What Once was Mine
LIZ BRASWELL
(Part of Disney's Twisted Tales series)
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Synopsis:
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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.
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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.
Content:
Language: one or two uses of minor swear words, invented curse
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Violence: Rapunzel’s hair kills instead of heals, and Mother Gothel has her unwillingly practice on a chicken in one scene. There are a few fight scenes described in very little detail, all mentions of blood are brief and not at all gory. However, there is a plotline involving the Countess Elizabeth Báthory, an actual historical figure called “the Blood Countess” for her apparent habit of torturing girls, killing them, and then bathing in their blood. As gruesome as it sounds, the book touches only briefly on this point and without too much depth.
Sex: a few very chaste kisses, talk of attraction between Flynn Rider and Rapunzel.
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LGBTQ: Not present
My Review: Like a lot of the Twisted Tales, especially the ones by Liz Braswell, although this is categorized as Young Adult, it reads more like Middle Grade. It had a good premise, but some of the concepts were handled very immaturely.