Moonset Dreams

I’m going to attempt to write this in a way that doesn’t give too much away, because these books deserve to be read with no spoilers.

So…

A Curse So Dark and Lonely is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I cannot say enough good things about it.

Okay, lets start off with a disclaimer: I’m a HUGE fan of fairytale retellings. Add to this the fact that Beauty and the Beast is also my favorite fairytale, (hello, smart bookworm princess who doesn’t give a damn about the handsome idiot following her around the village, and instead goes to an enchanted castle filled with books??) and I was already hooked on this book before I read it.

Brigid Kemmerer starts her book off in modern D.C., and gives us a heroine named Harper, who has Cerebral Palsy, and who, while playing lookout for her brother, witnesses an attempted kidnapping and interferes, despite her disability, and despite her size. In doing so, she winds up being kidnapped, and is pulled into Rhen’s world. Rhen and his Lord Commander, Grey, have been cursed by the enchantress Lillith to replay the same scenario over and over again until Rhen can break the curse by getting a girl to fall in love with him. Over and over he has failed. Meanwhile, a beast is terrorizing Rhen’s people, which appears in a different form every time he fails, and Karis Luran, queen of Syhl Shallow, is determined to conquer his country. This is his final chance to break the curse.

Enter Harper, a girl who only wants to get back to her world – to her brother and ailing mother.

Without giving too much away, I will say that nothing in the book quite went as expected. Harper wants nothing to do with this, and Rhen and Harper do not fall easily in love. But they do, of course… maybe… actually, it’s more complicated than that.

I feel that Kemmerer mixes just the right amount of familiarity and originality in this novel to keep you turning the pages. I read this in two sittings.

Let’s talk about book 2: A Heart So Fierce and Broken.

Rhen is trying to stand against Karis Luran, while his country is falling apart because of rumors that he may not be the rightful heir. Meanwhile, the rightful heir is his most trusted friend and brother, who is hiding himself, and the truth with him.

This book is so good! It is also heartbreaking as heck.

The heroine in this story is another underdog – Lia Mara, the eldest daughter of Karis Luran, fallen from favor for her younger, slimmer, prettier, more perfect sister. Here’s what I love about this one: Lia Mara is not anything she is supposed to be. She’s not respected, she’s not a good fighter, yet she’s strong because she’s kind. It is an unabashedly feminine quality, and it is what makes her remarkable.

So in these two books, Kemmerer has given us two heroines that are not strong because of their physical prowess, but because of their minds and their hearts and their determination. It’s everything I’ve been missing in female fantasy books. Absolutely give me sword-wielding, butt-kicking, physically tough girls (I love them), but it’s also nice to see other forms of strength–smarts, compassion, loyalty–as the qualities that help the character succeed. This, for me, is something that separates her from other YA fantasy authors.

The second book ends in such heart-wrenching turmoil that I was simultaneously clamoring for and dreading the third book’s release. Kemmerer does such a good job of endearing the reader to her characters, that when they are pitted against each other, it hurts. She put my emotions through the ringer with the second book.

Book three brings these two books together–you’ll just have to read it. And do so soon, because the spinoff book, Forging Silver Into Stars is just… beautiful, and the next book, Carving Shadows Into Gold was just released! Stay tuned for a review on these two fabulous books in the coming weeks.