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The Secret World of Briar Rose
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A lush and immersive queer “Sleeping Beauty” retelling about escapism, grief, and dreaming of a better world, as imagined by YouTube star Cindy Pham
The deluxe first edition features a classic fairytale-inspired embossed jacket, custom designed colored edges, gorgeous illustrated endpapers, and a gold foil-stamped case!
“The emotional depth of the characters adds many layers to the search for identity, overcoming grief, and finding belonging; the book shows how hope, love, and redemption can exist in this darkness.”—School Library Journal, starred review
One hundred years have passed since the last heir of Gyldan fell into eternal slumber and doomed the once-mighty kingdom to poverty and invasion. At least, that’s what the fairy tales claim.
Corin is a jaded thief who doesn’t believe in fables, even when she searches Gyldan’s underground tunnels to find her younger sister, Elly, who ran away to find the sleeping princess in hopes of a better life. Corin’s conviction is challenged when she discovers the ruins of the ancient castle, maintained by beings from the kingdom’s golden age, who protect a hidden portal into Princess Amelia’s subconscious. Following Elly’s voice, Corin jumps in the portal and seals the entry behind her.
Inside the lush world of Amelia’s dreams, the sisters reunite for a new adventure as they meet Briar Rose, Amelia’s whimsical alter ego, and Malicine, a sharp-tongued demon with a gift for magic. But as they explore ice castles, sunflower mazes, and star-filled oceans, Corin suspects Briar Rose is hiding darker secrets behind her “perfect” paradise—and that there are some things her subconscious can’t bury forever.
The deluxe first edition features a classic fairytale-inspired embossed jacket, custom designed colored edges, gorgeous illustrated endpapers, and a gold foil-stamped case!
“The emotional depth of the characters adds many layers to the search for identity, overcoming grief, and finding belonging; the book shows how hope, love, and redemption can exist in this darkness.”—School Library Journal, starred review
One hundred years have passed since the last heir of Gyldan fell into eternal slumber and doomed the once-mighty kingdom to poverty and invasion. At least, that’s what the fairy tales claim.
Corin is a jaded thief who doesn’t believe in fables, even when she searches Gyldan’s underground tunnels to find her younger sister, Elly, who ran away to find the sleeping princess in hopes of a better life. Corin’s conviction is challenged when she discovers the ruins of the ancient castle, maintained by beings from the kingdom’s golden age, who protect a hidden portal into Princess Amelia’s subconscious. Following Elly’s voice, Corin jumps in the portal and seals the entry behind her.
Inside the lush world of Amelia’s dreams, the sisters reunite for a new adventure as they meet Briar Rose, Amelia’s whimsical alter ego, and Malicine, a sharp-tongued demon with a gift for magic. But as they explore ice castles, sunflower mazes, and star-filled oceans, Corin suspects Briar Rose is hiding darker secrets behind her “perfect” paradise—and that there are some things her subconscious can’t bury forever.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published June 2, 2026
About the author
Cindy Pham
3 books132k followersCindy Pham is a queer Vietnamese-American author of fantasy books. Based in New York City, she works as a full-time designer while moonlighting as a fiction writer and content creator. Her YouTube channel, @readwithcindy, has amassed over half a million subscribers and focuses on books, movie reactions, and candid commentary. The Secret World of Briar Rose is her debut novel inspired by her experience with depression and suicidal ideation. Her website is readwithcindy.com.
Note from Cindy: As an author, I won’t engage with reviews for my book. However, if you tag me on social media, I’ll assume it’s an open invite to engage and join in on the fun! As a reader, I’ll continue sharing my thoughts on books I read on my Goodreads and YouTube channel. I hope the casual style and no star rating in my “reviews” makes it clear that this account is just a reading diary for me, not official endorsements or admonishments.
Note from Cindy: As an author, I won’t engage with reviews for my book. However, if you tag me on social media, I’ll assume it’s an open invite to engage and join in on the fun! As a reader, I’ll continue sharing my thoughts on books I read on my Goodreads and YouTube channel. I hope the casual style and no star rating in my “reviews” makes it clear that this account is just a reading diary for me, not official endorsements or admonishments.
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September 19, 2025i'm seated. the bookstore employees are scared and asking me to leave because 'it's not june 2026 yet' but i'm simply too seated
April 5, 2026
I'm super happy and proud that Cindy managed to publish a novel, but I think it would have been better if I had just admired her work from afar. I really quite enjoy her YouTube content and her recent videos about her writing and publishing process are very interesting, but all that didn't make me love this book either. I do think that she had plenty of good ideas, though. It's a Sleeping Beauty retelling inspired by her own experiences with depression and suicidal ideation, and that was a really strong basis in my opinion. But the actual plot and characters weren't doing anything for me. I think the author had a vision, but not the skills to transform it into a coherent story. It was messy and infodumpy and just lacking substance in every way. The story unfolded over multiple timelines and it still was so hard to care for anything. Amelia is the Sleeping Beauty character about to fall into eternal slumber on her eighteenth birthday, Malicine is the evil / misunderstood fairy who cursed her, and a hundred years later there are Corin and her sister Elly, barely getting by in an occupied land. Corin and Elly just happen to stumble upon Amelia's hidden castle where they then also happen to stumble into Sleeping Beauty's dreams. Walking through the dream world of a character set to sleep forever was actually such a cool concept and I also liked that the world was shaped by everyone's subconsciousness, like their dreams or their repressed memories. But the writing just couldn't transport the lush and decadent atmosphere that was probably supposed to be there. It all felt very forced to me. Some sentences seemed purposefully quotable, without really matching the rest of the writing. There were different set pieces, like an ice castle or a cottage in a sunflower maze, and peculiar creatures, like a fox made of clay or a bunny and a cat in petticoats, but they just never came together to make a coherent world or story. And I also didn't want to follow any of the main characters around. They had their tragic backstories, but strong character voices were missing anyway. I liked that it wasn't a romance-focused story, though. You rarely ever find a YA story with so little romance. In my opinion it could have been cut completely, because I didn't need it in the last 20 pages either. Overall, this book was all about a cool concept and a poor execution. You can call me biased all you want, but I still don't feel like giving this book too low of a rating. It will not stay on my mind, but I also didn't hate it and I'm simply glad that it exists. On the other hand I also just can't recommend it. Maybe just look at the stunning cover and be done with it. 2.5 stars.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group | Kokila for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group | Kokila for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
what do you MEAN this is supposed to be a Sleeping Beauty retelling 🫤🫤
I expected dark fairy tale drama, maybe a sharp, clever twist on the classic story. Instead I got ✨(boring) vibes✨ and a wander through Clunky Metaphor Land that's 90% symbolism and 10% actual story.
A princess falls asleep. THAT’S IT. That is the most Sleeping Beauty thing that happens in this entire book. I mean... I guess that's all that happens in Sleeping Beauty, too? Everything else is so disconnected it feels almost misleading to call this a retelling at all. The connection to the original is paper-thin.
Credit where it’s due: the writing is good. It's lyrical and polished.
This is the kind of sad-girl prose you can highlight for Tumblr or Instagram to show what a deep, tortured soul you are.
But OH MY GOD… this was such a slog to get through.
Aesthetic sentences only carry me so far before I start screaming internally and checking how many pages are left. And this book leans on pretty prose like a crutch. After a while, the writing stops feeling impressive and starts feeling like a distraction from the fact that nothing of substance is happening.
Because nothing is happening. This is slow and repetitive. It's weirdly exhausting despite having the narrative momentum of a damp paper towel. It’s not immersive; it’s numbing.
I do like the idea of Amelia’s choice having a ripple effect a century later. That could have been fascinating. That should have been fascinating. But the execution just. does. not. land. It’s emblematic of the entire book: interesting in theory, inert in execution.
Corin and Elly? BORING.
So dull.
Their relationship's supposed to be the emotional core, but there’s no weight to it. They're a void. Their relationship lacks any substance, and the book tells you it’s deep, but never does the work to make you feel it. I wanted their sibling bond to wreck me emotionally. I wanted angst. But I got some cardboard cut outs awkwardly bumbling around while the book whispered, "look, isn't this, like, so sad? please feel sad."
I was so detached the entire time and constantly rolling my eyes at the half-hearted attempts at reconciliation that get destroyed the second they appear. I've never seen characters we're supposed to care about have less chemistry. Like, why did we even bother?
Corin especially. Good lord. I understand what the author is trying to do, but she’s trapped in this endless brooding, victim-cycle nightmare, hating her life and making it everyone else's problem that quickly becomes unbearable. She drags everyone down with her, and I never felt compelled to root for her. I wasn’t invested, I was irritated.
The story's aggressively plot-driven. Characters don’t act like people; they act like chess pieces. They go where they’re told and do what they’re told, because the plot demands it, not because it makes sense. It’s so obvious, and it breaks any sense of immersion the book tries to build.
And then the structure comes in for the killing blow.
Dual POVs have been done before. Done to death, actually. But here it’s a constant back-and-forth and then, because apparently the story wasn’t confusing and slow enough, there’s a THIRD perspective?? WHY???
Any tension evaporates instantly every time we jump. The structure's disjointed and the pacing's dead on arrival.
This book is actively working against itself.
This would have worked so much better if the first half of the book had been Amelia's POV and the latter half Corin’s. It would have kept the momentum instead of the plot constantly undermining itself.
This also has my least favourite trope in all media. It was all a dream. I get that the dream world is the point, I understand the metaphor and that it's supposed to be thematic. I see what it’s trying to do and say. But it completely kills tension. When everything obeys dream logic, nothing feels grounded. Nothing matters.
The book asks for emotional investment while simultaneously removing any reason to give it.
My emotional investment went out for cigarettes and never came back.
I wanted to DNF this so bad at so many points. But I also wanted to write an honest ARC review 😣 so I trudged through, clinging to the idea that maybe it would pay off. It did not.
I’ve never heard of this YouTuber before, so maybe if I had some attachment to her or her story, I’d have felt differently. And I think it’s telling that almost all the 5 star reviews are from her fans (most of whom haven't read it). I get it! Support the person you love! But while there is a great book buried somewhere in here, this is not a good book.
Beautiful concept ≠ fully realised story. There's potential but it's buried under pacing and structural issues and characters that don’t land.
The themes of grief and escapism are lurking, but this being YA neuters them. There’s such a noticeable gap between what this book wants to be and what it actually is. It wants to be deep and dark and emotionally heavy and meaningful, but it keeps pulling its punches to stay light enough for the intended audience and you get some surface-level words that don't build to anything. Everything's so diluted.
This would have been so much stronger as a full-on adult fantasy, because it needed that freedom to actually explore the weight it gestures at instead of skimming the surface.
I expected dark fairy tale drama, maybe a sharp, clever twist on the classic story. Instead I got ✨(boring) vibes✨ and a wander through Clunky Metaphor Land that's 90% symbolism and 10% actual story.
A princess falls asleep. THAT’S IT. That is the most Sleeping Beauty thing that happens in this entire book. I mean... I guess that's all that happens in Sleeping Beauty, too? Everything else is so disconnected it feels almost misleading to call this a retelling at all. The connection to the original is paper-thin.
Credit where it’s due: the writing is good. It's lyrical and polished.
This is the kind of sad-girl prose you can highlight for Tumblr or Instagram to show what a deep, tortured soul you are.
But OH MY GOD… this was such a slog to get through.
Aesthetic sentences only carry me so far before I start screaming internally and checking how many pages are left. And this book leans on pretty prose like a crutch. After a while, the writing stops feeling impressive and starts feeling like a distraction from the fact that nothing of substance is happening.
Because nothing is happening. This is slow and repetitive. It's weirdly exhausting despite having the narrative momentum of a damp paper towel. It’s not immersive; it’s numbing.
I do like the idea of Amelia’s choice having a ripple effect a century later. That could have been fascinating. That should have been fascinating. But the execution just. does. not. land. It’s emblematic of the entire book: interesting in theory, inert in execution.
Corin and Elly? BORING.
So dull.
Their relationship's supposed to be the emotional core, but there’s no weight to it. They're a void. Their relationship lacks any substance, and the book tells you it’s deep, but never does the work to make you feel it. I wanted their sibling bond to wreck me emotionally. I wanted angst. But I got some cardboard cut outs awkwardly bumbling around while the book whispered, "look, isn't this, like, so sad? please feel sad."
I was so detached the entire time and constantly rolling my eyes at the half-hearted attempts at reconciliation that get destroyed the second they appear. I've never seen characters we're supposed to care about have less chemistry. Like, why did we even bother?
Corin especially. Good lord. I understand what the author is trying to do, but she’s trapped in this endless brooding, victim-cycle nightmare, hating her life and making it everyone else's problem that quickly becomes unbearable. She drags everyone down with her, and I never felt compelled to root for her. I wasn’t invested, I was irritated.
The story's aggressively plot-driven. Characters don’t act like people; they act like chess pieces. They go where they’re told and do what they’re told, because the plot demands it, not because it makes sense. It’s so obvious, and it breaks any sense of immersion the book tries to build.
And then the structure comes in for the killing blow.
Dual POVs have been done before. Done to death, actually. But here it’s a constant back-and-forth and then, because apparently the story wasn’t confusing and slow enough, there’s a THIRD perspective?? WHY???
Any tension evaporates instantly every time we jump. The structure's disjointed and the pacing's dead on arrival.
