What Once was Mine by Liz Braswell
“I don’t need someone telling my story for me.”
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I would like to thank Liz Braswell, Disney Publishing Worldwide for allowing me this eARC!
So the main theme: What if Rapunzel’s mom drank from the potion from the wrong flower?
Well this version of the story Tangled tells us exactly how that would happen. It’s got a hint of darkness, a splash of blood, and still the smug smolder of Flynn Rider. The fact that this is part of the Twisted Tale series is perfect, because Braswell really twisted this story immensely.
Braswell kept the characters that we know and love pretty much the same along with their personalities, adding a few new quick moments, and few new faces along the way! Braswell made an incredible and personal intro for the story, it was truly touching to see that little piece of her life and what she was willing to share with her readers.
This was an incredible retelling of Rapunzel and I encourage everyone to go pick it up or add it to your TBR list.

Ever since I first discovered Twisted Tales I've been excitedly awaiting a Tangled on! And it didn't disappoint. I find each new installment of these books gives me those happy Disney vibes I need. Even more so since I can't get to the parks anytime soon. It's great to escape into a familiar yet different world. Can't wait to see which Disney tale we get next!

I recieved this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review...

Alright i would like to note that, Going into this story i had never seen Tangled.
Nor had i ever really read the Rapunzel story, All i knew going in was Rapunzel was the one with magical hair.
that being said i honestly loved this new book from Liz Braswell. The story was full of adventure and action, with just a smidge of romance and reality. The way she wove Daniella and Brendans' into the twisted tale of Rapunzel was exsiquite. The love Brendan showed for Daniella during such a traumatic expierence really shines through in the story of Rapunzel as well.

The story of Rapunzel was in my opinion phenomenal. The story of her hair and the way it came to be magically had me reeling and always wanting more. I loved the way the author created lasting friendships and relationships between the characters. there was a sense of hope not only for Rapunzel but Danella as well. The story was a work of magic much like Rapunzels hair, Changing with the phases.
I do not know much about the characters of Pascal or Maximus, but fom what i read from Daniella's point of view, the twist in their development were perfectly executed.
This book gave me all the happy feels and left a smile on my face.
Onto watching Tangled, though i hope it is not a disappointment after reading this story.

It just wasn't what I was expecting and certain parts had me cringing like crazy. I'm usually a big fan of the Twisted Tales, but this one, just wasn't it.

I appreciate that these Disney tales can be read as stand alone novels, despite being in a series, since I have not read any of the others up to this point. Rapunzel generally isn't my favorite of the Disney fairy tales, but it was an intriguing story nonetheless and I liked this darker version of it. I thought the book was engaging and had a clever, surprising twist for the fairy tale. Nicely done!

What a fun take on Tangled! What if Rapunzel’s mother made tea from the wrong flower? What powers would she have instead of the healing powers of the sun? What if she wasn’t stolen but willingly given away to be raised away from society for her own safety and the safety of the kingdom? Join Rapunzel, Flynn and all your favorite characters on a journey go find themselves and each other.

Spoilers below…
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So why 3 stars? The pacing felt slow at times, and the main “villain” went from being Mother Gothel to the historical figure of Countess Bathory which felt lazy. I feel as if the author could have still put a twist on thing while keeping Mother Gothel the main villain or given us a reason to connect with her instead of taking the easy way out and utilizing a known villain in history. While the story itself was a creative twist on Rapunzel adding in actual history into a completely fictional setting felt awkward and again simply lazy

As someone whose favourite Disney movie is Tangled, I was incredibly excited to get an e-ARC of this book! It did not disappoint and those twists were out of this world! This is actually my first Twisted Tales novel but I really loved what Braswell did and how she built upon the world of Tangled. I especially enjoyed the opposite sort of powers that were given to Rapunzel which put an incredibly unique twist on the whole story.
Overall, a solid book and one, as a huge fan of Tangled, that I enjoyed!

This is the first book I’ve read so far in the Twisted Tales series, though I’ve long wanted to give them a try. I couldn’t resist when I saw this one, as I’m a huge fan of the story of Rapunzel so I jumped on the opportunity to get my hands on this ARC. I have to say thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book as I enjoyed it immensely.

