My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Author: Brigid Kemmerer

Format: Hard cover book

Pages: 477

Categories: Beauty and the Beast Retelling, Slow Burn Romance, Young Adult

Book Blurb:

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 Lacy. 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.

MY REVIEW

In A Curse So Dark and Lonely, we meet Harper, who is a girl with Cerebral Palsy. She lives in Washington D.C. and is on a job with her brother Jake, as a look-out. Her family has fallen into dire straits and her brother has to do what he has to do to keep the family surviving. During her job with her brother she sees what seems to be a kidnapping and gets involved. In her attempt to help she gets transported to an enchanted castle, in a parallel world/dimension. A Prince lives in this castle with his Commander, whose name is Grey. The Prince is under a curse and must make a girl fall in love with him within a season. But at the end of the season is when he turns into a beast, so for about five years he’s been unsuccessful. The stakes are raised now because the enchantress who cursed Prince Rhen informs him this is his final season to break the curse.

When I think of Beauty and the Beast – I think about the Disney movie with bookworm Belle and the Beast who is already in his beast form. And he shall remain that way forever if he doesn’t break the curse *before the last rose petal falls*🌹 .

In this retelling, Prince Rhen is still in his human form, eighteen years old to be exact (for the past 5 years) and his beast only shows up at the end of the season. The beast is different every time but it does the same thing – kill anyone in it’s path. It’s taken a toll on the Prince who’s killed his family, his friends and his people over the years. It’s quite gruesome when you think of it and really sad.

I love Harper. She is brave and determined when plunged into this new world, and dealing with her physical limitations. And in most instances she pushes past those limitations which made me cheer her on. She’s also worrying about her mom who is dying and her brother who might be getting into trouble with some bad people. Harper can’t do anything for them while trapped in Emberfall but she doesn’t do nothing either.

I thought the beginning of the book had promise, especially when she enters the enchanted castle. But my mind started wandering in the middle of the book as I waited and waited for this magical love to appear between Beast and Belle, oh, I meant Harper and Prince Rhen 😉. I was starting to think it wasn’t going to happen as a hint of a love triangle started to manifest between Commander Grey and Harper.

So how does Prince Rhen try to make Harper fall in love with him? He has barely any hope that the curse will break . It just doesn’t come naturally for Rhen and Harper, they both have such high defensive walls to penetrate, though Rhen’s is much higher I think. Trust takes too long to develop between them, and as Rhen keeps worrying: there is NO time. So instead, Prince Rhen, Harper and Grey spend the time planning for the needs of Emberfall if the curse is not broken. It’s another reason why I love Harper – because she brought in the wild hope in this hopeless situation, not for Rhen to fall in love and break the curse, but actually to help his people no matter what happens.

As far as it being a Beauty and the Beast retelling I think it did it pretty well. I caught the similar elements from the original story and I loved the unique spin on it. The action in the last half of the book was exciting – I mean a lot happens when the neighboring kingdom comes for Emberfall, Rhen’s beast is about to make his debut, and Harper’s mom is dying back in D.C. Whew! 🤷🏻‍♀️ And don’t get me started on Lilith, the wicked enchantress that started the curse in the first place. She pops up here and there just making life hell for Rhen and Grey.

Also we find out a few interesting things about Grey at the ending of the book which I definitely have to know more about like…yesterday.

I can’t recall ever reading a book with a protagonist that had cerebral palsy, so thank you to the author for making me more aware and giving us a tough heroine who rose to the challenges to save her loved ones in whatever predicament they were in.