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| A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer |
Fall in love, break the curse.
Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she's pulled into a magical world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
I have to admit that I have taken a break from Young Adult books because I was so tired of the insta-forever-love, incredibly beautiful teenagers, bad language, sexual situations, and on and on. However, I did enjoy this book- whether I had taken enough time off, or it just didn't have as many of the tropes that I hate, I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a Beauty and the Beast retelling.
This book begins in modern day Washington D.C. with our heroine (who has cerebral palsy but it just affects one leg) standing guard for her brother who is an "enforcer". Things happen and she is whisked away to another world with a prince, a castle, a beast and an evil sorceress. I found the characters very interesting and I liked them (well, except for the evil sorceress, of course). The world building and story telling are gripping. It hooks you from the very beginning and doesn't let you go until you finish and start waiting for the next one in the series. I will admit that I didn't realize this was going to be a series when I started. There was quite a bit of closure at the end, but you can see where a new one will be heading. This book may have one of the most perfect titles ever - it is a very dark and lonely curse our poor prince is suffering through. But this is no Disney prince, he has a lot of faults and growth to achieve. If I can tear students away from graphic novels for 2 seconds, I think they would really like this one.
Areas of concern:
*They somewhat frequently use a phrase that is their cuss word "silver hell", but other than that I think there was one use of the "d" word and nothing else.
*Quite violent. The beast kills many, many people, there is a war with battle scenes, a sadistic sorceress who loves to inflict pain, and also talk of a brother doing violent things to people as an enforcer.
*Sexual content is very low - a couple sleeps together but nothing happens and there is a gay couple.
Suggested Ages:
Booklist - Grades 7-10
Kirkus Reviews - Ages 12+
School Library Journal - Grades 9+
