Review: Princess of Tyrone (The Fairytale Galaxy Chronicles #1) by Katie Hamstead

*I recieved an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not in any way affect my opinion, and all thoughts expressed in this review are unbiased and my own.*

 

Title: Princess of Tyrone
Author: Katie Hamstead
My rating: 5 swoon-worthy, badass, spacey hearts
Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Pub. date: March 31st 2016
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Synopsis: Apolline is happy hunting magical creatures on her pirate infested outer-perimeter planet. She is a fantastic shot, and doesn’t flinch at the blood and guts of her kills. Never once did she consider she could be the missing Princess of Tyrone.

All her life, she has heard the story of the Princess, cursed to sleep for eternity, unless her betrothed, the Prince of Oran, gave her true love’s kiss. Although Apolline knows she is betrothed, she thinks her fairy guardians arranged it out of ignorance of human ways. The thought she could be a princess is inconceivable.

Then Allard appears. Handsome, charming—but he’s not hers to have. He’s betrothed, too. Her guardians warn her against her new found friendship, but she and Allard meet in secret anyway. Despite her rough exterior, he sees beyond her gun-slinging bravado, and their love blossoms.

But the deadline for the sleeping curse is approaching. If Apolline falls in love with the wrong person, she could end up sleeping forever.

A quirky, adventurous retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a less than princess-ly princess! (synopsis from Goodreads)

My thoughts: Wow! What a book! This was an amazing retelling of Sleeping Beauty (you know how much I love a good retelling)! From start to finish, I loved every moment of it. This book gave me all the feels and kept me hooked from the start. It was a little predictable, since it followed the original story pretty closely, but I didn’t mind, because it was really different. I loved that it was on different planets, and the space theme. And the story was so intricately woven into other fairy tales, such as Snow White and Cinderella. I loved how these fairy tales that I loved when I was little (and still do) were like history for Apolline.

I love Apolline

   Apolline is a huntress, and as such, she is totally badass and cool. She is independent, and loyal. She is loyal to the future husband she has never even met, which is one of the things I loved the most about her. Even though she falls in love with someone else (or so she thinks), she stays true to her betrothed.

   I loved following her inner struggles, from fighting her feelings for Allard, to struggling to figure out the truth about herself and who she is. Apolline is an amazing character, and I loved reading about her.

Allard is so swoon-worthy!

   As much as I loved Apolline, though, I might’ve loved Allard even more. He is just so swoon-worthy! His struggles with his feelings for Apolline are so interesting – and heartbreaking – to follow. How he struggles with the expectations of him giving the lost princess Elpida a true love’s kiss to wake her if the plan to keep her safe fails, and how he falls in love with Apolline instead. Allard is the perfect fairy tale prince.

 
  And I loved watching as they fell in love. From the beginning, you can see that they feel something for each other, but it grows stronger throughout the book, and it becomes apparent that they are in love. Usually, I’m not a big fan of insta-love, as it often feels forced and unrealistic, but the way Katie writes it makes it feel real and captivating. I loved it!

   This is going to sound weird, but I even loved Bryanna. Okay, she’s the villain, and everyone hates the villain – don’t get me wrong – but sometimes in books, the villain/s are made out to be heartless. Bryanna isn’t. Sure, she does a lot of terrible things. But she still has a heart. She was misled by her mother, and when her mother introduced her to dark magic, she changed. But Bryanna has feelings. She does her very best at pushing them aside, and most of the time, she does a good job at doing it, but it doesn’t change the fact that she has feelings. It’s rare – very rare – to actually feel sympathy towards a villain, but I did.

A dark Sleeping Beauty? Count me in!

   The plot was a bit predictable, since it followed the original story of Sleeping Beauty pretty closely, but it was still different enough that I can forgive the predictability. This is a darker version of Sleeping Beauty, and I absolutely loved the space theme. The ending was great, it was so cute and sweet and just perfect.

   And I have to mention the cover. It is just so incredibly pretty and perfect for this book. I love it!

   I can’t wait to read the next book, which will use Hansel and Gretel, and how amazing is that? If you love retellings, you should definitely read this book. Or if you like fantasy, or romance, or space. Just read it!