When Rose Wakes

by Christopher Golden

Her terrifying dreams are nothing compared to the all-too-real nightmare that awaits. . . .Ever since sixteen-year-old Rose DuBois woke up from months in a coma with absolutely no memories, she’s had to start from scratch. She knows she loves her two aunts who take care of her, and that they all used to live in France, but everything else from her life before is a blank.Rose tries to push through the memory gaps and start her new life, attending high school and living in Boston with her aunts, who have seriously old world ideas. Especially when it comes to boys. But despite their seemingly irrational fears and odd superstitions, they insist Rose not worry about the eerie dreams she’s having, vivid nightmares that she comes to realize are strangely like the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The evil witch, the friendly fairies, a curse that puts an entire town to sleep—Rose relives the frightening story every night. And when a mysterious raven-haired woman starts following her, Rose begins to wonder if she is the dormant princess. And now that she’s awake, she’s in terrible, terrible danger. . . .

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

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2010

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Reviews

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. The synopsis really, really oversells this book. I didn't feel any tension of sense of urgency while reading, and I didn't feel attached to any of the characters. And the story is propelled by one of my absolute least favorite forms of protagonist stupidity. I absolutely hate it when the main character is deliberately kept ignorant of very important facts in the name of protecting her, when that very ignorance makes her even more vulnerable to the exact danger she's supposed to be avoiding. (And I say her because, in my experience, it's almost always a young female character put in this position.) In this case, Rose's aunts should have told her about the curse long before they did, and I honestly can't understand why they didn't. Other than, of course, to move the plot forward.

[Sarah TheAromaofBooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a book with a lot of potential that just sort of fizzled into "Whaaaaat?!?!" by the end.

The premise was interesting. Rose awakens in a hospital in modern Boston to find that she has been in a coma for the last two years. Now, finally awake, she has amnesia and can remember nothing of her past life. Her only relatives are her two aunts. As Rose regains strength, she starts high school, and tries to rebuild a life.

But she keeps having these dreams–creepy, very realistic dreams. In the dreams, she is a princess in a castle, and her country is besieged by war. And Rose herself is being pursued by an evil witch. Her aunts shrug off her dreams, and Rose tries to, too. But she can’t help but notice that so much of her life seems to be… unusual.

Okay, so, so far, so good, right? Good set up, and the story could go so many different directions. There’s just loads of potential. Except–Golden decides that the best direction for this story to take is for Rose’s curse to have been, instead of pricking her finger on a spindle and dying, that having sex with her husband on their wedding night would be the death stroke…!??! So Rose’s aunts are all obsessed with her not having boyfriends so of course Rose decides that she has to go about snogging this random dude that she’s only known, you know, three days. And then people are actually leaves because the evil witch is making people out of forest materials and there are these crows going around protecting Rose except they really creep her out and then there’s this huge battle scene at the end and the one aunt gets killed really grotesquely and just… bleh.

So the whole story was just really unnecessarily dark and depressing, the plot got super confusing and disorienting, Rose herself isn’t particularly likable, and there are just way too many references to sex (especially for a 16-year-old heroine) for me to be comfortable with the story. The word that kept coming to mind when I was reading this book was crude. Not necessarily the writing style, per se, but the language and story: swearing, sex, violence–all in a way that just jolted into the story without really moving it along.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice take on the Sleeping Beauty tale blending modern times with a medieval French kingdom. This included many elements from the original story and even wove in an affair between one aunt and Charles Perrault. The added elements enhanced the motivations of the evil fairy giving the reader a solid reason for her hatred of Rose. This would be a good way to explore multi-dimensions of characters and address behavior that is not fully explained in the fairy tales.

[Magda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ending seems to indicate a sequel, but not quite. It was like this book couldn't quite figure out what kind of book it wanted to be and kept tossing and turning within itself—which made it reflect the throes of adolescence of the main character, so that worked rather well.

Almost three stars until I came to think about the book itself.

[Kellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it. I struggled through the first 100 pages and I have so many other books to read. So I'll just pass.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah. I had such hopes for this book. It was a neat premise but it just wasn’t pulled off well. I was bored for almost all of it. A real disappointment.

[lilah · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.5) The premise of the book is so much better than the execution. It lacks tension and urgency, but it does have some really nice moments and writing.

