Before E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey and Sylvia Day’s Bared to You, there was Anne Rice’s New York Times best seller The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty In the traditional folktale of “Sleeping Beauty,” the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply … originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind’s unconscious. In the first book of the trilogy, Anne Rice (author of Beauty’s Kingdom), writing as A.N. Roquelaure, retells the Beauty story and probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince awakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty’s complete and total enslavement to him . . . as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience. Readers of Fifty Shades of Grey will indulge in Rice’s deft storytelling and imaginative eroticism, a sure-to-be classic for years to come.
Praise for The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty:
“Articulate, baroque, and fashionably pornographic.” —Playboy
“Something very special . . . at once so light and yet so haunting.” —The Advocate
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I love Ann Rice Books But this one is so different than others reading I sometimes had to put it down to think of what I read, the sex encounters are scary, painful , and unbelievable, when you can’t believe what your reading and put it down something draws you back to see what else will happen, This book is not for the faint of heart, some of the scenes are so brutal and uncomfortable yet gentle at times , it shows another side of A.R. Writings
It was a little strange
This book let me down in that it was so repetitive I got bored and actually stopped reading it 2/3 of the way through. The world is strange and provocative and the characters are compelling. There’s so much potential but the author uses such a limited vocabulary, it was disappointing.
Definetely not a book for everyone. Good read, but weird.
My intro into, um, well, erotic reading. Had a few hard swallows and curled toe moments. Anne Rice is amazing. (I know it’s under her pen, but forgive me for not remembering right now.)
Just NO! Do not ever read this. So incredibly bad
Worst thing I have ever read!!!!!! Whoever thinks this crap is sexy needs to have an evaluation done immediately. And probably be added to a sex offender registry!!
A disgusting blasphemy of a beloved fairy tale, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty glorifies rape and degradation with no thought to the damage done to the victim. The complete lack of humanity displayed by the “Prince” places this depravity far beyond ’50 Shades of Grey’ the blurb compares it to. The only collection this garbage belongs in is the trash heap.
Very different take on the sleeping beauty story. Was very explicit. I have read the following 2 books there is a 3rd i havent read yet other 2 that follow are also very good
A very naughty take on z classic fairy tale. BDSM in a fairy tale setting. I’ve read the entire series and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Too much pornography and not enough romance
Overall, I did enjoy the first book in the series, though I found myself really enjoying some parts while being really turned off by others.
This was definitely a dark book of being enslaved into a life of servitude as BDSM to the 50th degree. Anne did an awesome job with creativity. Very sexual, very graphic, very erotic.
Wow. I’m not sure that really sums it up, wow. Going into this one, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I was still shocked and surprised. Anne Rice demonstrates, as always, that she knows how to right and how to craft her descriptions exceptionally well and that she can take a tale that we know from childhood and turn it on its head… and other things. This one blew me away. It is definitely smutty and a little degrading, not just for the characters, but to read/listen to, but I was curious where it was going to go. The bad thing is that it ends on a cliffhanger, so I’m going to have to move to the next one and see what happens to Beauty next.
I read this book back in 1989, I think, when I was 15, lol!! I remember I loved it, it was my first bit of erotica. If you’ve read an th of Anne Rice’s books, you know it’s going to be GOOD!
Yuck
I enjoy the book thank you
S& M take on the original fairy tale.
A very erotic spin on this fairy tale!
I read whole series before 50 shades of gray even came out. I couldn’t even finish reading 50 shades of grey series because it wasn’t even close to as erotic as this book. Highly recommend. Couldn’t put it down.