Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairytale retelling
Personal Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.5 out of 5 stars)
Beauty and the Beast meets reverse The Knight Before Christmas in Brigid Kemmerer’s novel ‘A Curse so Dark and Lonely.’ This is the first book in the Cursebreaker Series and it did well in introducing the world, the rules, and the backstory of the key characters without dragging the exposition too long.
I admit I almost underestimated its potential for about the first fifty pages. There’s a cursed prince, there’s a girl different from all the other girls the prince met, a chance encounter, and the promise that love was not in the cards. We know where this is going right? However, I was gladly proven slightly wrong, showing me that not everything in the ending was predictable after all. Added to my delight was the right pacing of the story and the plot twist in the story’s climax, which would definitely hook you to read the second book.
There are some moments when I thought that our heroin’s way of dialogue was out of character for someone who was basically isekai’d*, and her manner of speaking blended with the fantasy world’s eloquence too quickly. However, it’s not too noticeable or too distracting to stop reading. It took me a few instance out of the fantasy but, thinking about it now, it’s completely natural for the way of speaking to blend with the environment from time to time. I was just happy that there was less focus on the usual ‘unfit princess’ and ‘grand makeover’ tropes; and that the story actually focused more on the story at hand.
The narrating style was quite helpful in building an entertaining read and solidifying the characters’ motivations. Unlike some novels where understanding a character’s POV becomes an excuse for an easier resolution with conflicts later, this book did the conflicts justice by actually having dialogues line up so that the resolutions make sense; not just because the characters suddenly understand each other or that the explanation didn’t matter because of love or friendship.
If there’s anything I found lacking, it’s just I would’ve preferred (or expected?) more romance. Perhaps it’s the author staying true to the story’s flow, or perhaps Prince Rhen from this novel reminded me too much of Tristan from the Korean manhwa Under the Oak Tree. Either way, my respect goes out to the author for not just defaulting to the ‘everyone lives happily ever after’ ending that we all expect.
Overall, I’d still recommend this book to YA readers who’s looking to read a clean romance with just the right amount of magic and action.
*Isekai’d: usually referring to Japanese stories (anime, manga, light novels or web novels) which involve the main character being transported into another world
Favorite Quote(s):
“Right now, in this moment, I would grant her my kingdom if she asked.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely
“My father once said we are all dealt a hand at birth. A good hand can ultimately lose—just as a poor hand can win—but we must all play the cards fate deals. The choices we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely
“In matters of the heart, I am clearly hopeless.” He puts down his final card—a prince. A wild card. I stare at him, stunned. It didn’t matter what I played. He would have won anyway. “In matters of strategy,” he finishes, “I am not.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely
The Stray Reader 
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