Sigh. I will admit to being pretty psyched that this book even exists but the actual reading experience was a pretty big let down. The author has a lot of really great twists on the standard story and I think perhaps my expectations were just too high. This is very much a middle grade book. The story is simplistic and frustrating and the writing just isn't terribly engaging. The "love" in the story is particularly cliche. Add to this the fact that teenage love triangles, particularly love triangles where the boring, too perfect super protective hero wins, are one of my biggest pet peeves (and yes, I know that Alex turns out to be her cousin but... *why?* So that there can be a convenient way for Lucette to love both guys in some way? Ugh.)Another problem I had with this book is that it seems, at first glance, to be written in a "choose your own adventure" style. At the end of most of the sections, the reader must choose what the princess does next. The problem is that, no matter what your choice, the story winds up being pretty much exactly the same. As a kid who went through a brief but intense "choose your own adventure" book love affair around age 8 or so, this was quite disappointing to me. What on earth was the point? The story is almost exactly the same no matter what you do - and yes, I did read all the sections. It left me with the impression that nothing Lucette did really mattered in the slightest. Disappointing. I am slightly embarrassed that i enjoyed this book. I didn't realize it at the time that it was a choose your own adventure book. I knew it would be cheesy (i mean, look at the title) but it was a very much younger adult then the other young adult books i read (and love). Why i didn't like it much was because i felt like the plot unfolded too quickly and the characters were not given time to develop much. everyone was one sided and were only there to serve their point and that was it. everything ended happy and perfect which i enjoy but at the same time is not realistic at all. i don't want to give away the secret but i wanted Lucette to end up with alex. i thought the reason why that didn't happen was kind of predictable, that twist seems to be used a lot to get out of any real reasons. but i did enjoy the story regardless of its flaws. and it was short and easy so no harm done.
What do You think about Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer (2011)?
A fun twist on a classic. Love that I can chose the path the main character takes.
—Sobad
