I really liked the first book, but this book started out slowly for me. It did pick up a little halfway through, but it wasn't my favorite.

If you read this book, be sure to read the first book too!

I enjoyed this second part of this story.
Since the first book I like the way Annie was telling us Kora's Story.

The character development in this book is definitely one of my favorite elements of this book, Kora understanding her condition and being strong about it is inspirational.

Very fast-paced and fresh novel for YA and retelling lovers.

Ps: Sorry about the late review, I read it during the year but I forgot to update it here, It was a tough year and I had to move a couple of times!

I meant to post this review last year but got sick due to pregnancy. But I picked this book up and sadly I lost interest around the 20% mark. It's a bummer because I liked the first book with its fun idea on the Midas legend and fun sea adventure. I was curious to see how the series was going to conclude but I feel like there wasn't much happening and the confidence that the protagonist had developed by the end of the first book was nearly nonexistent. I will give this one more chance in the future but sadly it didn't motivate me to finish the first time around...

I really liked reading about all the incredible adventures of Kora and her friends to find Dionysus. She is amazingly brave and courageous, and has her kingdom at heart.

However, all the adventures and the strong bonds that formed between herself and her friends would have been more believable if the second book would have been more than a couple of weeks after the ending of the first book.

But if you thought that fighting temptresses and pirates was awesome, wait until you see all the creatures created by Dionysus that the crew will have to fight against.... I loved how imaginative that was!!

Many thanks to Blink for the complimentary e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As with A Touch of Gold I listened to the audiobook. A Curse of Gold starts pretty soon after the events of A Touch of Gold. Kora saved her father in the last book and in this story she has to save her whole kingdom. Dionysus is threatening her kingdom and Kora wants to do whatever she needs to save everything and everyone she loves.

This second book has a lot of action. The first book was pretty action packed but this one even more so. While it's good to have action in an adventure story, there's also something as too much action. And for this book I felt like it was a bit too much. Or there were too little other things.

Because of all this action there isn't that much development for most of the characters. And that is a shame because it made be story less interesting for me. Every now and then I felt myself drift off because I wasn't as invested as I was in the first book. This story comes right after and I felt like the relationships, both platonic and romantic, were too 'well-developed' for relationships that are only a couple of days, maybe some weeks old. I also have to say Hettie annoyed me a lot haha.

We are introduced to a new character in A Curse of Gold. And that is Triton. He = my new favorite character is this world. Honestly, he felt like the only character with a character arc this time around. And I really liked his story. I think the whole story could've benefited from more characters with a plot separated to the main adventure. Triton really brought something extra to the story and made this book enjoyable for me. Unfortunately it just wasn't as good as the first one.

Annie created an interesting world with likeable characters. I would still recommend this duology to YA fantasy lovers! It just won't make its way unto my favorites list.

Unfortunately, "A Curse of Gold" fell flat for me.. I found it to be very rushed. I would have loved more descriptions and more in-depth worldbuilding. I also would have loved to see a more accurate representation of Greek characters/ culture in this book since the central focus is Greek Mythology. This is something that I felt was missing from the first book as well. Overall, it missed the mark for me.

Great sequel adventure novel following a fun group of characters. I found myself really loving the side characters even more in this book, especially with the edition of a god in their party.

3.5 Stars--Good book, may read again
(I did round it up to four stars though because I read an e-ARC, and e-books just don't engage me the same way that physical copies do).

It's been a little bit since I read A Touch of Gold, but I didn't have any problems getting back into the story world. I do tend to remember books and story worlds well though. While A Touch of Gold ended in a way that could go either way in terms of having a sequel, it was nice to have a sequel to tie up the plot threads.

While it is a little funny, I think that Triton was my favorite character in the novel. Even though he annoyed me at times, I enjoyed his character arc and ending. I also like the way that the ending of the novel left the door open as to what may have happened to Triton. Kora also had a nice character arc exploring leadership and sacrifice. I didn't really connect to any of the other characters in the crew. And while I understand that Hettie's character was dealing with and processing a lot through the novel, I did miss some of her interactions with Kora.

In A Touch of Gold, I was very confused about what the culture of Lagonia was supposed to be like. While the books center around King Midas and pull on Greek mythology, the culture of Lagonia did not feel like Ancient Greece. At the beginning of A Curse of Gold, I felt the same way. Lagonia doesn't feel like Ancient Greece. However, as A Curse of Gold went on, the story started to feel a little bit more Greek. I think that was because the characters were interacting with the Greek gods though, not because the culture was made clearer. The interactions with the Greek gods were fun. They reminded me of the Percy Jackson books a little bit, actually.

Like the first book (from what I remember of it), the plot of A Curse of Gold feels a little episodic because of the way that it relies on the characters traveling to different locations and then doing a mission. It was fun though to see various locations from mythology though.

Overall, A Curse of Gold is a nice sequel to A Touch of Gold for those who are left wondering about the loose plot threads at the end of the first novel.

A CURSE OF GOLD is the sequel to Annie Sullivan’s freshman novel A TOUCH OF GOLD. Kora is doing it again, still on the mission to free her father, King Tidas, from his curse. The characterizations were written really well in this novel. Kora’s personal journey continued through the entire story, which involved going after the god Dionysus.

