I was given this ARC from Voracious Readers for an honest review.
There will be spoilers in this review, so if you do not want to know, then please refrain from reading.
A twist on sleeping beauty, how many different ways can tales be told? Well this one definitely was not what I expected in the best possible way. I expected there to be very large undertones of the original story, but it was more of a light dusting. When Gervaise finds Vannie, poisoned and almost dead, and saves her with medicine and not a kiss, I knew this was going to be different.
We all know the story, a prince saves the princess and they live happily ever after. There is always one main conflict that the prince overcomes to get to his "true love" that he has only known for a day. Although I love fairy tales, the falling in love in a day is complete crap. This version however, focus' on the two of them getting to know each other in perilous conditions, after he saves her life. They try to not fall in love but start building a friendship which blooms into love. Both of them know they are to marry someone and dread it, however they are falling in love with their betrothed. Small things happen that cause them too see each other as humans, and not the king or princess of a kingdom... It does help that neither are aware of who the other person is.
The two of them go through a lot together, running from "King's men" trying to kill Vannie, Highway men wanting a reward, and Vannie trying to run away from Gervaise. As the story moves on you can tell the two of them are falling for each other, which gives you the warm and fuzzies because as a reader we know they will end up together. (I say before I finish the novel... there could be a twist)
You do find out how Vannie was poisoned and who the culprit to that is. I had a guess that it was one of her cousins, and I was right. Clara... the overbearing motherly figure who plays her part of doting cousin well. She was smart enough to let her sister, the sweet and actual loving Constance believe it was her fault Vannie ate the mushroom. It wasn't.
When Vannie gets back to the castle to see her father, and finally realizes that she had been with her betrothed, I could imagine the look on her face as she put those pieces together. The author made it clear as day how that would have gone down. Then you find out the king is ill which is why he wants her married off.
One of my favorite parts of the novel are when Gervaise figures out how to get onto Vannie's veranda to protect her. Mistakes the maid for a heathen and breaks into the room, and Vannie helps him get out without being caught. Carla, the horrible human she is, makes sure its known it was him.
The last 100 pages were very hard to put down. I just needed to know how it was going to end, although I already knew. When Gervaise goes to sleep in the Romeo and Juliet style, I was worried that it would not end well. Luckily there was nothing to worry about. He beat the evil Clara and the fight that ensued was intense. Clara was not killed but forced to live her life as a prisoner. Her not being killed leaves it open for a second novel should the author chose. I was very happy with how the story ended, and how they got their happily ever after. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
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