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samrp01 's review for:
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
by Brigid Kemmerer
So good. Harper is my fave. Full review to come.
1/25/19- Full Review
A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, Published January 29th, 2019 by Bloomsbury YA. Recommended Reading Age is 12+
TRIGGER WARNING: There are repeated mentions of suicide in where Rhen described the different ways he tried to kill himself in earlier seasons.
My Ramblings:
First of all, I need to thank Yara over at Traveling Through The Pages and Quail Ridge. I received an arc from the Quail Ridge TAB, and It was just sitting on my desk, waiting to be read, when Yara started raving about it on Twitter. I decided there was no time like the present to start reading it, and 2 months later I have a whole week dedicated to the author of a book I picked up because of the cover. (Also, Thank you so much Yara for getting my ARC signed! It means a ton to me!! Because she has it, I can't double check this review for inconsistencies or continuity errors, like the spelling of Grey's name, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes! If you spot one, please let me know and I'll fix it as soon as I can!)
I went into this knowing there was a character named Scary Grey, but that was about all I knew. I loved it immediately though. A lot of my love of this book has to do with my love for Harper. She is a kick-ass, brave, selfless and compassionate person. She is who I aspire to be when I grow up. Throughout the book, I really felt for her and her need to get back to her mother and brother, but honestly, I didn't like her brother very much. He was kind of a jerk. His boyfriend too. She isn't that much younger than them, they saw how people respected the Crown Princess of Disi, yet they still treated her like she didn't know anything. By the way, the Princess of Disi thing is one of my favorite parts of the book. I love who she becomes when she pretends it's a real place, and the only thing I wanted more of was her telling Rhen what DC is actually like. I think it would blow his mind a little bit, and that would be pretty funny. I think the only thing that would be better is if he actually went to DC with Harper. I can see it now- Grey takes Rhen and Harper to DC, and they stop by her mother's grave to say goodbye officially. (Someone write this please.)
When we first got to learn about Rhen, I thought he was kind of a jerk for just assuming he could woo whatever girl Grey brought him and then go hide in the woods until the season was over. I don't get why, if he had over 300 season of this, he didn't run his kingdom? He still had people on the outside? I know he was irresponsible the first few seasons and in his normal life before that, but you'd think after that much time he would think to check on the rest of the people.
I really liked how true to the story of Beauty And The Beast this was. I can think of a few books loosely based on that fairy tale, and this is the only one I can recall right now that involves the evil sorceress that turns him into the beast to begin with. I really enjoyed reading that part and I hope more authors incorporate it into their retellings because it gives you so many options for a plot line!
One of my favorite parts was when Harper and Grey confronted the beast terrorizing the kingdom and she "tamed" it. I so called it, but I loved it anyways. That, and when Grey was teaching her how to throw knives. It's the simple moments that I like the most in fast paced, tragic stories.
I kind of got the impression that Grey was attracted to Harper, and that opens up the possibility of a love triangle, but I think their relationship would work better as a Shatter Me type Kenji-Juliette relationship. I am very interested in learning more about him, his family, and his former farming life in the next book, A Heart So Fierce And Broken. AND HIS HERITAGE. OMG. I LITERALLY JUST REMEMBERED THAT. AHHH!
One last small part I enjoyed was the card game that Grey and Harper like to play. I know Brigid was talking about it either on her Instagram stories or Twitter, and she said it is actually playable as it only need suits! I think I'm gonna try to learn it. I'll make my sisters practice it with me *insert me shrugging here*
My Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
1/25/19- Full Review
A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, Published January 29th, 2019 by Bloomsbury YA. Recommended Reading Age is 12+
TRIGGER WARNING: There are repeated mentions of suicide in where Rhen described the different ways he tried to kill himself in earlier seasons.
My Ramblings:
First of all, I need to thank Yara over at Traveling Through The Pages and Quail Ridge. I received an arc from the Quail Ridge TAB, and It was just sitting on my desk, waiting to be read, when Yara started raving about it on Twitter. I decided there was no time like the present to start reading it, and 2 months later I have a whole week dedicated to the author of a book I picked up because of the cover. (Also, Thank you so much Yara for getting my ARC signed! It means a ton to me!! Because she has it, I can't double check this review for inconsistencies or continuity errors, like the spelling of Grey's name, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes! If you spot one, please let me know and I'll fix it as soon as I can!)
I went into this knowing there was a character named Scary Grey, but that was about all I knew. I loved it immediately though. A lot of my love of this book has to do with my love for Harper. She is a kick-ass, brave, selfless and compassionate person. She is who I aspire to be when I grow up. Throughout the book, I really felt for her and her need to get back to her mother and brother, but honestly, I didn't like her brother very much. He was kind of a jerk. His boyfriend too. She isn't that much younger than them, they saw how people respected the Crown Princess of Disi, yet they still treated her like she didn't know anything. By the way, the Princess of Disi thing is one of my favorite parts of the book. I love who she becomes when she pretends it's a real place, and the only thing I wanted more of was her telling Rhen what DC is actually like. I think it would blow his mind a little bit, and that would be pretty funny. I think the only thing that would be better is if he actually went to DC with Harper. I can see it now- Grey takes Rhen and Harper to DC, and they stop by her mother's grave to say goodbye officially. (Someone write this please.)
When we first got to learn about Rhen, I thought he was kind of a jerk for just assuming he could woo whatever girl Grey brought him and then go hide in the woods until the season was over. I don't get why, if he had over 300 season of this, he didn't run his kingdom? He still had people on the outside? I know he was irresponsible the first few seasons and in his normal life before that, but you'd think after that much time he would think to check on the rest of the people.
I really liked how true to the story of Beauty And The Beast this was. I can think of a few books loosely based on that fairy tale, and this is the only one I can recall right now that involves the evil sorceress that turns him into the beast to begin with. I really enjoyed reading that part and I hope more authors incorporate it into their retellings because it gives you so many options for a plot line!
One of my favorite parts was when Harper and Grey confronted the beast terrorizing the kingdom and she "tamed" it. I so called it, but I loved it anyways. That, and when Grey was teaching her how to throw knives. It's the simple moments that I like the most in fast paced, tragic stories.
I kind of got the impression that Grey was attracted to Harper, and that opens up the possibility of a love triangle, but I think their relationship would work better as a Shatter Me type Kenji-Juliette relationship. I am very interested in learning more about him, his family, and his former farming life in the next book, A Heart So Fierce And Broken. AND HIS HERITAGE. OMG. I LITERALLY JUST REMEMBERED THAT. AHHH!
One last small part I enjoyed was the card game that Grey and Harper like to play. I know Brigid was talking about it either on her Instagram stories or Twitter, and she said it is actually playable as it only need suits! I think I'm gonna try to learn it. I'll make my sisters practice it with me *insert me shrugging here*
My Overall Rating: 4/5 stars