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The Cursed Princess and the Lucky Knight
After mysterious deaths and misfortune ravages her family and leaves plucky Duchess Sonia de Clare orphaned in the Royal Abbey, Sonia is forced to take matters into her own hands when the king orders her into an arranged marriage to fulfill her duty as the surviving heiress to the massive Clare fortune.
Fully prepared to marry the dashing prince of the kingdom and retake her home, Sonia is only met with disappointment when she discovers who her mysterious groom to be is.
But when her own castle turns against her in a series of horrifying supernatural phenomena, Sonia quickly discovers the noble knight Sir Cristford Cortot is far more capable of protecting his cursed princess than any foppish prince ever could!
203 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 10, 2018
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68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 20, 2020
Read more reviews at: Astronomy of My Dreams
On the surface, certainly, in the beginning, this light novel really is as simple as its summary. It really felt at times that the author wanted to have a fairy tale romance which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. Absolutely, not! It’s not an epic romance, epic fantasy, or epic anything, but it is another fun romp to read when you really just want to read something cute.
However, it’s very slow at the start, especially before Duchess Sonia actually leaves the Abbey and before she meets Lord Crisford. It is interesting to me that, in this country, it’s not really tradition to have cut hair or even a beard. I thought it was a bit odd that Sonia was so put off by his beard until it was revealed that the priest that haunted and cursed the family for a couple of generations. And I’ll get to him.
Thankfully, Sonia is eighteen years old and the age gap between both her and Chris (whom I’ll refer to as Lord Crisford from now on) and it does get pointed out - multiple times. There are a lot of cute instances between the couple and it is sort of odd when Sonia starts questioning if Chris liked her or not. I only mean this because it almost feels like it came out of nowhere, almost. For something that’s meant to be a simple love story, there are themes here that are attempted to be explored but never fully all the way.
And I think that’s what irritated me. They wanted to explore the fact that Sonia is the last of her line and yet she’s being treated in such a way by the King and Chris, and such. Is it because of the translation or is it because of how, really, short this light novel is? Light novels could absolutely be a lot longer and I wasn’t expected to tackle such themes in there - what does it mean to be a young woman in this society after being tucked away in a religious boarding school for women?
However, what saved this for me was the latter half of the story. Granted, the revelation of the curse - that being the priest who was greedy in life and in death and who made a deal with Baphomet in order to eradicate an entire family line - was disappointing, but Chris was what saved it for me. Perhaps it’s because I’m closer to him in age so I understand his simple-minded mindset but he just charmed me a lot.
And I think the age gap disappointed me more than I expected because of how charmed I am by Chris. You see, Chris is 34-years-old in the story and Sonia is 18-years-old, that’s quite an age gap. But again, Chris saved this for me. He made it a point to keep a boundary between him and Sonia, even though she is 18-years-old (which is another reason why I actually liked this novel more because I’m simply tired of literal children marrying older men when it’s a fantasy and you can just age them up, history be damned….! That’s another rant for another day, of course), I actually liked their chemistry a lot.
There is genuine love for this older man and I could fall for him myself since he hits all my favorite tropes. I just genuinely love the relationship between Sonia and Chris when we’re welcome to see their levity and reprieves. There’s just something about Chris that I just adore and it’s what saved this book for me.
Aside from the potential that was there, it seemed the author really wanted to show off how wonderful Chris was to me, the reader, and they succeeded.
When we’re in Sonia’s headspace, it’s not really boring necessarily but when she worries about Chris’s feelings, it does get tedious at times.
The magic system is not very clear, but again, it’s not meant to be an epic anything - just a fun romance. There’s a lot that holds this novel back, unfortunately, but it’s the appearances of Chris that save it for me. Anytime he shows up, I’m always laughing or worried or just feeling the same type of lovey emotions Sonia does.
But as for the reason for the curse, this is where I fear the author held themselves back the most. The reason why the curse even exists is that the priest, in life, was greedy and embezzled taxes from Sonia’s grandfather. Right after he declared a curse on his family, he died. And it doesn’t even dawn on him how cruel this fate was right afterward. Because of this man, everyone and I mean everyone in Sonia’s family is gone and her darkness doesn’t come up until near the end when she felt as though no one could love her. There’s something there but even though it disappointed me, as luck would have it, Chris saves the day again.
With the inclusion of Pamela, this is where I also feel the author held themselves back. She admitted, after being possessed by both the priest and Baphomet, that she had always had negative feelings towards Sonia and once everything gets settled, she merely apologizes and becomes her handmaiden. At that point, I was nearing the end; there’s just really no other way but to take it at face value.
There are two side stories about the younger Prince and moments before Chris admitted his own love for Sonia.
Despite everything I said, I really liked Chris a lot and thankfully, he’s featured in the story a lot. It’s daunting and it is frustrating but because Chris is in it a lot, I’ve managed to enjoy it more than this review implies.
Also, the author admits that the story is essentially a historical fantasy romance based on William Marsh, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and his wife, Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke. It is an interesting take of them if you’re familiar with them, but I am not and now I’ve learned something new!
On the surface, certainly, in the beginning, this light novel really is as simple as its summary. It really felt at times that the author wanted to have a fairy tale romance which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. Absolutely, not! It’s not an epic romance, epic fantasy, or epic anything, but it is another fun romp to read when you really just want to read something cute.
However, it’s very slow at the start, especially before Duchess Sonia actually leaves the Abbey and before she meets Lord Crisford. It is interesting to me that, in this country, it’s not really tradition to have cut hair or even a beard. I thought it was a bit odd that Sonia was so put off by his beard until it was revealed that the priest that haunted and cursed the family for a couple of generations. And I’ll get to him.
Thankfully, Sonia is eighteen years old and the age gap between both her and Chris (whom I’ll refer to as Lord Crisford from now on) and it does get pointed out - multiple times. There are a lot of cute instances between the couple and it is sort of odd when Sonia starts questioning if Chris liked her or not. I only mean this because it almost feels like it came out of nowhere, almost. For something that’s meant to be a simple love story, there are themes here that are attempted to be explored but never fully all the way.
And I think that’s what irritated me. They wanted to explore the fact that Sonia is the last of her line and yet she’s being treated in such a way by the King and Chris, and such. Is it because of the translation or is it because of how, really, short this light novel is? Light novels could absolutely be a lot longer and I wasn’t expected to tackle such themes in there - what does it mean to be a young woman in this society after being tucked away in a religious boarding school for women?
However, what saved this for me was the latter half of the story. Granted, the revelation of the curse - that being the priest who was greedy in life and in death and who made a deal with Baphomet in order to eradicate an entire family line - was disappointing, but Chris was what saved it for me. Perhaps it’s because I’m closer to him in age so I understand his simple-minded mindset but he just charmed me a lot.
And I think the age gap disappointed me more than I expected because of how charmed I am by Chris. You see, Chris is 34-years-old in the story and Sonia is 18-years-old, that’s quite an age gap. But again, Chris saved this for me. He made it a point to keep a boundary between him and Sonia, even though she is 18-years-old (which is another reason why I actually liked this novel more because I’m simply tired of literal children marrying older men when it’s a fantasy and you can just age them up, history be damned….! That’s another rant for another day, of course), I actually liked their chemistry a lot.
There is genuine love for this older man and I could fall for him myself since he hits all my favorite tropes. I just genuinely love the relationship between Sonia and Chris when we’re welcome to see their levity and reprieves. There’s just something about Chris that I just adore and it’s what saved this book for me.
Aside from the potential that was there, it seemed the author really wanted to show off how wonderful Chris was to me, the reader, and they succeeded.
When we’re in Sonia’s headspace, it’s not really boring necessarily but when she worries about Chris’s feelings, it does get tedious at times.
The magic system is not very clear, but again, it’s not meant to be an epic anything - just a fun romance. There’s a lot that holds this novel back, unfortunately, but it’s the appearances of Chris that save it for me. Anytime he shows up, I’m always laughing or worried or just feeling the same type of lovey emotions Sonia does.
But as for the reason for the curse, this is where I fear the author held themselves back the most. The reason why the curse even exists is that the priest, in life, was greedy and embezzled taxes from Sonia’s grandfather. Right after he declared a curse on his family, he died. And it doesn’t even dawn on him how cruel this fate was right afterward. Because of this man, everyone and I mean everyone in Sonia’s family is gone and her darkness doesn’t come up until near the end when she felt as though no one could love her. There’s something there but even though it disappointed me, as luck would have it, Chris saves the day again.
With the inclusion of Pamela, this is where I also feel the author held themselves back. She admitted, after being possessed by both the priest and Baphomet, that she had always had negative feelings towards Sonia and once everything gets settled, she merely apologizes and becomes her handmaiden. At that point, I was nearing the end; there’s just really no other way but to take it at face value.
There are two side stories about the younger Prince and moments before Chris admitted his own love for Sonia.
Despite everything I said, I really liked Chris a lot and thankfully, he’s featured in the story a lot. It’s daunting and it is frustrating but because Chris is in it a lot, I’ve managed to enjoy it more than this review implies.
Also, the author admits that the story is essentially a historical fantasy romance based on William Marsh, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and his wife, Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke. It is an interesting take of them if you’re familiar with them, but I am not and now I’ve learned something new!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2020
This is probably my least favorite of the light novels I've read so far. The heroine and hero were enjoyable enough on their own, but I never enjoyed their relationship. I'm decently sensitive to age gap romance (especially when the girl is freshly 18) and this falls into that. The hero is in his mid-thirties and knew her when she was a kid. The vaguely medieval fantasy setting does help with this slightly because you know, it was more "normal" for nobles to deal with this, but it never stopped being an issue for me.
The heroine is the last surviving member of her family, the richest family in the kingdom. She's engaged to an older knight with a beard that she hates horribly upon leaving the covenant she's lived at since she was a pre-teen. Upon returning home, a family curse starts to attack her and her fiance, and it appears that everyone is keeping something from her while she does her best to establish herself as the new head of the family.
The heroine is likeable and she works hard at living up to the responsibilities of her role but she's very passive during the whole story. Everything happens to her and when she does make decisions, they tend to be wrong ones. No one really trusts her with what's going on, meaning she's quite literally left in the dark which almost leads to her suicide.
The hero is heroic but honestly he's pretty paternal most of the time and I dunno, just never clicked for me.
The writing was more on the simple side of the light novels I read, but the story was comparatively low stakes. The worse that would happen was the heroine dying. It wouldn't have grander consequences. The other stories I've read with this simple of writing tended to have bigger plots and quicker action to make up for flat characters.
I also wasn't that into the art. It was always a little off to me.
As there was nothing horribly wrong but nothing that tickled my fancy, I wouldn't really recommend the book. I wish the age gap thing was included in the summary because I probably would have skipped the story if I had known.
The heroine is the last surviving member of her family, the richest family in the kingdom. She's engaged to an older knight with a beard that she hates horribly upon leaving the covenant she's lived at since she was a pre-teen. Upon returning home, a family curse starts to attack her and her fiance, and it appears that everyone is keeping something from her while she does her best to establish herself as the new head of the family.
The heroine is likeable and she works hard at living up to the responsibilities of her role but she's very passive during the whole story. Everything happens to her and when she does make decisions, they tend to be wrong ones. No one really trusts her with what's going on, meaning she's quite literally left in the dark which almost leads to her suicide.
The hero is heroic but honestly he's pretty paternal most of the time and I dunno, just never clicked for me.
The writing was more on the simple side of the light novels I read, but the story was comparatively low stakes. The worse that would happen was the heroine dying. It wouldn't have grander consequences. The other stories I've read with this simple of writing tended to have bigger plots and quicker action to make up for flat characters.
I also wasn't that into the art. It was always a little off to me.
As there was nothing horribly wrong but nothing that tickled my fancy, I wouldn't really recommend the book. I wish the age gap thing was included in the summary because I probably would have skipped the story if I had known.
