Sleeping Beauty has never been one of my favorite fairy tales, but who knew I just needed the story to be twisted on its head to fully love it! And who else could execute the retelling as masterfully as T. Kingfisher - no one, in my opinion.

As the cover of the book states, there is a princess trapped in a tower, but this isn’t her story. This is the story of Toadling: the overseer of the tower; a creature able to turn into a mushroom; a character with a truly fascinating background. When a knight appears after centuries of silence, Toadling needs to face her past and finally, move on. I really don’t want to say any more and I even recommend skipping the synopsis. There’s only 120 pages and they are best enjoyed with as little knowledge of their content as possible.