Review & Giveaway: A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas Blog Tour

Review & Giveaway: A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas Blog Tour A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas
Series: A Wicked Thing #1
Published by HarperCollins on February 24th 2015
Pages: 352
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review

Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of Sleeping Beauty and what happens after happily ever after.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Rhiannon Thomas weaves together vivid scenes of action, romance, and gorgeous gowns to reveal a richly imagined world … and Sleeping Beauty as she’s never been seen before.

reviews

When I first heard about A Wicked Thing, I was expecting a retelling of some kind. But this isn’t a retelling, not really. It’s a continuation, a follow up of sorts, to the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. Just as in the fairy tale, a prince wakes Aurora with a kiss. But that does not mean that happily ever after has been achieved, for this is just the beginning of Aurora’s story.

I enjoyed Aurora’s character. Obviously, she was confused, since she’d just been in the world’s longest coma. Everyone she’s ever known is long dead, and now there are strangers living in the home that used to be her family’s. Things have changed, of course, in the last century, and no one seems to be eager to fill Aurora in on what she’d missed. No, she is supposed to smile and act happy that she’s going to marry the prince, just as the old story suggests.

Prince Rodric, her sleeping anecdote/fiancé, is a nice enough, albeit a bit boring guy. But Aurora has pretty much zero interest in marrying him (or anyone) anytime soon. She’s been locked up “for her own good” by the Queen, and is basically itching to get out. So she does. Since she did used to live there, she was able to sneak out and found her way into town where she meets Tristan. Tristan was seemingly a nice guy from town who Aurora could have conversations with and share a love for books with. I will admit, I worried that there was going to be an insta-love situation, but thankfully there was not. The best part it, Aurora herself was the one who realized that was probably not a great plan. I consider that progress!

Now, there are a host of other characters involved here. There’s a third guy who’s after Aurora (in some capacity), Finnegan, a prince from another kingdom. He is certainly a fun character, probably my favorite of the bunch. He is sarcastic and witty, and I enjoyed him. There needs to be more of him in book two!  The rest of the royal family includes the evil King, the Queen who may not be quite as evil, but what she lacks in awfulness she makes up for in passivity, and the very sweet Isabelle who takes a liking to Aurora. I didn’t feel completely connected to the characters, but I did enjoy them.

I was skeptical of pretty much every character in this book. Like Aurora, I couldn’t be sure what anyone’s true motives were. Everyone seemed to have some “angle”, some selfish desire, and just when I thought that someone might be genuinely interested in the welfare of the kingdom at large, I ended up just as unsure seconds later. This was a good thing, as I felt a sense of suspense through the entire story.

There is a lot of inter-kingdom politics at play here, which would have been a bit better if I knew more about the world. The world building was a bit sparse, but Aurora didn’t really know what was going on, so as we’re seeing things from her perspective, it does make sense. Also, there was some magic in the book (the stuff from the fairy tale itself) that was touched upon, but not in depth. I assume it’ll come more into play in the next book.

Bottom Line: Overall, this book was an entertaining and quick read with a unique spin on fairy tales. I enjoyed Aurora’s character, and I think she certainly had her eyes opened during the course of the book, which should lead to a lot of character evolution.  I am looking forward to getting more insight into this world and the characters in the sequel, which I will definitely be picking up! 

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About Rhiannon Thomas

Rhiannon Thomas is a recent graduate from Princeton University, where she studied English and Japanese, and smuggled bubble tea into the library on a regular basis. She now lives in York, England.

As well as reading and writing YA fiction, she runs the blog FeministFiction.com, where she discusses TV, books, and all kinds of fannish things from a feminist perspective.

I don't hang out on Goodreads much, so if you want to contact me, please swing by my personal website or message me on Twitter.

Instagram: http://instagram.com/rhiannon.kt
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rhiwrites

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giveaway
There will be two prizes. Open to all US, UK and Canada Residents.

FIRST PRIZE: Win (1) signed copy of A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas plus a spinning wheel charm bracelet (found here!).
SECOND PRIZE: Win (1) of (2) signed copy of A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas.

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 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Which fairy tale would you love to read past the ending of? 

Posted February 20, 2015 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Giveaway, Review , / 27 Comments

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27 responses to “Review & Giveaway: A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas Blog Tour

    • All 3 weren’t even really going after her, per se. The prince was forced into it, Tristan… well he might not have been, I don’t want to spoil anything, and no one knows WHAT Finnegan’s motives are! So maybe NONE of the dudes are even lusting after her!

  1. I thought almost the same thing about this book. Quick read and pretty interesting. I love that we get to see how Aurora grows and matures in this story. I am also looking forward to the next book. 4 stars from me as well.

  2. Yeah, it’s more of a companion or sequel to Sleeping Beauty (which I did like the idea of) . I wished there was more of a romance in this one to distract me, even if it was insta-love (which I thought it was going there, even if it was a little insta-attraction too) but that twist was different. I went from liking Tristan to hating him. I did like Finnegan, well, I liked him a lot more than I liked any of the other characters, but there’s always a Finnegan. It was a quick read anyway, and I’m looking forward to the next one still. Considering the ending, there should be a lot more world-building and character growth.

    • I do agree, I was hoping for more romance myself,but I will take lack of romance over insta-love, I think. Tristan. GRR. I definitely like Finnegan. Also, I find it funny that we seem to post our reviews on very similar schedules. Great minds think alike 😉 (I mean, in this case, I was assigned a date to post it, but you know what I mean!)

  3. Most people love Finnegan but I’m excited to see the changes in Rodric (hopefully). After that event in the book, I’m sure he’ll become less boring and take more action 😀

  4. Great review! I’m glad you liked this one! I really want to but have been put off by some seriously mixed reviews. I do love anything fantasy/fairytale-ish though so hopefully that will work in my favor.
    ❤️Britt

    • Thanks! I can see why some people wouldn’t like it, their complaints are valid, I think. But I am pretty laid back in terms of action and such, so it ended up working for me! I hope you do enjoy it if you try it. It isn’t like, the best book ever, but it’s entertaining!

  5. AAAHHH.. I love love the cover of this book!<3 I'm really looking forward to reading this book, it sounds quite intriguing and sounds exactly like what I would like. I've heard mainly mixed reviews about this one though, I'm glad to hear you loved it though – fantastic review hun 🙂

    • Thanks so much! I have heard a lot of mixed stuff too, and it IS valid. I think though it is a fun read if you aren’t overly worried about some of the details (that I think will be coming in the next book!)

    • Thanks! I think this was probably hit or miss for a lot of people, but I was pretty intrigued. To be honest, I went back and forth between a 3.5 and 4 rating for awhile, but since I couldn’t decide I bumped it up. But now I am having doubts. So I don’t know. Ridiculous, no? 😉

  6. Gabby

    It sounds intriguing! But I have to say, I have never seen a more uncomfortable position than the one she has on the cover. =)

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