This book is actively working against itself.
This would have worked so much better if the first half of the book had been Amelia's POV and the latter half Corin’s. It would have kept the momentum instead of the plot constantly undermining itself.
This also has my least favourite trope in all media. It was all a dream. I get that the dream world is the point, I understand the metaphor and that it's supposed to be thematic. I see what it’s trying to do and say. But it completely kills tension. When everything obeys dream logic, nothing feels grounded. Nothing matters.
The book asks for emotional investment while simultaneously removing any reason to give it.
My emotional investment went out for cigarettes and never came back.
I wanted to DNF this so bad at so many points. But I also wanted to write an honest ARC review 😣 so I trudged through, clinging to the idea that maybe it would pay off. It did not.
I’ve never heard of this YouTuber before, so maybe if I had some attachment to her or her story, I’d have felt differently. And I think it’s telling that almost all the 5 star reviews are from her fans (most of whom haven't read it). I get it! Support the person you love! But while there is a great book buried somewhere in here, this is not a good book.
Beautiful concept ≠ fully realised story. There's potential but it's buried under pacing and structural issues and characters that don’t land.
The themes of grief and escapism are lurking, but this being YA neuters them. There’s such a noticeable gap between what this book wants to be and what it actually is. It wants to be deep and dark and emotionally heavy and meaningful, but it keeps pulling its punches to stay light enough for the intended audience and you get some surface-level words that don't build to anything. Everything's so diluted.
This would have been so much stronger as a full-on adult fantasy, because it needed that freedom to actually explore the weight it gestures at instead of skimming the surface.
September 16, 2026
“Was staying alive worth it, she thought, when darkness was always inevitable?”We follow two storylines - first of Amelia, a princess fated by an evil fairy to prick her finger and die.
Amelia has only known the protective walls of the palace and cannot help but dream of a world beyond, but her kingdom, her father, and her betrothed demand so much of her. How can she push herself to keep going knowing what her fate will be?
And of Corin who lives a hundred years after the princess - whose life is as insignificant as an ant to those around her. She has two goals in life - survive and keep her sister alive.
But when Elly goes missing, Corin finds herself faced with a devastating reality. Without her sister, does the first goal even matter?
Whew. There was a lot to unpack here but I was initially really excited for this book. I've followed Cindy's reviews for some time and was quite excited to see that she's written a book!
"The last words Elly said before she disappeared were, 'I hate you.'"
AND it was a fairytale remake (WOOHOO), I love twists on classics and while Sleeping Beauty was never my favorite tale, it did have plenty of room to adjust and redo.
However, I will say that this one leaned heavily toward the dark and gritty reality - lots of gut-punch reveals and harsh elements when it comes to the fate of their kingdom.
And when the book clocks in at 400 pages (16 hour audiobook!), that's a lottttt of sad elements and (a bit) of circuitous thinking from the characters. I do think some of that could've been streamlined to keep things more focused.
That being said, I will say (without getting too spoilery) that things brighten up by the ending and pulled the book into 4 star territory for me.
awaiting-release
September 19, 2025Cindy's videos were what got me into reading as an adult, there's simply no world where I'm not going to read this book!
Want to Read
September 19, 2025I've followed Cindy's YouTube channel since I was in middle school and her first book is coming out when I graduate college...I feel so ancient
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"I thought this must be the closest thing to happiness. Something close to perfection, yet it could never be real. My secret, imaginary world."
"Not in death, but just in sleep, the fateful prophecy you'll keep. And from this slumber you shall wake, when true love's kiss, the spell shall break." -Disney's Sleeping Beauty
The Secret World of Briar Rose is due for release on June 2, 2026.
This book is for the dreamers, trying to escape.
Cindy Pham's debut novel, a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty. Like a lush, lucid dream with lyrical prose, it made me think of numerous Disney movies. In the story, a cynical Corin searches her city's underground for her runaway sister, Elly, who is seeking a fabled sleeping princess. Corin’s skepticism fades when she discovers a magical ruin where ancient beings guard a portal to Princess Amelia’s subconscious. Chasing Elly’s voice, Corin dives into the portal, trapping herself inside. From there, the story reminded me of the psychedelic hallucination scene in Alice in Wonderland when she comes across the hookah-smoking caterpillar. Nope, not kidding. Puff, puff, pass.
The writing is so flowery you could probably bottle it and sell it as a perfume. Yes, it is quite the stream of consciousness retelling, but not much happened in a story with so many words. I love the concept of it, but I just think the execution needed to be way more polished. I feel like Cindy would write good poetry. I read somewhere that the book was inspired by the author's battle with depression and escapism, so I want to be sensitive to that. I know that battle well. Cindy, it was a solid first book. I send you my best wishes and hope you continue your writing journey.
“She'd always keep wishing for another world, another life, another way to fill the void.”
A big Thank You to Cindy Pham, NetGalley, and Penguin Teen for gifting me this advance copy. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review this book.
"Not in death, but just in sleep, the fateful prophecy you'll keep. And from this slumber you shall wake, when true love's kiss, the spell shall break." -Disney's Sleeping Beauty
The Secret World of Briar Rose is due for release on June 2, 2026.
This book is for the dreamers, trying to escape.
Cindy Pham's debut novel, a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty. Like a lush, lucid dream with lyrical prose, it made me think of numerous Disney movies. In the story, a cynical Corin searches her city's underground for her runaway sister, Elly, who is seeking a fabled sleeping princess. Corin’s skepticism fades when she discovers a magical ruin where ancient beings guard a portal to Princess Amelia’s subconscious. Chasing Elly’s voice, Corin dives into the portal, trapping herself inside. From there, the story reminded me of the psychedelic hallucination scene in Alice in Wonderland when she comes across the hookah-smoking caterpillar. Nope, not kidding. Puff, puff, pass.
The writing is so flowery you could probably bottle it and sell it as a perfume. Yes, it is quite the stream of consciousness retelling, but not much happened in a story with so many words. I love the concept of it, but I just think the execution needed to be way more polished. I feel like Cindy would write good poetry. I read somewhere that the book was inspired by the author's battle with depression and escapism, so I want to be sensitive to that. I know that battle well. Cindy, it was a solid first book. I send you my best wishes and hope you continue your writing journey.
“She'd always keep wishing for another world, another life, another way to fill the void.”
A big Thank You to Cindy Pham, NetGalley, and Penguin Teen for gifting me this advance copy. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review this book.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
book #3 of m(arc)h challenge, where I try to read ALL the arcs I have in the month of March!
I went into this one genuinely excited, because I have been following Cindy ever since she made the Exes and Ohs video! so getting to read this early via netgalley made the whole reading experience a little more ✨ special ✨and I want to start by saying that I liked a good portion of it, even if my overall feelings ended up being somewhat conflicted.
the final stretch of the novel is easily its best, and I loved how cleanly everything was resolved, but I can see many readers being confused by the ending as well so... 🤷🏻♀️
the book leans heavily into themes of depression, particularly the desire to disappear into sleep and opt out of consciousness altogether. that aspect I totally understood!! my own experience with depression did not manifest as a want to sleep forever in the way it does for Amelia, but there is a whole year and a half of my life that I just straight up do not remember (depression & memory loss is an interesting topic to research, if you want to know more). so, I guess in some way, it is like falling asleep forever.
this is less a straightforward "retelling" and more a reimagining, in my opinion. think: sleeping beauty with sprinkles of maleficent woven in.
the writing, on a sentence level, is undeniably lovely. it is lush and immersive, very indulgent in its attention to sensory detail. the environments are described with such care that it'll take you back to 2010s YA books lol.
but over time, that same strength begins to weigh the narrative down. scenes go on longer than they need to and the constant emphasis on color in particular began to feel like repetition.
and repetition is, unfortunately, one of the book's main issues
the romance between Corin and Briar works in principle. I could see the foundation of it, and I didn't find it unconvincing, but I did wish for more space between connection and declaration. it felt like it moved just a little too quickly and skipped over the in-between moments that would have made it more emotionally developed.
── .✦ pre-read 𖹭.ᐟ
Cindy is kinda the reason i even considered becoming a bookish creator so of course i had to read this! got it from netgalley 🤭🩵
I went into this one genuinely excited, because I have been following Cindy ever since she made the Exes and Ohs video! so getting to read this early via netgalley made the whole reading experience a little more ✨ special ✨and I want to start by saying that I liked a good portion of it, even if my overall feelings ended up being somewhat conflicted.
the final stretch of the novel is easily its best, and I loved how cleanly everything was resolved, but I can see many readers being confused by the ending as well so... 🤷🏻♀️
the book leans heavily into themes of depression, particularly the desire to disappear into sleep and opt out of consciousness altogether. that aspect I totally understood!! my own experience with depression did not manifest as a want to sleep forever in the way it does for Amelia, but there is a whole year and a half of my life that I just straight up do not remember (depression & memory loss is an interesting topic to research, if you want to know more). so, I guess in some way, it is like falling asleep forever.
this is less a straightforward "retelling" and more a reimagining, in my opinion. think: sleeping beauty with sprinkles of maleficent woven in.
the writing, on a sentence level, is undeniably lovely. it is lush and immersive, very indulgent in its attention to sensory detail. the environments are described with such care that it'll take you back to 2010s YA books lol.
but over time, that same strength begins to weigh the narrative down. scenes go on longer than they need to and the constant emphasis on color in particular began to feel like repetition.
and repetition is, unfortunately, one of the book's main issues
the romance between Corin and Briar works in principle. I could see the foundation of it, and I didn't find it unconvincing, but I did wish for more space between connection and declaration. it felt like it moved just a little too quickly and skipped over the in-between moments that would have made it more emotionally developed.
── .✦ pre-read 𖹭.ᐟ
Cindy is kinda the reason i even considered becoming a bookish creator so of course i had to read this! got it from netgalley 🤭🩵
July 23, 2026
firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!
2.5 stars — i love retellings of folklore/classic fairy tales, and i was excited to dive into cindy pham’s the secret world of briar rose, as it’s a queer sleeping beauty retelling. while the writing is whimsical and atmospheric, truly the only thing i think i enjoyed was the gorgeous cover. this book just wasn’t for me, sadly.
i also listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job!
2.5 stars — i love retellings of folklore/classic fairy tales, and i was excited to dive into cindy pham’s the secret world of briar rose, as it’s a queer sleeping beauty retelling. while the writing is whimsical and atmospheric, truly the only thing i think i enjoyed was the gorgeous cover. this book just wasn’t for me, sadly.
i also listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job!
March 11, 2026
this book legit made me question if i even like reading (one of the fundamental pillars of my being) just because of how strongly i had to force myself to read it. that sounds so harsh, but like i would sit there and have to literally psyche myself up to read it every time, that’s how painful it was to get through. reading is usually fun for me and let me tell you, i was not having a good time here. i was constantly checking how much i had left and being annoyed at how long it was taking. i should’ve dnf’d but my completionist brain would not allow that. plus, it was an arc and i felt like it was my duty to finish it.
i’ll start with what i liked about the book: the cover. it’s absolutely gorgeous. unfortunately that’s about it.
i can understand and appreciate what cindy was trying to do here and the messaging. however, to me, the execution was flawed and instead came across as ‘i’m 14 and this is deep’. it suffered from too many metaphors and characters and relationships it just couldn’t convince me to care about.
in general, it was just a boring book and way too long. 90% is just descriptions of the dreamworld, which made it quite exhausting to get through. i was falling asleep and zoning out throughout the book, making me have to keep going back to remind myself what was happening, which frankly wasn’t much. i feel like words were wasted describing the aesthetics of the dreamworld over describing action. the things that did happen in the dreamworld were confusing (especially in regards to how the magic worked there). the chapters alternate between two timelines but not effectively. the past was much more interesting than the present dreamworld. however, just when i’d start to get into it, the chapter would end and we’d get thrown back to the present, effectively killing any momentum that was building. everything that i could tell was supposed to be emotional made me feel nothing at all.
the dialogue was also quite bad. everyone spoke like they were a high school student in a disney channel show (malicine being the worst offender) which genuinely made it hard to take anything seriously.
the romance felt very unnecessary and lowkey shoehorned in, which is disappointing because this being a queer sleeping beauty retelling was a big part of the draw. corin and amelia/briar rose had zero chemistry and gave barely any indications that they liked each other and then all of a sudden they’re kissing? the relationship between amelia and malicine felt more romantic than her and corin (though i wouldn’t of wanted that since malicine, age unclear, is supposed to be like a godmother figure). also, i don’t care that the age gap is small, amelia having a crush on her stepmother was weird.
i will say though, that i don’t read a lot of fantasy and maybe that affected my time with the book. perhaps those with more experience and interest in the genre will enjoy it more and if so, i’m happy for them.
i am such a big fan of cindy’s youtube channel, so it is disappointing that i couldn’t connect with her debut novel. that being said, i am looking forward to seeing her career as an author progress and reading any of her future books. i think there was definitely potential here and with time and practice, her writing can only get better.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
i’ll start with what i liked about the book: the cover. it’s absolutely gorgeous. unfortunately that’s about it.
i can understand and appreciate what cindy was trying to do here and the messaging. however, to me, the execution was flawed and instead came across as ‘i’m 14 and this is deep’. it suffered from too many metaphors and characters and relationships it just couldn’t convince me to care about.