[Michie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid take on the Sleeping Beauty tale. Some issues with writing style and dialogue on my end.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had my eye on this one ever since I heard it was a modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I haven't read a Christopher Golden book in quite a long time and I was anxious to see what he was up to lately and how his take on the fairy tale stood up. My favorite retelling of Sleepy Beauty is Robin McKinley's Spindle's End (surprise, surprise) and that one definitely reshapes the tale in new and beautiful ways to allow Rosie to take a much more active role in her own life and with regards to the curse she lives under for so many years. Frankly, I was interested to see how a male writer would envision a modern version of the story and I really was not disappointed in the least.

Rose wakes up in a hospital bed in an unfamiliar place, with the people around her speaking a language she cannot understand. Confused and disoriented, it isn't until her two aunts come into the room that she feels the first quaking reassurances that she is not crazy. For she recognizes her aunts and they speak in her native French to her. When she responds without trouble, and even begins to remember the English she once knew, the doctors relax a little. Having been in a coma for several years, it comes as a huge surprise to Rose that her aunts brought her to America to receive the best treatment they could find. They live in a small brownstone in downtown Boston and, as soon as she's ready and recuperated, they're going to take her there and help her pick up the threads of her life. And recover she does. But the dreams don't go away. Every night Rose dreams she is a princess in a faraway land, watching her father prepare the country for war, knowing it is a losing battle. Dark forces are assembling to destroy her kingdom and it seems Rose herself may be the only hope for averting total destruction. But her aunts brush these dreams off as vestiges of her coma and Rose tries to shrug them away as she starts school and tries to jump start her life again.

Christopher Golden has come up with a great angle from which to tell this familiar tale. Waking up from the coma and only catching bits and snatches of her former life in disturbing dreams, it's easy for Rose to believe this is the only life she's ever led and that her Aunt Fay and her Aunt Suzette have nothing but her best interests at heart and are only trying to help her begin anew. I loved the strength Rose possessed, even with how fragmented her memory was and I loved how much she longed for normalcy and friends and earnestly went after the things she wanted. With her flowing skirts and straightforward attitude, she won me over even as she won over Kaylie, Dom, and Jared. Shunned by the popular crowd, and dubbed "Coma Girl" by pretty much everyone, she pushes through the horrors of high school with a determination and a thick skin I fully admired. Hampered by her seemingly insanely overprotective aunts, Rose struggles to engage in any kind of social life. Even with exuberant Kaylie and quietly interested Jared around encouraging her to step out a little and have some fun, Rose finds it hard to disobey her aunts in even the most minor of ways. I liked her for it. As aching as those restraints were, it was clear that her aunts were hiding something. Something huge. And I waited with baited breath for Rose to discover what it was and see how she chose to handle that new and fantastic knowledge. It really was her integrity of character and the very sweetly developing relationship with Jared that glued me to the page. The final conflict does happen rather suddenly (though pretty spectacularly) and I could have done with a slightly more protracted resolution--but when could I ever not? Overall, WHEN ROSE WAKES is a thoroughly engaging, light read and one I enjoyed from cover to cover. Recommended for fans of fairy tale retellings, gentle love stories, and strong heroines.

[BOOK BUTTERFLY · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHEN ROSE WAKES was an intriguing book with a unique take on a classic fairy tale. But before I dive into this review, I need to point out one important thing. This synopsis reveals way too much! I wish I had been able to uncover the enticing details of the plot for myself, including the evil witch, friendly fairies, the curse, etc--basically all the magic and excitement spelled out in the synopsis.

With that being said, I still greatly enjoyed this book. Throughout the narrative, the reader is transported into the dream-like world of Rose's past. These were my favorite parts of the book and I looked forward to each new glimpse into Rose's sad history. I thought the way Christopher Golden incorporated elements from Sleeping Beauty was highly creative. I wanted to learn more about the mysterious "Feywood" and its inhabitants called the "Ladies of the Wood". These scenes were so vivid I felt like I was pulled out of my chair and plopped smack dab into a medieval kingdom plagued with war and dark magic. I could feel the biting cold as Rose ran into the snow drenched forest. I could practically hear the whirling of Rielle the fairy sprite's wings as she darted frantically around, desperate to warn Rose about her fate from the "Dark Lady". And I felt all the pain of Rose's father and the predicament he found himself within. This was a man who knew no matter what he did to keep his daughter safe, in the end, he would lose her forever. I only wish there could've been time to explore this in more detail.

Though Rose had so much to deal with upon waking from a two-year coma, I thought she handled herself impressively. Even though she did not think of herself as anything more than the bumbling "Coma Girl", I could tell she possessed the heart of a true princess. Strong, loyal and courageous, Rose did not let anyone walk all over her. I loved the way she stood up to bullies at the school. The things she did to put them in their place awed me and made me wish I had been friends with her in high school. Rose's Aunt Fay and Aunt Suzette were extremely well thought out characters as well. I knew they were holding back some crucial information, but couldn't ever quite put it all together. They also had quite a few personality quirks with their odd tea concoctions and the way they were terrified of Rose "meeting boys". Initially it confused me, but in the end it all made perfect sense and I ended up appreciating their characters even more. Rose's friendships with Kaylie and Dom added some humor to the plot line, and I enjoyed Kaylie's witty one-liners. The romance between Rose and Jared was delicious. Golden wrote their scenes together so well they dripped with tension.

WHEN ROSE WAKES had an extremely clever ending, but I'm not sure that I was completely satisfied with it. I had so many questions; so much more I wanted to delve into and explore. Since so much of the book was dedicated to Rose coming to terms with what she really was, I often felt impatient with her to "catch up" with the information I already knew. But again, that reverts back to the synopsis giving too much away. I also felt like the book wrapped up rather quickly. I wanted her to have the quintessential "happily ever after". While the ending was hopeful, I found myself hoping for something more definitive. But I guess life isn't always like a fairy tale, right?

Despite the spoilery synopsis, I greatly enjoyed this book. WHEN ROSE WAKES lulled me in and captivated my heart from the first few pages. With a contemporary twist, it's sure to appeal to fans of fantasy and fairy tale retellings.

[Yan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every fairy tale is told and retold through generations across the ocean and through the test of time. Rose, however, is having trouble recalling any fairy tales and just as well as she wakes from a 2 year coma. Her life, as her aunts tell, was back in France before they moved to America for better medical care. Her parents—dead. Her friends—not really talked about. Her memory—just lingering in the back of her head.

Rose is determined for it not to get the best of her as she enrolls into a new school as a sophomore, despite being the age of a junior. She has a great group of new friends and plans to not let cliché-freaked cheerleader get the best of the new girl—“Coma Girl”. Yet her aunts’ demand of not kissing any guys, definitely NO on sex, and their nags on drinking some disgusting tea makes Rose frustrated. How can she let go and start a new life like her aunts’ want if they impose restrictions on anything but?

The life of a teenager is hard enough when you wake up from a 2 year coma, but add to that a crazy stalker and a catfight that ends with a girl turning into leaves. Rose wants answers.

Here’s the part where I smack my head because one way or another I missed the memo that When Rose Wakes is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Insert: “Duh”. As far as a retelling goes, Christopher Golden does a job well done incorporating his own little touches while maintaining the essence of Sleeping Beauty.

My biggest qualm with the novel was how. How does Rose know so much after being in a coma for so many years? How does Rose know French and English fluently? How old is Rose really and for how long can she look young? How did the aunts’ get the proper documentations? Where did they get their money from? Where are the “others”? How did the villain create a group of evil people? My mind is just bouncing off questions as I went through the novel. But I’d rather not talk about the negatives any longer.

When Rose Wakes drops little hints and reoccurring dreams that point the readers to the solution of the “mystery”. In many ways I was dense because it didn’t hit me until the novel literally told me the truth. The dreams were a nice touch because it dug the backbone of the plot out and this sort of existence to the novel. The contrasting aunt’s played nicely to good cop, bad cop and their light bantering and withering glances speak volumes of comfort. I just wished that the aunts were more developed and the novel discusses how they were selected to be guard Rose.

Jared and Rose’s budding relationship was a tad more than I expected, but still very sweet and understanding. I liked how Jared know when to say, “No”, and when to say “Okay” and not become this obsessive, possessive, and ever constant presence in Rose’s mind. And say “Hell yes!” to ethnic diversity in characters.

