Gold is wealth. Wealth is power. Power is a curse. This captivating fantasy adventure–the untold story of the daughter King Midas turned to gold–will dazzle you with the kind of action, adventure, twists, turns, and a bit of romance to make any fan of magic and mythology greedy for more. After King Midas’s gift–or curse–almost killed his daughter, he relinquished The Touch forever. Ten years … forever. Ten years later, Princess Kora still bears the consequences of her father’s wish: her skin shines golden, rumors follow her everywhere she goes, and she harbors secret powers that are getting harder to hide.
Kora spends her days concealed behind gloves and veils. It isn’t until a charming duke arrives that Kora believes she could indeed be loved. But their courtship is disrupted when a thief steals treasures her father needs to survive. Thanks to Kora’s unique ability to sense gold, she sails off on her quest to find the missing items.
Magic, mythology, fantasy, and pirate adventures charge through every page as Kora learns that not everything is what it seems–not her companions, not the thieves, and not even Kora herself.
A Touch of Gold:
- Is told from the perspective of Kora, King Midas’s daughter and a strong female protagonist
- Is a clean fantasy adventure, perfect for fans of the #1 New York Times bestselling books, The Wrath & the Dawn and Cinder
- Is an enchanting and captivating fantasy adventure/fairy tale retelling
- Features a beautifully decorated cover
- Will have strong appeal to readers ages 13 & up
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If you’ve followed my blog for very long, you know that I am a big fan of Fairy Tale retellings. And this book did not disappoint at all! It was quite a bit of a change in the story, maybe you could say an addition or expansion of the story and the characters in it. It was a pretty easy read, but had a lot of great world-building. I liked the ways the author changed or rewrote the whole curse of King Midas, as well as expanding it with the other curses often meted out by the Greek gods.
I liked Kora, Midas’s daughter. You could see how hard it would be for her to be kept so isolated, when all she dreamed of was getting out and exploring the seas. She has no hopes or dreams of actually finding a man and falling in love, not with how people react to her golden skin, and the fear of what her curse may be able to do. Then there is Aris, who comes along, and gives her hope that maybe someone could see past her skin, and potentially fall in love with her. When tragedy strikes, and they must go find the gold that has been stolen, Kora gets to realize part of her dream to travel the seas. But things won’t be all as they seem up front, of course. Those she thinks she can trust will not be truly reliable, and others that seem to not have her best interests at heart may actually be the ones to come through in the end.
I really liked the story, and loved all the different aspects of mythology and other tales that were woven throughout the plot. And while it had an ending that was mostly resolved, I can see that there could be a sequel to this, unanswered questions and other issues. I would say the characters would be good to read more about.
A Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan takes the take of King Midas and gives readers a delightful adventure with a girl marked by gold, pirates, and cursed treasure.
This novel was certainly interesting and enjoyable. Sullivan has shown that she as a knack for breathing creativity in her retellings. A Touch of Gold is the second novel of Sullivan’s that I have had the pleasure to read and review, and Sullivan captures that spark of hers to bring new life to an old story.
Entrancing Opening
The opening of the story is entrancing, giving the reader an understanding of Kora and her relationship with her father, King Midas. This opening is telling the reader a story, a fable of sorts, warning of the curse of greed. Midas turned his daughter to gold, and it has left her marked forever.
Written exceptionally well, the opening captures the reader’s attention, trapping them in the confines of the story. It sets up tension and introduces the reader to Kora and her father, creating exciting dynamics.
As the story continues, it becomes an adventure story. With the cursed gold stolen, Kora, being the only one who can find and sense it, embarks on a journey with a would-be suitor and slightly run-down ship. The crew is a unique set of characters, all of whom have strong personalities and voices. Matched up against Kora, these characters blend quite nicely, giving the narrative a strong foundation to grab the reader.
Kora herself is quite impressive. As a cursed princess, she likes to keep to herself. She is such a reserved character, but as the story continues, she grows. I love a good story where the protagonist finds comfort in their flaws, in their skin, I think it speaks a lot to the reader, making the story relatable. Kora comes into herself; she saves the crew, she saves herself, and she does it all by finding the strength inside of herself to do so.
