Book Review: Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowan

Reading Level: Young Adult
Publication Date: April 1, 2011
Pages: 320
Series: sort of :)
Acquisition: received copy for review

Summary:

In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!

Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is an entirely new type of fairy tale–one that will keep today's kids guessing and offer them hours of magical fun. (From Goodreads)

My thoughts:
A mixed bag of good and bad for me on this one. I love mashups in general and the story of Sleeping Beauty (at least what I knew of it) always seemed a little lacking so it was fun is get some back story. Also, vampires are cool if done right and while the vampires in this story aren't the blood thirsty ruthless killers that vampires are suppose to be :) they are still pretty darn cool.

But the romance….maybe I need to stay away from YA romance for a while? Or all romance in general? Maybe I'm too critical? I don't really know. What I do know is that I didn't enjoy the romance in Sleeping Beauty. Lucette was such a strong character and I felt like the romance dropped her down a few notches. All fluttery and weak whenever her 'love' was near. AND said 'love'? Didn't care for him at all.

As with book 1, book 2 could be read in 8 different ways -- here is what I've said previously:
"Depending on choices you make along the way. At 3 points in the story, you have to choose what you think our heroin should do. You then skip ahead to that section and read on. This, was pretty cool. I felt like I had some control over the plot AND I can't imagine the organizing skills it takes as a writer to pull this off. The only issue for me though was the fact that the ending is the same for every choice you make. So, while the action plays out differently, in the end there is no choice."

For some reason, this 'all choices lead to the same ending' didn't bother me with Cinderella but with Sleeping Beauty, it did. I think it has to do with the fact that I liked Cinderella as a character more then I liked Sleeping Beauty.

All in all though? I really enjoyed reading this classic tale told in a very original new way. Maureen's writing style really drew me into the story and it was interesting to see how she handled so many elements at once. I would for sure read more Twisted Tales in the future.

Overall Rating:

3.5 / 5 Stars

Books in the Twisted Tales Series:
1. Cinderella Ninja Warrior
2. Sleeping Beauty Vampire Slayer
**they do not need to be read in order as each is it's own tale**

Linkage Love:
Silver Dolphin
Author's Website
Goodreads