![]() Using a third person narrative centered around the princess, Braswell gives Aurora/Rose/Aurora Rose a voice and personality which she isn’t allowed in the movie. It’s a well-known Disney fact that Aurora is the most muted princess, with only eighteen spoken lines in Sleeping Beauty. Could this be because I’m not obsessed with Sleeping Beauty, and therefore not as possessive over the original story? If you have read these books and have felt similar, do let us know! If you’ve read my review of A Whole New World, you will know that I am a huge Aladdin fan, yet I did not enjoy that novel anywhere near as much as this one. ![]() It’s worth mentioning that you do not need to have knowledge of Sleeping Beauty to enjoy this book. Only when she finds Phillip and pieces together the truth can she work to wake herself up and free her kingdom. The princess has been living in a dreamland in which she has been raised by Maleficent since childhood. Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell is a twist on the classic Sleeping Beauty tale in which, upon kissing her, Prince Phillip falls fast asleep next to Aurora. For reviewing purposes, I will be reading the full series in chronological order of publication, and I will be completely honest and spoiler-free in letting you know what I thought! Each of the novels is stand-alone, meaning you can read whichever stories intrigue you the most in whichever order you feel like. ![]() It was an interesting story to try as I enjoyed the Disney version, but it just was not fully for me.Once Upon a Dream is the second book in the Twisted Tales series. At the time of writing, the series consists of five titles published over the past four years, with the sixth due in April 2019. I think some expansion in some parts and some reduction in others could have helped the pacing. The ideas were there, but it was missing something in the execution to really connect with me as a reader. The two of them had a lot of potentials to become complex, but I felt that the story fell short for both of them. Both Aurora and Philip share some cute banter, but their dialogue skews toward childish. For me, I would rather have this part of the story expanded and reduced to the beginning. She does not even meet Phillip until a quarter (or so) of the way through, which is when the story really starts to move forward. The book takes a bit to get started as Aurora is living in the castle with Maleficent. Overall, this novel was not bad, but it was not quite there to make it a hit for me. It made for an interesting take on the original Disney story as the two only met for an extremely short period of time before deciding they were meant to be. As Philip remembers them falling in love at first sight, Aurora is interested in getting to know each other more. This made an interesting dynamic as the two of them try to connect again to their HEA. As Philip is in Aurora’s dream, he can remember her, but she has no memory of him. The structure of the novel does get confusing in some moments as there are chapters throughout where the setting is in the real world and others where it is the dream world. ![]() The concept of the story is interesting as the reader not only gets a deeper exploration into Aurora as a character, but it is unique where the story mixes Aurora’s reality and dream worlds. When Aurora begins to get glimpses of another life in her mind, she begins to question what is real and what only exists in her mind. She “adopts” Aurora as her aunt and raises her in the castle. Maleficent rescues Aurora from her destructive parents and ends up as Queen. This is the opening chapter of the novel before the main story begins following Aurora when she is younger. In this story, the author twists the story of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty where Prince Phillip ends up asleep after kissing her. Once Upon a Dream is the second novel in the standalone Twisted Tales series.
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