Was there all these new adventures in this book? No. Did it feel like a continuation from book 1? Yes. I want to be very clear that it isn’t a bad thing that it felt like a continuation. The plot flowed well and maintained my attention.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel very much. The story strongly held my attention the entire time. I would recommend this novel to everyone who enjoys any retelling. A solid 4/5 star rating!!!!!!

5/5 ⭐️ to A Curse of Gold by Annie Sullivan

Thank you so much to Blink YA and NetGalley for early access to the egalley!

As this is a sequel, I don’t want to go into specifics, but I will be sharing what I loved about this series in general! Also, I listened to A Touch of Gold and A Curse of Gold on audiobook, which I highly recommend.

In this series we follow the daughter of King Midas, who could turn anything to gold with his touch. After he accidentally turns his daughter (Princess Kora) to gold, he begs Dionysus to save her. Kora is saved, but is left with golden (yes, literally) skin, and the ability to absorb gold and transfer it to something/someone else. In these books she goes on journeys to save her father and her beloved kingdom, Lagonia. This is such a fun, seafaring series with a cast that feels like a family, an adorable romance, interesting mythology, and so much action that keeps you flying through the pages! I so enjoyed the writing, and felt so connected to Kora and her emotions and feelings. I was rooting for her and her happiness throughout both books, and truly wanted the best for her. The author definitely immersed us in this world she’s created, almost like a movie playing in my mind. Honestly, this series would be amazing for film or TV! It has substance, twists and turns, and I would recommend it to anyone who love fantasy based on Greek mythology, especially quest-based story. Finally, I thought the overall finale to the series was super satisfying!
I’m so excited to see what Annie Sullivan writes next, and please check out this series!

This was okay, nothing special, nothing dreadful. I'm sure some people will really like it - maybe early teens as an intro to fantasy.

The action packed sequel to A Touch of Gold, Kora must secures her kingdom's safety by ending the curse of her father that has left its mark on her skin.

It had been a while since I read the first book so it took a while to get reacquainted with the characters and setting, I was happy to see so many familiar faces as well as new ones like Lenny. In this book we see the relationships built in the first book tested as they grow and mature. I liked the strong friendships, as well as action packed scenes which helped it not feel so episodic.

There is a lot more mythology and mythological creatures in this book, and I appreciated the tight action packed storyline, though at times I struggled to personally connect with this story, though that might have been more due to it having been so long since I had read the first book, and I'm not the biggest fan of greek mythology and the games that the gods play with humans in those tales.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

Ah! This cover! Anyway, I've been excited about this book for a little while, and am so glad I could finally read it!

If you enjoyed the Greek Mythology elements from the first book, then you’re going to love this sequel because this book features even more of those elements, including the introduction of several new mythological beings and gods. Also, the world building is even more intricate in this book. We are introduced to many more fantastical creatures as we follow our characters on their journey to strange and wonderful places. This book is also way more action-packed than the first one, and focuses even more on magic.

With regards to our leading lady Kora, I really enjoyed her character growth in this book. She is much more confident as a leading figure for her people and throughout the book, she strives to become an even better and stronger leader. She is also very confident in the use of her magic now, allowing her to use it in ways we didn’t get to see in the previous book. Also, although the romance isn’t the main focus of the story, I really enjoyed how the relationship between Kora and Royce was written in this book. There is a lot of maturity and mutual respect in their relationship, which I really like.

Overall, this is a very satisfying end to a wonderful duology, filled with magic, mythological elements, action and adventure. Fans of the first book will definitely really enjoy this.

I really enjoyed this book and all that kora did to protect her people. I loved seeing all the greek mythology in this book and it was great to see the characters from the first book too.

This has to be one of my favorite reads this year. I loved the mythology woven into this book. Book one was fantastic but book two is phenomenal. The character development was done so well. I loved the banter between characters where I found myself laughing while reading. The world was expanded on the page even more than book 1 and I can not wait to see where book 3 takes us.

This book is absolutely amazing!!!! I can’t not hype it up enough! I had to find the first book to thoroughly enjoy it but I am so happy I did! I will be adding this to my recommendation list!!!

What's not to love? I'm a big fan of Annie's work and A Curse of Gold is no exception. I was excited to continue Kora's story and I think it was a really fitting conclusion. There was a lot of adventure and excitement in this story. I can't wait to see what Annie puts out next.

I had the first book, but I never finished it in time to review this book. Will get the released hardcover as long as the first book captures me.

3.5 stars
I enjoyed A Curse of Gold so much more than the first book! It had the perfect blend of action, romance and drama. The book jumped straight into the action from the get-go and this made for a fast-paced and gripping book. I also enjoyed the twists in this book because they truly surprised me.

Kora was a great protagonist and I enjoyed reading in her POV. She was strong and independent. We really got to see her character growth and I enjoyed following along with her. The romance wasn't the focal point in the sequel and I liked how it didn't overshadow the main plot. This was a breath of fresh air because I find that most books tend to abandon the main plot for the romance. This was definitely not the case.

Overall, this was a fun entertaining read! I recommend if you enjoy Greek mythology and a badass heroine.