"ONCE UPON A TIME"
IS TIMELESS
Young, beautiful, and wealthy, Emma Pennington is accustomed to a very comfortable life. Although war rages abroad, she hardly feels its effect. She and her mother travel from their home in Britain to the family estate in Belgium, never imagining that the war could reach them there. But it does.
Soon Emma finds herself stranded in a war-torn country, utterly alone. Enemy troops fight to take over her estate, leaving her with no way to reach her family, and no way out.
With all of her attention focused on survival and escape, Emma hardly expects to find love. But the war will teach her that life is unpredictable, people aren't always what they seem, and magic is lurking everywhere.
Water Song is one of my favorite contributions to Simon Pulse’s Once Upon a Time series of retold fairytales. It is utterly unique, beginning with its historical setting. A fairytale in Europe during WWI is interesting enough. Add a bold heroine who takes on the Germans and seeks a way to outwit them and return to her home and it becomes awesome!
Jack, our hero, is also original. He does not waltz in and steal Emma’s (or the reader’s) heart. Instead, he is downright irritating with his constant requests for kisses and his incessant mockery of Emma’s inherited wealth. It is with time that he grows on Emma and she can recognize him for the loyal, smart, and heroic man that he is. For a relatively short book, their relationship goes through a lot of development.
His background is equally as fascinating. He is from New Orleans, where his mother was a healer. She was also the daughter of a line of Native American queens. The reader and the characters are never entirely certain how much of Jack’s skills are learned folk medicine and how much is magic. Weyn blurs the line between fantasy and reality that encourages readers to look for the magical in their daily lives.
A very successful and creative retelling.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
15 May, 2012:
Finished reading
-
15 May, 2012:
Reviewed