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Five Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauty 🛏️👑

Saturday, 28 February 2026

“‘Once upon a time,’ he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.”
― Kate DiCamillo

I’m a big fan of fairy tales 🙂. They illustrate the power and importance of storytelling so well. And one of the reasons for their enduring appeal is the way they’re constantly being updated. No matter your age or reading preferences, there’s a fairy tale retelling out there somewhere that delivers.

My Five Fairy Tales series has been a brilliant excuse for me to discover retellings written for a YA audience. After previous posts about Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, and Rumpelstiltskin, today I’ve chosen Sleeping Beauty. (I might have been influenced a little bit by Averine and Kellan in Lost in Magic!)

Most of the traditional fairy tales have more than one origin story, and Sleeping Beauty is no exception. The Brothers Grimm published their version—Little Briar Rose—in the early nineteenth century. However, the earliest story dates back all the way back to the fourteenth century and features a princess named Zellandine alongside a man named Troylus. It’s part of a much longer piece but includes several familiar elements, including an enchanted sleep triggered by a piece of flax from a spinning wheel.

Apparently, Zellandine was cursed when one of the goddesses invited to the celebration of her birth was given inferior cutlery! Another fascinating detail is that Sir Lancelot, a famous knight from the Arthurian legend, is described as being descended from Zellandine and Troylus.  

Sleeping Beauty can be reimagined in a lot of different ways, and I was spoilt for choice when I researched books for today’s post. 

I hope there’s a book on my shortlist that you find interesting, and thank you very much for visiting my blog today 💕.

Savage Beauty, by Casey L. Bond

Some inheritances are deadlier than others.

There is so much going on with this book! The beautiful cover, two Sleeping Beauties (twins Aura and Luna), their intriguing backstory, the magic they wield, and the fact that Prince Phillip’s brother (Luna’s love interest) was killed by Aura before the story even begins. 

Aura and Luna, the twins, are almost eighteen. They inherited a curse from the dark faery who exploited their mother’s desperate desire to have a child. In the first couple of chapters, Aura is presented as an evil serial killer who will stop at nothing to ruin her sister’s life. Luna, on the other hand, only wants one person dead. (Aura, in case that’s not obvious.) Prince Phillip is searching for his missing brother and is seemingly oblivious to exactly how dangerous Aura’s magic can be. I’m looking forward to finding out the truth behind those opening scenes!

Here's a short extract from the beginning of the book:

One by one, people began disappearing from the palace and from our lives. It wasn’t until I watched her kill the woman who had raised us without a flicker of hesitation, that I realized it had been Aura making them disappear. It was always her. She’d been killing for years, slaughtering anyone who got in her way. 
The mattress dipped under her weight. My blood began to boil. It took everything in me not to backhand her off the bed.
“Do you miss him?”
My eyes snapped open, fixating on her radiant smile, her sunshine hair. She spoke of him as casually as she would the weather. Aura laughed as if she knew what I’d been thinking.
“Sleep walk with me.” Rising from the bed, she took a few steps and glanced over her shoulder, waiting for me to join her. “I think I’ll let him join us today,” she offered.

A Long, Long Sleep, by Anna Sheehan

Sci-fi Sleeping Beauty.

I love the idea of a fairy tale set in space. After all, science fiction and magic aren’t that dissimilar to each other when the technology is really advanced. In this story, sixteen-year-old Rosalind (Rose) gets stuck in stasis for sixty-two years before her reanimation sequence is accidentally triggered by a boy called Brendan. He panics, thinking he’s killed her, and tries resuscitation (which is a neat way to incorporate the infamous kiss).

Millions died in the Dark Times while Rose was asleep, including her parents. She’s alone in this new and unfamiliar world. The people who assumed control of her parents’ business, UniCorp, aren’t necessarily delighted at the prospect of handing it back. And there’s something sinister lurking in the wings, something that’s more like a computer than a human being, and Rose’s reappearance has gotten its attention in the worst of ways.  

