Who can resist an adventure-filled fairytale retelling?! Leslie Vedder’s The Bone Spindle and The Severed Thread retell Sleeping Beauty with all of your favorite moments–only with more adventure, more action, and more romance! We asked Leslie to share some of her personal favorite Sleeping Beauty moments, scroll down to see which ones to keep your eyes peeled for.

Hi! I’m Leslie Vedder, and Penguin Teen challenged me to share some of the most Sleeping Beauty–inspired moments from The Bone Spindle trilogy, an action-adventure romantasy with two kickass girl treasure hunters out to save a sleeping prince and break the curse on his kingdom!

1. A Century-Long Sleeping Curse 

In many early versions of Sleeping Beauty, the princess who falls under the curse actually has to spend the entire hundred years asleep. So does my Prince Briar Rose, who’s facing curtains of cobwebs, an overgrown Forest of Thorns, a kingdom fallen to ruin, and all those other pesky centuries-asleep problems. It also makes him practically a relic himself—perfect for a pair of treasure hunters to find.

2. Dancing with a Suit of Clothes 

For the Disney lovers who watched the old animated movie as many times as I did growing up, there is a masquerade ball in The Bone Spindle which features our heroine, Fi, dancing with an empty suit of clothes!

3. Running Afoul of a Witch

At the heart of many Sleeping Beauty stories is a witch who’s been slighted. The Spindle Witch of The Bone Spindle is seeking revenge for a promise broken, and she casts a curse on a baby to settle the score. Whether it’s a wicked fairy or Maleficent the Mistress of All Evil herself, there’s something so ruthlessly compelling about the villainess in Sleeping Beauty, and I wanted to give her a fun new twist, with a spindle of golden thread that controls the flow of life and death.

4. Magical Protectors 

There are so many versions of the good fairies—sometimes are three, seven, or even twelve of them! Rather than fairies, I loved playing with a darker version of the story, where Prince Briar Rose’s protectors are the Three Great Witches, women of immense power with different kinds of magic suited to their characters. One of the Great Witches can bind spells in roses, another walks in sleeping minds, and the third transforms into a giant snake!

5. The Kiss! 

This fairytale wouldn’t be complete without true love’s kiss! I absolutely wanted to make sure the moment Briar Rose blinked open his blue eyes was after Fi pressed a kiss to his lips. But it was also really important to me that they have a chance to meet and fall in love first, so that it wasn’t so creepy. Which presented a challenge: How do you fall in love with someone who’s asleep?

In Briar Rose’s case, he comes along for the journey as a spirit haunting his destined savior with some ghost antics! Which ended up being super fun flirting to write.

Bonus Round!  Red Riding Hood 

I love fairytale mash-ups, so I couldn’t resist weaving a little Red Riding Hood into The Bone Spindle—though with a sapphic twist! Fi’s treasure hunting partner Shane is a fierce huntswoman who’s getting all tangled up with a girl in red, not to mention a dangerous wolf.

The Severed Thread is on shelves February 7, and has more adventure, more treasure hunting, more romance, and more twisted fairytales! I hope you’ll check it out!

Read more about The Severed Thread here