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A Touch of Gold and Madness

Celestials of Arcadia, Book 1

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A Touch of Gold and Madness

By: K.L. DeVore
Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Corvin King
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About this listen

Fairytales are for the naive.

Princess assassin Gray Monroe is ordered by her father to kill the villainous prince responsible for throwing the modern world into a post-apocalyptic society. In a decrepit landscape where two magical species war with one another while a human militia hunts them all, Gray has only one thing on her mind: vengeance.

With a single focus on killing the man who murdered her first love, she believes nothing will stop her. That is until she hesitates when she comes face-to-face with her nemesis at long last.

Gray must return to the King's Palace empty-handed for her annual birthday celebration to a court of vipers who lie in wait for a slip in her icy façade. When a sinister plot is revealed to assassinate the princess, she must flee into a world where she's now hunted and must survive to get the revenge she's owed.

Prince Griffin Silas is on a mission of his own: to kill the King. The problem is he's suffering from an affliction that robs him of his sanity while making him crave violence and death. First, he needs the princess in his hands no matter the cost. In a race against his spiraling affliction, who will achieve their goal first?

The first installment in the Celestials of Arcadia, A Touch of Gold and Madness is a dark romantic fantasy about moving through a lifetime of trauma. It's packed with action, secrets, betrayal, tension, and slow-burning steam. Discover the long-buried truths concealed by those who seek ultimate power. For mature listeners.

©2023 K.L. DeVore (P)2024 Podium Audio
Action & Adventure Dark Fantasy Fantasy Paranormal Royalty Magic
All stars
Most relevant
If it is Corvin King you've got to listen to it. The story was entertaining too 🤣

What's not to love

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Oh my GOD! What an ending!
I would have initially give the book 4* because it moved too fast past some details or situations in the book but finding out the MMC story, trauma and the ending, I am surely giving this a 5*.
The angst between the FMC and MMC is 🔥🔥🔥 Some great side characters and can’t wait to find out more about them in the other book/s.

A Touch of Gold & Madness

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A Touch of Gold and Madness by K.L. DeVore is a fast-paced, immersive start to the Celestials of Arcadia series.

This is not a “half-listening while doing chores” kind of book. The pacing moves quickly, and there’s so much layered world-building and character development that it’s easy to miss details. I actually had to relisten to a few parts — not because it was confusing, but because there’s so much being set up. Every scene feels intentional.

As the story progressed, I completely fell in love with the characters. The emotional depth really builds, and by the end I was fully invested.

The narration elevated it even further.
Amanda Leigh Cobb does a fantastic job capturing the intensity and vulnerability throughout.

And I really hope Corvin King continues narrating as Griffin/Crome in the next book — his performance brought such a powerful presence to the character. It wouldn’t be the same without him.

I cannot wait for the follow-on book, and I will definitely be listening to this one again.



Can't wait to listen to the next book

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This book is a literally mishmash of all the other books e.g Fourth wing, Metal Slinger, ACOTAR and lots of others.
The FMC is annoying, always feeling hard done by, I mean, I understand she was treated badly but she's supposed to be an assassin but spent most of the book feeling sad about everything. I don't feel like I know enough about Chrome as the whole idea was to keep info from Gray, so the reader missed out on this info as well.
I think the whole idea of being mine/ your mine etc. is that you let things go, but there was always reason for not believing & disappointment... I listened to the whole of the book and there were conversations repeated word for word.
I guessed the twist... in like chapters 4 when Griffin was talking about his source. so no surprises there. I guess I was disappointed that nobody actually managed to kill Forest as well!
I read that this book was written by AI which I could believe! 😅
The narration was ok.. the male narrator has greatly improved since Trial of the Sun Queen, but still not as good as some others.
Will I read the next book, possibly but not confirmed! 😂

Ok but..

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The voice of the male character grates- it’s so fake and trying too hard to be husky and sexy - it’s annoying! Gave up partway and it gave me the ick!

Disappointing

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