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A review by annettebooksofhopeanddreams
Mother Knows Best by Serena Valentino
4.0
I'm slowly catching up with this series while I impatiently wait for the Megara twisted tale to be released in paperback. And where the Ursula book disappointed a little, mainly because it felt like it wasn't really about Ursula, all the other books have been pleasantly entertaining, although a little short. I was therefore quite curious what Valentino would make of the story of Mother Gothel, especially because she might be on of my favorite villains.
The first thing I really loved in this book, is the fact that it's really about mother Gothel. We get her entire life story and the focus truly is on her. I really loved exploring her childhood, where she had come from, how she had lived and grew up, what kind of past she had eventually leading her to become the villain in Rapunzel's story. Valentino really took her time to get us to know mother Gothel, the magic she always dealt with and how she knew about the magical flower.
And throughout the story mother Gothel really stays the mother Gothel as we know her. She has the potential to be a kind woman, especially when she cares about someone deeply, but there is also a darkness in her. She has the kind of life that turns a child with the potential to be good, in a villain. And it goes very slowly and even at the end, as we know her from the movie, she's not all bad and all mean and all dark, but it happens.
Most of this story, on top of that, is original content. In the last 25% of the book we also get glimpses of the movie as we know it, but the author knows that we know this story, that we've all seen it (a million times) and she just uses some iconic moments to help us know where in the timeline we are and uses them to show us everything we didn't get to see. Gothel's point of view and also where she is gonna take Rapunzel at the end of the movie.
And after messing up another life, I'm quite curious what's in store for the Odd Sisters in the next book!
The first thing I really loved in this book, is the fact that it's really about mother Gothel. We get her entire life story and the focus truly is on her. I really loved exploring her childhood, where she had come from, how she had lived and grew up, what kind of past she had eventually leading her to become the villain in Rapunzel's story. Valentino really took her time to get us to know mother Gothel, the magic she always dealt with and how she knew about the magical flower.
And throughout the story mother Gothel really stays the mother Gothel as we know her. She has the potential to be a kind woman, especially when she cares about someone deeply, but there is also a darkness in her. She has the kind of life that turns a child with the potential to be good, in a villain. And it goes very slowly and even at the end, as we know her from the movie, she's not all bad and all mean and all dark, but it happens.
Most of this story, on top of that, is original content. In the last 25% of the book we also get glimpses of the movie as we know it, but the author knows that we know this story, that we've all seen it (a million times) and she just uses some iconic moments to help us know where in the timeline we are and uses them to show us everything we didn't get to see. Gothel's point of view and also where she is gonna take Rapunzel at the end of the movie.
And after messing up another life, I'm quite curious what's in store for the Odd Sisters in the next book!