Sleeping Beauty: Faerie Tale Collection Paperback – February 19, 2013

Sleeping beauty with a twist, the princess appears in her former castle as a ghost. A handsome prince, a unicorn, a beautiful sleeping princess in need of a kiss, and an evil resentful bad witch all in one place. The descriptions of the castle and the princesses dreamlike interactions were fun, especially as the other characters couldn't see the peaceful scenes, rather they saw the dirty dusty heaps of war. While being very conservative and minimal in her description of the wicked queens terror, it was very horrible what happened to end the lives of the other castle dwellers besides the sleeping princess and my mind was able to fill in the blanks descriptively. As my young daughters are also reading the series, I feel that they will still be fine to read the scenes as they will visualize the scene differently. Luckily, it's ending is happily ever after. I love this series by Jenni James.

Aleyna's entire family and everyone around her had been destroyed by a wicked sorceress. To protect her from the horror, Ezralon, the unicorn, cast a sleeping spell on her and built a protective bubble around her. Yet, her spirit roams her old home and sees it, not destroyed as it is, but the way it was before the devastation. Someday her prince will come and awaken her, but Prince Darién is afraid of apparitions. How will that work?This was a well-written, quick-to-read fantasy, but it was almost too short. The story never developed fully. The rules for this make-believe land was never established. To some extent, things seem to happen in a haphazard, random way. Some things stretched belief for even a fairy tale or fantasy. I liked the five main characters, but I was never pulled into the place, because it seemed too unpredictable. Ezralon had so much power I wondered why he didn't just make everything right from the beginning. The story was interesting, but it didn't leave me satisfied. It ended happily, but there seemed to be too many fragmentations on the way to the conclusion. I like the characters but not the plot.

Another tale with a unique spin from Jenni James. This one is hard to talk about without spoiling things, but essentially...while Aleyna (Sleeping Beauty) sleeps, she doesn't know that she's under an enchantment. She goes through life as though living each day anew, never realizing that everything around her is fake and that her castle was destroyed, along with everyone she loves. When people visit her castle, they see her wandering as a ghost. Prince Darién is dared to go to the ruins with three of his friends who know he's afraid of ghosts, and the revelations that are revealed stun everyone.I thought the spin on this one was unique as well, and a careful blend of paranormal (ghosts) and fantasy (unicorns, etc.). Darién grows a lot throughout the story. His Achilles' Heel is his fear of ghosts, so the fact that he finds himself falling for the ghostly Aleyna frightens him. Only through his relationship with her can he begin overcoming his fear. There's also a new war coming as Aleyna begins to awaken. At times, there's a lot going on, but there are also more characters involved than in most of the stories in the collection. This one is really hard to give thoughts on without spoiling a lot!

Ghost or specter? Living or dead? Cursed or well, cursed. Ha ha! Prince Darien is terrified of ghosts, but he doesn't want his buddies to think he's weak so they set off to the devastated kingdom to try to break an enchantment. Queen Aleyna has been put to sleep. She exists within her castle as a ghost, but she only sees what she wants to see. She is doomed to remain that way until a worthy young man awakes her. But don't forget the evil witch. She wants Aleyna for herself. And destroyed Aleyna's family and kingdom trying to get her. She too is waiting for her to be awoken, so she can win once and for all...This was a thoroughly entertaining read. The closest to a Halloween story Jenni's ever written. Something spooky turns fun and romantic. Another win for Jenni James.

I liked the overall set.up and unique plot, particularly with the addition of a unicorn vs good fairies, but overall the pace wasn't as consistent as the other books in the series thus far and often lagged in parts only to feel rushed in others. All so I did not truly like either main character, instead preferring the side kicks' banter and charm. The ending, while surprising, also felt rushed and very anti-climatic.

This was a nice twist to sleeping beauty. As always a happily ever after ending. I did think this book was too short and at times predictable. Darkens companions were honorable men and put their lives n the line. The unicorn was a unique part df the story. But no word about who came to live at the castle to help the queen and Darien. Surely they had to hire new faithful servants to keep it running. Maybe I just like more detail.

I think I like this author. She puts fun new twists on classical fairy tales. I liked this book, but I felt like she put too much detail into certain parts and then rushed through others. That being said, it was a fun read, fairly short. Out of the stories I have read by this author I like the Beauty and the Beast story best.

Jenni James has a good voice and on the whole I enjoy her writing, but I felt there were plot holes in her story. The villains motivation was not clear and I felt that there was so much more that could have been done with her character development. Why a unicorn and why keep the young queen sleeping kingdoms away? (sigh) Just so many plot points that were left open ended and unexplained.And it might just be me but the characters for ever calling the heroine "Gel" felt forced and too familiar. Was it an attempt at period language?

the story is about girl who does not she is a sleep after witnessed the cruel deaths of her family, she was put to sleep by Ezralon the unicorn. He has been keeping her safe, hidden in the forest, until her true prince could come and rescue her.While Aleyna is protected in the forest, her spirit walks the halls of her ruined, deserted castle in a dream-like existence, believing everything is still perfect. However, she is halted in this state—almost as if time were frozen—until the prince awakens her.Of course, if Darién wasn’t so afraid of ghouls, this whole thing could be much easier to fathom...is book is romance and love with mystery and lots more.if you want to know more then read this brilliant book.

Brilliant! I love the genuine capture that envelopes the reader in, and you cannot stop readin until the end even though you can predict the end it's still a great retelling of the story I love all the stories by this author.

Certainly not as good as the first one, but it was ok.

Loved it.

It was decently written, however, was much more sappy than romantic. Liked it a lot, but didn't love it like I did the last book.