I am always downtown to read a Retelling! Most of my favorite books are Retellings of classic fairytales and Curses will definitely find its way amongst them.

While it doesn’t follow the original story to the T, McBride wrote a world that I am at once familiar with and one that is completely different than any I have seen before. I loved the characters so much! Merit and Tevin are the perfect MC & love interest for the story.

I love that Merit is both the Beauty and Beast, which makes this a retelling that I will always remember. I can’t wait to see what Lish McBride has coming next. As this is the first book of hers that I’ve read, I need to pick up more from her.

This book is a gender-swapped retelling of Beauty and The Beast but with fantastical elements and twists! Perfect for fans of High School Musical The Musical The Series Season 2 (in the show they are putting on a Beauty and The Beast musical!) and also fans of this classic fairytale in general.. I really enjoyed the feel/vibe of this book. It felt like both a fantasy and historical fiction. I could picture myself in the settings and scenery. The characters were also very interesting and were not what I was expecting! For example, I LOVED that Tevin was a con artist/thief but in a very interesting way where he was doing it to provide for his family. But it was also sad and unexpected to learn that it is because his parents set him up to do so. These type of details and plot lines throughout are what REALLY made this book stand out!

Merit is a girl who refused to marry the gross older man she was betrothed to and was subjected to a beastly curse put upon her in exchange by a fairy godling…

Tevin is the handsome eldest son of a family of grifters. He was gifted his own bit of enchantment and his family uses it to their advantage when having him charm his way into the arms of wealthy young women…

The two meet when one of Tevin’s mother’s schemes puts her in the crosshairs of the beast. Now, Tevin’s parents want him to take his mother’s place as the beast’s prisoner.

Now, with the beast curse temporarily lifted from Merit, she and Tevin decide to combine forces. She will forgive his mother’s debt if he helps her find a suitable match for marriage.

But, as they get to know each other, it becomes clear that they may be best suited for one another…

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I love retellings especially when they switch up the genders.

4.5/5 stars

First off, I want to thank Penguin Teen for sending me this book through NetGalley for review!

Curses is a gender bent Beauty and the Beast retelling that was honestly a delight to read. It follows our main character Merit who turns into a beast due to a curse. The only way to break the curse is to marry a man of her mother's choosing or find someone who loves her. Tevin on the other hand is a "conman" who uses his good looks to charm wealthy girls and get their parents to pay him off. However, when his mother is captured by the beast (aka Merit) she trades Tevin for her freedom. Merit and Tevin decide that he can pay off his mother's debt by finding the best match for Merit to marry. But, what if Tevin is the perfect match?

Overall, this was just such a fun read. It was easy and light enough that I could get through it pretty quickly and I didn't want to stop. The banter between all the characters was really well written in my opinion, especially Merit and Tevin. I lived for their interactions. But, I also was here for the side characters which usually isn't the case and I appreciated the time spent on them as well. We do also see some sapphic rep and non-binary rep in the side characters which I really enjoyed! I think the plot was engaging and everything was set up very nicely. The cover of the book had me thinking this would be darker but it really wasn't and there was way more humor than expected which made me glad. To be honest there isn't a ton of similarities to the actual beauty and the beast story besides the beast and marriage but I honestly didn't even miss it. There is also the found family aspect that I enjoy and a wild animal that becomes a side kick trope that I love.

My only real reason for not giving it 5/5 is that the end was a little rushed for me but not a super big deal. However, what I really wanted was more closure and to see more of what happens next. But, in general I had such a great time reading this book and I really enjoyed every page.

Curses was such a fun gender bent Beauty and the Beast retelling. It is filled with humor and a world that felt new unlike a lot of other fairy tale retellings. Merit is the beast in this story and has until her eighteenth birthday to either marry a man of her mothers choosing or someone who actually loves her. Tevin is enlisted to help her in this quest in order to pay off his mother's debts after she commits a crime.

I absolutely loved the dynamic between Tevin, his brother Amuary and his cousin Val. The relationships are so full of wit and great banter. The romance between Merit and Tevin was so sweet and I enjoyed that it truly started as a friendship.

