Summary
Harper is starting to wonder if things could get any worse. Her mother is dying. Her father got in deep with loan sharks and then disappeared. Now her brother Jake is trying to hold off the loan sharks, but they are starting to push him to do things he doesn’t want to do. Then one night, as Harper is waiting for Jake to finish a job, she sees someone kidnapping a woman. She can’t just ignore it. Even though she only has a tire iron for a weapon, and she has a bad foot, she goes after the attacker.
And she ends up in Emberfall.
Prince Rhen is cursed. Time and time again he turns into a monster, destroying his home, his people, his land. The only thing that could break the curse is love. That’s why his guard, Grey, travels to another world to find young women willing to meet a prince and take a chance on love. But on the most recent trip, he returns with an unwilling companion. Harper is desperate to get home to her family. But the magic won’t work again until the monster returns. And what are the chances for love for Rhen with a young woman who doesn’t want to be there and who only wants to get back to her life?
Review
I fell in love with Brigid Kemmerer’s work when I first read Letters to the Lost. So between the fact that this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and the fact that she wrote it, there wasn’t a moment’s doubt that I would be reading this book! And it totally lived up to my expectations!
The parallels to the original story are clear – although no humongous library like in the movie. But to be honest, there’s not a lot of down time in the story for Harper to get in leisurely reading. There are lots of original twists that help this story stand solidly on its own. Rhen changes into the monster on a cycle. So he’s not always physically a beast. Also, a lot of the story is tied to what has happened to Emberfall while the prince has sequestered himself in the castle. I loved all of the parallels – and all of the original pieces as well.
The characters in this are fantastic. Every inch of progress in the relationships is hard-earned on both sides. The secondary characters are just as great as the main three. I loved that we got some quality interaction with Harper’s family in the book. Great stuff! I also realized that I have a thing for fantasy stories where someone from our world is pulled into a magical world. I can think of several books with that plot that I have loved and re-read over and over. This is one I will revisit, too.
The action in this was consistent all the way through to the end. And what an end! Book 2 is a year away, but we already know the characters it’s going to focus on, and the author sets up some great material to launch us in a new direction. Fantastic! I highly recommend this book, and I will certainly be reading book two, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, in 2020. [Violence]