A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer | Book Review
A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer | Book Review
I loved A Curse so Dark and Lonely! It’s a beauty and the beast retelling with a difference. I was a bit nervous going in because retelling can be so hit and miss, but I like how Brigid takes the classic elements of Beauty and the Beast and puts her own twists on it.
The review will be spoiler free and there’s a content warning at the end. I was sent this book via netgalley for an honest review.
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer Published by Bloomsbury Children's on January 29th 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 496
Goodreads
Fall in love, break the curse.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But 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.
Harper is a teenager who has cerebral palsy. She is high functioning and I can’t speak on the accuracy of this representation. If you know more about this or have written a review and are own voices then let me know in the comments and I’ll link to you!
A Curse so Dark and Lonely is indeed dark, both in the real world where Harper is from and Rhyn’s world. Make sure you check out the content warnings as I can see this being difficult for some people.
I really like that the beast isn’t, you know, a beast. It gets rid of the whole bestiality aspect which makes Beauty and the Beast a bit hard to swallow usually.
There’s also queer rep in the form of Harper’s brother, who’s relationship is just cute af!
There’s some twists in this that will send you reeling and honestly I can’t wait to see how the whole thing plays out in the next one!
A Curse so Dark and Lonely is told from two POVs, Harper and and Rhyn. It means you get an insight into how both view the world which makes it really engaging. We spend most of our time in Emberfall, with it beginning in DC and setting up Harper’s life.
The world building is brilliant. Emberfall is well developed and I really liked the disparity between the life Rhen led and the life his people led. All the characters and locations were well established and didn’t feel like filler.
I really enjoyed the dynamic between the characters and the almost love triangle that keeps threatening to poke it’s head out.
Harper aka Belle is not what Rhyn was expecting when he sent Grey into DC to capture a new girl to try and break the curse. Harper has had a hard life and has learnt to overcome a lot. This makes her tough as nails despite her disability. However, she is the most caring of them all. Her kind nature gets her into trouble but keeps the story interesting.
Rhyn aka The Beast has his eyes opened by Harper. As I mentioned earlier, I really loved this disparity between his life and his people’s, and Harper really opened his eyes to it. He develops quite a bit throughout the book, much like the traditional beast we’re used to. I look forward to seeing how he continues to develop.
Grey. He’s going to be a favourite for many people, I just know. He’s dark and broody, sacrifices his own interests in order to serve Rhyn, what’s not to love? I really can’t wait to see what happens with his story in the next one!
Lilith is the real evil b**** here. A sorceress who condemns not just Rhyn for his rejection, but an entire kingdom. She is twisted and abusive, you’ll love to hate her.
Another notable character is Freya. She adds a bit of light in the darkness, and seems to take up the mantle that the lack of miss Potts and her crew leave.
Content warning: cancer, death of a loved one, abuse, ableist talk from a villain, suicidal thoughts, abduction and captivity.
I hope you enjoyed this review! Have you read it yet? What are your favourite retelling?
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28 Comments
Sounds really good i will check it out
Yay I’m glad! It’s such a good read!
I’d completely forgotten that this book is due to be released, and I’m incredibly hyped. I adore Beauty and the Beast retellings/imaginings and this one sounds so intriguing. I’m kind of glad that the traditional sorceress is the villain in this because in my opinion, it makes a lot of sense for her to be that way. Actually I think that is what I’m looking forward to the most because I’ve always wondered what her motivations would be if she was a villain, and now we’ve got it, I’m excited!
It’s soooo good! It is so intriguing, and my gosh she is a SEVERE villain, it gets quite dark and twisted!
This sounds SO GOOD! Cannot wait to read it 🙂
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!!
Great review! This sounds like such an awesome read, adding to my TBR.
I hope you enjoy it! You’re going to love it <3
😊
My review isn’t up yet but I loved it too!
Ohhhh I’ll check yours out too!
Ohhh, great to hear that the world building with this one was done well and I’m really glad to see Harper with that sort of representation! Looking forward to reading this one on my TBR for next year.
I hope you enjoy it! It’s such a good read. I put up with bad formatting from netgalley so you know it has to worth it!
I love Brigid Kemmerer and I love re-tellings so this book sounds like a win for me 🙂
xoxo
http://gingersnaphattie.blogspot.com
Definitely a win!!
I’m so excited for this! Also I’m so excited for CP to be represented! I’m intrigued to see how well represented it is though from what I know from working with people with CP.
I hope it’s done well! I haven’t got much to go off IRL but from what others have said it’s fairly accurate? I hope you enjoy!
This sounds like the perfect read for winter! lovely review!
It is! I really hope you enjoy it. Thank you lovely!
Great review 🙂 I’m SO happy that there isn’t much time left until it’s out in the world.
I hope you love it!!!
I have this one as an ARC that I must read! I’m very much looking forward to it but I need to read some more pressing ones before it, but I can’t wait especially after reading your positive review!
Is it an ARC from Netgalley? Because the formatting for that was AWFUL. I hope you enjoy it, it’s definitely worth reading.
It is, I’ve not cracked into it yet so haven’t seen the formatting. I’ll be prepared!!
Awesome review!! I can’t wait to read this! 💜
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!!
Great! What a thorough review!
Thank you! I’m glad you thought so <3