Once Upon Thyme

by Celine Jeanjean

What happens when nothing goes according to plan in a fairytale? If you're a fan of quirky characters, fun yet heart-warming stories, slow burn and clean romance, all with cozy vibes and, of course, a dragon, then you will love this fairytale retelling - at its heart, a story about finding your place in the world even when you don't fit the norm.

It's not easy being a princess, especially when your fairytale life refuses to follow the script.

Adrianna grapples with many problems. Her evil stepmother is too obsessed with her garden to remember being evil, her evil stepsister is adorable and dear to Adrianna’s heart, and if that wasn’t bad enough, her fairy godmother spends her days drinking, eating chocolate, and flirting with the gardener.

And just when Adrianna thinks her life couldn't get any more absurd, enter Prince Charming—who inexplicably proposes to her stepmother.

Adrianna decides that enough is enough—she's quitting the life of a princess altogether. Except that escaping a fairytale isn’t as easy as she thought, and to preserve her home and her family, she needs to somehow blunder her way to a Happy Ever After. Meaning a prince has to rescue her and propose marriage.

So, accompanied by her tipsy fairy godmother and a distractingly handsome (annoyingly so) stablehand, she sets her sights on a formidable task – finding a dragon, in the hopes this will convince a prince to perform the required rescue and marriage proposal.

Once-Upon-Thyme is a wonderfully twisted take on the classic fairytale formula, full of misfit characters, unexpected twists, and all about the importance of embracing life's beautiful imperfections. After all, even the most imperfect stories can lead to the most satisfying endings.

Genres: Fantasy, Cozy Fantasy, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Romantasy, Romance, Retellings

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2024

About the author

Celine Jeanjean is French, grew up in the UK and now she travels the world as a nomadic writer. That makes her a tad confused about where she is from. During her travels she's watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat, lost her shoes in Vietnam, and fallen off a bamboo raft in China.

Celine writes stories that feature quirky characters and misfits, set in wondrous worlds.

Reviews

[Clarissa Gosling · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny twist on how fairy tales mould their characters to fit.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love illustrations in books, however some of the pictures scattered throughout the book caused weird formatting where there would be a blank page before the next. There were also several editing errors and use of AI art that made me regretting the $65 I paid for this edition. The story itself was charming yet short, and I wished it had been a bit more fleshed out.

[Kimaroo32 Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

wasn’t what I was expecting. It was cute and a fast read.

[heb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a place where shepherds were regularly crowned king, in spite of being utterly unqualified to rule, where medicine was actively discouraged from progressing, because queens were supposed to die in childbirth, and where curses were more prevalent than the common cold.

3.5 ⭐ rounded up. Tbh, I didn't really care for the romance lmao...I was actively rooting against it for most of the book, until I finally resigned myself to the conclusion. I just didn't really like the guy -_- However, I really enjoyed the narrative style. Tonally, I felt there was a good balance between whimsy and darkness.

On another note, I absolutely loved the description of the ramshackle castle -- the author did a good job conveying the feeling of home, while maintaining the very specific and unique setting.

Adrianna truly loved her home, as fiercely as if it were a family member. She loved the fact that her father had had the foresight and open-mindedness to install running water in a couple of the rooms, but had never succeeded in doing so properly, so that turning on the taps made an awful groaning, rattling sound before letting forth a spray of disturbingly red water. They’d all thought it was blood due to some kind of curse at first, but the late king had assured them that it was simply a matter of the red clay to be found in the soil around the castle.
He’d passed before finding a way to pump clean water to the castle. Adrianna thought of him every time she washed herself in the red water.

The clock struck ten to midnight as it always did to allow princesses time to leave before their spells, curses, and other enchantments ran out.

There were very strict rules as to who a prince could marry. Princesses and any kind of pauper were fair game, but the bourgeoisie was wholly off limits (whoever heard of a prince falling in love with the middle classes?).
Charming wasn’t sure where a queen featured on the eligibility spectrum. Of course, kings married queens, but that was always after their first wife had died, generally in childbirth, and then they always married evil women, most often witches.

[Camilla Vavruch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely little story with a depth that is really only hinted at. What is a princess, and what is a happy ever after?

With a real ragtag group of misfits, this is a cozy sorry with high personal stakes, but there are no major wars or political intrigue, which is a nice change. Highly recommended!

