When Rose Wakes

I’m a Fairy Tale addict, so when I first heard about WHEN ROSE WAKES, I contacted him for an interview. Mr. Golden was fantastically awesome and gave me a chance to read an ARC (Advance Reader Copy).

First, here’s the cover blurb:

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 then Rose starts to have eerie dreams, 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. . . .
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I’m going to go ahead and get the one thing I didn’t like out of the way. The book dragged a little in the middle for me. I think it’s partially because we already know that she’s got some connection with Sleeping Beauty long before Rose does. But that’s a marketing issue, really.

That said, I loved it. As I told you, I’m a fairy tale-aholic, and I love fairy tale retellings. It was great to see a story other than Cinderella being rehashed. I also liked the fact that it’s a contemporary story. Rose is going to a regular high school and trying to fit in. She struggles as she tries to deal with the popular (and mean) girls and as she tries to figure out friendships and relationships. Her two aunts bounce along the spectrum from overprotective to hilarious. And there’s action like you wouldn’t believe.

A good read for anyone who likes YA or Fairy Tales!

WHEN ROSE WAKES will be released on September 28.