Mother Knows Best-Villains, Book 5 (Villains, #5)

by Serena Valentino

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



I'm in a cross stitch Facebook group and Mother Knows Best by Serena Valentino was the group read for August. I've also read The Beast Within and thought it was an interesting perspective.

I honestly didn't love the plot of Mother Knows Best. I've never seen the movie Tangled so I didn't really know what to expect. Perhaps not having seen Tangled before reading set me up to not find it as enjoyable. I thought the way Valentino tied her story back to Sleeping Beauty was unique and it kept things interesting. My heart did break for Gothel. She went through an awful lot and didn't have anyone to process it with. Of course, she's a villain so she doesn't make the best of decisions or even really try to redeem herself.

Honestly there weren't a lot of good characters in Mother Knows Best. I really liked Sir Jacob and would have loved the chance to know more about him. I would have liked to know more about the sisters' parentage. I feel like that was alluded to a lot and if I remember correctly, it wasn't really ever resolved.

I think the most reasonable character was Hazel. This might be due to both of us being the eldest sister. I didn't love Gothel but I was able to understand her and her motives. I think that's the whole point of this series. It proves that the world isn't as black and white as we'd like to see it sometimes. I think that's important for everybody, but particularly for middlegrade audiences who are just learning who they want to be.

While I didn't love Mother Knows Best or find it terribly enjoyable, I was entertained and there was a valuable lesson in it.