A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

by:  Anna Sheehan
published by:  Candlewick
publish date:  August 9, 2011

It should have been a short suspended-animation sleep. But this time Rose wakes up to find her past is long gone— and her future full of peril.

Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose— hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire— is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes— or be left without any future at all.

These futuristic fairy tale retellings have become a favorite genre of mine.  I love all the ways you can take a classic story from the past and throw it into an unknown future.  Sleeping Beauty is perfect for that.

Be prepared to be completely annoyed with Rose for like the first two-thirds of the book.  Once the reason for her obnoxiously passive personality is revealed, I promise you'll have no choice but to forgive her.  I felt so heartbroken for her and for everything that she had endured throughout her upbringing.  Her parents are some of the most evil parents I have encountered in a YA book.

A Long Long Sleep was a dramatic debut from Anna Sheehan.  I look forward to see what she comes up with next.  I'm happy to see it doesn't look like it's the next in A Long Long Sleep Series.   High Five for Sheehan for writing what looks to be a stand alone book!!