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Book: “The Cursed” by Harper L. Woods
Publishing Info: Bramble, September 2023
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Betrayal.
He was the deception waiting in the night; the truth I never saw coming. After a lifetime of manipulation, I finally learned the truth. I was his puppet―even if I never saw my strings.
Even knowing how deep his betrayal runs, I can’t shake the undeniable connection between Gray and I―the way a single glance from him sets my soul on fire. We are not the same. We’re enemies, poised to battle for the future of the very thing I’d wanted to destroy.
With the Covenant gone, the revenge I thought I wanted is no longer my priority. The witches that remain played no role in my aunt’s death, and the only person standing in the way of righting those wrongs is the very man determined to keep me in his bed.
But the remaining members of the Coven will never forgive me for the role I played in their demise and subjugation, and the worst part of all is that I can’t even blame them for it. I’d been naive, believing my own delusions of grandeur when destiny clearly had other plans for me. Plans that had been set in motion centuries before my birth.
But even that had been a lie, and now it is my duty to do everything in my power to undo it.
To protect my Coven from my husband’s hatred―no matter what the cost.
Previously Reviewed: “The Coven”
Review: As readers will see if they check out my review of “The Coven,” I had a fairly middling reading experience with the first book in this duology. However, as they were being published back to back, essentially, I had placed a review request for both books initially. So, unless I had DNF’d the first book, I was fairly committed to reading and reviewing the second. Alas, here is a case where this commitment sadly lead me astray and into an even more frustrating reading experience.
I’ll begin this review by admitting that this book started off on the wrong foot for me. I, personally, struggle with a few different romance tropes. One of them is the “miscommunication/misunderstanding” trope, and the other is the “betrayal” trope. The latter is particularly egregious when the “betrayal” in question is so obviously not what it seems and then the reader is forced to deal with a lead character who seems to twist their brain in two simply to maintain the righteous indignation of how terrible the betrayal was in the first place. And while the actual betrayal in this book had more substance than other examples that come to mind, it was still a frustrating read. Made all the more so since we spent more time in Gray’s head in this book, so the reader had insights into his feelings and motives that Willow then didn’t have. Making the switch back to her own POV frustrating at times, when she was behind on things the reader already knew.
The plot of this one was also severely lacking. In that if I sat down right now and tried to actually put the events of this book down on a plotting structure, I couldn’t. The first half to three quarters of the story is severely lacking in any plot whatsoever (which is a surprise given some of the massive reveals that came in the first book), and then the final quarter is jammed pack with action. But it was action that was completely disconnected from character motivation or arc. Willow spends the majority of the book hating Gray but then seems to do a complete 180 on him towards the end, for very little real reason.
I also struggled with the romance itself. This book leans in hard to the concept of the “body betraying you” idea. In that many of the romance scenes between Willow and Gray are a bit fraught with mixed messages on her part. Now, I give a lot of leeway to romance books on this front, as this sort of romantic tension is standard for the genre and, frankly, often quite enjoyable to read. But it didn’t work as well here simply because Willow’s stated feelings towards Gray were so extreme. Usually you have the sort of tension when characters are “enemies” in the sense that they profess to just not like one another (or are annoyed/competitive with/etc.). But it works less well when one of the characters is literally saying she wants to kill the other. It’s the kind of extreme contrast that undercuts both sides. On one hand, she’s clearly into him so saying she wants to “kill him” reads as ridiculously out of touch with herself. And on the other hand, if she does want to actually kill him, it makes no sense whatsoever for her to be getting into these romantically physical situations with him.
I really struggled with this book. The first book was notably weak on world-building and had some plotting struggles, and this one doubled down on both of these areas. Both the characters and what should have been exciting plot stakes seemed to drown beneath a frustrating amount of romantic angst and tension. For those who really loved the first book, this may still be a satisfying read. But if you struggled with the first, I think this one will be an even greater let-down, unfortunately.
Rating 6: A severe lack of world-building and plotting leaves this one to wallow in rather shallow characters and a frustrating romance.
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Cursed” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists but it should be on Hero Betrays His Heroine.
The Library Ladies 