Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Ever Cursed

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu

12 reviews

lover97's review

2.0

2⭐️

Definitely check the content warnings before picking up this book. The plot involves sexual assault and things that may be upsetting for those who deal with disordered eating.

I definitely got emotional as we learned more about what exactly was happening in this kingdom, and I liked the idea in the ending. The basis of the plot was strong but sadly lacking in its execution.

The quest to break the curse winds up on the back burner and then becomes completely irrelevant. Well really the whole curse is irrelevant because it was meant to hurt the King, and he doesn't care in the slightest.

There were a few weird moments between the witch and a townsman that I think was meant to be a romance but was so vague I wasn't sure.

What I really wanted was some strong sister moments between our cursed princesses, and we didn't really get any. I did like the moments between our two POV characters, though.

All in all, it had a strong premise and the possibility of an amazing emotional story, but just missed the mark for me.

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cecerachel's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I picked up this book because of the cover and was intrigued after reading the back of it. I appreciated the information provided at the beginning of the book about how Ever works and the significance of the witches and their use of magic.

For me,

the creepiness truly began at Eden’s thirteenth birthday when Jane was harassed by the prince, and her father didn't even bother to help.

After that, everything went downhill, and it felt a bit exaggerated. I understand that the author wants to address these topics, but the descriptions felt very intense.

Apparently, every royal guy and girl, every prince and princess, wants to harass the main princesses.

The quantity of it felt out of place in the story, which is unfortunate because it's a very serious subject that should be discussed.

I really enjoyed the rest of the story. The right amount of history is shared at appropriate times, and the relationship between the two main characters was well-written.

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emi297102710's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It was good but confusing. Not really memorable. Would recommend if I think the person will like it. Glad theres trigger warnings at the beginning

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aspeights's review

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challenging emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

i wanted to like this book. i thought it had an interesting premise, magic system, and world building. I saw what the author was trying to accomplish but it felt clunky and overly preachy. the “character development” felt forced and entirely too quick and the resolution felt entirely too neat for the story they were trying to tell.

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mangoseaquest's review

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opheliacomplex_'s review

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emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This was an interesting, unique read and while I liked the writing style, I don't think this book was meant for me.

It's very character driven, which is never a bad thing, but the magical system was non defined enough for my liking. I was looking forward to complex conditions for the undoing of the curse only to be disappointed. The underlining message about gender politics, self-acceptance and identity moved me; I simply wish the main characters were given a voice beyond what they represented. I was far more curious about Alice's art and Nora's approach to life under the influence of the curse. It would have been cool if each sister's curse was somehow connected to the undoing.

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purplehulk713's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book was ingenious. Five princesses can each not do one essential thing and are kept alive (if their lack should typically kill them) by the magic of this curse until its caster turns eighteen. While a fascinating premise in and of itself, upon closer examination, each of these individual deficiencies is a perfect allegory for a specific mental disorder and the struggles that accompany it. Jane, the eldest and one of the two narrators, is Without eating or drinking, equitable to anorexia. Her sister Alice is Without sleep, comparable to insomnia. Their sister Nora is Without the ability to love, which could be considered similar to certain personality disorders. Their sister Grace is Without remembering, and her circular questioning patterns make her a dead ringer for a victim of dementia. And their littlest sister Eden is Without hope; her attitude of despair made me immediately think of depression. The book therefore is a great vehicle for understanding and empathizing with mental illness, but especially the circumstances that give rise to it. Reagan, a young witch, casts the curse on these princesses in an attempt to make their father, a toxic, egotistical king, suffer for his sins, but especially for his rape of her mother. This ultimately fails because the king (who is never given a name to denote the ubiquitous nature of this sort of figure) would rather let his daughters die than admit he was wrong and he appreciates that the witch made them weaker this way, because it makes him “stronger” by comparison. Actions and consequences are thus another big theme of this novel, but especially in regards to power, because magic in this reality can be sapped from women (and people across the gender spectrum, and some men, but there are very few male witches) if they feel threatened or frightened or despairing, etc. So men can drain women’s power literally from them with their abuse (and this book writes abuse and toxicity really well, expressing all of the complexities and multiple levels of feelings about the people who perpetrate these crimes). Magic is poetic and glorious in this novel, literal and figurative power manifesting the implicit barriers present in society (literal boxes around women, for example). Reagan’s Spell of Without, also, when taken metaphorically, can be thought of the princesses’ mental struggle once they reach adolescence (the curses all take hold of them on their Thirteenth Birthdays) and can finally realize the horrors of the castle in which they live and the father who supposedly loves them. I also loved how Haydu would pepper in support for the LGBTQ+ community like the implications that Alice is a trans woman and Grace is a lesbian. But the greatest thing about this book is that it is not simple, just as the issues it describes are not, just as its magic system isn’t, and that it is magic in and of itself in that its staggeringly poignant portrayals of injustice (silence, outright denials, claims of hysteria, half-truths, turning away, etc. etc.) compel you to rise up onto your feet and cast your own Spells (carefully) to unravel this evil. A clock from the oldest, tears from the saddest, a lock of hair from the most beautiful, and a crown from the richest cannot Undo the foulest curse upon the kingdom of Ever… but can a princess and a witch?

“What I know is that though some men are witches, it is only men who are not witches.”

“I look for something beneath the shame and beneath the hunger and beneath all the ways I've ever learned to be a princess and a someday queen. I don't know the word for what I find there.
Or I do know the word, but it can't possibly be true.
Magic.”

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