What Once Was Mine by Liz Braswell

I received this book for free from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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 citizens of the kingdom comb the land for the all-healing Sundrop flower to cure her . . . but someone mistakenly picks the blossom of the Moondrop instead. This shimmering flower heals the queen and she delivers a healthy baby girl?with hair as silver and gray as the moon. But with her mysterious hair comes dangerous magical powers: the power to hurt, not heal. For the safety of the kingdom, Rapunzel is locked away in a tower and put under the care of the powerful goodwife, Mother Gothel.

For eighteen years Rapunzel stays imprisoned in her tower, knowing she must protect everyone from her magical hair. When she finally decides to leave the only home she's ever known—to see the floating lights that appear on her birthday—she gets caught up in an unexpected adventure with two thieves: a would-be outlaw named Gina, and Flynn Rider, a rogue on the run. Before she can reach her happy ending, Rapunzel learns that there is far more to her story, and her magical hair, and her future than she ever knew.

For more twisted adventures, try the other books in the A TWISTED TALE series:

• A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
• Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell
• As Old As Time by Liz Braswell
• Reflection by Elizabeth Lim
• Part of Your World by Liz Braswell
• Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita
• Conceal, Don't Feel by Jen Calonita
• Straight On Till Morning by Liz Braswell
• So This is Love by Elizabeth Lim
• Unbirthday by Liz Braswell
• Go the Distance by Jen Calonita (on sale 4/06/2021)

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my links, I will receive a small commission or free services from the sale at no additional cost to you.

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that I absolutely LOVE Disney’s Twisted Tales. I just love how they take a beloved story and turn it around, giving it a new life. So when I saw What Once Was Mine on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it. I just wish it had met my expectations.

What Once Was Mine Review

This is the first time I haven’t particularly cared for one of the Twisted Tales books. I’ve loved every other book I’ve read from the series and I own about half of the series. But for some reason this one just didn’t give me the same happy feeling I had with the other ones.

I am thinking that the reason for this is that What Once Was Mine has a different format to how the story is laid out. Instead of just starting from the beginning of the actual Disney version of the story, this one starts out in the “real” world. In this Twisted Tale, the twisted version of the tale is being told to a girl by her twin brother. I don’t think this would have bothered me quite as much if it weren’t for the fact that the girl will occasionally interject and disrupt the flow of the story. While I understand this meant to help convey the fact that the story is being told to her, it is rather annoying to have the flow of the story just interrupted.

Other than that, I found the story to be rather boring. It just wasn’t holding my interest and it took me a while to actually read the book. I couldn’t get behind the characters and the plot just wasn’t doing it for me.

I’ll buy it to complete my collection but I doubt I’d re-read it any time soon. Maybe if I re-read it in the future I’ll like it more, but right now, it’s a 3 star for me.