This month’s Saturday Spotlight theme is Retellings! Last week I shared A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim, a wonderful Beauty and the Beast retelling. You can find that post here.
This week I am talking about Golden Tangle by Suzanna Fowers!
Golden Tangle is a unique retelling of Rapunzel that I really enjoyed. The main character, Rapunzel, is so sweet and kind, and I loved her story arc. She really came into her own, and reading about her finding her family was very moving. I also loved Valen, the other main character. He was a little gruff, but underneath that he was very sweet. This book mixes in mythology, curses, and family into a wonderful retelling of Rapunzel! Plus, there is a fake marriage!
Rapunzel is a monster. She has to be.Why else would her parents have wanted her dead? Why else would Circe—her rescuer—imprison her for a decade? Because Rapunzel is a sucti, and her very presence drains magic from anyone nearby. The tower isn’t punishment. It’s protection.
Valen Sharp knows monsters. He’s been one since age thirteen, when he became a weapon in Circe’s arsenal—a Soul Leasher who bends minds with a word. Now he’s sent to use Rapunzel to infiltrate the Sylphorian royal family and finally claim his revenge.
Their pose as newlyweds, drain the royals’ powers, and pave the way for Circe’s triumphant return.
But when Rapunzel reunites with the brothers she thought lost, the truth she’s clung to begins to crack. Their embrace feels too warm. Their protection too fierce. And the shadows haunting them? They whisper secrets she’s not sure she wants to hear.
With every lie that shatters, Rapunzel and Valen face an impossible choice. A love so forbidden, so unexpected—or to stay the monsters they were made to be.
Because sometimes the hardest prison to escape isn’t a tower made of stone.
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