Beauty and the Beast is intrinsically a difficult story. At its core, no matter how it's dressed up, it's about a monster forcing a young girl to live with him. That's partly why I love the retellings; I love seeing the ways different authors come up with to get around that problem. This version is now my favourite. Brigid has dealt perfectly with all the worst parts of the original story and left a beautiful fantasy in its place.

I'm very much looking forward to reading the follow up; although this could stand alone, there are strands left untouched and I'd love to read more. Maybe even more than one, Brigid? :D

(There's one spot where a single paragraph of Harper's POV sits in the middle of Rhen's section, which did throw me a little.)


Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.

Thank you to Netgalley, Brigid Kemmerer and Bloomsbury for my arc of A Curse so Dark and Lonely.

I'll be honest, I had no idea that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling when I requested it. Had I known I probably wouldn't have requested it as I don't really like retellings. However, I'm glad I didn't notice because if I had, I'd have missed the chance to read one of the best books I've read this year.

Emberfall

Crown Prince Rhen was an insufferable jerk who thought the world owed him a favour, until a one night stand with an enchantress finds him cursed to turn into a beast every season until he finds a girl who can fall in love with him.

Washington DC

Harper is just an ordinary girl, except she has cerebral palsy and her Mum is dying of cancer, oh and her dad got them into debt and ran away so now she's trying to support her brother in doing whatever he can to clear their debt. That is until she tries to save a girl in the middle of the night and ends up whisked off to a fairytale world.

It turns out falling in love with a prince is just not that easy.

This was a real page turner, I read it all in one sitting and couldn't put it down. The two main male characters; Prince Rhen and his commander Grey reminded me so much of Dorian and Chaol from ToG. And I loved how fierce and independent Harper was, representing not just feminism but fierce determination in the face of her illness too.

The enchantress made a great villain but she wasn't the only one, a side plot was well woven into the story. I liked that it wasn't 'insta-love' but also didn't exactly follow the storyline of the original so much either.

The finale of the story was a real 'omg' moment and I feel like it's definitely been left open for a sequel. I was really impressed with this story and keeping my fingers crossed that there is a sequel on the horizon!

Wow! A Curse So Dark and Lonely captured me right from the get-go. Something about the formatting of the ARC I received kept crashing my e-reader, so I had to read this on my PC. Normally I hate that, as I spend enough time staring at the screen each day as it is; however, I loved this story so much, I didn't mind and did hour-long sessions at a time, unable to stop turning the page. This is a deft retelling of the beloved Beauty and the Beast tale. The world building was excellent, and the shift between our world and the fantasy realm in which Rhen dwells worked seamlessly. I wasn't sure about Rhen as a character at first, but he grew on me as the story progressed and we got to know him better. Harper comes across well, and I liked the way her cerebral palsy was introduced and dealt with during the tale. The idea that she was the only one different out of hundreds of girls stretched believability a little at the start, but that soon disappeared as the story took off, and I enjoyed the slow-burn progress of their relationship. The ending took me by surprise. There were a few things unresolved, which suggests a possible continuation in a second book later. We'll have to wait and see. I would certainly be happy to read more set in this world and with these characters.

A kingdom suffering because of a cursed Prince.

A young woman with a tough life.

Two worlds so long apart, that will collide in the most unexpected way.

Prince Rhen has watched his kingdom suffer for too long. The borders of Emberfall are in danger of invasion, and his people are suffering from hunger and long winters. But he can do nothing about it; his own curse is in the way. Cursed to turn into a savage beast at the end of each fall, he has locked himself in the enchanted castle, with his King's Guard's Commander as his only companion. But the two of them have attempted to break the curse hundreds of times, always failing.

Harper has had a tough life in DC. With a father gone, a mother at the brink of death and a brother in trouble, she is not your average adolescent. When circumstances bring her to the Kingdom of Emberfall, she will not stand back and watch the curse ruin everything once again. The Kingdom is in danger. But Rhen now has a unique person beside him. Maybe things can actually change this time.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely is an absolutely thrilling story that will suck the reader in it pages! This could be a thousand-pages-long book and it still would be too short for me. This is a different, unique kind of fairy tale; this is what fairy tales should be like. The story is lead by strong characters with realistic backgrounds and honest reactions. The plot is constructed in such an intelligent way, that there is always something unexpected coming your way, never letting your attention drop. The story is enjoyable, with witty dialogue and a generous dose of smart humor.

I highly appreciated, as I'm sure other readers will as well, the independent spirit and determination of the female lead. Harper has had many setbacks in her life, but, as Rhen mentions, it is what we do with the cards dealt to us that make the difference. This is an incredibly strong message, especially for younger people.

