A Curse So Dark and Lonely

By: Brigid Kemmerer

Narrated by: Kate Handford, Davis Brooks, Matt Reeves

Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, read by Kate Handford, Davis Brooks and Matt Reeves.

A New York Times best seller!

In a lush, contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Brigid Kemmerer gives listeners another romance perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer.

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 18th 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. 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.

©2020 Brigid Kemmerer (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Has everything you'd want in a retelling of a classic fairy tale." (Jodi Picoult, New York Times best-selling author of A Spark of Light and Small Great Things)

"I couldn't get this creative, suspenseful take on 'Beauty and the Beast' out of my head." (Sara Holland, New York Times best-selling author of Everless)

"Absolutely spellbinding." (Stephanie Garber, number one New York Times best-selling author of Caraval and Legendary)

fun read

I liked this book a lot. fun read with a. nice twist at the end. hope there is a.sequel

Awwwwsome!!

Was on edge of my seat til the end🤩
I could not stop listening. Excited about the 2nd book 📚

The female lead?

The female lead ruins the book for me. I’ve just started it, several chapters in… but the female lead is extremely aggravating. She is teleported from DC to basically a castle. Most people would think there dreaming, maybe dead… she demands to know what happened. I get that, but also… how the fudge do you explain that to someone who doesn’t know magic exists? Instead this whole thing is just brushed over and she spends more time trying to get away from Grey and Ren? than realizing this is an entirely different place and where the hell is she going to go if this obviously isn’t America anymore. She takes a horse and basically goes out into the snow ( which magically happens, btw, but she doesn’t linger on that and keeps going ) with no plan whatsoever. WHERE IS SHE GOING TO GO??? I’m honestly so confused because there’s so little logical planning from her showing up to her trying to escape.

Then you have the male lead who keeps commenting about how all the other girls they’ve kidnapped before never would’ve fought him, and instead of running away, they would’ve been awed by the pretty, shiny things. Like Harper is ‘not like other girls’ sort of situation.

I like girls who can take care of themselves. But I’d much rather have a weak girl who is smart and has common sense than someone like Harper who just doesn’t think at all — literally, there is no thinking on her end other than a few commentary moments where she happens to notice that yeah, this is flipping weird.

It’s going to be a struggle to finish:

Good Story, but not amazing

This series was recommended to me by someone who read A Court of Thornes and Roses, which I loved, and so I wanted to check it out. The story line was interesting, definitely felt drawn out at parts and under developed at other parts. The narration was not great. Definitely lacked emotion. It literally sounded like someone was just reading a boring book to you that they had zero interest in. I did finish the whole series cause I can’t just not know how it ended. But unlike other series that I will listen to again and again, I will never listen to this one again. Might be better to buy the books for this one and let your imagination do the narrating instead. :) I think I may have loved it more that way.

Great listen!!

Wonderful sorry! I was intrigued and engaged the entire time. Wonderful twists and strong writing. I hope there’s a sequel!

Yes My Lady

I loved how this was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I highly recommend this to anyone. The narrator's were fantastic on their performance.

Wow

A Curse So Dark And Lonely by @brigidkemmerer was an instant favorite and I didn’t expect it. I worried that the hype train was getting to me but guys, it was amazing. It was both everything sweet and magical that a fairytale retelling should be and dark and atmospheric in the way it handled magic and monsters and the human condition. I don’t think that it could have been any better because it was just about perfect. This is the vibe I like to enter for fairytales and that is why Rumpelstiltskin is my all time favorite fairytale and @juliecdao is the retelling queen. She does dark so well. So if you like her style please check this book out and vice versa. Cannot wait for the next book to come out you guys.

Loved it!

This is not my normal genre AT ALL, but I loved the characters & the story. This was a quick, mesmerizing listen. When it gives me all the feels, it gets all the stars!

Above was pretty much my original review from when I read it the first time. This go around I listened to the audiobook version. I still loved it, still gave me the feels I wanted from it. Still gets all 5 stars. Looking forward to listening to book 2!

Wowowowow

This was a totally unexpected delight! I can’t believe I waited this long to read this- but I’m also glad that I did so that I don’t have to wait too long for the next one! Highly recommend!

Love, love, love.

Great plot, wonderful characters, impeccable narrative and amazing voice actors. This has got to be my favorite read of the year and I cannot wait to read the sequel.