Thrice Upon a Marigold

Upon a Marigold #3

by Jean Ferris

Princess Poppy, the bouncing baby daughter of Queen Marigold and King Christian of Zandelphia-Beaurivage, is in terrible danger. The kingdom’s former torturer-in-chief and poisoner-in-chief have joined forces to kidnap the baby as an act of revenge for their exile! Can a ragtag parade of rescuers—including the king and queen, the evil kidnappers’ mortified children, five dogs, a white elephant, and a washed-up wizard—save Princess Poppy in time?

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Romance, Young Adult, Fairy Tales, Humor, Childrens

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

This author is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects: living with a deaf parent (Of Sound Mind), facing the consequences of a criminal act (Bad), or questioning one's sexuality (Eight Seconds). But Jean Ferris is also adept at writing comedy, historical fiction, and romance. What's most interesting is that she didn't publish her first novel until she was in her mid-40s. Yet she's never forgotten the intense feelings and changes of her own teenage years. Critics as well as teen readers have seen the evidence of that in her writing and have honored her novels with a number of awards, from Best Books for Young Adults to various state and National Book Award nominations.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways this is the silliest of the three. It's also the most dramatic & adventurous. I love Phoebe, the librarian, and Sebastian, the smith, even though they're a little implausibly wonderful. Well, as the subtitle says, this is a caper. I'm glad I read it, but I think my favorite remains the first.

I will continue to look for more by the author.

"When you don't know or can't know the answer to a question, why not believe the answer that you like best?"

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great! I loved it. I am very sad through that this is the last one. The series it so good and not like anyone that I have read. Some feelings and thoughts can not be expressed in words, you just have to read to understand.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way better than the second one and what a great addition to the character list. How can you not fall in love with a librarian who loves words and random facts. And when she meets a blacksmith who uses the perfect word for every situation and her love for those words ahhhhhhhhh how I sighed in love with the two of them. Honestly just melted thinking about them again.

Our beloved king and queen have just had a baby! They love her so much the partially ignore their digs and their kingdom. Just when they are starting to realize this and try to get back on track their princess poppy is stolen by two exiled baddies. A little clichéd a little over the top but who cares?! It's a fun fantasy fairy tale story that is sadly lacking in my favorite troll but makes up for it with interesting vocabulary and a story that boys and girls can read.

For both boys and girls though it might be hard to get boys to read just because of the cover -- it's easier for girls to read boy books than the other way around but that is a problem that parents and teachers will have to broach and not just a book reviewer with a super hardcore love of mixed up fairy tales-- anyway.... Hahaha for both ages fourth grade on up. A great story for kids who have to do vocabulary words out of their books. And for those who love a fairy tale that is it's own story and not just a reimagining of the classics.

[Theresa Linh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thrice Upon A Marigold was just okay. Once Upon A Marigold was my favorite as a kid and as an adult. The third book was an interesting continuation of the story because the main characters are not Marigold and Christian. I was disappointed that there were less of them, and the focus were on new characters Phoebe and Sebastian who are the outcasts of society because of their terrible fathers. Phoebe and Sebastian are trying to prove themselves and what others think of them wrong, and yes, they succeeded through their heroic deeds. It’s still a cute story, but the whimsical and charm feel of Once is missing in Thrice.

There are plot holes and things that don’t make sense like Marigold staying with the dragon instead of searching for her daughter. The terrible twos are supposed to be the worst people on earth, but they’re just idiots. How their mothers mostly abandoned them, even after the Terrible Twos were also banished. Also they need to have a better dungeon support and security system. Why does Swithbert feel the need to adopt them? The random chapter about Hannibal leading them to the dragon’s lair.

A better plot than Princess Poppy’s kidnapping would maybe a story about Princess Poppy, maybe like an unwanted gift from the fairies that Poppy has to deal with or a gift Christian and Marigold has to fix. That’s what I would have wrote about.

