A Touch of Gold and Madness

Celestials of Arcadia, Book 1

By: K.L. DeVore

Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Corvin King

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

The plot

I can’t wait to read the rest of this series. I didn’t love the male voice of this audio BUT it did grow on me and now I can’t imagine Chromes voice any other way. The storyline of this book is just so original and new and fresh. !!!!!! Love.

Amazing story!

Such an amazing story. I do not care for the MMC voice. It’s so breathy and whiny. Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way about him but I idk if I can finish it, it”s that annoying. I’m sorry for saying that but it took away from the story! FMC did an amazing job!

Good book , annoying MMC voice ☹

I liked the book very much but i’m sorry , i just couldn’t stand hearing the MMC’s voice , he’s just trying so hard to be sexy 😅 at times i couldn’t focus on the words because i was so annoyed. So i just transferred to reading instead of listening . The FMC great tho !

😭😭😭😭

How long do I have to wait for book 2? That was a dirty cliff hanger. Thanks for the reading slump!

A criminally under-hyped dark fantasy romance

I could not put this book down, and the ending left me looking like this: 🤯

Quick blurb:
Two magic wielding species—the Kinetics and Elementals—and humans are at war in this post-apocalyptic world. Gray, the Kinetic princess is out for revenge against the Elemental prince because he killed her first love. After Grey fails an assassination attempt on the prince, she ends up on the run when her father, the King tries to assassinate her for this failure. Griffin, the Elemental prince wants the Kinetic King dead and Gray in his hands. The problem is, he's losing his sanity Jekyll/Hyde style.

This book has intricate but digestible world building, a unique magic system, a feisty FMC, a tormented MMC, and plot twists galore. It covers a lot of dark themes, so please read the TW ⚠️

What to expect:
⚡ Dark fantasy romance series (incomplete)
🖤 1st person, dual POV
⚡ Post-apocalyptic, dystopian world
🖤 Vengeful princess assassin
⚡ Tortured, villainous prince
🖤 Secrets, twists & betrayal
⚡ Slow burn & open door spice (not a ton)
🖤 Found family, fated mates, touch her & 💀
⚡ Trauma rep

This book is available on KU for my fellow subscribers. It's also on audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend. The dual narration is fantastic.

An incredible read and even more impressive that this is the author's debut novel.

Criminal Side-Eye

It should be illegal to leave you on the edge of your seat like that, and no second book to turn to IMMEDIATELY. Great audio but beware the cliffhanger is deadly.

Loved the dual narration

I love this book, and felt like I was in another world. The author does a fantastic job at bringing in the dark** and making it still a romance story to read and enjoy.

I loved it

The Audio is top tier! it was a slow start and somewhat hard to follow the magic/world building.(still not sure I know what’s going on) butttt the characters and the underlying trauma story 🫶🏽♥️♥️🫶🏽

Another under promoted winner! So good!

Wow. The farther along this book went the better it got. It was soooo good! I started the audio book to read in the car and as I worked out when I couldn't read what was on my Kindle. I ended up listening non-stop until it was finished! This world just gets bigger and bigger as the story goes on. If you are one that gets triggered by things, make sure you read the TW. Enemies to lovers, slow burn, shadow daddy, evil magic... It will make you laugh, shout, and even tear up a little. You will fall in love and hate. I'm headed to the prequel since the author suggests reading it before book 2 (out sometime later this year, hopefully!!). I've had this on my Kindle TBR forever it seems. I will definitely be buying the physical book as well. The audio was also really good. I haven't seen this book recommended much - so I will definitely be putting it out there so others will pick it up!

Very cool story

The voice acting was amazing. The story its self was very fun and interesting. I liked it overall. I did feel like it dragged a bit in parts. Maybe too many fight scenes idk. Put it was good and I would definitely read the next book. Loved the slow burn to the spicy 🌶️ though I wish there was a bit more.
The male narrator has a bedroom voice that would make this book incredible if it was recorded in duet.