A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Goodreads

Publication Date: January 29th, 2019

Pages: 496

Genre: YA Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling

I read this for Fantasyathon, right after reading The Wicked King by Holly Black, so this may have affected my enjoyment of the book.

Pros:

World building was well done, I could picture the world.

Harper having cerebral palsy was an interesting part of the book. I liked the representation and Harper was still a strong character.

Grey. Everything about him was good. He was my favourite character.

Cons:

Prince Rhen, he was just so one-note.

I wish they'd explored more issues that Harper had with her cerebral palsy.

Lack of chemistry between Rhen and Harper, it felt so forced. Her and Grey had way better chemistry.

The pacing and story itself was very middle of the road. The writing felt young too.

I personally don't like Beauty and the Beast much, so maybe that was another issue affecting my enjoyment. But the book was just okay to me. I personally don't get the raving about it, minus the diversity of the main character.

2.5/5.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes YA novels and fairy tale retellings (especially Beauty and the Beast). I'd recommend it to a younger audience as well.It felt like a young YA to me.

Cheers,

Jen