in general, it was just a boring book and way too long. 90% is just descriptions of the dreamworld, which made it quite exhausting to get through. i was falling asleep and zoning out throughout the book, making me have to keep going back to remind myself what was happening, which frankly wasn’t much. i feel like words were wasted describing the aesthetics of the dreamworld over describing action. the things that did happen in the dreamworld were confusing (especially in regards to how the magic worked there). the chapters alternate between two timelines but not effectively. the past was much more interesting than the present dreamworld. however, just when i’d start to get into it, the chapter would end and we’d get thrown back to the present, effectively killing any momentum that was building. everything that i could tell was supposed to be emotional made me feel nothing at all.
the dialogue was also quite bad. everyone spoke like they were a high school student in a disney channel show (malicine being the worst offender) which genuinely made it hard to take anything seriously.
the romance felt very unnecessary and lowkey shoehorned in, which is disappointing because this being a queer sleeping beauty retelling was a big part of the draw. corin and amelia/briar rose had zero chemistry and gave barely any indications that they liked each other and then all of a sudden they’re kissing? the relationship between amelia and malicine felt more romantic than her and corin (though i wouldn’t of wanted that since malicine, age unclear, is supposed to be like a godmother figure). also, i don’t care that the age gap is small, amelia having a crush on her stepmother was weird.
i will say though, that i don’t read a lot of fantasy and maybe that affected my time with the book. perhaps those with more experience and interest in the genre will enjoy it more and if so, i’m happy for them.
i am such a big fan of cindy’s youtube channel, so it is disappointing that i couldn’t connect with her debut novel. that being said, i am looking forward to seeing her career as an author progress and reading any of her future books. i think there was definitely potential here and with time and practice, her writing can only get better.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
August 24, 2026
what would you do if when you okay so he said yes would go
August 4, 2026
🌟3.5🌟
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group/ Kokila for an ARC of The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham
I'm always intrigued by fairy tale retellings, especially when an author dares to take a beloved classic in a completely different direction. The Secret World of Briar Rose is far more than a simple Sleeping Beauty retelling..it's a thoughtful story about grief, hope, healing, and learning that sometimes the hardest battles are the ones fought within ourselves.
The dream world Cindy Pham creates is imaginative and beautifully atmospheric. From enchanted landscapes to hidden secrets tucked beneath the surface, there were plenty of moments where I found myself completely swept away by the creativity. I also appreciated how the story explored the importance of family, friendship, and finding the courage to face painful truths instead of hiding from them.
That said, this wasn't a perfect fit for me. The pacing occasionally slowed, and there were stretches where the emotional weight overshadowed the momentum of the plot. I also found myself wishing for a stronger connection to a few of the characters, as I never became quite as invested in their journeys as I'd hoped.
Even so, I genuinely admired the heart behind this story. It's clear this book was written with care, compassion, and a desire to tell a meaningful tale about resilience. While it leans into some heavier themes, it also reminds readers that healing isn't a straight path and that hope can still bloom in even the darkest places.
Overall, this is a heartfelt, imaginative debut with a unique take on a familiar fairy tale. It may not have completely captured my heart, but I'm glad I took the journey, and I'll definitely be interested to see what she writes next.
Until next time,
Hades
🩵
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group/ Kokila for an ARC of The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham
I'm always intrigued by fairy tale retellings, especially when an author dares to take a beloved classic in a completely different direction. The Secret World of Briar Rose is far more than a simple Sleeping Beauty retelling..it's a thoughtful story about grief, hope, healing, and learning that sometimes the hardest battles are the ones fought within ourselves.
The dream world Cindy Pham creates is imaginative and beautifully atmospheric. From enchanted landscapes to hidden secrets tucked beneath the surface, there were plenty of moments where I found myself completely swept away by the creativity. I also appreciated how the story explored the importance of family, friendship, and finding the courage to face painful truths instead of hiding from them.
That said, this wasn't a perfect fit for me. The pacing occasionally slowed, and there were stretches where the emotional weight overshadowed the momentum of the plot. I also found myself wishing for a stronger connection to a few of the characters, as I never became quite as invested in their journeys as I'd hoped.
Even so, I genuinely admired the heart behind this story. It's clear this book was written with care, compassion, and a desire to tell a meaningful tale about resilience. While it leans into some heavier themes, it also reminds readers that healing isn't a straight path and that hope can still bloom in even the darkest places.
Overall, this is a heartfelt, imaginative debut with a unique take on a familiar fairy tale. It may not have completely captured my heart, but I'm glad I took the journey, and I'll definitely be interested to see what she writes next.
Until next time,
Hades
🩵
September 25, 2025
E-ARC generously provided by Kokila through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!
4 stars. Emotionally resonant and lyrically written, Cindy Pham's The Secret World of Briar Rose was a solid, dreamy debut that I really enjoyed reading.
4 stars. Emotionally resonant and lyrically written, Cindy Pham's The Secret World of Briar Rose was a solid, dreamy debut that I really enjoyed reading.
May 3, 2026
I'm so sorry Cindy, I really tried to like this.
I've been following Cindy Pham's YouTube channel readwithcindy since before she dropped the read, so I was thrilled for her when she announced her book deal. My whole crux, however, with YouTubers or TikTokers getting book deals, is that a built-in audience does not translate to storytelling skill, and although the books probably come from good intentions, they usually aren't very good. Pham, as a prolific BookTuber, however, gave me hope that this would be an exception.
Unfortunately they're not beating the allegations with this one. Whilst it has some potential, THE SECRET WORLD OF BRIAR ROSE is ultimately a confusing amalgamation of unrealised ideas that fall into common pitfalls of social-media-to-book-deal writers like juvenile, clunky writing, unlikable characters and uninspired world-building.
Corin's sister Elly believes in fairy tales, so when she goes missing, Corin is forced to brave the underground and overgrown Gyldan's Royal Castle, buried a hundred years ago, to search for her. When she falls into the world of its sleeping princess, Amelia, she and her sister must team up with Briar Rose, Amelia's alter ego, and Malicine, a wicked fae, to find their escape.
As is typical for YouTuber books, the most difficult aspect to reconcile is the awkward writing and narrative voice, here so abstract and overly formal that you don't get a firm sense of what's going on or who is doing what. Significant things would occur but I wouldn't understand it until long after, because the prose never deigns to just tell you what is happening. Instead every sentence tries so hard to be lyrical and poetic, with its abundance of one-liners and numerous ill-placed and incohesive metaphors, that it leads to paragraphs of superfluous text that lack balance with structure.
The times it does try to tell you what's going on with no fanfare, the sentences are worded so awkwardly that you're exhausted trying to follow along. Paraphrased, but I think no line says it better than this one:
'Delayed the realisation'???? Who talks like that 😭 The book is full of sentences like this. I get what we're trying to go for here, but Pham's voice is not developed enough to pull it off.
I eventually had to skim-read because I didn't feel as if the prose was contributing to the reading experience in any meaningful way. It's all well and good that some of it will make nice Instagram quotes, but when I can't parse the story or meaning between, what's the point?
But bad writing wouldn't be enough to deter me if I liked the characters, right? Well, the characters are poorly realised too. I didn't care for either protagonist Corin or her sister Elly, both so extraordinarily self-centred and annoying that I was numb to their relationship throughout (and I've read plenty of YA books with selfish and obnoxious characters, written in a way that endears the reader to them instead of creating a disconnect). Their sisterhood (or lack thereof) was not interesting or in-depth enough to bear the weight of the story, and although I get that they were both meant to be unlikeable, at no point did I feel invested in them, even after they got over their issues with themselves and each other. I started to resent every chapter from Corin's POV, in fact.
Sleeping Beauty stand-in Amelia/ Briar Rose's subtle holier-than-thou pretence grated on my every nerve in her present day incarnation, and although I did like Malicine to begin with, intrigued by their backstory, I had been so worn down by this book that I couldn't bring myself to read it even for them. In essence, every one of them was insufferable, and it was hard to root for their success when I didn't think any of them deserved it.
And Corin and Briar together? They had maybe one scene of significant relationship building before we are suddenly rushed through to a relationship by the end. A lot of their dynamic together is built through a light timeskip near the 70% mark, so we don't see them grow closer, and it doesn't feel like their feelings are earnt. Now granted, I don't think their romance was the point of the book – but then I have to ask, why include it at all? Surely marketing this as sad girl romance when there's hardly any romance at all does a disservice to the story and its readers? I got no sense of genuine chemistry between them; Amelia has a more interesting dynamic with her step-mother Queen Lilith than she did Corin.
Which was partly why Amelia's past was the only character aspect I enjoyed. Her birth, her family, how she came to create the dreamland and the persona Briar Rose. Having grown in cold opulence, she doesn't see the point in living, bringing an intriguing dimension to her character. I will give the book its flowers for its thematic exploration of depression and suicidal ideation through her point of view; Pham doesn't hold back in that regard, which is refreshing. It's just a shame this thoughtfulness didn't carry over to her present-day person. Like, the most interesting people in this book were Lilith and the sly, cunning prince Ezran, who are side characters/ villains. Something's wrong there, if they were more interesting to me than the main cast.
The worst part is, what was the point of their adventure at all? Some key plot points just didn't make sense; primarily, how did Elly end up in the Amelia's dreamland in the first place? If the evil prince and fairy godmothers opened a portal to gain access, why couldn't they just do it again, and why did it take them a hundred years? If Corin/ Elly somehow did it, why didn't they just use another to get out of there with Malicine's help? If they can create anything, as it's said you can do in the dreamland, why not just make a way home?
And then, this 'secret world' of Briar Rose's, this magical, whimsical dreamscape Corin and Elly are whisked away to? It's the most basic and boring fantasy land you could imagine, split into four quadrants based on the seasons. They're called Springland, Summerland, etc. Forgettable is an understatement, and scene setting is so lacking that even if they were remarkable in some way you wouldn't get to stop to smell the roses anyway. The promised 'whimsy' is a cottage, a talking cat and a talking rabbit that appear in one scene in the entire book.
At no point in the story was I invested in anything, and having hard-skimmed the epilogue, I closed the book grateful it was over. The potential was there, and it's clear SECRET WORLD aspired to be grounded, pensive and captivating, but in the end falls far short of all three. You can tell this is Pham's debut, and I really wish I could say I liked it more, or could forgive its glaring imperfections.
If you want to support Cindy and the premise sounds interesting, I'd recommend you give it a go, as I'm sure there's a helping of 'me, not you' in this review. I'll continue to support her channel and career and say, good on her for getting that book deal bag – but personally I'm very glad to put this book down forever.
WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? I'll wait a few books.
Early copy received in exchange for an honest review. This title releases on the 4th June 2026.
LAST REVIEW
I've been following Cindy Pham's YouTube channel readwithcindy since before she dropped the read, so I was thrilled for her when she announced her book deal. My whole crux, however, with YouTubers or TikTokers getting book deals, is that a built-in audience does not translate to storytelling skill, and although the books probably come from good intentions, they usually aren't very good. Pham, as a prolific BookTuber, however, gave me hope that this would be an exception.
Unfortunately they're not beating the allegations with this one. Whilst it has some potential, THE SECRET WORLD OF BRIAR ROSE is ultimately a confusing amalgamation of unrealised ideas that fall into common pitfalls of social-media-to-book-deal writers like juvenile, clunky writing, unlikable characters and uninspired world-building.
Corin's sister Elly believes in fairy tales, so when she goes missing, Corin is forced to brave the underground and overgrown Gyldan's Royal Castle, buried a hundred years ago, to search for her. When she falls into the world of its sleeping princess, Amelia, she and her sister must team up with Briar Rose, Amelia's alter ego, and Malicine, a wicked fae, to find their escape.
As is typical for YouTuber books, the most difficult aspect to reconcile is the awkward writing and narrative voice, here so abstract and overly formal that you don't get a firm sense of what's going on or who is doing what. Significant things would occur but I wouldn't understand it until long after, because the prose never deigns to just tell you what is happening. Instead every sentence tries so hard to be lyrical and poetic, with its abundance of one-liners and numerous ill-placed and incohesive metaphors, that it leads to paragraphs of superfluous text that lack balance with structure.
The times it does try to tell you what's going on with no fanfare, the sentences are worded so awkwardly that you're exhausted trying to follow along. Paraphrased, but I think no line says it better than this one:
The blur of her tears had delayed the realisation that rain had started pouring.
'Delayed the realisation'???? Who talks like that 😭 The book is full of sentences like this. I get what we're trying to go for here, but Pham's voice is not developed enough to pull it off.
I eventually had to skim-read because I didn't feel as if the prose was contributing to the reading experience in any meaningful way. It's all well and good that some of it will make nice Instagram quotes, but when I can't parse the story or meaning between, what's the point?
But bad writing wouldn't be enough to deter me if I liked the characters, right? Well, the characters are poorly realised too. I didn't care for either protagonist Corin or her sister Elly, both so extraordinarily self-centred and annoying that I was numb to their relationship throughout (and I've read plenty of YA books with selfish and obnoxious characters, written in a way that endears the reader to them instead of creating a disconnect). Their sisterhood (or lack thereof) was not interesting or in-depth enough to bear the weight of the story, and although I get that they were both meant to be unlikeable, at no point did I feel invested in them, even after they got over their issues with themselves and each other. I started to resent every chapter from Corin's POV, in fact.
Sleeping Beauty stand-in Amelia/ Briar Rose's subtle holier-than-thou pretence grated on my every nerve in her present day incarnation, and although I did like Malicine to begin with, intrigued by their backstory, I had been so worn down by this book that I couldn't bring myself to read it even for them. In essence, every one of them was insufferable, and it was hard to root for their success when I didn't think any of them deserved it.
And Corin and Briar together? They had maybe one scene of significant relationship building before we are suddenly rushed through to a relationship by the end. A lot of their dynamic together is built through a light timeskip near the 70% mark, so we don't see them grow closer, and it doesn't feel like their feelings are earnt. Now granted, I don't think their romance was the point of the book – but then I have to ask, why include it at all? Surely marketing this as sad girl romance when there's hardly any romance at all does a disservice to the story and its readers? I got no sense of genuine chemistry between them; Amelia has a more interesting dynamic with her step-mother Queen Lilith than she did Corin.
Which was partly why Amelia's past was the only character aspect I enjoyed. Her birth, her family, how she came to create the dreamland and the persona Briar Rose. Having grown in cold opulence, she doesn't see the point in living, bringing an intriguing dimension to her character. I will give the book its flowers for its thematic exploration of depression and suicidal ideation through her point of view; Pham doesn't hold back in that regard, which is refreshing. It's just a shame this thoughtfulness didn't carry over to her present-day person. Like, the most interesting people in this book were Lilith and the sly, cunning prince Ezran, who are side characters/ villains. Something's wrong there, if they were more interesting to me than the main cast.
The worst part is, what was the point of their adventure at all? Some key plot points just didn't make sense; primarily, how did Elly end up in the Amelia's dreamland in the first place? If the evil prince and fairy godmothers opened a portal to gain access, why couldn't they just do it again, and why did it take them a hundred years? If Corin/ Elly somehow did it, why didn't they just use another to get out of there with Malicine's help? If they can create anything, as it's said you can do in the dreamland, why not just make a way home?
And then, this 'secret world' of Briar Rose's, this magical, whimsical dreamscape Corin and Elly are whisked away to? It's the most basic and boring fantasy land you could imagine, split into four quadrants based on the seasons. They're called Springland, Summerland, etc. Forgettable is an understatement, and scene setting is so lacking that even if they were remarkable in some way you wouldn't get to stop to smell the roses anyway. The promised 'whimsy' is a cottage, a talking cat and a talking rabbit that appear in one scene in the entire book.
At no point in the story was I invested in anything, and having hard-skimmed the epilogue, I closed the book grateful it was over. The potential was there, and it's clear SECRET WORLD aspired to be grounded, pensive and captivating, but in the end falls far short of all three. You can tell this is Pham's debut, and I really wish I could say I liked it more, or could forgive its glaring imperfections.
If you want to support Cindy and the premise sounds interesting, I'd recommend you give it a go, as I'm sure there's a helping of 'me, not you' in this review. I'll continue to support her channel and career and say, good on her for getting that book deal bag – but personally I'm very glad to put this book down forever.
WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? I'll wait a few books.
Early copy received in exchange for an honest review. This title releases on the 4th June 2026.
LAST REVIEW
June 2, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
# Introduction
This book is advertised as a queer YA Sleeping Beauty retelling that explores themes of depression and grief, which I think is pretty accurate. Pham includes enough of the original fairytale to make this feel like a plausible retelling—one that hits marks most readers will be familiar with, from the cursed princess to the fairy godmothers and fire-breathing dragon—while making an attempt to incorporate some new and fresh ideas. There is a romance, although I would say that it is more of a primary subplot than a central plot line. The character concepts and thematic through-line are a bit more simplistic, as befitting the younger target audience, and the dual timeline and multi-POV structure is executed well, for the most part.
Credit where credit is due: there are some intensely, *intensely* compelling ideas in this book. Unfortunately, I found the execution of these ideas to be completely flat, unconvincing, tedious, frustrating, grating, irritating, disjointed, confusing, and overall nothing about the story, characters, or writing made me want to keep reading in the slightest.
I will note that although I knew of Pham’s YouTube presence and platform before picking up this book, I have not watched any of her content, so I didn’t really have any pre-existing expectations based on her videos before I went into reading the ARC.
***
# Technical Breakdown: The Good
The dream world is pure fantasy, whimsical and inventive, and Pham breathed new life into the character of Maleficent in a way that was interesting and decently compelling. I found Amelia to be written passably well in the “before” chapters, though the development of her arc and character over the course of the narrative is a separate matter. There were a few minor plot twists and reveals that I thought were surprising, fun, and well-supported by the text. There were also some genuinely lovely and poetic moments in the prose and writing itself.
The idea of escaping one’s grief by spinning a new world into existence out of dreams is something I found very poignant, and in the hands of an infinitely better writer, this could have been an amazing, powerful, and gut-wrenching book. Like, what a concept? So magical and beautiful and sad. Unfortunately, I did not think the execution landed well enough for the emotional core of the story to really shine.
***
# Technical Breakdown: The Bad
Oh, boy. 🤡
## Overview
This book felt like a textbook example of an author being so enamored with the idea of writing a certain *kind* of book that they completely forgot about trying to write a good *story*. There is so, so much heart in this book; it is written all over the underpinning ideas, the way the characters are constructed, the foundations of how the story might have been conceived in the first place…
…and the way the book insists on explaining itself to the reader at every turn. 🤡
Because I know *exactly* what Pham wanted readers to get out of this book, due to how everything was spelled out directly in the text, without giving the reader any room to form their own thoughts and interpretations. And frankly, this also felt like a crutch Pham was leaning on to convey what she wanted to convey—because the subtext of the writing itself was nowhere near skillful enough to get the core ideas she wanted to write about across to the reader, even when I factor in the fact that the YA target audience necessitates more direct/straightforward writing.
I can see the shape of what Pham was trying to do, but the allegory and thematic messaging—the “heart”, effectively—all get lost behind the incompetent execution of the actual components of a novel. If readers aren’t able to discern why a character is acting a certain way, or follow the basic plot of the narrative in any comprehensible manner, then the allegory of it all gets completely lost in the sauce of being confused as all hell. On a basic, fundamental level, the writing loses impact when it cannot be properly comprehended.
A good story is so much more than its heart. Things like pacing, descriptions, character dynamics, well-structured plot lines, romantic development, worldbuilding—these are the meat of the story, the skin and bones and blood that a heart needs to sustain itself. Without all of that, you get whatever the fuck this muddy, unintelligible, baffling, boring, unwieldy, clumsy, garbled Frankenstein’d mess of a story-creature was.
## Prose and Writing Style
Jesus fucking christ, you all. When I say this book made me feel illiterate! I genuinely felt like I was barely skimming the book when in reality, I was reading at full concentration, focused and locked the fuck in. That’s the amount of information I was retaining at any given moment in time. 🙃🙃🙃
So, anyway. If you know me, you know I’m not one to complain about flowery prose, or writing that other people might deem “purple”. I love lush, overwrought, this-author-writes-like-they-were-paid-by-the-word kinds of descriptions. Angela *“Okay, I write overblown, purple, self-indulgent prose. So fucking what?”* Carter is one of the books in My Taste, for fuck’s sake. But uh—as with most things, I only like lush and flowery prose if it’s done *well*.
And let me be clear. It’s absolutely not done well here. Pham uses unintelligible, inane, vacuously ornate-sounding metaphors pretty much every 2-3 pages or so on my tiny phone screen, which means that one must pop up on every other page in the regular physical book. There are multiple levels to how these metaphors fail to be well-constructed and/or examples of good writing in general, which I’ll outline below:
**1) Many of the metaphors just do not make sense on a logical level.** A lot of them—not all, but definitely a lot—do nothing but obfuscate the point the text is trying to make. They’re so damn confusing and do not make any sense in the context of the sentence. Pham’s writing style can be summed up by [**Colorless green ideas sleep furiously**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorle...), in that she fucking loves to write sentences that are “grammatically well-formed, but semantically nonsensical.” Like, did the editors actually understand half of what the book was even saying? Because I didn’t!
**2) So why don’t these metaphors make sense?** One thing I’ve noticed is that the writing in this book loves to languish about in nebulous “vibes”. To put it another way, the writing tries to make an association between two unlike things (AKA what metaphors do, by definition), but it does not put much effort in illuminating the *how* and *why* of the association, expecting the reader to kind of just magically fill in the blanks themselves, somehow, as they’re reading. As I’ve said in more detail elsewhere, when the author uses a simile or metaphor, I view it as them drawing a connection between two dissimilar things to make a point somehow. All metaphors must be justified to some degree, since the writer is making a comparison between two unlike things and so the reason for the comparison being there should be clear to the reader. Like, why are we connecting Thing A and Thing B in the first place? What is the comparison meant to evoke?
Here, the text does a piss poor job of really clarifying the connections in the similes and metaphors Pham has insisted on stuffing into the manuscript by the boatload (while also being poorly structured and clumsily constructed in terms of the line- and paragraph-level syntax), and as a result the metaphors don’t make the writing feel “lush” or “fairytale-esque”. I do not clearly understand what feeling, emotion, association, atmosphere, etc many of the metaphors are meant to evoke, or that connection is not expressed clearly. And so I found the writing to be extremely juvenile, unpolished, incomprehensible, and frustrating…and honestly? The story would have been better off the book hadn’t tried so hard to make the writing sound poetic and impressive in this way.
Another thing of note was how strangely unhelpful a lot of the descriptions and visuals were. There was some imagery I actually did find to be quite beautiful, but that was all completely overshadowed by how difficult it was to visualize any of the scenes at a more granular and specific level. Pham provides a lot of broad details about the landscape, the sky, the light, the trees and flowers and snow and mountains, but it is not specific enough to the point of view character to really ground the reader in the scene itself. To put it another way, it felt like we were being given an aerial view of each scene, akin to an overhead photograph you might see from a drone or satellite, but it never felt properly oriented in the perspective of the POV character. Where are they standing relative to all the details about the landscape? What could they reach out and touch directly? What’s to the left and right and in front and behind? What’s one, five, ten, twenty feet away? What do they smell, hear, taste within the immediate vicinity of their surroundings?
We don’t know! Because in many cases, the book never explicitly says or makes an effort to clarify that stuff—the writing was weirdly opaque about all of that—so as a reader who tries to play back scenes in my head like a movie, I never had any idea what the hell was actually going on. Action scenes were especially egregious for this; obstacles and adversaries would just appear and disappear out of nowhere. I had no sense of what was where and how close any of the objects and landmarks were.
Beyond the awkward, repetitive syntax and poorly executed metaphors, this especially was such a strange, baffling, and extreme mistake to see in a work that has presumably been professionally edited at least once already. Like I can’t even be mad about this particular point. I’m just fucking bamboozled.
## Characters and Romance
Going back to the idea that Pham was intensely enamored with writing a certain kind of story here: I felt that the main characters were not developed enough on their own, and instead they seemed like symbols of specific things the author wanted to make sure were represented in her work. Corin and Amelia are so blatantly obvious in the components of depression that they are meant to represent, and I wouldn’t care so much if any of them had any actual real sense of, you know, character development? Also neither of the MCs had any personality traits or depth other than the one (1) core defining characteristic that Pham kept beating the reader over the head with. Most of the characters were overly shallow and one-note for a book that wants to delve into more complex and cerebral struggles and conflict, and the various dynamics and relationships (especially that between Corin and Elly) became very tedious to read about due to the lack of any real complexity or nuance (despite how much the book repeatedly insisted that there *was* said complexity and nuance).
Corin is the worse of the two MCs, so I’ll start with her. The general sense of interiority is done in a way where the book is effectively explaining itself to the reader 24/7. Even with all that, I feel like I barely understood why she was doing something at any given point in time. It always felt like she was just doing what the particular scene needed her to do, instead of me having any real sense of the thought process and motivations behind her actions. This was exemplified by how she would suddenly switch from lashing out to being all teary-eyed and lovey-dovey with Elly. It felt like she alternated rapidly between the two modes without any real logical explanation as to what and why was making her do so and/or feel those contrasting emotions so strongly, *even though the text literally explained everything on the page.* The way Corin’s emotions were written just wasn’t convincing enough to line up with how the text explained what she was feeling. Most of the time, I either didn’t understand why she was doing something, or I felt as if her emotional state and internal reasoning were simply flipping to whatever was most convenient to move the plot forward.
Her character development is also entirely incoherent. This is in large part due to the utterly incomprehensible middle section of the book, where it felt as if we were being taken on the world’s most extreme and terrifying roller-coaster ride and also somehow teleporting in between rides at the same time. One moment we’re plummeting down a huge roller-coaster hill, the next we’re being flung about in spinning tea cups, and the next we’re on a fucking Ferris wheel moseying along at 0.1 mph. Corin’s motivations for doing anything become muddled and unclear after a certain point, and the text also presents us with some big reveals that feel unsupported, coming out of absolutely nowhere. All of this makes it very hard to understand how and why Corin changes over the course of the book, and although the shape of her character had kind of calcified by the end of the book, none of it felt earned in any sense because I was just so confused by what was happening in the middle of the book—you know, the actual meat of the story, where the character undergoes the trials and tribulations that are supposed to lead to their growth.
