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What Once Was Mine
What Once Was Mine
Liz Braswell | 2021 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
๐‘พ๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’Š๐’‡ ๐‘น๐’‚๐’‘๐’–๐’๐’›๐’†๐’โ€™๐’” ๐’Ž๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’…๐’“๐’‚๐’๐’Œ ๐’‚ ๐’‘๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’“๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‡๐’๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

As you will all know by now, I am in love with the Twisted Tales series and have to read each installment as they are released. What Once was Mine is the 12th Twisted Tale book and the 7th written by Liz Braswell so to say I was excited would be an understatement.

As always, TT books come with a tag line to lure you in and this one is โ€œWhat if Rapunzelโ€™s mother drank a potion from the wrong flower?โ€ Yes, instead of the golden Sundrop flower, the ailing pregnant queen is mistakenly given a potion using the Moondrop flower, resulting in a silver-haired princess whose power kills rather than heals!

Of course, that casts the whole locking the princess in a tower concept into an entirely new light! However, many of the other elements remain the same as Disneyโ€™s โ€˜Tangledโ€™ movie: Gothel is Rapunzelโ€™s captor and โ€œmotherโ€, Flynn steals a crown and is on the run from the Stabbington brothers and Rapunzel is desperate to see the floating lights.

What Liz Braswell manages to do (very well, in my opinion) is to maintain all these similarities, keeping her readers rooted to the original story but also to bend the original fairytale into something a bit more mature, a bit darker and, in some cases, a bit more real.


โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ก๐™š๐™™, ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™—๐™ง๐™–๐™ž๐™™๐™จ, ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฏ๐™š๐™กโ€

What Once was Mine is written from Rapunzelโ€™s perspective. Now, this may be an obvious choice, but it also gives Braswell the opportunity to show her protagonist in a slightly more mature light than we are used to. Yes, Rapunzel is scatty, enthusiastic and teeth-grittingly cheerful about everything but she also believes she is dangerous and that she belongs in the tower for the safety of others.

Rapunzel has always been told that her hair killed her parents and that Gothel has been charged with her care and protection. However, what I really enjoyed about Braswellโ€™s Rapunzel is that, although she begins with the same blind faith in Gothel as she has in the movie, she soon develops an inner turmoil of emotions with regards to her captor, questioning where she spends her days and recognising the little digs often made at the daughterโ€™s expense.

As her journey continues, Rapunzel observes other mother-daughter relationships and her doubt and distrust of Gothel begins to build as a result. Lords, ladies and bandits alike are hunting for Rapunzel in order to claim her as their prize but this couldnโ€™t be orchestrated by her mother, the only family she has ever known, could it?

โ€œ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™œ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™›, ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฏ๐™š๐™ก. ๐™๐™๐™–๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™– ๐™›๐™–๐™ง ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™œ๐™ž๐™›๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™›๐™ก๐™ค๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™จ.โ€

I have conflicting feelings when it comes to the darker elements of What Once Was Mine. The inclusion of the very real Countess Bathory took me by surprise and was quite gruesome in places: not a problem for a grown-up Disney nerd but Iโ€™m not sure whether I will be passing this one along to the Mini Bookworm any time soon.

There is also the narrator of the story: a brother making up an alternative Rapunzel story for his sister while she is undergoing chemo. I understand this is an emotive topic for the author and I almost got it as a tool for the story-telling, enabling the use of quite modern, colloquial terms such as โ€œmurderhairโ€ and enabling the creative inclusion of characters such as Maximus.

I really wanted this technique to be profound and make the story mean more, such as fairytales having an important place in the modern world for example. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me: it was an interesting tweak but it didnโ€™t make me feel as much as I wanted it to.

It is not all doom and gloom though, Rapunzelโ€™s perspective of the world provides comic moments: her (limited) knowledge of the world comes from the 37 books that she owns, leading to a moose that is definitely a squirrel and a cat which acts suspiciously like a fox. We are also not deprived of the regulars of The Snuggly Duckling, indeed all of your favourites from the film turn up for this novel.

Braswellโ€™s characterisation when it came to Flynn was spot on in my opinion. The observation by Rapunzel that there is the โ€œrealโ€ Flynn and then there is the charming, roguish mask he uses was perfect! Gina was also a great addition, desperately trying to be an adventurer/criminal and not being taken seriously just because she is a girl. The relationship between her and Flynn was adorable and, of course, Ginaโ€™s mother is just legendary.