Here's a short extract from the beginning of the book:

“She has no family.” That was the older male.
“She has UniCorp, and that means me,” said the younger one. “Imagine waking up to discover she’s the sole surviving heiress to an interplanetary empire!”
“We aren’t an empire,” was the older man’s gruff reply. “Honestly, Reggie, I think you have delusions of grandeur.”
“Well, who do you think should be responsible, then? You?” There was no response, so the younger man continued. “This is mostly your fault, anyway. This would be so much easier if you’d left well enough alone. If you’d let me sign her over to the social services anonymously, it wouldn’t even be in question. It’s not as if anyone would believe her story.” He sighed. “I don’t know why we even had to tell the board, or the state. We could have given her a new identity. I doubt her memory’s very strong.”
“Because that wouldn’t be right,” said the older man, with a bite to his words that kept even the imperious one from arguing. 

Kingdom of Thorns, by Katherine Macdonald

True love but with free will and absolutely no damsels in distress.

I was drawn to this one because although the beginning is quite similar to the original Sleeping Beauty, the main characters are not. They might be living in a fairy tale, but that doesn’t mean they’re beholden to the stereotypes.

Prince Leopold (Leo) has volunteered to rescue the princess from her cursed slumber not for glory or riches but to protect his brothers and his kingdom. He makes it clear that he sees the princess as a person and absolutely not as a prize. His guide in this endeavour, Talia, doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind and obviously knows what she’s doing when it comes to surviving the dangers of the evil forest. 

The stakes are high from the outset. Many others have tried and failed to rescue Briar-Rose, and the majority were lost to the forest in the process. Almost one hundred years have passed since the start of the curse, which means the evil fairy is about to escape. That’s not good for Leo’s neighbouring kingdom and all of the people he cares about. I’m already rooting for him, and I’ve only read the first couple of chapters!

Here's an extract from the beginning of the book:

Dawn crackled along the horizon, like ribbons of liquid fire. Morning dew coated the ground. Leo tried to enjoy it, but he couldn’t shake the growing feeling of dread as the blackness of the forest grew larger. He doubted he would see much sunlight in there. What if this was the last true sunrise he ever knew?
“Nervous?” asked the old man.
“I’m about to enter a deadly forest by myself that has an impressively high mortality rate. Wouldn’t you be?”
The old man hooted. “Honest and amusing. You’ll do well.”
“I fail to see how either of those things will help me in there.”
“I don’t know, humour wards off insanity, or so I hear.”
“You’re really selling this experience for me.”

A Wicked Thing, by Rhiannon Thomas

What happens after Sleeping Beauty opens her eyes?

Princess Aurora has woken from the curse, but that’s far from the end of her story. Her kingdom is broken, everyone she knows is dead, and the random prince who kissed her awake is definitely not her true love. 

The opening chapters of this book focus on Aurora’s disorientation as she tries to understand what happened while she was asleep. The prince, Rodric, seems to be one in a long line of royal gate crashers who have tried to wake her over the years. She’s greeted by an overwhelming crowd of people that includes Rodric’s parents, the king and queen, who announce she will now marry their son. The queen in particular is unlikeable and more than a little overbearing. 

And the weight of expectation is significant. The end of the curse is supposed to return magic to the kingdom. Rodric is supposed to be Aurora’s true love. Everyone is supposed to live happily ever after. But something tells me it’s not going to be so simple, and I’m looking forward to finding out how Aurora regains her autonomy.

Here’s an extract from the beginning of the book:

A heavy wooden door waited at the end of the staircase, blocking out all sound from beyond. Aurora stared at it. She had not walked through it in years, not since her father decided that even the rest of the castle was unsafe for her. It was longer than years now. Lifetimes. The door had marked the way out, the way to freedom, for her whole quiet little life. What was it now?
Rodric’s hand hovered over the brass knocker. The moment lingered, and then he nodded, once, and pushed. The door slid open, just an inch, wobbling as though uncertain whether to swing forward or slam shut.
“Well?” A sharp voice cut through the gap. “Is she awake?”

Sleeping Beauty’s lesser-known younger sister.

I’m so glad I downloaded the sample chapters of this book because it’s an original take and looks like a lot of fun 😊. Imagine a scenario where Sleeping Beauty’s parents were so upset by the spinning wheel curse that they asked one of the good fairies to do something to protect their second daughter, Annie, from ever suffering the same fate. Then imagine that the fairy’s solution was to make Annie completely and utterly impervious to magic. 