The ending was definitely not what I had expected. In fact, it was much more interesting than what I had hoped, and open enough so that a second book can come along. I am confident that A Curse So Dark and Lonely will be a great success, and hope for a second book along the way.

I definitely recommend this book to all fans of fantasy and YA; you are going to love this!

I overheard some girls talk about Beigid’s work today. I couldn’t help smile to myself thinking about this book; they’re not going to know what hit them. In a break away from her previous work, this will be loved by her existing fans, and readers of this year’s the Smoke Theives.

As with all Beauty and the Beast retellings, I had my reservations going into this. But, as with all fairy tale retellings, I couldn't stay away. Plus, look at that shiny cover! I just couldn't resist.

And I'm so glad that I didn't. A Curse so Dark and Lonely gives true meaning to the term "modern retelling". I don't want to give too much away because this is a story that needs to be discovered for one's self, but I loved the twists to the Beauty & the Beast we've known before.
Harper couldn't be more different than Belle, while maintaining Belle's most lovable qualities.
Rhen's curse actually made sense (have you ever tried to figure out the maths for the Disney version? Don't. It's not worth the headache), and the situation he was in made his plight instantly more easy to root for.

But for all that, the reason why A Curse so Dark and Lonely gets five raving stars are the details Kemmerer has woven into the story. Harper's cerebral palsy. The fact that it didn't define her. The fact that there was a good, valid, and very plausible reason, that didn't involve Stockholm Syndrome, for her to go back. No insta-love. No real love triangle to speak of. Scary Grey, who actually has a marshmallow for a heart (my ultimate weakness in characters). Fierce Zo. Jake, who worries a lot. And oh my goodness, Noah. I actually can't pick a favourite supporting character, they were all amazing.

And, as per usual, I absolutely live for surprise gays. If this is a trope for 2019, can I just be the first one to say... HELLS YEAH.

So... when's book two out? :D

I'm absolutely loving this book. I'm a little over 25% through it and I'm loving where this is going and that it's dark, it's what a beauty and the beast retelling needs I'm modern times!

This was a dark, beautiful book, with a deliciously slow romance between two incredibly complex characters. There was only one fly in the ointment and I’ll discuss that later.

Harper is a teenage girl living a highly stressful life in D.C. – her mother has cancer, her father’s abandoned the family, and her brother has become a gang enforcer in a desperate attempt to pay off their father’s debt. To top it all off, she has cerebral palsy. It manifests itself in the form of a malformed leg and this was actually pretty underplayed throughout the novel – as Kemmerer explains in an author’s note, Harper’s disability doesn’t stop her from achieving her goals.

One of said goals is stopping what she thinks is the attempted kidnap of a woman, only to find herself kidnapped instead. Prince Rhen of Emberfall made a horrible mistake on the night of his eighteenth birthday, and is now cursed to turn into a murderous beast if a girl doesn’t fall in love with him within a single season. Every time he fails, the season repeats itself as he tries to woo a different girl. And there have been OVER 300 girls, supplied by his faithful Guard Commander Grey, the last and most loyal of his men.

I’ll talk about the fly in the ointment now, since it was only really present in the first half of the novel. The book had a serious case of YOU’RE NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS, HARPER. Rhen thinks about how she’s unique because ‘all the other girls went straight for the pretty dresses and shiny stuff’, and how ‘she’s the only one who ever tried to fight back.’ Really? You’re telling me that out of, I repeat, OVER 300 girls, Harper’s the first not to like dresses/demand forcefully to be taken home? Um, yeah, no. If there’s anything that going to an all-girls school for seven years has taught me, it’s that this kind of thing is BS. In my class of a hundred girls I can easily think of a score who don’t like clothes and makeup, and another score who’d have reacted to being kidnapped the way Harper did. The claim that she was the first girl in 300 to have some skill with horses was only slightly more convincing.

Rant over now, sorry! To the book’s credit, this line of thinking vanishes after the 50% mark, and we’re treated to a delicately unfurling romance between Rhen and ‘Princess Harper of Disi.’ On the sidelines, there’s viciously loyal Grey, an intriguing man with his own past and secrets. I loved how the book was peppered with a bit of everything dark: court intrigue, political manoeuvring, violence, secrets. The whole concept of love on a time limit was also treated extremely well. Both Rhen and Harper are strong leads with distinct and relatable personalities.

The ending, though pretty open, was perfection. Definite room for a sequel! At nearly 500 pages it was a long book, but so dreamy the pages started to fly by. Recommended to anyone who wants a gorgeous Beauty and the Beast retelling.