Gina Marinello-Sweeney is the author of Prince of Chandeliers, a fairy-tale novel, and The Veritas Chronicles, a contemporary YA trilogy. Both story worlds are filled with eccentric and wonderstruck characters, and her writing has been compared to that of L.M. Montgomery. I Thirst, the first book in The Veritas Chronicles, received the 2013 YATR Literary Award for Best Prologue from Young Adult Teen Readers.
Gina has been writing ever since she was a little girl and turned her bedroom into a “library,” complete with due date slips and a check out stamp. As her own stories were “checked out” by family and friends, she dreamed of a day in which her work would be available in public libraries. This came true in 2013 with the publication of I Thirst, which was followed by its sequels The Rose and the Sword (2016) and Peter (2020). Gina is an avid poet in both the English and Spanish languages. In 2009, she was asked to present her original Spanish poetry at an international literature conference in Costa Rica. Although unable to attend, a presentation of the poems was well received at another scholarly event that same year. Graduating summa cum laude, she holds credentials in elementary education and Spanish.
Gina delights in the poetic riddles of the sea, whimsical butterflies that seem as if they are from another realm, and enchanting rose arches that resemble portals to faerieland. However, she also enjoys making cheese piles and basil friends while speaking in her own top-secret language and effervescently twirling in a sparkly pink world. Gina lives in Southern California with her husband, where she is at work on a companion novel to Prince of Chandeliers, as well as a short story collection.
From the Author's Desk: Recommended Reads
Classics
Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon, and Pat of Silver Bush by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
YA Fantasy
Entwined by Heather Dixon
The Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle
The Naming by Alison Croggon
The Naming by Alison Croggon
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Fantasy — Children's
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Knight's Castle by Edward Eager
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
A Walk in Wolf Wood by Mary Stewart
The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon
Contemporary
The Fairy Tale Novels by Regina Doman
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
Poetry
The Place Within by Saint John Paul II
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
Sonnet 116 and other poems by William Shakespeare
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Fantasy — Children's
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Knight's Castle by Edward Eager
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
A Walk in Wolf Wood by Mary Stewart
The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon
Contemporary
The Fairy Tale Novels by Regina Doman
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
Poetry
The Place Within by Saint John Paul II
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
Sonnet 116 and other poems by William Shakespeare
