Gold Spun

by Brandie June, Kathleen McInerney (Read by)

Overview

If Nor can’t spin gold, she can always spin lies.

When seventeen-year-old Nor rescues a captured faerie in the woods, he gifts her with a magical golden thread she can use to summon him for a favor. Instead, Nor uses it for a con—to convince villagers to buy straw that can be transformed into gold. Her trick works a little too well, attracting the suspicion of Prince Casper, who hates nobody more than a liar. Intent on punishing Nor, he demands that she spin a room of straw into gold and as her reward, he will marry her. Should she refuse or fail, the consequences will be dire. Desperate for help, Nor summons the faerie’s aid, launching a complicated dance as she must navigate between her growing feelings for both the prince and faerie boy and who she herself wishes to become.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798228572324
Publisher:	Baker & Taylor
Publication date:	09/02/2025
Series:	Gold Spun Duology , #1
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Brandie June spent her childhood onstage or reading. She moved to LA to study acting at UCLA, and branched out into costume design, playwriting, and prose writing. She received her MBA in Entertainment Marketing, becoming a Marketing Director for Kids & Family entertainment. When not writing or marketing, she can be found playing with her pups, drinking too much espresso, and coming up with new art projects. Brandie lives with her husband, two spoiled rescue pups, a cat, three birds, and five bookshelves.

Kathleen McInerney has narrated numerous audiobooks by bestselling authors such as Emily Giffin, Danielle Steel, Jeffrey Stepakoff, Mary Kay Andrews, and Linda Castillo. Her narration of Just One Day by Gayle Forman won an AudioFile Earphones Award. In reviewing Mary Kay Andrew's Ladies' Night, AudioFile magazine said, "McInerney makes each of the characters distinct and recognizable and gives each the perfect voice, accent, and vocal mannerisms. Most enjoyable and well performed."

She has appeared onstage in New York and around the United States in both classical and contemporary theater. Her credits also include television commercials, daytime drama, radio plays, and animation voice-overs.

Editorial Reviews

June shines in this retelling of Rumpelstiltskin . . . with memorable characters that will appeal to a broad range of fantasy readers.” —School Library Journal

“A fresh and engaging take on the story of Rumpelstiltskin . . . You won't be able to put this down!” —Jenna Busch, contributing author to Star Wars Psychology and the PsychGeeks book series

From the Publisher

2021-02-05
A con job goes awry in this retelling of “Rumplestiltskin.”

Elenora “Nor” Molnár is a grifter, pulling small sleights of hand and chicanery to keep herself and her three brothers, Finn, Devon, and Jacobie, fed. Orphaned by the Southern War between Reynallis and Faradisia, they’ve led a hard-luck life. When Nor’s unexpected rescue of Pel, an errant faerie, brings her a rich reward, it also attracts the unwanted scrutiny of heir apparent Prince Casper. Recently returned to Reynallis and unprepared to assume kingship, Casper needs a way to replenish the royal treasury in preparation for war against the raiding fay of Magnomel. First a prisoner, then an eager pupil, Nor adjusts to life at court—defeating mean girls, learning etiquette, falling for Casper—while also trying to keep her relationship with Pel a secret. The setting is vaguely pre-industrial European, the era anywhere between the 16th and early 19th centuries, and most characters read as White, although the Faradisians have dark skin. The protagonist is caught in a trite love triangle while same-sex love among secondary characters is presented as a politically, rather than socially, fraught issue. Readers seeking a fresh take on fairy tales deserve better than this generic retread.

A lackluster spin on a familiar fairy tale. (Fantasy. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews