If you like lost love, dark and bloody, with a touch of magic and set in a circus then this book is for you.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

I don’t remember much about the plot when I started this book, all I’m sure of was that a kiss could pass down a curse.

My interest all throughout the book was just 3 out of 5 but that kept me going. Enough to make me want to finish the book and enough curiosity that I want to know how it’ll end.

The story is just one plot, there are no side stories like if you draw a diagram you’ll end up with lots of branches. I guess that’s why I wasn’t crazy about this book because I wanted more from it. But then it’s only a standalone and so much could only be told.

“I go wherever you go. You are my constant.”

Surprising enough I was satisfied with this read. It’s not the usual genre I would go for but it is different and the characters and elements are unusual. I mostly love the parts about the relationships between characters and couples because I’m a hardcore romance fan and I must say some relationships here are heartbreaking and I don’t know why I enjoy heartbreaks so much. It creeps me out that I do.

I loved this. It was weird and strange and so very sad. If you like curses and carnivals, you'll enjoy this. #ByAcharmAndAcurse #NetGalley

I ended up really enjoying By a Charm and a Curse, but I must admit it took me a bit. My issue was Emma's reaction. What happened to her was a huge deal, but there was very little anger or blame, no bargaining or denial, just acceptance. And I just couldn't believe it. Maybe after awhile, but not immediately. So that was a big stumbling block for me, but as the book progressed I was drawn into the story. For me the second half was great. I'm definitely glad I read it.

Emmaline King calls Claremore, Oklahoma a circle of hell but for reasons most people don't know about. Her mother abandoned her and her brothers for a year with her father in order to pursue an investigation in Guatemala. Le Grand's Carnival Fantastic visits the outskirts of Claremore and Emma is thrilled to explore the carnival.

Before Emma gets to know Benjamin Singer, she is tricked and is cursed at the carnival. In order for the carnival performers to be charmed with their unnaturally lucky existence, one person is the center of the charm and is ultimately the curse that holds everyone together. The curse lives in the person and that person becomes the Boy in the Box or the Girl in the Box. The charm protects the carnival until recently. Something has changed and the charm is wearing off. People are falling and accidents are occurring. But why?

Jaime Questell writes characters that are vibrant and full of life. Each are unique in their special way. Although many are sad about Emma's circumstances, the carnival performers and employees do whatever it takes to make Emma feel at home. I love reading about the traveling carnival. Readers don't just experience the magic of the acts but they also experience the grittiness of the lives of the carnival employees.

The novel alternates chapters in the POVs of Emma and Ben. Due to the length of the book, I feel like the character development wasn't fully fleshed out. I have to say that I enjoyed reading about Sidney. Readers get to know more about Sidney's history and his life in a small period of time compared to Emma and some of the other characters. I found it fascinating to learn more about the origins of the the charm and curse. However, I found the ending to be fairly rushed. It was predictable and I wanted read more about everyone's outcomes.

Readers who want to be entranced by the magic of a carnival will enjoy reading By a Charm and a Curse. A bit of romance and bit of intrigue will make this novel a quick, pleasant read.

"The carnival is a sad and desolate place on a weekday morning. No matter how brightly painted the stalls and booths are, no matter how loud the music...it's still an empty carnival. It's veins without blood. It's lungs with no air."

Ever since I finished The Night Circus a few years ago I have been hunting for more books with that same magical carnival atmosphere. I'll admit that it's been mostly duds with a few good ones here and there. So when I picked up By a Charm and a Curse I kept my expecations pretty low.

If you want something that's bursting with magic, this might not be the book for you. But if you want something with an intriguing storyline and just a *hint* of magical woven throughout, I think you'll find that this is a real winner. Depite being set in an enchated carnival, so to speak, there isn't much description of the actual magic happening within the carnival. We get glimpses of the amazing feats the performers are able to do, but they're more of a sideshow than the main event. Instead, the story focuses on Emmaline King, a girl tricked into bearing the burden of the carnival's "curse" - an ancient spell that basically holds one person in perpetual stasis so that the other members of the carnival can take risks without ever being harmed. It's a sweet deal for everyone except the person whose life is ground to a halt under the weight of the curse. But obviously no one really cares about that person's sacrifice. It's just the way things are. That is, until Sidney, the boy who previously held the curse for a whopping 50 years, finally decides to transfer it onto the first gullible tourist he meets - Emmalilne. That's when things start to get interesting.

I really liked learning about the history of the curse, and I think the whole cast of characters in the carnival were charming. I would have liked more of the whole supporting cast, really. And while I would also have loved more feats of magic to feed my magical-carnival-cravings, I think the way Questell sets the story up works for this particular book. The carnival is a fun and slightly msytic backdrop for the romance blossoming between Emma and Ben.

