A review by whatyoutolkienabout
Creeping Beauty by Andrea Portes
4.0
Introduction
I was given an earc by Harper360ya. Reviews are always honest and all opinions are my own. I will always try to avoid spoilers in all reviews as well. #CreepingBeauty #Harper360ya #AndreaPortes #AD #BookReview
Review
Creeping Beauty was a book that instantly caught my attention. A re-telling of Sleeping Beauty with elements of an almost Through the Looking Glass style. It was hard not be excited. While this wasn’t a full five stars, probably a 3.5 rounded to 4 for me it did have a good premise let down by a few pieces along the way.
Elizabeth ‘Bitsy’ is not an ideal princess, she’s heard it all. She’s so plain, she lacks grace, the best thing to do is wait for a prince to grant her an happy ending but then she pricks her finger on a spindle and falls down into a world where cutthroats and con artists are more common than curtsies. No one ages in this world and everyone is beautiful where an inscrutable evil rests at it’s core. In this land Bitsy’s fate and future are solely in her hands and neither are what she expects.
First of all, as I said I adored this was a bit of a mash up of Sleeping Beauty with elements of Through the Looking Glass and touches of Neverland/Peter Pan. I also enjoyed, although it was used a lot, the breaking of the fourth wall with Bitsy addressing the ‘dear reader’ throughout. It had elements of Jane Eyre. That said those elements I do think might have been executed a tad better.
The chapters and style were very short making it quick to read. Because the story is meant to be potentially a ‘dream’ of Bitsy I did find that the disjointed and episodic style while it might have normally been odd worked when I kept this in mind. I personally have never had a dream that flows perfectly and isn’t a bit fragmented but I can see why some readers may not like this. In terms of tone it would be lower end young adult, just past middle grade. While there were a few bits of action and a few kiss scenes etc there was nothing to make me feel, paired with the tone, that would make it aimed at higher end young adult or bordering new adult but I still did enjoy this.
I think because of the style of writing and tone some may not enjoy this one but for me it was certainly entertaining and one I did enjoy, especially with the elements of other fairy tales. I did like the unique style but admit a few times I had to remind myself this was meant to be a sort of dream/alternate world. if you keep that in mind I think you will enjoy this one!
Brilliant its very good
Hashtags
#CreepingBeauty #Harper360ya #HarperTeen #AndreaPortes #AD #BookReview #BookReview #BookReviewer #BookBlogger #BookHoader #FantasticRead #BookDragon #BookShark #BookReader #Bookstagram #BookNerd #BookReader #BookLover #BooksBooksBooks #BookAddict #Book
I was given an earc by Harper360ya. Reviews are always honest and all opinions are my own. I will always try to avoid spoilers in all reviews as well. #CreepingBeauty #Harper360ya #AndreaPortes #AD #BookReview
Review
Creeping Beauty was a book that instantly caught my attention. A re-telling of Sleeping Beauty with elements of an almost Through the Looking Glass style. It was hard not be excited. While this wasn’t a full five stars, probably a 3.5 rounded to 4 for me it did have a good premise let down by a few pieces along the way.
Elizabeth ‘Bitsy’ is not an ideal princess, she’s heard it all. She’s so plain, she lacks grace, the best thing to do is wait for a prince to grant her an happy ending but then she pricks her finger on a spindle and falls down into a world where cutthroats and con artists are more common than curtsies. No one ages in this world and everyone is beautiful where an inscrutable evil rests at it’s core. In this land Bitsy’s fate and future are solely in her hands and neither are what she expects.
First of all, as I said I adored this was a bit of a mash up of Sleeping Beauty with elements of Through the Looking Glass and touches of Neverland/Peter Pan. I also enjoyed, although it was used a lot, the breaking of the fourth wall with Bitsy addressing the ‘dear reader’ throughout. It had elements of Jane Eyre. That said those elements I do think might have been executed a tad better.
The chapters and style were very short making it quick to read. Because the story is meant to be potentially a ‘dream’ of Bitsy I did find that the disjointed and episodic style while it might have normally been odd worked when I kept this in mind. I personally have never had a dream that flows perfectly and isn’t a bit fragmented but I can see why some readers may not like this. In terms of tone it would be lower end young adult, just past middle grade. While there were a few bits of action and a few kiss scenes etc there was nothing to make me feel, paired with the tone, that would make it aimed at higher end young adult or bordering new adult but I still did enjoy this.
I think because of the style of writing and tone some may not enjoy this one but for me it was certainly entertaining and one I did enjoy, especially with the elements of other fairy tales. I did like the unique style but admit a few times I had to remind myself this was meant to be a sort of dream/alternate world. if you keep that in mind I think you will enjoy this one!
Brilliant its very good
Hashtags
#CreepingBeauty #Harper360ya #HarperTeen #AndreaPortes #AD #BookReview #BookReview #BookReviewer #BookBlogger #BookHoader #FantasticRead #BookDragon #BookShark #BookReader #Bookstagram #BookNerd #BookReader #BookLover #BooksBooksBooks #BookAddict #Book