A Curse So Dark and Lonely

Fall in love, break the curse, save the kingdom. 

Hi everyone! Let's talk Beauty and the Beast. I am a sucker for a retelling. I've read so many B&B retellings, and I never get sick of them. But this book, A Curse So Dark and Lonely, utterly takes the cake. Well, I mean, it's up there with ACOTAR. But this book was amazing!

Let's start with the characters. Harper. What a fantastic human being! I'm not going to lie, I'm a terrible person. When I heard that she had cerebral palsy, I wasn't too thrilled. Let me explain. Authors sometimes have a habit of giving their character something that makes them different and then talking about it WAY TOO MUCH. For example, if Cassandra Clare had written this book, I wouldn't have been able to finish it. But Brigid Kemmerer did such a great job with this! She explained without going overboard. And it was so cool to see how Harper lives with this. It's not something that's mentioned every two seconds, but it was worked in subtly. Like when she was climbing out of the window and she was like "ugh this stupid foot" but that was kind of it. And when she throws the "There's nothing wrong with me!" at Rhen, I was like YAASS QUEEN. Harper was such a strong character. She didn't fall for Rhen instantly, she didn't let Lilith get to her, she didn't take no crap from anybody, and she wants to learn how to fight and use weapons. I really really love her. 

Rhen. I wasn't such a fan at first, not going to lie. But then I remembered that he is our "beast" and he has some stuff to deal with. He's killed so many people, and he's facing the end where if he doesn't break the curse, he's going to be a crazy beast forever. I'd be salty too. But he was sweet underneath. He essentially gave up on the hope that Harper would fall in love, and he didn't push it. He turned his focus to his kingdom, and that was very noble of him. The other thing I thought was amusing was when Harper finds the room with all the blood, and he's so nonchalant about it! He's just like "yeah that's me but no biggie." I know he's had so many years to become a little immune to that, but it made me laugh. I'm glad that he was human for a while. I know it's about loving the person underneath and not for how they look and all that, but still, falling in love with a legit animal that just so happens to talk is a little gross. Not that it stops me from loving the movie, or a book like Hunted by Megan Spooner or anything like that. 

Grey. Ugh. I love this big softy. He's loyal, he's protective, and he's a total badass with a sword. I don't have too much to say about Grey, other than that he was a wonderful addition to the story. It was sort of obvious that he liked Harper, but I really appreciated that he didn't try to step between her and Rhen. He knew the goal, and he was respectful about it. I think my favorite thing was that both Rhen and Grey didn't fault Harper for not falling in love with Rhen. They didn't try to make her feel bad or anything like that, which was very gentlemanly of both of them. 

I only have one complaint about this book. I wish Rhen and Grey had just called Harper by her name more often instead of all the 'my lady' stuff. It seemed excessive. I understand the manners and all that, but damn. Oh, also, the whole time difference between the castle and the rest of the land was a little confusing to me. I know time moved differently and they restarted the same season over and over, but then they were able to leave and go into town and then the days were synched up..? I don't know. 

The romance in this book was a slow burn. Normally I hate that. This time, it was okay. There was a lot going on! I liked that the focus wasn't entirely on the romance. There was a larger plot going on that was enough to keep me happy with the little bit of romance that we did get. There seemed to be a very subtle love triangle starting, but the author said that there definitely will not be one. So I hope that means that Grey gets his own love story too! Oh, that reminds me, I like that the true reason the curse broke was unclear. Was it because of Harper's love for Rhen? Or Grey's love for... well really it could be his love for Rhen OR Harper. Maybe we'll get answers in the next book. Maybe not. Either way, I really enjoyed the ending. 

This was definitely a five-star read. Brigid Kemmerer said that this book could be a standalone, but there is a sequel coming out. My question is, why wouldn't you want to read more about these amazing characters? 

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