Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince" (Once Upon a Time)

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Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince" (Once Upon A Time)

by Suzanne Weyn, Mahlon F. Craft (Design)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 2,772 ratings · 235 reviews

"ONCE UPON A TIME" IS TIMELESS Young, beautiful, and wealthy, Emma Pennington is accustomed to a very comfortable life. Although war rages abroad, she hardly feels its effect. She and her mother travel from their home in Britain to the family estate in Belgium, never imagining that the war could reach them there. But it does. Soon Emma finds herself stranded in a war-torn...more

Paperback, 208 pages

Published October 24th 2006 by Simon Pulse

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The Best Fairytales and Retellings

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The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey

Once Upon a Time Series

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Sep 18, 2009 Cara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Cara by: Ash

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, fairy-tales

First off before going in you must know that this retelling is loosely based on the original tale. I thought this was a plus because personally I never was really fond of the original. Really how romantic can a real frog be?

The book is set during WWI and I love how Suzanne Weyn does her retellings with a historic backdrop. It adds realism to the tale. I've also noticed that Weyn seems to like adding lots of languages and accents to her stories, which add more of a cultural effect to them. So we...more First off before going in you must know that this retelling is loosely based on the original tale. I thought this was a plus because personally I never was really fond of the original. Really how romantic can a real frog be?

The book is set during WWI and I love how Suzanne Weyn does her retellings with a historic backdrop. It adds realism to the tale. I've also noticed that Weyn seems to like adding lots of languages and accents to her stories, which add more of a cultural effect to them. So we have our frog prince who is the most lovable Jack, and the strong minded Emma. For such a little book she packed a lot of action. Don't get me wrong it's not action packed like a thriller, but for a fairy tale it kept the plot rolling. I appreciated that in this one we got to see the relationship between Emma and Jack grow. It's not "oh I just realized that we are beautiful and we should totally be together!" It had a lot more of a real footing in the love they will eventually have for each other. At first they both are kind of wary of each other; not sure what the other is thinking. They have the age old assumptions of each other. She thinking he was uneducated and rough, and he thought she believed she was too good for him because of her wealth. It was kind of funny because sometimes they were right.

I want to spend the rest of the review singing praises over Jack, but I won't do that. Maybe I should create my own Ode to Jack later. I'll make copies for anyone who wants one:) He is just the perfect all American southern boy. Nuff' said. I was kind of disappointed when I found out what the locket had, though it did have a symbolic meaning. I thought it could have been more original. At times I was confused, well not confused but questioning why they decided to do certain things. The ending is so sweet though and makes up for it completely.

Best quality of the book (instead of Jack of course) was that both the main characters had strong values, which I thought should be applauded.
Simply a lovely story.
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Sep 15, 2009 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Valerie by: Ash

Shelves: retellings, fantasy, historical-fiction

Another superb book from the Once Upon A Time series. This book is set in WWI. I read another book called All Quiet On The Western Front. It's a very different book from this one and it was depressing so when Weyn mentioned the Western Front I got all depressed. Don't get the wrong idea, the book was not depressing. It was remembering the other book that got me depressed.

Well anyways, Watersong. I liked the whole set up of the story; Emma and Jack being trapped together because they are under f...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Janus Vielle (The Blair Book Project) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-paperback

Watersong is a short, quick tale that I find so endearing.

This is a retelling of the Grimm Brothers’ well known tale, “The Frog Prince,” more or less I should say. It was loosely based on that story anyway. Weyn pretty much played around with the idea of it and although endowed with magic, giving it a more realistic approach.

The story was set on the brink of World War I. With that I mind, I expected this to be sinking into the depressing state of events. Fortunately, I got a spunky, funny and s...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Lydia Shellenbarger rated it 2 of 5 stars

I usually enjoy the Once Upon a Time series, even if they are occasionally flat character wise. Usually, the reimaginings of the fairy tales is generally clever and enjoyable, and the overall love story is sweet. This is one of the exceptions, perhaps because it was set totally in real world, real time earth, it seemed to detract from the story, and I honestly didn't believe the main characters romance. It seemed sudden and rather weak, though this may just be because I like so many other storie...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Historyprincess rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: once-upon-a-time

I was never really interested in "The Frog Prince" mainly because there wasn't really anything to it other than the princess kissing the frog. But thanks to the new Disney movie and this book, it's now probably a favorite of mine.