Amelia is written passably well, if a bit simplistically (though I can see it working well for the younger target audience), for about 75% of the book. The “before” timeline actually worked well for her character arc; I thought it was decently compelling, especially for the YA audience this book is being marketed toward. Like, I had a good understanding of her fears, her desires, and what was holding her back from what she truly needed (unlike with Corin, lmfao). I could understand *why* she did certain things (again, unlike with Corin). But as the romance plotline set in, I became increasingly unconvinced with Amelia’s character arc, *probably because all of her development happened with the romance in the last 25% of the book*. All of her change, learning, and growth depends on the reader being sufficiently convinced by the romantic relationship. And, well, I was not.
Speaking of: the romance is barely even there, despite how important it ends up being to the character growth. Very much insta-love and telling-not-showing. The text spends very little time *proving* that the two romantic leads fulfill the true needs of the each other, instead just shoehorning in all the relationship development through summarized passages. Considering that the characters’ relationship with each other is pivotal to each of their individual development arcs, this was not satisfying to read in the slightest.
I will give Pham some credit for the character of Malicine. It was a decently convincing and sympathetic take on a fairytale villain, and I actually found myself enjoying their POV chapters. They have a compelling backstory, a clear emotional wound that informs their actions in a logical way, and wants and desires that are very relatable and understandable. I’m not sure what accounts for the stark difference in the writing for Corin vs Malicine, other the fact that since Malicine was allowed to exist as more than a mouthpiece for one aspect of depression, they therefore felt more alive and three-dimensional when they were on the page. Ironic, that.
## Plot
Actual pic of me trying to understand what the fuck was going on for 70% of the book:
Fuck my life, you guys. I’m going to file for illiteracy in the English language. This shit actually made zero fucking sense.
The dual timelines are handled moderately well, I can give it that. Sometimes the switching between one timeline vs the other felt a bit jarring or out of place, interrupting the flow of the story, but compared to everything else I thought the timelines were actually okay, for the most part. Or maybe everything else was just so bad that the timeline switching looked insanely good by comparison? Anyway…
In more standard commercial, character-driven YA books, we usually see a plot structure that braids the characters’ internal development with the progression of a larger external plot. Both arcs are meant to inform and drive the other. There’s a reason why a character’s final victory over some external force is usually intertwined with reaching the culmination of their internal arc, finishing the learning and growth that the story set out to give them from page one.
This book did not execute that effectively. I mean, I get the sense that Pham is *trying* to do something a bit different, and I can understand that maybe Pham was trying to go for less plot, and more introspection (to which I say: Corin’s introspection made zero sense either way, so that doesn’t help). One thing I noticed in the main timeline was that while the plot in this book does ostensibly follow the structure and format of a character-driven story, in that the protagonists learn some Fundamental Lesson which enables them to defeat the antagonists, for much of the plot the antagonistic forces simply aren’t…there? They feel like an afterthought, a forgotten-about entity who we know exist, but that knowledge does not have any sense of urgency or immediacy attached to it, effectively nullifying all sense of tension and stakes. Then, when the plot decides it wants to focus on them again, they come back with very little warning or build-up, making it difficult to follow and recall their motivations for working against the protagonists—since I as a reader have mostly forgotten about that stuff and had stopped ascribing much importance to the antagonists altogether.
***
[Okay, apparently GR has a character limit, so I'm continuing this review in the comments. I barely know how to use this website, so bear with me]
# Introduction
This book is advertised as a queer YA Sleeping Beauty retelling that explores themes of depression and grief, which I think is pretty accurate. Pham includes enough of the original fairytale to make this feel like a plausible retelling—one that hits marks most readers will be familiar with, from the cursed princess to the fairy godmothers and fire-breathing dragon—while making an attempt to incorporate some new and fresh ideas. There is a romance, although I would say that it is more of a primary subplot than a central plot line. The character concepts and thematic through-line are a bit more simplistic, as befitting the younger target audience, and the dual timeline and multi-POV structure is executed well, for the most part.
Credit where credit is due: there are some intensely, *intensely* compelling ideas in this book. Unfortunately, I found the execution of these ideas to be completely flat, unconvincing, tedious, frustrating, grating, irritating, disjointed, confusing, and overall nothing about the story, characters, or writing made me want to keep reading in the slightest.
I will note that although I knew of Pham’s YouTube presence and platform before picking up this book, I have not watched any of her content, so I didn’t really have any pre-existing expectations based on her videos before I went into reading the ARC.
***
# Technical Breakdown: The Good
The dream world is pure fantasy, whimsical and inventive, and Pham breathed new life into the character of Maleficent in a way that was interesting and decently compelling. I found Amelia to be written passably well in the “before” chapters, though the development of her arc and character over the course of the narrative is a separate matter. There were a few minor plot twists and reveals that I thought were surprising, fun, and well-supported by the text. There were also some genuinely lovely and poetic moments in the prose and writing itself.
The idea of escaping one’s grief by spinning a new world into existence out of dreams is something I found very poignant, and in the hands of an infinitely better writer, this could have been an amazing, powerful, and gut-wrenching book. Like, what a concept? So magical and beautiful and sad. Unfortunately, I did not think the execution landed well enough for the emotional core of the story to really shine.
***
# Technical Breakdown: The Bad
Oh, boy. 🤡
## Overview
This book felt like a textbook example of an author being so enamored with the idea of writing a certain *kind* of book that they completely forgot about trying to write a good *story*. There is so, so much heart in this book; it is written all over the underpinning ideas, the way the characters are constructed, the foundations of how the story might have been conceived in the first place…
…and the way the book insists on explaining itself to the reader at every turn. 🤡
Because I know *exactly* what Pham wanted readers to get out of this book, due to how everything was spelled out directly in the text, without giving the reader any room to form their own thoughts and interpretations. And frankly, this also felt like a crutch Pham was leaning on to convey what she wanted to convey—because the subtext of the writing itself was nowhere near skillful enough to get the core ideas she wanted to write about across to the reader, even when I factor in the fact that the YA target audience necessitates more direct/straightforward writing.
I can see the shape of what Pham was trying to do, but the allegory and thematic messaging—the “heart”, effectively—all get lost behind the incompetent execution of the actual components of a novel. If readers aren’t able to discern why a character is acting a certain way, or follow the basic plot of the narrative in any comprehensible manner, then the allegory of it all gets completely lost in the sauce of being confused as all hell. On a basic, fundamental level, the writing loses impact when it cannot be properly comprehended.
A good story is so much more than its heart. Things like pacing, descriptions, character dynamics, well-structured plot lines, romantic development, worldbuilding—these are the meat of the story, the skin and bones and blood that a heart needs to sustain itself. Without all of that, you get whatever the fuck this muddy, unintelligible, baffling, boring, unwieldy, clumsy, garbled Frankenstein’d mess of a story-creature was.
## Prose and Writing Style
Jesus fucking christ, you all. When I say this book made me feel illiterate! I genuinely felt like I was barely skimming the book when in reality, I was reading at full concentration, focused and locked the fuck in. That’s the amount of information I was retaining at any given moment in time. 🙃🙃🙃
So, anyway. If you know me, you know I’m not one to complain about flowery prose, or writing that other people might deem “purple”. I love lush, overwrought, this-author-writes-like-they-were-paid-by-the-word kinds of descriptions. Angela *“Okay, I write overblown, purple, self-indulgent prose. So fucking what?”* Carter is one of the books in My Taste, for fuck’s sake. But uh—as with most things, I only like lush and flowery prose if it’s done *well*.
And let me be clear. It’s absolutely not done well here. Pham uses unintelligible, inane, vacuously ornate-sounding metaphors pretty much every 2-3 pages or so on my tiny phone screen, which means that one must pop up on every other page in the regular physical book. There are multiple levels to how these metaphors fail to be well-constructed and/or examples of good writing in general, which I’ll outline below:
**1) Many of the metaphors just do not make sense on a logical level.** A lot of them—not all, but definitely a lot—do nothing but obfuscate the point the text is trying to make. They’re so damn confusing and do not make any sense in the context of the sentence. Pham’s writing style can be summed up by [**Colorless green ideas sleep furiously**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorle...), in that she fucking loves to write sentences that are “grammatically well-formed, but semantically nonsensical.” Like, did the editors actually understand half of what the book was even saying? Because I didn’t!
**2) So why don’t these metaphors make sense?** One thing I’ve noticed is that the writing in this book loves to languish about in nebulous “vibes”. To put it another way, the writing tries to make an association between two unlike things (AKA what metaphors do, by definition), but it does not put much effort in illuminating the *how* and *why* of the association, expecting the reader to kind of just magically fill in the blanks themselves, somehow, as they’re reading. As I’ve said in more detail elsewhere, when the author uses a simile or metaphor, I view it as them drawing a connection between two dissimilar things to make a point somehow. All metaphors must be justified to some degree, since the writer is making a comparison between two unlike things and so the reason for the comparison being there should be clear to the reader. Like, why are we connecting Thing A and Thing B in the first place? What is the comparison meant to evoke?
Here, the text does a piss poor job of really clarifying the connections in the similes and metaphors Pham has insisted on stuffing into the manuscript by the boatload (while also being poorly structured and clumsily constructed in terms of the line- and paragraph-level syntax), and as a result the metaphors don’t make the writing feel “lush” or “fairytale-esque”. I do not clearly understand what feeling, emotion, association, atmosphere, etc many of the metaphors are meant to evoke, or that connection is not expressed clearly. And so I found the writing to be extremely juvenile, unpolished, incomprehensible, and frustrating…and honestly? The story would have been better off the book hadn’t tried so hard to make the writing sound poetic and impressive in this way.
Another thing of note was how strangely unhelpful a lot of the descriptions and visuals were. There was some imagery I actually did find to be quite beautiful, but that was all completely overshadowed by how difficult it was to visualize any of the scenes at a more granular and specific level. Pham provides a lot of broad details about the landscape, the sky, the light, the trees and flowers and snow and mountains, but it is not specific enough to the point of view character to really ground the reader in the scene itself. To put it another way, it felt like we were being given an aerial view of each scene, akin to an overhead photograph you might see from a drone or satellite, but it never felt properly oriented in the perspective of the POV character. Where are they standing relative to all the details about the landscape? What could they reach out and touch directly? What’s to the left and right and in front and behind? What’s one, five, ten, twenty feet away? What do they smell, hear, taste within the immediate vicinity of their surroundings?
We don’t know! Because in many cases, the book never explicitly says or makes an effort to clarify that stuff—the writing was weirdly opaque about all of that—so as a reader who tries to play back scenes in my head like a movie, I never had any idea what the hell was actually going on. Action scenes were especially egregious for this; obstacles and adversaries would just appear and disappear out of nowhere. I had no sense of what was where and how close any of the objects and landmarks were.
Beyond the awkward, repetitive syntax and poorly executed metaphors, this especially was such a strange, baffling, and extreme mistake to see in a work that has presumably been professionally edited at least once already. Like I can’t even be mad about this particular point. I’m just fucking bamboozled.
## Characters and Romance
Going back to the idea that Pham was intensely enamored with writing a certain kind of story here: I felt that the main characters were not developed enough on their own, and instead they seemed like symbols of specific things the author wanted to make sure were represented in her work. Corin and Amelia are so blatantly obvious in the components of depression that they are meant to represent, and I wouldn’t care so much if any of them had any actual real sense of, you know, character development? Also neither of the MCs had any personality traits or depth other than the one (1) core defining characteristic that Pham kept beating the reader over the head with. Most of the characters were overly shallow and one-note for a book that wants to delve into more complex and cerebral struggles and conflict, and the various dynamics and relationships (especially that between Corin and Elly) became very tedious to read about due to the lack of any real complexity or nuance (despite how much the book repeatedly insisted that there *was* said complexity and nuance).
Corin is the worse of the two MCs, so I’ll start with her. The general sense of interiority is done in a way where the book is effectively explaining itself to the reader 24/7. Even with all that, I feel like I barely understood why she was doing something at any given point in time. It always felt like she was just doing what the particular scene needed her to do, instead of me having any real sense of the thought process and motivations behind her actions. This was exemplified by how she would suddenly switch from lashing out to being all teary-eyed and lovey-dovey with Elly. It felt like she alternated rapidly between the two modes without any real logical explanation as to what and why was making her do so and/or feel those contrasting emotions so strongly, *even though the text literally explained everything on the page.* The way Corin’s emotions were written just wasn’t convincing enough to line up with how the text explained what she was feeling. Most of the time, I either didn’t understand why she was doing something, or I felt as if her emotional state and internal reasoning were simply flipping to whatever was most convenient to move the plot forward.
Her character development is also entirely incoherent. This is in large part due to the utterly incomprehensible middle section of the book, where it felt as if we were being taken on the world’s most extreme and terrifying roller-coaster ride and also somehow teleporting in between rides at the same time. One moment we’re plummeting down a huge roller-coaster hill, the next we’re being flung about in spinning tea cups, and the next we’re on a fucking Ferris wheel moseying along at 0.1 mph. Corin’s motivations for doing anything become muddled and unclear after a certain point, and the text also presents us with some big reveals that feel unsupported, coming out of absolutely nowhere. All of this makes it very hard to understand how and why Corin changes over the course of the book, and although the shape of her character had kind of calcified by the end of the book, none of it felt earned in any sense because I was just so confused by what was happening in the middle of the book—you know, the actual meat of the story, where the character undergoes the trials and tribulations that are supposed to lead to their growth.
