Title: Asleep

Author: Krystal Wade

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: “To cure fear, you must use fear.” Rose Briar claims no responsibility for the act that led to her imprisonment in an asylum. She wants to escape, until terrifying nightmares make her question her sanity and reach out to her doctor. He’s understanding and caring in ways her parents never have been, but as her walls tumble down and Rose admits fault, a fellow patient warns her to stop the medications. Phillip believes the doctor is evil and they’ll never make it out of the facility alive. Trusting him might be just the thing to save her. Or it might prove the asylum is exactly where she needs to be.

Review:

Asleep is a new take on the fairytale, “Sleeping Beauty”, and it has been marketed as a horror/thriller version of the story; however, I didn’t really see how this novel related to the horror genre.  Instead, I felt that the novel was more of a psychological thriller and meant strictly for young adults.  The story line was a bit sugar coated, but it was still an enticing read.  If you are a young adult interested in the safer side of the horror genre, then this is the perfect novel for you.

My favorite part about this novel was how Krystal Wade did incorporate different versions of the classic characters from the story, such as Rose and Phillip.  She made sure that her story didn’t relate too closely to the fairytale and added her own take on the characters, which was exciting.  I always love a good asylum based read, and this novel was a great story based in contemporary asylums, or psychiatric hospitals.  Since Rose is a teenager at the point in her life where she is struggling to find herself and who she is going to be in her adult life, I felt that teenagers will be able to relate to her well.  It is a scary time in ones life when they are jumping from a child to an adult so abruptly, and Rose seemed to be mixed up inside about who she really was and wanted to be.  She didn’t understand why everyone thought that she was insane when she felt fine, and this showed how influenced she was by what everyone else thought of her.  I felt that Wade presented us with a great novel that examined the human mind in a comfortable and safe way, while also showing how those around us can negatively impact our mental state if we let them.

Overall, I recommend this book to young adults or to adults who want a read that is lighter but surrounds a heavier topic.  I can proudly say that I haven’t read another book like Asleep and the originality of it was stunning.  Since my reviews are based heavily on story originality, this book passed with flying colors.

Krystal Wade is also the owner of Blaze Publishing, an indie young adult publishing company that is currently taking manuscript submissions.  For more information, visit their website.

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