Twice Upon a Time (2) (Half Upon a Time)

*Warning:this text may contain spoilers!!*whaaaaat no way no no no no no no no!! wait Jack nooo! why did he join the Eyes!?? he is meant to be with MAY!!! like they are meant to be! uh no c'mon!? why Jack!This is what James Riley's writing does to you! It makes you want the next book soo badly! like right now i am like "what is gonna happen to May? and Phillip?Are they going to end up together?! Please tell me they dont!!i love Jack. he is my 2 fav character! (May is my first like duuuh she is so cool! )Anyway this bolk series so far is AMAZEBALLS!! you should definetly read!!bye hope you found my review helpfull! bye for now!#peace out :)

"Once upon a time, Jack knew better than to do certain things. You didn't waste time trying to find the perfect temperature of porridge in a bear's house. You didn't point out to your extremely furry grandmother how big her fangs were. And you definitely didn't walk through a creepy fog while music from magical pipes drifted in eerily."That is the opening paragraph in this second book of the Half Upon a Time series. Jack, May & Phillip are back. In book one, they released the Evil Queen from her magical prison and found out May isn't who they thought she was. The trio is now trying to fix their mistakes and find out the truth about May's identity.This book touches so many different fairy tale stories that I don't know if I can remember them all: the Pied Piper, Peter Pan (here King Pan in the Land of Never), Bluebeard the pirate, the Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I may have missed some but I think you should read the book just to be sure. Oh and Jack & Jill.I enjoyed this story and I'm ready to read book 3 and find out how it all ends. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys fairy tale stories or new takes on fairy tales. A great book for reluctant readers in 4-8 grade.

Kids (ages 5&8) REALLY love this book series. I read it to them each night. This book has not been QUITE as good as the first one. But they still really enjoy it. I know this is probably more for Tweens (as there is a harmless "love story" being built on between Jack and May), so that's the only part that's not in their wheelhouse. I also have to explain the changes to many classic characters names (the little mermaid in this story is not "Ariel" for example) and back stories. But part of the fun is the unexpected!

This book was held as a read aloud treat for my students after the state testing was complete. We had 9 days to read it and they held me to it too! This book is a little more tedious than the first one and didn't hold their attention as completely as the first one, but they still loved the characters Jack, May and Phillip. They enjoyed trying to guess how the different parts of the story were going to play out and who all the characters were when their disguises were removed. Great read-aloud for students 10-13.

The wait for the sequel felt interminable. My daughter had a countdown on her bedroom door. She would double-, triple- and quadruple-check Amazon to make sure James Riley wasn't going to sneak in a copy early for true fans.When Twice Upon a Time came out on April 24, we downloaded it to my Kindle Fire as soon as it was available (meaning: dawn).The second book picks up on May's journey to discover where she comes from, who she really is... and begins to explore more deeply the new questions regarding Jack. A page-turner, Twice Upon a Time is packed with action, hilarity, and moments of melancholy.The last scene is sweet, sad... brutal. It lingers in the memory. And you just want to get your hands on the third novel now.

James Riley takes you on an adventure fairytale after fairytale along with prince Philip, May, and Jack. In this book they travel to find out who May really is, but they also find out a little about another important character's past. And of course what would a book series be without a little surprise here and there about the magical person trying to murder them or take them to May 's grandmother. In the end part of May 's past is revealed and it's most unexpected. Plus Philips part is quite unexpected when a certain person is asleep and if anyone comes near the castle they fall asleep except him.

Not as great as the first book. The narrator's voice was too similar to the characters' voices, changing between them. I felt the story could have been told with combined POVs in each chapter, rather than switching between characters. I know I'm being nitpicky for children's lit. I just liked the first book of the series better. Still a fun, engaging read and I am looking forward to the third!

My niece absolutely loves this series. I had bought Half Upon a Time for her to see if she would like it. Fortunately for me, Twice Upon a Time had just come out, so I was able to buy it for her when she came to tell me she couldn't wait to know what happened to Jack and May. My niece is a voracious reader, so I find it difficult to keep her in books! Books as well written as these help immensely. Can't wait for the next one!

While this one's got all the charm (and more) of the first book in the series, Twice Upon a Time does discuss some heavier topics, and generally moves into a more realistic territory, where happily ever afters are proving to be quite difficult to achieve. I loved TUaT even more than the first one!