I loved this book. The author masterfully combined family drama, fantasy, mystery, and magical realism into a wonderful book. I loved the portal magic elements and this meshing of real world problems into this fantasy.. I couldn't put this book down, it drew me in start to finish!

DNF @ 15%

I wonder if it is the book, or just me, but something about us just didn't mesh right. There were no glaring errors that I could (or paid enough attention to) spot, but this book was unable to hold my attention.

I might give it another try next year once it is released. Sometimes, I just need a break. As they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Sarah Arthur for providing me of the ARC.

Once a Queen follows 14-year-old Eva Joyce. Together with her mother she goes to her grandmother's manor in England during the summer where she finds family secrets and goes on magical adventures.

The books tells about fairytales I've never read before which made it more interesting than the 'classic fairytales'. I absolutely loved the mysterious vibes and the magical portals. Sometimes I struggled with the old English used in Ternival, but English isn't my mother tongue so that's a personal struggle. However I did fancy the language.

The relationships between the characters, the amazing world-building and beautiful storytelling made this book very pleasant to read.

3.5 stars. A strong addition to the Problem of Susan microgenre.

What I liked:
- The relationship between Eva and Frankie seemed very realistic.
- The writing was balanced and fit the story really well.
- Carrick Hall's vibes are impeccable

What I didn't like:.
- Ternival didn't feel very unique to me. The name even sounds really close to Cair Paravel.
- It was also set in the 90s, but it didn't really come through. It could've been any time.

This book gave me strong Alice in Wonderland vibes with hints of Peter Pan. I had a hard time following the clips of the tale at the beginning of the chapters, but not enough that I didn't understand the references. I felt that the bond between Frankie and Eva developed at an odd pace, but I like where they end up. Overall, this was a cute, magical read.

Once a Queen is a portal fantasy. Or maybe it might be better said that it's a fantasy novel about Portal Fantasies. Our Protagonist, a young girl named Eva goes on a trip with her mother to England to visit her grandmother. (Her very rich grandmother who lives on an estate with extremely extravagant topiaries that tend to attract tourists.)

On arrival, it soon becomes apparent that Eva's mother and grandmother have a very strained relationship. It also becomes apparent that the entire estate is mildly to extremely obsessed with a portal fantasy novel from the 1940s called Ternival: Selected Tales. A book everyone seems to believe describes real events. The only person who doesn't believe seems to be Eva's grandmother. (Who it turns out is a queen of Ternival.)

Eva is drawn into the mysteries surrounding the state and her grandmother's emotional disturbance in relationship to Ternival with the reckless abandon of someone who should be more genre savvy than this. Arthur appears to be trying to combine the portal fantasy version of "sense of wonder and the call to adventure," with a narrative that is more genre savvy than the Protagonist. This results in a slightly awkward mish-mash of tones that made it difficult for me to get into the book. Once a Queen is and attempt to find an answer to "The Problem of Susan." (That is, Susan Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia and the "Problem" of how she was rejected by and rejects Narnia in turn.) It is also a story about the effects of generational trauma on later generations. This story is an interesting attempt to work with these themes.

The only problems I had with the book is that the character "voice" of Eva felt off to me. Eva is supposed to be a teenager early in the story, but her actions, mode of speech and behavior does not seem very much like a "teenager" at all. (This is fine, it can be very hard to write children and young adult characters. I am just very picky if something is a little off.) Another minor issue is that the setting did not feel like the 90s, which is the decade the book is supposed to have been set in.

This book review is based on a galley copy obtained via NetGalley.

I received this book for free from Net Galley and the publisher in return for an honest review. Thank you.

What would you do if you found out your grandmother had traveled to a fabulous, mythical land? That she was a queen there? How would you react?

It's a compelling idea. You would have so many questions. And wouldn't you want to explore that magical land for yourself?

Unfortunately, I didn't feel this book lived up to the premise. It was super slow. It was 3/4 of the book before anything happened. It just kept bringing up question after question, and so many secrets, but no answers until the book was almost done. I almost gave up several times. It really wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital preview of the book.
"Once a Queen" is a charming and fairy tale fantasy story young adult. It follows Eva, a 14-year-old girl, who unexpectedly spends her summer in her grandmother’s grand manor in England. Here, however, strange and bizarre things happen and as she reveals the secrets of the family hidden in the manor, she also discovers a world of magic and fairy tales that could be truer than she could have ever imagined.
While Eva seeks answers, she forms close ties with the elderly housekeeper, gardener, and gardener’s grandson, Frankie. These characters add depth and warmth to the narrative, guiding Eva in her quest to discover the truth about her family and the enchanting world that once existed.
One of the novel’s strengths is the exploration of themes such as family relationships, pain and the transition from childhood to adolescence. Eva’s journey is not only a search for answers about her grandmother’s past, but also a training tale while she is struggling with the idea of growing up and leaving behind the fairy tales and magic of her childhood.
In conclusion, it is a very pleasant and quick to read book. If you like magic stories, family secrets, coming-of-age novels and don’t want to read an overly challenging book or complicated worldbuilding, this is the perfect book for you!