On the face of it, not a bad solution, right? Except that magical gifts are the norm in the kingdom of Treecrest, at least if you’re a member of the aristocracy. Whenever the lords and ladies get within a few feet of Annie, their unmagical selves reappear, and suffice to say, none of them think this is a good thing. Even Annie’s parents would rather stay young and beautiful than get too close to their daughter. 

When the curse is inevitably activated, Annie is the only one in the castle not affected. She sets off to find her sister’s true love, teaming up with a handsome prince in disguise while encountering lots of familiar characters from other fairy tales. Annie seems like a great protagonist, and I think she’s going to be more than equal to the challenge!

Here's an extract from the beginning of the book:

Annie joined another pair of guards and stayed with them while they finished inspecting the tower and the rooms below it. She knew she should go see her sister, who was probably still unwrapping presents, but she wanted to avoid having to listen to her go on and on about Prince Digby, the man Gwendolyn would probably marry.
Her parents both said that Gwendolyn and Digby were suited for each other. The magic of his own fairy godmothers had made him as handsome as Gwendolyn was beautiful. But Annie was convinced that by concentrating on his appearance, the fairies had forgotten a few very important qualities: Digby had as much intelligence as a block of stone and an equal amount of compassion for others. Annie didn’t like him, and he didn’t like Annie.


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New Year's Reading 🕛🎉📚

Sunday, 28 December 2025
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"Midnight on New Year's Eve is a unique kind of magic where, just for a moment, the past and the future exist at once in the present."

— Hillary DePiano

Time is a fascinating concept. Not for nothing is it the most frequently used noun in the English language. It defines our lives, giving structure to the passing days, but it's also hard to pin down. Two people can live through the same hour in the same place at the same time and experience it very differently.

The one constant in the way we perceive time is that it flows forward. The past is done. The future hasn't happened yet. And yet, living in the present moment is kind of impossible! In our heads, we time travel constantly, because remembering the past and planning for the future shapes who we are. 

Unfortunately, we can't actually travel in time. But fictional characters certainly can. And with another New Year fast approaching, it feels like the perfect time(!) to read three YA books that explore the concept of time travel ⌛📚

Thank you very much for visiting my blog today! I wish you a Happy New Year and happy reading too 🎉🎆




1️⃣ Skipshock, by Caroline O'Donoghue

Tagline: Time is power. Love is a revolution.

Description: Margo is a troubled schoolgirl. After the death of her father, she’s on her way to a new boarding school in a new city.

Moon is a salesman. He makes his living traveling through a series of interconnected worlds on a network of barely used train lines.

They never should have met. But when Margo suddenly appears one day on Moon’s train, their fates become inextricably linked. If Margo wants to survive, she has to pass as a traveling salesman, too—except it’s not that easy.

Move north on the train line and time speeds up, a day passing in mere hours. Move south and time slows down—a day can last several weeks. Slow worlds are the richest ones: you live longer, your youth lasting decades. Fast worlds are sharp, cruel, and don’t have time for pleasantries. Death is frequent. Salesmen die young of skipshock. That is, if they’re not shot down by the Southern Guard first.

As Margo moves between worlds and her attachment to Moon intensifies, she feels her youth start to slip between her fingers. But is Moon everything he seems? Is Margo?

Told through the eyes of both naive Margo and desperate Moon, the unforgettable realm of Skipshock will shake the way you think about love, time, and the fabric of the universe.

It's no secret that I love portal stories, and this one is so clever! Margo and Moon are brilliant and complicated protagonists, and I was rooting for both of them equally (which left me quite conflicted at some points in the story). 

So, what exactly is skipshock? I'll let Moon explain...

"You're having a little skipshock, that's all. It will pass. You've come from a place with twenty-four hours in the day, right? Now you have a quarter of that. Your body is confused by the days passing in a different way. The light is changing too rapidly for your brain to keep up with it. Your body is ageing at four times the speed. I promise you, you won't feel it after a few days."