I do wish that the word was a bit more developed. Fairy folk, godlings and the overall magic system was often mentioned but it was never truly fleshed out. There were times where I felt a bit lost about the innerworkings of the world. The overall plot could have had better pacing. There were moments when you are moving along smoothly and then it randomly starts to feel choppy.

Overall this was a very enjoyable and fun Beauty and the Beast retelling perfect for fans of Bridgerton and the movie Ella Enchanted.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Curses is a beautiful and heartfelt rendition of the timeless fairy tale classic of Beauty and the Beast but with a contemporary twist.

"Love is the reason for her curse, but it is also her salvation."

I will be the first person to admit I am not a fan of retellings but Lish McBride has modernized this beloved tale giving us a refreshing role reversal with a female protagonist cursed by a Godling because she dared to fall in love. How ironic that the young girl who should be cursed by love would need it to save her?

This is a book about falling in love, not only in the traditional sense but also with yourself. The kind of love that forces you to embrace and accept all your faults, even if you are a beast. The author is teaching a poignant lesson to young people all over the world that only by loving yourself can you love others.

"Merit's mother raised her to believe powerful ladies should never raise their voice, but she wasn't a lady, she was a beast and she was going to act like it."

Another huge reason I loved this book was due to the unconventional and slightly morally grey characters. I relished that the female protagonist Merit, despite being previously burned, is still optimistic about falling in love but does not allow this idea to consume her or cloud her judgment. Merit yearns for a partnership with an equal and not a man who will control her and I admired how the author showcased the qualms of many women of that age

"What's wrong with you? ...... I have a brain..They don't like that."

"Why was it that so many men thought they were the answer to a question no one was asking?"

On the topic of characters, I applaud the author for her inclusivity and representation of not only LGBTQ relationships but also gender binary characters. Despite this being a fairy tale retelling, the author still managed to be authentic both in her approach and her characters and I commend her.

One thing of interest for me in this particular series was the role of parents, or rather the lack of proper parental guidance. There's a line that perfectly sums it up, "Our parents have traded our futures to suit their needs." I fear I must indulge in this thought process as it is a constant theme throughout the novel so bear with me. All the parental figures within this story are selfish and seek only to use their children as pawns on a chessboard to further their own malicious means.

There's a bigger lesson here that the author in her infinite wisdom seeks to teach readers yet again which is that despite the circumstances, you as an individual contribute to how your life evolves and in turn must hold yourself accountable. There is an "AHA" moment where Merit says, "I'm tired of blaming my mother, tired of being so broken! I'm cursed because of myself. I made foolish choices. I didn't listen."

Curses was such an inspirational story about love, navigating life and family, and accepting yourself. It will leave you wondering, "Why be the belle of the ball when you could be the beast?"

This was the retelling I never knew I needed. Beauty and The Beast retellings are popular enough in YA, but a reverse Beauty and The Beast?!

One of my favorite things about retellings is that the story feels familiar while also surprising you. I loved the premise of the story and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of familial relationships! Merit is a fantastic main character, and while there's sympathy for her situation, I found myself admiring her strength and determination. Tevin (can I just say? Major Thomas Cresswell vibes. swoon) and the whole DuMont gang were so much fun to be around, and I desperately want a novella of this group just messing around.

I think the world and it's magic were my favorite part of this book. Obviously, staying true to the original fairytale, there's the curse, but Merit wasn't the only one cursed! The fact that there was a curse support group had me laughing so hard. I also loved the concept of magic playing into social classes and I really thought that was such a refreshing take on a social hierarchy!

If you like retellings, this standalone is a definite must read for you!

How does one take a bunch of fairytales mix them all together and make it all work in a way where there are familiar stories, but they are still different from how we expect them to turn out? I am not quite sure but that is what this book did flawlessly. Merit is looking for love but when her mother tries to force a marriage up on her and she refuses to go along with the marriage she is cursed to become a beast. In order to break the curse she must marry someone of her mothers choosing, or find true love before her 16th birthday. As her birthday draws nearer Merit is not quite sure what to do, the beast is becoming more and more prominent. Enter Tevin, a young con man whose mother tries to steal a precious flower from the beasts garden. In order to provide recompense Tevin's mother offers him up in exchange. Merit and Tevin team up to help her break the curse. Will she be able to trust Tevin knowing he is a liar by nature and has been a part of so many cons? Will Tevin be able to place that part of his nature aside and be open with Merit and get her to trust him? Such a fun book! I hope you enjoy reading it to find out what happens.

