• Home
    • Contact Me
  • Reading Challenges
    • Pondathon II
    • Completed Challenges
      • CannonballRead 13 Bingo
      • SpringIntoLove Bingo
      • SnowInLove Bingo
      • JingleBooks Bingo
      • FallIntoRomBingo 2020
      • 2020 Ripped Bodice Summer Read Along Bingo
      • 2018 Romance Roundabout Challenge
      • Read Harder 2018
      • January – March 2018 Quarterly Challenge
      • Title Hunt Quarterly Challenge: January – March 2018
      • Cover Hunt Quarterly Challenge: October – December 2017
      • October – December 2017 Quarterly Challenge
      • Ripped Bodice Summer Read Along Bingo
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Series
    • Reviews by Year
      • 2017 Reviews
      • 2018 Reviews
    • Reviews by Rating
  • Rating System

Llama Reads Books

This llama reads - mostly romance, fantasy and science fiction

Reviews

Review: A Curse So Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer

December 26, 2019 Leave a Comment

Review: A Curse So Dark and Lonely – Brigid KemmererA Curse So Dark and Lonely
by Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Cursebreakers #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Publication Date: January 29, 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 484
Source: Library
My rating: One StarOne StarOne Star

Fall in love, break the curse.

Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she's pulled into a magical world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

Amazon  Apple  Barnes & Noble  Kobo  Indiebound

Goodreads

3 stars icon fantasy icon m/f young adult


I like Beauty and the Beast retellings, and this book kept popping up on my radar, so I was excited when my library hold first came in. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me.

I’ll start out with one of my favorite parts of the story. Rather than there being one woman to break the curse, there’s instead a Groundhog Day-like aspect to the story. The castle (and everyone in it) are trapped in a repeating cycle, forced to relive the same three-ish months over and over. Everything – from the music being played to the flowers to the food being served – is replicated day by day. At the end of the cycle (or when Rhen dies) everything resets, and Grey, Rhen’s sole remaining guard, is given the opportunity to kidnap another girl that might break the curse.

That’s right, kidnaps. With most Beauty and the Beast retellings, the non-beast protagonist usually has some sort of choice in going to the Beast’s place, even when it’s a rather pointless choice between that or death, or doing it to save a relative, or something like that. Harper’s straight up kidnapped from modern-day Washington, D.C. Having grown up reading lots of 80s-era portal fantasies, I really wanted to like this aspect of the book, but it felt off to me. Sure, Harper tries to drag Rhen and Grey into something resembling the 21st century, but it’s all very superficial.

And here we get to my main issue with the book: Harper. The level of not like ~other girls~-ness is just, too damn high. She likes horses, not dresses. She’s frankly nauseated by the piles of jewels in her room. She doesn’t react the same as every single other one of the hundreds (hundreds!) of girls they’ve kidnapped. It’s never-ending and exhausted. It’s not that I necessarily disagreed with her actions, just that everything had to be viewed from the lens of how she was SO MUCH BETTER than any other woman. The only thing I liked about her was the cerebral palsy rep, which felt very well done.

As for the other MC, Rhen was somehow even more annoying. After however many repetitions, he was still ridiculously self-centered, and he took the whole tortured, forced-to-be-evil nonsense to the extreme. It took a comment from Harper for him to realize that the point of the curse was not just to torment him but to topple his country. Too much of his (limited) character growth felt like he was only making the change for Harper, that he was somehow being redeemed by Harper and, oof, it didn’t sit well with me.

“My father once said we are all dealt a hand at birth. A good hand can ultimately lose—just as a poor hand can win—but we must all play the cards fate deals. The choices we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless.”

That’s not to say the book is a complete loss, even though I didn’t care for the main characters. The plot is standard fantasy fare, and there are some good moments. I loved Harper and Grey’s card playing sessions, for instance.

So, overall, while the plot and setting were fine, the characters didn’t work for me.

Related Posts

  • Same Genre
The Unkindest Tide
Review: The Unkindest Tide – Seanan McGuire
Witch, Cat, and Cobb
Review: Witch, Cat, and Cobb – J.K. Pendragon
The Four Profound Weaves
Review: The Four Profound Weaves – R.B. Lemberg
Time Travel for Love and Profit
Review: Time Travel for Love and Profit – Sarah Lariviere

You might also enjoy

Bad BachelorReview: Bad Bachelor – Stefanie London
SmoothReview: Smooth – Tracy Ewens
Broody BritReview: Broody Brit – Naima Simone
Previous:
Review: Christmas in the City – Bria Felicien
Next:
Review: Days of Sugar and Spice – Clément Loïc and Montel Anne

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Me



READING LLAMA

Hi, my name is Lauren, and I’m the Reading Llama! I love reading books. My favorites usually include a female protagonist with at least a little bit of romance.

Twitter    Goodreads    RSS    email

Follow

Currently Reading

May Reviews

Something Wilder by Christina LaurenJust Like Mother by Anne HeltzelForged in Flames by Ali WilliamsA Show for Two by Tashie BhuiyanUnder Fortunate Stars by Ren HutchingsIf You Want Me Close by Skye KilaenBlame It on the Brontes by Annie SerenoThe Prince's Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner

Recently Read

Goodreads Challenge

2021 Reading Challenge

2021 Reading Challenge
Lauren has read 7 books toward her goal of 250 books.
hide
7 of 250 (2%)
view books

Reading Challenges

CBR13 Bingo

CBR13 bingo
July 1 - October 31

hide
12 of 25 (48%)

Badges

25 Book Reviews Reviews Published Professional Reader Frequently Auto-Approved Romanceopoly 2019 Participant

Latest Tweets

Tweets by llamareadsbooks

Archives

Currently Reading

Wanting a Witch Wanting a Witch by Lauren Connolly
Legends & Lattes Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1) The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1) by Chelsea Abdullah

Archives

  • Ghosts, a secret library and magic collide in a dystopian Edinburgh. Highly recommended!
  • This month’s sticker from the #RomStickerClub is super cute and SHINY!
  • Finished up my ARC of Jackie Lau’s His Grumpy Childhood Friend (out this Tuesday) and I loved this quote! “Practice”
  • Starting off with a quote from one of my favorite books, Charlie Adhara’s The Wolf at Bay, second in Big

Categories

  • Book Tour
  • Challenge
  • Cover Reveal
  • Excerpt
  • lol
  • Most Anticipated
  • PondathonII
  • Reviews
  • Sunday Update
  • TBR
  • Uncategorized
  • Wrap-Up

Copyright © 2022 · Dreams Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in