I guess it's like an extreme version of jetlag, but with symptoms that gradually worsen until they eventually become deadly. The worldbuilding in this book is incredible. There are so many layers. All of the places we visit with Margo and Moon are memorable (and dangerous) in unique ways. 

Fair warning, it all ends on a massive cliffhanger, so I'm really hoping the second book will come out in 2026. In the meantime, I'm grateful for every single one of the twenty-four hours in my day!

2️⃣ All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill

Tagline: Kill the past to save your future.

Description: Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn't happened yet.

Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture—being kept apart, overhearing each other's anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There's no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. 

Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It's from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that's about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future . . .

This book had me on the edge of my seat, and I was literally holding my breath at certain moments near the end of the story. I got so invested in the outcome. Although there was only one way for Em and Finn to succeed, and the inevitability of their timeline was explained with devastating clarity, all of the twists and turns meant I could never be sure what would happen next. 

Here's part of a conversation between Em and the Doctor.

He looks down at me, and he actually looks sad. "Please. They'll hurt you."
I stare back at him. "And you'll let them."
He turns away. "Sometimes you have to hurt someone you love for the greater good."
"Why do you get to decide what the greater good is?" I say. "These are people you're talking about, not just numbers in one of your equations. Don't you get that? Did you ever?"

There's a lot more to the backstories of Em, Finn, and the Doctor than first meets the eye, and the relationships between them really kept me guessing. I don't suffer from book hangovers too often, but it took me several days to move on from the emotional rollercoaster of this story!

3️⃣ See You Yesterday, by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Tagline: A swoony time-travel rom-com that captures the overwhelming nature of first love.

Description: Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.

The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.

When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?

This book was everything I hoped it would be—funny, smart, and relatable, with characters who really deserve a happy ending.

Although we only get Barrett's POV, she and Miles spend so much time together that there is plenty of insight into his thoughts and feelings too. They're both the perfect blend of awkward and real and likable, similar in some ways but very different in others. Being stuck together gives them the chance to decide what they really want (and figure out a few things from their pasts too).

Here are three quotes that give a bit of insight into Barrett, Miles, and their story.

"Maybe the sad truth of my life is that I don't fit anywhere, which only becomes brilliantly, painfully clear on those rare occasions I'm trying to force it."
— Barrett

"Miles treats smiles the way I do stickers and stationery—reluctant to part with them, as though they are precious things he has a finite number of."
— Barrett

"I could wake up on the same day a thousand times, and every single one would be different because of you. Every single one would be life-changing. Because of you."
— Miles

Nothing happens quickly. In the opening chapters, we can't imagine Barrett and Miles ever being together, and they share some genuinely hilarious moments as they adjust to the reality of their situation. Over time, they see beyond those first impressions to the hopes and dreams beneath. It's enough to melt the hardest of hearts!

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YALC 2025 📕📖🖋️

Tuesday, 18 November 2025

"Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book."
— Jane Smiley

I love this quote ❤️. It's true for me in all circumstances, but most especially at YALC, my favourite weekend of the year. The eleventh Young Adult Literature Convention took place at London Olympia on November 15-16, and I'm still smiling two days later!

Today's blog post is a quick tour of YALC 2025 by way of five memorable (to me) books from this year's event. 

1️⃣ The Proof

Winning a proof copy of an unpublished book isn't guaranteed, but there's no denying it's awesome when it happens. Most of the publishers bring a very limited number of proof copies, and the queues can be pretty long, so it helps to do your research and only focus on the ones you're really interested in.

The Heirs, by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is described as The Inheritance Games meets Knives Out, and it's due to be published in June 2026. Actually, it was my youngest daughter (and long-time YALC companion) who found this one, and I'm really glad she did!

Meet the heirs.
Octavius the Maestro.
Fola the Brain.
Bilal the Olympian.
Perdita the Artist.
Romeo the Failure.

Five prodigies. One dead father. A mansion full of suspects.

The proof competition was really fun—we had to complete a word puzzle followed by a quiz to find out which of the five heirs we were most like (answer: Romeo, the Writer).

There were five character-coded versions of the proof, which is the reason mine has a pen on the front. Then we got to meet the lovely author, Faridah, who signed and dedicated each copy. I asked her if The Heirs is a standalone (it is). I can't wait to read it!


