Regina Rising: Once Upon a Time

by Wendy Toliver

Overview

Sixteen-year-old Regina is very different from the Regina known by fans of ABC's "Once Upon a Time." She seeks romance, adventure, and approval. Of course, getting approval from a mother like Cora is next to impossible. For Regina, friendships have always been a rare commodity. Could it be that Regina has finally found a true friend? Or is it too good to be true? As Regina struggles to find her own identity and create her own destiny, she discovers that her fate might just be to become everything she despises.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368002004
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Series:	ABC's Once Upon a Time Series
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	HL820L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Wendy Toliver is the award-winning author of four YA novels: The Secret Life of A Teenage Siren, Miss Match, Lifted, and Once Upon A Time: Red's Untold Tale. She lives in the Utah mountains with three sons, two cats, two dogs, and one husband. She enjoys reading, hiking, wakeboarding, snowboarding, watching movies, sweet potato fries, Halloween, and daydreaming.

Editorial Reviews

2017-02-14
A tie-in novel for ABC's Once Upon a Time explores an incident in the adolescence of Regina, the future Evil Queen from Snow White.Retellings exploring the motivations of fairy tales' wicked stepmothers and villainous women are a staple of feminist fantasy for young readers. Complicating any tie-in for Once Upon a Time is the reality that the television drama is, itself, a participant in this tradition of revisionist storytelling. Like most of the primarily female Disney villains who populate the series, Regina has a well-developed back story exploring her fall from grace. Just a few years before the events which will form Regina into Snow White's enemy, 16-year-old Regina befriends new neighbor Claire. Claire's friendship is Regina's sole respite from her abusive, social-climbing mother, though Regina has aspirations: perhaps one day she will learn magic, and perhaps her attractive painting teacher will return her love. Of course, for one destined to become the Evil Queen, it can never be that easy; there will always be betrayal. The white characters in this fairy-tale blend struggle unsuccessfully to do good against the machinations of the powerful. Despite one clash with the show's canon, all in all it's a fairly successful attempt at finding a niche in a well-plumbed character history. Reasonably enjoyable as a tie-in, this can also stand alone, although the stumbling-toward-darkness conclusion might seem odd to readers who don't know Regina's ultimate destiny. (Fantasy. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews