Rapunzel by Jenni James

First things first: cover art! 

I really like this cover art! I like how the main character is on the front cover and I love her dress and hair! The tower is also very beautiful, I like how the top of the cover art almost glows. 

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Summary:

"A kidnapped girl faces insurmountable odds … 

On Rapunzel’s sixteenth birthday, her parents are turned to stone by the evil witch, Lady Vactryne, and the girl is taken to be forever hidden away in a tower. The young princess is afraid and all alone, and as the months pass by and her attempts to escape become more desperate, she begins to lose hope that anyone will come to save her. 

Prince Jonathan of Balligyrn has loved Rapunzel since they were children and has vowed to battle the witch, bring Rapunzel back, and restore her kingdom, no matter the cost. It has been years since he last saw her and asked her to wait for him to return from school. Now Jonathan only hopes he is not too late. 

The cunning witch has other plans for them both, one that does not involve losing her dreams to mere fools. Who will win—the woman bent on revenge, or the young girl determined to overcome it all?" 

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My Review: 

For those who are counting, this is the third Rapunzel retelling that I have reviewed and the last two weren't that great so I did not have high hopes at all for this one. The first two were:

•  Rapunzel Untangled by Cindy C Bennett (to see my review click here). I gave this one a 6 out of 10. 
• Towering Alex Flinn (to see my review click here). I gave this one an even worse review, it got a 2 out of 10. 

As you can see, this isn't a very promising start, so it took forever for me to even open this book because I thought it was going to be not the best (aka... ranging from kinda bad to really bad). Anyways this one, surprised me. And so far it wins! I thought it was weird in all versions of Rapunzel that there weren't really normal emotions. I mean a person can only stand solitary confinement for so long. Being raised like that can't be good for your head, and so this one finally addressed that issue. (I mean in a big way that shocked even me, were talking attempted suicide with this one) This book, unlike the last two books, follows the Brother's Grimm version of the story. Basically: pregnant queen wants Rapunzel tea, king gets said tea for her but steals it from a witches garden, witch does not like this and demands the unborn child, and the king stupidly says yes. I've been conflicted on this version for a long time, I just didn't like how the Brother's Grimm version is so mean/violent. This book works so well! Ah! You have no idea how happy I was once I closed this book. I like books where the two main characters go from childhood friends to lovers later on in the book, and this one was like that. Rapunzel is one of the most normal characters that I have met in a long long time. and I think her longing for her life to be different will resonate with a lot of people. Plus the ending was fully explained, it tells the reader what happened to  Rapunzel and her husband after the main events of the book. However this Rapunzel story made me cringe, a lot. But it's probably for a reason you wouldn't expect. Rapunzel's hair is super long and then the witch cuts it off, and Rapunzel is of course devastated. I cringed, like crazy at that part. My hair is three feet long and is actually six inches longer than it is in this picture.

For those who are wondering, no I don't wear extensions, and I've never dyed my hair in my entire life. Now do you see why Rapunzel is my favorite Disney Princess? 

Anyways I really enjoyed this book, and this one wins compared to all the others!

Rating: 8 out of 10. I docked two points because this book really needed to be a lot bigger, like four hundred page sized. James had to skip a ton of content because most her books are shorter and I feel like that really hurt the book.

Content Rating: 2 (12-18). There is a couple instances of kissing, and the main character contemplates, and attempts suicide.