Review: What Once Was Mine by Liz Braswell

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Title: What Once Was Mine

Author: Liz Braswell

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Published: September 7, 2021

Pages: 512

Format: Netgalley, provided by Disney-Hyperion. Thank you!

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Goodreads Blurb:

“The 12th installment in the New York Times best-selling series asks: What if Rapunzel’s mother drank a potion from the wrong flower?

Desperate to save the life of their queen and her unborn child, the good people of Corona search for the all-healing Sundrop flower to cure her—but mistakenly acquire the shimmering Moondrop flower instead. Nonetheless it heals the queen, and she delivers a healthy baby girl with hair as silver and gray as the moon. With it comes dangerous magical powers: the power to hurt, not heal. For her safety and the safety of the kingdom, Rapunzel is locked in a tower and put under the care of powerful goodwife, Mother Gothel.

For eighteen years Rapunzel stays locked away, knowing she must protect others from her magical hair. But when she leaves the only home she’s ever known, wanting only to see the floating lights that appear on her birthday, she gets caught up in an adventure across the kingdom with two thieves—a young woman named Gina, and Flynn Rider, a rogue on the run. Before she can reach her happy ending, Rapunzel learns that there may be more to her story, and her magical tresses, than she ever knew.”

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My Review:

I’m so glad to have finally been able to read this. This is my oldest Netgalley arc that I received right as we found a house and started the selling/buying of two houses. I’m sorry, it has taken me so long to get to this. With that out of the way, let’s get to the goods.

This is my first Twisted Tale book and I really didn’t know what to expect. I love Tangled the movie and I was really excited when I received an ARC. With that being said, I did feel a bit let down. I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of the book but there are some things that really just had me disconnect. For example, the biggest thing that would take me out of the story were the scenes at Kettering Memorial. I would be into the actual story and then we would just jump right out of it to the hospital. I would have enjoyed it more because I could have been fully immersed in the story. I did understand why she did it after reading her note. I just don’t think it added anything to the actual book.

I really enjoyed the actual “twist” to the tale. Moondrop?! Yes, that was really fun and an interesting take. I really liked the addition of Gina too. She was a lot of fun and she kind of stole Flynn’s thunder. I actually didn’t love him in this book. He didn’t really give me the same vibes that Flynn from the movie did.

The pacing was a bit off but it could be because of the jumps back and forth with the hospital. I do think there’s a lot of things at the beginning that could have been left out. It would have cut the book at some points where it became lengthy. Once we get away from the movie scenes it really took off for me.

Overall, I didn’t love this like I thought I would. I did enjoy it enough that I will keep going. I’m actually reading book one at the moment and I’m loving it a lot more.

Disney-Hyperion provided an e-ARC for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.