Sixteen-year-old Emma is trapped in Belgium in 1914, at the beginning of WWI. Not long before, after she and her mother arrived to visit their estate, her mother was killed in a bombing. And with both enemy and ally armies fighting nearby, she now she has no way home to...more

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May 27, 2012 Josephina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairy-tales, forgettable, historical-romance, kill-the-characters, love-hate-relationships, re-tellings, stop-it-author, romance, will-never-reread, light-read

This is the third book in the "Once Upon a Time" series I've read, and I'm starting to find that I generally like the IDEA behind the series far more than the EXECUTION. Which is not to say that this novel (and the others in the series) didn't have its merits. However, I found myself more intrigued by the idea of the story than the tale that was actually told.

"Water Song" retells the story of "The Frog Prince" in the era of World War I. The book started off somewhat slowly, though I liked the ch...more This is the third book in the "Once Upon a Time" series I've read, and I'm starting to find that I generally like the IDEA behind the series far more than the EXECUTION. Which is not to say that this novel (and the others in the series) didn't have its merits. However, I found myself more intrigued by the idea of the story than the tale that was actually told.

"Water Song" retells the story of "The Frog Prince" in the era of World War I. The book started off somewhat slowly, though I liked the change from "golden ball" to a necklace with the heroine's parent's photos inside. Given the setup, I could certainly understand why she would willingly agree to almost anything to get it back. However, overall, I wasn't a very big fan of her character. I can't say what was exactly lacking for me. Perhaps it was the way she contemplated escaping without even a passing thought as to whether her escape would cause repercussions against the caretakers or her fellow prisoner. As this is a first person narrative, it's glaringly apparent that (with the exception of one instance, in which she returns because she made a promise), she doesn't even contemplate her companions' safety when she considers making her escape. I'm not saying that she wasn't in a horrible, unsafe, untenable situation, or that she shouldn't have tried to escape. But it bothered me that she never once thought about her companions when planning to do so, even to the extent of wondering what would happen to them or even telling herself they would not be punished (or killed) once her escape was noticed.

The hero is amusing and even charming on occasion. However, I did find the "frog" analogy to be beaten into the ground a little. Yes, it's a retelling of "The Frog Prince" and he's the frog. To the extent that she refers to him as a "frog" when she first sees him (because his injuries have caused his eyes to swell shut and his skin to peel, to remind her of a frog), I thought it was fairly clever. I even thought it was clever that he'd had the nickname of "frog" as a child because of his ability to swim. However, the author just drove the issue into the ground. Periodically (and repeatedly) thoughout the novel, it was like she wanted to remind us that he's the frog in "The Frog Prince" and that's why this is a retelling. His voice sounds like a frog's! His friends call him frog! He's a frog! A frog! Yes...we get the point. I think, in this particular instance, she would have been better served by trusting the reader more. Having set up the framework for the story, that he's the frog in the titular story, it's unnecessary to continue harping on it, lest we forget. Bear in mind, this is not a long novel. I also think "sug" was overused, to the extent that I believe the hero called the heroine that at the end of every sentence in their first conversation. A good editor could have been used on the book.

I also couldn't really get drawn into the love story, though I tried to be. I normally like love/hate relationships, where the characters fight at first and slowly fall in love. However, there was something lacking here. There were a couple of sweet moments. However, overall, I just couldn't get into it. Perhaps the heroine was a little too prickly to the hero for a little too long - "hating" him for too long before suddenly "loving" him. It didn't seem like the transition was very well done, I suppose.

It's not a bad book, but I was much more excited about the prospect of reading a retelling of "The Frog Prince" than I was about the story I was given, once I'd finished reading. Still, I do give the credit to the author for the framework of the story, her imagination in modernizing the tale. The framework - setting it in WWI, how she's the "princess" and he's the "frog" was clever. However, the execution was lacking.(less)

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Aug 23, 2009 Jenny rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fantasy

Emma, trapped on the continent at her family estate after her mother dies, rescues an American soldier and calls him her husband to keep him from harm. But when her estate is taken over by German soldiers, the ruse is more difficult to keep up - especially since she despies Jack, the American in question. But Jack has secrets of his own... secrets of water and of magic...

I was a bit perplexed by this retelling of "The Frog Prince". It almost works, but falls a bit short of the mark. The princes...more

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Jul 02, 2009 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fiction, history, kids-and-ya, romance

This was a short and very quick read but I liked it a lot.

