I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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. 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.

Short and Sweet

Prince Rhen has been cursed to relive his 18th year over and over, all he needs to do to break the curse is have a girl fall in love with him. Unfortunately that’s easier said than done because Rhen turns into a monster at the end of each autumn destroying anything and everybody in his path. Rhen knows that this is his last chance to find love or he’ll never break the curse. Harper has her own share of problems her mother is dying, her father is nowhere to be found, and her brother is trying to keep everything together. When Harper tries to help someone on the streets she’s suddenly not in DC anymore but in Emberfall.

Characters

Harper: Like I mentioned before Harper has a hard life back at home, her mother is dying of cancer, and her father left them in a lot of debt that her brother Jake now has to work for a crime lord to pay off. Harper also has cerebral palsy and she functions pretty well (I also had to google more about this and learned that there are different types.) Anyway Harper doesn’t let this get in the way of anything she wants which I like, so it bothered me that her brother thought she couldn’t do certain things just because of it because I learned that Harper is strong willed and capable of a lot.

Rhen: Rhen our prince, our beast, our cursed soul. Rhen also has a difficult life not only is he cursed but every season he relives his 18th year, he turns into a beast, a beast that killed his family and his people. It’s not easy for Rhen to see how much damage he has caused and he feels like he’d be better off dead so he can’t hurt anyone anymore.

Grey: Rhen’s guard commander, and the only person who has survived Rhen’s attacks. Grey is loyal and I like that about him he does his job and he does it well.

Lilith: The enchantress who cursed Rhen. Honestly, Lilith is a very evil person and likes to inflict pain on Rhen and watch him suffer and fail for her own amusement.

Romance

Harper and Rhen: This relationship did not start off well at all. Harper didn’t trust Rhen because he’s been getting Grey to bring back girls for him (that sounds awful) anyway so she’s trapped in Emberfall when she should be back at home with her family. Harper didn’t really like being around him which made it hard for Rhen because she was obviously his last chance to break the curse. When they did have their moments it was cute and made my little heart happy like when they danced together.

Harper and Grey: I didn’t really want to mention these two together because um she obviously needs to be with Rhen, but there were some sparks between these two. Harper trusted Grey long before she started to trust Rhen.

My Thoughts

~ So this was a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast and I suppose it was darker than usually but I liked it.

~ Harper had hard decisions to make, she could either stay in Emberfall and help things get better, or go back home to her family.

~ Harper is also very caring she helped a lot of the people in Emberfall. One of my favorites was Freya, who soon becomes Harpers lady-in-waiting.

~ Once Rhen begins to travel past his castle grounds he learns how much his people have actually been suffering and it effects him. He also realizes that another kingdom is trying to close in on his which makes him strategize about how to stop them and a war if possible.

~ There is a lot of representation in this book Harper with her Cerebral Palsy, Jake and his boyfriend Noah, and Noah is also black. I liked the amount of representation in this book it was nice and kind of unexpected.

~ One thing I didn’t like was how Harper assumed Rhen didn’t care for his people because he hasn’t gone to see them, but its only because he’s been hiding in the castle to protect them from the monster.

~ The ending made me sad like where is Grey and will he come back?

Overall

I loved this book and I’m so glad I read it. It was different from other Beauty and the Beast retellings I’ve read. I thought this would be a standalone but I guess I was wrong and I look forward to seeing how things go. Overall it was a really good book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys retellings.