Fairy tales are told and retold. It’s how these things work. Disney knows that better than most. Their own retellings of fairy tales have been so ubiquitous across generations that more often than not it is their retelling that becomes the yardstick against which all other adaptations are measured.

But lately, there has arisen a new trend of Disney retelling their own stories. The most prominent example of this is the live action remakes of their animated classics, but on the publishing side, there is the A Twisted Tale series. Functioning as something of a Disney What-If, these books retell all or part of the Disney story loved by all, with one key detail changed.

Liz Braswell’s What Once Was Mine, a retelling of the 2010 movie Tangled, asks the question: what if Rapunzel’s mother drank from the wrong flower? In this case, rather than the Sundrop flower, which granted Rapunzel (and her hair) the power of healing, she drank the Moondrop flower, which comes with a whole host of complications.

As a baby, Rapunzel’s hair comes out silver rather than gold. And in a fit of newborn tears, she accidentally kills a servant who touches her hair. Wanting to protect the kingdom, and their baby, the king and queen leave her in the care of Gothel, who claims to be a witch who can help Rapunzel learn to control her powers. However, seeing the so-called “murderhair” as the advantage it is, Gothel keeps Rapunzel locked up in her tower, frightened of herself.

The action starts to unfold as the movie does, but with key deviations along the way that make the adventure worthwhile, even for readers who are intimately familiar with the story already. Determined to locate the mysterious Flynn Rider so he can guide her to the floating lanterns that appear in the sky on her birthday, Rapunzel sets out alone from her tower, and meets a new friend named Gina. Gina promises to help her find Flynn, which they eventually do, and it is there that the story takes a turn into brand new territory.

The three of them, needing to regroup and plan a way to get Rapunzel to the lanterns, retreat to Gina’s mother’s home. Her mother, a proper witch, recognizes Rapunzel for who and what she is, and gives her the tools needed to harness her power. Though the quest slows down, it allows the characters a chance to breathe and to grow. The romance between Rapunzel and Flynn is given the time and space to flourish here, and is more scorchingly intimate than I expected from a Disney book.

But romance is only one component. What is a Disney story without its villains? Yes, there is Mother Gothel, but with her comes a variety of nobles who all want to possess Rapunzel for their own purposes, and to whom Gothel is more than willing to sell her adopted daughter. One of these nobles is the very real Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the world’s most prolific female serial killer who would torture her victims then bathe in their blood. The sequences focused around Bathory were the most chilling in the book. I’m tempted to call them “horror-like” but there is no “like” about it. It is horror made appropriate for the age range of the target readers. That said, if you’re very squeamish like I am, it might be wise to tread with a touch of caution.

The strength of What Once Was Mine is taking the time to build out aspects of the characters that a film doesn’t have the space to do in under two hours. As mentioned above, there’s the romance between Rapunzel and Flynn that is allowed to grow organically, with even elements like his signature “smoulder” repurposed to serve their budding connection. Beyond that, Rapunzel’s friendship with Gina is the kind that is both healthy and caring, but also sees both women challenging each other and their preconceived notions of what life can and should be. The two are sisters in spirit, if not by blood.

It comes as no surprise that the focus on family, and the dynamic between siblings comes across so strongly. The entire novel is structured as a story that a brother is telling his sister through her chemotherapy treatments. Though both of them would love to go back to the kind of relationship they had prior to her diagnosis, the retelling of Rapunzel’s story is their way of adjusting to their new normal - or rather, their normal-for-now - while maintaining their connection.

The most notable part of the book, though, is the way Braswell writes Rapunzel. She walks that line of naive but not unaware. There is a lot Rapunzel doesn’t know about the world. Her view on almost everything is shaped by the 37 books she’s read over and over. She is sheltered, but she’s not an idiot. Her instincts are good, and she is willing to learn. She was written with such precision that even her lapses in judgement felt realistic rather than contrived. The way she gradually overcame Gothel’s conditioning was wonderful to see, and by the end she stood proud on her own and in control of her own power and destiny.

With a Happily Ever After of course. This might be a twisted retelling, but it’s still a fairy tale after all.

