Waking

by Alyxandra Harvey-Fitzhenry

Beauty is afraid to sleep―her dreams are haunted by the Shadow Lady who stalks and threatens her.

During her waking hours, Beauty's life is safe, safer than she wants it to be. Since her mother's death, her father has become so over-protective that he has locked away all the knives in the house. Her mother's death, the accident, is never discussed. Beauty has lost her desire to be an artist.

At school Beauty tries to be invisible to avoid the questions and innuendo that have arisen since her mother's death. But when a new student arrives, things begin to change. Luna is a free spirit, confident and exciting. She encourages and challenges Beauty to come out of her shell. Beauty finally admits to her attraction to Poe, a boy who lives a few doors away. Her artistic drive returns.

But as Beauty gains self-confidence, her nightmares become ever more terrifying, filled with dark images of blood and death. Beauty must now struggle to solve the riddle posed by her who is the Shadow Lady and what is the nature of her curse?

Genres: Young Adult, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Retellings, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Alyxandra Harvey-Fitzhenry also writes as Alyxandra Harvey

Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream.

Among her favourite books are 'The Wood Wife' by Terri Windling, 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte, and of course, 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet is her hero because she’s smart and sassy, and Mr. Darcy is, well, yum.

Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with three dogs and her husband.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvey-Fitzhenry has a poetic writing style. Beauty is a teen whose mother had an "accident" and Beauty's father is overly protetective of her because of the mother's demise. Luna is a free spirited new kid on the block and opens Beuty's world up a bit through their growing friendship. Poe is Beauty's musically gifted romantic interest. A lot of exciting newness and relationships form for Beauty, but she continually has nightmares involving vines climbing up her legs and rose petals filling her mouth. A "Shadow Lady" is also present in all of her nightmares. Mystery, peer relationships, parental and child relationships, and romance along with the writer's creative writing move this story forward quickly and engagingly.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix between Francesca Lia Block's work and a Stoner & Spaz-esque partnership, Beauty and her new friend, Luna, create a unique and fantastically balanced duo who support each other in love (crushes, really) and life. It's short and simple (an Orca book, which from the cover didn't give it away until I looked at the back cover and of course from the short chapters and white space) and surprisingly humble in dealing with issues of suicide (Beauty's mother) and labels like "new girl" and "slut".

The perspectives of Luna, the eccentric girl, aren't contrived or unrealistic. You want to know her, much like John Green's females leads.

[Melanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it but it's a little young-ish for my tastes. But the fact that the grief plays a much bigger role than crushes on "Prince Charming" makes it tolerable.

It's not an actual retelling of "Sleeping Beauty", as I'd understood it was going to be. (Via Surlalune) I'd classify it more as "inspired by" instead. None of the events truly match up, but she uses a lot of imagery from the tale to tell her story, and occasionally that becomes a bit too forced.

I also enjoyed the plot line about the pre-Raphaelite artwork. I've seen enough of those paintings that I can imagine exactly how Beauty's final version of her mother's portrait is going to look.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book 3.5 stars if half-stars were allowed, but since they aren't I'll stick with four.

I loved the dreamy quality and the fairytale images and all of the pre-Rapaelite references. And I really wish I had a friend like Luna in high school. I also wish this book was longer. A little more wrap-up would have been more satisfying.

I was frustrated by the ebook formatting. There were several places where parts of lines were inserted into the next paragraph, and it threw me out of the story repeatedly.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended for gr. 8-12. It's a bit intense for younger readers. Beauty is trying to maintain a normal life despite the suicide of her mother earlier in the year, but is having very intense and frightening dreams. With the help of two friends and an attractive boy in her class, she works on the normal life, and through the progression of the dreams and her art, she works out a resolution to her inner feelings.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really started to get invested in the characters, but then the book ended. For me, it was just too short. I thought it was an interesting premise and I enjoyed it, but there wasn't enough - it wasn't as fully fleshed out as I thought it could have been. But I read Alexandra's most recent book and absolutely adored it.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm about 20 years too old and the wrong gender for this book.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I wear a ring on my thumb, just to feel like Beauty somehow... Just to think that I live in the world that Beauty lives in.