Once a Queen is a great coming of age story for those in the young YA category. Clean content, no romance, no language, yet full of mystery, and has slight parallelism to that of Narnia. This story is rife with magic, loss, bonds of family, with wonderful symbolism. The brief histories throughout this story is interesting, however, I found them to be a little bit distracting.

This also at times lacked to hold my attention. I think it's because its geared toward the younger YA audience, that it fell a bit flat for me, as I am a 25 year-old woman. But, I think plenty of entry-level YA readers would be interested in this. I would undoubtedly feel comfortable with my children reading this story, and would feel comfortable even recommending this to upper middle grade readers.

I personally wish there was more character development for Eva. I think she needs more. She is a great and curious heroine, who wishes to uncover the mysteries/secrets of her family. But, she felt a bit two dimensional to me. I wanted to FEEL connected to her, and I lacked that.

Now for my age, I would rate this lower. 3 stars. But, for the age group of the heroine, who is 14. I give this 4 stars.

I love the cover!

"Once a Queen" was unexpected, but in a delightful way.

A fairytale is woven throughout the book, an excerpt between each chapter. But then you realize that the real story may be contained within the fairytale after all…

There's an English manor house with intricate tapestries and numerous paintings portraying dryads and a large white stag. A walled garden with larger-than-life topiaries. And it all seems to come alive in the moonlight.

The cast of characters includes an English grandmother, a scholarly mother, and an American girl who is just wondering if all will ever be made right.

"Once a Queen" reminds me of The Chronicles of Narnia, in all the best ways. Not that it's attempting to imitate, but more in the sense that the author loved Lewis and was inspired by his work and that of other great storytellers. Looking forward to the next in this YA fantasy series!

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately found I just couldn't connect with the writing style. The world building was good and I always enjoy learning about magical lands, but unfortunately the book just missed the mark for me.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy

Despite this being a highly anticipated read of mine, I wasn’t sure how I would like Once a Queen when I first began it.
Hidden, magical lands are nothing new in fantasy and indeed are something our main character, Eva, has longed for since first reading of them. Considering Eva has a love of Lewis and L’Engle and their whisked -away classics, it’s no surprise she searched for portals to a magical land in wardrobes and dark corners.
It took a little while for me to grow accustomed to the short chapters and fast pace of Once a Queen, but once I pushed past the early quarter of the title. I couldn’t put it down!

Eva is young and inquisitive, and watching her story unfold along side the snippets of the fairytale that made her fall in love with magical worlds was a inspired way to share her tale. I am already eagerly anticipating the second instalment and more of Eva’s adventures.

Thank you NetGalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah, WaterBrook For allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All the views and opinions in this book are purely my own and not associated with any brand.

This was an interesting and enjoyable book. Sarah Arthur manages to incorporate a fairytale world into the contemporary world where family secrets lingure around every corner. If you like fairytales and Narnia type books, then this is a book that you would enjoy.

When is Eva is 14, her and her mother spend the summer at her grandmother’s manor in England. Eva has never been to her grandmother’s home before, nor has she ever met her. It doesn’t take long before Eva realizes that there is much that she’s never been told about her family’s history. And as she works to uncover the story of her family, she finds it harder and harder to separate that story from her favorite fairytales of the magical land of Ternival. Eva is much too old to believe in fairytales…but as the evidence mounts she finds she is also much too smart not to believe. Could the tapes of Ternival really be true? And could there still be ways to get there from this world?

This book was a really nice set up for a series. It took a while for me to get into it, I understand that there is a lot of world building and backstory that has to go into a book like this, but that happened at a slightly slower pace than I would have liked. However, by the end I was sold. I really liked the way the author wrapped up this book, it was a great ending that made me appreciate parts of the story in a new way. This is the type of book that I grew up on and would be a great book for young readers. One that I would definitely suggest to my own children.

This book has Chronicles of Narnia vibes. It specifically reminded me of the first book in that series, The Magician’s Nephew

(I will add this review to my Instagram page once it gets closer to the publication date!)

