A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

 

I feel like this poor book might be suffering from a case of overhype. I wanted to love it and heard good things, but ultimately it just felt… sort of okay I guess?

The story follows a girl from modern day DC, Harper, who is transported into an alternate fantasy universe where she meets the mysterious Prince Rhen and his guard, Grey. Rhen and Grey have been fighting a curse (so dark and lonely 😎) placed upon the castle that does funky things to time. 

 It's a Beauty and The Beast retelling, which is fine, but there's not really anything particularly original about it.

 This book is mostly known for having a protagonist with cerebral palsy, which is what drew me to it personally. I don't know that much about cerebral palsy, so I can't speak to how well that was done. This book does, however, avoid falling into a lot of the traps that come with portraying disability in general and is also own voices. So, if you're just looking to read something with good disability representation and aren't don't need something that's going to blow your mind, this book will probably suit just fine.

 The writing was technically competent, with the story hitting all the right beats at all the right times, and the characters trotting nicely through their arcs. It worked as a story, and there were no glaring flaws on that front. It was, however, lacking something, and it's a little difficult to pinpoint what.

 This book is very 'YA', it's also very much rooted in its source material. Unfortunately it takes the worst parts of both those things and mashes them together. Love triangles and brooding love interests are fine, but you need a female mc with a lot of gusto to pull it off. Unfortunately, much of Harper's arc seemed to revolve around helping Rhen deal with his bs as opposed to tackling her own problems and learning and growing as an individual. A good romance involves the characters making each other better people, not one dragging the other through their character development kicking and screaming.

The other main failing was with the book's antagonist, Lilith. Lilith is, to put it bluntly, the kind of one dimensional evil villain that really isn't as much fun as she should be. She's sort of like a discount Mother Gothel, except there isn't the same undercurrent of emotional truth that makes that relationship work. It feels more like someone writing about what they think abuse looks like without delving into the deeper systems and psychology at play. Lilith is just a villain because the book needed a villain. 

This book is plenty of fun, but there isn't really very much going on here beyond that. If you like light-hearted  romps you'll probably love it. If you're looking for something that makes you really think deeply and engage with it's characters and themes, you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

Representation: 

Main character with cerebral palsy, background M/M relationship

Content Warnings:  Sexual violence, implied and on page. Graphic depictions of torture and abuse with a sexual undertone. Gore and graphic violence. Kidnap romance/power imbalance.