Review of Vivi Andrews's Spinning Gold

Title: Spinning Gold

Author: Vivi Andrews

Publisher: Self-published

Format: eBook

Source: won from author

Publication Date: June 16, 2012

Rating: 4 out of 5

Vivi Andrews is one of my favorite Paranormal Romance authors, so when she had a contest on her blog for her new short novel Spinning Gold, I immediately signed up. I was thrilled when I won (woo-hoo!), but when I went to Goodreads to rate the book, I was surprised to find that not a single review had been written, so I thought I'd write up a quick one.

Unlike many of Ms. Andrews’s paranormal romances, Spinning Gold  is a re-telling of the story of Rumpelstiltskin. Juliana Ravel finds herself in a sticky situation, because her brother has been falsely accused of treason in an attempt by her country's Prince to acquire her family's considerable wealth. When Juliana faces the Prince to plead for her brother’s freedom, she finds herself stating that her family spins gold out of straw (and she has no idea where that lie came from). The Prince decides to test her claims, and imprisons her.

Fortunately for Juliana, it turns out that the family medallion she wears around her neck imprisons none other than a Golden Fae man named Rue, who helps her on the condition that she free him from the medallion when he's done. Over the course of the novel, Juliana and Rue fall in love.

The book is well-written, and Juliana and Rue are engaging protagonists with lots of heat between them. I haven't read the original fairy tale in years, so I can't remember how close to the story this is, but it was fun to read and the chemistry between the two was sizzling. While it wasn't quite as humorous as many of the other books Ms. Andrews is known for (my favorite has to be The Sexorcist), it did have its moments. I also found myself surprised by the ending, as I wasn't sure how Ms. Andrews would pull off a HEA.

I do wish that we could have seen more of Juliana’s activities aiding the revolution. She finally decides to act by stirring up rumors about the Prince’s behavior, and I really enjoyed seeing her overcome her sense of helplessness. However, there wasn’t much detail given about her activities, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more of her development. At the beginning of the novel she was very daring in facing the Prince to save her brother, but once she was thrown in prison, she wilted a bit (although I must admit that the circumstances would be disheartening for anyone). It was great to see her regain her courage; I just wish we could have witnessed more of it.

I believe this book is self-published, which I think has hurt it in terms of sales because of the lack of publicity around the book. This is unfortunate, as the book is as professionally written and edited as Ms. Andrews’s other books and worthy of more attention than it's currently receiving.

If you're a fan of fairy tales, I definitely recommend this short novel!