It's a re-telling of the Frog Prince story, set in Belgium during WWI. Emma has travelled with her mother to check on the family estate from England but the two are trapped due to the Germans. Emma's mother is killed during an attack and Emma, trapped and alone, spends her time at the estate, just waiting.

Enter Jack- an American who has joined up with the British and Canadians, as the US has not yet joined the war. Fighting in the trenche...more This was a short and very quick read but I liked it a lot.

It's a re-telling of the Frog Prince story, set in Belgium during WWI. Emma has travelled with her mother to check on the family estate from England but the two are trapped due to the Germans. Emma's mother is killed during an attack and Emma, trapped and alone, spends her time at the estate, just waiting.

Enter Jack- an American who has joined up with the British and Canadians, as the US has not yet joined the war. Fighting in the trenches just below Emma's estate, Jack is caught in the middle of a gas attack and stumbles his way towards water, ending up in Emma's well.

The story is a romance and an adventure tale, with the idea being that Emma and Jack will fall in love and end up together, which I am completely fine with.

However, I do wish that the author had chosen to work with their relationship a bit more. There is the clichéd "love at first sight" business on Jack's end that felt forced. Emma is set up as a girl from a wealthy family who isn't like all the other wealthy girls... and yet, when it counts, that's how she behaves. There seems to be a bit of disconnect between what the author wants Emma to be and what she NEEDS Emma to be for the story to work the way she wants it to.

I did like Emma. Don't get me wrong- she was strong when she had to be but had her moments of "realness" that kept me with her for the whole story. And I really, really loved Jack.

The end happened a bit too quick and I wished there had been more of them after the war- this is a story that I could have read hundreds more pages of. I guess the point of the story was the falling in love part, not the staying in love part, so I understand why it ended where it did but... I wanted more!

The action was really well written. Some of the language was a bit anachronistic and there were some references that didn't make a whole lot of sense given the context. The Germans felt almost Nazi-esque and there was no real talk about the politics about the war.

The author made a point to explain certain things for the YA audience that she's writing for and all of those moments, while recognizable as exposition still flow in the story and move things along. I expected a bit more about the why's and how's of WWI beyond just the offhanded comment Emma makes about the Archduke being assassinated.

But I did like this book. It was a sweet story with fun and interesting characters. The use of the fairy tale element was sweet and well done- not at all off-putting or lame.
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Oct 12, 2008 Hanna rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like the series

Shelves: traditional-literature

This is not my favorite book in the Once Upon A Time Series because it really has nothing to do with the real story of The Frog Prince. Its about this girl who lives in a wealthy family and she and her mother go tho live in one of their estates. This dude from America joins the war he can swim very well hence he is the frog. They fall in love. But through out reading it i was like this is definetly not the best book in the series.

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Jul 13, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. emma whinthrope is beautiful, rich, and trapped in belgium during world war one. at her family estate she is all alone except for her elderly caretakers, her mother has just died in an air raid not to long ago. the story starts with a well, emma throws a locket that has been passed down for generations into the well due to the two faced nature of her ex boyfriend.

enter jack, the american who has joined the british army, after surviving a bombing on the ship that he was sailing on, he is known as...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Zoe rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was very pleased when I finished reading Weyn's retelling of The frog prince. I read it in one sitting because, yes, it is very short. But despite this, and having little time to let the characters grow on us, the story is rich and full and I wasnt left feeling like I'd missed something.
I think that in setting the story in a real place, time, and event that the whole thing is so much more interseting and beleivable. Hey, an American boy might just be hiding in the well in your backyard!
Her...more

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May 30, 2013 Anna Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars

NOTHING like what I was expecting from a re-told faerie tale. This Frog Prince - Jack - is a dark-skinned Creole from Louisiana's bayou, whose Mammy was a 'witchy woman' he still sees in his dreams. He's grown thru trial-by-fire, first in an orphanage, then on the streets, then on the seas, and finally by joining the British troops in WWI, delivering messages in Belgium. When his location is hit with chlorine gas, his only means of survival is to get underwater, and fast. No different than swimm...more NOTHING like what I was expecting from a re-told faerie tale. This Frog Prince - Jack - is a dark-skinned Creole from Louisiana's bayou, whose Mammy was a 'witchy woman' he still sees in his dreams. He's grown thru trial-by-fire, first in an orphanage, then on the streets, then on the seas, and finally by joining the British troops in WWI, delivering messages in Belgium. When his location is hit with chlorine gas, his only means of survival is to get underwater, and fast. No different than swimming in the bayou... except that his eyes are swollen from the gas, and he has to get to water on higher ground, to soothe his pain.

Emma is a British nobleman's daughter whose mother takes her to their castle-like estate in Belgium (a rumored neutral area) when London is bombed. Her mother is killed in a blast shortly after, and she's alone with the servants in her ancestral home on the hill. Her only picture of her parents - sealed in a locket, is lost down the well, but when she goes to retrieve it, she finds the ladder is already inside of the well, along with a very large, very strange man.

Then the Germans realize the value of the castle-like manor, overlooking the area, and invade. Emma and Jack are prisoners who have access to information that will help the allies, if only they can get it to them. On the way, they fall in love (of course). Add it secret passageways, a little Cajun magic, and some harrowing scrapes...

I *LOVE* the story/premise of this tale. It's fresh, it's woven well, and it's exciting. It's the sole reason for two of the stars I gave it. BUT. BUT... the woman who wrote it is not a good storyteller. She jumped in too fast, not setting the tone of the writing, her wording is odd at best ("he rang out his shirt?"), and the characterization leaves us bristling at the characters, not coming to feel for them (or getting taken emotionally into their story). If written by any other person, I might even have bought this one - it's so unique. But...(less)

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Jan 03, 2013 Maja rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, historical-fiction

I was very much surprised by this book. Since it's a retelling of the fairy tale The Frog Prince, I was expecting some sort of fantasy world with enchantments, princesses and grand balls. Instead I got a normal girl trapped in a big house in Belgium during World War I. Not really what I thought I was getting myself into. But the surprise was a pleasant one. It worked really well, and I still felt the fairy tale appeal in the story. The only thing that I didn't really like about this book was the...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Melissa Wright rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 11-20

Water song is a retelling of the grimm brother's fairytale the frog prince. this story is set during world war one. After being sent to Belgium, Emma never thought that war would reach there.However when it does emma is completely alone when enemies come to her estate leaving her no way to get out. However she meets this young American soldier who she pretends to be her husband in order to save his life. Never would she expect to find love amidst all the fighting. But if one thing the war taught...more

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May 18, 2012 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Een zalige hervertelling van de Kikkerkoning. Voor een keer speelt het zich niet af in een of ander ver ver land. Nee, het speelt zich af in België. In de Westhoek tijdens de eerste wereldoorlog meer bepaald. Misschien lijkt het vreemd om in die setting een sprookje te hervertellen, maar het is perfect gedaan.

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Feb 15, 2011 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fairy tale readers

Shelves: romance, fairy-tale

I like fairy tale retellings, even if they're less on the "fairy tale" side and written with more subtle nuances from the original tale. I really wanted to love this one, because I love the tale of the Frog Prince and I was curious as to how someone could pull off a retelling without it being kind of icky and gross.

To her credit, Weyn had a good idea. The "frog" in this tale is a young man, Jack, from Louisiana who's enlisted as a courier and spy during WWII. His specialty has also been swimmin...more I like fairy tale retellings, even if they're less on the "fairy tale" side and written with more subtle nuances from the original tale. I really wanted to love this one, because I love the tale of the Frog Prince and I was curious as to how someone could pull off a retelling without it being kind of icky and gross.

To her credit, Weyn had a good idea. The "frog" in this tale is a young man, Jack, from Louisiana who's enlisted as a courier and spy during WWII. His specialty has also been swimming: he can hear the song the water sings and can hold his breath longer than the usual swimmer. After being poisoned by gas, he takes shelter in the well of a young woman, Emma, who's lost her mother and hasn't heard from her father. As she saves him, German soldiers commandeer Emma's home, and the two pose as husband and wife to keep Jack from being caught as an escaped enemy to the Germans.

The story is short and has a very fairy tale flair in that it doesn't take long for the two to fall in love. The only supernatural aspect is the dreams that Jack has of his mother and the healing he knows to help another captured soldier in the story. Beyond that, the story is a realistic retelling. It's sweet and simple, and it was nice to have a quick read.

However, there are some things I really didn't like about the book. For one, there were parts that felt forced into fitting into the confines of the original story. For another, and this is a personal issue, the characters weren't well developed. They were interesting, but I wanted more depth. I understand it was a short read and so there wasn't alot of time to do depth, but I kept thinking that a better writer probably could have done it.

