Hello Patrons! 🙂
I finished A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer last night and OOF! I am so disappointed. Let’s talk about the ending of Vow first and then I’ll chat about my feelings on the series as a whole.
I am going to be spoiling a lot so if you don’t want to be spoiled come back to this later.
Let’s get into it!
The Ending of A Vow so Bold and Deadly:
What I Liked:
Grey 100/10 the best character!
The ending made sense for the series. It ended in a hopeful way. The two kingdoms are going to work through stuff together.
What I Disliked:
The conflict made 0 sense. Like if any of the characters talked for 10 minutes everything could have been solved and Lilith could have been vanquished in chapter 5.
Harper annoyed me by the end. She wanted to be a martyr so bad, and Rhen didn’t seem to notice until the end.
Lilith was just *eye roll* such a mustache twirling cartoon villain. Like girl he doesn’t like you get over it and find another kingdom to mess with. When she was vanquished it was kind of anti-climatic because neither Rhen nor Grey did it. Someone else saves the day.
Rhen had such an identity crisis at the end that made me want to bang my head against the wall. Like figure it out! 0/10.
My Thoughts on the Cursebreaker Series (A Curse so Dark and Lonely, A Heart so Fierce and Broken, and A Vow so Bold and Deadly):
My Likes:
I liked the Cerebral Palsy rep in the first book. Harper was a super cool heroine.
The series wasn’t super high fantasy like LOTR
I liked that it wasn’t a direct retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There were some new elements introduced.
The first book had an interesting conflict, past just being cursed. There was a political aspect.
I liked that there wasn’t any love triangles! So refreshing.
My Dislikes:
Each of the books started so slow. (I get the first book for world building, but the other two should have started quicker in my opinion).
Rhen and Harpers relationship past book 1 lost any potential interest with me. (I liked how Cindy from Read with Cindy on YouTube, identified it as the “Tamlin Affect” which is making one male character worse so another can be seen as better. Grey is already 10/10, you don’t need to drag Rhen to prove it.)
Karis Luran (Lia Mara’s mom) and Lilith were super one dimensional. I wanted some backstory and didn’t get any.
Lilith was infuriating but we already talked about that.
Lot of subpar angst for no reason. I want quality angst ma’am. Gucci level angst, not Walmart.
My Ratings and Overall Thoughts:
I gave A Vow so Bold and Deadly 3.75/5 stars on Goodreads. I would give Cursebreakers overall a 4/5 stars. Honestly the first book was fantastic, while the other two pales in comparison. If you are looking for a good Beauty and the Beast retelling, I would pick up book 1 and leave it at that. I was disappointed at the end of the series.
Sorry I couldn’t be more optimistic, but I can’t sugar coat the truth. If you’ve read A Vow so Bold and Deadly let me know your thoughts in the comments. I started reading Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant. It follows a young black girl experiencing writers block after starting an exclusive writers’ program. I just wanted to read some #BlackJoy before the end of the month, because black narratives aren’t just pain and sorrow. I don’t have thoughts on it currently. I am barely into the first chapter. I will update you all in a couple days on that.
Tell me what you’re reading in the comments below! Are you reading anything for Black History Month? Are you reading any romance? Let’s chat.
Take care of yourselves, wash your hands, wear a mask in public (!!!!!), practice self-care, and…
Stay Golden! 🙂
-Leila
Leila's Library 
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