โ€œ๐™Ž๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ๐™จ; ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™ช๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฏ๐™š๐™™ ๐™™๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ข ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ข๐™–๐™ก๐™˜๐™ฎโ€

The writing style isnโ€™t for everyone and, I must admit, this is the twisted tale which I have probably put down and walked away from the most. However, if you can stick it through the slow sections the story is really worth it and provides a much-admired evolution of the Disney Princess.

Donโ€™t get me wrong - in the animated movie Rapunzel is great and all but by the end she is a princess with a haircut and a smouldering husband. Braswellโ€™s Rapunzel has magic that she needs to study, understand and control, she is a future Queen in the making and simply has more of a purpose than her animated counterpart.

โ€œ๐™Ž๐™๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™—๐™—๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃโ€


What Once Was Mine brings a whole new depth to the characters of Disneyโ€™s Tangled. It gives us a new (frankly, disgusting) villain alongside all our favourite characters and definitely presents a creative twist on the traditional story. Donโ€™t worry, Rapunzel still gets her Happily Ever After, but she fought a little harder for it this time around!
  
American Gods  - Season 1
American Gods - Season 1
2017 | Drama
An intriguing & decent adaptation
I really enjoyed the book and had heard good things about the show, and Iโ€™m please to say that for the most part this is a very good adaptation.

I completely agree with everyone else that has compared this to Hannibal. From the effective visual imagery and the dream sequences, to the impressive amount of blood and gore, itโ€™s difficult not to recognise parts of Hannibal in this. Unsurprising though considering theyโ€™re both made by Bryan Fuller. Ian McShane is truly fantastic as Mr Wednesday, they couldnโ€™t have picked anyone better and even Ricky Whittle is brilliant as Shadow. He really has come a long way from his Hollyoaks days! There are also some great cameo/supporting performances from Gillian Anderson, Crispin Glover, Peter Stormare and Orlando Jones.

The story does at least start off following the book but does veer off slightly as the episodes move on. In some cases, this isnโ€™t a bad thing. I like what theyโ€™ve done with Shadowโ€™s character, making him more outgoing and vocal than his too quiet persona in the books. This works. What doesnโ€™t work is what theyโ€™ve done with Laura. I can see why theyโ€™ve wanted to make her a more central character, but for me this just doesnโ€™t work. Sheโ€™s so annoying and brash and the episodes that concentrate mostly around her were the dullest of the entire series. I just hate her whole angry persona and if it wasnโ€™t for the fact that sheโ€™s usually on screen alongside Mad Sweeney (whoโ€™s a great character), Iโ€™m not sure I could tolerate her. The show also puts you in the same position as Shadow, completely confused about whatโ€™s going on. Itโ€™s not too bad when youโ€™ve read the book, but I can imagine it being a little too much if you havenโ€™t.


In all a visually stunning show with a few flaws, but still some great potential.
  
The Rogue King (Inferno Rising #1)
The Rogue King (Inferno Rising #1)
Abigail Owen | 2019 | Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED book two, yesterday!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Jumping straight in here, cos ooooooeeeee I did LOVE this book!!

Brand is a rogue dragon, without a clan. Kasia, a Phoenix without a family. A Phoenix is the only one who can mate with the High King of ALL the dragons, and the makes her valuable. Brand is tasked with delivering Kasia to the Blood King, to his only friend from childhood. But Kasia ignites something in Brand, and he knows he cannot give up his mate.

This was, quite possibly, my favourite read this month! I mean, I had a lie in, read a few pages before you have to dig yourself out your pit, and before you know it, 3 hours has past and you've about flung your kindle (but not quite!) at the wall, cos now you NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED book two, yesterday!

Everyone, and I mean everyone IMPORTANT has a say: Kasia, Brand, and all those trying to get Kasia (but not saying who!)

Not everything is immediately clear, and you put things together all kinds of wrong before things are cleared up. And I LOVE being kept on my toes!

It's different, and I LOVE different, with the Phoenix being the key to High King status. With female born dragons being unable to bare children. With Kasia and her sisters having hidden for so long, and Kasia not doing so well hiding herself anymore.

