Book Review – A Touch Of Gold

Welcome back to another ride on the magical mystery tour that is my little corner of the internet. I love this blog like something ridiculous, and hate when my health gets in the way of taking care of it. I’m still quite unwell but focusing on the positives, and in small bursts I’m managing to sit up and type. Doing so involves a lot of pain killers though, so I apologize for any bizarre outbursts that may occur. Please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times, and on we go.

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.
Midas learned his lesson at a price. What will Kora’s journey cost? 

I read this book ahead of reviewing the sequal A Curse of Gold for a blog tour later on this week. Published just today, I’ll be writing about it on Saturday, and it made sense to write about A Touch of Gold just before. I started reading this book as a physical copy, but listened to the second half of it as an audiobook, and the narrator Alana Kerr Collins brings the novel to a whole new level. Her energy for what she’s reading is beautiful and the way she brings each character to life is a wonderful skill that is so wonderful to hear in a narrator.

The book is told from the perspective of Kora, and through her eyes we see the world collapse, then start to bloom. It’s beautifully done, as if she needs to have been to the lowest of points to build back up through the course of her life, and then even more so through the book. The other characters that allow her development, both intentionally and inadvertently, provide a beautiful patchwork backdrop. From royalty to pirates, we meet the whole character universe in this book.

I don’t tend to use star ratings here unless it’s required for a review, but I rated this book as three stars on GoodReads. I did enjoy the book but felt it was somewhat lacking, and very predictable in its course. At points I was almost just waiting for it to tick along, to get to the next stage in the process, the next step on the ladder. There’s nothing wrong with a storyline being predictable but it was still a bit frustrating at times.

Kora was a lovable character to get to know, and I really, truly enjoyed her character progression. She loves her father dearly, despite the difficulties in their relationship since the curse, and leaps into action to save him as soon as she is needed to. Equally it’s obvious how insecure she is in herself, falling on the first kind words she was offered by someone, so unused to it is she in her day to day life.

I feel like although I mention above that I found the book predictable, I also found the writing endearing, and the descriptive, emotive writing is something the author really excels at. The romantic and platonic relationships are all delved into with beauty, and I’m looking forward to writing about A Curse of Gold to touch on these some more.

Although it might not be the first book I’d jump to recommending to someone, I am glad I read it. It was a nice, easy read, and the audiobook was so soothing, I just relaxed into it. Even the points of intense action managed to be relaxing as the narrator was paired so beautifully with the book.

Come back later this week when I’ll be talking about book two!