Amelia is written passably well, if a bit simplistically (though I can see it working well for the younger target audience), for about 75% of the book. The “before” timeline actually worked well for her character arc; I thought it was decently compelling, especially for the YA audience this book is being marketed toward. Like, I had a good understanding of her fears, her desires, and what was holding her back from what she truly needed (unlike with Corin, lmfao). I could understand *why* she did certain things (again, unlike with Corin). But as the romance plotline set in, I became increasingly unconvinced with Amelia’s character arc, *probably because all of her development happened with the romance in the last 25% of the book*. All of her change, learning, and growth depends on the reader being sufficiently convinced by the romantic relationship. And, well, I was not.
Speaking of: the romance is barely even there, despite how important it ends up being to the character growth. Very much insta-love and telling-not-showing. The text spends very little time *proving* that the two romantic leads fulfill the true needs of the each other, instead just shoehorning in all the relationship development through summarized passages. Considering that the characters’ relationship with each other is pivotal to each of their individual development arcs, this was not satisfying to read in the slightest.
I will give Pham some credit for the character of Malicine. It was a decently convincing and sympathetic take on a fairytale villain, and I actually found myself enjoying their POV chapters. They have a compelling backstory, a clear emotional wound that informs their actions in a logical way, and wants and desires that are very relatable and understandable. I’m not sure what accounts for the stark difference in the writing for Corin vs Malicine, other the fact that since Malicine was allowed to exist as more than a mouthpiece for one aspect of depression, they therefore felt more alive and three-dimensional when they were on the page. Ironic, that.
## Plot
Actual pic of me trying to understand what the fuck was going on for 70% of the book:
Fuck my life, you guys. I’m going to file for illiteracy in the English language. This shit actually made zero fucking sense.
The dual timelines are handled moderately well, I can give it that. Sometimes the switching between one timeline vs the other felt a bit jarring or out of place, interrupting the flow of the story, but compared to everything else I thought the timelines were actually okay, for the most part. Or maybe everything else was just so bad that the timeline switching looked insanely good by comparison? Anyway…
In more standard commercial, character-driven YA books, we usually see a plot structure that braids the characters’ internal development with the progression of a larger external plot. Both arcs are meant to inform and drive the other. There’s a reason why a character’s final victory over some external force is usually intertwined with reaching the culmination of their internal arc, finishing the learning and growth that the story set out to give them from page one.
This book did not execute that effectively. I mean, I get the sense that Pham is *trying* to do something a bit different, and I can understand that maybe Pham was trying to go for less plot, and more introspection (to which I say: Corin’s introspection made zero sense either way, so that doesn’t help). One thing I noticed in the main timeline was that while the plot in this book does ostensibly follow the structure and format of a character-driven story, in that the protagonists learn some Fundamental Lesson which enables them to defeat the antagonists, for much of the plot the antagonistic forces simply aren’t…there? They feel like an afterthought, a forgotten-about entity who we know exist, but that knowledge does not have any sense of urgency or immediacy attached to it, effectively nullifying all sense of tension and stakes. Then, when the plot decides it wants to focus on them again, they come back with very little warning or build-up, making it difficult to follow and recall their motivations for working against the protagonists—since I as a reader have mostly forgotten about that stuff and had stopped ascribing much importance to the antagonists altogether.
***
[Okay, apparently GR has a character limit, so I'm continuing this review in the comments. I barely know how to use this website, so bear with me]
Want to Read
October 7, 2025OMG
I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING
CINDY IS PUBLISHING HER BOOK?!?!!?!
I'M SATTTTT
I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING
CINDY IS PUBLISHING HER BOOK?!?!!?!
I'M SATTTTT
September 18, 2025
CIIIIIINNDDYYYYY GIVE IT !! (please)
post read: this book was the perfect balance of dark and whimsy.
The Secret World of Briar Rose is a queer retelling of Sleeping Beauty, where sleep is used as a motif for depression whilst also making substantial political commentary.
Chefs kiss 🤌
Corin's character was honestly so relatable 😭 her struggles, flaws and journey with Elly was tackled so beautifully because it encapsulated how progress looks like: a jagged fucking line. She struggled so much throughout and her development was so swiftly done and you kind of end up feeling proud of her by the end of it.
Amelia, oh sweetheart. I loved reading her backstory. The backstory was my favourite timeline to read about 😩 I loved reading about her- idk why but there was just something!! Also how she liked Lilith made me giggle but I was sooo here for it. (Lilith was my fave I think).
Malicine was lowk Elphaba ??? LOL but in this story, Galinda is a child.
The whole story was very nice and well rounded. I'm used to reading books that have alot more action tbh so I did kind of lose interest near the end. I stayed invested in the backstory timeline though for some reason. I loveddddd how whimsical the dreamland was. Like every aspect of this dreamscape was phenomenal and just so COOL and CREATIVE. I want to know all the inspo for this book! Because sometimes it was giving Narnia which is just so nostalgic 😭
3.5 star rating
thank you publishers, firstink & panmacmillan for blessing me with an early finished copy of the book 🎀
post read: this book was the perfect balance of dark and whimsy.
The Secret World of Briar Rose is a queer retelling of Sleeping Beauty, where sleep is used as a motif for depression whilst also making substantial political commentary.
Chefs kiss 🤌
Corin's character was honestly so relatable 😭 her struggles, flaws and journey with Elly was tackled so beautifully because it encapsulated how progress looks like: a jagged fucking line. She struggled so much throughout and her development was so swiftly done and you kind of end up feeling proud of her by the end of it.
Amelia, oh sweetheart. I loved reading her backstory. The backstory was my favourite timeline to read about 😩 I loved reading about her- idk why but there was just something!! Also how she liked Lilith made me giggle but I was sooo here for it. (Lilith was my fave I think).
Malicine was lowk Elphaba ??? LOL but in this story, Galinda is a child.
The whole story was very nice and well rounded. I'm used to reading books that have alot more action tbh so I did kind of lose interest near the end. I stayed invested in the backstory timeline though for some reason. I loveddddd how whimsical the dreamland was. Like every aspect of this dreamscape was phenomenal and just so COOL and CREATIVE. I want to know all the inspo for this book! Because sometimes it was giving Narnia which is just so nostalgic 😭
3.5 star rating
thank you publishers, firstink & panmacmillan for blessing me with an early finished copy of the book 🎀
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5
first and foremost: i'm emotionally destroyed.
disclaimer: i'm a cindyhead. i've been following cindy's channel for years (soapgate ogs rise up), and i was immediately sat for this book back when it got announced. watching her during her journey of reviewing books to publishing one feels like i've grown alongside her (both of us teenage girls in our 20s). listening to her talk about it and describe the process of creating a cover for it is just magical. it's clear that there was a lot of love poured into writing and publishing this book. but we're not here to review that.
i think this was absolutely fantastic. i loved the setting and the lore. i loved how the retelling turned the original plot of sleeping beauty around and borrowed from maleficent. i especially loved the bond between corin and elly and how heartbreaking it was. amelia as a character was so fascinating to me, especially how devastating it was to learn that the ripple effect of her running away was felt years later when it was exactly what she was trying to avoid. the whole book feels like the most heartbreaking self-fulfilling prophecy you've ever read, and it makes you wonder if you're ever really free to choose your own fate.
i think the romance between corin and amelia/briar rose was adorable, but it lacked development. we went from two extremes (blade to throat etc.) very quickly, and a lot of relationship development was lost. maybe some of the extensive descriptions of the setting should have given place to character + relationship development to make the book feel more well rounded. the writing was stunning to me, even if some metaphors and expressions became repetitive. i think repetition and writing can be done masterfully and work well. the twists shook me to my CORE, and i simply could not rest until i got to the end.
overall, i loved this. from start to finish. i'm so excited to see what cindy will cook up next.
thank you so much to netgalley for the arc!
first and foremost: i'm emotionally destroyed.
disclaimer: i'm a cindyhead. i've been following cindy's channel for years (soapgate ogs rise up), and i was immediately sat for this book back when it got announced. watching her during her journey of reviewing books to publishing one feels like i've grown alongside her (both of us teenage girls in our 20s). listening to her talk about it and describe the process of creating a cover for it is just magical. it's clear that there was a lot of love poured into writing and publishing this book. but we're not here to review that.
i think this was absolutely fantastic. i loved the setting and the lore. i loved how the retelling turned the original plot of sleeping beauty around and borrowed from maleficent. i especially loved the bond between corin and elly and how heartbreaking it was. amelia as a character was so fascinating to me, especially how devastating it was to learn that the ripple effect of her running away was felt years later when it was exactly what she was trying to avoid. the whole book feels like the most heartbreaking self-fulfilling prophecy you've ever read, and it makes you wonder if you're ever really free to choose your own fate.
i think the romance between corin and amelia/briar rose was adorable, but it lacked development. we went from two extremes (blade to throat etc.) very quickly, and a lot of relationship development was lost. maybe some of the extensive descriptions of the setting should have given place to character + relationship development to make the book feel more well rounded. the writing was stunning to me, even if some metaphors and expressions became repetitive. i think repetition and writing can be done masterfully and work well. the twists shook me to my CORE, and i simply could not rest until i got to the end.
overall, i loved this. from start to finish. i'm so excited to see what cindy will cook up next.
thank you so much to netgalley for the arc!
April 5, 2026
2.75! I’m freee
Rtc
╭──────────.★..─╮
Pre-read
╰─..★.──────────╯
I got the arcccc! This is literally at the top of my arcs! I’m so excited
๋࣭ ⭑ Buddy reading with my fav girlSanchia 💕💕
Rtc
╭──────────.★..─╮
Pre-read
╰─..★.──────────╯
I got the arcccc! This is literally at the top of my arcs! I’m so excited
๋࣭ ⭑ Buddy reading with my fav girlSanchia 💕💕
April 30, 2026
thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
1.5⭐️
I didn’t have particularly high expectations for this book, but the premise was interesting, so I allowed myself to hope that, at the very least, it would be executed well.
I was proven wrong lol.
The writing was sort of hard to get into, especially in the beginning. It felt very messy and rushed, and though, as the book progressed, the messiness of the writing reduced, the rushed feeling didn’t. I had to force myself to pay attention to this book half the time, and even when I did, I was bored out of my mind.
The writing was also overly descriptive. Is this what people call purple prose? Because, God, it was awful. Everything seemed to meander, which explains why I spent half the time bored out of my mind.
Then the characters… I didn’t like them. Corin was unbearable, and Amelia was okay, but just so-so. She and Corin were both just bland in their own ways. I don’t have much to say, really, but I didn’t care much about them, nor do I care about their respective stories. Also, the dialogue in this story is not really good—I found myself cringing several times.
This story also attempts to be a lot in terms of themes, but it really doesn’t do it well. It’s a YA novel, granted, but that doesn’t mean themes of depression and such can’t be done well, and this didn’t do it well. This is another aspect where the book being overly metaphorical made it harder for these themes to land in anyway.
Overall, great idea and premise, disappointing execution.
1.5⭐️
I didn’t have particularly high expectations for this book, but the premise was interesting, so I allowed myself to hope that, at the very least, it would be executed well.
I was proven wrong lol.
The writing was sort of hard to get into, especially in the beginning. It felt very messy and rushed, and though, as the book progressed, the messiness of the writing reduced, the rushed feeling didn’t. I had to force myself to pay attention to this book half the time, and even when I did, I was bored out of my mind.
The writing was also overly descriptive. Is this what people call purple prose? Because, God, it was awful. Everything seemed to meander, which explains why I spent half the time bored out of my mind.
Then the characters… I didn’t like them. Corin was unbearable, and Amelia was okay, but just so-so. She and Corin were both just bland in their own ways. I don’t have much to say, really, but I didn’t care much about them, nor do I care about their respective stories. Also, the dialogue in this story is not really good—I found myself cringing several times.
This story also attempts to be a lot in terms of themes, but it really doesn’t do it well. It’s a YA novel, granted, but that doesn’t mean themes of depression and such can’t be done well, and this didn’t do it well. This is another aspect where the book being overly metaphorical made it harder for these themes to land in anyway.
Overall, great idea and premise, disappointing execution.
Did Not Finish
August 10, 2026. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.
⤷ ゛pre-read ˎˊ˗
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ this is like the 5th book i'm starting because i'm certain i can multitask. but this is a newer library book with SPRAYED EDGES! *giggles*
not too sure how this will go, as this is my first disney spin-off read; here's to hoping!
࣪ ִֶָ☾. prediction: 3.5/5
⤷ ゛pre-read ˎˊ˗
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ this is like the 5th book i'm starting because i'm certain i can multitask. but this is a newer library book with SPRAYED EDGES! *giggles*
not too sure how this will go, as this is my first disney spin-off read; here's to hoping!
࣪ ִֶָ☾. prediction: 3.5/5
Read
September 19, 2025I’m sat. the Goodreads employees are begging me to go away cause this isn’t even published yet, but I’m simply too sat.
