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I’m not sure why this book was classified as fantasy. I mean, there wasn’t actually any magic in it. The only possible connection I could see to fantasy is that the story was an updated version of a fairytale. But as the update removed the actual presence of witches and fairies and magic, I didn’t see why this was hidden away in the fantasy section.
At any rate, this book is an intriguing update of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale set in a sort of historical mystery quest. Following her grandmother’s death, Becca, a 23-year-old journalist, is out to discover her grandmother’s unknown past. During her research, which eventually leads her to Poland and WWII settings, she discovers that there’s more to the way her grandmother always told the fairytale “Sleeping Beauty” than she once thought—it’s a clue to the mystery.
This book was intriguing and on the whole well written. My main complaint is that it ended too abruptly—after a long story explaining the mystery, the book ends in a chapter or two, without giving you a chance to absorb. Also, the writing style took me a bit to warm up to—and the characters took a few chapters to emerge as separate entities. On the whole, though, it’s an interesting concept and quick reading—a book worth a few hours.
