“This book is about faeries, magic, demons, and it was just pure enjoyment,” said Kirsty Hanson of The Bibliophile Girl in her review of BETWIXTERS: ONCE UPON A TIME by Laura C. Cantu. “As soon as I started reading this book, it instantly reminded me of The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi. . . . Once Upon a Time had a very similar feel to it with the different magical realms that belonged to humans, faeries, gnomes.”

“Even though this book is a middle-grade novel, it didn’t feel like that,” she continued. “The language wasn’t too simplistic, the plot wasn’t boring; everything had a nice balance, and there was also diversity among our three protagonists!”

Below is a brief excerpt from the review:

“The three children go on such an incredible journey, as individuals and as a team. We see them go from being scared of the school bully: Grucker, to finally having enough of keep having to watch their back and standing up to him. There was one moment in this book that really really got to me, and that was when Ethan’s parents went to his school and told the head teacher about the bullying that was going on at her school. And instead of her saying that she didn’t know but she would check it out, she just turned her nose up at the parents and told them not to tell her how to run her school. I thought that this was just so horrible to hear because unfortunately, sometimes it can be the case with some schools; they just don’t want to accept that they don’t have a handle on things. Luckily, Ethan’s parents stuck up for him and shouted at the headteacher which I thought was awesome! The form of ‘the bully’ takes on many forms throughout Once Upon a Time, and I loved reading about how the friends came together to tackle each and every one of them.”

To read the full story, go to The Bibliophile Girl!

For more information about Laura, visit her website or follow her on social media.