There is an ongoing story arc, that makes you NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED book two, yesterday, to see what happens to Kasia's sisters. You can't see what's going to happen, not in the long term, but a massive clue screams at you for one sister, and there is another, much less subtle clue, for another. Whether that pans out how I see it, remains to be seen, but I WILL be reading these books!

Thank you, Ms Owen, for proper making my day!

5 bright and shiny stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Dark Siren (Dark Siren, #1)
Dark Siren (Dark Siren, #1)
Eden Ashley | 2013 | Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In a genre that is saturated with shifters and vampires (although that is slowly changing), it makes a refreshing change to read something different. And trust me, this is different. I have read the book, enjoyed the book, and know what Kali's title is but I don't actually know 'what' she is completely. You might think that this is a problem but it's not. If anything, it makes you connect with Kali all the more. After all, this book pretty much takes place over a couple of weeks time so Kali has gone from knowing that she is different to being in life-threatening situations and being sold!

Kali doesn't give the best first impression as she is making out with someone else's boyfriend and also doesn't seem too upset about that as she rationalises it to herself. The relationship between her and Cal was a bit strange too although, to be fair, I've seen stranger relationships in 'real' life. I was glad when they split up although I am interested to see where the story is going.

Rhane, ah, Rhane. What can I say about him apart from I want one! Tall, dark, handsome, protective, Alpha AND he has morals - what more could you want? Apart from loving every scene that he was in, I found myself getting more and more interested in his backstory as the current story moved along.

Although this is classed as Paranormal, I think I personally would add a touch, just a touch, of Sci-Fi to it too (Builders). This was very well-written with a fast pace, with characters that are both likeable and not! I honestly could not believe the ending and need to read the second book! Highly recommended.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 3, 2015
  
Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
Gwenda Bond | 2019 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
8.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great Characters (0 more)
Questions left unanswered (0 more)
The first novel adapted from the Netflix series hit 'Stranger Things' is an astonishing work of art. Viewers of the show may be familiar with Eleven's mother, Terry Ives, which this book surrounds. Along for the ride are a few important characters that weren't mentioned in the series: Alice, Gloria and Ken - a self proclaimed psychic - all of which meet because they signed up for a human experiment at Hawkins National Laboratory, where each are given doses of LSD every week. This quickly tells readers that the book is not recommended for anyone under the age of 14.

Although the series has more than one book, and no end in sight, Bond was only chosen to do this novel. 'Suspicious Minds' is categorized under Young Adult books, but with the heavy Vietnam content, it's not considered that many young adults today can actually relate with this story or even understand the devastating effects of a looming draft hanging over the heads of young men throughout America in the 1960's. But Bond does a wonderful job in relating the emotional state of this era through our main character, Terry. Another subject that Bond does a fantastic job of explaining in 'Suspicious Minds' is the taboo of being a pregnant, unwed mother in this era, something that seems to be making headlines again in the States nearly 60 years later.

Bond shows us a young Dr. Martin Brenner, with neatly styled brown hair and an almost unlined face, as well as a more lively Terry Ives (which only season 2 has shown a very short flashback sequence of Terry being mobile before her dreaded consequence from being associated with the human experiments). We find out that the reason Terry volunteered for the experiment is due to her father's service in WWII, and wanting to make the world a better place. Bond brings in the other important characters, who also volunteered for the experiments, quickly bonding the four as friends for life.

As far as characters go, these four are written very well. Although Terry is the main character of 'Suspicious Minds,' we get to see from the viewpoints of all people, including Brenner. Bond gives the reader a short background on what LSD is and where it came from when the time comes for the experiments to begin. Brenner doesn't really explain why he gives LSD to the volunteers, but only that it is part of a secret experiment. Even when Terry is placed in a sensory deprivation tank, he doesn't reveal anything to her, and Bond does a great job of keeping the characters enough in the grey area of knowing that it's believable. Even at one point, when Terry begins to suspect something strange from the experiments, she keeps the belief that whatever is going on at Hawkins Laboratory must be important: " 'But you can't see it's important?' Terry leaned in close, and they kept their voices down as other students walked past. 'They just called up the school and told them to give me Thursdays off and I'm getting credit for it? They're tying our grades to doing this. And no one asked any questions. They just agreed. I have to keep going.' " Bond eloquently keeps the mystery going.

