Enchantment by Orson Scott Card

Just as in the fairy tales, Ivan has discovered his purpose in life.  While in the Ukraine visiting his uncle and working on his graduate dissertation, he comes upon a sleeping princess, whom he kisses and awakes.

That much of the story is familiar, but Orson Scott Card's take on the Sleeping Beauty tale is skewed into an enchanting tale that will leave the reader full of wonder and hope.  There are witches, both good and evil.  A talking bear.  A princess who has no use for a modern man who doesn't even know how to handle a sword.  Spells and charms abound, but are there enough spells in the world to make such dissimilar individuals fall in love and live happily ever afterwards?

Orson Scott Card is well known for his science fiction.  He has won both the Hugo and the Nebula Prizes in consecutive years for Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead, the only author to receive this honor.  Card has written multiple books, most of them best sellers.  He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.