Review: A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas

A Wicked Thing
(A Wicked Thing #1)
by Rhiannon Thomas
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Publication Date: February 24th 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 337
ISBN: 9780062303530
Genre: Young Adult | Retelling
Source: Edelweiss

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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. (Goodreads)

A Wicked Thing is a fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I can’t resist a retelling, so when I discovered A Wicked Thing, my curiosity was piqued. The story is about Aurora, who is awoken 100 years after her curse was placed by a kiss from a true love she doesn’t know, to find everyone she loved was gone and her kingdom has moved on without her. 

There was a bit of role reversal between the prince and princess in the story. Aurora wanted a life with excitement and adventure, with none of the pressures of being a princess, while the prince was shy and often blushing whenever he was around the princess.  There was also no chemistry between the two characters, at all, but this is how the author wrote their relationship. I found both of these characters to be likeable, but I did have a hard time connecting with them. Especially with Aurora, as I knew there was a fire inside her, but it never really had a chance to blossom in the story, and I kept waiting for it to do so. I’m hoping that is something that we will get to see as the series moves along. I should also mention that there are a lot of characters that you’re going to love to hate in the novel; especially the King.

There’s also what could be two other love interests in the story for Aurora, but unfortunately, we don’t get to explore much of these relationships either. As far as romance goes in the novel, it’s pretty rare, if even there at all.

The storyline for the book, while interesting, was a bit slow moving for me, and because of this, I had a really hard time keeping interest in the book.  The book starts to pick up near the end, and leaves us with a bit of a cliffhanger which leaves us curious for the next book in the series, which is due to release in 2016.

Overall; while I thought the storyline for the book was slow moving, and I had a hard time connecting to the characters, I did enjoy the retelling aspects of the book. I do believe that fans of Sleeping Beauty will really enjoy the book, and I’m curious to read more in the next book in the series.