I'm just going to dive right in here and say something extremely controversial. I just read a duology, that contained no shortage of Fae characters, in which I was rooting for the...for the...*whispers* human man. *gags*
I don't know what's wrong with me. Maybe I'm sick? Or maybe Brandie June, author of the Gold Spun duology, is just so good at writing that she can make you question your longstanding preferences. And make you want the heroine to end up with the human man over the FAE MALE WHO EVEN AM I?!?!
Gold Spun is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling that follows Nor, a teenaged girl who helps a trapped Faerie, Pel, in the woods, only to learn that he can transform straw into gold. Nor saves his life in exchange for a favor, which she uses to con townsfolk--she and her brothers are poor, and as we know from Aladdin, sometimes "ya gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat." She convinces the townsfolk that the straw she is selling can be turned to gold--and naturally, this "magical" gold catches the ears of the royals in the nearby castle. Prince Casper (swoon) comes to collect Nor, as he isn't fooled by her con and calls her bluff: if Nor can turn a room full of straw to gold, he will marry her. Since Nor and her family are starving, marriage to a prince would change their lives drastically for the better. Casper knows that she's a petty thief...that is, until the next morning, when he returns to the tower room he left her in the night before to find a room full of gold (thanks, unbeknownst to him, to the help of Pel). What follows is two books of adventure that had me so hooked that I finished this series in two days!
I read part of the series on my Kindle, and listened to an audiobook courtesy of NetGalley during the times where physically reading wasn't possible, like during my workday or while I was doing random-odd homeowner chores. The audiobook narrator did a wonderful job of voicing the entire cast of characters, and keeping the reader experiencing the same emotions that those characters were feeling. The story was a lovely breath of fresh air.
Many, many thanks to friend of the podcast Teri Le for the recommendation, because this duology was absolutely worth the hype! You can buy Gold Spun (book 1) here and Curse Undone (book 2) here!
Love and crazed swans,
Mandy
Disclaimer: I have voluntarily written this review. If you purchase a copy using my Amazon affiliate link above, I will receive a small commission which I will use to justify my literary addictions and to spoil my dogs (probably).