"Once a Queen" is the first book in a ya fantasy series written by Sarah Arthur, currently in progress.

The story follows 14-year-old American Eva Joyce, who in 1995 unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at Carrick Hall, the mysterious manor house of the equally mysterious English grandmother she has never met. Bewildered and curious, Eva cannot help but wonder why her parents have been so long estranged from her grandmother. When strange things start happening in the gardens at night, Eva turns to the elderly housekeeper, the gardener, and the gardener's grandson, Frankie, for answers. Astonishingly, they all seem to believe that Eva's favorite childhood fairy tales are true and that her grandmother was once a queen in another world. But her grandmother's heart, after various traumatic events, is closed to the beauty and pain of the past. So now it is up to Eva to discover the truth. Can relations between Eva's family be restored? Do portals to other worlds really exist? As she searches for answers, Eva finds herself uncovering dangerous secrets and wrestling with regret for a vanishing childhood, all while facing the fear that growing up means giving up fairy tales forever.

Wow, this story moved me so much! I found it a sweet, evocative and magical read, that touched me repeatedly and kept me glued to the pages. I sensed strong references to "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C. S. Lewis and "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett, works from which the author herself claims to have been inspired, which increased my appreciation for the book even more. I admit I didn't think it could grab me so much, but instead it won me over with its tenderness and cozy atmosphere!

I liked the writing a lot! Evocative, lyrical and intense, I found it beautiful. I was fascinated by the sophistication of the words, the vivid descriptions, all without weighing down the narrative. In fact, for me, the style comes across as simple and light, extremely immediate and easy to follow. I found the descriptions really effective and incisive, carefully outlined, almost like a painting. I had no difficulty imagining the various settings and I was definitely delighted! The prose in my opinion is deep, emotionally charged and involving, so much so that I was moved to read certain scenes and yes, I cried. In general, it gave me the feeling of a fairy tale, suffused with magic and mystery, which really warmed my heart!

The setting is stunning! The story takes place mostly at Carrick Hall, an ancient and enigmatic manor house in the West Midlands, seemingly cold and gray. A huge multi-story building, full of rooms, many of them locked or empty, filled with secret passages and laden with fascinating artwork. An estate enveloped in well-kept gardens, vegetable gardens and orchards, over which stand masterpieces of topiary art, in the forms of common animals, but also more bizarre creatures such as centaurs, dryads and more. All depicted masterfully! I loved Carrick Hall, as well as the quaint nearby villages and the picturesque English countryside! It all seemed so charming, so placid, that I felt a sense of being suspended in time. I can understand how the protagonist was captivated by the landscape! A beautiful and serene place, but at the same time poignant and melancholy, which sent me into jujubes. To the setting of our world then is added that of another world, with decidedly fairy-tale and enchanted tones, which I loved very much. I found it all highly cozy and wonderful!

The plot proceeds lightly and smoothly, with short chapters that entice the reader to continue. It is not an action-packed story, but rather a story charged with feelings. It is a tale about lost and found family ties, sorrows and regrets, the difficult transition from childhood to adolescence, beliefs and convictions. Added to this are the mystery elements concerning the strange phenomena occurring at the mansion and the figure of an enigmatic theologian and the fantasy element, related to the presence of portals to other worlds. Furthermore, the book becomes a kind of story within the story, with the fable of this other world. A world about which I cannot say anything, to avoid spoilers, but which I enjoyed immensely! The narration takes its time, unhurriedly, with an ending that I found satisfying. It was a story that warmed my heart, that made me feel held in a warm embrace, that for a few hours took me away from the daily grind of life and immersed me in lovely, cozy places where I felt really good. Seriously, I loved this book and can't wait to read the sequel!

I really liked Eva, the protagonist and only first-person pov! Eva is a 14-year-old American girl who, in 1995, moves from Connecticut to the West Midlands to spend the summer at Carrick Hall and meet her maternal grandmother who she has never met before. Eva is a curious and talkative young girl, nosy and full of questions, passionate about fairy tales and with a great imagination. I loved her characterization, but especially her development. Eva in fact has to face the difficult transition from childhood to adolescence, and this scares her because she fears that growing up means giving up fairy tales forever. I felt particularly connected to her, to her reflections, and on more than one occasion I was moved.

But the character that affected me the most is the grandmother! I cried so much for her, because she is a woman who has been through so much and it has marked her deeply. She is such a melancholy, lonely and tormented character that I just wanted to hug her and comfort her. She is not an easy woman, her cold and sometimes brusque attitude certainly does not make her lovable, however, she moved me to the highest levels.

