Reviews with content warning for Death - The Cursed and the Broken

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars!

I really enjoyed this one once I got a few chapters in. While I like a little more world building before the action starts, I didn’t let that deter me from falling into the story.

There were plot twists I didn’t see coming, that left me gasping along the way! Just enough smut mixed in for me. Tropes included enemies to lovers/fated destiny/arranged marriage.

The only other qualms I had were that occasionally the dialogue seemed more modern than the time period within the setting, and certain connections felt a bit rushed in moments. Overall though this book left me hungry for more, and I think the plot has a lot of potential to unfold in the following books. Katarni is a strong female lead and the character development really started strengthening towards the end.

Thank you so much to Booksirens, Chloe, and the publishing company, it was so fun to escape into this new world for a couple days. I look forward to the sequel. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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clericgirl's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The Cursed and The Broken is the first in what I believe is to be a duology, and a fantastic first step into the ever increasing gothic world of witches. I got an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I only gave this book 3 stars, because it was enjoyable, some things held problems for me that I couldn’t seem to get over.

Firstly I wanna say the good. This novel is an indulgent piece when it comes to fantasy romance. You don’t need to work to get what you want out of it - and this may seem like a bad thing, it really isn’t. There’s no overly complex magic system or setting. The author does a fantastic job at simply putting what the world and the magic and fantasy is and then leading you into the actual plot and romance of the book. And with this book being promoted as a romantasy with spice, I’m not here looking for some amazing and world shattering fantasy novel, I’m here to enjoy myself and get that feeling instantaneously.

I loved the setting of Hungary as the backdrop as it’s not one I’ve seen used much.

One thing I can critique about the marketing is that “for fans of Kerri Maniscalo and Jennifer L. Armentrout” isn’t exactly accurate. The book hits From Blood and Ash exactly. If you love that series then you’ll probably love this one. However, some plot points of the book and smaller scenes feel very similar to the FBAA series and for me who read it so recently I was a little disinterested. Kerri Maniscalo’s comp - for me - doesn’t line up as well as I thought it would. Instead I would comp this more as From Blood and Ash meets These Hollow Vows. But instead of fae, vampires or werewolves you have witches instead.

Another thing I loved was how gruesome scenes could really become! It really set the dark vibe.

And the spice in this was quite good! However I felt more intrigued by the teasing that came with talking then the sex itself. I hope in the future we can get a bit more foreplay, and have Kitarni really explore her fiancé.

Now onto the stuff I had issues with. And from this point on there will be spoilers.

——— spoilers ahead ——

The pacing is a little all over the place. For the first 50% of the book it’s quite slow and only after that half way mark do we get to the actual romance of the book. We are introduced to the love interest - Dante - early on as a mystery man, but it’s obvious that this is her to be betrothed. From 75% to the finish the plot reaches a sprint. There’s so much to do and succeed that it seems like so much. Characters and relationships are much less fleshed out and it made me not root for them - especially in the final battle.

Another problem I had was the inconsistency of the world building when it came to feminism. Kitarni’s village is one of all woman and at first we are introduced that it is a self sustaining and hidden place. No one goes without and while no one is rich, everyone lives a comfortable life and can eat meat more then the average citizen. We are also told that the girls are more sexually liberated - they don’t have to marry and often have kids out of wedlock. Yet once the Wolfblood Clan comes in, it’s suddenly changes. Kitarni’s sister - Eszter - dances with some men, some that have caught her eye, but rather then going for them, she has a regency like waiting period, to see if anyone calls. It’s then discussed that she wants to marry rich to support herself and it’s important to do so… even when we were told the village was self sustaining. From there it seems that this sexual liberation was not true, and not in a Kitarni discovers the way the village is run to idealise a certain way of life (even though this is told at the last chapter), but in a miscontinuation kind of way. There was a chance for this realisation to come as Kitarni distances herself from her home, but this idea of a “feminist girlbossing” village of witches and “I need to secure a marriage to have a good life” was SO close together. It just really made it hard for me to enjoy because I thought that a NA fantasy for once was actually going to have a self sustained FMC but fell into “we rely on men one way or the other”.

Overall I do think that if this books ticks your trope boxes (enemies to lovers, only one bed trope, arranged marriage, Witches, dark magic and folklore!) then give it a go! It’s an enjoyable read and will not bog you down in world building or political intrigue. It’s romance and plot melded together seemlessly

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