A Curse So Dark and Lonely
A curse traps two souls together across seasons as they discover a connection that transcends duty. Magic, isolation, and love play out slowly and painfully. Time becomes both captor and companion.
Everything You Need to Know About A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Harper is scraping by in Washington DC, keeping watch on the street while her brother works off their family's debts, when she sees a stranger trying to abduct a girl. She intervenes and gets pulled through a magical barrier into Emberfall instead. The kingdom is cursed: Prince Rhen relives the same autumn over and over, and at the end of each cycle he transforms into a monster that destroys everything around him. His guard commander Grey brings back a girl each season because the only way out is for one of them to fall in love with Rhen. Hundreds have failed.
Harper, who has cerebral palsy and zero patience for fairy tale nonsense, is not what either of them expected. She does not swoon and she does not buy the tragic prince routine. She strategizes, and she ends up caring more about Emberfall's starving, invaded people than about its prince, which is exactly what makes the difference.
The romance hinges on respect and mutual rescue, not physical attraction. Harper's disability is built into how she survives, her brain, not her body, saves her. Kemmerer gives you a prince who's both victim and architect of his own suffering, and watching him confront that is messy and real. The magic system has actual cost and consequence. Harper's voice is sardonic and sharp, never pitying, never precious.
Attempted assault. Kidnapping. Curse-induced compulsion toward sexual assault (not graphic but central to plot). Blood magic. Death.
Rhen isn't the villain, he's a victim being used by the actual magic-wielder. Harper gets kidnapped multiple times and keeps outsmarting her captors. The ending requires both of them to break the curse, not one sacrificing for the other. Harper's disability remains unchanged; she doesn't get 'better', she gets stronger.
If you want disabled rep that doesn't center trauma or miraculous cure, this is it. Fans of *The Cruel Prince* who wanted Jude to have more spine. Readers who love '90s YA heroines, smart mouths, bad decisions, actual stakes. Not for you if you need the romance to feel instant or easy.
Book one of the Cursebreakers trilogy, followed by A Heart So Fierce and Broken and A Vow So Bold and Deadly. This book resolves the central curse, so it works as a complete story on its own. The sequels shift focus to Grey and the conflict with Syhl Shallow rather than retelling events from another POV.
Reader Reviews
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!