In all, however, When Rose Wakes ended the weekend nicely for me. There was a lightness to the novel that made it pleasant.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rose DuBois has been in a coma for 2 years. She unexpectedly wakes up and remembers nothing about her life before except for her two aunts. After going through physical therapy and some counselling, she returns to her aunts' home. Her aunts have some weird quirks: they make her drink this really bitter tea and hang little charms all around her room. Plus they vehemently want her to stay away from any boys, almost abnormally so, and they refuse to give her any real detail of her life before the coma. Rose starts completely from scratch and goes to a new high school where she is known as Coma Girl. She manages to make a few friends and one big enemy by the name of Courtney. Although she has a pretty normal teenage life, her dreams are dark and take place in medieval France where she is a princess whose father must give her to his enemy's son in order to save their people's lives. To make matters worse, a scorned, black hearted fairy has cursed her and would love nothing more than to see her die. She has these dreams every night and begins to see things like crows and a creepy, dark woman following her. Is she just brain damaged or paranoid? Or is she actually in danger?

I love fairy tale retellings. Most authors take the hollow, flat characters in fairy tales and make them into multidimensional, relatable characters in the modern world. Christopher Golden does this very well, especially with a princess story. In Sleeping Beauty, the prince comes along and solves all of the princess's problems (while she lies passively) with a kiss, a marriage, and they live happily ever after. When Rose Wakes is drastically different from the original tale, mostly because of Rose. She is a strong person that starts her life from practically nothing. Her ways of dealing with problems like the horrible cheerleader Courtney are effective without lowering herself to Courtney's level. Although she can take care of herself, she is still a confused teenager who's not sure about what to do when she likes a guy or if she should listen to her aunts or who are her true friends. The "prince" in this tale is a main character, but he doesn't act as the savior that rescues the helpless princess from peril. They have an actual relationship. Other aspects of the story are also changed. The overall tone is much darker than the original while still preserving the essence of the story. The danger is much more present and makes the fantastical aspects of the novel more gritty and disturbing than those of the real world. I also really liked the twist on the spindle aspect of the curse, but I won't spoil anything here.

When Rose Wakes is an adventure filled retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I love the changes and improvements made to the story and I hope there is another book written about Rose. I would recommend it to lovers of fantasy and fairy tales.

[Alyvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel When Rose Wakes by Christopher Golden was very intriguing. When I first read the back cover of the novel, I was expecting a love story filled with fantasy, like the movie Sleeping Beauty. I thought it was going to be almost exactly like the Disney movie, filled with dragons, princes, fairies, and evil characters. While the book didn’t have some of these features, it did have romance, mystery, action, and fantasy. The novel When Rose Wakes made me feel various emotions including happiness, anger, fear, embarrassment, nervousness, and many more. There were many different things that occurred in the plot, but the author's style sometimes made the book difficult to understand.
The plot is the most exciting part of a novel. When Rose wakes from a coma, she moves from Paris to the United States in order to have a fresh start. In the United States, Rose tries remember what she liked to do before her coma. When she goes to school, she meets a very charming boy named Jared, and she also meets a cruel girl named Courtney. Then in Rose’s science class, Rose meets her new best friend, Kylie, who is funny, outgoing, and kind. When Rose starts to have very interesting dreams, based off of the movie Sleeping Beauty, Kylie helps Rose have fewer nightmares. Then Rose goes to a party with Jared and gets into trouble with Courtney. After that, on the way back from the party, she sees a girl following her, and Rose runs away. By the end of the novel, many of the questions Christopher Golden inspired in the reader get answered.
Different authors express their stories in different ways. Golden used a lot of foreshadowing, but it was sometimes very difficult to understand what he was trying to hint at or tell the readers. For example, Golden uses a bunch of foreshadowing in Rose’s dreams. The dreams helped set up the ending, so that the readers can understand the novel. Although it was a little confusing when the novel goes from Rose’s dreams to when she wakes up, the way Christopher Golden uses foreshadowing in the novel enhances the impact of the plot.
Christopher Golden's novel When Rose Wakes is an exciting book, and the plot keeps readers interested all the way through. It was a little hard to follow at some points, but it was intense, romantic, and funny. I suggest this book to anyone who wants a good fairy tale. I love how Christopher Golden combined many different genres in the book. If readers are looking for a book that has fantasy, romance, mystery, action, and humor, this is the novel.

