Once Upon a Time: Regina Rising by Wendy Toliver - OPTIONAL

Toliver, Wendy  Once Upon a Time: Regina Rising, 359 pgs.  Kingswell Teen, 2017 (Disney).  $16.99  Content: Language: G; Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13.  

Regina has a controlling mother who uses magic to manipulate Regina and her father.  Regina wants more than anything to have a friend and to be able to fight back against her mother’s wishes, so when Claire comes to town, Regina and her become fast friends.  When Regina falls for her art teacher she confides in Claire and it seems that Claire will also help Regina find her own magic, but Regina’s mother seems to be manipulating Regina even when Regina thinks she has something that is her own.  

This book is based on the television series Once Upon a Time and it gives the backstory of the evil witch.  You don’t have to watch the show to understand the book, but the ending seems open and that is how the book connects to the television series.  I liked the story, but it’s hard to read the story of the beginnings of a villain because the whole time you are reading you know how the person turns out and that it isn’t going to be a sunny ending.  The violence is people’s hearts being taken and crushed.  

MS – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.