Review: A Wicked Thing (#1) by Rhiannon Thomas

Title: A Wicked Thing
Author: Rhiannon Thomas
Publisher: HarperTeen
Date Published: February 24th, 2015
Source: Library
Genres: Fantasy, Fairy-Tale, Retelling, Young Adult
Links: Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Author's Website
Rating: 3 stars

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.


Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

My Review

So as I'm sure many of you would agree, retelliings of any sort can go either way. As in a "Hell yes" or a "Fuck no" but I think that this one kind of landed smack dab in the middle. I'm just going to list out what I did and didn't like from this book, beacause I feel like their combination is balanced enough that it gave this "ehh" feeling.

Firt of all, I could really relate to what Aurora was feeling when she woke up. It was completely understandable and realistic. The girl's been sleeping or a hundred years, she wakes up and realizes everything and everyone she knew is dead and gone. What the hell? And now this new royal family is trying to rope her into some "destined" marriage?? So I understand why she felt kinda useless and unsure of what to do. That and the fact that the wicked King holds all the power. The thing that I liked most about this book were the feelings and situations of the characters. The prince for example, Rodric. He's not exactly completely thrilled about all this either. They both know that the other is "trapped." The other potential love interestsmale characters have their own believable reasons for their actions as well. Even though they're still shady as hell. 

Now on to what I didn't like. The difference between Rodric and Aurora and the reason I put air quotes around the word "trapped" is that Aurora at least tries to do something about it and makes an efort to explore or at least think about other options. Rodric just stands there following his parents' every word. The plot was okay, it dragged and no real events were happening until the near end. Also I would've liked a little more backstory on the King and Queen. I feel like I don't know their characters enough. Maybe that's done on purpose? Maybe things will be more clear in the next book? 
Tell me what you think.