Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell is the second book in Disney’s A Twisted Tale series. Each book in the series takes a beloved fairy tale and asks one “what if” question. This one is about Sleeping Beauty and asks the question “what if sleeping beauty didn’t wake up?” Personally I love these. They are cleverly written and take a realistic approach to the fantasy….well as realistic as you can get when fairies are involved.

Aurora is an interesting character. She doesn’t know she’s asleep. Instead she believes she is living under Maleficent’s rule and Maleficent is the good fairy. Her parents never wanted her and sent her to live with the fairies in the woods until Maleficent found her and brought her back to the castle. She trusts her, even loves her to an extent. But she is trapped within the castle walls and she longs to be free. Aurora also can’t reconcile her memories of things (specifically animals) that shouldn’t exist. As she begins to question everything she knows as truth, more memories confuse her and she flees finding her prince in the woods.

I enjoyed the twists and turns in this story. Nothing could be trusted as fact, and everything could be turned against you. Honestly this made for a very confusing read, but that also was the best part of it. I liked not knowing what was going to happen and I loved being kept on my toes for the entire read. Even though I’ve had an eARC of this book, I decided to purchase an audiobook and I’m glad I did. The narrator is fantastic and put the right emphasis on things that if I was reading I may not have caught.

Overall Once Upon a Dream was an enjoyable read. I liked the twist on the classic Sleeping Beauty story. But I think I loved Aurora. Despite her confusion, she was a force to be reckoned with and she came to terms with her life throughout the story. I would definitely recommend this for the younger teens and anyone who enjoys fairy tales.