Braswell’s 9th Twisted Tale What Once Was Mine reimagines Disney’s Tangled. This reimagined story of Rapunzel is not as different as one might expect. We still have the basis of Rapunzel: A girl with long hair stuck in a tower, but there is more darkness to this story than you find in Disney’s version. The crucial difference she confronts us with is Rapunzel’s hair, which is not golden but silver in Braswell’s tale and with this distinct color comes a different power for the crown Princess. We still get Mother Gothel, Pascal, our friends from the Snuggly Duckling, and of course Flynn, but we also get more characters some you are bound to love and others to hate.

Braswell’s tale also jumps between two stories, Rapunzel’s and the person who is telling this version of the story. Kind of like The Princess Bride. I was worried this way of telling the story would take away from the tale, but it didn’t. The theme of family is present from start to finish and more in your face than Disney’s tale and this makes the second story, the one about the person who is telling this version of Rapunzel, fit perfectly.

Aside from characters, Braswell’s writing style is very enjoyable to read. Her pacing is great, and this novel is in limited third person POV and changes that limited person throughout different chapters. If you have read any other Twisted Tales by Braswell, specifically Part of Your World, the writing style is very similar. If you have read that and enjoyed it, you will enjoy this. If you have read none of Braswell’s previous Twisted Tales, I still recommend this novel and would say follow it up with her Twisted Tale Unbirthday (an Alice and Wonderland reimagining), which is one of my favorite books!

I found this to be too different from Braswell's other Twisted Tales. Other than the characters, there wasn't much that I found to be the same or similar, which I didn't like.

Thank you so much to Disney Hyperion Publishing for an advanced copy of What Once Was Mine in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Pub Date: September 7, 2021
Star Rating: 3 stars

This was a highly expected Twisted Tale for me, and I thought it was an interesting story. It's a bit darker than the previous Twisted Tales, and the concept is a little bit different than the previous books in the series.

While I found this book enjoyable overall, I did find it lacking compared to the previous books in the series. I didn't enjoy the setup of this story as much the previous ones, and I thought the setup/style of the book detracted form the quality of the story.

Even thought I found this book generally enjoyable, it is my least favorite in the series, and I'm really disappointed by that because it was so highly anticipated.

What Once Was Mine is the 12th Twisted Tale story but the first one I’ve read. I’ve been meaning to start this series for ages but just hadn’t gotten to it yet. I wasn’t sure if I could read the books out of order but since I was able to get an early copy via NetGalley I gave it a shot. It was soooo good! The book immediately piqued my interest because we’re immediately introduced to a set of teen twins at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Readers learn that Daniela is undergoing treatment for cancer and loves the movie and book Tangled. Being a sweet brother, Brendan put up with the repetition until during one chemo session he decided he was going to tell his own version of the story.

The cast of characters had familiar favorites but we’re also introduced to some new and brave adventurous ones! I liked the creativity of incorporating the basic plot but definitely twisting it in a new and different way.. Sprinkled throughout the book are serious, reflective moments where Rapunzel contemplates important questions about life. I highly recommend giving this book a try if you’re a fan of brave, daring, and bold characters looking to find their way and place in life.

This was honestly very adorable. I’ve read one other Twisted Tale book by Liz Braswell and, while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t my favorite. This book, on the other hand, got my interest right away and I loved seeing all the characters in this new version of the story! I’ve always loved the movie, Tangled so this was definitely something I looked forward to reading and I wasn’t disappointed. There were a couple of moments that I felt dragged on a bit, but the story was still good and the author’s creativity didn’t cease to amaze me!

The beginning of the book felt slightly dragged on and I think it may be because I’m used to how fast-paced the movie is. There was a lot of good information in it, but the build-up to her meeting Flynn and Gina just felt a little overdone. After things got moving, it was smooth sailing from there and I loved seeing them all get to know one another. They were all so adorable when interacting with each other and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Also, there were one or two chapters in the middle that was kind of drawn-out, but I get why the author did it. She wanted to give us more information on Rapunzel’s hair because of how different it is to her powers in the movie. That’s why I was willing to overlook this bit.

This book was super cute and lighthearted and I can see myself re-reading it later on when I’m in the mood for something like that. I loved seeing how some of the new characters (ones that aren’t in the movie) are introduced. I was hesitant to have these new characters introduced but the way Liz Braswell did it was great and by the end of it, I understood why they were included. It made me appreciate the story-telling so much more!

Anyway, this is a fun, quick read and I really liked it. If you like the Tangled story, I think you’ll appreciate how creative the author got with this alternate story but kept the same overall feel of the characters!

Tangled is my favourite princess moving, so I knew I had to read this twisted tale. What Once Was Mine did not disappoint. The story was a little more aged up than the movie in the sense that the characters are more aware of the problematic behaviors of certain characters, acknowledging the trauma experienced by Rapunzel at the hands of her adopted mother even if Rapunzel herself doesn't realize it's not normal. Her isolation prevents her from fully realizing that Mother Gothel's love isn't really love. It's important to acknowledge that you're not obligated to love someone when they abuse and manipulate you, regardless of their role, even parent. It shows real strength to choose your own happiness.

I received an advanced copy of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Set up as a frame narrative, What Once Was Mine by Liz Braswell makes for an interesting read with occasional interruptions from some of the characters. The book starts with Brendan and Daniella who are in the hospital for Daniella's cancer treatment. This is when Brendan decides that he will tell his sister his own version of Tangled, which I think is really cute, if not a little unexpected.

The premise of the story was interesting. I was rather keen to read a story where Rapunzel's hair has killing powers instead of healing powers because the queen was given the Moondrop flower instead of the Sundrop flower. I also enjoyed the integration of some aspects of the Tangled show, such as the Mondrop flower, and a character that is similar to Cassandra.

This being said, I do feel the book was a bit too long. And while many things were happening, it still felt rather slow and like there wasn't much point to the events. While the book was not bad, it was simply not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion and review. Growing up, Rapunzel was always my favorite princess. I related a lot to her sense of adventure. When I saw there was going to be a twisted tale written about her story, I jumped at the chance to read it. I thought it was an excellent retelling of the story, and although I prefer the original, I loved this version as well. Anyone who liked Tangled, will love this version as well!

I loved this retelling of one of my favorite Disney princesses. This story created a more rounded story of why things happened to Rapunzel and the entire adventure she finds herself on. Liz Braswell made the story more realistic to a point of what would happen to a magical princess when she finally escapes her prison and finds herself amongst new people and not taught to immediately judge people.

The underlying story of a brother making a retelling to a story his sister loves while dealing with her cancer treatments was immensely heart warming and hopeful. I personally loved that the whole story went in a different way but important aspects stayed the same such as important characters and how the story leads to a fairytale ending.

Fully recommend this novel if you love a classic and hopeful fairytale.

I loved that I received this e-arc from NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for an honest review of the novel.

Let me please start off by saying, Tangled is my comfort movie. It’s my go to and I watch it probably once a week honestly. Now, WHAT ONCE WAS MINE is a twisted version of tangled, making the reader question what would happen if Rapunzel's hair has the power to kill rather than heal? Things are changed around in small ways, while minor details from the film are largely expanded on throughout this novel which made my Disney heart soar. I think this may be in my tops for the year!

I love the concept of punishment here, that Rapunzel felt like she "belongs’ in the tower because of her hair. Her hair, now silver as opposed to that signature blonde, really puts more emphasis on her leaving the tower and the guilt she feels. Dark premise for sure but super interesting to capture older audiences like myself.

I was worried about Gina being that, again, I love Tangled. She fit in the story pretty well, and so did her mother. I really enjoyed Rapunzel discovering her moon powers, it's actually a really creative way of using "moon" magic that I've never seen done in a book before.

Something I liked that I’m seeing others did not was the Princess Bride storytelling background. I really liked this because it made me appreciate that this story was formed through a young mindset. It was to help heal his sister of her discomfort and put a smile on her face, putting a twist on her favorite story. I really liked it and while it most certainly was sad, it was also interesting to read.

Overall I’m a fan and I’m very appreciative to have received this ARC! I can’t wait to go back and read pro elf these Twisted Tales!

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of What Once Was Mine by Liz Braswell. I haven't read many Twisted Tales, although they are all on my list now because this book was so amazing. I loved the twist on Tangled and the premise of the the Moondrop flower vs the Sundrop and the issues that arose due to using the wrong one. The characters were incredible! All of the characters, even the backgrounds ones really came to life. I could just hear them in my head and see them interacting with each other.

I'm not sure if there will be a trigger warning at the beginning when the book is in publication, but there is character who is going through cancer treatments. Her brother is the one spinning the tale for her and it is very beautifully incorporated. It is even more beautiful to know the story behind this after reading the Author's Note at the end.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book, especially if you are a Disney, Tangled, or Twisted Tales fan. It was wonderful!

3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this retelling of Tangled, What Once Was Mine shows what could've happened if Queen Arianna drank from the wrong flower. When she accidentally drinks from the Moondrop flower instead of the Sundrop flower, Rapunzel is born with a headful of silver hair and the ability not to heal, but hurt. She is then sent away to live in a castle under the care of Mother Gothel until she has learned to harness her power.

What I liked:

-The addition of Gina and her mother.
-Flynn
-Although there a lot of similarities to the Tangled movie, the differences that were there were creative and enjoyable.
-I liked the dark take on the Tangled.
-The whole concept of the Queen Arianna drinking from the Moondrop flower.

What I didn't like:

-Countess Bathory. Where does a psycho from 1500s Hungary who kills young women and bathes in their blood belong in Tangled?
-I wasn't a fan of all the historical references.
-The frame story with the brother telling his sister the story. I thought it was cute and all(especially considering the fact that the author's sister also had suffered from cancer) but I thought it was just unnecessary, it their chapters were just interrupting the storyline.
-Rapunzel and Flynn's relationship. Rapunzel had never met a guy before, so I'm not gonna make a big deal about her falling in love with him before meeting him. But the problem is that she fell in love with the idea of him. To prove my point, she says “I had ideas of what I wanted you to be. And you wound up being almost exactly like that.” And am I the only one who noticed that they both confessed to loving each other when they had literally barely exchanged only a few sentences?? I loved their relationship in the movie, but in this book they would've been better off as friends.
-Slow pace.
-SO much of this book was really similar to the Tangled movie.
-Not a fan of the narration. It was a little childish and I wish it sounded like someone mature was telling it.

Overall it was enjoyable and interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it to impatient and reluctant readers.

In this retelling of Tangled, when the queen of Corona drinks the Moondrop flower instead of the all-healing Sundrop flower, baby Rapunzel is born with silver hair and the power to hurt, not heal. Because of this, Rapunzel is locked away in a tower for 18 years under the care of Mother Gothel. As she ventures out of her tower for the first time to see the floating lights that appear every year on her birthday and to seek out the thief Flynn Rider, she strikes up a deal with another thief, Gina. As her adventure continues, Rapunzel learns a lot about mother-daughter dynamics, love, and her own magical hair.

I enjoyed reading this a lot, I thought it was a fun (and long) read but it definitely had darker tones than I was expecting. The synopsis kind of gives that away but I don’t think I was fully prepared for the a. emotional frame story and b. historical female serial killer aka Countess Bathory. I feel like that definitely came out of nowhere and I don’t think it was necessary. As previously mentioned, I did not like the frame story. It was an addition that did not need to be made, it was depressing and not necessary in an already high-stakes story. I did not care for the sister or brother in the slightest, I was more concerned for the ACTUAL characters in the ACTUAL story. (However, I understand the author’s intentions, as indicated in the author’s note, so I respect her decision and wish her and her family nothing but the best). At some moments, it felt like the story was trying to be politically correct and I don’t think that a fairy tale retelling is the place for that? Obviously, there can be good messages in stories but this felt like it was trying too hard. We STILL live in a patriarchal society, so the man near the end saying that he didn’t believe in women having arranged marriages and being sold just rubbed me the wrong way. The men from the Snuggly Duckling were great though.

My next critique would be the romance. I did not appreciate the subtle relationship between Flynn and Rapunzel, which makes me sad because I love their relationship in the movie/series. I thought they made better friends, in the sense that I genuinely did not understand how they had feelings for each other? Rapunzel’s physical attraction to him is evident but I don’t remember her ever expressing her overall attraction to him as a person. She even says, “I had ideas of what I wanted you to be. And you wound up being almost exactly like that.” I’m sorry, WHAT? That is NOT loving someone, that is loving the idea you came up with in your head.

I think it was a well written book and I did enjoy the addition of Gina (I’m currently watching the Tangled Series and she reminds me A LOT of Cassandra. But kind of with Cassandra, I could totally see Flynn and HER ending up with each other instead of the canon relationship of Raps and Flynn…) and in turn, her mother. I loved that part of the book and how Rapunzel kept comparing Gina’s mom to Mother Gothel and her realization of how mothers should truly be instead of her own cold upbringing (I do understand there’s no RIGHT way to be a mother I’m just saying I think Rapunzel’s realizations were a part of her character growth). Overall, I just really loved and appreciated Gina’s mom. To end, I wasn’t disappointed, I was just expecting something different and I’m not sure I liked it that much.

Thank you to Disney-Hyperion and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 53%. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had an interesting concept which is what made want to read it but I was disappointed.

First, the story starts off with Brendan in a hospital keeping his sister Daniella (who loves tangled) company. I was throw off by this and honestly thought I was reading a different book. So Brendan ends up telling his sister a completely different twist on Rapunzel. I didn’t enjoy this in the book because it would go back and forth from the Rapunzel story to Brendan and Daniella in the hospital which was interrupting the flow of the storytelling.

I understand that this considered a twist on Rapunzel but I found this WAY to similar to the movie tangled with the plot points placed in different areas. Also the introduction of the new character Gina, it might be because I’ve been watching the Tangled TV show but Gina to me was basically Cassandra. Again, I was excited for this book because I LOVE Tangled. But I feel that it could have been so much better without the Brendan and Daniella story line and without Flynn and just been Rapunzel and Gina.

Also for a twisted tale about her silver hair (the moon drop flower) which is one of the reasons why I wanted to read this book, there wasn’t a lot involving her dangerous magical powers (the power to hurt) within the 53% that I read. The last twisted tale I read the story started where the movie left off and I found that this story didn’t have a new concept and lacked originality.

I was so excited to see that Liz Braswell continued on with another twisted tale but upon reading i was sort of disappointed it did not seem to flow well like her books normally do. It was a good retelling but not one of my favorites sadly.

It starts with a simple question: What if Rapunzel's mother drank a potion from the wrong flower? What follows is a clever, and a bit darker, retelling of Tangled's Rapunzel story.

I enjoyed the twists in the story. I even enjoyed some of the new characters thrown in. But the framing of the story was a bit distracting and pulled me out of it several times. This also had the unfortunate effect of making several plot points feel like afterthoughts. The ending too, as I've noticed with others in this series, felt rushed after the build-up. Still, it was worth the read and I loved the inclusion of the original story characters and lore.

Thank you Disney Publishing Worldwide for providing me with an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Press for an advanced ebook copy of this book in exchange for a review!

I was so excited to read this book when I saw that my request was finally accepted because Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies, everything from the story to the soundtrack to the characters makes it an all time favorite.

The whole premise of the Twisted Tales series is similar to the new Marvel show on Disney+, What If...?. For this book, the question is "What if Rapunzel's mother drank a potion from the wrong flower?". Basically, when Rapunzel's mother was pregnant and people were sent in search of the Sundrop flower to heal her, but they found the Moondrop flower instead. She was still healed, but Rapunzel was born with silver hair, rather than gold like the movie, and when a nursemaid is brushing through a knot, Rapunzel gets upset and the nursemaid drops dead.

The king and queen are shocked and decide to tell the kingdom that the nursemaid died trying to protect Rapunzel from a poisonous snake, but they both died in the process. They send out a message to all the witches in the kingdom, looking for one that is willing to raise and care for Rapunzel since it is too dangerous for them. Mother Gothel is the one they choose.

