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Princess of Thorns Stacey Jay Books

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Princess of Thorns Stacey Jay Books

I was provided with an ARC of this title by Random House Children’s & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to both for the opportunity!

The story of Aurora has some familiar elements to it, as it’s a bit of a twist or continuation of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. Aurora is the daughter of Sleeping Beauty and her handsome rescuer, but her parents happily ever after never quite materialized. Aurora has grown up in a cruel and unforgiving world, and is forced into some pretty unfortunate circumstances. I thought Aurora was an amazing main character, and the bravery and strength she possessed was exactly what I was looking for when I started reading. She’s also a sympathetic character but I never really found myself feeling sorry for her, because she is just so capable and brave. Go on girl!!

I also found it really intriguing that she spent much of the book disguised as a man, not as a way to create an image of strength and capability to others, but as a way to disguise herself so she could accomplish what she needed to. Aurora is smart, strong and bad-ass and, thanks to her fae lineage, the woman knows how to handle herself in a fight! She reminded me a lot of Celaena from the Throne of Glass series and Scarlet from the Scarlet series, and because of that she’s earned a spot on my roster of favorite female fantasy characters.

As part of Aurora’s journey, she finds herself paired up with a prince that has his own secrets to keep and battles to fight. Being the bad-ass female that she is, Aurora quickly enlists Prince Niklaas’ help in her quest to rescue her younger brother and reclaim her throne from an evil queen, and they become a dynamic duo. It was pretty interesting to see their relationship develop while Niklaas is under the belief that he’s travelling with a man. Stacey Jay did a fabulous job creating layers in each of her main characters, allowing them to become individually distinct but even better together. Their chemistry was absolute perfection, and when Niklaas finally discovers his travelling companion’s true identity, things are taken to a whole new level. Don’t expect sunshine, roses and love poems though…this is a uniquely complicated relationship and I was totally sucked in to seeing how on earth Aurora and Niklaas’ relationship would evolve.

I’m going to be honest and say I wasn’t a huge fan of Niklaas’ at first. He was a bit cocky, a lot arrogant and totally clueless when it comes to women. But, as the novel progresses his character growth is absolute perfection, and by half way through the book I was alllll about him! I was rooting for Niklaas just as much as I was rooting for Aurora, and their individual stories come together so perfectly and this makes the novel that much more intriguing.

Princess of Thorns hits all the right fantasy notes and completely delivers in the world-building category as well. This is the first Stacey Jay novel I’ve read and I was completely blown away by how beautifully she presents the world in which this story takes place. Aurora and Niklaas travel far and wide, and each location was more spectacular than the last. I got completely lost in the fantasy of this world, making it so easy for me to get totally sucked into the story.

If you love romance and high-fantasy, I highly suggest Princess of Thorns be added to your reading list as soon as possible. It’s incredibly adventurous, beautifully written and totally delivers on the swoon, and if you ask me that’s a perfect combination. Maybe it will make your favorites of 2014 list as well!


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Princess of Thorns Stacey Jay Books Reviews

Sleeping Beauty's daughter, Princess Aurora, must not only save her brother but also reclaim her kingdom from the ogres who have captured them both. Though she is fairy blessed as a warrior she can't do it alone. In her attempt to raise an army she forms an alliance with none other but the youngest prince, Niklaas, of the king who is allied with the ogres. Aurora was originally mistaken to be her younger brother and decides to take on the facade. The only thing is, Niklaas was on a mission to find Princess Aurora to woo her to marry him to break a curse.

The Story
So, this was my second attempt at a Stacey Jay novel, and now I want to go back and try the other one over since I DNF it. This book was addictingly cute. Was it the best fairy tale around? Certainly not, but it definitely hit the spot.

Told in alternating POVs we get to really get to know both characters. However, there were a few parts where we got the ogre queen's POV as well, and I found them completely unnecessary, even considering the twist we receive at the end. In fact, let's talk about that twist. I really enjoyed the majority of the book, right up to the alleged twist, and then I found that it resolved itself rather quickly. I did like the ending, but was definitely disappointed with how easily it came about. My thoughts were essentially we worked for all that, and then this happens? It's that feeling when you're watching LOTR or The Hobbit (or reading, and maybe the books explain it better?) when you think, man couldn't it have been really easy for the eagles to just carry them all the way to Mt. Doom? or for the ghost army to just kill them all? Okay, off topic, I know, but that's the feeling I got at the resolution to Aurora's problems.

With that being said though, I really enjoyed reading the book. It was easy, lighthearted, and I genuinely rooted the characters on as they went on their journey. And I tell you what, I was real anxious for the moment that Niklaas found out the Aurora was, well, Aurora. I really appreciated that suddenly his man parts weren't longing for the girl he thought was a boy the whole time. While he generally thought Aurora was a pretty boy the entire time, it wasn't shocking that he eventually found her to be an attractive girl. It made the transition much easier to swallow. So they are so stupid about each other that it made their romance endearingly sweet.

