4/5 stars

A Curse of Gold is a sequel to A Touch of Gold, that centers on the daughter of King Midas, Kora. I had not read the first in the series, but still enjoyed reading this book. The first few chapters do a great job explaining the character's past and summarizing what occurred in the first book. This was a fun twist on the King Midas story and follows Kora and her friends as the seek to stop Dionysus from attacking her home, Lagonia. Anyone who enjoys mythology would enjoy this book.

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I loved the first book by Annie Sullivan, A touch of Gold and this was the sequel that I've been waiting for! It had lots of adventure, intrigue and friendships, with a little romance involved. I loved this storyline and hope that she writes another one so that we can figure out what happened with Triton.

Was so excited for this book!
I read "Touch of Gold" over the summer, I enjoyed it as a stand alone book, so A Curse of Gold was a special treat!

A great way to end off the series but the middle section, despite all its action, dragged to the point that finishing it seemed like a quest in and of itself.

“A Curse of Gold” sees Kora looking at the soon to be future where her kingdom is in ruin by the hands of Dionysius and together with Royce and their motley crew she sets off to face off against the God and end his reign of terror with a deal he can’t refuse.

This book has a lot of action and though it was interesting on the surface it never really managed to keep my attention. I’m someone who likes to start a book and read it all the way through as best I can and with this I actually fell asleep (yikes I know) despite there being so much going on and that’s not a great look.

I though the chemistry between Kora and Royce was seriously lacking in this final installment to the point that I wondered if it was going to have a shift in romance to another character because it was so lackluster but it’s whatever I don’t think that element would have made this piece any stronger if it had been written better.

The pacing was a little off to me as so much happened in such a short period of time and I kind of wish we got to spend more time on the island where that could have been our main setting for a good 2/3s of the book rather than the other places our heroes stopped along the way because there was so much there and at the end with time being of the essence so much got thrown at us that it felt like too much and I would have enjoyed seeing those same elements in a way that gave them all time to breathe and be fully realized as threats or fellow victims.

This is one of those rare sequels where you don’t really have to remember too much about what happened in book 1 in order to catch up which I appreciated but it’s also not one I suspect I’ll remember down the line.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

The story goes like Kora's life is under threat and they go on yet another quest to win a bet against the Trickster God with the help of Poseidon's son Triton. Poseidon guest appears of course. It's like Percy Jackson going on one of POC quest (there's even a Kraken's equivalent). I know am comparing to POC yet again but that's exactly how this felt.
The book was as much fun as the first one but the characters were a bit better.
Another mixture of stories without much world building and a weak romance.

I was so excited to have the opportunity to get a copy of this book. I was obsessed with the first book and I ended up devouring this one! If you love action books with badass characters you need to read this. Great book!

What a solid conclusion to a fun duology! The highlight of this story is definitely the much needed world-building that was lacking in the first book.

Similar to its predecessor, this sequel features fast-paced daring adventures, sailing the seas, scuffles with sea gods, a touch a romance, and lots of gold, but it just feels much more developed.

I appreciate the look into the god's various roles in the plot, since it wasn't really explained in the first book. I like how we get to know Dionysus’ motivation and reasoning for being the opposition, and I was entertained by the time the reader gets to spend with Triton.

This is a quick and fun read - perfect for those who are fans of the legend of Midas and ancient Greek mythology.

Kora is in a race of life and death in more ways than one in this second and it seems to be last installment of this remake based off king Midas. She must team up with an old enemy to defeat Dionysus and save her dad and kingdom.

While I did not enjoy this book as much as the first, it was a good storyline that involved more of the mythology world and drew the reader in!

A decent sequel to A Touch of Gold. I really love the world building - half Ancient Greece and half a creation out of myth. This series is an interesting take on the king Midas myth and the style is engaging. A good read.

I was a little apprehensive about reading this book. I absolutely loved the first one and it can be hard for sequels to live up to the original. But I had nothing to fear for it was just as good!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

So, I enjoyed the first book. I love seeing different takes on mythology, and this one was definitely interesting! I hadn’t seen it done that way before, and I was intrigued. Of course, I picked up the sequel (this one) before I’d read the first, so I had to read that first. This is the sequel to A Touch of Gold and I think it is a good sequel.