What Once Was Mine is a twist on the tale of Rapunzel, with the familiar basics of the original story, such as characters like Flynn and Mother Gothel, and Rapunzel who was taken from her parents as a baby to be kept in a tower, but with a few differences that make it a whole new, fresh story. In this case, Rapunzel was imbued with the powers of a moon flower as a baby, which gave her deadly abilities which were the reason she was taken away and kept isolated, to prevent her from harming anyone else.

When she turns 19 she decides she wants to set out on an adventure to see the floating lanterns that have captured her interest every year when they show up at the same time. This starts her great journey where she discovers more about herself and her powers that have kept her terrified of leaving the tower her whole life, and brings on the appearance of beloved characters such as Flynn and Pascal. Flynn has to be my favourite Disney male character and I was not disappointed in him in this book. He continues to be such a lovable, charming yet adorable character and I was so happy to have him show up in the story. I also loved Pascal’s entrance into Rapunzel’s life and how her magic changes him into more of the creature you see in the movie Tangled. I was also pleasantly surprised by another character introduced in this story, Gina, a thief similar to Flynn, who develops such a wholesome friendship with Rapunzel and joins the two of them on their journey.

There are plenty of comedic moments throughout this book, much like in the movie, that manage to keep it a light and cute story despite the darker turn you might expect from the danger of Rapunzel’s powers. However it also has its serious moments, it’s heartfelt moments which makes it an all around great read.

All together, I really enjoyed this book and I’m so happy I got to read a book about the tale of Rapunzel, and of course Flynn. I will definitely be picking up more of these Twisted Tales books in future after reading this one and can’t wait to read more twists on classic Disney stories.

I received a free eArc copy of this work in exchange for an honest review; thanks to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion Publishing for the opportunity. All opinions are my own.

What a fantastic, fun book! I was a bit too old to watch Tangled when it initially debuted in theaters, but when my toddler became interested in Disney movies it quickly became a favorite (though we skipped past a lot of the yucky and scary Mother Gothel parts). We also watched all of the animated series which in my opinion, was a fantastic show, good for adults as well as children. Both the animated movie and the series were fun, a little silly, and very sound from a story perspective. I have read all of the Twisted Tales series and Liz Braswell's have always been my favorite. The combination of the Tangled property with this author actually set a pretty high bar for me as a reader and I am happy to say I was not disappointed.

I really enjoyed the Princess Bride-like set up with the story introduction by way of the siblings. I thought that added a sweet fairy tale touch that was appropriate and allowed for some of the pop-culture references used to make sense in a fantasy setting. The author's not also thoughtfully shared the personal meaning behind this addition, and for families of those who have experienced a cancer battle, it adds some deeper meaning.

The story hit all the beats that one loves from the original movie, and the twist was very clever. The introduction of additional characters were helpful and did not detract from the main storyline. There were strong themes of family, bravery, and self actualization,. I appreciated that a lot of the criticisms of the original film were explored (toxic motherhood, instalove, princess tropes) and were managed very cleverly. The relationships were well established and the story was very satisfying. In my mind I also kept substituting Gina for Cassandra (IFKYK) and that was also super fun.

This is an excellent comfort read for fans of the Twisted Tales series, the Disney Rapunzel collection, and anyone looking for a lighthearted adventure story with a happy ending.

I look forward to adding this to my own collection of alternative fairy tale retelling books.

Thank you to NetGalley, Disney Publishing Worldwide, and Disney-Hyperion for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I had never had the opportunity to read one of the "Twisted Tales" series books before this one, though a bunch of them were on my TBR list, so when the opportunity arose to read one about Tangled I was very excited. I enjoyed the movie of Tangled much more than many other Disney movies (full disclosure - I am not a big Disney nerd even though I am from SoCal), but there were still many aspects of the movie that made me slightly uncomfortable/upset/annoyed. This book fixed them all and gave me things I didn't even realize I was missing! It still has all of the major characters from the film, but gives them personalities that I feel are more congruent with a deeper, darker storyline, which is much more up my alley. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and had a hard time putting it down. The only reason it took so long for me to finish it is because I kept having life get in the way of reading. I have already told multiple people to read it, and I am so looking forward to picking up other books in this series, even ones where I don't like the source movies as much.

