Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay was one of those books that I kept hearing about and once I read the synopsis I instantly wanted to read it - I was not disappointed.

Aurora is the daughter of Sleeping Beauty and she is on a quest to save her brother when she decides to use Prince Niklaas to help her on her mission. Aurora is blessed with strength but the flip side of this is that she also has to live with the burden of a curse. Basically, any man who kisses her loses their free will.

You’re probably wondering why I am mentioning this. Well, Niklaas happens to be on a mission of his own - which is to break the spell his father has cast upon Niklaas and every one of his older brothers. In order to do this, he needs to marry a princess in order to remove the threat of inheriting the throne from his father…guess what happens!

I enjoyed the characters in this book. Aurora is smart, loyal, and willing to do what she needs to in order to protect the people she loves. Niklaas was a solid character as well. Admittedly, the thing I loved most about him was the way he would talk to Aurora when he thought she was her brother. Niklaas is snarky and funny but he also realizes how serious his situation is which makes him very determined. When he realizes that Aurora really is the princess, he is clearly upset and willing to walk away from her because of his inability to trust her.

As the story progresses, we learn more about the blessing/curse that Aurora has to live with as well as the one that Niklaas has to live with. We also see the friendship develop which I enjoyed. As I mentioned, the parts I enjoyed most were when Niklaas had no idea he was talking to a girl. From Aurora’s point of view, we see the friendship turning into something more and eventually, when Niklaas realizes who she really is and after her life is threatened, he comes to view her as more as well. Of course, things happen that I can’t necessarily disclose for fear of ruining the book but things aren’t necessarily easy for either of these characters.

The queen’s storyline was interesting and I found myself wanting to know more. We did learn about how she captured souls and what was really going on but there were only brief snippets mixed in with the rest of the story. I did like how we got to see that she also struggled with who she was destined to be and what was really driving her…which I thought added a great layer to the story.

If you are looking for a story that has action, some magic, and great characters, definitely check this one out. I was unable to put this one down and found myself chuckling at a number of the passages.

Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy.