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Once Upon a Time #4
Through the Looking Glass
Gideon Hughes plans to sell the run-down Wonderland carnival he has inherited, until he meets the lovely caretaker, Maggie Durant, and sets out to win her heart
- GenresRomanceContemporary
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1990
16 people are currently reading
223 people want to read
About the author
Kay Hooper
97 books2,452 followersKay Hooper (aka Kay Robbins) was born in California, in an air force base hospital since her father was stationed there at the time. The family moved back to North Carolina shortly afterward, so she was raised and went to school there.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 1, 2023
This is a rather delightful little story, and the perfect way to end my reading year. I see that this is actually part of a series called "Once Upon a Time," which makes everything make 1000% more sense. I love fairy tale retellings, and this one is a doozy: Alice in Wonderland!
Maggie Durant is the family chameleon, and the family troubleshooter. When she learns that her cousin Merlin has died mysteriously - and that her Aunt Julia believes that he was murdered - she realizes that it's up to her to go investigate his death. Merlin was a magician in a traveling carnival called Wonderland, so Maggie shows up at its ramshackle temporary home in Kansas, takes an animal trainer's job, and starts her investigation into her cousin's death (he apparently fell into a well when the carnival was in Iowa).
Meanwhile, Gideon Hughes has been summoned to Wonderland upon the news that a very distant relative has suddenly died and left him in charge of the carnival. Gideon is an investment banker, and is frankly flummoxed by the idea of owning a traveling carnival. He demands to see the manager, and is immediately surprised - and intrigued - to find that 28-year-old Maggie is in charge of this lot. She looks like a fairy: small, blonde, impossibly fey features, and he's immediately intrigued. He can't make anything she says make logical sense, however, so they find themselves rather at a rather bemused crossroads. Eventually Gideon learns how to unbend enough to feel, rather than think, and the two put their heads together to discover who is a murderer hiding amongst the carny crew. They also fall in love over the course of about 2 days, thanks to a little meddling matchmaking from the improbably old Uncle Cyrus Fortune, who incidentally looks exactly like Col Sanders of KFC fame.
This is a very bizarre story, one you just have to roll with. If the author has her rights back, she could easily market this as fantasy romance these days. The only internal sense is the whimsical nonsense of the Lewis Carroll classic stories. There's even a Cheshire cat!
Bizarre, but unlike my last read, utterly delightful. I love the idea that there are more books in this series, all of which appear to be other fairy tale retellings. If this author can pull off freaking Alice in Wonderland, I can only imagine how she'd handle the more conventional tales!
Maggie Durant is the family chameleon, and the family troubleshooter. When she learns that her cousin Merlin has died mysteriously - and that her Aunt Julia believes that he was murdered - she realizes that it's up to her to go investigate his death. Merlin was a magician in a traveling carnival called Wonderland, so Maggie shows up at its ramshackle temporary home in Kansas, takes an animal trainer's job, and starts her investigation into her cousin's death (he apparently fell into a well when the carnival was in Iowa).
Meanwhile, Gideon Hughes has been summoned to Wonderland upon the news that a very distant relative has suddenly died and left him in charge of the carnival. Gideon is an investment banker, and is frankly flummoxed by the idea of owning a traveling carnival. He demands to see the manager, and is immediately surprised - and intrigued - to find that 28-year-old Maggie is in charge of this lot. She looks like a fairy: small, blonde, impossibly fey features, and he's immediately intrigued. He can't make anything she says make logical sense, however, so they find themselves rather at a rather bemused crossroads. Eventually Gideon learns how to unbend enough to feel, rather than think, and the two put their heads together to discover who is a murderer hiding amongst the carny crew. They also fall in love over the course of about 2 days, thanks to a little meddling matchmaking from the improbably old Uncle Cyrus Fortune, who incidentally looks exactly like Col Sanders of KFC fame.
This is a very bizarre story, one you just have to roll with. If the author has her rights back, she could easily market this as fantasy romance these days. The only internal sense is the whimsical nonsense of the Lewis Carroll classic stories. There's even a Cheshire cat!
Bizarre, but unlike my last read, utterly delightful. I love the idea that there are more books in this series, all of which appear to be other fairy tale retellings. If this author can pull off freaking Alice in Wonderland, I can only imagine how she'd handle the more conventional tales!
December 18, 2016
"I'm involved with a woman who has the eyes of a siren, the face of an angel, and a mind like a labyrinth. She offers absurd answers to the most logical questions, and changes moods right in front of my eyes, and I know she's a bit mad; I just don't know to what degree. She's trying to find one maniac in the middle of a rolling asylum, because the maniac pushed her cousin into a well."
