Monday, March 28, 2011

Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowan

Title: Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer
Author: Maureen McGowan
Publisher: Silver Dolphin Books; Pub: Date-April 1, 2011
Pages: Paperback; 320 pages



Sleeping beauty has always been one of my favorite fairy tales! This Sleeping Beauty is similar to my beloved fairy tale but make no mistake, there are similarities to the original but Ms. McGowan has made this familiar renowned tale her very own. Throughout the book, the reader is given options: what would our protagonist, Lucette do, or rather what would YOU do if you were Lucette at a crucial moment in the story?
You are given two options at three dramatic turning points in the fairy tale to choose what YOU think Lucette should do. I found it easy to become invested in the story and the characters so much so that I found myself actually pondering which choice I should make as if I were really in the story!

The Fairy Tale begins with Young Lucette, Princess of Xandria, who was cursed on her naming day by Natasha, the Vampire Queen of Sanguina for evil reasons known only to her. The reason Natasha gives to the Kingdom of Xandria is that Queen of Xandria's (Lucettes mother) hatred for Vampires is so immense that she didn't send an invitation to her for Lucette's naming day, therefore humiliating Sanguina in front of all the other Royalty in the lands. Natasha has reasons up to her fangs to want to start a war with Xandria.

The curse Natasha set upon Lucette to punish her Xandria fortells the princess will prick her finger. The instant her blood is shed she shall never again wake while the sun is in the sky. Every morning, as the sun breaks above the horizon, the princess will fall into a deep sleep, waking only as night falls, of course as she is waking, all of Xandria will fall asleep. While she is sleeping all of Xandria will be awake.

What Natasha doesn't know is that  the King and Queen had a lot of help from the Fairy Queen. This I will leave for the reader to figure out! But ROMANCE is difinitely involved! Our Princes Lucette is brave and bold but also quite comedic. She makes friends along the way and as the reader makes their choices in the tale it will lead them down different paths. I read both ways so I could do a thorough review. I would recommed this for all readers, it's a fabulous story either way but it's even more fun to see what would have happened had you chose another path.

I had so much fun with this book! Not only was the story fantastic but the interactive roleplaying really takes it to a higher level. Ms. McGowan takes the re-telling of this wonderful fairy tale and really gives it a fabulous twist that is hard to resist.

I would recommend this book to almost anyone but especially those who love fairytales, romance, mystery and adventure! The role-playing/choose an option was brilliant and made the book a lot of fun. The only thing I'd change is the way things seemed to happen to quickly at the end; it felt a bit rushed to me but certainly not enough to take anything away from this intiquing twisted fairy tale.

I do know that I will be on the look out for the unique and exteremely talented author! Coming next: Cinderella: Ninja Warrior!

5 comments:

  1. Great review! I've read this book and I really enjoyed it! I'm your newest follower and thank you for stopping by my blog.

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  2. Your quite welcome, Maureen. I really enjoyed it!

    Thanks, BookGirl! I was just visiting your site and a lovely site it is!

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  3. Oh, this sounds like a great twist to a wonderful fairy tale. :) Thanks for the great review!

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  4. I was wondering about this book and Cinderella as well. Thanks for writing up the review - I added them to my wish list :)

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