2️⃣ The Impulse Purchase

To say that you're spoilt for choice as a reader at YALC is a massive understatement. There are literally piles and piles of beautiful, intriguing, and distracting books everywhere you look, and the publishers' stands are perfectly decorated to showcase their stories.

The challenge lies in figuring out which books are the right ones for you.

I chose Embrace the Serpent, by Sunya Mara for three reasons: the cover 💜, the prologue 🐍, and because it's recommended for fans of Once Upon a Broken Heart 💔 (definitely me). The free tote bag was also very cool 🛍️! 

3️⃣ The Fairy Tale

It's no secret that I love fairy tale retellings—I've already written four blog posts about them! I found A Curse of Shadows and Ice, by Catharina Maura, on the Orion stand. The presentation of the whole stand was beautiful. There were ten romantasy story clues on the various shelves (including: 🦊👑⚔️🗡️🧜‍♀️) that you had to match to the right books to win a prize. 

I chose this book because of the first chapter. I wasn't expecting it to start with the MMC POV, and I wasn't expecting him to be so... I'm trying to think of the right word to describe him. He's not exactly likeable (and obviously he's not supposed to be at this point in the story), but he's definitely interesting. I am curious to see how this particular retelling goes. 

4️⃣ The Book I Already Own

Author signings are a big part of YALC. They're also very popular, and tickets are issued right at the start of the day, so arriving early is a must. All of the authors I've met have been incredibly friendly, and Laini Taylor was no exception. She was so easy to talk to. I told her how much I loved the Strange the Dreamer duology and how I never thought in a million years that I would wind up cheering for one particular character (no names, no spoilers!).

She told me she had no idea when she started writing that this character would evolve in the way they did. The story was originally supposed to be only one book, but it turned out there was a lot more to tell before it was finished.

She also said she's a great believer in intuitive writing, which made me very happy because I'm not a planner either! Meeting Laini was the highlight of my weekend.

5️⃣ The Last-Minute Bargain

The Rebel and the Rose, by Catherine Doyle, is the second book in the City of Fantome series. It's only recently been released, and I was waiting for the paperback to come out before I bought it (because 💷).

But one of the (many) great things about YALC is the price reductions that happen on Sunday afternoon toward the end of the event. When this particular book dropped to 30% of its retail price, I caved and bought it. And I have no regrets. I loved the first book, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter in Seraphine and Ransom's story.

And that concludes my list! I hope it provided a bit of insight into this brilliant event. I'm sad that I have to wait a whole year until the next one, but at least I have plenty of new stories to keep me occupied in the meantime.

If you were at YALC this year, I hope you had an amazing time, and thank you very much for visiting my blog today💕.

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YA Halloween Reading: Ghost Stories 👻🎃

Sunday, 5 October 2025
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“Maybe all the people who say ghosts don't exist are just afraid to admit that they do.”
― Michael Ende

Do you believe in ghosts? Are you someone whose brain supplies a logical explanation when something strange happens, or does your heart quicken with the fleeting fear there might be more to it?

Halloween is that time of year when even the most level-headed person can find themselves wondering. Long summer days have given way to creeping shadows and falling autumn leaves that rustle underfoot. It’s easy to imagine something sinister lurking at the edge of your peripheral vision. And there’s nothing like a good ghost story to make you doubt your senses, especially if you’re reading late at night when there’s no one else around.

I scare easily, especially when it comes to the paranormal, so I approach my Halloween reading with caution! My three book choices this year all contain characters who are ghosts. Some of them are benevolent, some are mean and murderous, and some are a complicated combination of both. 

As to whether I believe in ghosts… I guess I would have to say I do. I mean, I’ve never seen a ghost personally (and I’m in no hurry to change that!), but I don’t think I’d find ghost stories so terrifying if I was certain they didn’t exist. And I definitely believe places have memories. They retain echoes of things that happened, both good and bad. 

Almost twenty years ago, I spent a few days sightseeing in Edinburgh, and I visited Holyrood Palace—a gothic castle built in the early sixteenth century by King James IV of Scotland. The tour of Holyrood covers a lot of royal history, including one particularly famous death in the private apartments that used to belong to Mary, Queen of Scots. 

