Review by Booklist Review
What can a princess do when she no longer wants to be part of her own story? For Rosamund, a kiss from a prince wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and she flees through a Door of Opportunity that takes her to the modern world. Here, she discovers she isn't the only fairy tale leading character who wanted out, and she finds herself in a school setting with a fairy godmother as the headmistress. Except, she starts to notice some things are just . . . off. Rosamund and her new friends eventually decide that they want, quite literally, to take control of their own stories once they uncover the truth about the princess protection program. This is a fresh twist on several classic Western fairy tales, which gets the most inspiration from the darker original versions of events in which some of the princesses, like the Little Mermaid, have gruesome fates they wish to escape. Fans of twisted fairy tales will enjoy piecing together who the different characters are and matching them with their stories.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Fairy tale--based messages of empowerment come through loud and clear in this fun yet thought-provoking adventure by London (Search and Rescue). After waking to a strange prince's lips on hers, 16-year-old Princess Rosamund, or Sleeping Beauty, arrives at Orphans' Home Educational Academy, or HEA, with no clue as to how she got there. She is soon absorbed into a training program for "wayward fairy-tale characters, to prepare them for new and happy lives in the wide world known as 'reality.' " With her two new friends, princesses Sirena and Rana, Rosamund begins exploring reality which, "as the teachers reminded her all day long, was no fairy tale." She's particularly engrossed in Pizza Arcade, an establishment run by three teen boys and their mother. The more time passes, the more comfortable Rosamund becomes in her new normal, until story-specific beasts called Uponatimes arrive, determined to drag each escapee back to their origins. In this tale of tales whose protagonist sometimes reads as too mature for the target audience, Rosamund evolves from a timid princess archetype into an inquisitive heroine who uses her voice to question what she's told and shake up the status quo. The narrative's emphasis on the power of embracing change and standing together against adversity provides a solid foundation for an engaging, lighthearted adventure. Ages 8--12. Agent: Robert Guinsler, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Sleeping Beauty wakes up and immediately runs away, then finds herself in a school in the modern day. Cheeky prose narrates 16-year-old ("but she was also, it dawned on her, one hundred and sixteen!") Rosamund's hasty escape from the overeager prince through a nearby bathroom and into an unknown world. Her childhood tutor encouraged her to ask questions, so when she gets to the Orphans' Home Educational Academy, which cares for fellow princesses (after all, HEA "could stand for Happily Ever After"), that's the first thing she does. Rosamund's confusion about cell phones, social media, and jeggings provides light amusement, as do on-the-nose references to Perrault and Calvino that might pass younger readers by. Rosamund soon learns that questions are not welcome, but she can't silence her curiosity. She sneaks off campus with classmates Rana and Sirena to meet greasy teenage boys and discovers the joys of pizza. When Sirena, aka the Little Mermaid, gets eaten by a monster called an Uponatime, Rosamund realizes she has many more questions, and she must face her fears to figure out her new story. Rosamund's journey offers some trenchant truisms ("That's the risk of standing up for yourself…There's no promise of a happy ending"), and the resolution is appropriately satisfying. While the tone is amusing, the book draws upon the more gruesome traditional versions of the tales. Most characters read white; Rana is olive-skinned. A lighthearted modern take on the adventures of fairy-tale princesses. (Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
