Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

i love me a good fairytale retelling and i haven't loved Marissa's books in the past and this was okay too! it felt a little slow and the plot twist was a little predictable but so this was an okay read!

I LOVE MARISSA MEYER! This retelling was one of my absolute favorites! I cannot wait for the next book!

A good retelling of rumpelstiltskin. Very fast paced and I liked Gild as a character. I also enjoyed the twist at the end and look forward to continuing this story.

Gilded by Marissa Meyer

I read about 10% of Gilded and was super intrigued and really enjoying it, but then I came across several reviews where people mentioned animal cruelty in their trigger warning sections. This is a major trigger for me, and I had to stop. I will not be continuing this book, but Marissa is a wonderful writer and I will continue to recommend her books. This one should have had a trigger warning, though. It worries me that I would have read something upsetting if I hadn't come across reviews that warned me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the published for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This is by far Meyer’s best work to date. This story and its mythology will hook you from the first page and leave you desperate for the sequel!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

This book was so magical and full of whimsy! I must admit that this is my first Marissa Meyer book and it did not disappoint… I mean, helloooo romance *swoon*. This was such a fun and adventurous book, something I would absolutely recommend to friends who enjoy a good romantasy.

GILDED by Marissa Meyer is another immersive and complex addition to her YA classic retelling titles. As with her Lunar Chronicles series, GILDED is an original adaptation of a fairy tale story. This spin on Rumpelstiltskin feels like such an original take on the story while holding the essential themes of the original close to it.

I can't wait to read the second installment of this duology. This is an essential purchase for all school or public library collections which serve young adult readers, especially where Marissa Meyer and/or retellings are popular.
SUGGESTED AGES: Grades 9 and up

Each time I read a novel written by Marissa Meyer I become an even bigger fan. She is a master of character and plot development and I can’t wait to read more in this world.

This book was a delightful surprise. I was expecting something a little more whimsical but this retelling of Rumpelstiltskin was dark and intriguing. Serilda was silly and such a fun character. I loved the way she would weave stories together and tell them in a way that was magical. I loved the take on the grumpy/sunshine romance trope (it is one of my favorites) and Meyers did a really great job with it.

If you are fan of YA fantasy I would recommend checking this one out.

Dark and haunting. A masterfully woven tale of a seemingly cursed girl, a fae king, and a lot of blood shed. Gilded was a truly wonderful take on Rumpelstiltskin with a cliff hanger I didn't expect.

I wanted to like this but I could not get into the story or the characters. I felt that it was pretty far fetched and not something I could connect to.

Serilda, a poor miller's daughter, was blessed by the God of lies. She can spin fantastical tales, but none of them are true. Or, so she believes.

However, when she saves some moss maidens from the evil Erlking, she lies about being blessed by the God of labour to spin straw into gold. Her tale is so believable that the Erlking spirits her away to his haunted castle to perform a miracle or die. Luckily, there is a poltergeist living in the castle who can spin straw into gold. So, she makes a deal with Gild (the poltergeist) and together they continue to trick the Erlking.

​That is, until all of Serilda's lies begin to unravel.

Marissa Meyer is a gifted storyteller. Her novels always have such detailed world building. This story is full of magic, dark ones, old Gods, gifts from those Gods, fair folks, romance, and danger. I was immediately mesmerized by Serilda. A storyteller shunned by most of her community, but loved by children for her wild tales. She has a gift, but some would say it is a curse, to be able to tell a tale that captures the attention of those around her. She knows her life is meant to be dull and poor, but she dreams of more.

The relationship between Serilda and Gild was charming. The two of them so lonely, but also so intrigued by the other. Serilda wonders who he could possible be, Gild wonders who this weaver of words is. They are similar in their hatred for the Erlking and their ability to spin (one straw into gold, one words into wonder). Both are blessed by Gods, and soon find out what the Erlking really plans to do and are trapped in intrigue and court politics hoping to stop the terrible release of a true monster.

The book did drag at moments, but quickly flew back into action. Also, this book was dark with many elements of horror. I thought at one point it could not get any worse, only to be proven wrong. It was refreshing having a fantasy novel that was not afraid to push boundaries and really scar the main characters inside and out. Serilda had to fight tooth and nail to survive and lost so much in the process; she is good and ready for revenge come book two.

