A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

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Title: A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Cursebreakers #1
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
Release Date: January 29, 2019
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 489
Genres: Fairy Tale Retelling, Fantasy Romance, Young Adult, Fantasy
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER With Friends
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

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. 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.

My Review:

4.5 stars — This was the kind of book that gave me tummy tingles from nerves and anxiety and had me growling in frustration and racing to the bathroom yelling “Dammit, I have to pee!” to my husband because my bladder interrupted my reading time.  I think that speaks for itself.  😛

I loved Harper.  She was fierce, bold, if somewhat impulsive and reckless.  I didn’t mind that she made those missteps, because *I* would make those missteps when presented with a foreign world with completely different rules of living.  I think, in the end, that Rhen (and Grey) really appreciated the unique and unfiltered perspective she brought, because she was unencumbered by traditions.  I found the dichotomy of being so fierce with her soft heart and lack of stomach for violence to be intriguing.  She is faced with this crazy situation, and she is threatened, and sometimes she’s jumping in headfirst attacking, and other times she cannot watch someone with ill intent be killed.  It was…odd.  It both worked and didn’t work for me.  I think if she hadn’t been so attacking at times, I would have understood it more.  And I did understand it to an extent, just…something.

I did love how we got to see a strong disabled character, who had to deal with those limitations, but it was just a small part of her story, it wasn’t her whole story.  Basically it was a perfect diversity story.

Rhen was hard to love at first.  I felt for his despair and pain, but I also boggled at his inability to see the truth of the entire situation.  That he hadn’t even considered the logistics of finding someone to love, it was all just a means to an end.  He was an interesting character in that way, because it was hard to like all of him at the beginning.  But I think that made his growth and transformation that much more satisfying.  It made me connect with him when he started to fall for Harper.  It was so hard to see him develop hope only for Lilith to come in and destroy it.  Sometimes I wanted him to defeat that better, to give people a bit more credit, to grow just that teensy bit more.

And then there’s Grey.  I loved him as a character, and I loved how he provided a counterbalance to Rhen.  He was fiercely loyal, and incredibly frightening in his abilities.  I definitely want to know more about him.  I loved the almost friendship he had with Rhen, and I loved the friendship that he formed with Harper, and how he supported her.

The romance had amazing parts, and had lacking parts.  I loved the way they slowly got to know one another, and trust one another, and I appreciated that so much.  And I definitely felt some chemistry between them.  But at the same time, I was never quite certain if it was supposed to be a love triangle, or if I was misreading things.  I wish it had been slightly more clear one way or the other.  The ambiguity didn’t work for me.  I, personally, am not a love triangle fan, but I could have tolerated it if I’d known if it was present.  I know that sounds weird, but the middle ground was just unsatisfying.  Even at the end there were these moments where Harper, Rhen and Grey each individually had these thoughts and memories, and I’m not entirely sure what point that was supposed to be driving home.  Maybe I’m just too dense.  I like things clear, at least by the end.

And even setting aside the weird love triangle that was or wasn’t, the ending with Harper and Rhen wasn’t entirely satisfying for me.  I’m not sure if we’ll get more in the next book, but I don’t think so.  So I was a bit bummed.  I wanted that literary romance ending where I’m gushing, you know?

The secondary characters were fantastic.  I loved the relationships that Harper developed with Freya and Zo — they made me so happy.  I’m conflicted about her brother, Jake, and Noah.  I didn’t really like how that turned out…but not sure if that will get more resolution in future books.

So yeah…I had a lot of semi-critical things to say, but even despite all that, I was just so wrapped up and enjoying myself that I still can’t help but rate this high.  Don’t try to figure me out, I can’t even figure me out.