This book started out with having some of the same plot points as the movie: Mother Gothel has raised Rapunzel since her birth, she wants to see the floating lights, they get in a fight, she says she can't ever leave the tower, she asks her to get the paints that are a far journey, she leaves the tower and goes to the Snuggly Duckling, but from there the story diverges and honestly, the story wasn't even that similar within even those plot points.

I didn't go into this book expecting it to be exactly the same, obviously, it's called a retelling for a reason. But I was expecting it to be at least more similar to the movie than how it actually was. Obviously, different life circumstances would cause someone to have a different personality, but these characters that I've watched so many times on my screen did not even feel like the same people in this book. None of the character traits felt the same, there were a bunch of new random characters that weren't even mentioned of even referred to in the movie.

I think that I would've enjoyed this book more if it didn't try to sell itself as a Tangled retelling. This just did not feel anything like the movie and that kept taking me out of the story, ultimately making me not like this book.

4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-
Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for giving me a copy of this book! This is my honest review, all views are my own.
-
What Once Was Mine is a whimsical yet dangerous adventure following Disney Tangled’s Rapunzel—with the twist of her hair being silver from the Moondrop Flower, instead of golden from the Sundrop Flower. This changed her powers from being that of healing to be that of destroying/killing.
One key part of this book was the occasional break in the Rapunzel story, a la the Princess Bride movie, to remind readers that this is a tale concocted by a boy whose sister is in the hospital for chemo. He tells this story to her in an attempt to change up the constant rewatches and rereads of Tangled. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind this break from the story as much as I thought I would! Sometimes the breaks would give further understanding to the reasoning behind certain changes, or seemingly random add-ons. That being said, I do think it occasionally interrupts the story for something that doesn’t feel really necessary or additive.
In any case, the story itself was very interesting: I loved seeing how the little details were adjusted from the movie, and I enjoyed the inserted characters and plotlines. At times it felt a bit overdone—such as the less-than-subtle way that Gothel was evil and didn’t truly hide her lack of affection for Rapunzel, or the entire ending plotline with Bathory—but in general the book created its own unique story complete with fascinating and fun new characters as well as a return of old ones. The writing could have used more humor in my opinion, but it did fairly well in holding true to the characters, considering the drastic twist in the plot. I loved Rapunzel and Flynn and Gina, I just wish there was… I don’t know, less darkness? This is my first Twisted Tale book so I don’t know how far these books usually pull it away from the fluffy Disney vibes, but there felt like a lot of nuances and deaths and violence. Perhaps that’s what makes this book young adult instead of middle grade? I won’t ding the book for it because that comes from my lack of knowledge about this series rather than the book lacking! In short, this was a very fun story and I really loved reading it! It fell short in a couple of areas, so there needed to be a suspension of disbelief, but I really liked it anyways! A solid 4 stars.

Rapunzel is my favorite Disney princess so I was so excited to be able to read this book! It is a fun (although long) retelling where a moon drop flower is picked instead of the sun drop flower and given to the queen. Rapunzel’s hair is silver, like the moon, and instead of healing powers, in a fit of anger as a baby’s she accidentally kills a maid. In order to protect themselves and the kingdom she is sent away with a “witch” (Gothel) who can handle her magic, at least until she is older and better able to control her powers.

When Gothel brings her a wanted poster of Flynn Rider as a gift (paper for art) and refuses to take her to see the floating lights, Rapunzel decides to collect the bag she saw him stash in the tree and find Flynn Rider to be her guide to the lights, holding his bag as ransom. She doesn’t find Flynn, she finds a wannabe thug at the Snuggly Duckling named Gina who promises to help her find Flynn. Eventually they do run into Flynn and the trio goes on an adventure to the floating lights.

The adventure is derailed and the direction changed as they discover many people are looking for Rapunzel.

I thought this was a fun twist on the story! I enjoyed the new good guys that are brought in. It did feel a little long and slow in places.

4/5 stars