Waking Rose: A Fairy Tale Retold

by Regina Doman

Book Overview

Nineteen-year-old Rose Brier is in love with Fish Denniston: but Fish, struggling with abuse issues in his past, holds her at arms length until an old danger and a tragic accident threatens Rose s... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0981931847
• ISBN13: 9780981931845
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Chesterton Press
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 16 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 11 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A Modern Fairytale

This last installment of the "Snow White & Rose Red" Trilogy focuses on Fish and Rose. It deals with dark matters and weighty isssues, but very deftly and subtly. It is a beautifully written book, with utterly believable characters. Not to mention, it has knights and nuns. Fires and fairy-godmothers. Escapes and rescues. Dragons and demons and darkness and death. Miracles. True love.

An instant favorite

I bought this for my 11 year old daughter on an impulse. She devoured it in two days and says it is one of her favorite books of all time.

A romantic thriller

The relationship between a girl named Rose and a young man named "Fish" develope beautifuly in a story of sacrifice, loyalty, and acceptance. There is mature subject matter that is very dark such as the black market trade of human organs, abortion, and rape. But there is also humor, love, forgiveness and faith. The ending is beautiful! Would love to read a sequel!

Enchantment

The very talented Regina Doman, in her "fairy-tale novels," has taken some of the popular stories and re-imagined them for our time. I would hesitate to classify them as books for teenagers alone, since I could have easily read "Waking Rose" at one sitting, and would have, had not other duties called. Indeed, my only problem with the book is that I could not turn the pages quickly enough or read as fast as the suspense compelled me to do. I am truly impressed with Regina's ability to tackle difficult issues and ugly situations in a tasteful manner. She can create a poignant, heartrending scene without doing violence to people's sensibilities, as too many contemporary writers do. Especially in a book for teenagers, this is a good thing, since they will be inspired, intrigued, but not horrified out of their minds. And yet she addresses contemporary issues and situations which our youth today must face, from the point of view of a contemporary man and woman. In a way, Regina has returned the story of "Sleeping Beauty" to its original form. "Waking Rose" is not a tale for little children to be read at bed time, but a story for young adults about other young adults who conquer insurmountable odds with faith and courage. The hero in "Waking Rose" is a deeply wounded young man who must learn to let go of his past and "waken" to love. Like many modern people, he flees from commitment, having experienced too much suffering to want to risk the self-donation that love demands. It is interesting that he is nicknamed "Fish" since the fish is a symbol for Christ. The young man must ultimately sacrifice everything for his beloved, enduring great pain to save her. The novel shows young men being chivalrous for the sake of young ladies, who are, indeed, ladies. Very refreshing to read! "Waking Rose" induces laughter as well as tears. At one point "Fish," who is a convert, becomes exasperated with all of his Catholic friends, and says: "I feel as though I am surrounded by crazy people. Prophetic nuns, wild activists, recovering psychopaths, pseudo-anarchists, and a Catholic boys' club with a medieval obsession. And the problem is, these are all the people who are supposed to be on the side of God." (Waking Rose, p.281) I think anyone who has been Catholic longer than five minutes has sometimes felt exactly the same way. In Regina's skillfully woven tale, the old conte de fée of the "Sleepng Beauty" merges into the horrors and struggles of our century, with all its potential for heroism and triumph.

Beautiful Triumph Over Painful Tragedy

Regina Doman has done it again. Somehow, Regina manages to bring the spirit of Grimms' fairy tales to life in the present day. Waking Rose, (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty) in the tradition of its predecessors. The Shadow of the Bear (Snow White and Rose Red) and Black as Night (Snow White) succeeds in completely enthralling the mind of the delighted reader, long after the last page is turned. My personal experience with this series has allowed me to feel close ties with the main characters. In Black as Night, I felt a strong companionship with Blanche and the depressive struggles she faced. In Waking Rose, I was taken in by Rose's fresh and beautiful view of the world. The books are written in a way that demonstrates truths through the thoughts and actions of the characters, as well as through the plot's circumstances. The third installment of the Fairy Tale Novels Series opens as Rose Brier finally begins to try and move on from her romantic, and unreturned, feelings for Ben "Fish" Denniston. Her path brings her to Mercy College, a small and firmly Catholic school in Pennsylvania, where she meets memorable friends and makes dangerous and mysterious enemies. Meanwhile, Fish is trying to heal from his wounded soul and reconcile with horrific events from his past. The plot thickens considerably as Rose stumbles upon disturbing information that has been shrouded in secrecy, and finds herself a target for danger. Through cryptic and strange circumstances, Fish finds Rose in a coma, and sets off with the Knights of Sacra Cor, (Rose's sword-brandishing, trench coat-wearing martial artist friends from Mercy College) to find the truth. One thing I love about Regina is that she doesn't feel the need to bombard the pages of her books with explicit details about painful subjects. Instead, she handles the situations with grace, providing the reader an insight into the pain that the character is experiencing rather than the details of the event which acted as a catalyst to the character's internal struggle. Fish is now one of my all-time favorite literary characters. His struggles are so hurtful that I felt actual physical pain as I read the book. Written by a devout Catholic homeschooling mother, The Fairy Tale Novels are memorable reads, full of epic plots, real characters and Christian truth. I also thoroughly enjoy Regina's allusions and references to classic literature; her series cites Keats' The Eve of St. Agnes, Shakespeare's King Lear, Chesterton's The Ballad of the White Horse among many other masterpieces of literature. These books are highly recommended for teenage girls and boys alike. For parents who are concerned about age appropriate content, check out Regina's thoughts on her blog, and read the books for yourselves! You won't be sorry. =)