Review--A Dream So Wicked by Tessonja Odette

 

A Sleeping Beauty Retelling

A vicious rivalry.
A forbidden desire.
A curse only her enemy can break.

After twenty years stuck in a fae convent with no word from whoever abandoned her there, Briony Rose is all out of hope. But when her parents suddenly claim her and reveal she’s a lost fae princess, she’s burdened with the weight of a kingdom on the brink of collapse. To secure her family’s precarious position, she must marry a wealthy human stranger. She would have done her duty with pride…if it weren’t for Thorne Blackwood.

Thorne Blackwood harbors three things: a secret name, a love for baked goods, and a long-standing plan for revenge on the family that destroyed his own. Briony Rose—a woman born to be his nemesis—provides the solution. With a single touch, he controls her. And through that control, he tricks her into triggering a curse that sends her family into one hundred years of enchanted sleep.

But Briony isn’t the soft princess he expected her to be. She’s just as sharp and cunning as he is, and when she traps him in a bargain to reverse her family’s curse, he has no choice but to join a tense alliance. He too stands to gain from her plans, for if they break the sleeping spell, his own family will return from their forced slumber.

To accomplish their goal, they must cooperate on one task: pair Briony with a husband who will make her parents proud. It should be easy. Thorne has connections while Briony has wit and beauty. What neither of them expects is the forbidden desire that burns in their darkest hearts…

A Dream So Wicked is Tessonja Odette's Sleeping Beauty retelling in her Entangled with Fae series and was amazing! I think it could be my favorite! It's an enemies to lovers story and I just got so sucked in!

I really hate using the R&J comparison, because despite being an English major, I loathed that play. But we do have the rival families who are essentially out to kill the other and then you get Briony Rose and Thorne Blackwood. Yet, when they first meet, they do not fall into lust, nor love, nor friendship. They are still very much enemies/nemeses. There's no love or like between these two.

Briony does not know much of her family as she was raised believing she was an orphan, then when she turns twenty, her caregivers inform her that she's a princess and her parents have sent for her to return home. Briony is both excited and scared and confused by all this news, but is truly excited to meet the family she always longed to have. But when she learns Thorne Blackwood, the baker she has constant dreams about is to be her travel companion to the palace, Briony has more mixed emotions as Thorne comes off as cold and elusive.

But in her dreams, he's the exact opposite. Briony has a kind of dream magic that she's never fully understood but hopes maybe her parents can fill in the blank. But instead of answers, Briony is presented with even more stress when her parents greet her happily, but then inform her of her betrothal to a man she's never met and she'll be going to his palace the next day. 

She also learns of the curse that plagues her family and that of Thorne Blackwood's as their families are entwined in an agelong feud.

Briony and Thorne now must work together to finally put an end to the curse but in order to do that, Briony will have to find her betrothed and convince him to move forward with their marriage. And naturally...that's going to be a problem!

This story was just so much fun! I loved all the nods to Disney's Sleeping Beauty that were woven into this story. I know as a fairy tale fans we don't always agree with Disney's changes, but I feel like both the original fairy tale and Disney version are fun! There's quite a bit of pink or blue action going on and a few other gentle nods that just had me grinning. The story itself was still utterly unique and I loved that the romance still took time to form despite there being heated chemistry between Briony and Thorne.

The story moves at about the pace one would expected when all the details are laid out, I feel like it might be the longest of the books within this series, but would have to double check. Still, the pacing was still just the right amount. My complaint was being too busy to get much reading done from when I originally started this one! I always enjoy a good fairy tale retelling and Odette is definitely one of my favorites in this area! She knows how to tie in the right amount of familiarity and sprinkle in her own magic and twists! It's simply amazing!

I feel like with the fairy tale retellings you pretty much know what kind of ending you're going to get. And I particularly enjoy Odette's epilogues as they tend to be one year later to see where the characters are at in their HEA and there's still always room for a surprise or two and I feel like this is a magic of its own. It's not that typical Disney-ifed ending of "I just met you and I love you. Let's get married!" Which can work for Disney but I feel like would come off awkward in fairy tales today, but Odette knows how to make it work with her epilogues, that's for sure!

If you're looking for yet another fairy tale retelling that pays homage to its predecessor and still shines on its own, be sure to check out Tessonja Odette's Entangled with Fae series as it's the perfect addiction!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars