The Quick Cut: The tale of Rapunzel is turned on its head when her mom drinks a potion of the wrong flower.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Disney-Hyperion for providing the ARC for an honest review.

The name Rapunzel likely brings up thoughts of damsels in distress and high towers, but the movie Tangled made her far more than that. In the latest addition to the Twisted series, this story navigates the what if scenario - specific to what if Rapunzel's mother had a potion from the moondrop flower instead of the Sundrop flower.

The queen was desperate to have a child to continue the royal line. Their solution was to send guards to collect the Sundrop flower and use it's magical abilities. Except they accidentally gather the moondrop flower and while it does heal her - it comes with unexpected consequences. Once their daughter is born, it is quickly discovered that her hair holds a power they all fear. Is Rapunzel evil? Or is there more than meets the eye?

The twisted tale ala Tangled is here. If you enjoyed the movie, you'll probably like this dark version too. The chemistry between Rapunzel and Flynn still makes you smile. The main plot adventurous and exciting. However, there are so many aspects that take you out of the story too.

A big component of the narrative here is that a brother is in the hospital with his sister telling this modified Rapunzel story. While I get that it was added to bring in a modern connection, it's entirely unnecessary and totally distracting. They are not truly developed characters and their passages are short. The author should have skipped this angle entirely.

The other issue for me is the length. This particular author seems to love writing in long form, but it also feels that way too. So many pages drag the plot out slowly where it would have made for a better experience to get to the point.

A twisted Tangled tale that takes you out of the story too much.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

This is my 5th Twisted Tale book and I have to say, probably one of the stranger ones. If you're unfamiliar with the Twisted Tales books, they change a major part of a classic Disney story and write a darker "what if?" version. I think the idea is fun and I like getting to spend more time in the universe of these stories. I was excited to see a Tangled version and looked forward to finding out the plot!

I liked the changes that the author made to Tangled and the classic Rapunzel story. There were some small nods to the original story and the movie that were fun to recognize. I liked the characters a lot and thought that Gina and her mom were great additions. I enjoyed seeing Rapunzel learn more about her magic and accepting/removing blame of things that happened to her in the past. If the book had left it at this, it probably would have been one of my favorite Twisted Tales books.

However. What Once Was Mine has a very strange historical mishmash tone. This book has a frame story of a brother telling his sister a retelling of Tangled while she is in the hospital in present day. Like the Princess Bride, it switches back and forth and you see the characters react to changes in the story and make requests for plot points. I thought this was weird as none of the other Twisted Tales books have this feature. I'll admit that I haven't read one for a while so maybe that's a new feature? Either way, I felt like it didn't add anything and it was strange to switch in and out of the story. This makes less sense in a Tangled book than a lot of the other ones because I feel like Tangled is supposed to be a less-historically or geographically grounded story than a lot of the other Disney movies (although it is set in the kingdom of Corona, which is rather fitting).

The strange tone issues continued with the historical references. I think that Tangled is pretty renaissance-fair-like in terms of historical setting. Anything that looks like it might fit in a fantasy world goes. This book references that it is set in Europe and mentions other countries like France and Italy. I wish that this story had completely embraced the whimsical tone and done away with any grounding in modern reality. I feel like we were 75% there and then I would think, "oh, this is supposed to take place in a real country?" I would have liked just going with the high fantasy world and tone instead of the modern/medieval Europe/made up land with magic. On that topic, Countess Elizabeth Bathory is in this? Like, the countess from 1500 Hungary who killed all of those women to bathe in their blood? What on earth are you doing in a Tangled retelling???? Couldn't you have at least changed her name? Seeing Rapunzel, Flynn, and Gothel in the same sentence as Bathory is one of the stranger things I have ever read. I'm honestly glad that my friend read this book at the same time or I might have thought that I dreamed this plot point.

Also, I would have liked Rapunzel and Gina to end up together. Just saying.

This book is also 500 pages long and boy does it feel like it. I thought we were going to get to the climax soon and then I realized that I still had 200 more pages. (I would have been happy to read 200 pages of Rapunzel and Gina romance, though!)

Overall, I liked the general story and changes made to Tangled, but the slow pace, unnecessary frame story, and insane Countess Elizabeth Bathory inclusion knocks this down to 2.7 stars, rounded up to 3. Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for the electronic advanced readers copy of this book! I'm looking forward to reading other Twisted Tales that hopefully don't include medieval serial killers!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide.

I love the Twisted tales books. They're such interesting takes on old stories. In this one, poor Rapunzel is stuck with "murderhair" and manipulated by a vile Mother Gothel, who is straight up a villain, no doubt at all that's he using poor Rapunzel.

I will admit there was a certain amount of confusion because I was totally expecting a character to be someone they couldn't be. But that may just be a me thing.

This book is so much fun!

I enjoyed this take on Tangled. It was a good twist to the original movie. I think the author did such a wonderful job with the characters and she added new characters to the story that made it even more interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion for the ARC to this book!

This book wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the dual narration style because it kept bringing me out of the story. I feel like this would work really well as a movie or TV show but for me it just kept the characters at a distance and I couldn’t get absorbed.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This story started slow which made it a bit hard to get into, but after getting into it I did end up enjoying it. I went into this book without having ever read a twisted tale and liked it in the end. I thought it was unique without being overly far removed from the original tale.

I have genuinely never cared less about the plot of a book. I was pretty disappointed because I have read one other Twisted Tale that I at least enjoyed so I thought this would be a fun read. Unfortunately, I almost DNF'd at multiple points because I just did not care what happened.

The frame story was strange, since none of the other books use this device and I really don't think it served a purpose that I could identify. I appreciate the author's personal experience with having a sibling with cancer but it felt really shoehorned into this story.

Also, just saying, this book would have been vastly better if the "love story" was between Gina and Rapunzel. I say "love story" in quotes because Flynn and Rapunzel barely interacted in this story and then somehow are in love...ugh.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for the eARC in exchange for a review.

What if the story you knew was different? In What Once Was Mine, Rapunzel is born with silver hair instead of gold. With strange and somewhat dangerous abilities instead of healing ones. This novel took elements from the film Tangled and altered the story to fit a different lens. This story introduced new characters that were a fun addition to the plot along with giving more depth to some of the pre-existing characters. This story is a unique concept of what could’ve been.

What a perfect book to just sit back and enjoy. It reads like a movie; not just the Tangled movie that it obviously based on but it felt like The Princess Bride with the alternate POV of the kids. I could definitely see this being a family read before bedtime.

As someone who has loved the movie Tangled since it came out in 2010, I never thought that anything would be able to hold a candle to its magic. When I picked this book up, I was pretty skeptical, but it proved me wrong and I could not be happier about it.

I absolutely adored all of the "twisted" aspects about the story, and the addition of Gina was amazing. At first, I worried that she would somehow replace Flynn, but instead she gave me what I thought this story needed most: another person for him to trust.

I also loved the small side-story about Brendan and his sister. They made all the downtime in this book worthwhile. Not that there was much downtime as the story was so action-packed that it was impossible to be bored, but I still looked forward to seeing their cute sibling banter.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who comes across it. It will not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A look into an alternate reality where the Rapunzel we all got to know and love from Disney's film Tangled is given a bit of an edge, and a dark side.
The story is told using the framing device of a brother telling a story to his sick sister, think Prince Bride vibes, and the back and forth between the framing device and the story are a little jarring at first but become an enjoyable part of the reading experience.
The characters are similar to those in the original Disney film but have more backstory and more depth, and some even have unexpected side plots and character growth.
A lovely story with a happy ending, it's the middle that's changed, and that's what makes it interesting! Readers who love fairy tales, classic stories, and a little bit of intrigue will fall in love with this dark Rapunzel and a whole new story!

I absolutely adore this series of Disney’s twisted tales, and I was completely intrigued by this book! I thought it was really interesting that the moon drop plant was used on accident instead of the sun drop, and that Rapunzel’s hair becomes dangerous instead of being able to heal! (Also, I’m sure it would’ve looked so beautiful in the movie if her hair had been silver!) Overall I liked the book, it wasn’t my favorite out of the series, but it was good! Can’t wait to see what comes next!

I actually liked this book, I don't know Rapunzel's story as a princess, I just know she was stuck in a tower but I did not know why, but because of this book I actually even watched the movie, Its really cute. Anyway, this retelling was so different and a little boring, but then its a YA book and also a Disney character, which now as an adult I find a little difficult to get into. Not saying that this book was horrible, I actually finished it, it was different to read that her hair is actually killing, instead of healing?? That was pretty different, I will try to get into the other Twisted Tales, maybe its because I am not a HUGE fan of Rapunzel??????? lol. But if you are I would go for it.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

First twisted tales I read and it has all the Disney magic I could ask for. Wonderful not so Disney story but kept true to all the original details and facts. I only gave 4 stars because I did not enjoy the story being told in the form of a made up story by a brother comforting his sister. It wasn't necessary and contributed nothing to the book at all. I had no interest in knowing what the sister thought or why the brother told the story the way he did.

Spoiler Free

Rapunzel was locked away in a tower by Mother Gothel because her parents thought she was cursed. Her hair was not golden, nor was she able to control how it grew. She was filled with magic from the Moondrop flower. Terrible mistake made by the royal family thinking the had found the Sundrop flower.