Final Thoughts
A Touch of Gold is the first in a brilliant new series. It retells a classic Greek tale, taking the mythology and developing something new and different. It stands on its own while offering the reader a riveting adventure filled with compelling characters.
Princess Kora, daughter of the famed King Midas still lives with the remnants of her father’s wish gone wrong, as a result has lived her life secluded in the castle where even the servants are afraid of the curse. Her father is wasting away, his life is deeply entwined with the gold of the curse. When Duke Aris comes to court her, she has hope for the first time that someone understands her and isn’t repelled by the curse. But when her father’s life is threatened by the theft of the cursed gold, Kora must leave the palace for the first time in order to save her father’s life, Aris offers his ship, and they set sail in pursuit of the stolen gold.
Kora is joined by her extroverted cousin, Hettie, who stows away on the ship. She meets the mysterious Captain Royce, as well as many members of his crew including the twin Thipps and Phipps.
Told in the first person, we get to see through Kora’s eyes and experiences as she steps outside her castle and kingdom walls, facing pirates, mermaids, and unforeseen betrayals. I loved the originality of the plot, I’d never before thought about what might have happened to Mida’s daughter after her father’s unfortunate wish, but it is utterly genius! It was a bit slow to start for me, but the original plot really hooked me, but just as I began to think that everything was getting predictable—plot twist! Then everything was non-stop and I couldn’t put the book down and read way into the wee hours of the morning.
There was great character development, and some are not what they appear at first glance. I can’t say what the twist was, but I loved every bit of it as I don’t know why but instantly liked Royce from the very first. Thipps and Phipps were humorous brothers and I loved their loyalty and sacrifices. Hettie can appear rather shallow at first, but is a fun, and supportive friend.
Overall, this is a fantastic read that I think would be especially appealing to fans of fairy tale re-tellings. Full of adventure, with pirates, a treasure hunt, and treacherous seas. Definitely surprised me with how much I truly enjoyed it. An action packed, good clean adventure, with a strong heroine, and fantastic plot!
I love when authors play with a story we’ve known since we were kids, breathing new life and imagination into them.
We’ve all heard various renditions of King Midas, the guy who wanted riches galore. He became able to turn anything into gold with his touch, which (of course!) ended up being his demise.
In this version, during the moments when he realized his mistake, he accidentally turned a handful of items–including his daughter (Princess Kora)–into a golden statues. He manages to reanimate her, but he doesn’t follow his wish’s rules about fixing the rest of the items as well, so she turns back into gold again. Human, but with flesh, eyes, and bones that never allow the king or his people to forget that curses are often disguised as wishes.
A decade has passed, the kingdom has grown weak, and people are too scared of the golden princess and her cursed kingdom to consider marrying her (which would help stabilize the power of the kingdom). She hides in the castle; she and her dad barely speak; her uncle runs interference between the two of them and the kingdom, itself.
Then something happens that requires Kora to not only leave the castle grounds, but take to the sea on an adventure that will test this sheltered young woman in every way. Can she learn to read people? Can she make friends? Can she be brave? Can she do the one thing she has been scared of for most of her life?
This is a fun adventure with a bit of romance for the teen reader on up who enjoys retellings, pirate adventures, and watching young women find their legs in this tricky world.
A dazzling retelling full of adventure with a dash of betrayal, A Touch of Gold will grab your heart and not let go
A Touch of Gold has an interesting premise, it’s a retelling of King Midas myth, with the daughter of the King as the main heroine. I was really interested in this book because it has all the ingredients for a good story: Greek mythology, cursed gold, pirates and sea adventures. Unfortunately, the execution wasn’t very good. I was bored a lot while reading A Touch of Gold and wasn’t very invested in the story or the characters. The pacing was slow, with nothing interesting happening for the first 40% of the book. The characters and their relationships didn’t have a lot of development or growth, and the villains were boring and one-dimensional. There were a couple of interesting action scenes that I enjoyed but, overall, I really didn’t care about any of the characters and what would happen to them. I don’t have any particularly negative feelings about the book but I don’t have any positive feelings either.