One thing that drove me nuts was the dialect. Jack is from Louisiana, and so the dialect fit...until he mentions that he "lost" his Louisiana accent. The American character dialogue was stilted and it detracted from the conversations I might otherwise have enjoyed between Jack and Emma.

I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I'm not sure if Weyn will be one of my favorite authors, but I have a couple other books by her that I'm willing to try, even if it's just to take a break between deeper reads. (less)

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Apr 21, 2009 Shayla Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book!

This book was not what i expected...it was better! I had thought that i would be reading about a princess and how she looses a gold ball yadda yadda yadda...but this is not like that.

This book takes place during World War 1 before the Americans joined. IT is about a young woman that has been seperated from her father who is in london. She has to deal with German soldiers taking over her house, and a swamp rat from Louisiana who she told the germans what her husband.

this book i...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Sharlitas rated it 4 of 5 stars

I actually enjoyed this retelling more than I originally anticipated. I didn't expect it to take the direction it did with the time & setting & whatnot and that is what made it so enjoyable for me. There were a couple of things in the story line that bothered me a bit, but nothing I couldn't dismiss without still enjoying the new twist on the original story. I also wasn't sure how many cross-racial romances, or marriages, really occurred during the WWI era, especially between a lower cla...more

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May 26, 2009 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a very interresting, yet believable version of the "Frog Prince" tale. Set in Europe during WWI a young noblewomen is left alone with her servants to manage her family's estate. Her mother was killed in a bombing raid and her father is off tending to his business in a faraway town. A young american soldier is caught in the cross-fires of trench-warfair and seeks refuge from the mustard gas in the young girl's well where they happen to meet when she angerly throws a tresured heirloom down...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Elevetha Houre rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lovers of fairytales retold, reimagined, or twisted on it's side

Shelves: fairytale-retelling, fairytales, historical-whatnot, magic-and-other-magical-substances, characterize-please, 2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2.5 stars. I started this and instantly loved the setting of the book. World War I, a girl at the top of a ridge overlooking a battleground at the Western Front. Later a soldier down below, the mustard gas wafting through the air and his struggle to stay alive......It really resonated with me.
I appreciated the symbolism, not the literalism, of the soldier being the frog in the well. Lovely so far.

Only thing is I'm not sure how much I like the characters themselves......
I thought that there wa...more 2.5 stars. I started this and instantly loved the setting of the book. World War I, a girl at the top of a ridge overlooking a battleground at the Western Front. Later a soldier down below, the mustard gas wafting through the air and his struggle to stay alive......It really resonated with me.
I appreciated the symbolism, not the literalism, of the soldier being the frog in the well. Lovely so far.

Only thing is I'm not sure how much I like the characters themselves......
I thought that there was great potential for Emma and Jack themselves and their relationship. Them being stuck in a war zone. Being prisoners of the Germans in Emma's house. Jack suffering from his PTSD night terrors. But Jack aggravated me to no end. He immediately starts calling Emma "sug" which, rather than being endearing, is rather annoying especially since he never stops. He constantly is trying to get her to kiss him and, while that tied in with "The Frog Prince" nicely, there was no actual reason for him wanting her to kiss him other than that she is pretty. Really? His "Louisiana magic" doesn't fit with the story at all and was frequently confusing and unexplained. He falls for her almost instantaneously which I always find to be unbelievable and trite. Plus, he just plain annoyed me. Look,

(quote) "Fine by me, sug. Truth be told, it's not only your friendship I wanted. If I can't have your love, I can live without your friendship. Who needs it?" (end quote)

At which point Emma explodes.

Emma is better and not frustrating but there was nothing to make her an outstanding character. She does not fall under the influence of Insta-love. Yay!