September 30, 2022
Today's post is on The Cursed Princess and the Lucky Knight by Uta Narusawa and art by Takashi Kiriya, It is 196 pages long and is published by Cross Infinite world. The cover the two main characters on it. The intended reader is someone who likes fantasy romance stories. There is very mild foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this novel. The story is told from third person close of the characters, moving as the plot needs. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book- She's got the money. but he's got all the luck!
After mysterious deaths and misfortune ravages her family and leaves plucky Duchess Sonia de Clare orphaned in the Royal Abbey, Sonia is forced to take matters into her own hands when the king orders her into an arranged marriage to fulfill her duty as the surviving heiress to the massive Clare fortune.
Fully prepared to marry the dashing prince of the kingdom and retake her home Sonia is only met with disappointment when she discovers who her mysterious groom to be is.
But when her own castle turns against her in a series of horrifying supernatural phenomena, Sonia quickly discovers te noble knight Sir Cristford Cortot is far more capable of protecting his cursed princess than any foppish prince ever could!
Review- A very fun, quick read with cute characters and a fun setting. Sonia is the last living member of the powerful de Clare family and she has been protected for most of her life. Protected both from the curse and from knowledge of the curse, her godfather, the king feared that she would give into despair if she knew that her family were murdered and now she was next. Sir Cristford is a blessed and powerful knight, so blessed in fact that the pope believes that Cristford can protect Sonia as she goes to defeat the cursed and the one who cast it. The art for this light novel is good, I would liked more illustrations as they added a lot to the story. This is a good, fun romance read, the translation is pretty good, and the characters are fun. Sonia is brave and even when she felt scared and unsure about what she should do, she never give up. Cristford is a good male lea, he is funny, brave, and willing to whatever it takes to help and save Sonia. The love story is in the background but very sweet. I would like to read more by this author.
I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this light novel with my own money.
From the back of the book- She's got the money. but he's got all the luck!
After mysterious deaths and misfortune ravages her family and leaves plucky Duchess Sonia de Clare orphaned in the Royal Abbey, Sonia is forced to take matters into her own hands when the king orders her into an arranged marriage to fulfill her duty as the surviving heiress to the massive Clare fortune.
Fully prepared to marry the dashing prince of the kingdom and retake her home Sonia is only met with disappointment when she discovers who her mysterious groom to be is.
But when her own castle turns against her in a series of horrifying supernatural phenomena, Sonia quickly discovers te noble knight Sir Cristford Cortot is far more capable of protecting his cursed princess than any foppish prince ever could!
Review- A very fun, quick read with cute characters and a fun setting. Sonia is the last living member of the powerful de Clare family and she has been protected for most of her life. Protected both from the curse and from knowledge of the curse, her godfather, the king feared that she would give into despair if she knew that her family were murdered and now she was next. Sir Cristford is a blessed and powerful knight, so blessed in fact that the pope believes that Cristford can protect Sonia as she goes to defeat the cursed and the one who cast it. The art for this light novel is good, I would liked more illustrations as they added a lot to the story. This is a good, fun romance read, the translation is pretty good, and the characters are fun. Sonia is brave and even when she felt scared and unsure about what she should do, she never give up. Cristford is a good male lea, he is funny, brave, and willing to whatever it takes to help and save Sonia. The love story is in the background but very sweet. I would like to read more by this author.
I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this light novel with my own money.
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May 5, 2024I have a couple of gripes with the writing in this: Firstly is the book is sprinkled with modern words and turns of phrases that not only take me a bit out of the Medieval setting, but make me feel (at first) like I'm reading a book for kids. (which I know I'm not because of the more mature themes that come up)
Secondly, I wish Sonia had either been told about her family curse right away or have them have a better reason to hide it from her other than "we don't want to stress her out! D:"
Because having her just dumped into this situation not being made aware of what's happening and why is actually kind of cruel.
