An erotic novel of discipline, love and surrender from master storyteller
Anne Rice. In the traditional fairy tale of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ the spell cast
upon the lovely young princess can only be broken by the kiss of a prince.
However, in the world of Anne Rice, this legendary curse is broken not with a
kiss, but with sexual initiation. The Prince's reward for ending the hundred
years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him.
Sleeping Beauty awakes to a world of seduction, desire and love. In the first
of a three part retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, Anne Rice explores the
unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive fairy tale, opening up a world of
erotic yearning and fantasy which is perfect for fans of Fifty Shades of Grey.
This is the first of Anne Rice's classic Sleeping Beauty trilogy.
Reader Review
"…it is certainly not for everyone. However, I am a big snob concerning
erotica, and I have never liked Ann Rice before, and I was very pleasantly
surprised by this book.
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty is not at all realistic, though why anyone
would be looking for realism in a fairy tale/erotica combination that begins
with the Prince breaking a spell of a 100-year sleep is beyond me. Everyone is
impossibly beautiful, but so are all the princesses in Grimms' fairy tales and
the principals in most erotica. I, for one, enjoy reading about a bunch of
beautiful, exquisitely dressed people within impossibly opulent settings.
There certainly are a lot of spankings, nearly in every chapter. If you like
that kind of thing, you won't be bored. If it's not your cup of tea, it might
get old. I don't find it monotonous; maybe repetitive, but that's not
necessarily bad. The Marquis de Sade is repetitive too; spanking is repetitive
by nature. There's a lot going on in The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty besides
spanking as well. Many of the principals are what would be considered underage
in the present-day United States, and consent is questionable at best. Again,
you're the judge of whether that would turn you on or off.
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty is at heart a Nouveau-Décadent work. I just
reread Beardsley's Under the Hill and Rice's book is very reminiscent of that
style. (By the way, most Décadent works are unrealistic and light on plot.) If
you like Sade or Mirbeau, or certain passages in Petronius or Suetonius, you'll
probably like this. If you don't like eroticized violence or overwrought
language, or you want erotica with consensual, loving, adult partners of clearly
defined sexual orientation, this is not for you."
Author Biography
Anne Rice is one of America's most read and celebrated authors. Best known
for her epic Vampire Chronicles – Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire
Lestat and The Queen of the Damned – she is famed for uniting the
supernatural and visible worlds through her stories. Writing as A.N. Roquelaure,
her Sleeping Beauty series is a daring retelling of the classic fairy tale. To
find out more and to connect with Anne online, visit her website at www.annerice.com, join her on Facebook or
follow her on Twitter @AnneRiceAuthor.