A Curse of Salt by Sarah Street

Pages: 340 

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books 

Released: 25th of May 2023 

A heartless king trapped by a curse

A brave sister searching for answers

And a love so strong it will drown the raging sea ...

THIS FAIRYTALE IS CURSED

Prepare for stormy seas and swoony romance in this addictive retelling of Beauty and the Beast set on board a cursed ship where love blooms in the darkest of hearts ...

A heartless beast

A sister's sacrifice

And a love so strong it will drown the raging sea ...

THIS FAIRYTALE IS CURSED

In a kingdom that fears the sea, Ria Lucroy longs to be brave.

Bodies are washing ashore and everyone knows who's to blame. Legends of the Heartless King shroud the continent in fear; they call him a pirate, a monster, a god. When his mercenaries raid her father's merchant ship, Ria's family is faced with a horrifying demand. They will spare his life, in exchange for one of his daughters.

Determined to save her sisters, Ria launches herself into the world of pirates. Face-to-face with the Heartless King, she finds he is far more than the stories told. He is a man, with a human name and blood-stained hands, bound to the seas by a centuries-old curse. As their chemistry blooms into something more, Ria finds herself caught in an ancient web of secrets.

Battling creatures of the deep alongside those that reign its surface, Ria discovers how to love a heartless man and that some curses aren't so easy to break.

What I Have to Say 

What could be better than a version of beauty and the beast set on a pirate ship, I really loved this book. I have read so many retellings of beauty and the beast, but they always manage to surprise me. And this one is completely unlike any I've ever read.  The addition of pirates to this fairy tale just made it perfect for me. 

Ria is a wonderful character. I really liked her loyalty, her daring and her pluck. She was everything I love in a YA main character. Pairing her with the Heartless King and fitting her into the rest of the crew, made for just the perfect cast of characters. I loved every single one of them and it really felt like they fit together as a good crew. 

The prose in this book was beautiful, making it a joy to read as well as being just a damned good story. 

I want more adventures from this crew and this ship!! 

5 stars 

My thanks goes to Hodder and Netgalley for providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 496 

Publisher: Bloomsbury 

Released: 29th of January 2019 

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.

What I Have to Say 

Until I read this book, I thought that I was fed up of Beauty and the Beast retellings. I mean there are some amazing ones out there, but in the last few years, we've had rather a lot quite close together. But A Curse So Dark and Lonely is a Beauty and the Beast retelling like no other. It was a beautifully unique take on the story while also keeping the heart of the story strong and powerful. 

Obviously I have to comment on Harper's cerebral palsy. This is the first character I've seen in a fantasy story with a disability like this and I felt it was handled beautifully. I'd love to see a review from some with cerebral palsy myself as I can't say anything about the accuracy of the writing, but Kemmerer made sure that it was a part of who she was and while also making sure not to see her only as her cerebral palsy. Harper was beautiful, strong, capable and determined. She wanted to learn how to do everything and refused to let her disability hold her back, except when it came to dancing (because who isn't going to be put off by passed experiences?) It felt so real and I loved her so much. 

The fact that Rhen went through most of the story not as a physical beast was so interesting. I had my doubts about it at first, but it worked so well. Because at the start of the story? Rhen was a bit of a beast personality-wise. It was interesting to see how much the curse had made him close himself off, how the very fact that he was turning into a monster at the end of every season and killing everyone he cared about was shutting him off and making it pretty impossible for him to find the love that would break the curse. Until Harper of course. Watching him and Harper move around each other and slowly open up to each other was also just perfect. 

I think this is the retelling of Beauty and the Beast that has felt the most real to me. Because the love was so real that it hurt. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with this copy for review.