Was there some insta-love? Sure. Would I have liked a slower build-up to Ben and Emma's relationship? Yes. Did I still enjoy watching their story unfold? Definitely.

I saw pretty much all of the major twists coming, but that didn't stop me from immensely enjoying the ride. There's a lot of fun adventure woven into this one and just enough magic to tie everything together!

4 stars

3.5 stars for By A Charm and a Curse.

I had so many problems with this book when I first started. The cruel entrapment of Emma. How complicit everyone, including Ben, was. I knew going into the book that Emma was going to be cursed because the synopsis gives a lot away. And yet, I still had to put the book down because my feelings of anger and spite at her treatment and subsequent reaction were overwhelming. How could Emma get over it so quickly? Were was the anger? We went through the 7 stages of grief in 10 pages? How could this turn into a romance without a psychologist labeling it Stockholm syndrome?

It took another 30-50 pages for me to see that the kidnappers were also cursed. That SOME felt remorse at Emma's treatment and tried to show her kindness. It was a reminder that good people can do villainous things and villains can do good.
The rest of the book focuses on the breaking of the curse. And in end, love prevails and Emma's life and future are not sacrificed.

If you're looking for a sweet romance with a sprinkle of magic and action, this is the book for you.

This book was a lot different then i expected. I was expecting a little bit more magic and more of the carnival scene. I feel like a lot of the book took place travelling from place to place. The characters were just okay for me, I didnt really care what happened to them. The beginning was exciting however the rest of the book just fell flat.

At first I wasn't sure this was going to be one that I was going to really get in to. That quickly changed when this were further explained. I would like have liked a little more back story on some. Loved the pacing of the love interests, gradual and well written. It was a cute, fun read :)

I'm always a sucker for books with circuses in them...especially magical circuses. BY a CHARM and a CURSE was very different from what I was expecting, but in a very good way. 

Instead of the focus being on the circus, the focus was completely on the characters, particularly Emmaline who is trapped by a kiss at the beginning of the book. 

Think about this...

You show up at a circus, meet a cute boy that works there, have your first kiss...and then you are pushed from the top of the ferris wheel. You wake up to find yourself cursed, your skin is cold and hard, and you have been told you will never be able to leave. 

Now, I think Emmaline handled this situation a little too well. She is super understanding and never attempts to escape. She is told it would be a bad idea, so even when her best friend shows up the next day looking for her, Emmaline pretends she doesn't know her.

(We also don't know much about Emmaline's background or her relationship with her family and friends. I wished we had had more info before being thrown into the situation.)

Despite all this, I quickly came to love the characters in this book and was sucked into Emmaline's cursed world. The only way she can escape is by tricking someone else into taking her place as the cursed one, and there is plenty of temptation along the way.

This was definitely a page-turner for me, and I highly recommend BY a CHARM and a CURSE. I am giving it a 4 out of 5 Stars.

“Things that are linked cannot be unbound. Things set in motion cannot be stopped…”

I have some mixed feeling about this - I loved the humor that the story started out with, and the carnival setting, but the humor almost immediately disappeared and the characters fell flat. By a Charm and a Curse follows Emma King as she’s captipulted into Le Grand’s Carnival Fantastic, trapped as the holder of a charm that helps the Carnival thrive. But the Carnival’s charm is Emma’s curse and she’s desperate to break it.

Things I Liked
I liked the carnival setting and the charm/curse that affect it. I feel like the setting was just so perfect for the vibe the story was going for. And I loved all the information we got about the charm and curse, and what it means for the carnival’s people.

Things I Didn’t Like
I felt like a lot of the story was just weak overall. I didn’t love how the curse transfer happened in the beginning of the story, I didn’t connect to any of the characters, everything was happening so quickly I didn’t have time to setting into the story, and I thought the resolution was underwhelming. The story didn’t necessarily feel rushed, but nothing really had an impact either.

By a Charm and a Curse felt like a complete story - there was a clear beginning, middle, and end, but it all felt pretty superficial. I just really wanted more from the story, and to connect with the characters.

I received a copy of the book from EntagledTeen via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Emma goes to the carnival with her friend Juliet she has no idea that she won't be leaving anytime soon. While waiting in line she locks eyes with a boy across the way who is helping a girl with a horse, but when a tumbler distracts her and she has a chance to look again, he's gone. Inside the carnival she tries to fit back in with her friend Juliet after years away from town. But when Juliet wants to reintroduce her to old friends Emma hangs back, deciding to get a fortune from The Boy In The Box Instead.

But the boy in the box is no ordinary teenager and a bottle of wine and a kiss atop the Ferris wheel changes Emma's life forever. Suddenly she's the new Girl in the Box, the magic keeping the carnival running smoothly. Because of the person in the box, the rest of the carnies don't age, get sick, or get seriously injured as long as the person in the box is nearby. And the only way to pass on the curse is to kiss someone else.

