A review by lilacs_book_bower
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of this.  Harper was very quick to accept her situation, and also really should have made the connection between Rhen and the monster much sooner.  I feel like we are supposed to think Rhen grew and changed, but it felt like he had already done most of that before the book even began. Other than the main three characters, I don't feel like we spent enough time with anyone else (including Harper's family) to care about them.  None of the minor characters had more than one or two traits.  The plot twist at the end, to set up the sequel, came out of nowhere. On the plus side, kind of, I appreciated that Harper has cerebral palsy, and am always glad to see representation for people, but as the author does not have CP, nor do I, I cannot speak to the accuracy of the representation (and I recognize people's lives and experiences with CP can vary widely!). I'm wondering if I should rate this lower actually, but I did like the relationship between Harper and Rhen wasn't rushed, and I liked Rhen and Grey's friendship as well.  
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