On 8 March 1566, Mary witnessed the brutal murder of her private secretary, David Rizzio. He was dragged from her bedchamber and stabbed an unbelievable fifty-seven times. Rizzio, a musician from Italy, was close to both Mary and her husband, Lord Darnley. So close, in fact, that Lord Darnley’s jealousy was a key factor in the plot to murder Rizzio. Rumours that Rizzio was the father of Mary’s child, the future James I of England, persisted long after Rizzio’s death. 

The exact location where Rizzio died is marked by a small gold plaque. There’s even a “bloodstain”, supposedly made from red wine by Victorian tour guides to encourage tourists to leave bigger tips. When I stood next to it, I felt lightheaded with panic. It was like being wrapped in an invisible cloak made from pure dread. Even though it happened so long ago, I still get chills when I think about it. 

Of course, I also believe in the power of imagination 🙂. Would I have felt anything if I hadn’t already known about Rizzio’s brutal death? I guess there’s no way to know for sure. Anyway, onto my ghostly Halloween reading 📙🎃. I hope you enjoy my choices, and thank you very much for visiting my blog today 💕. 

Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor

I’ve been meaning to read Strange the Dreamer and its sequel, Muse of Nightmares, for ages. When I found out that Laini Taylor, the author, was going to YALC this year, I immediately bumped them to the top of my TBR! (You can read more about YALC from a previous blog post here.)

Strange the Dreamer is not a scary story in the traditional Halloween sense, though it contains plenty of ghosts, more than a few nightmares, and a truly awful villain. There are also myths and magic, gods and goddesses, the most amazing character arcs, incredible worldbuilding, absolutely heartbreaking backstories, and the bravest, most honourable librarian you’ll ever meet. 

The beautiful bookmark is from Kehani Krafts, and I got the absolutely stunning character art from Enchanted Books. It’s exactly how I imagined Sarai would look 🦋.

Opening line: On the second Sabbat of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky. 
Scariest moment: When I understood the true meaning of the prologue.
Three quotes:
1️⃣ “Lazlo owned nothing, not one single thing, but from the first, the stories felt like his own hoard of gold.”
2️⃣ “Good people do all the things bad people do, Lazlo. It's just that when they do them, they call it justice.”
3️⃣ “I’m not a dream,” said Sarai. There was bitterness in her voice. “I’m a nightmare.”

Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake

My second choice has such a great title. It suggests a character who is equal parts tragic and terrifying, and when we eventually meet her, the ghost of Anna Korlov doesn’t disappoint.

The story opens with Cas, a teenage ghosthunter on a mission to avenge his father’s death. Cas dispatches dangerous ghosts from the land of the living with a magical blade called an athame, and he’s got his sights set on Anna. Of course, nothing goes to plan because Anna isn’t an ordinary ghost…

Opening line: The grease-slicked hair is a dead giveaway—no pun intended.
Scariest moment: When we enter Anna’s house for the first time, and she lives up to her gruesome reputation in spectacular (and stomach-churning) fashion. 
Three quotes:
1️⃣ “Don’t be afraid of the dark, Cas. But don’t let them tell you that everything that’s there in the dark is also there in the light. It isn’t.”
2️⃣ “They rationalised their fears away. People shouldn’t do that.”
3️⃣ “I can feel that photo of Anna staring out from sixty years ago, and I can’t help myself from wanting to protect her, wanting to save her from becoming what she already is.”

Phantom Realm, by Neil Sater

I found this book the scariest of the three. I will admit that I read it after dark, which probably amplified my fears, but the slow, creepy build towards the big reveal really did keep me on the edge of my seat. There were no magical blades or enchanted moths in this story, and somehow, that made it all the more unnerving. The characters were ordinary people who simply had the misfortune to be trapped inside a horror story.

Phantom Realm is set in and around Harmon Manor, aka Misery Mansion, and the story spans four time periods all the way back to the Great Depression in the 1930s. The house is as much of a character as the other protagonists, and just like them, it keeps you guessing as to its true nature!

