Okay, so E. D. Baker's The Wide-Awake Princess, plot time.
As I mentioned in the last post, Annie's older sister Gwen is Sleeping Beauty, though not yet asleep at the beginning of the book.
It's Gwen's birthday, and the paranoia is practically tangible. Annie and all of the guards are on the lookout for evil magic.
It's pretty safe to assume it doesn't work.
Annie is the only one on the entire castle grounds that doesn't fall asleep; it's up to her to run to Gwen's fiance and bring him back to kiss Gwen awake.
With the help of one guard who had been away when the curse fell, Annie roams multiple kingdoms, bringing back every prince she could find just in case Gwen's fiance is not really her true love.
Will any of them be able to wake Gwen? What if Annie herself has fallen for one of the princes? What if that prince is the one that wakes Gwen? What if Gwen gets stuck with one of the nasty princes because they try to cheat?
I really, really enjoyed this book. Like The Frog Princess series, the book's overall tone is light, though of course there are danger or heartbreaking moments. I wanted to strangle the prince into whose contest Annie had entered.
Best of all, there are tons of references to other fairy tales. Hansel and Gretel is one of the obvious references. How many others can you find?
No comments:
Post a Comment