ARC Review: A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer
After reading A Curse so Dark and Lonely, a fairytale that meshed a contemporary world with a fantasy world, I knew I HAD to read the sequel. I looked forward to reading more about Prince Rhen, Harper, and of course Grey, so I was so excited to read A Heart so Fierce and Broken! Both books are available now, and also now on audiobook!
Thank you Bloomsbury for sending us this advance reader copy to review, which in no way influences my thoughts below.
A Heart So Fierce and Broken (Cursebreakers, #2)
by Brigid KemmererPublished by: Bloomsbury YA
on January 7, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings
Bookshop, IndieBound, iTunes
Goodreads
Find the heir, win the crown.
The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers.
Win the crown, save the kingdom.
Rumored to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen--until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall?
The heart-pounding, compulsively readable saga continues as loyalties are tested and new love blooms in a kingdom on the brink of war.
In the sequel to New York Times bestselling A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Brigid Kemmerer returns to the world of Emberfall in a lush fantasy where friends become foes and love blooms in the darkest of places.
Review
When I finished A Curse so Dark and Lonely, I thought we would be getting more Harper and Prince Rhen, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the book gave us a deeper view of the Kingdom of Emberfell through Grey’s journey and a new character – Lia Mara.
Both novels have a lot of set up in the first half of the book so by the mid-way point I was very invested in the world and journey and could not wait to see what happened next! A Curse So Dark and Lonely pulls us from the modern world where Harper and her brother are struggling with the harsh realities of life and the hand they were dealt, which is closely mirrored in A Heart So Fierce and Broken with Rhen in the Kingdom of Emberfell. This book is not set in the castle this time but with the peasants dealing with life and a kingdom in ruin and in need of some TLC.
Grey gets to connect and see the world that he missed while Prince Rhen and he were fighting their way through the spell of the first novel. It’s interesting to think about – in Beauty and the Beast, what happens when the Beast is turned back to human and a Prince? Where does he fit in the world and how did the world change while he was gone? That is a big part of what this book explores along with who Grey is to both his world and to himself.
I NEED book three now. I can only imagine the story that is going to be all about the conflict between Rhen, Harper, Grey, and Lia Mara.
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