Growing up knowing that her hair is deadly and not for good she lives in the tower happily. Mostly anyways. Mother Gothel treats her well, makes sure she never goes hungry and decides to auction her off to the highest bidder. Wait what?! That is right; Rapunzel is up for bid highest offer wins. On the night she wishes for nothing more than to see the floating lights is the same night she is supposed to be offered to the winner. Mother Gothel of course thinks she has the perfect plan in place and nothing can go wrong. What she didn't plan on is Rapunzel deciding she will go see the floating lanterns herself without Mother approval.

Along the way Flynn Rider and Gina become Rapunzel's closest friends. Besides Pascal of course. On her adventure into the woods she begins to learn that her hair is not what is seems to be. Not only evil and death comes from it. What she learns is not exactly good either. Things of course go wrong and she is left with nothing but her glowing hair and her own truths that have yet to be told. Rapunzel has to step outside everything Mother Gothel taught her about the world and herself to find her true family again. It will cost her but she doesn't know that yet.

There is humor in this book that I laughed very hard at. Just like the Disney movies, adults can enjoy this story and get a good chuckle from it. Not all happy endings have to be fairytale like either.

This was such a fun retelling of Tangled! The story starts off similar to the original movie, but goes completely off the rails part way through. I've only read one other twisted tale story before and didn't really enjoy the changes made to that one, but this one I had a fun time with Rapunzel and gang. The twisted tales seems to be a bit darker than the movies; Mother Gothel tries to auction off Rapunzel and her magic to the highest bidder, either as a wife or a slave. We encounter another villain this way: Countess Bathory, who in the story remains true to the rumors of her bathing in virgin blood to retain her youth.

Keeping in mind that the target audience is teens, I didn't have a hard time being in Rapunzel's head as we explore the world for the first time outside of her tower. I originally thought that the book would follow most of the movie, but early on we meet Gina, who encourages Rapunzel to control her magic and take on adventures herself. I quite enjoyed the little ending with Gina and Flynn; the author definitely foreshadowed this throughout the book but I didn't catch this until the end.

Overall, this was a touching story. We got to explore more of Rapunzel's relationship with Mother Gothel, and the Snuggly Duckling gang plays a larger role. I would definitely watch this as a movie.

Thank you for the EArc NetGalley & Hyperion. I typically love these stories because I love the twists on the typically fairy tale. This one I could have done without though. The story was slow and I struggled to get through it. Rapunzel has never been a favorite anyway but this was just a snooze fest. Love the author and will still read whatever she puts out but this was a miss.

This was my first Disney retelling and I’m said to say that I did not finish it. I was so incredibly bored. I felt like nothing was progressing and I had to force myself to read it. First I said I would read 30% and if I got bored I would stop but then I read 50% and that was it for me. It took me 4 WHOLE DAYS just to get to 50% and I’m a pretty fast reader. I guess I just don’t like fairy-tail retelling but that wasn’t the only problem of this book. I didn’t form ANY relationships with any of the characters and the plot seemed dry and lifeless. I did though enjoy how I got to read about some my favorite child hood characters again, because that made me very happy. Other than that this book was incredibly slow and basically had no plot, and if I’m being honest it seems like a cash grab. A perfect way to make money when in reality the story was not written out well. Personally I wouldn’t recommend this for anyone unless you REALLY want to read a fairy tale retelling but otherwise no.

Tangled is one of my absolute favorite Disney movies, so I was thrilled to find out Liz Braswell was going to be twisting the tale. And she did not disappoint. The plot is brilliant, the characters are so well-developed, and I loved, loved, loved the magic. The story within a story element too is very touching. If you're a fan of the Twisted Tale series, definitely add this one to your TBR list!

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

Rapunzel is one of my favourite Disney Princess out there. In this instalment instead of drinking from the sunflower Rapunzel's mother drank from a moonflower.
So instead of getting healing power from her hair Rapunzel got deadly killing power. The story starts where she wanted to see the floating lights but her mother had bigger plans for her.
Flyn and Gina were amazing. And the adventure is what made this book different and more intriguing.
I have some mixed feelings about this. At some point the story seemed quite slow to me. And the moonflower really didn’t made that big difference. The romance could been more developed I guess.
But overall, this was fun a quick. If you're looking for a fun, intriguing and of course full of adventure retelling, definitely give this a try.

2.5/5 stars
This was such a disappointment. I feel like Liz Braswell is such a hit or miss author for me. I loved Unbirthday, and I really didn't like this. The story was plain and boring, and the fact that she drank from the moonflower didn't reeeeally have much to do with the story. She can kill instead of heal, Gothel should have trained her to be an assassin that she then sells to the highest bidder; not keep her locked up and innocent then to sell to the highest bidder. The romance was so rushed and didn't feel like it worked. Her parents were strange and it really felt like here dad couldn't care less about what happened to her. The writing was juvenile and lackluster, and overall just really disappointing.