While there were still some things that I was kind of iffy on, the book as a whole really outweighed any issues I had with it. It was a really enjoyable dark YA book with a storyline that was comfortable in its familiarity while being completely unique in many aspects as well so it didn't feel stale. 5/5

So as a huge Disney fan I had to pick this up. This book was great. I love the cheesiness and the twists in this book. I mean Rapunzel having magical hair that... kills. Sign me up. I really enjoyed this book and now I need to read all the other Twisted Tales.

I was given this book in return for an honest review via Netgalley and Disney Publishing.

This is my third Liz Braswell twisted tale and the first one I didn't hate. Let's be honest girls a little dark. But this one was readable! It's a Disney miracle!

Honestly it kept all the original details of the story but changed them so it worked. Rapunzel's mother is saved via a flower just like in the story but this time it's the wrong one. They were a little vague on the details when sent out to search. Resulting in a Rapunzel with slightly different skillset that can sometimes be deadly.

You still have your trusty sidekicks though some appear a little later than others. And of course Mother Gothel gets hers!

You're in a fairy tale world with royalty, witches, knights and a blood thirsty countess that likes to bathe in virgin blood. Learning the person you trusted most thought of as a mother never loved you and was going to sell you off to the highest bidder on your 19th birthday. But a couple of adventures/friends you've made along the way come to your rescue and fight for you!

It's a solid retelling.

Thanks first off to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to get an arc of this one. While I haven't read ALL of the twisted tales books in this series, I have read a couple (most recently Go the Distance- which I loved.) This one didn't hit the mark fully for me. There's a bit of in my opinion, unneeded plot points from the story tellers perspective (TW: Childhood cancer)- which, I'm assuming was meant to be cute and drive the story home- but... didn't really resonate correctly I feel like. at least, not in this setting? there just seemed to be something off about it. I also felt like this book was 100 pages or so too *much* which was sort of disappointing as Tangled is one of my favorite disney stories/movies. I don't think it was the worst of the series but I wasn't big on it personally. I will probably do a reread and update my review a bit more detailed later but as this is hitting publication date I felt like this needed to get out there! I'd say its worth a read- but don't stress during your librarys hold times!

I’ve quite enjoyed the books I’ve read in the Twisted Tales series, and What Once Was Mine is no exception.
 
Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies, and I was very excited to see how Rapunzel’s tale would be twisted. Having the queen’s life saved by the Moondrop flower rather than the Sundrop is a good start, with the resulting changes in Rapunzel setting the stage. Although the outcome is the same—Rapunzel locked in a tower for years and cared for by Mother Gothel—the motivation is entirely different, and the fear “of” herself rather than “for” herself somewhat changes Rapunzel’s outlook on life. Yes, she’s still optimistic and energetic; yes, she still loves to paint and she has her daily routine, but being so afraid to hurt anything or anyone has made Rapunzel even more lonely, without even a reptilian friend to keep her company. 

That all changes when she dares to venture outside her tower to hunt down the dashing ruffian Flynn Rider to take her to see the glowing lights. The elements of Rapunzel’s original tale are all there, of course, but Rapunzel does more on her own this time around. She’s more independent, and although she needs lots of help, she’s not afraid of the world so much as afraid of herself. Slowly, with the help of Flynn, Pascal, and a new character named Gina, Rapunzel comes to learn the truth about her powers and her past, as well as the dark truth of Mother Gothel. 

Flynn is much the same character, just dropped into some different situations, but the addition of Gina to the group is a lot of fun. I like Gina’s thirst for adventure and how hard she's willing to work to prove she's as tough and capable as the other local ruffians. Her willingness to help Rapunzel shows her kind heart, and I love her relationship with her mother. The Goodwitch is another great addition to the cast; her quirkiness makes me laugh, and her powers and her compassion make her great foil for Gothel while also allowing her to help Rapunzel harness her own powers.
 
I love the scenes of Rapunzel learning about her powers. Years of studying the heavens pay off, and Rapunzel’s excitement over her new project definitely feels realistic. It's good to see Rapunzel use her powers for herself and to discover how those powers change day by day. I also like how different her powers are from the powers bestowed by the Sundrop; the change in her powers in relation to the changing phases of the moon keeps things exciting and helps reassure readers and Rapunzel herself that she's a good person with an unfortunate past. 