Anyway, it’s an interesting decision to not really focus on Christian and Marigold, and I don’t think it was the best decision. This makes me appreciate Twice Upon A Marigold even more because I thought that book was rushed and poorly written.

However, I’m glad I read the trilogy, but you do not need to read Twice or Thrice at all. Thrice wasn’t memorable. It should have ended at Once and at the most by Twice. You can kinda sense that the author ran out of ideas in Thrice, and it just needed to end. I’ll just say that the trilogy is cute and fun, but I probably won’t read anything past Once. It’s a children’s book, so it serves it purpose.

[Haley Kinser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite one of the series! This story was so adorable. I would recommend this book to anyone who needed some cheering up!

[Elevetha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Phoebe's love and appreciation for words (as well as the certain man who uses them...).

"Cogitable, thought Phoebe. Wow."

Predictable and nothing spectacular but it is what is says it is: a cute fairytale caper. Phoebe and Sebastian are adorable.

[Madeleine S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thrice Upon a Marigold, by Jean Ferris was a hilarious, keep you entertained type of book.

[Kellie Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun ending to the story. Moved along quickly.

[Jamie Tukpah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a baby girl for King Christian and Queen Marigold! Her name is Princess Poppy Allegra April Rosemary and she arrived at 11:20 p.m. Of course her royal parents, royal grandfathers, royal aunts and uncles, as well as the whole kingdom are ecstatic for her birth. Queen Marigold is worried about the potential fairy gifts at her daughter’s welcome celebration, considering the difficult childhood her own fairy gift caused her to endure. But before Marigold can properly panic about it, Poppy is kidnapped!

Although they were warned, Poppy is still taken before Christian and Marigold can take steps to protect her. Luckily, the people who warned them know the kidnappers better than almost anyone else. Phoebe and Sebastian just so happen to be the children of the kidnappers: Boris, ex-torturer-in-chief, and Vlad, ex-poisoner-in-chief, Queen Olympia’s most devoted employees. Unreconciled to their exile for the reprehensible things they did while Olympia was in power, kidnapping Poppy is their attempt at both revenge and enough money to start a new life elsewhere.

Marigold and Christian will have to call on old friends and new ones in order to make sure they get Princess Poppy back safe and unharmed.

-

This is the third installment of the Marigold series, and it’s just as amazing as the first two. Marigold and Christian are as in love as ever, with each other and with their beautiful baby girl. Marigold struggles to balance her queenly duties with her maternal feelings. She wants to be with Poppy all the time, but she knows she has a responsibility to her subjects. Marigold also doesn’t appreciate having her ability to face threats questioned by her husband. Christian has to learn that keeping things from her doesn’t protect her, it makes her unable to protect against unknown threats.

Phoebe and Sebastian are lovely side characters. They both struggle with their fathers’ reputations. People assume they must be as evil as the men who raised them. Neither of them believed their fathers’ occupation was right, participated in anything heinous, or chose to follow their fathers into exile. Still, their own reputations are tainted. Despite worrying that no one will believe them, or they might be accused of complicity, Phoebe and Sebastian choose to report their suspicions of the kidnapping and even help to bring their fathers down, clearing their own names.

I’d give it 5 stars! Recommended for anyone who strives to do the right thing even at great personal cost.

[SBC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as strong as the first two books, IMHO. It felt like a weird combination of silly and serious with Vlad and Boris being torturer and poisoner. Although murder is threatened in the first book it never feels that real and I'm sure there's a point made that Olympia didn't too anything as bad as she might have liked as the dungeons were empty and people were exiled instead. However, here, we're expected to believe in a reign of terror with torture and poison. For me, that didn't work with the setting that had already been painted in books 1 and 2 and it certainly didn't work for me in this book - I don't think you can really combine torture and humour. The first two books were silly, too, but somehow they worked better for me. I didn't like the representation of Marigold in this novel either or her relationship with Chris - they seemed less tolerant of each other (without the excuse of Olympia's bad vibes from book 2) and Marigold's explanation as to her disappearance and leaving it up to Chris to save the day felt weak and out of character. On the upside, Phoebe and Sebastian were nice, newly introduced characters.

[Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Christian and Queen Marigold of Beaurivage-Zandelphia rule their kingdoms from the the beautiful crystal caves turned castle, where Chris grew up. They are the King and Queen of the combined kingdoms and King Swithbert is retired. Chris's troll father has moved into the Beaurivage castle and spends his days playing snipsnapsnorum with the King and anyone else who can put up with their friendly cheating. And the best of all things is the birth of Princess Poppy, King Chris and Queen Marigold's baby daughter.

Preparations are being made for Princess Poppy's christening when she is kidnapped!! The evil characters who spirit away the baby princess are none other than the kingdom's ex-torturer-in-chief and ex-poisoner-in-chief! They want gold so they can go set up their evil doing's elsewhere and what better way than a kidnapping! When King Chris, former-King Swithbert, Ed, and Mangus are all thrown in the dungeon, it is up to Queen Marigold to figure out how to help them escape and save her precious baby. The rescue also involves a blacksmith, a librarian, an old wizard, a white elephant and an fire-breathing dragon. A bit of romance between the elephant and the dragon too!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fun, but not nearly as wonderful as the first two books.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Phoebe and Sebastian. They were so sweet and fun and hilarious. But their story wasn't nearly as wonderful as Marigold and Christian - who, by the way, are way less fun in this book.
Overall, it's a decent story. But somehow, this book felt like it had been written for a younger crowd and was being spoon-fed to the reader a lot more. I didn't love that, but I adored the first book enough to finish the series.

[Allison King · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book actually contains some pretty deep ideas if you look hard enough. Featuring several logophiles as protagonists, this will at least entertain word enthusiasts. Not as many laugh out loud moments due to the more serious nature and focus (and decided lack of Edric and Swithbert interaction!). It was nice to see Christian as a more mature and kingly figure though.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This third story of Christian and Marigold show that their life does not always run smoothly, that Happily Ever After takes some work. They are both very in love with the precious little daughter. We meet some wonderful new characters in this book. I like that there is give and take, compromises and caring.

[Cecilia Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the infant Princess Poppy is kidnapped,
it's up to Phoebe the court librarian to rescue
her.
With the help from Sebastian, the two track down their
fathers and wrangle with a dragon.
A funny fairy tale that also has a romance.

[Baige · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute final installment. I liked it better than the second book, but it still doesn't quite have the same magic as the first. I like the new characters introduced in this story, and it's a really quick read. Again, this series is perfect for middle grade readers!

[Ashley]

I'm not even sure why I read this book... I thought the first one was cute but nothing... special and I actively disliked the second. This one was not as good as the first but better than the second.

[azlynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of the series, I definitely think the first is the strongest, but after that the third is my favorite. I enjoyed the story of coming to terms with the legacy given to you and thriving in spite of bad parents.

[Katie Hamstead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still as light hearted and humourous as the previous two books, but I didn't think the story itself was as good. But the entire trilogy is a fun read either way. It's definitely something I will encourage my daughters to read. Clean, silly, and adventurous.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not as hilarious as I remember the first two being but it was still entertaining. It has been a number of years since I read the first two so my impression of this one could be skewed.

[Mallorie Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just awwww! 😙

[Jacque · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all three books in this series of mixed-up fairy tales. I’m glad we discovered this light-hearted humorous set of books.

[Reader Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written light read. Works well as a stand-alone.

[myra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful conclusion to this fantasy trilogy

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good continuation to the other 2 books.
Enjoyed reading all 3 books. Enjoyed reading about previous characters and some new ones. Enjoyed the book.

[Ainsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's really good and the ending is great.

[Roxie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute final chapter to the Marigold Series. Charming and whimsical as all of Jean Ferris’ writing.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I still like the first book best, but it was fun to finish out the rest of the series.

[Louisa Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book in the series more than the other two.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better than book 2, but still not as good as the first.