Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey

The Once Upon a Time books are short but sweet retellings of old fairytales, written with the general plot of the original story in mind, but in such a way that there are a few surprises along the way (often the story is told in a contemporary setting that has no magical elements, or contains a twist on who the heroine eventually falls in love with). For their target audience they are a treat, and for everyone else, they are a pleasant way to kill a couple of hours.

Out of all the authors commissioned to add their retellings to the series, Cameron Dokey, the author of Belle, Before Midnight and Golden, is probably the best (or at least, my personal favourite). There's something unique about Dokey's ideas concerning the source material and the w... Read More

Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey

Cameron Dokey's contributions to the Once Upon a Time series are undoubtedly the finest, but her retelling of Cinderella is initially a little hit and miss. The series as a whole involves writers taking a recognizable fairytale and tweaking it a little into something that is still familiar but which provides a different point of view. This can involve changing the setting or the time period, removing all the magical elements that make up the original tale, or simply fleshing out the characterization.

Dokey takes all three approaches in her take on Cinderella, setting it in an unspecified time and place (though everyone has French names) and expanding more on our heroine's relationship with her father and step-family. Born to Etienne de Brabant and Constanze d'Este, Cinderella is here named Cendrillon, and her birth is... Read More

Belle by Cameron Dokey

The Once Upon a Time books are a series of relatively slim volumes that retell traditional fairytales, usually in an updated setting. Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince"
for example is set during WWII, and with the magical elements removed. Belle is an exception to this rule, as it is set in your typical 19th century time-period and with plenty of emphasis on enchantment and mystery in its second half.

Other reviewers have compared Belle with Robin McKinley's Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty... Read More

The Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey

The Once Upon a Time series takes traditional fairytales and gives them a new spin, either by rationalizing the magical elements (as in Snow) or by setting them in a more contemporary time period (such as Water Song). They make for short but sweet little reads; like Hershey's Chocolate Drops, they're hardly anything to get too excited over, but can provide a new point-of-view to stories you've been hearing since you were a child. Cameron Dokey is perhaps the most popular contributor to the series, and her titles are amongst the best installments, including The Storyteller’s Daughter, Beauty Sleep, and Before Midnight.

Wild Orchid is based on "The Ballad ... Read More