Publisher: HarperTeen (April 28, 2009) Hardcover: 384 pages
Price: $11.55 from Amazon
Summary: Talia fell under a spell . . . . Jack broke the curse.
I was told to beware the accursed spindle, but it was so enchanting, so hypnotic. . . .
I was looking for a little adventure the day I ditched my tour group. But finding a comatose town, with a hot-looking chick asleep in it, was so not what I had in mind.
I awakened in the same place but in another time—to a stranger's soft kiss.I couldn't help kissing her. Sometimes you just have to kiss someone. I didn't know this would happen.
Now I am in dire trouble because my father, the king, says I have brought ruin upon our country. I have no choice but to run away with this commoner!
Now I'm stuck with a bratty princess and a trunk full of her jewels. . . . The good news: My parents will freak!
Think you have dating issues? Try locking lips with a snoozing stunner who turns out to be 316 years old. Can a kiss transcend all—even time?
Rating:
Review: A Kiss in Time was actually my first modern fairy retelling; I’ve read many fairytale retellings but none set in the current time so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The premise of the book was interesting, though not entirely original, and I thought the plot was fairly average, nothing too exciting or too dull. However, I had a really hard time first getting into this book because the princess, Talia, is such a bitch at the beginning. I shouldn’t be saying that, but I really couldn’t stand her. She’s incredibly spoiled and constantly whining, and that’s in addition to being amazingly dense. While I understand that the author is using Talia’s earlier personality to show development later in the story, her behavior really made me want to put the book down.
Fortunately, once you reach bottom you can only go up. After the first half of the book, I was able to get more into the story. Talia matures very quickly, too quickly to be realistic, but I liked her much better once she started showing that she had a brain and a heart. Jack, the other main character, seemed extremely superficial to me at the beginning, and, though I didn’t actually grow to like him, he was tolerable.
Like I said before, this was my first modern fairytale retelling, and I really liked how Sleeping Beauty was incorporated into today’s world. It seemed a little cheesy at times, but I thought that the carrying out of the idea was fairly good overall, main plot-wise. This book uses two perspectives, and I loved reading Talia’s centuries-old take on things.
Bottom Line: A Kiss in Time is a very light, quick read, and I liked it. That being said, it’s not a book I would be spending my money to buy because nothing really stood out to me; there isn’t anything amazingly good or horrifyingly bad. I did find the modern take on Sleeping Beauty very new and creative, and it was interesting how the author interpreted the events that occurred in the fairytale (and used them in today’s world). This book has definitely opened my eyes to modern fairytale retellings! Crazy Beautiful, anyone? :)