[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adrianna is a princess in the fantasy world of Once-Upon-Thyme. She has your typical princess problems, including an evil stepmother and stepsister, and wanting to marry a handsome prince. Except that her stepmother is more interested in gardening than being evil, she loves her sister dearly, and doesn't really care about getting married. Oh, and her fairy godmother is a drunk. But things come to a bit of a head when Prince Charming proposes to her stepmother rather than to Adrianna and she has to defy the storylines to try and get her Happy Ever After.

In a lot of ways, this book reminded me a lot of Terry Pratchett's wonderful Witches Abroad, regarding putting stories above people and the hurt and pain that can cause. Once-Upon-Thyme is a pretty dystopic place, and the prince with the spinning wheel fetish is the least of it (what has happened to Adrianna's stepmother is actually pretty horrific).

I liked Adrianna and her whole slightly chaotic family. You can see why Adrianna defies the storylines to fight for them all, especially her sister. The book tells a complete story, but ends without much in the way of change. Adrianna and her family are being left alone, but the mysterious Master is still out there, obsessed with his (highly patriarchal) storylines, Charming's mother is probably plotting something, and poor Aurora still has her spinning-wheel obsessed husband, and will almost certainly die if she gives birth to a daughter, because that's just how the stories go.

I'm definitely intrigued with the world here and will look out for the sequel. (No idea why the kingdom is called Once-Upon-Thyme though. Thyme isn't mentioned once.)

[Lacy Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cozy, quirky fairytale retelling. Adrianna is a princess who lives in Once-Upon-Thyme, a land where Princess and princesses must adhere to their prescribed storylines or face dire consequences. We meet a Princess Charming who is actually not very charming at all and just wants to be left alone to read his books in peace. The “evil” stepmother and stepsister are actually the loveliest of people. And our heroine must go on a journey to save those she loves, meeting a handsome not-prince along the way. A cute, quick read for when you’re needing a light HEA.

[Faye Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once-Upon-Thyme is a funny fairytale retelling which twists the normal fairytale plotlines. Adrianna is the princess of the tale, but no-one around her is following the script. She eats apple crumble and then drinks breakfast wine in bed (my kinda girl). It's very meta - all the characters are aware of the fairytale tropes and storylines and actively talk about which ones they'll try to implement. It was a fun and sweet read and it felt like the author had a lot of fun writing it!

[Haley Buckel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this quirky little story. It plays on classic tales with a twist. the art throughout was absolutely gorgeous, and I lived all the details of the characters. I wish I could read it for the first time again. it's so very beautiful, yet simple and unconventional.

[Eternity's Raven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating: 2.5 stars.

This book has a cool premise but just failed in the execution of it. The writing just didn't match up to what this book could have been with more time worked on it.

Multiple spelling errors through out, oddly modern grammar and so much reptition throughout made what is a very short and quick read feel like a slog to get through.

The world is an awful lot of tell and not show, the descriptions didn't really bring anything to life and the world didn't quite make sense. It's a make believe land but the gardener is Cornish? It just kept pulling me out of the story.

The characters all felt very lack luster. You learnt one major thing about each character and then that was all they seemingly got. You just got beat about the head with that one thing, like Alinor being a kind step sister, Adrianna hates the life of a princess and hides behind alcohol, Sam was as flat as a piece of wood and didn't really have anything at all but a dead brother.

Overall it was fine but it really would have benefitted from expansion on it's characters, world and general ideas. A world built around fairy tales and a character who's failing at meeting the stories beats sounds so cool, but this execution just couldn't match it's potential.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book overview:

Adrianna is a princess in the land of Once Upon Thyme, who is expected to live out the traditional princess storyline of meeting a prince, falling in love and dying in childbirth. The problem is, Adrianna doesn't quite fit the role and struggles to balance expectations with finding her own happiness.

Interest points:
Fairytale reimagined
Dragons
Clean romance
Found family
Unconventional princess
Cozy book

Thoughts:
This is a really fun, cute book. We have the unconventional princess, the drunk and slightly bawdy fairy godmother, the useless and lacking prince Charming, the not-so-evil stepmother and sister, and the commoner love interest. It's a unique world where storylines are meant to be followed and deviation is quickly dealt with. Adrianna lives in a rather ramshackle castle filled with holes, oddities and warmth. She half-heartedly goes along with her role to attempt to knab a prince despite wanting nothing more than to simply exist in her space with her family. When that peace is threatened, we see the great lengths she'll go through to protect the ones she loves. While we don't see a lot of the actual world itself, we aren't missing very much as we get plenty of character interaction that lends to us being able to understand what's happening. The references to other fairytale princess stories is fun. Being able to see beyond the "happily ever after" and questioning what that actually means and entails was an interesting plot point; there was all the elements given in a princess storyline, though not exactly tidy and perfect, so what exactly is a happily ever after and why, if they meet these requirements, would the storyline not count? I read this as a palette cleaner between heavier themes but it's quirkiness has definitely made it a top read for the year. I will be picking up other books by this author set within this world.

Overall - 4.5⭐

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

DO *NOT* READ THIS BOOK IF YOU ACTUALLY LIKE FAIRY TALES!

From the bright colors of the cover and lighthearted description I figured I was in for a book that would gently rib fairytales and their "rules" and then deliver a more-or-less original one. NOPE!! This is a book for people who have completely bought all the bad-faith criticisms of fairy tales and hate them with a seething passion!

I had to put my kindle down several times because of all the blatant mischaracterizations and unfair bashing of the original fairytales. And I don't think there was a single chapter when princes weren't being slandered in at least 3 ways. (like, according to this book, every prince that ever existed was either a coward, an idiot, a glory hound, a creep, or some mix of two or more of these things. No exceptions.)

If the author had at least named the characters from the specific fairytales she referenced differently (aside from maybe Prince Charming because that's pretty generic), I might have been able to excuse the endless barrage of fairy mischaracterizations as a commentary on how ultimately wholesome things can be deformed into something shallow and weird if people get fixated on the trivial aesthetics of them… but since she’s using the names from the Disney versions specifically, I can only conclude that the author herself just believes the lies people have been spreading about fairy tales and fairy tale characters.

The main character is also very irritating. Very snappish and rude and complains ALL the time about everything. It's a BIT forgivable after we find out the stakes of what happens if she doesn't follow the fairytale rules (it IS pretty terrible) and she does go through an arc and gets humbler by the end, but it never really became a pleasure following her for me.

I did like how the dragon was handled, though. That is the reason for 2 stars and not 1

[Sarah Metcalf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adrianna is a Princess, but not a very good one. She hasn’t managed to be saved by a Prince and her evil stepmother and stepsister aren’t actually evil. After one of the numerous balls she attended, Prince Charming comes calling but not on her, on her stepmother Petunia. With their storyline in danger of going off the rails, Adrianna must figure out a way to marry a prince or rush her stepsister, Alinore being rearranged. When she finds a stable hand to help her steal a dragon egg, will her storyline have a chance at righting itself or will they all be doomed?
Adrianna is not the typical princess. She enjoys playing, running, drinking wine with her fairy godmother, Mirabelle - all things a princess should never do. She only looks for a prince bc it was what she was born to do. Alinore is the sister who is true princess material, right down to being kind to all living things even spiders. They have a silly, barely functioning castle and no real money on hand. They definitely go against the grain in Once Upon Thyme. But my favorite has to Mirabelle. She is not what you expect a fairy godmother to be. She likes drinking, being bawdy and terrorizing the gardener.
This was a fun twist on fairytales. It pokes fun at and holes into the fairytale theme. What happens after the Happily Ever After? No one knows and sometimes, it seems, it may be better that way! It was humorous and entertaining while adding a dash of danger towards the end. It’s a fast paced book and such a quick and easy read as well. And now that their story story has been rewritten, I wonder what will come next!

[Lara Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrianna is not your typical princess. She loves her evil stepsister and would prefer drinking wine with her fairy godmother to attending grandiose balls. Her “evil” stepmother is too obsessed with the garden to help secure her a prince at all. However, in order for Adrianna to maintain the status quo and keep the life she loves, she will have to find a prince and quick! When Prince Charming inexplicably proposes to her stepmother, the time table is sped up. In order to save her sister, her home, and everything she holds dear, she is going to have to find her storyline to Happy Ever After.

The good: This book is a very cute adaptation of the normal fairytale. It bends the rules and plays off the idea that everyone knows they have to follow a storyline. The characters are loveable and feel very human. Overall, it’s a unique concept and I enjoyed the writing.

The bad: The beginning drags on a bit. I know the point is to introduce all the characters and get to understand the world, but it felt a tad much.

Overall: Love this. It was whimsical and fun to read. I needed a soft feel good story after some high fantasy reads. This fit the bill. I laughed more than once. Although I don’t think I’ll be obsessing over it for years to come, it was exactly what I wanted.

[Carlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was alright. I had high hopes for it. The cover didn't seem well-attached and the binding cheap, but it had some gorgeous artwork all throughout the book so I decided to give it a shot.

