A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn

Genre: YA Fiction, Fairy Tale Re-Imagining

Author Site: www.alexflinn.com

First Line: “If I hear one more syllable about spindles, I shall surely die!”

One Word Review: Charming

My Review: This was a fun retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. I’m not sure if it has been done before, but the idea of a modern day teenager waking up a princess who has been asleep for three hundred years was genius. Talia lives a very sheltered life due to the curse that was placed on her as a baby. In order to prevent the curse from being fulfilled her parent’s ban the use of spindles in their kingdom and Talia is never left alone. She starts out kind of bratty, which is understandable knowing where she came from, but as the book progresses so does Talia. She really turns into a lovely girl on the inside to match her beauty on the outside. Our young hero, Jack is your typical teenage boy. He is shipped off to Europe for the summer. Instead of being amazed by the beauty and history all around him, he is bored. Destiny intervenes and he soon stumbles upon an enchanted castle where he happens upon the sleeping princess. And that is where the fun begins. After Talia awakens she soon realizes she is no longer in 1709 and has a lot of catching up to do.

Watching Talia experience the 21st Century for the first time is fun, as well as her relationship with Jack. I also loved the take on our evil witch Malvolia, her motives were clearer and it was a fun twist on the original story. I liked that the book still had that fairy tale feel to it. It was a great re-imaging and would make a very fun movie. If you like Flinn’s Beastly then you will enjoy this as well.