This mystery is even interesting to those who know what happens in the end. In 'Stranger Things,' Terry is introduced as a comatose woman in a rocking chair- who happens to be Eleven's mother. We have never met Gloria, Alice or Ken. The three become very close to Terry, and they all somehow escape from Brenner's grasp, but they also end up joining in Terry's pursuit of getting Eleven/Jane back to her mother. Fans of the show might be left asking what happened to these three enjoyable characters? I haven't seen any plans for a part two of this story, so we may be left not knowing what happened or if the three are even still alive today (in the Stranger Things' era). Even more enjoyable is the random use of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings,' where in one scene, Alice and Terry decide to name their small group 'The Fellowship of the Lab.' Any veteran reader will be happy to see a classic brought up in a newer book of today.

And also of interest, fans will recognize a little girl who is frequent throughout the story: Eight a.k.a. Kali. We never get to see through Kali's perspective, but the reader does get to see the multitude of her abilities. For instance, Kali is able to scare personnel in the lab by causing the hallucination of tidal waves inside the building, only to stop when Brenner (or Papa to her) gives her her favorite sweet: Hostess cakes. Other than that, Kali is like any child; she throws tantrums and rebels from her Papa, sometimes to the laughter of the reader.

One point, Terry even meets with Kali in her LSD induced state: " Terry shook her head. 'There can be. He's just a man. He can't know everything.' She paused. 'Does he hurt you? Papa?' Kali frowned, but she didn't answer. 'If he does... I can help you.' Terry had to make her understand. The little girl shook her head. 'I don't think so. I might be able to help you, though.' A field of yellow sunflowers grew up around them. A rainbow arcing over the golden tops." Terry, understandably, begins to scheme about how they can help Kali to escape the lab.

Bond does a great job of transitioning between Terry's point of view to the other characters' viewpoints. We get a young woman named Gloria, who has a secret obsession with comic books (especially X-Men). A hippie-looking man named Ken, who claims he is psychic, but just happens to have a lot of hunches that come true. And last, but not least, another young woman named Alice, who shows up in grease covered overalls and curly black hair, explaining that she works for her uncle's garage and that she loves machines. These three are delightful to read about, and the story would be boring without them.

This book was the perfect novel to answer questions fans may have had about Eleven's mother. Bond writes smoothly and easily enough that you may find yourself wanting to read just one more page before setting the book down for the evening. She drags you into the world of the 1960's and helps young readers to feel the emotional time that it was for women like Terry. But with only a few inconsistencies here and there, 'Suspicious Minds' leaves us wanting more. If you are a fan of 'Stranger Things,' I say that this is a must-read! Highly recommend!
  
Death in Profile
Death in Profile
Guy Fraser-Sampson | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
(I've changed this down to 3 stars from 4 stars cause think back, it wasn't actually that good, I just think I was really happy to find a Netgalley book that didn't bore me to death)

Firstly I'd like to thank Netgalley and Urbane Publications for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Death in Profile is an excellent twist on modern crime drama novels. It's refreshing to find all the characters have a clear head with no underlying disturbances like we see with many other detective characters. While the plot for this novel is nothing too bold or different from other books out there, it still manages to feel unique.

I like how Sampson doesn't focus on simply one person throughout the book, but instead lets you in to each persons life in little snippets making you want to keep reading and find out more and more about each person. While Metcalfe and Willis are interesting as separate people I found their relationship juvenile, in all honesty. The way they went about each other was really rather unimaginable.

For me, the characters made this book fun and exciting because I didn't feel the plot was anything too incredibly amazing and I found the 'shock twist' a little... disappointing. I would have preferred the story to continue in the direction it was already heading by that point rather than the real outcome. I also found the last few pages of the book a bit pointless and it confused me slightly as to why it was included, I think it completely took away from the amazement you were supposed to feel about the outcome of the investigation into the serial killings.

Other than that and a few spelling mistakes here and there (which I couldn't keep note of due to there being no page numbers on the kindle), I actually did very much like this book and was reaching for it of a night time as well as during my travelling hours. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a crime drama without the troubled cop or gritty suspense. Definitely a fun and quick read.