About the Book
On her sixteenth birthday, Princess Liesel Rosanna falls
victim to a sleeping curse—but wakens in
another world, a prisoner of war. As the bait in a trap for her fiancé, the
crown prince of Hanover, Liesel longs to escape back to the fairy tale world.
The world where she is only wanting a
true love’s kiss to set everything to rights.
As situations quickly grow dire, Liesel must choose which
story to live, which life is real. The fate of her country rests on her
decision.
About the Author
Morgan Elizabeth Huneke is a homeschool graduate who lives
in Georgia. She has enjoyed creating characters and writing stories since early
childhood. Books have always been a big part of her life, never more so than
when working at the local library. Her other interests include reading, playing
and teaching piano and violin, and politics. She is the author of Across the Stars and The Experiment as well as the Time Captives fantasy trilogy.
Review
I am always amazed by the variety I can find in fairy tale retellings. There are traditional medieval fantasies, historical fiction stories, sci-fi adventures, and more- and then there are some stories that bridge genres and create something truly unusual. Twisted Dreams by Morgan Huneke is one of these.
When the story opens, it feels like a pretty standard medieval fantasy. But even by the end of the secret chapter, you realize that this is as much sci-fi as fantasy, which was a pleasant surprise. I knew from the blurb that it wouldn't be purely fantasy, but I expected historical fiction to be the second genre. In any case, I quite enjoyed how the author blended the two.
I also liked her treatment of Liesel's sleeping curse and the accompanying dreams. I can't really say a lot about that, because spoilers, but there's a nice reversal from the usual there. The different races and their abilities are pretty interesting as well, and the Hanover people, with their blend of medieval and modern, appealed to me. The plot didn't feel as fast-paced as it could have, but it was exciting enough to keep me reading.
That said, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would. I didn't connect strongly with any of the characters (except maybe Matt), and I almost wish that the author could've found a way to expand the story a little so we could get to know them better. Word choice also seemed awkward or odd at times. Finally, while I quite liked Calanda, I occasionally felt that she helped our main character too much, to the point that the main characters didn't seem to really do much for themselves.
Despite these flaws, I enjoyed this book. It's an unusual twist on a familiar fairy tale, one I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick, but still fairly exciting, read.
~~~~~
Of course, it's not a blog tour without a giveaway- and this tour has two! First off, we have a Rafflecopter giveaway for a paperback of Twisted Dreams and eBooks of all three stories.
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In addition, the person with the most comments over the whole blog tour will get an early read of The Seven Drawers, a Snow White retelling by Kendra E. Ardnek and of Cindy Ellen, the sequel to Rosette Thornbriar. So definitely be sure to check out the rest of the blog tour! I'll post a list of today's other stops below, and you can find the full schedule here. And don't forget to come back here on Friday for an interview with Rachel Roden!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)
Blog Stops Today
Knitted By
God’s Plan - Other Sleepy Fairy Tales
Interviews:
The
Overactive Imagination - Group
Rachel Rossano's
Words - Morgan
Books, Braids, and
Born Again - Kendra
Reviews:
The Page
Dreamer - Poison Kiss
Dreams and
Dragons - Twisted Dreams- You are here.
Thanks for the review, Sarah! It's too bad the Rooglewood Press contest limits the word count--I probably could have expanded it a good bit if I'd had the space. That said, there is going to be (someday, when I come up with the rest of the plot) a story about the next generation. It's been simmering in my head for years, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Yeah, I've noticed you mentioning the sequel in a bunch of the interviews and it sounds super awesome. I'm excited. :D
DeleteSorry you didn't love it as much as you hoped; those wordcount limits are killers. XD But hmm, sounds intriguing! Great review. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah. :P Still a good book, though. You might like it more than I do.
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