While Beauty Slept [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition] Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00IB021XK | Format: PDF, EPUB
While Beauty Slept Epub DownloadPosts about Download The Book While Beauty Slept Epub Download from 4shared, mediafire, hotfile, and mirror link
I am not the sort of person about whom stories are told. And so begins Elise Dalriss's story. When she hears her great-granddaughter recount a minstrel's tale about a beautiful princess asleep in a tower, it pushes open a door to the past, a door Elise has long kept locked. For Elise was the companion to the real princess who slumbered - and she is the only one left who knows what actually happened so many years ago. Her story unveils a labyrinth where secrets connect to an inconceivable evil. As only Elise understands all too well, the truth is no fairy tale...
Books with free ebook downloads available While Beauty Slept [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition] Epub Download
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 12 hours and 52 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Tantor Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: February 20, 2014
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00IB021XK
While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell
My rating: 3.5 of 5
Fairytale retellings are one of my favorite types of books. I love to see what authors can do with a classic story to make it their own new fascinating tale. So when I found this book while looking through the list of e-advanced readers I could download, it stood out. This story was to be different from other fairy tales or even their revised versions. This one was said to be the “true” story of Sleeping Beauty, not of magic or witches, but of a curse brought on by events that could have actually taken place.
This was written as historical fiction, rather than fantasy. Usually I’m not a fan of historical fiction, but I’ve been in a reading slump and thought maybe I should give it a try since it was still a fairy tale.
I wanted to love this book, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. It did get me through the reading rut I’d been in though and I read 2 more books in the 3 days following finishing this one up so I give it credit for that. I’m still honestly a little torn on how I feel about the whole thing. I fluctuate between a 3 and 4 star depending on which part of the book I think of. But as a whole, I would recommend this to anyone who likes fairy tale retellings or possibly even if they just like historical fiction. (Though, full disclosure, as I’m not a reader of it, I can’t vouch for whether it’s historically accurate to any time period.)
Anyway, here’s what I liked and what I did not.
The Good:
*Very well written descriptions and most of the characters were well developed. Many of them I missed once the book was over, and those are the good kind. The villains were well developed too, but I can’t say I miss them.
*Elise’s love story.
I can't help but feel the hand of providence a bit with this book--it is as if this is the book I was meant to read right now.
I've always been a fan of fairy tales, although I've become a bit cynical of them since I've become the mother of a daughter and have had to fight the onslaught of the Disney wave. As it is, I've been reading many of these tales to my children lately and to find one for an adult--that doesn't fall into the cesspool of erotica!--was just too good a thing to pass up.
While Beauty Slept is a re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty, a story nearly everyone knows. However, Elizabeth Blackwell has taken this tale a bit further and developed it into a skillfully written novel full of twists and turns (which is all I'm going to say about the plot!). I was quickly swept into the book and it held me through to the very last page.
The decision to have the story told through Elise's eyes was a wise one. It allowed Blackwell to create a fully human narrator and still give the "major players" of the tale an iconic feel that could place them either in the realm of reality or the world of fantasy. Elise, herself, is an excellent character. While she has had a hard life, she finds herself rising to a station she could never have imagined. She isn't perfect--and she realizes it--but she keeps the reader's attention and loyalty.
My one issue with this book--well, it is an issue with me rather than the book--is that this is so realistically written that it feels like historical fiction. Since I read more historical fiction than any other genre, I had moments early in this book where I felt a little uneasy with this book.
{shorttile} Epub Download
Please Wait...