Where Grimm has left me disappointed and retreating back into my tomes of fairytale lore, Once Upon a Time has me completely wrapped up in its spell. I have goose bumps when I think about the show and cannot wait until each Sunday when it airs—or, at least, when I record it, since I always have to wait until the next day to see it. (Spoilers ahead.)

The story is about all of the fairytales we are familiar with—Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, and others. In this version, the evil stepmother of Snow White—who is also a witch, you’ll recall—gets her revenge by sending everyone in the fairytales into the modern world of America, where none of them remember who they were, what their happily ever afters were like, and all live in a state of confusing amnesia while the queen herself is mayor of the town.

The queen is also the adoptive mother of a little boy, who turns out to be the grandson of Snow White—whose daughter, the heroine of the story, is a bounty hunter and has no idea that she’s the daughter of the most famous princess of all time. She is destined to save the fairy tale people of their curse, though she still doesn’t quite believe this after two episodes.

So far, the show has been mesmerizing—the cast is wonderful, things are not what they seem, and the flashbacks between the fairy tale world and the modern one are not annoying, as I thought they might be, but intriguing instead. I can’t stop but wonder about all kinds of juicy questions as I eagerly await each episode, wondering what details will be released next. In the very first modern scene of the series (which would be the second scene entirely, I suppose), we are thrown for a loop immediately—and the show keeps twisting in kind. So far, I’m not disappointed.

And as a woman, I love that the show is full of strong female leads—not just Snow White (played by the awesome Ginnifer Goodwin, whom I love), but both her daughter and the evil queen, who are the main protagonist and antagonist of the show. There are plenty of male characters, too, from the prince (who is currently in a coma) to Rumpelstiltskin, some of the evil queen’s minions to Henry, the young boy himself, and the town sheriff. Both main characters are well matched, confident, strong women who know what they want and will do what they need to do to get it—as evil as that might be, in terms of the queen, and as difficult as it might be for Swan, White’s daughter, who only wants to do the right thing. Her goal isn’t to get a man and live happily ever after, but to make sure her biological son is okay and to perhaps figure out the mystery that is the town of Storybrooke.

If you like fairytales, good stories, and good characters, give Once Upon a Time a try. So far, I can’t complain about the series—which is saying a lot!—and I’m really enjoying it.