I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

When I read the synopsis and saw sapphic thriller, I knew I had to read this one. While we have seen a wave of new sapphic books releasing, I always get super excited whenever we get new releases in the thriller, fantasy, and sci-fi genres. And while I do think this book will find its readers and its fans, I don’t think I’ll be one of them in the end, unfortunately.

I think this book played up the expectations of a thriller a bit too much, where it’s more of a psychological look at characters falling apart after surviving a shared, traumatic event. Most of the action of the book actually happens before the book has even begun, with both the main characters and readers unsure of what actually happened. I do think this book could have worked for me if structured a bit differently because the build-up of the book does seem to play up the thriller/mystery aspect of the main character’s past and the truth of this event, when in reality this book ends up focusing on different aspects of this story. It’s more about what the unknowing does to the MC, rather than what the truth actually is. While this is a unique premise, and one I can definitely get behind, it just wasn’t what I was expecting, and it made the ending and the book as a whole feel unsatisfying.

There is also a lot of filler content in this book, especially for a thriller. It feels like there are a lot of breaks and pauses between finding out new things and plot events unraveling, and while that might be to show how the MC is also unraveling, it actually just becomes repetitive quickly. The MC has a few thought patterns that all events seem to lead into, and while this can show how her mind is twisting and warping, it was also just a bit too repetitive. As a reader, I got the point after the first few times, it didn’t need to keep repeating it for me. I saw another review mention that this book could’ve been a novella, and I agree! I think it actually would have been extremely strong in novella format, and would’ve changed the expectations I had going into the book, and would’ve led to a lot of repetition being removed.

Overall, I do think there were strong aspects to the ideas and character building of this story, and I do want to try other and future books by this author, but I think this book was hindered by the expectations of both the longer novel format and being sold as a thriller. It feels more psychological in nature (and not necessarily in a ‘thrillery’ way, except for certain bits), and hopefully, new readers will come into this book knowing that, and enjoy it more than I did!

I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I’m honestly struggling with how exactly to review this, because I loved it and yet it seems so incomparable to other books I’ve read and loved. There is just something extremely unique about this book that I can’t really explain, but it just felt very fresh.

At its core, Cursebreakers is a blend of dark academia and fantasy, with a strong focus on mental health. It takes place in a society that both covets magic and the progress it can bring, while also cowering from it. There are three main branches of power in society, one of which is focused on expanding magic, while the other two are focused on controlling it. I think a lot of this book’s uniqueness comes from this precarious balance the society seems balanced on. Magic is not outlawed or shackled entirely, but it is also far from free. Magicians are taught to fear the Vigil and witch hunters, but yet still have power of their own. It means that magicians, such as our main character Adrien, spend their lives walking a tight rope between learning about and using their magic, and being thrown in jail for it. This potential danger seems to be the driving force for most of the plot of this book, and yet it’s never actually as simple as that either. There’s always more going on than we originally think, and it leads to some interesting dilemmas as the story unfolds further and further. There are unlikely allies on all sides, and so much scheming and politicking that it makes for an extremely captivating read.

However, even though the plot was enthralling, it actually wasn’t my favorite part of the book. I found the characters, and their specific struggles, even more interesting. Adrien especially grew on me rather quickly, and I ended up really enjoying the way he saw the world and spoke with others. I also loved watching him grow as the story went on, even as he struggled with his mental health (bipolar disorder). His internal struggle and story blended extremely well with the overall plot, and I loved watching him work through his confidence and guilt about his past while trying to stop all these terrible things from happening again. His partnership with Gennady, one of the Vigil that is always supposed to be his enemy, was specifically my favorite part of this book. Their conversations (and arguments) were always so fascinating, and I enjoyed reading them go back and forth. Their personalities are also very distinct from each other, so it made for interesting scenes and conversations as the story went on as well. There was also a quality to the characters that I really only find in a few stories, like Natasha Pulley’s, though Adrien and Gennady are still very much their own people. It’s hard to explain, but it’s just a combination of depth and humanity that the characters seem to have, a feeling of realness that’s often hard to accomplish.

Overall, I thought every part of this book was extremely well-done. I was surprised this book was only actually 280 pages, as it felt like such a deeper story than that page count usually allows. Everything that was introduced is explored well, from complex family relationships and friendships to struggles with mental health. It felt like everything was handled with care as well, and finding books that manage to both introduce difficult topics and explore them sufficiently is often quite hard!

