Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

7 reviews

prashiie's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“I am always surprised to discover that when the world seems darkest, there exists the greatest opportunity for light.”

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but in this story the prince is cursed to find his love before the end of the season and turns into a beast. If he doesn’t, the season starts again. An endless loop. The female main character is a girl from D.C. who tries to save a woman from getting kidnapped and gets kidnapped herself in the process. She’s described to have cerebral palsy and at first I didn’t know what to expect. I don’t know much about cerebral palsy but I was surprised to find out more about it. I didn’t realise that people with this condition still can do a lot. 

I have a lot of thoughts on Harper, but it was funny when she explains to the people of Emberfall that she’s from D.C. and the kingdom of Disi is born, lol. Other than that, Harper was exhausting and annoying, mainly because of her short-sightedness and impulsiveness.

“I don't know what's happening to my mother or my brother, but the unknown can't compete with what she's doing right in front of me.”

AND she doesn’t trust Rhen’s judgement on his OWN kingdom. Harper who had been there for one day already knows Emberfall and its people better than Rhen. And when he says that, he’s patronising her. Great. And the moment she slaps Rhen… not cool.

“She has been here one day and I am already exhausted.”

Same…. But I guess her impulsiveness, even though it was annoying, was what Emberfall needed.

My favourite character was definitely Rhen, surprise surprise! The curse has made him hopeless, but it also did a lot for his personal development. He became a better version of himself–merciful, understanding, and patient. He’s great!

But I do wonder how this curse gets broken. Is it because Grey kills the enchantress or because Harper does love Rhen but doesn’t know it herself? Or is it because Grey is freed from his oath and is still willing to sacrifice for Rhen? 

“True love is not about romance. True love requires sacrifice. A willingness to place another's life above your own.”

AND GREY IS THE ACTUAL HEIR TO THE THRONE?! I hope this doesn’t turn into a tiresome love triangle, but it probably will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Kidnapping, Death, Violence, Murder, Suicide, Grief, Cancer, Self harm, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, War, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism

Moderate: Death of parent

kcmg710's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

qrschulte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Enjoyable book, but I didn’t love it as a whole. And I CALLED IT!

Things I loved: 
- a protagonist with a disability who is affected by their disability but not defined by it. So refreshing that she was a fully realized person
- the Rhen narrator. Honestly, the book might have been better with just him narrating the whole thing. 
- believable reasoning for why someone from our world could ride a fucking horse

Things I did not love: 
- How whiny the Harper narrator made her sound sometimes. It made it a lot less believable it was the same character between the narrators. 
- The monster narration (so fucking creepy/scary). Could have done without that. 
- The parts where it was said Harper was “not like other girls” *cue vomiting*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, War, Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Cancer, Suicide, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Self harm, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Stalking

Minor: Gun violence, Child death, and Infidelity

autumnaldragon's review

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Violence, War, and Self harm

annorabrady's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Self harm, Outing, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Cancer, Vomit, War, Violence, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism

thatbookbitch's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Cancer, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War

Minor: Self harm, Blood, Alcohol, and Vomit

durrareadsstuff's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

WOW it's been so long since I've felt this way about a book and for that I say thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't stop thinking about this book. It exceeded all my expectations and the hype I saw on instagram. To be honest, I was quite skeptical about this book cause I'm not too big a fan of beauty and the beast, so I had pretty low expectations going into this, but I loved it so much!!

First of all, I LOVE Brigid Kemmerer's writing style. It's utterly mind-blowing. I mean, just look at this:

Hope blooms in my chest anyway, a tiny bud giving way to the first light of spring, petals daring to open to reveal the colour inside. 

HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THAT?? And the way she so effortlessly alternates between the "modern" and "old" povs like Harper vs. Rhen was just amazing. The way you can tell who's speaking even if she didn't put the name in there. I think that's really well done. 

In terms of the characters, I loved them all. I like how Brigid didn't make having cerebral palsy as Harper's dominating personality trait. I love how Harper acknowledges it and isn't ashamed of it and doesn't let it get in her away and she's just so strong and smart. And another thing I find sort of refreshing is that Harper isn't a "natural" badass you know? Like she's not like Inej or Aelin or Zoya who, when we read their stories, they're already "men-killers" and super skilled assassins, but in this case, Harper is still in her learning phase and she's so resilient and I just love that.

They believe her limp is the result of a war injury, but Harper is quick to correct them. 
"I was born this way," she'll snap, "and I'm going to die this way, so teach me to work around it."

I also loved Rhen's character. I like how he seems like a self-indulgent arrogant prince in the beginning and we get to see him shed his layers. I love how he cares so much about his people and tries time and again to sacrifice himself to save them. His story is so, so sad and he's had to go through all that grief and pain and confusion all alone. Grey was such a good friend/loyal commander. I think he's my favourite character. 

Also something worth noting - how both Rhen and Harper were scared to fall in love with each other cause neither of them could tell if it was for real. I MEAN--bye I'll be staring at the ceiling for the next few hours.

Some of the themes covered in this book are 
- cerebral palsy
- abandonment (Harper's father) 
- guilt
- grief 

Some of the political intrigue was lost on me, but that's just a me-thing. I think this book was so close to perfection but for some reason I just can't give it a 5 star. But yeah, awesome read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Self harm, and War

Minor: Sexual content