ALA Booklist

Flinn (Bewitching, 2012) is back with yet another clever spin on a fairy tale. This time, it's an empowering retelling of the story of Rapunzel. Rachel, an ethereal beauty with fast-growing hair, is trapped in a tower and visited only by the woman she calls Mama. Meanwhile, Wyatt flees his hometown d his past ter a heartbreaking tragedy befalls his best friends, and he lands at old lady Greenwood's house in a sleepy, desolate Adirondack town with its own share of secrets. After hearing a haunting voice from the woods, and piqued by the diaries of Mrs. Greenwood's long-lost daughter, Wyatt wanders into the forest and finds Rachel's tower. Together, they unlock the secret of Rachel's origin and the purpose of her mysterious powers. This has well-rounded characters, including Rachel, who is no damsel in distress but a formidable heroine in her own right, and a fast pace. Plenty of hard realism ug use, domestic abuse, and teen pregnancy kes this retelling more than just a fantasy. Luckily for happily-ever-after fans, Towering doesn't skimp on the fairy-tale ending.

Horn Book

In this dark take on "Rapunzel," Rachel, who possesses healing tears and rapidly growing hair, has been trapped in a tower for most of her life. When she meets Wyatt, they fall in love. Romantic and atmospheric, the novel effectively contrasts Wyatt's modern-day narration with Rachel's old-fashioned voice; it's rewarding to follow Rachel's growth into a courageous, take-charge protagonist.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Flinn (Beastly, Cloaked) again puts a modern spin on a classic fairy tale. In this Rapunzel retelling, Wyatt, a teen mourning the devastating loss of his best friend and his best friend's sister, moves to a remote town where his mother grew up. There, living in a large house with a lonely old woman whose only child disappeared years ago, Wyatt has vivid nightmares and hears a haunting singing voice that seems meant for him alone. When he meets Rachel, a beautiful girl locked in a crumbling tower out in the forest, they begin to untangle an even larger mystery plaguing the area. Flinn upturns some gender conventions (Rachel initially leaves her tower to save Wyatt from drowning), but the blending of magical elements and the more banal modern story lines is not always harmonious, and the copious back-story saps momentum from the present-day plot. By the time Wyatt and Rachel finally face off against the town's most wicked villain, some readers may be anxious for a speedy happily-ever-after. Ages 14-up. Agent: George Nicholson, Sterling Lord Literistic. (May)

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-Flinn reinvents the "Rapunzel" story as a teen thriller. Rachel spends her days and nights alone in a tower. Her sole contact with humanity is the daily visit of "Mama," and Rachel both loves and rebels against her jailor. Then Wyatt arrives in town. His mother is hoping that he will begin to recover from his friends' deaths in a car accident. He can't understand why no one in this small town seems perturbed by the number of missing teenagers, one of whom was his mother's best friend. He also can't understand why he is apparently the only one who can hear a girl singing somewhere in the frozen woods. When he sets out to find her, he puts into motion a chain of events that leads him, Rachel, and her "mother" into a showdown with violent drug manufacturers and their imprisoned labor force. Flinn cleverly weaves fantasy and realism together into what seems to be almost a new genre. Rather than the cop-out of a dystopian future setting, her story is grounded in the reality of an upstate New York where unemployment is rife, it is always winter, and there is no cell-phone service. Teens will identify and sympathize with Wyatt's loss and Rachel trapped in her tower, and they will rejoice in the tenderness of their blooming romance amid the menace of drug violence. The author's skillful writing somehow makes it completely plausible that sweetness, innocence, and true love can survive within the contemporary social evils of addiction and abduction-and also that Rachel's golden tresses can grow to reach the ground overnight. Jane Barrer, United Nations International School, New York City