At age fourteen, Eva is ready to say that fairy tales aren’t true.¹ But one summer at her grandmother’s English estate is enough to shake anyone’s unbelief. Strange things happen under the moonlight while secrets lurk at every turn. In Once A Queen, Sarah Arthur creates a family-centered fantasy set in the modern world, yet traveling to other times and places where family is defined by love and old tragedies. Readers will find few references to God, yet the hope of heaven shines through the story’s ending. Although some may find the echoes of Narnia too strong, Once A Queen is a gentle, intriguing fantasy that brings its world and characters to life with vividness and compassion.

Best for: Fans of fairy tales, young adult fantasy, and C. S. Lewis.

Discern: Several non-graphic murders and battles; children are disobedient and occasionally place themselves in potentially dangerous situations, someone suffers mental illness that seems used to justify infantilizing treatment.