Of course, much like in the movie, those powers are coveted, leading to the story’s biggest conflict. Although I like all the different factions chasing after Rapunzel, by the end, I wasn’t sure that I liked the way the various Big Bads were written. Some of them just seem generic, and I think it might’ve been better to have fewer from the start. I also think the ending battle felt a bit rushed and a little too neat. There's just something missing for me that kept me from loving it. The ‘real’ ending of Rapunzel’s story, however, is super sweet and just as good as that in the movie. 

This story also had another sweet element that sets it apart from the other books in this series. Rather than just being a story, What Once Was Mine is a story being told by Brendan to his sister Daniella. Daniella is a cancer patient at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Rapunzel’s story is one of her favorites. Brendan, growing tired of reading the same story and watching the same movie over and over, decides to tell a different version of the tale. The interactions between the siblings are very sweet, and I love how Brendan twists the tale to cater to Daniella's requests. Having a modern-day, out-of-story POV makes this novel unique from the others in the series, and I quite like it.

All in all, What Once Was Mine is a great addition to the Twisted Tales series and a great alternate retelling of Rapunzel. The characters are different but still themselves, the addition of new characters is well done (and reminds me a bit of the characters from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure), and the storytelling aspect is sweet. I would highly recommend this one to fans of this series as well as fans of Tangled.

I am incredibly conflicted about this book. I half enjoyed it, and I thought it was pretty well written with solid characters (except for Flynn, who felt more like a throwaway side character than anything else), a decent plot, and an interesting enough premise. I liked the idea of the moonstone, but it was barely elaborated on. I thought that the book would touch on aspects of the show, perhaps bringing elements of that into the story. Even if they had been small tidbits and easter eggs from the show, I think it would have added a great level of depth into the story.

I felt that the abuse depicted in this story was done in an incredibly realistic way, and Rapunzel's slow realization of the true nature of Mother Gothel is sharply contrasted by her inner conflict that stems from Gothel's occasional kind words and the upbringing she had.

Also--this story is 512 pages, and I feel as though it could have been told in 300ish, and it would have been just as impactful. It is trying VERY hard to be The Princess Bride, but it falls flat in many areas. The idea of a princess with murderous hair is intriguing, and it would make sense for Rapunzel to be isolated (not saying it is OK, but just that it makes sense and Gothel can easily misconstrue the situation to her), but it almost... doesn't work.

Overall, this book was ok. Merely ok. It didn't satisfy the die-hard Tangled lover in me, and I far enjoyed other iterations of the Twisted Tales. Read if you want to read them all, but be warned that this book is long. Almost Crime & Punishment long.

Rapunzel is my favorite Disney movie so I had high expectations for this book and it met them. I really enjoyed the story within a story framework, and the different characters' perspectives. I also liked the different backstory in this book versus the movie.

Thank you so much Disney Hyperion and NetGalley for the arc!

What Once Was Mine is the next installment in the Twisted Tales series. Anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with Tangled so I was extremely excited about this one. Sadly, it kinda fell flat for me.

I went into this book with high hopes but sadly it didn’t live up to my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it. There was some dark elements and some graphic details about one of the villains but most of the time, the writing seemed very juvenile. There was a bunch of laugh out loud moments throughout the story and Liz Braswell did great with the bickering back and forth between Flynn and Rapunzel.



Overall, I enjoyed my time reading this retelling. It was very fast paced and entertaining.

I overall enjoyed this book, but it wasn't my favorite out of the Twisted Tales series. It was an intruiging spin to have Rapunzel be connected to a moon flower and death rather than the sun and life. I enjoyed the dark twist on the story, like with the rest of the series, but I also liked that it still kept the same flavor as Tangled. I recommend this book to Disney lovers that are also interested in darker retellings! I'll be requesting it to see if we can get it in for our library!

TW: blood (including mentions and descriptions of a woman bathing in young women's blood to maintain her youth), (minor) body-shaming, cancer, confinement, death, emotional abuse, kidnapping, murder, torture, trafficking.


Whoa boy. Okay. I don't even know where to start with this one.

I think it's time I give up on Liz Braswell's writing. After enjoying Unbirthday last year, I was hopeful that maybe I'd enjoy her next books as well, but that was unfortunately not the case. If anything, this book seemed like a conglomeration of everything that's bothered me about her works in the past - and then some.

