I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

I requested this title back before my blogging break. I have ended up with a number of titles that are overwhelming to catch up on now I am back from my blogging break. I am regretfully not going to be reading and reviewing this title, but now I am back from my blogging break, I am looking forward to reading and reviewing some of your future titles. Thank you so much for the opportunity and apologies.

Full review to be posted soonish.

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't like the book, it was like it was pretending to be something it isn't. Complicated for no reason and tangling in its own words.

I swapped my kindle back in 2018 and am unable to recover this title. I appriciate the opportunity that was given for review but sadly can't complete it for this title.

Based on the other title in the series and author I am giving this 3 stars.

Many thanks.

Initial reaction: Probably rating this between 2 and 2.5 stars overall. Full review to come. I read this (finally!) a bit late this year after intending to read more of the series much sooner than now. (A Whole New World disappointed me that much despite some moments that I liked.) With this, it's distinct enough from the movie/tale to distinguish itself, but it dragged so much with the pacing and the characters didn't feel as dimensional. I wanted to love it more than I actually did.

Full review:

My first full review of 2021 is a book I read during 2020, likely the first in a series of "Retro Reviews" that I'm penning in an attempt to catch up from what was a long reviewing hiatus. I think I started reading "Once Upon A Dream" in October of 2020, looking for a somewhat creepy read with a reintroduction to the "Twisted Tale" series. I tried "A Whole New World", the first book in the series by Liz Braswell, a much longer time ago than I intended to. Despite how much I love the Aladdin franchise and liked parts of that book, it mostly didn't work for me. I don't have the same attachment to "Sleeping Beauty" as I do other Disney films, but I still appreciate the film and was interested to see where this book would take diverting the story from its original take. (Also, regarding the dress...make it Blue. Always. ;) )

I liked so many pieces of this story in its concept - the idea that those that died in Aurora's dream world would die in real life, the fact Aurora never woke up and the prince joined her in her dream after expecting to wake her up from a kiss. Aurora is trapped under the influence of Maleficent, who may be dead in the real world but is very much alive and influencing Aurora's consciousness. It's left up to Aurora to work her way out of Maleficent's hold, and the first step to that is discovering that she's in a dream to begin with. It takes her some time to realize that her friends in this alternate reality aren't that, that the Maleficent she knows in the dream world isn't kind with just a firm hand, and that her true history isn't the fabrication she's living under. Escaping and meeting the Prince was just one part of that, but the story is so slow getting to those plot points and the characters aren't really fully developed or realized to keep the story from dragging its heels.

I definitely liked some of the action scenes in here - same commentary that I had with "A Whole New World" - the concept is good, and certain moments of action and tension are great, but the story feels weighed down by overexposition and only scratching the surface of the characters. The good thing about this novel is that it doesn't use the first 25% of the story to retell as much of what we already know. It recaptures events, but not in a way that's line-by-line. (That's an improvement from the first book in this series.) I wanted to appreciate more moments between Aurora and the prince in their bit interactions, but while I realized both of them were flawed characters whose circumstances had them with a certain naivete, I still only found my connection to them to be barely scratching the surface. Same with the supporting characters (i.e. the fairies - they're not even referred to here as Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, just the red, green, and blue fairies). Maleficent though, is as fantastic as a villain as she could be in this type of story, menacing, manipulative, and desperate to hold on to her dwindling power.

Aurora fighting against the darkness of her mind and dreams and weighing the balance of wanting to return to reality and discover her true identity were such a great points of conflict for her in this overarching story. That's what kept me coming back even when I had to put the story down a few times. In the end, after turning the final page on this story, I liked pieces of it, but not enough to have a connection to it in full. At least I appreciated what it offered, and I'm curious to continue reading through this series of retellings for what they offer.

Overall score: 2.5/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Disney Book Group.

Very interesting retelling, takes some time to get your head around whats happening and quite slow but that seems to capture the dream state we are working with, really loved Prince Philip's personality, some deep psychological issues being obliquely addressed here like what are your options if life is to hard to live.

I would have liked this more but it felt confusing on what was real and what was the dream world. Are they in the real world or not? It bounced back and forth so much. This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and I liked the whole mystery of the story.
Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell begins with the defeat of Maleficent. Prince Phillip goes to wake his princess, Aurora, with true loves first kiss. When thei Prince goes to kiss Aurora,. Prince Phillip collapses and Aurora does not wake up. Little does Aurora know that she is trapped inside a dream world. Her parents are evil and Malifacent treats Aurora like a niece.
I received this from NetGalley for review plus I own the hardcover.