Opening line: It was supposed to be just a silly Halloween dare.
Scariest moment: When Jessica is in the cellar during a thunderstorm for the second time.
Three quotes:
1️⃣ “Grief turns vicious in the dead of night.”
2️⃣ “Mortality itself is such a key element of the human experience. Can you really be alive if you can’t die?”
3️⃣ “I guess I don’t mind having ghosts around. How many people can say they live in a haunted house? But if there is a presence here, I wish it would come out and show itself.”
“Careful. You might regret saying that.” 


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Ten Awesome Openers: Round Eight 🔖

Tuesday, 10 June 2025
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“To be at the beginning again, knowing almost nothing…”
— Tom Stoppard

Today's blog post is my eighth annual celebration of Young Adult stories with brilliant beginnings. These are the books I add to my TBR without hesitation because they start in a way that's so intriguing, or shocking, or funny that I can't wait to discover happens next. In my experience, if I love the first page of a story, then I will love the rest of it too.

Of course, what makes a brilliant beginning is subjective, and my top ten(s) won't be the same as anyone else's! But fortunately, there are lots and lots of Young Adult books in the world to choose from. I hope there's an opener on my new list that helps you to find your next great read, and thank you very much for visiting my blog today 💕.

1️⃣ “When did you first meet Miss LaRoux?”
“Three days before the accident.”
“And how did that come about?”
“The accident?”
“Meeting Miss LaRoux.”
“How could it possibly matter?”
“Major, everything matters.”

These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner 

2️⃣ “Anything could happen in the blink of an eye. Anything at all.
One. Two. Three. Blink.”

Abandon, by Meg Cabot

3️⃣ “Three weddings.
Three funerals.
A better person would have been devastated, but Alessa bowed her head to hide dry eyes as she knelt before the jewel-encrusted coffin on the altar. The temple beneath the Cittadella smelled of mildew and death, the air thick with dust motes drifting like the ghosts of fireflies.
She would cry. Later. She always did. Being widowed at eighteen was tragic, after all, and none of her partners had deserved to die. Still, it was difficult to muster tears for yet a third time.”

This Vicious Grace, by Emily Thiede


4️⃣ “Tomman Hail of House Ever-Loyal was going to die before the sun rose. 
It wasn’t as heroic as it sounded.
It was a lonely, terrible thing. Made worse by the lonely, terrible knowledge weighing on his chest. The secret he’d uncovered.
It’ll be our lives if we’re caught, he’d said.
Now, as then, he believed the cause worth the cost.”

Master of One, by Jaida Jones

5️⃣ “The face on a missing-person sign is supposed to be a stranger’s. Those yellowed papers tacked up in grocery stores are children who disappeared fifteen years ago. Amber Alerts are kids from other states with parents fighting for custody. And yet the face staring back at me from the TV—the girl under the siren-red MISSING letters—
That’s me.”

Silent Sister, by Megan Davidhizar

6️⃣ “Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.
No one is a criminal.
No one is an addict.
No one is a failure.”

We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart

7️⃣ “I wasn’t always a ghost. I was told to be. Dad and King said it was for protection.
My protection. Their protection.
The Winterfolk’s.
The problem with being a ghost—
Is that no one can see you.”

Winterfolk, by Janel Kolby

8️⃣ “‘Take only what your cloak can carry, and your conscience can bear.’
Armand Versini, Founder of the Order of Cloaks

‘Those who refuse to wield the dagger are doomed to die by its blade.’
Hugo Versini, Founder of the Order of Daggers”

The Dagger and the Flame, by Catherine Doyle


9️⃣ “1. A Lot of Bad Decisions Led Me to This Moment, But in My Defense, I Made Them Really Fast

When I woke up this morning with a feeling that this was going to be the Worst Day of My Life So Far, I brushed it off as the self-destructive voice in my head doing his daily affirmations.
I was wrong. This is turning out to be the Worst Day of My Life, Ever.”

Bingsu for Two, by Sujin Witherspoon


🔟 “There’s something inherently wrong with any home that’s easy to get into and hard to break out of.
The Winter Ridge Academy for Boys is both.”

Seasons of the Storm, by Elle Cosimano

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