Thank you so much to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books and NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy.

I have to admit that when I first started Curses I thought it might be too YA for me. That notion was quickly rectified after a few chapters. Curses it smart, wickedly funny and has a host of lovable characters. Suffice it to say that I need more Lish McBride books in my life.

Curses is Beauty and the Beast turned sideways. Here Merit has been cursed after disagreeing with her mother and refusing to marry someone she didn't love. She now spends her days as a beast, unless she has taken a tincture made of Bloom, a magical flower that reverts her to human form. Unfortunately, if she doesn't marry soon--either someone of her mother's choosing or someone she loves--the curse will be permanent and she will remain a beast forever. In the meantime, Tevin Dumont is from a family of thieves and swindlers. He is in service to Merit in exchange for his mother's freedom (long story) and he is there to help Merit pick a worthy husband and not someone just trying to marry her for her money.

I laughed out loud multiple times while reading--from the support group for curse victims to the banter between characters--Curses was nothing short of delightful. There were lots of strong, smart female characters to enjoy, as well as sharp insights into society and toxic masculinity.
"Whether the creature was hideous and horned didn't signify. Inside, the rich were all the same."
"Why was it so many men thought they were the answer to a question no one was asking?" Yasssss. Preach it sister.

3.5/5 stars, a joyful and quite unique retelling

This really wasn’t what I was expecting going into a retelling of beauty and the beast. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, the gender swap was quite fun, but the overall retelling part felt a bit muddled. There were so many other elements in there that threw me off, but it was a really unique retelling nonetheless.

I think my main complaint of this book is that the world building is almost non-existent. There’s so many different “faerie” types and were never truly given an explanation for them. We’re just told that some of them curse people. I also can’t for the life of me remember any of the location names. The lack of world-building was the big thing that made it hard to read for me, but there is a lot of unique ideas in here.

This book took me a while to read, I tried to keep starting it and just couldn’t get in. I finally did sit down and read it, but it just felt a bit hard to get into at least for the first half. I think the story is quirky, and not in a bad way, but it just has so many components it can be hard to get into.

Merit was an interesting main character, in this story she is the beast, her curse from “disrespecting” her mother. She got on my nerves quite a few times, but I think she really just was a girl trying to find a way out of her curse. She was headstrong sometimes, and that’s what threw her off a bit for me. I wish there was a bit more character development besides just her curse, but she wasn’t the worst main character I’ve ever read from.

Tevin was my favorite out of the main two, he reminded me a lot of Jesper from Six of Crows. He’s quite fun and no matter what situation he’s in, manages to find a way to spin it in a great way. He’s struggled a lot through life and it was great to see him eventually have a good time with his life.

I can’t remember all the names of the side characters, there was a lot sometimes I got them mixed up. They had different enough names but there really was so many I had to remember, and I just couldn’t. A lot of them also didn’t serve a purpose besides furthering Merit’s story. Which was a little disappointing as I tend to love my side characters, but I felt most of them didn’t have enough substance.

Overall, it was a unique retelling of beauty and the beast. It was a bit disjointed at times, especially in the world building and romance, but still fun in unique ways.

This is a super cute gender bent Beauty and the Beast retelling. We follow Merit who has been cursed by a godling because she refused to marry the person her mother chose. Therefore, she must either marry someone who loves her or marry someone of her mother's choosing before her 18th birthday to change out of her beast form. We also follow Tevin, who is from a family of criminals and con artists. After his mother gets caught stealing flowers from Merit's garden, she decides to trade herself for her son.

Merit decides that Tevin will have use helping her decide who out of the men her mother chose from, will be the least bad. Be aware that a majority of the story focuses on Tevin helping Merit decide who she should marry and the process of her trying to court these men.

Curses is funny and over the top and ridiculous. It is a light hearted and fun retelling. The characters in this are all so fun and there are so many different and amazing personalities. This book also expands on the lives of the side characters in a way I really appreciated, instead of just making them there to further to main characters' stories. There is also so much casual queerness it's amazing. Merit's healer Ellery is non-binary and there is a romance between Tevin's cousin Val and Merit's guard Kirya.