I cannot wait to see where Cursed takes this storyline. A unique and imaginative retelling of the Rumplestiltskin tale. Lots of twists and turns, evil and good, darkness and light, with moral ambiguity thrown in to heighten the whole novel.

Gilded can be read throughout the year, but it is the perfect read for the spooky season. I admit I went into it without realizing how dark this fairytale retelling would be. When stories ended differently and people also disappeared, it was unexpected in a good way. Like Serilda's stories, Gilded never went the way I thought it would. The world was also one I easily got lost in. Although a bit long-winded, it was still an immersive read that was made even better when I never knew what was going to happen next. (3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars)

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I feel like I would have enjoyed this more if it had been edited down significantly. There were a lot of things I liked about this story. Serilda was a good main character, the world building was interesting and of course a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin is why I read it in the first place but as others have pointed there are also flaws. It draggggsss in certain places and the romance was not interesting or believable. I plan on reading the next one anyway because I'm interesting enough to continue.

This was an enjoyable fairy tale retelling. However, I did feel like there was a lot of filler and lots from the middle of the book could have been cut. Still looking forward to reading the next me,

2.5

I was really hoping to love this book more than I actually did. I absolutely love the story of Rumpelstiltskin and was really excited for a Rumpelstiltskin retelling as I find us a fairytale that is not often retold.

Our main character is quirky and I really like that because I felt like a different vibe then your typical YA. However, there were long stretches in this book where the character was just talking to herself in her head or explaining to the reader what was going on around her. And because the stretchers were so long I felt I got pulled out of the story and quickly got bored. My favourite parts of the story were any time the main character was interacting with other people.

Like the main character, the readers often confused with what’s going on around them. Which also played apart until why I had difficulty enjoying this book.

I will say I really enjoyed the romance and the interactions between Sirlda and Gild were my favourite.

I am not gonna lie, I am slightly curious on where the story is going to go in the second book. But I don’t know if I will pick it up.

If you like dark dark retailings then you will enjoy this one.

Oh my god I really sat on this one for a while and now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to finish it. I just hate waiting for sequels! So now that we are so close to its release date, I finally did it. I read a mix of hardback and audiobook and heartily recommend either option. The reader is good and the voice matches the character well!
This book had lots of twists and turns. When our MC tries to escape the hunt, she goes all out! The inevitability and the dread that consumed me while realizes over and over again that she couldn’t escape this evil must have perfectly mirrored what anyone in her situation would have felt. That drew me in. And now it has a hold on me because I have to say this book doesn’t exactly end on a happy note—if anything, things are even bleaker. The only thing we have is our heroine’s word that this story has a happy ending. I know Meyer tends to favor a happy ending of love conquering evil and justice for all but I’m not gonna lie—it’s really emotional and heart wrenching to reach that point!!! I think part of that is the reason why I had such a hard time going past the first 40% of the book for so long. I finished the final 60% this week and most of it today. I hate that feeling of hopeless inevitability in a story and it really kept putting me off. How does one escape from the earl-king? It kept me from wanting to commit more to it because I knew it would hurt. But I will try to be optimistic.

Ok a few details about the story beyond my feelings. I love Serilda and her Cassandra-like ways. Her storytelling has been held against her for so long yet there is something so suspicious about how much rings true. I would like to know if things become true because she says them or if she unknowingly tells the truth but I’m willing to bet most of her “lies” will end up truths in the end. At least, her story form ones. I also loved Gild. I thought he was so sweet and a bit puckish. At times he is almost childlike but then he will show himself a man. I liked that feeling that he was on that threshold because it suited this story with the veil between the dead and the living.

The Earl-King is an interesting character because at times he seems to be almost romantic. I don’t mean that he is a figure I find attractive but rather he appears to think and behave in a way that demonstrates a romantic view of the world. But if it were combined with psychopathic tendencies. His goals appear to be all for rescuing his love. His behaviors, like leaving an arrow for Serilda, seem almost a perversion of romantic gestures. He is twisted and cruel. And yet, I half expected him to be redeemed. I felt at multiple points in the story, that I could not necessarily trust that I understood what he was like or what he wanted. I feel like there is a ton of potential for him to have unexplored depths and I hope to see something profound in the next book. It would be interesting to see if he remains a villain or should things change for him as the curses get sorted out.