KOREAN MYTHOLOGY
I love all types of mythology, and it was so exciting to see GILDED come out with it’s heavy Korean influence. Korean culture is something I know very little part. Luckily for use, the mythology plays a heavy part in the story of GILDED!

I COULD NOT DEAL WITH THE ROMANCE
The romance is what ruined the book for me. Okay, there was a bit more but it was what had me rolling my eyes in the beginning. It’s so cliche and insta-lovey. The MC (whose name I’ve already forgotten oops) spent a lot of time thinking about the love interest and his dreamy eyes and oh what he must think of her dressed up. There was even an “I love you” exchange within two weeks of actually talking to each other (no proper dating yet). I just cannot deal.

I DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE WRITING STYLE
GILDED is written in present tense. Normally I don’t mind present tense because it helps drag you into the story, but this time… I don’t know. It was clunky, it didn’t flow as well as I’ve experienced in the past. Also the characters communicated in text speech and NO THANKS.

CREEPY VILLAIN IS CREEPY
I can’t fault the creepiness of our villain god. He’s super obsessive and stalkery which made him creepy. He did make things intense once he started popping up, trying to capture our heroine.

UNFORTUNATELY I DON'T THINK I'LL CONTINUE
While I did enjoy the story of GILDED overall, there were a lot of tiny elements that really got on my nerves. These added up enough for me to decide that I’m no longer interested in continuing the series.

IN SUMMARY
GILDED was a book I was looking forward to mostly due to the heavy influence of Korean culture and mythology. While that was interesting, all the other parts of the story and it’s construction weren’t that impressive. The romance in particular got on my nerves.

** spoiler alert ** I really really enjoyed this book. This is the first book I have ever read that has been involving and based around Korean myths and I found it incredibly interesting.

The eldest girl in every generation of Jae's family is taken by Haemosu to be his bride because at the very beginning his bride (who was in relation to Jae's family) escaped. So he takes the others against there will as punishment. Jae is the eldest daughter in her generation so it is up to her to defeat Haemosu and free her ancestors. I really enjoyed this story and all of the characters in it. Haechi and Palk where on Jae's side and always seemed to be there when she needed them. I'll be honest I didn't really like her grandfather at first but once we got into the story it was clear that everything he was doing was in Jae's best interest. And how can we forget Marc *swoon*. They're chemistry together was just amazing. He protected her and you can just tell that he really cares and loves her.

I can't wait to read the second book because I honestly don't know where they're going to go from here. Does she really have to rule the spirit world? Or can she live a normal life with Marc?