Something about the writing doesn't exactly mesh well with me. This book also has a unique format, but the slight inconsistencies with Aurora's character was a bit jarring at times while she was finding out what her real personality was.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1616962574

I received a Netgalley ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the first Twisted Tale book. It was a refreshing take on Aladdin. But this book, a twisted tale about Sleeping Beauty, didn't work for me.

The book is a hot mess and it's confusing as fuck when you learn where all the action really takes place. There were flashes of brilliance here and there but, overall, this wasn't for me. So far this series is tied. Beauty and the Beast is the next to get the twisted tale treatment so I'm crossing my fingers that it's good.

Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell is the second book in Disney’s A Twisted Tale series. Each book in the series takes a beloved fairy tale and asks one “what if” question. This one is about Sleeping Beauty and asks the question “what if sleeping beauty didn’t wake up?” Personally I love these. They are cleverly written and take a realistic approach to the fantasy….well as realistic as you can get when fairies are involved.

Aurora is an interesting character. She doesn’t know she’s asleep. Instead she believes she is living under Maleficent’s rule and Maleficent is the good fairy. Her parents never wanted her and sent her to live with the fairies in the woods until Maleficent found her and brought her back to the castle. She trusts her, even loves her to an extent. But she is trapped within the castle walls and she longs to be free. Aurora also can’t reconcile her memories of things (specifically animals) that shouldn’t exist. As she begins to question everything she knows as truth, more memories confuse her and she flees finding her prince in the woods.

I enjoyed the twists and turns in this story. Nothing could be trusted as fact, and everything could be turned against you. Honestly this made for a very confusing read, but that also was the best part of it. I liked not knowing what was going to happen and I loved being kept on my toes for the entire read. Even though I’ve had an eARC of this book, I decided to purchase an audiobook and I’m glad I did. The narrator is fantastic and put the right emphasis on things that if I was reading I may not have caught.

Overall Once Upon a Dream was an enjoyable read. I liked the twist on the classic Sleeping Beauty story. But I think I loved Aurora. Despite her confusion, she was a force to be reckoned with and she came to terms with her life throughout the story. I would definitely recommend this for the younger teens and anyone who enjoys fairy tales.

This book was similar in quality to "A Whole New World," but because I don't have the same abiding affection for Sleeping Beauty, it did not get the same (perhaps unwarranted) rating inflation.

It reminds me a bit of "Sleeping Beauty" meets "Alice in Wonderland." Most of the story takes place in a dream world which gets pretty dark in places, which is sort of this series' "shtick." I was impressed by how well Braswell fleshed out the various characters from Disney's Sleeping Beauty, considering most of them are pretty flat in the original. I could really "picture" her versions of Prince Phillip, Maleficent, King Hubert, Maleficent's minions, the good fairies, etc. The one place where it fell a little short was her characterization of Aurora (or Aurora Rose, as she calls herself, to encompass both her identities). It was hard for me to picture the Aurora from the movie doing and saying all the things she does in this book because she really is such a "blank slate" as a Disney princess, virtually without personality, so the character in this book feels like someone new I had to get to know as a reader rather than a new take on someone I already loved. This was somewhat jarring, since she is the central character. However, I really liked the way that Braswell interpreted even this "lack of personality" so that it made sense in Aurora's circumstances, and especially her reasons for touching the spinning wheel, adding a depth to the original character that was never there before and casting her in a whole new light.

The book is also a bit meta in that it uses the dream setting as an opportunity to critique the original tenets of the Sleeping Beauty story (love at first sight, a curse laid upon a baby, etc.) At times the story did get a little tedious, but it was still an interesting enough "take" that I'll continue to explore this series.

This was interesting twist to the story. I liked the concept and I do feel like it was written well.

Was not in love with this one as much as the first story dragged a lot

Seeing the cover and reading the synopsisi of this book intrigues me. Considering the hyped with retellings of fairy tale in the book community, I decided to give this one a try. I have to be honest, I did not finish this book. I cannot. It's all over the place.

The way the story is told, the switching POVs and the flow of the story itself made it hard for me to get in the book and the world that the author created. It does not feel like a book, it feels like a draft of a book. It does not feel like YA, it could pass as middle grade or children's book. Maybe they will enjoy it much better than me.

*I never got around to reading and reviewing this book. I may do so in the future*

Once Upon a Dream is an interesting re-telling of Sleeping beauty with a character driven plot
However I wasn't able to fully engage with the characters or the plot so I was left a little unsatisfied with the book as a whole.

Aurora is trapped in a nightmare that has no escape. The prince’s true love kiss has not worked and she is trapped in Maleficent’s kingdom in her dreams.The princess will have to rely on her own strength and determination to wake once and for all.