I saw another review in which someone said that this is a romance between two Hufflepuff's and that is a very accurate description. Both Merit and Tevin are very sweet and cute people who have fallen victim to their circumstances. I thought their romance was cute. I loved the fact that Tevin came from a criminal family that literally spends all their time conning people. It made him to be a very interesting character and a fun conflict between him and Merit (aka ANGST) This is because the con that Tevin does a lot of is the exact one that Merit fell prone to earlier in her life. Once again, A N G S T.

The biggest complaint I had about this book, that really isn't that big of a complaint, was the timing of everything. There were some parts of the book that felt a little drawn out and like they weren't quite necessary. It takes a while for the book to even get the part where Tevin will be living with Merit and helping her. I just wish we could've jumped into the story a little sooner.

"Buried deep in all the pain and mess of everyday life, well, that's where joy can be found, too."

Curses by Lish McBride is the gender swapped, fairy tale retelling of Beauty & the Beast that I didn't even know I so desperately needed. This was such a fun book, with an extremely likable cast of magical characters. Merit is cursed to be a Beast forever, unless married off to a man of her mother's choosing before her next birthday. She enlists the unseemly Tevin DuMont to help her find the least awful man to marry. As you can image, chaos ensues as the deadline to end her curse rapidly approaches.

Disclaimer: The quoted text is from an advanced reader copy I received from G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A gender bent Beauty and the Beast retelling is just too hard to pass up! Loved this story that focuses on Merit, cursed to be a beast forever if she doesn’t marry a ‘mother approved’ candidate by her eighteenth birthday. Those dang fairy godlings and their curses!

Enter Tevin, a guy with a sketchy family/past with a heart of gold but most importantly, he has the ability to keep Merit on her toes. When he agrees to help Merit find her match in exchange for his freedom, well, who knows what might happen?

The thing I enjoyed most is the humor, done so well and with perfect timing; this is at times LOL funny! Then there’s the main characters, each with enough personality to carry the whole book but add in the supporting characters and we have a winner!

This is such an enjoyable read with one of my favorite tropes – found family – at front and center. Highly recommend this for any fan of retellings!

Thank you Penguin Teen for this DRC!

Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review!

Curses by Lish McBride was a wonderful retelling of Beauty and The Beast with a little twist on the normal fairytale.

In this fantasy world of Fairborn and humans, the Merit Cravan who is a daughter of a Lady fails to do her duty to marry a prince so in return Fairy Godling curses her into a form of the beast. Only two ways can break this curse; marrying someone of her mother's choosing or falling in love as the tale is usually told.

Tevin Dumont is a son of a family of con artists. Unlike the usual fairytale, his mother and father scam and steal. Due to his mother's selfishness of trying to steal from Merit, she discusses trading her son's life for her freedom.

However, a pleasant turn of events is when Tevin actually tries to help Merit break her curse by helping her find a husband alongside his siblings and their friends. The found family trope in this book was amazing. And the slow burn was slow.

The story's version of "Guston" was also very unexpected. But I'll let you read to find out ;)

I would definitely encourage everyone to give this a chance as it's not your usual fairytale but instead, a new refreshing eye-opener of a fairytale everyone adores.

There's also LGBT representation and a hint of a sapphic relationship beginning to happen. If there ever is a sequel, I hope to dive deeper in this relationship as well as getting to know the side characters more as well.

A gender-bent Beauty and the Beast retelling. A world where curses are given out like candy. A thief brought in to help a beast find a husband, but is he willing to give her up? 

This book sounded so good and I was so excited to receive a copy from Penguin Teen! 

This book was good, but it wasn't everything I wanted. I found myself enjoying the store, interested in what was going to happen next, but also fine with putting down the story and not feeling the urge to finish it. This isn't a long book, it's under 300 pages, and yet it took me a while to read because I didn't feel pressed to know what was going to happen next. 

This book was resoundingly good. The plot? Good. The characters? Good. The story, the dialogue, the magic? All good. Nothing really stood out to me and I enjoyed it. It was just good. 

I wished there was more to say about that. There were definitely some things I liked and some things I didn't. For example, I liked the set up for Merit and Tevin's characters - I thought it was super unique and made me interested in what was going to happen to them. I didn't like the half-fleshed suitors Merit was pursuing. The three men Merit went on dates with all felt like the same men in three different outfits - all of their personalities were the same, all were pretty bland, and it was clear that more thought went into the other characters than these three. 