The Writing
I like Sullivan’s writing. I liked it in the first one, and I liked it in this one. There is something easy about it, and it isn’t harsh to read. Partially I think that’s because the writing flows very nicely. Do I wish that some of it read differently? Maybe, but overall I liked it.

The Pacing
The pacing in this book felt a bit weird to me. I’m not sure why, but it didn’t stick with me, and I wasn’t enjoying the pacing as much as I did in the first one. I feel that there may have been too much going on in this one? Too much ground trying to be covered and therefore the pacing was off? There was also the push to each plot point rather quickly. I wasn’t as enamored with it.

The Plot
The plot certainly was interesting. I didn’t like it as much as the first, although I enjoyed Kora in her position as feeling she was rightfully a princess. I liked those portions, and I liked seeing her developing relationships. Those were all positive plot points for me. I liked the take on the gods, especially the Oracle and Dionysus. There is a lot happening in this plot even though it is driving towards one end, and there isn’t too much “side quest” action going on.

The Characters
I still like Kora and Royce as characters. I think there is something to be said for enemies to lovers, and they feel like they had that rapport and good communication. I just love how Royce stands by her side and is always encouraging. Although sometimes I felt it was a bit not well written in terms of romance, overall, I really enjoyed the character development in this book for these characters. Another thing I enjoyed about this book is the relationship was strong, and we don’t get many divisive moments between the two of them.
Triton is an interesting character that was added, and he has a strong personality. I enjoyed the other returning characters as well. I felt overall there wasn’t as strong a rapport between all the characters as there was in the first book.

The Worldbuilding
Of course, this doesn’t feel like a historical Greek world. This feels more like something out of a myth, which this is based on. I like the take on the gods, and I think it is well done. There doesn’t need to be a lot of worldbuilding for it to work well, and it does.

Overall
It was an enjoyable book. A solid three stars from me, and mostly because I love interesting takes on myths, and this gave me that!

I absolutely LOVED this! A Touch of Gold was a favorite read of mine and I was worried book two wouldn’t come close to how great but one is but thankfully I was wrong. A Curse of Gold is just as great and fun as A Touch of Gold!

I also loved the continuous mention and interaction of Greek mythology, which is another reason why I love this series. So enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Annie Sullivan’s first book of this series A Touch of Gold when I read it last year and I enjoyed this sequel just as much. I love that she added a lot more mythology to this one, which I felt lacked in the first one! She has a very unique writing style and her characters are enjoyable.

The issue I had with this one was that the action felt very rushed over the 5 days it takes place. It made it so the world building and the romance fell flat throughout the story, but I do think overall it’s a very cute series and wrapped up nicely.

I’ve read and loved Annie Sullivan’s first two books, A Touch of Gold and Tiger Queen, so when I heard she was coming out with a sequel to A Touch of Gold, I was beyond overjoyed. I admired her visual writing style and well developed characters in her other two books and was sure I was was in for a treat this time too. Sadly, this book didn’t quite hit its mark.

One of the things I liked most about A Touch of Gold was how balanced the plot was. The slow moments were interspersed between the action scenes. As a result, Kora and Royce gradually got to know each other as the journey unfolded. In this book, they are already together and we see none of that romantic build up. I know this adventure reinforced their relationship, but the dynamics between them fell flat. The events in this books also unfold over the course of five days. With such a rushed timeline, the characters ended up being dragged from one action scene to the next with very little time in between. Needless to say, it was kind of exhausting for the reader.

I loved Annie Sullivan’s increased use of mythology in this novel. We were introduced to a plethora of Greek gods and demigods, and it was amusing to read about their interactions with Kora and her group. One demigod in particular stood out, and the character development he underwent was truly astonishing. Kora also gained confidence as a result of their adventure, and I have little doubt she will be a great ruler some day.

I loved A Touch of Gold and Tiger Queen so much I ended up buying hardcover copies of them to go along with my ebooks. I’m still undecided if I will for this one too or not. I think A Curse of Gold was a great way to bring Kora’s story to an end, and I definitely don’t regret reading it in ebook form. I would recommend this book to those who have read and enjoyed her other books, and to those looking for an escape during these uncertain times. I’m confident everyone who picks this up will find at least one thing they like about it.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley, opinions are my own.