Having been told as the reader that she's under a curse, it made me want to smack my forehead as I watched her waffle and dance around the idea of a curse after all that's happened and is happening, but maybe if I'd gone into it as blind as her I might not have felt like that as much? idk
Aside from that I quite liked the book. The things that bothered me didn't bother me enough to make reading it a chore by any means. I liked the chemistry between the main leads that develops.
It felt natural and was very sweet. The villain was freaking scary and end battle was epic. There are eleven beautiful full page illustrations in this. ELEVEN. Most light novels I've read have half that.
One complaint that wound up not being a complaint because it was so ridiculous it actually became funny was how absolutely mental Sonia got about Chris' beard.
Take a look at the man on the cover. That teeny baby barely more than peach fuzz crop of hair he's sporting was likened to a "forest" and made him "look like a bear" and it was so appalling she fainted at the first sight of it. etc etc. It's just... XD
Oh, there's an age gap of 16 years between the main characters. My checklist of things that remove the ick from that kind of situation happened, so it doesn't bother me any, personally, but if that sort of thing bothers you no matter what then there's your warning.
Secondly, I wish Sonia had either been told about her family curse right away or have them have a better reason to hide it from her other than "we don't want to stress her out! D:"
Because having her just dumped into this situation not being made aware of what's happening and why is actually kind of cruel.
Having been told as the reader that she's under a curse, it made me want to smack my forehead as I watched her waffle and dance around the idea of a curse after all that's happened and is happening, but maybe if I'd gone into it as blind as her I might not have felt like that as much? idk
Aside from that I quite liked the book. The things that bothered me didn't bother me enough to make reading it a chore by any means. I liked the chemistry between the main leads that develops.
It felt natural and was very sweet. The villain was freaking scary and end battle was epic. There are eleven beautiful full page illustrations in this. ELEVEN. Most light novels I've read have half that.
One complaint that wound up not being a complaint because it was so ridiculous it actually became funny was how absolutely mental Sonia got about Chris' beard.
Take a look at the man on the cover. That teeny baby barely more than peach fuzz crop of hair he's sporting was likened to a "forest" and made him "look like a bear" and it was so appalling she fainted at the first sight of it. etc etc. It's just... XD
Oh, there's an age gap of 16 years between the main characters. My checklist of things that remove the ick from that kind of situation happened, so it doesn't bother me any, personally, but if that sort of thing bothers you no matter what then there's your warning.
July 12, 2019
Standard romance story... The feel was closer to a faery tale. The standard tropes were there, and there were some cute (if predictable) moments. Nice to pass some time, but not memorable. The illustrations were pretty though.
September 7, 2022
Never thought I'd see beard-phobia as a plot point, but here we are.
July 20, 2024
Being a total manga fangirl, I finally decided to check out light novels. Let me tell you, I'm hooked! This novel was just what I needed for some chill reading.
This story's about this awesome princess, Sonia de Claire. She's super positive and determined, on her way to an arranged marriage (talk about plot!). But forget damsels in distress, this princess is on a mission to fix up her dukedom. It's like a cute adventure with a hidden curse thrown in – so fun!
Sonia is hilarious. I won't lie, at first I was judging her a bit for hating her fiancé's beard (seriously, who does that?). Turns out, it's all part of this weird family curse – plot twist much?
This light novel was the perfect escape – lighthearted, funny, and with a touch of mystery. Totally giving it five stars! If you're into feel-good stories with strong girls, this is your jam. Plus, now I'm obsessed with light novels – thanks, Sonia!
This story's about this awesome princess, Sonia de Claire. She's super positive and determined, on her way to an arranged marriage (talk about plot!). But forget damsels in distress, this princess is on a mission to fix up her dukedom. It's like a cute adventure with a hidden curse thrown in – so fun!
Sonia is hilarious. I won't lie, at first I was judging her a bit for hating her fiancé's beard (seriously, who does that?). Turns out, it's all part of this weird family curse – plot twist much?
This light novel was the perfect escape – lighthearted, funny, and with a touch of mystery. Totally giving it five stars! If you're into feel-good stories with strong girls, this is your jam. Plus, now I'm obsessed with light novels – thanks, Sonia!
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