort of explanation would have alleviated my confusion.
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🔎Plot: 2.5/5🔎
Ugh, this is total personal preference but I really thought that the fairy tale retelling was unnecessary. The plot was so different than the original fairy tales that it didn’t make sense to use that as a jumping off point anymore. Ultimately I ended up liking where the story went but the retelling pieces were unnecessary.
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🔎Ending: 3/5🔎
It was a little rushed at times and there were a couple pieces that I think didn’t make sense for the characters based on their motivations, but ultimately it came to a satisfying close.
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Total: 14.5/25
3 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's Delacorte Press for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

This book had some clarity issues in the beginning, but I was willing to read past them. The book continued to have some issues, but it was interesting enough with the different fairy tale characters popping up in different ways that I was willing to keep going.

Then my Roomie, when I told her what I was reading, told me about the somewhat open ending and how there will be no sequel. That made me realize there would be no pay-off in finishing this book, so at 50%, I am dropping it before I become too invested in the characters where that ending will sadden me. Life is too short to purposefully sadden yourself.

Not a horrendously bad book, better than some of the more recent DNFs I have dropped, but my issues with 1) insta-love, 2) keeping secrets that if they were just told would clear up a LOT of plot-driving problems, 3) unclear prologue and time jump, 4) TSTL actions on multiple characters parts (like seriously, the 10, or at least nine, other brothers wouldn't have tried to find a cure like Niklaas?), 5) the open ending and 6) sequel drama, I am going to give the part that I read 2 stars. (I read in another review that the whole quest to raise an army made no sense when the Deus Ex Machina came to town, so the majority of the book wasn't overly necessary. I didn't read that far, but if that's the case, no thank you.)

I unfortunately was not able to download this book before it became archived.