[Miss Clark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful and unfinished 10 pages from the ending. I stopped to answer a question, looked back down at this frankly miserable novel I was struggling to finish as fast as I could so that it would be done and could be ignored forever more and thought "Why am I forcing myself to finish this? I am hating it." Pause and reflect. "Because you always try and finish a book to be fair and you have only 10 pages left?" And then I decided my life is too short and time is far too important to give that sort of consideration to stories that are making me miserable and have been for the whole duration of the reading experience. So, now to stick to that resolution....


I did not like even one character, the writing was adequate, but nothing notable, the main character a brat, her personality inconsistent and irritating, etc., so on and so forth. The fairytale elements were sparse and bland and failed to work in the modern setting, so utter failure on that front. I personally would not recommend this to anyone.

[Janet Whalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christopher Golden always writes great stuff. This book is aimed at a teen audience. A dreamy boy and budding romance, along with a hate/hate relationship between our heroine Rose and an evil cheerleader set this book firmly within the high school experience. Rose is the new kid, known to the school as "Coma Girl". She has just awakened in the hospital, and has only amorphous memories of her own life. She knows she has been raised by her 2 middle aged aunts, and that they all lived in France, but only her dreams of childhood in her father's castle in the enchanted forest seem real. Sleeping Beauty anyone? Yep, this book indeed riffs on that fairytale. Golden can be depended on to provide a great read. He cut his chops writing pastiche, inculding Buffy the Vampire Slayer books, allowing him to hone his craft. His work covers a broad swath, from horror to YA novels to mythologically based fantasy, but never disappoints. I have read quite a few cruddy books lately, and my faith in reading is restored by authors like Christopher Golden.

[Precia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book: When Rose Wakes
Author: Christopher Golden


Well...I really don't know where to start. There were numerous amount of cons and pros along with the book. One of the pro's is the main character. Rose was an easy character to admire. Rose came from France and is supposedly a princess from a thousand-something years ago. She is courageous, sweet, and is strong. Also the book was very addicting. The narration was good and kept me interested. Lastly, the book was pretty addicting. It made me wanna flip more through the pages and unravel Rose's thoughts about things around her. Now the Con's...this won't be pleasant. First things first. The book was REALLY slow. I didn't like the fact Rose remembers everything, towards the end of the book. Personally, I didn't even like the ending. It should have been sweet and memorable. Plus, Jared didn't even make a difference in the book except kiss her and send text messages to her. Overall, the book was okay. It wasn't as bad as I would put it. But it was a okay read and I urge others to read it as well :)

Rating: ***

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who doesn’t love fairy tales?

Rose is a 16 year old girl and such a sweet character. She loves her aunts very much and I could really tell that she didn’t wanted to do anything that might hurt them. The relationship that was developing between Rose and Jared was fun to read about. I felt that Jared really cared about her and with all those wicked stuff happening believed her.

The aunts where great characters too. They reminded me of the aunts in the movie Practical Magic. Loving, caring and just so considerate.

I loved reading the dreams Rose haves. As a reader I got transported into a magical world and I loved it there. Mr. Golden has done a terrific good job with giving this fairy tale an unique twist. I can honestly say that it hasn’t been done before, so bravo.

I really enjoyed this book. I definitely recommend When Rose Wakes if you adore fairy tales as much as I do. My blog name fits this story well.

[Carien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read several books by Christopher Golden that I really liked, so when I saw this retelling of Sleeping Beauty I had to read it.

And Golden delivers.

This is a really enjoyable book. Although not as creepy as I had expected after reading the blurb, there's still lots of suspense and mystery.

Golden's take on the Sleeping Beauty tale makes use of some familiar elements, but he adds his own spin on the original story as well, in a way that feel natural. I very much enjoyed puzzling Rose's background together.

Rose is very likable, although unthinking and rash at times. She also is a bit gullible, but that can probably be expected from someone who suffers from such extreme memory loss.