Want to Read
September 24, 2025This is my Taylor Swift proposal
Did Not Finish
June 4, 2026dnf 😭 i really tried but the third person and world building just didn’t make sense
June 13, 2026
my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. i wanted to like this so bad 😭
disclaimer: i am a fan of cindy pham's youtube content and i've been a subscriber for years. i've been hyped for her novel since before it was even confirmed to be coming out, ever since it was just something she referenced sometimes that she was working on. when the novel was actually announced, it sounded right up my alley. i was hyped. and then i didn't like it. 1.5 rounded up.
it just felt so... flat. no character or plot point felt fully realized to me. nothing was tangible enough for me to grab onto and/or for it to propel me forward.
corin felt so extremely flat as a character. i'm certainly told a lot about her but i didn't feel any of it. at no point was i really connected to her. by the time her entire backstory is known to the reader i'm already tapped out. i just didn't give a fuck about her i'm sorry 😭 and elly is a complete non-character in more ways than one.
amelia, malicine, and ezran theoretically had very interesting characters with a lot of depth to them. if you simply described what their deals were to me i would be super interested, but in execution none of them felt fully realized. amelia might be the sleeping beauty of the sleeping beauty retelling, but she was barely a character and her arc felt like it just happened with no real build up or progression. she just went from point a to point z while skipping everything in between. malicine was, in my opinion, the best-written character in the book. i think their first pov chapter was my favorite part of the entire novel. but even they weren't safe; not enough was done with them, and by the end of the novel they just felt like an npc in a video game. and not a high quality, fleshed-out npc even. and no effort was really put in to making ezran a compelling character at all, despite his whole deal as a character being, if not the most original of the three, at the very least the easiest to execute. queen lilith as a character and her dynamic with ezran were interesting enough that i would want a book about THEM. instead she hardly matters and he's just the stock villain, whose villainy makes lowkey no sense if you think about it too hard... but a lot of things in this book are like that. don't even ask me to describe amelia's dad's personality to you because i could not do that if my life depended on it.
in terms of the plot... what plot? corin's initial goal is to find her sister, but then she finds her almost immediately (or at least, that conflict is resolved. no spoilers). and then her goal is to find the treasure, but the treasure as a plot point is so vague and loose that calling it a plot point at all feels generous. i do not feel connected to corin's hunt for this treasure and nothing interesting is happening during this hunt so what is there to give the story any amount of forward momentum? and then after the treasure plot is wrapped up i don't think i could tell you what the plot was. just kind of things happening and people talking to each other.
things just happen to the characters. everything is just happening, with the characters having little to no agency. there was a big twist about one of the characters at one point, and it honestly shocked me how little of a reaction i had. i just didn't give a fuck and i was tempted to dnf because of how little i cared about a major reveal, but i kept pushing on anyway.
other than the connections between the one hundred year old characters (amelia, malicine, and ezran), no character relationships felt real to me, and even then it was only barely. i didn't really care about corin's relationship with her sister other than a vague "damn that sucks hope she finds her" and then "damn that sucks. end of sentence." when i got to the twist. at one point corin is going on this trek to help malicine and the narration is talking about important helping malicine is to her and how much she cares and i was raising my eyebrow like you don't know this person. you are not friends. within the past, amelia's relationship with her stepmother lilith is so underbaked. i am told that amelia is willing to marry a stranger and get knocked up to produce an heir before her eighteenth birthday just to prevent lilith from being exiled (and i'm told that she has a crush on lilith, which is... weird but whatever) but i've not seen their relationship be developed. amelia you barely know this woman!!! do not give up your body to this lady you've basically just met!
the biggest example of this issue of half baked relationships is the "romance". the romance between corin and amelia comes out of literally nowhere. i get that pham didn't envision this as a romance-centric story, and i respect that, but if there's going to be a romance, you have to actually build to it. they've hardly interacted at all and suddenly they're kissing?? and the narration is talking about this deep bond they've formed? what? the book would have been better off with that relationship cut entirely.
worldbuilding was next to nonexistent in both the "current era" where corin is from and the 100 years ago era before amelia fell asleep. i'm told that curren gyldan is flooded with soldiers, and that they're evicting people like corin from their housing, and at some point recently there was an uprising that was violently quashed, but i couldn't tell you what the actual conflict going on here is other than "*waves hand* fascism". i'm told that the old gyldan has an influx of refugees from a neighboring country, and amelia's stepmother is an advocate for those refugees, but if the circumstances that led to that refugee crisis were ever explained it was brief and/or vague enough that i've already forgotten.
and why does amelia's fairy tale kingdom from one hundred years ago have plastic? how did we go from medieval fantasy realm with fae in the royal courts to semi-industrialized society in 100 years? why does amelia's fairy tale kingdom from one hundred years ago have plastic? how do we have bulldozers and planes and sophisticated weaponry but not like. a radio. and why on gods green earth does amelia's fairy tale kingdom from one hundred years ago have plastic???
whatever. at the end of the book amelia ends the monarchy with a big speech but not before using her power as an absolute monarch to send ezran off to prison for murdering her wife-beating dad, who i'm supposed to be upset is dead. yay, i guess. free my man he did nothing wrong.
i get that a big part of this book is the allegory, the emotions rather than the literal events taking place, but it still needs some actual substance to justify being a full novel. yes, everything is a dream, but things still have to mean something or what's even the point? this has been pointed out by other reviews, but "the secret world of briar rose" felt like a product of authors wanting to write a message first and a story second. i think that this could have been a good novella, but there simply was not enough substance for an almost 400 page novel. especially considering how overwritten this book was; at its best i actually quite liked pham's prose, but it was so very rarely at its best. it's full of too-flowery dialogue and descriptions with way too many metaphors and similes and really awkward phrasing to describe feelings or actions that really needed a simple sentence to get across. the dialogue was usually incredibly corny, almost mcu-like.
insane nitpick but something that ALWAYS bothers me and that i was surprised to see happen in a published novel with multiple professional editors rather than a fanfiction - this book used the phrase "let alone" incorrectly TWICE. the "smaller" of the two examples is supposed to come FIRST. ex: "i was so full i couldn't eat another french fry, let alone an entire second course". yet the two times in this book the phrase is used with the less extreme example coming second. the one i can recall off the top of my head was something like "she wasn't cut out to be a parent, let alone a sister". it's supposed to be the other way around!!
also near the end of the novel it says multiple times that amelia has been asleep for "centuries", that ezran has been on his crusade for "hundreds of years" and that his villainy has been build up for "centuries". but. no? no. one hundred years. just one. it explicitly tells us repeatedly that has been asleep for one (1) century. i don't THINK these kinds of mistakes happened earlier in the book so maybe the editor was slacking by the end, but it's possible i just missed them earlier because i wasn't as checked out of the actual story.
for a bit i thought that perhaps i've just finally outgrown young adult and need to stop reading it, as i've recently had a string of young adult novels where i felt this same complete disconnect from both the plot and the characters. i already don't read very much ya anyways, so perhaps its time. but some of my favorite books i've read in the past year have been young adult (have been standalone, fairy tale inspired young adult novels, in fact) so i think i've just been reading a string of duds.
i still love cindy's content. and this is a debut, so if pham's hypothetical next book's premise catches my attention, i might still pick it up... though probably at the library, and after reviews are in.
disclaimer: i am a fan of cindy pham's youtube content and i've been a subscriber for years. i've been hyped for her novel since before it was even confirmed to be coming out, ever since it was just something she referenced sometimes that she was working on. when the novel was actually announced, it sounded right up my alley. i was hyped. and then i didn't like it. 1.5 rounded up.
it just felt so... flat. no character or plot point felt fully realized to me. nothing was tangible enough for me to grab onto and/or for it to propel me forward.
corin felt so extremely flat as a character. i'm certainly told a lot about her but i didn't feel any of it. at no point was i really connected to her. by the time her entire backstory is known to the reader i'm already tapped out. i just didn't give a fuck about her i'm sorry 😭 and elly is a complete non-character in more ways than one.
amelia, malicine, and ezran theoretically had very interesting characters with a lot of depth to them. if you simply described what their deals were to me i would be super interested, but in execution none of them felt fully realized. amelia might be the sleeping beauty of the sleeping beauty retelling, but she was barely a character and her arc felt like it just happened with no real build up or progression. she just went from point a to point z while skipping everything in between. malicine was, in my opinion, the best-written character in the book. i think their first pov chapter was my favorite part of the entire novel. but even they weren't safe; not enough was done with them, and by the end of the novel they just felt like an npc in a video game. and not a high quality, fleshed-out npc even. and no effort was really put in to making ezran a compelling character at all, despite his whole deal as a character being, if not the most original of the three, at the very least the easiest to execute. queen lilith as a character and her dynamic with ezran were interesting enough that i would want a book about THEM. instead she hardly matters and he's just the stock villain, whose villainy makes lowkey no sense if you think about it too hard... but a lot of things in this book are like that. don't even ask me to describe amelia's dad's personality to you because i could not do that if my life depended on it.
in terms of the plot... what plot? corin's initial goal is to find her sister, but then she finds her almost immediately (or at least, that conflict is resolved. no spoilers). and then her goal is to find the treasure, but the treasure as a plot point is so vague and loose that calling it a plot point at all feels generous. i do not feel connected to corin's hunt for this treasure and nothing interesting is happening during this hunt so what is there to give the story any amount of forward momentum? and then after the treasure plot is wrapped up i don't think i could tell you what the plot was. just kind of things happening and people talking to each other.
things just happen to the characters. everything is just happening, with the characters having little to no agency. there was a big twist about one of the characters at one point, and it honestly shocked me how little of a reaction i had. i just didn't give a fuck and i was tempted to dnf because of how little i cared about a major reveal, but i kept pushing on anyway.
other than the connections between the one hundred year old characters (amelia, malicine, and ezran), no character relationships felt real to me, and even then it was only barely. i didn't really care about corin's relationship with her sister other than a vague "damn that sucks hope she finds her" and then "damn that sucks. end of sentence." when i got to the twist. at one point corin is going on this trek to help malicine and the narration is talking about important helping malicine is to her and how much she cares and i was raising my eyebrow like you don't know this person. you are not friends. within the past, amelia's relationship with her stepmother lilith is so underbaked. i am told that amelia is willing to marry a stranger and get knocked up to produce an heir before her eighteenth birthday just to prevent lilith from being exiled (and i'm told that she has a crush on lilith, which is... weird but whatever) but i've not seen their relationship be developed. amelia you barely know this woman!!! do not give up your body to this lady you've basically just met!
the biggest example of this issue of half baked relationships is the "romance". the romance between corin and amelia comes out of literally nowhere. i get that pham didn't envision this as a romance-centric story, and i respect that, but if there's going to be a romance, you have to actually build to it. they've hardly interacted at all and suddenly they're kissing?? and the narration is talking about this deep bond they've formed? what? the book would have been better off with that relationship cut entirely.
worldbuilding was next to nonexistent in both the "current era" where corin is from and the 100 years ago era before amelia fell asleep. i'm told that curren gyldan is flooded with soldiers, and that they're evicting people like corin from their housing, and at some point recently there was an uprising that was violently quashed, but i couldn't tell you what the actual conflict going on here is other than "*waves hand* fascism". i'm told that the old gyldan has an influx of refugees from a neighboring country, and amelia's stepmother is an advocate for those refugees, but if the circumstances that led to that refugee crisis were ever explained it was brief and/or vague enough that i've already forgotten.
and why does amelia's fairy tale kingdom from one hundred years ago have plastic? how did we go from medieval fantasy realm with fae in the royal courts to semi-industrialized society in 100 years? why does amelia's fairy tale kingdom from one hundred years ago have plastic? how do we have bulldozers and planes and sophisticated weaponry but not like. a radio. and why on gods green earth does amelia's fairy tale kingdom from one hundred years ago have plastic???
whatever. at the end of the book amelia ends the monarchy with a big speech but not before using her power as an absolute monarch to send ezran off to prison for murdering her wife-beating dad, who i'm supposed to be upset is dead. yay, i guess. free my man he did nothing wrong.
i get that a big part of this book is the allegory, the emotions rather than the literal events taking place, but it still needs some actual substance to justify being a full novel. yes, everything is a dream, but things still have to mean something or what's even the point? this has been pointed out by other reviews, but "the secret world of briar rose" felt like a product of authors wanting to write a message first and a story second. i think that this could have been a good novella, but there simply was not enough substance for an almost 400 page novel. especially considering how overwritten this book was; at its best i actually quite liked pham's prose, but it was so very rarely at its best. it's full of too-flowery dialogue and descriptions with way too many metaphors and similes and really awkward phrasing to describe feelings or actions that really needed a simple sentence to get across. the dialogue was usually incredibly corny, almost mcu-like.
insane nitpick but something that ALWAYS bothers me and that i was surprised to see happen in a published novel with multiple professional editors rather than a fanfiction - this book used the phrase "let alone" incorrectly TWICE. the "smaller" of the two examples is supposed to come FIRST. ex: "i was so full i couldn't eat another french fry, let alone an entire second course". yet the two times in this book the phrase is used with the less extreme example coming second. the one i can recall off the top of my head was something like "she wasn't cut out to be a parent, let alone a sister". it's supposed to be the other way around!!
also near the end of the novel it says multiple times that amelia has been asleep for "centuries", that ezran has been on his crusade for "hundreds of years" and that his villainy has been build up for "centuries". but. no? no. one hundred years. just one. it explicitly tells us repeatedly that has been asleep for one (1) century. i don't THINK these kinds of mistakes happened earlier in the book so maybe the editor was slacking by the end, but it's possible i just missed them earlier because i wasn't as checked out of the actual story.
for a bit i thought that perhaps i've just finally outgrown young adult and need to stop reading it, as i've recently had a string of young adult novels where i felt this same complete disconnect from both the plot and the characters. i already don't read very much ya anyways, so perhaps its time. but some of my favorite books i've read in the past year have been young adult (have been standalone, fairy tale inspired young adult novels, in fact) so i think i've just been reading a string of duds.
i still love cindy's content. and this is a debut, so if pham's hypothetical next book's premise catches my attention, i might still pick it up... though probably at the library, and after reviews are in.