It's a metaphor for the experience of reading the book. At first it seems it'll be a fun twist on fairy tales, with a prince falling for the not-evil stepmother and the princess trying to avoid the fairytale altogether. But as you read, the charm fades. Adrianna is an alcoholic and she cusses and jokes with innuendo. It's not a quirky fairy tale - its gross. Similarly, halfway through reading, the cover of my brand new copy detached (it turns out it had been cheaply glued on). The promise and appearance of a careful, cute work of art was revealed for the cheap trick it was. It's not fun to follow Adrianna; the more you get to know her, the worse her personality is. All the princes are incompetent fools and it's just blah.

The book had lots of promise it didn't live up to, and now I need to decide if it's worth repairing the cover to donate or just get rid of the book that fell apart on the first read 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Brittany Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting. I loved the characters if the borderline alcoholism of the princess was a bit off putting the reality of breaking free of molds in a world that makes that damn near impossible without shame and fear plaguing every step made her a heroine worth rooting for.

I give it four stars instead of five simply because the amount of unnecessary disdain and perversion aimed towards the happily ever after pulled away from what this story is doing. The story was plenty gripping despite that. Honestly, I hope the writer can go about pointing out someone's Happily Ever After doesn't have to look like everyone else's to be just as magical as she further explores the world she has created with this book in the next ones of the series without all their unnecessary perversions.

I am hoping as she makes more stories in this land we will get to revisit these characters and see how their Happily Ever After actually gets to play out. ❤️

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute twist on a fairytale retelling. The characters live in a fairy tale world, bound to live their fairy tale story lines and find their Happily Ever After. But none of them actually fit into the fairy tale mold. FMC is a princess who isn't princess-like; her evil stepmother isn't evil, and she loves her evil stepsister. Prince Charming isn't charming; all he wants is to be left alone. The setting is a parody of Disney princess fairytale stories. Aurora from Sleeping Beauty makes a cameo, and it turns out Prince Phillip has a spinning wheel fetish lol. It's a fun and short read; great palette cleanser.

Audiobook: No audiobook available
Genre: Fairytale retelling
Series information: Book 1 in ongoing untitled series
Steam Level: 1 out of 5 (Glimpses and kisses)
Romance Level: 3 out of 5 (Fantasy story with romance subplot)
How I Read It: E-book borrowed from Libby

[Karen Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gem in the Cinderella style story retells. The focus of this story is on our princess but she is not the downtrodden, abused lost young lady in most of these types of stories nor are the supporting characters slotted into their ‘expected’ roles. Our heroine must find a prince and get married-just like every other princess in the land. She has tried to do this but no one has proposed. She is strong willed, fiesty and she cares deeply for her family. Which includes an ‘evil’ step mother and sister, a wonky fairy godmother, and a shy gardener. They live in genteel poverty in a house which may or may not be magical. Does our princess get a happy ending?? Does she get her prince?? What she does get is an adventure and a lesson about love and life. Excellent story to read aloud to youngsters-but you will need to change some of the stronger language and alcohol situations. I think the lessons learned from this book far outweigh the minor issue of these changes….

[Cari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairytale with a twist? – check. Quirky characters unwilling to fit into the usual mold? – check. But there is more to this story. Amongst the amusing, sometimes impulsive, machinations of a princess set on writing her own story, there is a current of something darker. What does happily-ever-after mean and what are some people willing to endure to achieve it? Now, imagine a world where you don’t have a choice but to do all you can to fit into the story written for you. One where the “powers that be” will do all they can to keep a storyline on track no matter what it takes.
Once Upon a Thyme is irreverent, amusing, and sometimes ridiculous (in a good way). It is certainly not your usual fairytale. It will also make your skin creep when you consider just what happily-ever-after might mean.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a princess in a fairytale world who doesn't fit into how such stories are supposed to go. Her stepsister and stepmother are not evil at all, she's not helpless and in need of a prince saving her, and she's got no interest in marrying a prince anyway. This leads to quite some trouble, involving a dragon and her egg, a handsome commoner, and the princess going on an adventure and trying to save herself and her family. The author plays skilfully with fairytale tropes and has developed a charming world with very likeable characters. I enjoyed the book a lot and can definitely recommend it.

If you can get your hands on the hardcover edition that was published during a Kickstarter: It's absolutely gorgeous with beautiful illustrations, a great cover, and sprayed edges.

[M.H. Thaung]

As you can see from the blurb, this fast-paced fantasy story takes fairytale conventions and twists them in a different direction.