The World Building
I liked that this world was built upon one that most are familiar with, except twisted. I honestly was never a big fan of Sleeping Beauty, but this book actually made me want to watch the movie, if not at least read the original fairy tale. I loved the creativity of the fairy gifts and curse that pairs with them.

The Characters
I adored both Aurora and Niklaas, and it had nothing to do with the fact that they were so unnaturally beautiful. They are both so stubborn, fiery, and think they're always right. Their bickering made for such an entertaining read. I have pulled two quotes from the book that each character said about the other, and I think it's just spot on.

"He isn't just a prince, he's a hero, the sort of person even death is hesitant to approach without a nod."

"Of course she's a hero, a person willing to face extraordinary odds, to rise to any challenge, and to put the welfare of others before her own."

I just love that they both think of each other as heroes and it makes my heart all soft and warm.
The joining of two fairy tales with some remarkably innovative twists and memorable lines, this book was one of the most enjoyable that I have read this year. This is a story about a Princess and Prince. Princess Aurora is the child of Sleeping Beauty, who turned out to have been kissed and awakened by a philandering and lying King. Prince Nicklaas is the last son of an evil King who has cursed all of his sons to become swans on their 18th birthday so that they cannot depose him. He has 3 weeks before he becomes a dumb swan. The two meet because she was trying to gather an army to save her brother from the Ogres and he was trying to marry Princess Aurora so that he doesn't become a swan and mistakenly thinks that she is her younger brother. They have fun adventures together. There is great suspense and tension, both romantically and action-wise. I can't remember having marked as many memorable lines in any book before. The book has some interesting asides for adults that probably would fly over the heads of less experienced teenagers. The book has great quips and some of the best-written action scenes that I have seen. This is stuff for a great movie.
I was provided with an ARC of this title by Random House Children’s & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to both for the opportunity!

The story of Aurora has some familiar elements to it, as it’s a bit of a twist or continuation of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. Aurora is the daughter of Sleeping Beauty and her handsome rescuer, but her parents happily ever after never quite materialized. Aurora has grown up in a cruel and unforgiving world, and is forced into some pretty unfortunate circumstances. I thought Aurora was an amazing main character, and the bravery and strength she possessed was exactly what I was looking for when I started reading. She’s also a sympathetic character but I never really found myself feeling sorry for her, because she is just so capable and brave. Go on girl!!

I also found it really intriguing that she spent much of the book disguised as a man, not as a way to create an image of strength and capability to others, but as a way to disguise herself so she could accomplish what she needed to. Aurora is smart, strong and bad-ass and, thanks to her fae lineage, the woman knows how to handle herself in a fight! She reminded me a lot of Celaena from the Throne of Glass series and Scarlet from the Scarlet series, and because of that she’s earned a spot on my roster of favorite female fantasy characters.

As part of Aurora’s journey, she finds herself paired up with a prince that has his own secrets to keep and battles to fight. Being the bad-ass female that she is, Aurora quickly enlists Prince Niklaas’ help in her quest to rescue her younger brother and reclaim her throne from an evil queen, and they become a dynamic duo. It was pretty interesting to see their relationship develop while Niklaas is under the belief that he’s travelling with a man. Stacey Jay did a fabulous job creating layers in each of her main characters, allowing them to become individually distinct but even better together. Their chemistry was absolute perfection, and when Niklaas finally discovers his travelling companion’s true identity, things are taken to a whole new level. Don’t expect sunshine, roses and love poems though…this is a uniquely complicated relationship and I was totally sucked in to seeing how on earth Aurora and Niklaas’ relationship would evolve.

I’m going to be honest and say I wasn’t a huge fan of Niklaas’ at first. He was a bit cocky, a lot arrogant and totally clueless when it comes to women. But, as the novel progresses his character growth is absolute perfection, and by half way through the book I was alllll about him! I was rooting for Niklaas just as much as I was rooting for Aurora, and their individual stories come together so perfectly and this makes the novel that much more intriguing.

Princess of Thorns hits all the right fantasy notes and completely delivers in the world-building category as well. This is the first Stacey Jay novel I’ve read and I was completely blown away by how beautifully she presents the world in which this story takes place. Aurora and Niklaas travel far and wide, and each location was more spectacular than the last. I got completely lost in the fantasy of this world, making it so easy for me to get totally sucked into the story.

If you love romance and high-fantasy, I highly suggest Princess of Thorns be added to your reading list as soon as possible. It’s incredibly adventurous, beautifully written and totally delivers on the swoon, and if you ask me that’s a perfect combination. Maybe it will make your favorites of 2014 list as well!