Even some of the side characters started to feel like copies - such as Val and Willa. Both are headstrong girls, willing to do anything for their friends, and have too much sass for one person. At times, it felt like there were so many revolving characters, it was hard to keep track of them and they started to blend together. 

It's sad that I don't have much more to say, but this book was good. It had its faults, it had some things I liked, and it was a good story. If you want a new take on Beauty and the Beast, I would definitely check it out!

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Young Readers Group for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Curses" is a reverse Beauty & the Beast retelling, but with more of a twist. Instead of the typical story, instead the Beast hires Beauty to find the Beast a suitable match that will break the curse. Problem is...they start liking each other instead.

The snappy and witty dialogue made the story entertaining, though with Tevin's large family/friends I had a hard time keeping track of the names. The characters were all pretty distinct in their own ways and contributed well to the story.

Tevin and Merit are very sweet, it also helps that they're honest with each other and create a solid friendship foundation that makes the blooming romance very believable.

A fun Beauty & the Beast retelling that's sure to please!

Curses is a beauty and the beast retelling in reverse instead of the guy being the beast the girl is and I 100% loved this concept throughout the book. Along with this being a fun twist on a Beauty and the beast retelling this book has amazing lgbtq+ representation. I don’t think I have read a book with better rep than this one... I have never read a book that has a character with they/them pronouns and I absolutely loved that Lish McBride incorporated that so well into her story. This book hit all the marks for me it was fantasy had some romance and had representation!

4/5 stars

*Special thanks to Penguin Teen for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!*

Oh my gosh this book was fantastic. I was expecting something a bit more dark, but I really loved the humorous, romantic vibes of this book. There were so many unique elements, too: flying badgers (or fladgers, because of course), a support group for people who've been cursed (honestly, brilliant), and a giant cat-like creature named Hob (aka my new favorite character ever). Plus so much more. The complexity of this world was fantastic!

The writing style and characters were delightful. I absolutely adored Merit and Tevin; their characters just popped right off the page and came to life so vibrantly in my mind. Merit in particular was fierce and determined, courageous and plucky, and I was inspired by how she never gave up trying to get rid her curse. As for Tevin, I'm pretty sure I fell in love with him from the first page: he's so charming and handsome, and he turned out to have a winning personality, too! The slow burn romance was glorious perfection and I was there for every second of it. It inched along beautifully and I really wanted to shake them and scream at them to admit their feelings PLEASE FINALLY. The side characters were all wonderful too, and I was invested in all of them; I can tell the author put lots of effort into crafting their unique personalities. Ellery, Val, and Amaury were so spirited, amusing, and fun to read about. This book also had some great nonbinary and lesbian rep--it's great to see some LGBTQ+ representation in a retelling!

​Overall, I loved how, while this was most certainly a Beauty and the Beast retelling, it had so many creative twists. I did feel like some parts were a little slow (and this book is 288 pages, but it felt more like 400?? Is this just me or is the page count wrong? Seriously I'm confused), but that's honestly my only complaint. This is hands-down the best Beauty and the Beast retelling I've ever read! I can't wait for the world to be dazzled with its brilliance.

That's a wrap on my review of Curses by Lish McBride! I gave this book Four Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This book releases in three days (THREE DAYS!) so make sure to grab a copy the moment it hits the shelves!

Thank you GP Putnam for a gifted copy of this book.

This reversed beauty and the beast retelling took me by surprise! I loved that the story focused more on friendship and finding inner beauty despite trying to help Merit's find love so her curse could be broken. To me, it felt like it didn't matter if the curse was broken or not, she would be loved regardless and I thought that was beautiful. There's also a diverse cast of supporting characters from Tevin and Merit's lives with different backgrounds and seeing them all work together to help Merit really elevated the story for me.

Overall, I highly recommend this one if you enjoy fantasy/fairy tale retellings!

What a fantastic gender-bent retelling of BATB! Tevin reminded me of Flynn Rider, with his thieving and sarcasm, and Merit reminded me so much of Belle. I really enjoyed the magic and fantasy in this, and any fan of retellings will love this.