What Once Was Mine: A Twisted Tale Hardcover – September 7, 2021

This twisted tale series was an amazing book full of parts from the original tangled movie but also adding so many new and twisted stories. Definitely a great read.

Daughter and Grand, love the series. Winter day in days were saved

This book took me just over 2 months to read because I’d became so cozy and invested I’d fall asleep. The story is great. I’ve read a few of Braswells Twisted tales but genuinely enjoyed the direction that was taken when writing this story. Well written and a great story!

i absolutely loved this book! everything was so perfect! i do wish there was a scene with the floating lights because 🥰💕 that would’ve be amazing, but either way it was so perfect! i loved the writing, the characters (especially flynn and his romantic heart), the thugs from The Snuggly Duckling (especially how they were the same characters from the movie), Pascal (the dragon ;) hehe), maximas! oh how i loved everything! or when Flynn gave Rapunzel the bouquet he picked out by hand, all carefully put together! that was the cutest frickin thing ever! oh how i wish someone would do that for me… :,) i can’t wait to re-read this book a million+ times forever 🤍 defiantly one of my new favorite books 💕🤍🌷☺️

The whole series is amazing and pulls you back i love it

I've read most of the Twisted Tales series, and knew going in that Braswell is one of my personal favorites. She's done Part of Your World, Straight on Till Morning, and A Whole New World (the first and one of the best). So it's entirely likely that someone picking up this book has already read through most of them.The most clever thing Braswell does with this particular story is adding a framing device. There are several chapters that cut away to a pair of twins: a girl and a boy. The girl has cancer, and is obsessed with Tangled. So the boy, tired of watching the movie again and again as well as reading a novelization/storybook version, decides to retell the story in his way.Braswell uses this to explain why there are various changes, and every few chapters, we go back to the cancer ward and check in on these characters. There's some commentary on the writing process, and a few moments that almost feel like Braswell addressing common complaints of the Twisted Tales series (at one point the girl insists that they still need the magic and the weirdness of Pascal and Maximus; the brother concedes). It's an interesting technique that mostly works.Mostly because it also puts some distance between us and the original characters. Suddenly Rapunzel, Flynn/Eugene, and new character Gina are all once removed from us as readers. The framing makes them a little less real, and it takes a bit more to get into their stories. We already know going in that this is a Disney property and that certain things must happen: good wins, the two hetero leads fall in love, magic abounds. But this frame weakens it even further, which isn't a great move.It's disappointing, as the rest of the book is good. It's well written, and Braswell's wit is on full display. Flynn/Eugene, Rapunzel, and the rest of the already existing cast feel like their original selves, and the various additions blend in well (the Tangled fan in me wishes that Braswell had watched the animated series and worked in some of those elements; Cassandra could have subbed in for Gina without much difficulty. They're almost the same character).The main twist is in the summary: Rapunzel's mom drank a different flower. This makes some interesting changes that more or less work out. The story itself does play slightly differently, a sort of butterfly effect rippling out. I do like the overall feeling of empowering Rapunzel (which isn't hard, she's already a pretty empowered princess unlike some of them; lookin' at you, Aurora), as she has agency and magic of her own, both of which work well.All in all, the book is a very good entry in the series and worth picking up if you're a fan of Tangled or even just looking into a fun YA fantasy. It's not quite perfect, though admittedly that framing might not bother some readers (particularly younger ones) as much as it did me.Personally I'd give it an 8 out of ten; quite good, but with room for improvement.(for more reviews from me, check out my blog: https://fatereviewsstuff.com/ , which focuses primarily on Nintendo Switch games and more).

Love this story and the way it was written. Made me so sad at times but ended up a huge smile! 💯 recommend

The book is great, but you should know that the cover you see in the picture is an additional paper cover, and the cover of the book itself is a black hardcover