All in all this is a very entertaining story and you can bet I will read more books by Christopher Golden, as he hasn't disappointed me yet.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love fairy tales. As far as retellings go When Rose Wakes had a solid premise. What if Sleeping Beauty woke up as a modern day teenager? The premise was promising but the execution was lack luster, solid but lack luster. Rose was a constant contradiction. At some points she acted confident and strong like a regal princess and at other times she was a spoiled brat. Through the dreams I got the impression that she was very respectful of her elders.

The real problem that I had with this book was the ending. Yeah they incapacitate the black heart but other then that there was no real resolution. They don’t know if the curse is broken. Rose has no idea if she will ever be able to marry or have sex.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok.... The concept was good and Rose was pretty entertaining. But I don't think it had enough to make it memorable. Sure it was a good spin on Sleeping Beauty but it was missing some good suspense or action. But i guess that's hard to do with Sleeping Beauty.

Jared was a bit of sleaze trying to get in her pants but I guess that reality now, huh.

Rose's history was amazing. It was interesting and different but didn't get the whole brother thing.

The ending was a little unexpected and creepy but effective.

It was a quick read and maybe a little better for younger than 14. I probably wouldn't read it again (it was from the library anyway) but hey, not bad..

[Eliza Baum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was alright. The concept was good, and the characters were decent, but it lacked that little extra zing that would have made it something more. It covered a span of only a couple of weeks for the characters to get to know one another, and I just didn't know most of them well enough to care. Rose's dreams were the best part, honestly; I think I would have liked to have read a regular Sleeping Beauty story done with this set rather than the modern day transposition of it.

Not an awful way to spend a couple of hours if you're really into fairy tale retellings, but it wasn't my favorite.

[Jess Myname · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second time reading this book. It was one of the "lost books" I remember bits but not the name of the book. Thanks to the goodreads lost book group for helping me find this. It was an intriguing take on the story of sleeping beauty. If I had been reading it for the first time, I probably would have not finished there was more language then I like in a book. But I wanted to make sure this was the book I was trying to remember it took over a year and I was glad to find it and read it again. If you like fairy tales and don't mind a bit of language I would defiantly recommend it. It is a pretty quick read it is relatively thin book. :)

[Alyssa (The Shady Glade) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh... I really started out liking this one. And it just kind slumped downhill after the first third. The problem was that the synopsis revealed a little too much. The modern take on the Sleeping Beauty myth was certainly original, but just wasn't for me. I won't reveal it, since that would spoil the little amount of suspense that's left.

Bottom line, after a good start, I didn't really like it. Perhaps my hopes were too high. Plenty of people loved it though so maybe you'll like it more than I did, but it wasn't for me.

[Doreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

it is an easy to read book with a nice ending, though not a happily ever after end. nothing too mushy, as i expect from a male author.
i don't know if i got it wrong but it seems like rose has a death curse from her evil aunt, i.e. she will die once she loses her virginity. (??)
she will have to live a life as a celibate if her aunt does not figure out the curse soon... what a brilliant idea to prevent a teenager from having teen sex... hmmm..

[Yvonne Boag · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rose has been in a coma for a very long time. She has no memories of growing up and nothing is familiar to her. At night she has terrible nightmares that are set in the past. All Rose wants is to be a normal girl and go to high school but she is starting to doubt everything around her. Maybe she is still in the coma?

it was OK but not that great. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd say this book was just okay. I liked the author's style of writing, just not the plot of the novel. It doesn't seem very exciting for her to be in a magic induced coma for a long time then suddenly wake up and have a regularish life. The flashbacks didn't really help either, I found I often skipped over them because they just weren't interesting enough to grasp my attention.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the concept; I like the writing; I liked Rose. I just wanted more out of the ending. I think it would've helped if the aunts (particularly Fay) were developed more.

Though I have to get Golden credit for surprising me. I did not see the wood nymph thing coming.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved the idea of this book. I did think that rose could have been a little more "classic" of a character since she technically was born a few hundred years ago. I thought she was little too much like a teenager today. But other than that I loved this book; it was a very fun and fast read.

[Steph S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was kinda slow for me. It seemed to really drag until the last 50 pages or so and then the author had to hurry and finish it. I like the idea of a modern day Sleeping Beauty. Overall an okay read.

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

What are you to do when you don't even remember who you are? what if your only family members aren't telling you the whole truth? In this story Rose gets her modern fairytale with a twist. Great Read