ARC Review: A Wicked Thing (A Wicked Thing #1) by Rhiannon Thomas @harperteen

Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of Sleeping Beauty and what happens after happily ever after.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept. 

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Rhiannon Thomas weaves together vivid scenes of action, romance, and gorgeous gowns to reveal a richly imagined world … and Sleeping Beauty as she’s never been seen before.

Title: A Wicked Thing (A wicked Thing #1)

Author: Rhiannon Thomas

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: February 24, 2015

Brooke's Review:

I want to thank Harper Teen for providing me with a  copy of this book to read and give an honest review. Receiving this book for free has in no way altered my opinion or review.

I love anything to do with fairy tales. So I was excited to read what happened after the happily ever after. Except this book didn't quite get to that point. The plot revolves around what happens after Sleeping Beauty awakes from her long sleep but before she has her happily ever after. I loved the concept of it and how imaginative the author was about the story. It's definitely the continuation of what happens after the fairy tale ends.

I'm going to be honest and say I'm not truly sure how I feel about this book.

Aurora's character was intriguing at first. I liked how she has some trouble adjusting to her surroundings. But I found that soon after she was suddenly so much more comfortable than I thought she could be. I felt like the change was a bit quick for me. I did love how she wanted to learn about her new world. And she wasn't quite the fighter I needed her to be. Rather she sneaks around so she can get a glimpse of the world outside the castle and what it has been come in the last 100 years since she's been asleep. I needed more fear from her, more of her being timid and shy and not really feeling like she fit in. I didn't get that.

Then there's Rodric, the price who has kissed Aurora and brought her out of her sleep. I will be honest and say I really don't know Rodric. I mean, I know he's the prince and he is going to marry Aurora and suddenly all will be right in the world, but I don't really know HIM. Who he is, what he likes, if he agrees with it all. He was not well fleshed out.

And of course the story would not be complete with another guy, Tristan, to create a sort of love triangle. It was pretty obvious from the start that this story would go there. Except it really doesn't, not in the traditional sense. But I will say that the romance didn't really take a huge part in this book, so it wasn't horrible to have this sort of love triangle exist.

But, wait, there's one more. Enter Finnegan. Another prince who, despite not being the one to woke Aurora with his kiss, is vying for her attention and potential love. I liked Finnegan a lot. He is straight forward and no bones. He tells Aurora how it is. But, we don't know much about Finnegan. He is kind of a mystery to us, which I think might have been the whole point of having him in the story. So we sort of have a love quadrangle (incidentally this is the second one I've read this year). I will say that Finnegan is my favorite character in this book.

I liked the writing in this book. It was fairly well paced for the most part, although there were a few places where I wished the story would have moved a bit faster And there were times when I really wanted to know more about the world they were living in. Certainly it was supposed to be a fantasy types world modeled after what we know of Sleeping Beauty, but I had a hard time picturing it in my mind. I also would have liked a bit more action in the book. I don't know why but I kind of expected sword fights and horses and such.

Overall I didn't love or hate this book, I just kind of fell somewhere in the middle with it. It wasn't memorable for me. I would read the second one. Overall I think it has to be readers choice on this one. If you are a lover of fairy tale "retellings" then this one is probably for you.

Rhiannon Thomas is a recent graduate from Princeton University, where she studied English and Japanese, and smuggled bubble tea into the library on a regular basis. She now lives in York, England.

As well as reading and writing YA fiction, she runs the blog FeministFiction.com, where she discusses TV, books, and all kinds of fannish things from a feminist perspective.

I don't hang out on Goodreads much, so if you want to contact me, please swing by my personal website or message me on Twitter.