And I caught the similarities between this and Disney's "The Princess and the Frog". Which I had originally assumed was a complete ripoff of E.D. Baker's "The Frog Princess" Not so! Disney also stole the idea of the soldier being from Louisiana and having the accent and having a friend playing the trumpet and the magic aspect which may or may not be connected to a tiny little bit of voodoo.....(less)

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Oct 20, 2011 Cora rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairy-tale-retelling, waste-of-time, young-adult

A big waste of a really promising premise. Clunky half-hearted writing managed to make this retelling of the fairy tale 'The Frog Prince' remarkably boring, despite its setting on the front lines in Belgium during WW1. Could have been so exciting: German soldiers requisitioning the heroine's house, young mustard-gassed soldier found in the well (alive) and cared for by heroine, secret passageways found in the walls of the house, lots of strange Louisiana bayou magic references (oddly, the soldie...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Dayna Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a touching fairy tale made modern. Emma is trapped in her family's Belgian estate during WWI. Her mother has been killed in the bombings and she can't get back to England to her father because of the German U-Boats patrolling the Channel. Then she finds Jack at the bottom of the well. Jack is an American soldier who has been seriously wounded by a chlorine gas attack. His skin is peeling and his eyes are so swollen he looks like a frog. Will the "frog" and the "princess" fall in love? Wi...more

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Dec 27, 2009 Tandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm not really sure what I expected from this book, but what I got was so very different. I suppose that since I just saw the Disney movie, and having heard the childs version of the fairy tale, maybe I was leaning more towards those stories. This book was so very different from those stories and yet, you can see how a fairy tale could be made from this story. Or how this author could change the fairy tale and make a real life possibility formulate to create a story as fun as this one was. I rea...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: once-upon-a-time, own

Definatly Weyn's best addition to the "Once Upon a Time" series. The plot was as smooth as water, balancing easily between historical reality and fantasy. I didn't groan at the magic, like you might be prone to do with a story that does that, but enjoyed it's element to the book. Emma and Jack are just so adorable together, and the progression of their relationship from just liking each other to loving each other was well put together and natural. The action is exciting and just awesome. Well do...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Alexandra Ray rated it 3 of 5 stars

It is by sheer force of will (and perhaps some ocd tendencies...) that I am still continuing with this series. I have been bitterly disappointed by all but about 4 of the books that comprise it.

The actual rating I give this is a 2.5. If it wasn't for the cliched way that every character was presented (one of which came form my beloved New Orleans) and the ridiculous way in which the Frog Prince story was incorporated, I'd give it a solid three. But the characters were cliched. Emma was portrayed...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Tally rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Title: Water Song
Author: Suzanne Weyn
Pages: Ebook (208-Paperback)
Rating: 2.5/5

There’s nothing like a blizzard to wipe our your neatly ordered schedule. Better late than never though! Plenty of time to read, I apologize for finishing Project Fairy Tale a week late.

Young, beautiful, and wealthy, Emma Pennington is accustomed to a very comfortable life. Although war rages abroad, she hardly feels its effect. She and her mother travel from their home in Britain to the family estate in Belgium, neve...more Title: Water Song
Author: Suzanne Weyn
Pages: Ebook (208-Paperback)
Rating: 2.5/5

There’s nothing like a blizzard to wipe our your neatly ordered schedule. Better late than never though! Plenty of time to read, I apologize for finishing Project Fairy Tale a week late.

Young, beautiful, and wealthy, Emma Pennington is accustomed to a very comfortable life. Although war rages abroad, she hardly feels its effect. She and her mother travel from their home in Britain to the family estate in Belgium, never imagining that the war could reach them there. But it does. Soon Emma finds herself stranded in a war-torn country, utterly alone. Enemy troops fight to take over her estate, leaving her with no way to reach her family, and no way out. With all of her attention focused on survival and escape, Emma hardly expects to find love. But the war will teach her that life is unpredictable, people aren’t always what they seem, and magic is lurking everywhere.

For a younger audience, it really followed the original fairy tale closely. Maybe too closely, the story really wasn’t for me. It starts out with a bit of promise that quickly faded. The characters fell flat for me and there wasn’t much excitement to the story.

It was interesting to watch how Weyn modernized the fairy tale and she used the WWII backdrop pretty well. You get to see the Germans’ side as little as there was of them. I had a lot of trouble reading about Emma and Jack. While it wasn’t insta-love the romance was hurried which can probably be attributed to the shortness of the book. I didn’t like Emma after the first few chapters, there just wasn’t anything remarkable about her as a heroine. And Jack, while more likable seemed to have some sort of split-personality thing going on. Nothing to major but I never connected with any of the characters.

The plot itself is rather anti-climatic and there are few if any twists that I didn’t

Overall it just didn’t grab me as a reader, the characters didn’t sparkle but the setting was interesting and I enjoyed the semi-realistic approach to The Frog Prince fairy tale. Do I recommend it? It wouldn’t hurt to borrow it from the library, no. Just don’t be too disappointed.

Take care!

