demicatharina 's review for:

Prince of Thorns & Nightmares by Linsey Miller

5.0

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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 ''𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗵 𝘀𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀.''
── ༻❁༺ ──
. ݁₊ ⊹ 5 stars. ݁₊ ⊹
⤷ sleeping beauty retelling review! ❀ˎˊ˗

''joy like he'd never before known flooded his veins, and philip knew that this was true love―wanting to face the world with someone who knew all your best and worst parts, helping them achieve their dreams, and basking in their successes. trust. bravery. love.
together, they could do anything.''

even though i have only watched sleeping beauty once, i have always felt really drawn towards the story and aurora. me and my boyfriend both are disney fans, and so, we decided to both read a disney retelling together. when i saw this one, i immediately knew i wanted to read it. because, what do we know about prince philip? not much. and so i felt intrigued and curious and excited to learn more about him! (and i mean, look at that stunning cover!).

i'm pleasantly surprised with how much i ended up liking this book, and how much i ended up liking philip. he's a character that's very flawed, but it makes him more human in a way. i felt a lot for him. sometimes i felt irritation, other times understanding and sympathy, and in the end, i ended up loving him. he's very stubborn in a way, but, in the end, he went through a lot of character growth, and i found him really charming for that all. i really liked getting a glimpse of aurora/briar rose as well. she's exactly how i imagined her to be based on the disney movie. she's kind, stubborn, soft-hearted, playful and carefree and it was just such a joy to read about her.

aurora is being sheltered for most of her life. and philip is very much stuck in the cage of his obligations. they both are stuck in their own way that are very much similar to one another and long for their own kind of freedom, and since childhood, they meet each other in their dreams, but can't see each other. i found that concept to be really interesting. you get to see their personalities very clearly while they try to navigate a way out of this all and try to figure out what's going on while also still dealing with their own lives outside of the dream forest and while philip is also trying to defeat maleficent. there's a lot of banter and wittiness and them teasing one another, leading into something really really cute. because, oh my goodness, philip and aurora are so cute together in this book! not only were there funny moments, actually, there was a lot of emotional depth and vulnerable moments between aurora and philip which was beautiful.

i really like how the author kept this book very similar and close to how we know the story to be, but added a voice and personality to a character we don't know much about. i'm happy that aurora stayed aurora: a soft-hearted gentle girl who likes to sing surrounded by animals. and how philip isn't just a prince/hero, but a person with his own struggles and feelings as well. the book also includes all the classic elements of the story, such as the curse, philip and aurora dancing together, the spinning wheel, the roses, and of course, the true love's kiss.

of course, maleficent is also featured in this book, along with the fairies. there are some plot twists that, at least for me, were quite unexpected, and i was really shocked by them. however, that made the experience really enjoyable and fun. overall, it was a lovely experience stepping into a whimsical fairytale world that is so well known. we get to delve into the mind of prince philip, get to know him better, and see aurora, which was enchanting. i found myself completely lost in the story—it was a truly wonderful and dreamy time. my only complaint would be that at times, the story felt a bit long and dragging. but that's a minor issue. i genuinely enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it if you’re looking for a disney retelling of sleeping beauty and want to learn more about prince philip. the writing style was absolutely dreamy, funny, and beautiful.

''what now?'' philip twirled her once more, and the people watching them faded away with the troubles of the past day. ''we live happily ever after, of course.''

also, this book has chapter titles! chapter titles!! (and they are so good omg!!) like ''once upon a dream'', ''heart to heart, thorn to thorn'', ''no rose without thorns'', ''fairly hopeless'', ''the pricking of my thumbs'', ''true love's kiss'', and so on. if that doesn't scream fairytale and whimsy then i don't know.

alsoooo, there's an almost first kiss in this book which could have been so perfect omg but ofc there's an interruption. i was so mad *crying*.

but yeah, this book was lovely!!