I DNF at page 50 and I’m super sad about it but I have 8 other beauty and the beast retellings lined up for inspiration so hopefully one of those works better for me.
Here’s the blurb:
Merit Cravan refused to fulfill her obligation to marry a prince, leading to a fairy godling’s curse. She will be forced to live as a beast forever, unless she agrees to marry a man of her mother’s choosing before her eighteenth birthday.
Tevin Dumont has always been a pawn in his family’s cons. The prettiest boy in a big family, his job is to tempt naïve rich girls to abandon their engagements, unless their parents agree to pay him off. But after his mother runs afoul of the beast, she decides to trade Tevin for her own freedom.
Now, Tevin and Merit have agreed that he can pay off his mother’s debt by using his con-artist skills to help Merit find the best match . . . but what if the best match is Tevin himself?
And here’s my live comments while reading:
Merit, 17 and betrothed to an old man, refuses to marry him. The fairy godling Verity gifted her a curse that if she doesn’t marry who her mother wishes by her 18th birthday she will become a beast in truth.
I wan confused for most of the first chapter. Despite getting bits and glimpses of the world building, I couldn’t figure out who Florencia was in the grand scheme of things. When she’s caught on the Beast’s property stealing a flower, she trades her son’s life as payment.
So in the second chapter thr point of view switches from Florencia to her son, Tevin. (It stays in third person.)
I love that the Beast is female because my current work in progress is named “The Phantom Ink” which is also a gender reversal beauty and the beast retelling. So far, Curses feels more YA than my anticipated storyline but we shall see if it ends of being a suitable comp.
After a long chapter 2 I’m feeling a little worn by the choppy prose and disconnected vibe. Things feel jolty overall and I guess, “unsmooth.” But I want to love this story so much because it’s so similar in plot and premise to my own. So far there’s more telling than showing and I’m not feeling emotionally invested but irritated by having to reread sentences that don’t flow.
By chapter 3, I’m more confused than I want to be and there seems to be a lack of focus. There’s too many characters and there’s not an obvious want for the heroine and hero for much too long. I feel dragged along and am not hooked still.
After reading some other reader reviews it looks like the book’s story and clarity improves after a while but I’m not very patient. It received 63% 5-star rating on Amazon Which is great but when I skimmed ahead there was little that excites me.
Cassie Swindon 