~Tally(less)

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May 25, 2012 Briana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Water Song is one of my favorite contributions to Simon Pulse’s Once Upon a Time series of retold fairytales. It is utterly unique, beginning with its historical setting. A fairytale in Europe during WWI is interesting enough. Add a bold heroine who takes on the Germans and seeks a way to outwit them and return to her home and it becomes awesome!

Jack, our hero, is also original. He does not waltz in and steal Emma’s (or the reader’s) heart. Instead, he is downright irritating with his constant r...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Mel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2013, reviewed

Also on http://thedailyprophecy.blogspot.com

Not all the retellings in this series are a success – this is a good example. I liked the promise of this book. It started out as a lovely story. Emma Pennington is stuck in the family estate in Belgium. She never expected the war to come so close, until the German troops arrive. Emma just saved the life of a man. Jack is part of the Allied troops, but Emma lies to the group of German soldiers and tells him that he is her husband. Jack ended up in the...more

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Oct 24, 2010 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: retold-fairytales, young-adult

In the Once Upon A Time series, this book is the retelling of The Frog Prince. I haven't read an original tale of The Frog Prince so I have nothing to compare it to. The story takes place in Europe during WWII, 1915 to be exact. Emma and her mother journey to her mother's family estate but her mother dies during a bombing leaving Emma quite alone. She is left in the hands of the caretakers who she can't understand because they speak Flemish. Her father is England and has know idea that his wife...more

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Mar 26, 2010 Izlinda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, teen-angst-growing-up, fantasy-fairy-tales-mythology

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Retelling of "The Frog Prince."

*SPOILERS*
John and Emma are kept imprisoned in Emma's family's estate in Germany. Emma's mother had died in a bombing. John fell into Emma's well trying to escape mustard gas. (Emma also throw her gold bauble locket in the well earlier in a fit of anger.) Emma finds out he's in the well when she tries to find her locket again and so rescues him. But when they get out of the well, German soldiers have taken over the estate.

I have to say, I got so incredibly disgust...more Retelling of "The Frog Prince."

*SPOILERS*
John and Emma are kept imprisoned in Emma's family's estate in Germany. Emma's mother had died in a bombing. John fell into Emma's well trying to escape mustard gas. (Emma also throw her gold bauble locket in the well earlier in a fit of anger.) Emma finds out he's in the well when she tries to find her locket again and so rescues him. But when they get out of the well, German soldiers have taken over the estate.

I have to say, I got so incredibly disgusted and repulsed by John's repeated requests for a kiss as a token of friendship. What the fuck. NO. You do not get to ask for kisses. And further more, Emma, after a while, starts to think that oh, maybe she was too harsh refusing to give John that kiss, blah blah blah. Seriously, those constant requests and her thinking left such a bad taste in my mouth.

I have to say I'm glad when they finally kissed for the first time, it was sincere and they were about to die. Though I think Weyn seriously overdid it with all the revelations and strength Emma's kiss put into John and showed him how strong he was, what a good character he was, yada yada. I mean...seriously...

Also, the way "sug" was dropped in to remind the reader that John was from New Orleans seemed a bit fake to me. And the constant times Weyn tells us about why/how John is frog-like! We get the point!

Heh, what's somewhat believable about this book is how Weyn shows the misconceptions and flaws in the characters. John gets kind of snarky and selfish about Emma's locket and finds out he judged her motives for getting it back wrong, and Emma finds out John is a rather helpful and caring guy instead of slow-reading peasant. I'm glad that, beyond his requests for kisses, he didn't push her further for anything else, despite being stuck in the same room with her. I also did like that this story featured an inter-racial romance. (Though I feel "romance" is glossing it too much.)

I think the ending could have used more work. I wanted to find out how Emma's reunion with her father went, assuming they did reunite and she was able to tell him that his wife, her mother had died in a bombing. But alas, nothing there.

I'm glad I borrowed this from the library, so I didn't have to pay for it. I also wouldn't recommend this specific book from the series, which I overall like.
(less)

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About Suzanne Weyn

Suzanne Weyn grew up in Williston Park, Long Island, New York. She has three sisters and a brother. As a girl she was very interested in theater and in reading. Louisa May Alcott was her favorite author, but she also read every Sherlock Holmes story. Suzanne lived pretty close to the ocean and going to Jones Beach was one of her favorite activities Even today, if she goes too long without seeing t...more

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Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince" (Once Upon A Time)

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