A Curse so Dark and Lonely 
(2019)
Written By: Brigid Kemmerer
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Pages: 489 pages (Kindle)
Series: The Cursebreaker Series (Book 1)
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Why I Chose It: I decided to explore some of the bestsellers in my own genre, and this one sat near the top of the list for a while. Also fairytale heroes with disabilities are kind of my jam, and I definitely wanted to check this one out.
The premise:
Fall in love, break the curse.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was 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 barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But 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.
Spoiler Free!
Discussion: First of all, I had a really hard time putting this book down, and I ended up finishing it in two sittings. So there’s that. I’m not sure what hooked me first, whether it was the great writing or the great characters, but both of those were what kept me reading past my bedtime.
A good plot can only get you so far. It’s the characters that have to really sell a book, and Kemmerer had some of the best characters I’ve read in a good long while. Harper, Rhen, and Grey (Rhen’s guard commander, who had almost as big of a role as the other two) were all deeply nuanced with hidden strengths and debilitating flaws. I really loved the way the three of them grew through anger and assumptions into understanding and a deep emotional bond that I’m looking forward to seeing again in the second book. Grey was probably my favorite, but I’ve always been a sucker for the strong silent types with big, loyal hearts. The Guard Commander might not show up in the original Beauty and the Beast mythos but Grey fit seamlessly Harper and Rhen’s relationship, playing the part of the steadfast protector plus moral compass, with a conflicted past.
For Harper, I was actually pretty impressed with how Kemmerer portrayed her disability. Harper has cerebral palsy, and, while it definitely factors into her abilities and how she views the world, it isn’t treated as something to be pitied or “overcome.” It’s just another piece of who she is, no more or less than any of the other pieces. The adaptations she has to make are mentioned, she explains her disability to those around her, but Kemmerer doesn’t run the idea into the ground. Harper doesn’t feel sorry for herself or let anyone else feel sorry for her. But the issue is still treated with realism and delicacy.
Something I didn’t really expect that I ended up loving was the twist away from the classical fairytale. I love seeing just what you can change and how far you can stray from the original and still be essentially the same story. What is it that makes a Beauty and the Beast story Beauty and the Beast and not, say, Cinderella? What elements have to be present? Well clearly, there needs to be a beast. But I liked the switch here. Rhen needed the love of a woman to keep him from turning into a beast. At the end of every season, if no one has fallen in love with him, he turns into a monster, and after rampaging and leaving behind a bloody trail, he and Grey are returned to the start of the season while the rest of the world moves on. A little backwards from what we’re used to, but the twist still complemented the classic narrative perfectly, giving it a unique tension. Very deftly handled.
On that note, one of the crucial elements of Beauty and the Beast, at least for me, is the romance. This is a story about love redeeming a broken human being. And while the romance between Rhen and Harper started off strong and grew well enough, it seemed to fizzle and lose its umph by the end. Kind of left a sour note at the end of an otherwise wonderful book.
In Conclusion: This was a little dark, a little surprising, but very good. I enjoyed it despite being a little disappointed with the romance aspect. And I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Grey (and hopefully Harper and Rhen) in the next book.
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