The rest of the secondary characters, including the elderly housekeeper, the gardener, and sweet young Frankie, convinced me completely! I found them extremely comfortable and reassuring, so much so that I became attached to them. They are highly expressive characters who added to the pleasant feeling of coziness that the book conveyed to me.

All in all, I found it a delightful ya fantasy, full of feelings, enchantments and mysteries, which I recommend to lovers of the genre!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

The story opens with some nice world-building that pulls you into the narrative just as we reach a turning point in the narrator's story. The way magic is introduced to the story seems perfect for the mysterious setting, and the characters are immediately intriguing and, often, lovable. I wish the chapters were longer because the breaks pull me out of the flow of the story a little, but the writing is good enough to make it easy to stay interested.

The mystery of what the truth really looks like is slowly teased out over the course of the story, and the pace of revelation is really well done. I stayed engaged throughout, and felt like the magic of the story kept things moving as more of the secrets were revealed.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Full disclosure - I’m not religious, nor was I raised with religion. Therefore it may surprise to know that growing up, The Chronicles of Narnia was my favorite book series. To the degree that one of my daughters has the name Aravis.

The synopsis for Once a Queen (a Narnia phrase), reminded me so much of what Susan's later story might have looked like that I had to read it. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy.

YA - fantasy, combined with mystery and coming of age, Once A Queen is an enjoyable read - for young adults and up; I liked this one a lot and I’m looking forward to the upcoming titles in this series.

Recommended.



Thank you to WaterBrook and NetGalley for the DRC

Once a Queen is a story for those who grew up hoping to find Narnia. It explores what it would be like to continue on after visiting a magical world, and what it's like to *not* get to visit the magical world.


WHAT I LIKED:

-I really appreciated how Arthur didn't have Eva become disenchanted with Earth (SPOILER ahead) after her visit to Ternival. I was worried that that was going to happen after all of Eva's dreaming of Ternival. I mean, we live in a pretty magical world when you think about it. =)

-(slight SPOILER ahead) While I'm pretty sure that some readers will wish for Eva to have had more page time in Ternival, I liked how Arthur explored the "after-the-magical-adventure"---most portal fantasies don't do that, so it added a unique element.

-The strong family connections were really refreshing for YA novel.


WHAT I STRUGGLED WITH:

-Personally, the Narnia vibes were a little too strong for my personal taste. I would have preferred it to feel a little more original.

-This is a little silly, but the old English speech of Ternival felt a little cliche. Why do fantasy worlds need to have old English?

-The majority of the book is in past tense, while the last few chapters are in present tense. The switch between tenses and time didn't throw me off. But there are a couple of times during the past-tense part of the book where Eva makes a comment along the lines of "I didn't know then..." that threw me off. It wasn't a big thing, but it jolted me out of the narrative whenever it happened.


OTHER:

- (SPOILER ahead) So... the plot thread with Mindra felt off. Until I finished the eARC and there was a preview of book two, I thought that Once a Queen was a standalone. So I'd initially thought that the plot thread of Mindra getting one of the gems and regaining power had been introduced only to be dropped. However, I'm now assuming that it is going to be part of the overarching series plot. If so, I think that maybe could have been made a little clearer so that it doesn't feel like a dropped plot thread.

OVERALL:

While I'm glad I read Once a Queen, I don't see it being a book I reread. However, that's mostly due to my own personal preferences and stylistic choices. But I can see fans of Narnia or more "classic" portal fantasy novels along the same style enjoying this one.


CAUTIONS: super mild romance

Pure fantasy a mix between The Narnia Chronicles and Secret Garden along with The White Stag.
Very nicely done by new to me author Sarah Arthur.
I loved this because of the family secrets and that it was told from Eva's POV. My favorite way of storytelling. I can connect with the characters much better that way.
A story that will make you use your imagination to the fullest!
I think that's why I love Eva's grandma so much. She's definitely an interesting character.
I finished this book in one evening. I wanted to find out what the family secrets were! I wasn't disappointed at all!
5 stars for an interesting read. I highly recommend it!
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

When fourteen-year-old American Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, troubling questions arise: Why have her parents been so long estranged from her grandmother? What secrets are the manor staff—and the house itself—hiding?

I thought this was really well done. It’s the story of the grandmother after leaving the Narnia/Wonderland world she was queen of, and the granddaughter trying to decipher the family secrets surrounding the secret world of her childhood stories. I wish the mom wasn’t so secretive - she kept saying she didn’t want to dig up all the old family secrets but she seemed perfectly happy telling the husband about all of it. I feel like there’s still a whole lot that Eva doesn’t know and I’m very excited to see what more she finds out.