Serilda has been blessed by the god of stories, and so the people in her village denounce her as a liar. One night on the full moon, she encounters the dark ones on their moonlit hunt. She lies to the Erlking, and tells him that she can spin straw into gold. Taken to his dungeon, she must prove herself by spinning the straw and creating gold, or be killed. A strange boy appears in the dungeon and claims that he can help her, but she must pay a price for his magic.

I enjoyed the main story and the way that the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale is reimagined. It's very clever to see how the basic fairy tale plot is enhanced and explained in new ways, and how the details are changed but it still makes sense with the original story. Actually it makes MORE sense than the original story, because some of the weird things in the fairy tale are explained better in this story.

However, I just wasn't in the mood for this book, because it's very ghoulish and gruesome with a lot of deaths and violence. It was a mistake to try to read this in the spring. I should have saved it for October around Halloween. It's not too scary for me, but it is very gothic and creepy and bloody and sad. A LOT of people die. Children, fathers, moms, a lot of innocent people. I get why it is necessary to set up just how evil and ruthless the villain is, but I didn't need quite so much blood and gore and severed heads.

I also did not really click with the romance. There is a lot of telling instead of showing in the romantic scenes, and Serilda overthinks every little tiny aspect of their relationship. If his hand brushes against hers, we have to hear five paragraphs about how it felt, and what she thinks it meant, and whether he maybe meant to touch her hand or if it was accidental, and how a tingle went up her arm when he touched her, and how there used to be this other boy in the village who held her hand one time five years ago, but that was different than how it felt now, and on and on and on for way too long. By then, I'm just annoyed that that stupid boy ever touched her hand! I get that she is an overthinker. I appreciate that in a character, because I am an overthinker myself. But it just was too much. Plus I was listening to audiobook, so I couldn't skim when it got annoying.

It is also a "closed door" romance, and I felt like that ruined it. I understand how it was necessary for the plot, but I still didn't like it. I guess "closed door" is better than graphic erotica, but I always feel like it just ruins the romance because the characters are more focused on physical attraction rather than emotional and spiritual connection.

There were a lot of supporting characters, both humans and fae creatures, who were very memorable and interesting. There is a lesbian couple in the city who flirt back and forth. There are a lot of magical creatures, most of whom are hostile. The world-building is really excellent. The writing style is superb! I just couldn't enjoy it though, because of the weird romance and the gruesome violence.