March 29, 2026
❛❛ᴀɴᴅ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍs ɪғ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ ʟɪᴇs?❜❜*
˗ˏˋ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 ˎˊ˗
ᯓ the secret world of briar rose will be published on june 2, 2026!
⤿ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: 2.75 sᴛᴀʀs!! ★★★☆☆
⤿ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴛʜɪs ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ: ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍɪɴɢ, ǫᴜᴇᴇʀ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ sʟᴇᴇᴘɪɴɢ ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛʏ!!
ᯓ {🌸} premise:
⤿ Amelia is cursed to spend the rest of her life asleep and spends her time running away from her fate, unfortunately she is also heir to the kingdom of Gyldan. When she mysteriously disappears, two sisters, Corin and Elly are left, a hundred years later, in the mess that has become Gyldan. When Elly runs away in search of the missing princess, Corin is left scrambling to find both her sister and the princess in a dreamworld - the three are forced to escape before their secrets and mistakes catch up with them.
ᯓ {🌸} all my thoughts:
⤷ I am going to begin this review by stating that this book is not a bad book. It simply is not to my tastes. I am positive that there are people who will adore this book - I am just not one of them.
Let’s start with the positives:
The prose and writing is beautiful, it flows in a very lyrical style. The descriptions are vivid and plentiful. The pacing was solid, it did not lull in any particular spot.
Of course - we cannot forget the gorgeous cover. I might be partial to the color purple - but this one seems especially pretty.
❛❛ɪs ɪᴛ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴏғ ᴀ ʟɪғᴇ ɪғ ɪᴛ ғᴇᴇʟs ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ?❜❜*
Now it’s time for what I didn’t like:
This book is so uneventful, I understand that some books are driven by character development instead. But this genuinely baffled me, how could so much development happen - if nothing actually happened? Amelia goes into a sleep filled with dreams and (almost) everybody tries to wake her up. I guess that I never thought about (when simplifying the plot), how simple the original story of the Sleeping Beauty is.
Moving swiftly along, to the characters. My biggest problem. I understand Corin is supposed to be an unlikable character. But, I feel we never reached the part where she becomes likable. Despite some of her development, she still feels super flat and her character transformations feel forced. And her relationship with Elly! It most reminds me of Scarlett and Donatella from Caraval . Most people cannot make up their minds if they are annoying or lovable. I feel the same way for Corin and Elly.
Corin is a pessimistic thief, who never wanted to care for a little sister. I will give credit where it is due - Corin has had a difficult life with the death of her parents and the loss of her home. Now that I have said that - I feel like a bad person. I am going to stop this thought before it gets even worse.
Elly and Amelia are BOTH fantastical dreamers. They spend most of their time either: running away or daydreaming - Amelia did that for over a hundred years! I can understand escapism, but even I feel that it is a little ridiculous.
I think I am going to end this section with - even though I have many complaints with this book, I still enjoyed it to a certain extent. A part of me would love to know how it would feel to lucid dream my world away for years. A part of me understands how difficult it is to be happy when it seems that everything wants to go the wrong way. And a large part of me does not like the extent to which I relate to this book. So I do not like this, but I am confident other people will.
❛❛ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴇᴀsɪᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ᴛʜɪs ғᴇᴇʟɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀɴɢᴇʀ ɪɴsᴛᴇᴀᴅ, ᴛᴏ ʏᴇʟʟ ᴀᴛ ʜᴇʀ sɪsᴛᴇʀ ɪɴsᴛᴇᴀᴅ ᴏғ ᴀᴅᴍɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴜᴛ-ᴡʀᴇɴᴄʜɪɴɢ ғᴇᴀʀ ᴏғ ʟᴏsɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ.❜❜*
EDITS: after more than 48 hours - I am still thinking about both the book and the review. I think that has to count for something. Rounding up to 3 stars.
ᯓ {🌸} overall thoughts:
I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who is already a fan of Cindy Pham from her videos - this is not discouraging anyone from reading it. This is a book for the dreamers, trying to escape.
And despite my rating of the book, it would look really nice on my bookshelf.
ᯓ {🌸} rating:
⤿ 2.75 stars
*Quote has been taken from an uncorrected proof of the book.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group/Kokila for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
˗ˏˋ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 ˎˊ˗
ᯓ the secret world of briar rose will be published on june 2, 2026!
⤿ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: 2.75 sᴛᴀʀs!! ★★★☆☆
⤿ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴛʜɪs ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ: ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍɪɴɢ, ǫᴜᴇᴇʀ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ sʟᴇᴇᴘɪɴɢ ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛʏ!!
ᯓ {🌸} premise:
⤿ Amelia is cursed to spend the rest of her life asleep and spends her time running away from her fate, unfortunately she is also heir to the kingdom of Gyldan. When she mysteriously disappears, two sisters, Corin and Elly are left, a hundred years later, in the mess that has become Gyldan. When Elly runs away in search of the missing princess, Corin is left scrambling to find both her sister and the princess in a dreamworld - the three are forced to escape before their secrets and mistakes catch up with them.
ᯓ {🌸} all my thoughts:
⤷ I am going to begin this review by stating that this book is not a bad book. It simply is not to my tastes. I am positive that there are people who will adore this book - I am just not one of them.
Let’s start with the positives:
The prose and writing is beautiful, it flows in a very lyrical style. The descriptions are vivid and plentiful. The pacing was solid, it did not lull in any particular spot.
Of course - we cannot forget the gorgeous cover. I might be partial to the color purple - but this one seems especially pretty.
❛❛ɪs ɪᴛ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴏғ ᴀ ʟɪғᴇ ɪғ ɪᴛ ғᴇᴇʟs ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ?❜❜*
Now it’s time for what I didn’t like:
This book is so uneventful, I understand that some books are driven by character development instead. But this genuinely baffled me, how could so much development happen - if nothing actually happened? Amelia goes into a sleep filled with dreams and (almost) everybody tries to wake her up. I guess that I never thought about (when simplifying the plot), how simple the original story of the Sleeping Beauty is.
Moving swiftly along, to the characters. My biggest problem. I understand Corin is supposed to be an unlikable character. But, I feel we never reached the part where she becomes likable. Despite some of her development, she still feels super flat and her character transformations feel forced. And her relationship with Elly! It most reminds me of Scarlett and Donatella from Caraval . Most people cannot make up their minds if they are annoying or lovable. I feel the same way for Corin and Elly.
Corin is a pessimistic thief, who never wanted to care for a little sister. I will give credit where it is due - Corin has had a difficult life with the death of her parents and the loss of her home. Now that I have said that - I feel like a bad person. I am going to stop this thought before it gets even worse.
Elly and Amelia are BOTH fantastical dreamers. They spend most of their time either: running away or daydreaming - Amelia did that for over a hundred years! I can understand escapism, but even I feel that it is a little ridiculous.
I think I am going to end this section with - even though I have many complaints with this book, I still enjoyed it to a certain extent. A part of me would love to know how it would feel to lucid dream my world away for years. A part of me understands how difficult it is to be happy when it seems that everything wants to go the wrong way. And a large part of me does not like the extent to which I relate to this book. So I do not like this, but I am confident other people will.
❛❛ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴇᴀsɪᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ᴛʜɪs ғᴇᴇʟɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀɴɢᴇʀ ɪɴsᴛᴇᴀᴅ, ᴛᴏ ʏᴇʟʟ ᴀᴛ ʜᴇʀ sɪsᴛᴇʀ ɪɴsᴛᴇᴀᴅ ᴏғ ᴀᴅᴍɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴜᴛ-ᴡʀᴇɴᴄʜɪɴɢ ғᴇᴀʀ ᴏғ ʟᴏsɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ.❜❜*
EDITS: after more than 48 hours - I am still thinking about both the book and the review. I think that has to count for something. Rounding up to 3 stars.
ᯓ {🌸} overall thoughts:
I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who is already a fan of Cindy Pham from her videos - this is not discouraging anyone from reading it. This is a book for the dreamers, trying to escape.
And despite my rating of the book, it would look really nice on my bookshelf.
ᯓ {🌸} rating:
⤿ 2.75 stars
*Quote has been taken from an uncorrected proof of the book.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group/Kokila for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
June 5, 2026
1.0 - I love fairy tales and have been following Cindy’s channel on and off for years, so I was really looking forward to this release…unfortunately, throughout the book, I kept finding myself thinking that this is exactly the sort of book Cindy would make a snarky one-hour review of :/
The book’s strengths definitely lie in its themes. I appreciate how she addresses depression, suicidal thoughts, sexuality and gender roles through her characters and her dream world.
However, I won’t go into the characters and the plot, otherwise this review would be thrice as long and far too negative, although I’m always more lenient with fairy tales in this regard, as long as the prose and world building can evoke a sense of wonder.
Sadly, this is exactly where the book's greatest weaknesses lie :(
Simply put, it’s overwritten. The prose makes it so exhausting to read and drowns out all the stronger elements because it’s too distracting.
The constant metaphors and similes, the repetitions, the abundance of adjectives, the descriptive language, the rare synonyms, the corny one-liners, etc. are completely overwhelming. She used the entire literary toolset to create a sense of whimsy without ever evoking any sense of whimsy in me.
I definitely agree that it would have helped to limit this kind of prose to the past or the dream world, but that wouldn’t have solved the problem entirely.
As all great fairy tales show, these devices need to be used with care and moderation.
To end on a more positive note; out of all the Booktuber debuts I’ve read, Cindy shows the greatest potential. The themes are there and you can tell she’s a good writer; she just needs to tone it down a little and this would have been a solid read.
I’m cautiously optimistic that her next book will be significantly better and I’ll definitely be checking it out. :D
The book’s strengths definitely lie in its themes. I appreciate how she addresses depression, suicidal thoughts, sexuality and gender roles through her characters and her dream world.
However, I won’t go into the characters and the plot, otherwise this review would be thrice as long and far too negative, although I’m always more lenient with fairy tales in this regard, as long as the prose and world building can evoke a sense of wonder.
Sadly, this is exactly where the book's greatest weaknesses lie :(
Simply put, it’s overwritten. The prose makes it so exhausting to read and drowns out all the stronger elements because it’s too distracting.
The constant metaphors and similes, the repetitions, the abundance of adjectives, the descriptive language, the rare synonyms, the corny one-liners, etc. are completely overwhelming. She used the entire literary toolset to create a sense of whimsy without ever evoking any sense of whimsy in me.
I definitely agree that it would have helped to limit this kind of prose to the past or the dream world, but that wouldn’t have solved the problem entirely.
As all great fairy tales show, these devices need to be used with care and moderation.
To end on a more positive note; out of all the Booktuber debuts I’ve read, Cindy shows the greatest potential. The themes are there and you can tell she’s a good writer; she just needs to tone it down a little and this would have been a solid read.
I’m cautiously optimistic that her next book will be significantly better and I’ll definitely be checking it out. :D
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2026
*Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review!*
2.75 stars.
I was so excited to receive an ARC of The Secret World of Briar Rose! Sleeping Beauty retellings will always be a priority read for me, and I couldn’t wait to dive into this one before its official release. I also used to watch and enjoy the author’s videos on YouTube all the time, so I was really looking forward to experiencing their story.
That being said, I think I might be a little too protective over anything Sleeping Beauty-related, and sadly this one didn’t quite make the cut for me. I struggled to fully connect with the story and the characters, and I think my expectations for this particular retelling may have played a part in that. I really appreciate the creativity and the love that went into it, though.
Even though it wasn’t the right fit for me, I’m grateful I got to experience this story early and see the author’s take on such an iconic fairytale and I hope it finds the readers who will love it most!
_______________
I'm very protective when it comes to Sleeping Beauty or any of its re-tellings. I hope I'll enjoy this!
2.75 stars.
I was so excited to receive an ARC of The Secret World of Briar Rose! Sleeping Beauty retellings will always be a priority read for me, and I couldn’t wait to dive into this one before its official release. I also used to watch and enjoy the author’s videos on YouTube all the time, so I was really looking forward to experiencing their story.
That being said, I think I might be a little too protective over anything Sleeping Beauty-related, and sadly this one didn’t quite make the cut for me. I struggled to fully connect with the story and the characters, and I think my expectations for this particular retelling may have played a part in that. I really appreciate the creativity and the love that went into it, though.
Even though it wasn’t the right fit for me, I’m grateful I got to experience this story early and see the author’s take on such an iconic fairytale and I hope it finds the readers who will love it most!
_______________
I'm very protective when it comes to Sleeping Beauty or any of its re-tellings. I hope I'll enjoy this!
September 26, 2025
i cannot believe i got the arc ;-; it’s on ‘Read Now’ on Netgalley for two days!!
this is the most beautiful cover i've ever seen.
this is the most beautiful cover i've ever seen.
June 19, 2026
Nope!!!!! So confusing
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