A Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan Review
Hello Lovelies!
Hope you all had a lovely weekend. I've been catching up on things for the Etsy shop and almost forgot to post my review! I got a copy of this ARC from Edelweiss and was quite excited because I loved the synopsis when I read it earlier this year, so I was honored to receive a copy. Hope you enjoy my review!
A Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan
Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: August 14th, 2018
Genre: Young Adult
Story Development: Dynamic
Romance: Verrry slow burn
Protagonist Strength: Above Average
Re-readable? Yes
Received From: Edelweiss+
Synopsis: King Midas once had the ability to turn all he touched into gold. But after his gift—or curse—almost killed his daughter, Midas relinquished The Touch 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 locked in the palace, concealed behind gloves and veils, trying to ignore the stares and gossip of courtiers. It isn’t until a charming young duke arrives that Kora realizes there may be someone out there who doesn’t fear her or her curse. But their courtship is disrupted when a thief steals precious items from the kingdom, leaving the treasury depleted and King Midas vulnerable. Thanks to her unique ability to sense gold, Kora is the only one who can track the thief down. As she sails off on her quest, Kora learns that not everything is what it seems—not thieves, not pirates, and not even curses. She quickly discovers that gold—and the power it brings—is more dangerous than she’d ever believed.
Review
One of the first things I fell in love with about this book was the originality of the story and the way the author embraced the mythology of the tale and then added her own twist. I am an avid lover of all mythology and was excited to read this story since it didn't have to do with the gods and goddesses as most stories that utilize mythology do. Something I think could have been improved upon was how much mythology was added into this tale other than the premise. It would have been really interesting to see more figures and events from mythology. This is a fine line though, and I think Annie Sullivan walked it well.
Another thing that Annie does well is getting some good development out of her characters. Although Kora is the main characters, there are three other characters who develop into a sort of main cast and we get some good background on them all. Development can be hard to manage with just one character, so kudos to Annie for getting it done. Another thing she does well is not allowing the plot to go stale in between action scenes. In almost every scene, I was hooked by some plot point and almost every scene was important to the plot in some way or another. This is a hit and miss goal in most novels and it seems Annie hit it straight on.
Now onto some of the things I thought could have been improved. Although the story had excellent pacing, some aspects of the plot were predictable. Certain tropes were used and I anticipated some of the events of the story. This being said, there was quite a bit that surprised me as well, although, I would have enjoyed less of a reliance on traditional YA tropes. Another thing I enjoyed but wasn't marketed well was how much time was spent sailing the ocean in this story. Pirates and sea adventures are very popular right now in YA and this would have aided the marketing (in my opinion) if more about this aspect had been included in the synopsis.
Although the characters were well developed, the romance between several characters felt underdeveloped to me and kind of like an afterthought. I think the romances could have been left out entirely for the most part and the story would have been better for it. There were also scads of time in the story that were more glossed over than some others. A little more detail in certain areas would have really bumped this novel up to the next level.
Overall, I really enjoyed this first novel from Annie Sullivan. She really embraced the mythology and created a unique and original tale. I look forward to seeing what else she has in store for us in the future. Go check out A Touch of Gold now! In stores August 14th.
