Book Review: Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi

Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance

*Digital ARC of this book provided through NetGalley for review.

The first Roshani Chokshi novel I ever read was The Star-Touched Queen, a beautiful and lyric fantasy love story that has stuck with me over time. I have yet to read her wildly popular Gilded Wolves series but I suspect I will love those books just as much. When I first saw this book, Once More Upon A Time, I was instantly drawn in by the beautiful cover and clever title. I am a sucker for anything based around fairy tales and this book delivered on being a lighthearted and fun look at the "once upon a time" formula for storytelling.

Summary

(Taken from Goodreads because I'm not the best at summaries truthfully and I don't think I could do better than this.)

Once upon a dream, there was a prince named Ambrose
and a princess named Imelda who loved each other...
But alas, no more.
"What a witch takes, a witch does not give back!"
their friends and family warn.
They resign themselves to this loveless fate...
A year and a day pass.
And then their story truly begins...
Embark on a perilous journey with Imelda and Ambrose as they brave magical landscapes and enchanted creatures on their quest to reclaim their heart's desire...But first they must remember what that is...

This is a short book, easily read in one sitting if you're an avid reader. The writing is different from Chokshi's other work, much lighter and breezy. It actually reminds me a little of the Fairyland series by Catherynne M. Valente in terms of how it's written. I also think that it would make a very fun movie that I would actually go see in theaters, and I rarely consent to see things in theaters. That being said, I didn't like it as much as the other things I've read by this author. The style works for me, and so does the love story, I mostly just wanted more of it. Another 100 pages easily could have been added into this book, a little more adventure, and it would probably have been a home run for me. I liked Imelda and Ambrose together, the way they interacted, and I believe that they loved each other. It's because I enjoyed them so much that I wanted more.

If you're looking for something fun with a sweet romance that you can breeze through in an afternoon, I would recommend this book. I'd love to see Chokshi expand on this universe, maybe explore some of the siblings of Imelda and Ambrose; I would definitely read that.

4/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

"And this, thought Ambrose, was why one mustn't share a bed with a woman one was not exactly married to.

One moment you could be looking at her, on the verge of an excellent witticism...

The next you would find yourself attacked by a feral mattress."

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