It seems Rhen’s previous bad behavior isn’t nearly as bad as his father’s was. RHEN DIDN’T REALLY DO ANYTHING THAT BAD IN THE PAST Girl being kidnapped by a strange man? Attack, Harper! Evil enchantress threatening your friend? Go, Harper! It just gets old. Woman and children being threatened by bandits? Enter Harper. Hostile political audience? Send in Harper. What bothered me most about Harper is that she can charge into any room and make everyone fall in love with her. Or maybe not? I don’t know much about cerebral palsy, so maybe with surgery (which Harper mentioned she had), she can mostly walk normally? I truly don’t know. Her disability is a nice touch, but while it is a huge part of her character, it seems it should slow her down way more than it actually does. I’ve been thinking about the ending for days, and if my prediction is correct, then that was a humdinger of a twist on the original! I’m curious to see where Kemmerer takes this in the next book, and I absolutely plan to read it. I liked this unique spin on a classic tale. The bones are there, but the story has some twists that are not in the original. Think you’re reading Beauty and the Beast? Well…this is kind of that story. It doesn’t really seem to slow her down much (is that realistic?), but I do like the inclusion of a perfectly-capable, quick-thinking, disabled protagonist as a love interest. Goal achieved! Despite a few slightly slow parts, I was engrossed in the book and read it in just a couple of days.

I read it compulsively! At 500 pages, this whopper of a book needed to grab my interest quickly and keep it. WHAT I LIKED ABOUT A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY

But the ending? Um…I’m not sure what to think about it to be honest. The next minute, she finds herself in a medieval kingdom, trapped inside a gorgeous castle and kept prisoner by a scary royal guard and an arrogant prince. One minute, Harper is on a Washington, DC street. Harper rushes at the man to stop the kidnapping, and she ends up kidnapped herself instead. Harper is serving as a lookout for her brother’s crimes when she sees a man attempting to kidnap a young woman.

A curse so dark and lonely book review