Cursebreakers is definitely worth the read, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for more books by Madeleine Nakamura in the future!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I was ecstatic for the release of this book, as it sounded exactly like the sort of romance I would love, and I’m a massive fan of this author. That meant I was beyond excited when I was approved for this ARC, and dived into it right away! It’s taken me a bit to sort of figure out my final thoughts about this book. I wanted to separate my actual reading experience from the excitement and hype I had for the book, so I could better understand what I actually thought of it.

The best way to describe this was that it’s a super fun book. It’s perfect for reading in one sitting, and I found myself quickly turning page after page shortly after I’d started it. I just remember having so much fun with the first 70% of this book, which I’d read entirely in one day. And overall that’s the main word I’d use to describe the book, fun.

Unfortunately, it isn’t exactly memorable. While it was fun, it also had some issues that made it not feel long-lasting to me, and I don’t think it will be a long-term favorite I find myself returning to time and time again. I think this was partially due to the pacing, and how the way I ended up portioning the book while finishing it. Like I said above, I read about 70% of the book in one day, and finishing the last 30% over the next two days because I ended up being a bit busy. I definitely think it’s possible that, had I finished the book in one day, I would’ve liked it more than I did. In the end, that final 30% of the book ended up being my least favorite, and it left me feeling a bit disappointed by the book (as the ending often shapes my final thoughts of a book). It just felt extremely chaotic and rushed, with way too many plot points suddenly needing to be resolved in the final few pages of the book. It heightened the drama to an almost absurd level due to the speed at which everything unfolded, and it just didn’t work for me.

That isn’t to say that my issues were only with this final part of the book, it was just that the way it ended made me notice other things about the book, specifically the pacing, I realized that while I was enjoying the way the romance built up, the amount of time it took to get anywhere meant there was very little time for more end-stage romance moments to happen (the scenes after the love confession, where we see how the couple actually works together and get to see cute moments between them). It left this sort of odd feeling for me, where the book read really quickly, yet still took a while to really get anywhere romance wise. And then when we finally got to that point, there was almost no space left in the book to see what it actually meant and see them happy, which was just really unfortunate. It meant my excitement while reading really tapered off near the end, because I saw myself getting closer and closer to the end of the book while still hoping for a lot more to still happen, both romance and plot wise. I wish there had just been more space for this at the end.

Overall though, it was a fun and quick read and I did enjoy myself overall, especially for the beginning half of the book! While it’s not the favorite I hoped it would be, I’ll still be checking out future release by this author for sure!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I finally picked up my ARC of this book on a whim. I needed a new book to start, but it was already late in the day and I thought I wanted something on the shorter end, like a nice novella! As I was scrolling through my options I remembered Thornhedge and how much I enjoyed other books/novellas by this author, and next thing I knew I had my copy open and was reading.

I was sucked into this novella so quickly. The writing immediately drew me in, and it felt like a twist on classical fairy tale narration. It really felt like it was being narrated by someone who lived during the times that fairy tales are based on, and it adds almost this realistic layer to the standard fairy tale storytelling. On top of that, our narrator is someone who has lived through long stretches of time, but has locked herself away from experience most of it (and has also experienced a decent amount of that time as a frog!) It adds this extra layer to both the characterization of our MC and the narration itself. Honestly, even if the plot and characters themselves had been extremely bland, I still would have enjoyed this book based on the writing alone.

However, the plot and characters were also far from bland. I love the perspective that our main character brought, and I honestly fell in love with her so fast. She was just such a unique and fresh voice to me, and I felt so strongly for her, especially during the harder parts of the story. I loved how strongly she bonded and connected with her home, and how that bond remained even when she wasn’t there anymore. I loved her magic and her strength, and how she worried but persisted anyway. I also loved the knight that came to discover what was in the tower that she tried to keep hidden, and was the reason there was even a plot. He was kind and I loved how the two talked with each other, despite being from such different backgrounds and times. It made for such a soft fairy tale, at least in the present moments of the story.

Overall, this novella has just further proven to me the capability and range that Kingfisher has, and has me even more excited to get to more of her works! I definitely highly recommend this novella, especially for fans of stories and fairy tales.