A standalone Fantasy Romance, Crown of Slumber takes the Disney Sleeping Beauty story and adds a few twists, and a sprinkling of spice.

The concept of the story, the magic in the world and the dragons (and their lore) was well thought out and quite unique. I really enjoyed the aspect that each dragon has differing magic and differing connections to people depending on the land that they’re originally from. 

The two main characters were well structured, plenty of backstory which was revealed at critical points within the story, and just enough to want you to keep reading to reveal more. For a Romantasy, their love story was believable enough to myself as a reader to want to cheer for a happy ending. However, I would not class this as enemy to lovers. 

The spice was good - it didn’t overwhelm the story and remained appropriate for a “book with spice” (as a Romantasy should be), rather than a “Spicy Book” (like erotica).

Unfortunately, the last third of the book fell slightly flat as the story was rushed towards the end. I can see why, this book was clearly designed to be a standalone and it needed to be wrapped up, however I genuinely think if we had stopped the story at where Aurelia is captured within the Star Court and then had a second book, with a more fleshed out ending (and more dangerous situations to the characters), it would have been a fantastic duology. 

There seemed to be a lot of villainous characters throughout this book, but the “Big Bad” never quite lived up to expectations. She was easily defeated and I never had any sense of trepidation or fear that Aurelia would not win. 

Overall, a really fun read. Definitely one for those who love a fairytale retelling! 

I want to thank NetGalley and R.L. Perez for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. The review is my own opinion and I have given this freely.