What a lovely Rapunzel retelling! I absolutely loved the writing in this story, it flowed beautifully. A really unique take on the 'witch's' point of view. We follow Haelewise on an adventure to find the magnificent tower, where we all know rapunzel did reside... I am so impressed with this retelling, it had so much action and adventure!! Would highly recommend.

I love retellings but one of the things that I loved most about this retelling is that in all the rupunzel books I have read Gothel is always a minor character, so I was intrigued and I really enjoyed getting to know the woman behind the villainy and her backstory was so interesting.
If I had one criticism I would say that the book is very slow in pace, otheriwse it would have been a five star read for me, but I was enjoying the content so much that overall I didn't actually mind. I cannot wait to get a hard copy of this on my shelf.

"If only I could fly away on the back of some beast like the witch they thought I was. But even if I could, I had nowhere to go."

The Book of Gothel is a Rapunzel retelling. It tells the story of Haelewise, daughter‑of‑Hedda, who after being shunned by the people in her village, runs away to find an old wise woman who lives in a tower in the forest. From there she goes on a journey to find out more about the gift she was born with and the goddess her mother was devoted to.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year but sadly I was disappointing by it. I just didn't connect with any of the characters, they just felt very one dimensional specially the villain. Also I found there to be a lot of plot convenience.

I did enjoy the writing and parts of the romance but in the end, this book just wasn't for me. I'm disappointed, to say the least, as I really wanted to love this. I'm certain many people will like it, I'm just not one of those people.

I think that most of us would have an inkling of Rapunzel but I had absolutely no knowledge of Gothel and found this endearing tale as much a mythical history lesson as I did a intriguing and interesting read, I have to admit I found the pace a bit slow for a lot of the book but that didn’t distract from making me want to finish, the characters are well written and envelop the reader in their life’s, the female characters in particular are very strong individuals, I really enjoyed it despite the initial slow going

I don't think I've read a Mother Gothel backstory book before.
I really enjoyed this.
Seeing part of her childhood. How she was treated. How the loss of her mother played a part in her future.
The reason she took Rapunzel. The incorporation of magic throughout the book.
I liked the side story of her being in love with a boy from her village but they cannot marry. Yet they get to grow old together in their own way.
Haelewise had genuine friendship with a Princess named Rika.

The book is filled with strong women who won't let men push them around.

The writing in this is a little slow paced. Especially around the middle. I struggled a little. But the last 20% really picked up. I couldn't put it down towards the end.