Review - Once Upon A Time: Red's Untold Tale

Once Upon A Time: Red's Untold Tale
by Wendy Toliver
Publisher: Kingswell Teen
Pub. Date: September 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-1484727461
Pages: 416
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

I guess you can say that fairy tales have made a comeback in recent years with several blockbusters and television series, which many are produced by the Walt Disney Company, including ABC's Once Upon A Time. With the series about to start it's fifth season at the end of next month, Kingswell Teen is releasing a companion novel, titled Once Upon A Time: Red's Untold Tale.

Red's Untold Tale centers on Red Riding Hood (the character is played by Meghan Ory in the series), but way before she was known as Ruby in Storybrooke. Here, Red is sixteen-year-old trying to live a normal life with Granny in the small village. She spends her days delivering the baked goods her grandmother maed to the villagers. What makes her different than other girls in the village is that she is also a werewolf, meaning when wolftime nears, they must board up the house, so Red won't venture out and harm an innocent. Plus, it helps keep the other wolves away from Red.

The story flashes back to when Red was thirteen-years-old when she was first entering her werewolf stage and when she learned of how her parents really died. Then it flashes back three years, where the she is dealing her romantic feelings for the blacksmith's son, Peter. Granny's baking business is booming, so Red searches the village for more milk to use for baking, but it isn't an easy task as a wolf has killed a few of the dairy cows.

Basically this book is just a reboot of the old Red Riding Hood tale, but written to tie-in with the Once Upon A Time series. Red/Ruby was one of the main characters during the first season of the ABC series, but slowly disappeared when the actress Meghan Ory left the series to star in the short-lived Intelligence. I had almost forgotten about the character until I read Red's Untold Tale over the weekend. I'm not familiar with the author Wendy Toliver's other works, but she does a decent job of giving a new spin to the Red Riding Hood tale. Overall, Once Upon A Time: Red's Untold Tale an intriguing side story (or prequel) to the television series. While it's not exactly a perfect, it's still an entertaining read nonetheless.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.



About the Author:

Wendy Toliver has lived in Texas, Colorado, and now resides in Utah with her husband and three sons where they enjoy snowboarding, hiking, and wakeboarding. She's written two Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies: THE SECRET LIFE OF A TEENAGE SIREN and MISS MATCH, and the latter was a finalist for the Romance Writers of America's prestigious Golden Heart award.

Her third YA novel, LIFTED, was nominated for YALSA's Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers and Popular Paperback lists.