A Curse of Gold

Author: Annie Sullivan

Series: A Touch of Gold #2

Publisher: Blink YA Books

Release Date: September 22, 2020

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

When everything you touch turns to gold and your father has been cursed by a god, life can be hard. Princess Kora is back in the follow up to Annie Sullivan’s A Touch of Gold with more adventure, romance, action and adrenaline raced chapters to keep readers in suspense until the very end.

Kora thought that surviving the pirates who stole her treasure and returning it to the palace was going to be her biggest adventure, that is until she returns to the palace and finds life is not as simple as when she left. Her own people are afraid of her magical powers and threaten to overthrow her. Now Dionysus, the god who cursed her father, has put a death sentence out on Kora in order to take over her kingdom. There is no way she is going to willingly give up her kingdom, leading her to set out in search of Dionysus on the disappearing island of Jipper. Along the way she encounters challenges set to keep her from achieving her goal and saving not only her father but their kingdom as well. Going up against the greatest trickster ever is not something she wants to do, but with no other choice, Kora sets out to prove she is worth more than the gold her touch can produce.

A super-fast start, little bit of a dip in the middle, and super strong finish with lots of action, tension and a few nail-biting moments best sums up A Curse of Gold. It was a great follow up to A Touch of Gold, but I think my biggest problem was it had been a long time since reading the first so I didn’t remember a few key points and wasn’t able to connect with the characters as fast as if I had just finished the first. I do think that readers will find Kora the perfect strong female protagonist. She was by far my favorite character, although I will admit I did like Triton much more than anticipated. While Kora will be a character that readers will connect and empathize with Triton will surprise readers with his character arc and how he is written. It can be tricky to write about Greek gods and mythology; readers that are big into the Greek myths might have a problem with the way some of the characters are portrayed but if you let the imagination run free with the story, I think you will find it most enjoyable. Scenes with dialogue moved quickly, but when it switched to more narration, the story stalled for me at times and I found myself yearning to find more action and move the story along quicker, which occurred through the middle of the book than any other points. I recommend this to YA readers, especially if they are into mythology and even older readers that enjoy these types of stories.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher.  The views and opinions expressed within are my own.