From Goodreads…
The rescue wasn’t going at all how he planned. Prince Arpien intends to gain a throne and the sleeping beauty’s heart with a single kiss that wakes her from the evil fairy’s curse. But kissing the princess is only the beginning of a series of unfore–seen obstacles: man–eating bugs, deadly spindles, talking lapdogs, and fiery pickles. The sleeping beauty is the biggest com–plication of all. Princess Brierly is beautiful and Fairy–Gifted, but also…daft. After one hundred years of sleep imprisonment, Brierly re–fuses to believe this rescue is anything more than a tantalizing but doomed dream. Arpien is drawn to the vibrancy be–neath Brierly’s indifferent exterior. Can they reclaim her kingdom? Do they dare trust in the Prince of the old tales to help them battle the evil fairy who cursed Brierly? What is the price of waking beauty?
Sarah E. Morin has three great passions in life: God, books, and working with young people. She has written articles and poetry for local publications and international periodicals in the museum field. Her dramatic works range from a musical about Susan B. Anthony to fairy tale poetry. She enjoys performing her work, especially pieces that allow her to dress up in her queen costume.
Sarah E. serves as Youth Experience Manager (kid wrangler) at an interactive history park. Her 100 youth volunteers are her best consultants in the fields of humor, teenage angst, and spinning wheels (which, they assure her, are not hazardous to anyone but Sleeping Beauty).
Follow Sarah E. Morin…
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Just wow! What a way to sweep this fairy tale lover off her feet. Sarah E. Morin’s Waking Beauty
I’ll admit I was a tad bit intimidated by the size of Waking Beauty. It’s definitely an epic novel–all 480 pages of it. But if that minute detail is what’s keeping you from picking this one up, I say “Fear not!” For once you pick up Waking Beauty it will be near impossible to put down.
I truly enjoyed the characters in Waking Beauty. Sarah E. Morin has a way of making classical language and speech not boring. I was cracking up at Arpien’s dilemma that his princess refuses to wake, and I was equally amused by Brierly’s insistence that her prince isn’t real. But my favorite character by far is Nissa. She has this way about her–this honesty. Everyone needs a Nissa in their life.
Aside from the rich storytelling, unique world building, and captivating descriptions, the ending is what most stole my breath and brought tears to my eyes. It was so clever, and the message left me thinking long after I put this book down. I won’t say more and spoil it for you. Just know Waking Beauty is a tome you won’t regret adding to your at-home library. Oh, and the cover is gorgeous–the perfect representation of the beauty that is this book.
Recommendation…
Ages : 14 and older
For fans of:
I give Waking Beauty 5 out of 5 hearts!
It’s easy to live with a legend on a page. You open the book, study, dream, and then shut the legend safely back inside. A live legend is bound to disappoint or make a mess.” ~ Sarah E. Morin, Waking Beauty
Q&A with Sarah E. Morin…
Maddie F. asks, “What made you want to become a writer?”
The short answer: reading. Isn’t that true for most of us? We learn to love books the first time one transports us completely out of ourselves. Both the writer and a reader know the thrill of a magical voyage into the seas of imagination. Just the writer wants to steer the ship.
To be more concrete, the first time it ever occurred to me I had the power to put my own vision on paper was in 2nd grade when the class read a book about Gwendolyn Brooks. She published her first poem at the age of 13. I was caught by a particular illustration of her writing in the shady solace of a huge tree. One day I hauled a notebook and a pencil up a tree and refused to come down until I had written my first poem. It included such profound literary angst as:
I sit in a tree so tall.
I do hope that I don’t fall.
That’s deep, man. Deep.
Becca P. asks, “Was your first book ever rejected? If so how many times?” (Sara Ella adds: Any advice for how to deal with rejection?)
It depends on what you consider my first book! I have 2 major ones that I worked on for years. I guess you could say God and I mutually rejected them because they no longer agreed with my philosophy after I became a Christian. (More on that below.)
Waking Beauty—I pitched the book 10 times before the contract came. How to deal with rejection? Well, no one loves it, but I have slowly come to look on it as a blessing. Each rejection gave me a chance to either adapt to their advice or reaffirm my style as a conscious decision. I found someone else who was excited about my vision. While you can’t be swayed by every opinion on your writing, certainly you should look for patterns in the comments. Knowing is growing.
Daniela D. asks, “Where did you come up with the idea for your book?”
My sophomore year of college I did the independent study about Disney animated musicals. I took a total of 51 credit hours that year. No sleep for months. I said to my roommate (now best friend) one day, “I would like to be Sleeping Beauty and sleep for 100 years.”
And then my sleep-deprived brain starts firing off questions:
Would I really like to sleep for 100 years? I’d wake up in a society I did not know. Many people I knew would be long gone. What if the evil fairy was still out there? What if someone else took over the kingdom in the meantime? What if I didn’t want to marry a total stranger? Kind of an awkward introduction, to wake up with bedhead and a century’s worth of morning breath and a stranger’s face planted in yours.
Also, what if Sleeping Beauty not only slept, but dreamed for 100 years? And she could never wake up, no matter how hard she tried or how bad the nightmare. What if the evil fairy pursued her into dreams? What if Sleeping Beauty learned to lucid dream, to take control and reshape the rules of her dream? She’d be a superhero in her dreams. Or a supervillain. Capable of anything. But after you did everything, and realized nothing lasted, and no was around to care, you’d be bored out of your socks.
And when the prince kissed her, after being exposed to thousands of worlds where the rules varied from dream to dream, how would she know that world was the real one? She’s probably lost touch with reality.
So my Sleeping Beauty (Brierly) is brilliant but acts like a ditz. She is passive because she is afraid that anything she likes will slip away from her. It isn’t real. And the evil fairy will destroy it. And her rescuing prince, Arpien, is a coward with a rescuer complex. He does mighty deeds to try to prove to himself he’s not scared.
I wrote 8 pages of notes in college in a couple days, saved it, and pretty much ignored the file for 7 years.
In college, I was not a Christian. My roommate Sherry was. A year or 2 after graduation I converted. I had to give up the mammoth novel I was working on (mammoth as in big, not as in I was writing about prehistoric elephants) because I eventually realized I could not reconcile the worldview behind it to my new faith. It just didn’t honor God. Some months later, I found the file of notes for Waking Beauty. And I saw, “This is really a debate between absolute truth and relative truth. How do you tell reality from the dreams?” And I saw how to turn it into a Christian novel.
Laura P. asks, “If you could hang out with your characters for the day, what would you want to do?”
With Brierly, a jam session. One of her fairy Gifts is Music. I play euphonium, piano, dulcimer, and slide whistle. Still not sure I could keep up with her.
With Nissa, reorganize the library and compare favorite passages.
With Arpien, play Scrabble. We both love high-falutin’ big words.
Sara Ella (me) asks, “What is your most anticipated read of 2015 and why?”
Sara Ella’s book! Because:
- I know Sara Ella and she’s AWESOME. We met while participating in the Genesis contest in the same category and found we had a common love of YA and fantasy.
- I’ve seen one fabulous version of her book and can’t wait to see it in print.
- I want to see how Sara Ella handles her own book on her highly entertaining YouTube channel. Hey, book nerds, this will be fun.
Thank you so much for sharing on the blog, AND for your super kind words about my 2016 release, Sarah E.! You are as amazing as your twisted fairy tales!
Okay, book nerds, let’s chat it up in the comments below. Have you read Waking Beauty? Let’s discuss! Want to read it? Tell us why! You know I love hearing from you. Until then, happy reading!
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