Digital Review – A Curse so Lonely & Dark

A Curse So Dark And Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer

This was a NetGalley book that I was approved for. As with previous books, I was given a digital review copy of this in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book feels like it’s been all over Bookstagram recently, which is understandable given the gorgeous cover:

However when it also then popped up on one of the BookTuber’s videos that I follow I decided that I really needed to read this. It was described as a modern day re-telling of Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Doesn’t that just sound intriguing?!

When I logged into NetGalley and saw it on there I *HAD* to apply for it and thank god I actually got approved for it 😀

A Curse So Dark and Lonely is a modern day re-telling of Beauty and The Beast. Its set in two worlds – DC in our own world and a fantasy otherworld called Emberfall. We follow Harper who is a young girl with Cerebral Palsy living in DC with her chronically ill mother and her brother who has had to work for a local enforcer/dealer/bad person in order to keep the family afloat after their father split on them.

Harper is transported to Emberfall after she stands up for a young girl when waiting for her brother. She’s thrown into a fantasy world where she has to find her feet. We are introduced to Prince Rhen, Grey and Lilith and we find out that there is a curse on the kingdom and on Rhen and Grey. I won’t say too much about the details of the curse because this is where the book brings in a slight twist and I don’t want to spoil it.

We follow the story through as Harper tries to find her way home, find her place in Emberfall and get to know Rhen and the discovers the curse.

The Positives:

• She feels like a normal girl with a bit of an attitude and sass but with a good heart. I liked her from the start and the growth she shows throughout the story is ace – she goes from this quiet nervous girl who has all these walls up to this bad ass woman who will take on anything you put in front of her.
• The representation and diversity. Having a lead character with cerebral palsy, there is also a male gay character and a male coloured character. None of it feels forced or for the sake of having diversity and it works well I think. Obviously, it’s worth noting here that I’m a non disabled white woman so my interpretation of this may differ slightly from yours.
• The twist to the fairytale. I’ve read a lot of re-tellings over the years but I have to say the way this one was done felt new and unique and it had me intrigued from the outset. Again, I don’t want to go into detail and spoil it for you – mainly because it was such a different way of telling the story, but it definitely had me going ‘wait, what?’
• Rhen and Grey – both the characters and the character relationship. I enjoyed both of these characters individually. They were well written and fleshed out. Grey’s story was an interesting one, especially around his feeling of being at fault and his loyalty to Rhen. Rhen was an intriguing character – I felt like we were lead to believe he was quite one dimensional and shallow on purpose (which is a very clever bit of writing) but we find out over time that Rhen is not all he seems. The interactions between the two characters as well drew me in. The loyalty shown to each other and the balance that they have in the relationship I really enjoyed reading.
• THE ENDING!!!! ‘nuff said.

 

The Negatives

• Some of the characters felt like they could have had more done with them. Lilith is our Sorceress equivalent and is the person who cursed the Kingdom and Rhen and our villain. She doesn’t feel particularly villainy other than she’s a bit evil and very abusive. Her back story is not what I was expecting. While I understand that its been written that way to reflect the back story of the sorceress in the fairytale but it just fell a bit flat for me.
• The pacing – while I really enjoyed this book I did feel like the scene setting and some of the events took too long. It then felt towards the end of the book that it was slightly rushed and the beautiful way of building a scene got a little bit lost in the last 3^rd of the book. Without giving a lot away, the final scenes with the monster and the scenes towards the end in DC both felt like they could have done with a few more pages to broaden them out.

 

Its hard to pick out any other actual negatives. I enjoyed the book and I’ll definitely read the sequel that the author has confirmed (this book is written as a standalone but there will be a sequel), it was just good and enjoyable. It didn’t blow me away, however the uniqueness of the re-telling will definitely mean I recommend it to people. Overall this was a 3.5 out of 5 for me.