Summary:
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 eighteenth 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 Lacy. 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.
Thoughts:
Like many others, I love Beauty and the Beast and I can’t get enough BatB retellings. This was such an interesting take on the original that it kept the story feeling fresh and new which I appreciated.
The setting to this book is pretty neat. It starts out in modern day DC and then our heroine is accidentally transported to another world. Or maybe a world within a parallel dimension. Either way, we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Harper ends up in Emberfall, a kingdom in a pre-industrial world. So not only does Harper have to deal with essentially being captive due to the circumstances of the curse, but the weirdness of the cursed castle, and being in a completely unfamiliar world. I felt like the setting was a good choice because, ultimately, it helped with Harper being able to gain confidence and control over her own life.
The thing I liked most about this is that it’s a story about a girl coming into her own. By the end of the story Harper is so much more confident then she is at the start. She’s done letting everyone else’s circumstances determine her life path, she’s taking charge, making decisions for her own future. I also loved that she never let her disability get her down. Yes, she has certain limitations, but she’s capable is so many other ways. It’s just something normal for her, part of her life, not something to define her. I think there’s a great contrast there how her brother treats her at the beginning, like she’s incapable, and how Rhen and Grey see her once she comes to Emberfall, that helps her gain this confidence in her abilities. She’s capable and determined right from the beginning, but she doesn’t believe in herself. And that’s what she learns throughout the story. I loved that.
Besides Harper, I loved the other main characters too. Grey and Rhen were interesting to get to know. They’re both prickly with soft underbellies but in totally different ways. Grey is so disciplined in everything he does. Rhen gives all appearances of being completely undisciplined but once you get to know him you see how he’s actually very calculated in everything he does–even if it’s to his own detriment. The author is so great at creating emotional connections between the characters and the reader. I love it when I can stand in the character’s shoes and experience what they’re feeling, and this book delivers that in spades. There are so many great moments between Harper and Rhen and also Harper and Grey as they’re getting to know each other. There’s also a lot of those types of moments between Grey and Rhen. Bonding! I love bonding!
I feel like there are things about this that should have bothered me, like Harper coming in and suddenly here’s this teenager that’s going to save the world, because there is just so very much of that in YA that I get tired of it after a while. And yet, I didn’t mind it at all because this was all about Harper’s journey. So, kudos for making my usual niggles fly by the wayside with this one.
There was one or two small thing that I thought could have been better. One is a reveal later on near the end of the book. Well, it was fairly heavily foreshadowed in my opinion, so it wasn’t really one of those jaw dropping a surprises to me like it could have been. (Also, selfishly, I really wanted the story to go in another direction regarding the relationships but….well.) The other is that I thought the villain was pretty one dimensional. But those were tiny things that didn’t really take away much from my enjoyment reading this.
Overall, I really loved this unique retelling of an old tale. 4.5/5 stars.
Way Too Fantasy 
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it! And yes totally loved Harper’s journey to “find herself” and the bonding moments between the prince and his knight. 😁 It will be interesting to see what book 2 holds 🤔
Yeah, I am really intrigued to see where the story goes from here. 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it! I loved this retelling and loved Harper as the heroine.
I loved Harper, she’s a great heroine! I had a lot of fun reading this one.
Glad you enjoyed it! Excellent review. I added this to my retelling challenge. 😉
Thank you! I hope you love it!
I don’t think I’ve read a bad review of this yet! One of these days I’m going to get my own copy😁
It was really fun. I honestly did not expect to like it so much but it drew me in. 🙂
Glad to see you enjoyed this one! I also love a good Beauty and the Beat retelling, but the modern setting really held me back from picking it up (what can I say, if it’s a world I recognize, I’m less interested, haha). I didn’t realize another world was involved, though, so that’s interesting! The characters sound really well done, I think I’ll have to look into this after all. Great review!
Yeah, the modern setting through me off at first, too. But then once they got into the other world I didn’t mind too much? I liked it a lot. 🙂 Thanks!
I love retellings and I have had my eye on this. My reading is so busy thought for the next two months. Perhaps I’ll try and pick up an audio copy if one is available at some point.
Lynn 😀
Once you get used to audios, you’ll probably find yourself reading a lot more books. If you’re anything like me lol. 🙂
Oh yay I am glad you enjoyed this book! I’ve seen mixed reviews among my friends and am kind of on the fence about whether or not I will enjoy it, but I am now willing to give the book a try. Great review!
I can totally see it getting mixed reviews, there were things that probably should have bothered me, but since I had such a great connection to the characters and the emotional content was great, any issues passed by the wayside for me. 🙂
Oh, I also love a good retelling! My favourite retelling of Beauty & The Beast is Robin McKinley’s Beauty, which I read when I was much younger. I recently bought the book (I’d originally read it from our town library) and I’m looking forward to rereading it and seeing if it’s as great as I remember! I’ll have to check this one out, too 😀
Robin McKinley is one of my favorites! I love a lot of her retellings, such a great author. Hope you enjoy this one!
Yes, she’s brilliant! The Sword & The Crown is one of my favourite fantasy books *ever*.
I’ve only read The Blue Sword, need to read that one too.
I don’t know why but I was expecting this book to be “another YA fantasy” but so far, I’ve only read positive reviews. I’m intrigued! 😀
Yeah! I mean, in some ways it is? But I also found it highly engaging!