This is the last thing Emma wanted from her first kiss, to be trapped in a transformed body where she can't feel anything with the only way out to inflict the same fate on an unsuspecting boy. Especially once she begins having feelings for, Ben, one of the boys with the carnival, a boy with desires of his own to leave the carnival life behind for good.

Is there another way to break the curse? Or will Emma be trapped as The Girl In The Box for the rest of her life?

I requested this book because I loved the cover and the blurb appealed to me. I was hoping for a book along the lines of Caraval or Freeks, which I didn't find but even so, By A Charm and A Curse was still an enjoyable, quick read.

This story reminded me a little of Pinocchio, which admittedly wasn't my favorite Disney movie, but I suppose it was a unique idea all the same. I liked the friendships Emma eventually found with Gin and the others and I liked Emma's romance with Ben, although it seemed a little rushed. Wouldn't you be a little cautious of anyone from the carnival, especially a guy, after the whole experience with her first kiss with the boy in the box? And the ending seemed rushed as well.

Overall, I liked this book but it didn't stand out for me. I liked the carnival theme but the book doesn't seem like something that if you asked me a few months from now I'd easily be able to recall the details. It's a like, not a love.

3.75 of 5 Stars

I received this copy of the book from Netgalley and Entangled Publishing.. Thank You..

Where do I even start? A Carnival is always a fun place to go the smells of food on the air and the sound of people having fun.. But what would you do if at the carnival and in that one single night in a moment your life is changed forever? Could you handle it? What would you do?
Curious? Read the book.. :)
I REALLY enjoyed the book.. I enjoyed the plot, Characters and the way I was always ready to find a spare minute to pick it up and hated when I had to put it down.. Recommend? YES !!
~Happy Reading~

The cover is what initially drew me to By a Charm and a Curse by Jaime Questell but once I read the summary I knew I had to read it. It revolves around a traveling circus called Le Grand’s Carnival Fantastic, and the circus is bound by a charm which is held together by a curse. The story is told from two points of view – Emmaline and Benjamin.

When Emmaline King goes to the circus with her friend, she is drawn to a mysterious boy in a booth that proclaims to tell your future. When he talks her into taking his break with him, the start to chat about her life and this is what seals her fate. As Emmaline elaborates on how she just moved back to town and is having a hard time fitting back in, they decide to get on the ferris wheel with a bottle of wine and things take a turn for Emmaline.

I mentioned the charm and the curse…well the charm protects the members of the circus. There are two aspects to it – first, it stops the circus workers from growing older once they hit about 20 years of age. Secondly, when the charm is working, the workers don’t get hurt, no matter how dangerous their act is. Unfortunately, the curse balances this out as the person who occupies the fortune booth is not only trapped and forced to travel with the circus, but they essentially become a puppet in a box until they have the opportunity to pass the curse on to the next person. When Emma ends up with the curse, I couldn’t help feeling bad for her. She is forced into something she never asked for and now has to live with the consequences. She also must be strong enough to be willing to put someone else through the same thing she has gone through in order to get rid of it.

Ben is part of the circus and does odd jobs and work around the grounds. He and his mother have been with the circus since his father died and he is saving his money and fixing up his car, so he can get away. His mother is somewhat controlling, and he really just wants to put down roots and stop traveling so he can figure out who he is supposed to be, and he can’t do that with the circus or the charm. As he and his friend Marcel plan to revisit their timeline for leaving, Emma joins the circus and priorities change for him.

I loved how Questell built the friendship between Ben and Emma. While there were a lot of supportive people in the crew, Emma was still an outcast as everyone treated her as The Girl in the Box. Ben is the only one who eventually got over what she meant for the circus and treated her just like anyone else. Eventually they begin to have feelings for each other and they both become motivated to find a way to get rid of the curse. Clearly Emma’s heart isn’t in the fortune telling and as she continues to disconnect from the role, the charm starts to become weaker and everyone is noticing.

As the story moves forward, the other characters in the book help to move things forward, whether it is by helping Emma or by threatening her to do what is expected. There are some bad guys in this story and while I’m not really going to say anything about them, I do have to say I found them to be extremely annoying.

That’s about all I can say without giving anything away and really, you don’t want me to do that. Overall, I enjoyed this book and while there were times that I felt were rushed, I thought the story was original and it held my attention. If you’re looking for something that is different from the other YA Fantasy books out there, consider checking this book out. I will definitely be watching for more from Questell in the future.

Overall I think this book was okay. I enjoyed it well enough. I think if I hadn't had read so many carnival suspense, mystery books it would've been an even better read. This was a very popular theme this year in YA. I did enjoy the overall plot of the story and I liked the characters. I'm definitely going to give it another go when I'm not so burnt out on this particular theme! I can 100% see how this would be someone's favorite book!

