A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1) by Brigid Kemmerer - Restarting August 14th 2023

[Christina]

Up to Chapter 10

(view spoiler)[

Okay, so maybe Harper will think twice before ever trying to help someone else on the streets. Not only does she get kidnapped and taken to a magical world, she also can't seem to escape the Prince. But, of course once in the magical world she tries to help a mother and her children and almost gets herself killed until the Prince shows up and helps her.

I don't want to say she has the damsel in distress vibe but so far she's always needed saving some her situations she gets in. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Up to Chapter 20

(view spoiler)[

Harper has a heart of gold but she keeps getting herself in sticky situations. I feel like the Prince is falling for her already but of course she still wants nothing to do with him. (hide spoiler)]

[Helen 2.0]

Okay I've now started too. Through Ch 13 (view spoiler)[Okay heavy Stockholm syndrome vibes and also "not like the other girls" vibes... which, NOPE. Not for me. I'm gonna need a reeaaaaally good plot to outweigh how much these tropes annoy me. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Helen I agree with you on both of those vibes. The plot does get better in my opinion.

I stopped at chapter 30 last night so...…

(view spoiler)[

I love that Harper is the one who's really making the prince change his ways because he was so selfish before she came along. She's pretending to be a princess now, lord this can't end well. The fact that it took the prince this long to realize that he has endless food and his people are starving to death irks my nerves like dude come on your people still need you even if you turn into a monster sometime during the season, no wonder other places think there are no royals there because he's not taking care of his people. (hide spoiler)]

[lj ♡]

i'll be starting this later today! it's been on my tbr for a really long time so i'm excited to get going on it :)

[Helen 2.0]

Christina wrote: "Helen I agree with you on both of those vibes. The plot does get better in my opinion.

I stopped at chapter 30 last night so...…



I love that Harper is the one who's really making the prince ch..."

Yes omg (view spoiler)[I wanted to facepalm several times with this man like... you didn't realize you could give that food away??? And also, you didn't realize that kidnapping women might not be the best way to get them to fall in love with you??? My dude........ (hide spoiler)]

[lj ♡]

up to ch. 13
(view spoiler)[
i feel like i haven't read a generic (for lack of a better term - it's still good!) fantasy in a while, and i missed the genre! this is a great setup. i love harper, and tbh i think her dynamic with grey is more interesting than with rhen? side note rhen is such an angsty boy oml. i hope he'll get over that. so far my main issue is the intense 'not like other girls' energy rhen has toward harper. (hide spoiler)]

[lj ♡]

Helen 2.0 wrote: "Okay I've now started too. Through Ch 13 [spoilers removed]"

yes exactly!!

[Christina]

Up to Chapter 40

(view spoiler)[

Rhen and Harper absolutely love each other but Harper also loves her family and wants to go check on them. Rhen lets her because he knows the change is coming. Grey didn't want to take Harper home but he can't disobey an order from Rhen. (hide spoiler)]

[Helen 2.0]

I gave up at around 60% - just not in the right mood for it

[lj ♡]

up to ch. 39
(view spoiler)[
aaaah things are happeningggg
i really like harper and i'm warming up to rhen. zo is interesting, i want to see more of her. i can understand harper's decision to go home but it feels so wrong! also i have a feeling karis luran is going to be a character we've already seen, or something... maybe she's lilith? i'm not sure. (hide spoiler)]

[lj ♡]

up to ch 55
(view spoiler)[
lots of action in this last 3rd! i love harper and i like rhen but i still don't quite buy their romance for some reason lol which is a bit of an issue considering it's the centerpoint of the book. i needed a little slower burn for them maybe? also a lot of rhen's attraction specifically seems like more lust than love which is throwing me off as an asexual... but i hope things will sort out and i'm probably going to continue with this series regardless (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

lj ♡ wrote: "up to ch 55

lots of action in this last 3rd! i love harper and i like rhen but i still don't quite buy their romance for some reason lol which is a bit of an issue considering it's the centerpoint..."

(view spoiler)[

I agree with you on the whole not really believing their romance, but maybe it gets better in the second book. I saw Harper showing Grey more affection than she did with Rhen. I'm glad that the curse is broken but now Grey is in hiding. Wonder what the next book holds. (hide spoiler)]

[lj ♡]

i finished!
(view spoiler)[
i liked the ending! the combination of characters from the human world & ones from emberfall made for an interesting mix. i'll be reading the next book. i love harper but i hope to learn to love rhen too, bc my indifference to him is killing any love i could have for their relationship! (hide spoiler)]