I get that these are Twisted Tales and I don't think this series should ever be held to the standard of the movies we love, but my gosh, this felt absolutely nothing like Tangled. Part of that is because how she chose to age the story up did not work.

Making Rapunzel a glorified witch that spends a huge chunk of the book under the moon, drawing mandalas and trying to get in touch with her true witchy nature didn't work.

Having Flynn be a glorified side-character with dialogue that felt about as real as a cardboard cut-out didn't work.

Having the main villain be Lady Bathory, a woman that bathes in the blood of young girls, didn't work.

Clearly, these are just my opinions and if you loved these changes, I'm happy for you. But as far as I'm concerned, nearly every change made to this story bored me at best.

There's also the problem I have with Liz Braswell's writing style itself. Which, again, I'm sure some people love and I'm not lessening that. It simply doesn't work for me. I'm paraphrasing her but we constantly get lines like "The world seemed to be waiting for something - like in the moments before a thunderstorm, or the hours before her monthly bleed." which is just... such an odd comparison? This is a very personal critique, but gosh it pulls me out of the story every single time.

I will say, I appreciated that she acknowledged the realization Rapunzel goes through that Gothel was the villain the whole time and the emotions that come through that. Her back and forth of comparing Gothel's actions with her (sometimes) kind words was handled pretty well and I appreciated her dealing with it.


All in all, if I hadn't been reading this as an ARC, I 100000% would have DNF-ed it early on. It's far too long with far too little happening, and characters that I either wanted to throw or just didn't care about at all. I'll still read the Twisted Tales written by the other authors (obligatory, Elizabeth Lim can do no wrong moment) but I'm giving up on Liz Braswell. Her writing just doesn't work for me and that's okay.

Just don't go into this book expecting it to be something it isn't. The characters and places and main plot points of Tangled were all here, but the heart of the story just wasn't.

What Once Was Mine tackles the what if’s of Rapunzel’s famous tale in Tangled. What if Rapunzel’s mother drank a potion from the wrong flower? Instead of the famous, golden Sundrop flower, the Queen’s potion is made from the Moondrop flower, causing baby Rapunzel to be born with long, silver hair. And instead of having healing powers, Rapunzel’s hair murders. Kind of cool, right?

In a roundabout way, Rapunzel still ends up trapped in a tower with Mother Gothel, still naïve to the world, and still longing to see the floating lanterns on her nineteenth birthday. (But the lanterns are for the dead princess in this tale, as opposed to the lost princess in the movie.) It’s familiar in the build-up to Rapunzel leaving her tower, but once she meets up with Flynn Rider and a new friend, Gina, the story really starts to go off in its own direction. The princess must discover the secret origin of her murderhair (as she calls it) and learn to control the power from the Moondrop flower, all in order to find out where she really belongs in life.

What I liked: There were good ideas here and there was a lot of opportunity to create a new-but-familiar story. Braswell did a good job exploring the theory of the Moondrop flower and how it all relates to the moon cycles. That was, by far, the most interesting element of the whole book. Also, as a huge Flynn Rider fan, I thought his characterization was great. I had Zachary Levi’s voice in my head every time Flynn had something to say. It was a nice balance of keeping his character true to the original while giving us new content. I also didn’t expect to like Gina as much as I did, but a new character allowed the story to be freshened up even more.

What I didn’t like (because of course there will always be things I didn’t like): Ohmygod it felt so long. And half the book was pre-Rapunzel leaving the tower, so the action didn’t pick up until after that. Also, Mother Gothel was a really flat character– her motives were not too far from her character’s in the movie and that felt like a letdown. (The real villain of the story was wild y’all.) And there was an extra storyline about a brother telling his sick sister Rapunzel’s tale, which made it a story within a story. It was really unnecessary and took me right out of the narrative each time it switched, though the author’s note at the end did explain the reasoning.

The problem with this book is that it limits itself to a very specific audience. Readers have to know Tangled and they have to be willing to give up what they know about it to be sold a new story. Fans of the Twisted Tales series will have a good time. Die-hard Disney fans may need some convincing. Me? I’m ready to go re-watch Tangled.

3/5 Stars.