I had no expectations going into this young adult novel. I thought the blurp sounded interesting and that was enough for me. I have to say it exceeded my expectations. The circus part reminded me of The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern), which is a book I loved, but the story is simpler, the characters less complicated. However, that does not mean it is any less charming.

I felt for Emma as she is lured into a kiss on a Ferris wheel with dire consequences. I liked the idea of the curse that also acts as a charm. The story pulled me in pretty quickly and I connected with Emma quite easily. There were a few times where I questioned Emma’s thoughts, considering what she was going though, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed both Emma and Benjamin’s POVs.

I would thoroughly recommend Jaime Questell’s novel to any YA reader. It is a little gem.

I received an ARC through NetGalley for review.

I'd have to give this one a 3.5-ish, mostly for the plot being solid.
Emmaline King, recently returned to the dreadfully boring city of Claremore Oklahoma.
What's a girl in a mind numbingly boring town to do, but go to the local carnival rolling through their little city. At first it's just an attempt to reconnect to her best friend from childhood, Juliet, but Emma soon finds out there's much more to the Le Grand's Carnival Fantastic that meets the eye. And she will soon find herself embroiled in the center of a curse that holds it all together.
And all it takes is one innocent kiss to tear her life apart. And she finds herself suspended between life and death as the new Girl in a Box.

Initially I was excited to read this one. But I struggled with the nuances of the writing. The plot is solid, the POV switches between two people. The chapters are numerous and very short. But I just couldn't seem to develop an emotional connection to either one of these characters. I felt no connection to this story. Emmaline herself comes off as a very flat, one dimensional character. For someone who has just been cursed, where's the outrage the anger? She just closes herself off mentally and physically. Benjamin is the good natured boy who just want to help her. Hinging on the idea that they're suddenly soul mates.
I just had a difficult time connecting to the storyline and it's characters. I really wanted to like it more.

After a night full of magic and amazement Emma gets trapped inside of circus she was visiting. She comes across many characters while trying to get out of the magical place, she crosses paths with Ben who then tries to help her get out.
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The characters in this book were all amazing, each very easy to like. Although the writing style isn’t very neat the book still manages to indulge the reader almost instantly, though i wish they told us more about Emma and Ben because I couldn’t really fathom their romance with such less background story.
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Nonetheless, if you loved Caraval and The Night Circus then this is the book for you 😍💕

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book.
I loved everything about this book-the writing style, the characters and of course the setting.
I thought it was an extremely well written, original and enchanting story.
It had its hooks on me from the 1st paragraph.
It is classified as a young adult/teen book but I think any adult would love this book.

It seems like the past year carnival books have been all the rage. I find them absolutely intriguing and think they are filled with so much magic. But for some reason this was the first carnival book I read in completion. I am beyond happy that I was given the chance to review this book because I needed it in my life! This book was the perfect combination of magic, mystery, characters filled with personality and childhood vibes!

At the beginning I thought this might be inspired from Pinocchio and was getting some major flashbacks to the movie BIG. By A Charm And A Curse was so much different then I expected and found the mystery behind the charm and the curse to be so interesting. Questell really painted a detailed picture of carnival life and the ties that bind so to speak of those individuals who make up the unique performers of the carnival. The characters were full of personality and their own little quirks. I found the whole love aspect a little too fairy tale for me with the whole curse, but enjoyed the story behind the charm and curse associated with Le Grand's Carnival Fantastic.

I enjoyed that this books was driven by the characters and their personal development and growth. Sometimes when there is the background of a carnival or something like it, I feel like it is sometimes easy for the author to focus on that event or element too heavily. Not that I do not enjoy world building or magic around things such as a carnival, but I absolutely hate when the characters are flat and stagnant. I have to admit at the beginning I was annoyed with Emma as a character, yeah a lot of horrible stuff happened but she was so whiney. I loved seeing her evolve throughout the story and was her biggest fan at the end of the book. I was a fan of Ben from the beginning and adored him all the way through. He was perfect and what every girl dreams of when in search of a love interest. It was nice to see that despite what happens to Emma he doesn't see her as different and fights like crazy for her. There were some other characters that I quite enjoyed, but really wish more time was spent on some of them. I wanted to know more and learn more about them and their background.

Overall, Le Grand's Carnival Fantastic is a carnival I would want to runaway to a be a part of! They were such a family, they cared and defended one another. It was unique and magical. There were some issue with the story, I would have loved more details about the carnival instead of such a heavy focus on the romance. Because of that the plot fell flat at time, but I still found it to be an enjoyable read and has made me want to pick up more carnival focused books!

DNF at 50%. Not my cup of tea. I didn't connect with any of the characters and couldn't care less about this curse. Maybe if I was 14, I would have liked the book, but now it seems too childish.