FINAL DECISION: I enjoyed the book years ago and still enjoyed it today. It's quirky and unrealistic and has instant love that doesn't always make sense, but the characters are fun and the story is an easy enjoyable read that has something extra.
THE STORY: Maggie Durant comes from a family of atypical people. She comes to the Wonderland traveling carnival to investigate the murder of one of her relatives. There she meets Gideon Hughes, a financier planning on selling the barely surviving Wonderland. When the two meet, something magical happens between the two even as Gideon struggles to know the mercurial Maggie.
OPINION: Don't read this book looking for a realistic contemporary book. This is a book that tends towards a fairy tale more than realism. The characters fall in love quickly and with little to basis their feelings on. The story doesn't make any real sense, and yet I love this book for the joy in the story, the fun in the characters and the attempts to push the boundaries that this book made when it was written.
Approach this book with an open heart and you can find fun and consideration in Maggie's Chesire Cat like shifting personalities, Gideon's Alice-like attempts to impose order on Wonderland, and the funny people and creatures that inhabit this book. A real attempt to push the boundaries of contemporary series romances toward the fantasy and paranormal, this is one of the book that opened my eyes to the possibilities of crossing genres that have become very prevalent.
Funny and simple and filled with joy and a bit of magic.
WORTH MENTIONING: This book was originally published in 1990 as a Loveswept category romance.
CONNECTED BOOKS: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is the fourth book in the loosely connected Once Upon a Time series. These book are only connected by the fairy tale concept and one character who makes brief appearances to act as matchmaker for the couples. Each book can be read completely independent of the others.
STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.This review was originally posted on Top10RomanceBooks.com
FINAL DECISION: I enjoyed the book years ago and still enjoyed it today. It's quirky and unrealistic and has instant love that doesn't always make sense, but the characters are fun and the story is an easy enjoyable read that has something extra.
THE STORY: Maggie Durant comes from a family of atypical people. She comes to the Wonderland traveling carnival to investigate the murder of one of her relatives. There she meets Gideon Hughes, a financier planning on selling the barely surviving Wonderland. When the two meet, something magical happens between the two even as Gideon struggles to know the mercurial Maggie.
OPINION: Don't read this book looking for a realistic contemporary book. This is a book that tends towards a fairy tale more than realism. The characters fall in love quickly and with little to basis their feelings on. The story doesn't make any real sense, and yet I love this book for the joy in the story, the fun in the characters and the attempts to push the boundaries that this book made when it was written.
Approach this book with an open heart and you can find fun and consideration in Maggie's Chesire Cat like shifting personalities, Gideon's Alice-like attempts to impose order on Wonderland, and the funny people and creatures that inhabit this book. A real attempt to push the boundaries of contemporary series romances toward the fantasy and paranormal, this is one of the book that opened my eyes to the possibilities of crossing genres that have become very prevalent.
Funny and simple and filled with joy and a bit of magic.
WORTH MENTIONING: This book was originally published in 1990 as a Loveswept category romance.
CONNECTED BOOKS: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is the fourth book in the loosely connected Once Upon a Time series. These book are only connected by the fairy tale concept and one character who makes brief appearances to act as matchmaker for the couples. Each book can be read completely independent of the others.
STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.This review was originally posted on Top10RomanceBooks.com
January 11, 2020
Prva novotkriena avtorka Kej Huper sto me voodshevi, ljuboven triler procitan vo eden zdiv. Vo cirkusot se slucuva nesreka, stariot sopstvenik Merlin e pronajden vo bunarot. Dali e ubistvo ili nesreka? Megi e mlada 25 godisna studentka koja se obvrzuva za vreme na letniot raspust da upravuva so cirkusot. Doaga noviot naslednik i sopstvenik na cirukusot mladiot uspesen 35 godisen bankar Gilbert koj saka da go prodade cirukusot. Impresioniran e od ubavinata i intelegencijata na mladata upravitelka Megi koja go zapoznava so site vraboteni vo cirkusot i nivnite sudbini. Hemijate megu niv e ogromna, no tuka e nerazresenoto ubistvo, dali site vraboteni ke ostanat na ulica i sudbinata na dresiranite zivotni. Interesna do kraj :-) Ocenka 5.
no-longer-interested
September 26, 2011I decided that this book didn't sound as interesting as I once thought. Going to send it off into the world
August 31, 2016
Still have it (2016) - Loveswept
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews