Name: Briarheart
ISBN: 9780759557451

Mercedes Lackey

"When Miriam's younger sister, Princess Aurora, is born, she must learn to harness her new magical powers to protect her sister and the kingdom"--

Briarheart

Samantha Bass

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a review. This is a spoiler free, honest review and all thoughts and feelings are my own. 

DNFed @ 29%

I love retellings and this Sleeping Beauty retelling seemed really cool when I read the synopsis! I don't think I've read a version with the main character being different from Aurora/Sleeping Beauty and instead her protector. I was curious how this would have played out and unfortunately, this was not the book for me.

For starters, the chapters were ridiculously long. For a book that's longer than 350 pages, the chapters were about 10% of the total length of the book. Each. So these chapters were between 25-35 or so pages long, if not longer, and it was really hard to push through. I'm pretty sure I DNFed at like chapter 4 or 5 because I could not keep my focus long enough to read what was happening. I'm not a fan of long, drawn out chapters so I struggled to keep track of what was happening with no breaks. 

And second off, the writing style was not my favorite. I don't mind authors that offer explanations for what's going on, especially in the beginning, but repeating it several times in the same scene is so choppy to read. And repeating the same definition/explanation over and over again in one scene does not help me remember what it is later on. 

Though the plot seemed really interesting, the writing is what killed it for me. I was having a very hard time getting through the book and was losing interest fast. Unfortunately, this just wasn't a book for me and I DNFed it.

Macy Johnson

From a beloved fantasy author comes this fresh feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty about one girl destined for greatness—and the powerful sister ready to protect her by any means necessary. Miriam may be the daughter of Queen Alethia of Tirendell, but she's not a princess. She's the child of Alethia and her previous husband, the King's Champion, who died fighting for the king, and she has no ambitions to rule. When her new baby sister Aurora, heir to the throne, is born, she's ecstatic. She adores the baby, who seems perfect in every way. But on the day of Aurora's christening, an uninvited Dark Fae arrives, prepared to curse her, and Miriam discovers she possesses impossible power. Soon, Miriam is charged with being trained in both magic and combat to act as chief protector to her sister. But shadowy threats are moving closer and closer to their kingdom, and Miriam's dark power may not be enough to save everyone she loves, let alone herself.