I haven’t previously read anything by this author. The prose was easy to read. I felt there was a tendency for repetition as well as overdone descriptions (but my tastes run to lean/spare prose). The characters were distinct and consistent in their behaviour, and amused me by (nearly all) acting contrary to their “proper” fairytale role.

The mood was mainly light with a touch of slapstick, although main character Adrianna had her serious moments of internal reflection as well.

As for the actual plot events? Well, it’s a fairytale world, with fairytale magic, so I don’t think a reader should get too hung up on plausibility :)

[Brittini Ramsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute little whimsical fantasy based around fairy tales.

In this story, they are a way of life, the storylines are to be followed and form a sort of tradition - and you don't break from tradition.
If you aren't following the storylines you get 'remade/rearranged' so you can fit into a new storyline.
Well this Princess doesn't fit the mold, nor does she really want to, except her 'failures' mean her family is also affected and at risk of being rearranged.
This tale follow her in her journey to try and complete an appropriate storyline, messing it up royally, and then fighting to keep her own storyline; because at the end of the day, not everyone is going to fit nice and neatly into the same little box.

[Kassie Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expecting Shrek vibes, but not so much

I was drawn to the cover and fascinated by the quirky retelling. It was an oddball cozy tale, but in the end this story type was not for me. I was anticipating Shrek vibes, but the rudeness of the princess was off putting, the Aurora bit made me uncomfortable, every prince was shallow and insufferable, and Sam deserved hero abilities when it mattered. I did find the fairy godmother hilarious, and I liked the evil stepmother’s storyline. If you want to get deep, everyone who followed the correct storylines in this tale was miserable, those who got the HEA, didn’t really have a HEA. Also justice for Mama Dragon, she deserved more!

[Megan Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book has a great concept, and is a quick read. There are many that will find it funny. The romance is clean- albeit this story has innuendo, drinking, and strong language is used, although, not abundantly.

I think the writing was okay. This story was actually not my cup of tea, and I found the plot to be lacking in a lot of areas, also, writing wise- I found it very redundant, and very “telling” instead of “showing”… I think with a little more polish, the story has a lot of potential!

[Paige Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely love this book its so funny and shows that anyone can be anything and you don't have to follow the storyline. sometimes princesses can be the heros and princes can be lazy socks.
Adrianna is like me would rather have true loves kiss with a dragon instead of a prince.
I honestly thought sam was a prince in disguise as a stable hand but he is legit a stable hand lol 😆
but in the end they get together and they are all in there own little crazy weird misguided storyline and living happily ever after 🥰🥰

[Savannah Goth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 🌟
I honestly picked this book strictly by the cover and my love for fairytales. I didn’t even read the summary so I was walking into this book blind. At first the constant mentions of "following the storyline" was both confusing and redundant, but that was quickly able to be overlooked. The Aurora business caught me so off guard though! A good sense of humor in my dark opinionated mind. I dislike that there is technically 2 POV but no titles to tell you who we are focusing on and there is only 3ish chapters about Prince Charming. I mean I much preferred the Princesses plot anyways.

[C.A. Morley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens in a fairytale world when your storyline doesn't fit the mold? Princess Adrianna is uninterested in marrying a handsome prince and living out a pre-determined "happily-ever-after." She wants freedom to make her own choices, but there's a horrifying price to pay for autonomy. Can she do it?

Sometimes you need a story that is silly and quirky. Once-Upon-Thyme delivers both in an unpredictable fairytale turned on its head. It's a clean romance, but is more for New Adults and up, as the humour includes a drunken fairy godmother and a prince with a fetish.

[Alex Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8/5


It was so cozy. A clean fairytale romance where the royalty was bound to a happily ever after and had to follow storylines and what happens when they step outside of those stories.

Charming and cozy. No spice at all but that’s fine. I enjoyed myself reading it.

Stablehand MMC. Multiple love stories. Rescue. Dragon. Personal growth. Fairy godmothers. No OMD/OWD (he lives with his brother’s widow and she is proposed to by a prince but there is no angst).

[Keni Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. But a little predictable at times. Very anti climactic resolution. I'm disappointed in myself for spending so much on a pretty book that really isn't justified. Someone on FB commented that the art looks AI and there is no artist credit, so that has me wondering. If you're looking at this book, just get the eReader copy.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun tongue in cheek story that turned fairytales on their heads. It was full of clever and witty moments. A cozy read. It’s a fun take on the fairy tale genre.

No Spice (kissing is as far as it gets)
Excessive Explicit Language (21+ swear words)
PG Violence/Gore
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this book! It was a great read. I had fun while reading this book.