Name: Julie Rubens's review of Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu
Item: Ever Cursed
Rating: 5
Author: Julie Rubens

Corey Ann Haydu

“Ideal for fans of Jennifer Donnelly’s Stepsister.” —Booklist Damsel meets A Heart in a Body in the World in this incisive and lyrical feminist fairy tale about a princess determined to save her sisters from a curse, even if it means allying herself with the very witch who cast it. The Princesses of Ever are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the King. They are cherished, admired. Cursed. Jane, Alice, Nora, Grace, and Eden carry the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit, or even know about. They are each cursed to be Without one essential thing—the ability to eat, sleep, love, remember, or hope. And their mother, the Queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box. But when Eden’s curse sets in on her thirteenth birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break the curse, preventing it from becoming a True Spell and dooming the princesses for life. To do this, they must confront the one who cast the spell—Reagan, a young witch who might not be the villain they thought—as well as the wickedness plaguing their own kingdom…and family. Told through the eyes of Reagan and Jane—the witch and the bewitched—this insightful twist of a fairy tale explores power in a patriarchal kingdom not unlike our own.

Ever Cursed

To save her sisters from a spell that has forced them to be Without, Princess Jane of Ever must work with Reagan, the witch who set the curse on her family.

Joan 

There are a dozen things in what my father said that cut me. But the awful,vain part of me only hears that he doesn't think we're beautiful. I will die if we don't break our spell, my mother is trapped in glass, and I still fight the desperate feeling of wanting to be pretty.

Becca 🥀

Damsel meets A Heart in a Body in the World in this incisive and lyrical feminist fairy tale about a princess determined to save her sisters from a curse, even if it means allying herself with the very witch who cast it. The Princesses of Ever are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the King. They are cherished, admired. Cursed. Jane, Alice, Nora, Grace, and Eden carry the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit, or even know about. They are each cursed to be Without one essential thing—the ability to eat, sleep, love, remember, or hope. And their mother, the Queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box. But when Eden’s curse sets in on her thirteenth birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break the curse, preventing it from becoming a True Spell and dooming the princesses for life. To do this, they must confront the one who cast the spell—Reagan, a young witch who might not be the villain they thought—as well as the wickedness plaguing their own kingdom…and family. Told through the eyes of Reagan and Jane—the witch and the bewitched—this insightful twist of a fairy tale explores power in a patriarchal kingdom not unlike our own.

Julie Rubens

I’m not sure why but I didn’t have very high expectations for this book when I first picked it up, but it was small and looked like an easy read so I started reading and I can tell you, I absolutely loved it! I love the storyline, the amount of plot twist and the feminism. I also love how it’s about finding the truth and how the world works. I just couldn’t put the book down and I recommend every one to read it!

Sarahi

Definitely one of the heavier reads for this year, but it was a very good story. Didn't exactly see the relevance of Abbott, but it's not enough to bump it down a star.

Sheila

It is honestly such a slap in the face whenever a gorgeous cover like this one graces an absolute dog of a story. 3 adjectives for this story: dull, two dimensional, performative.

Meagan N Reece

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Ever Cursed

Author: Corey Ann Haydu

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3.5/5

Diversity: trans side character!

Recommended For...: witches, twisted fairytales, feminism

Publication Date: July 28, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 17+ (violence, TW rape allegories and mentions, TW eating disorder allegory, TW creepy comments made by men on at least one barely legal girl)

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 304

Synopsis: The Princesses of Ever are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the King. They are cherished, admired.

Cursed.

Jane, Alice, Nora, Grace, and Eden carry the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit, or even know about. They are each cursed to be Without one essential thing—the ability to eat, sleep, love, remember, or hope. And their mother, the Queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box.

But when Eden’s curse sets in on her thirteenth birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break the curse, preventing it from becoming a True Spell and dooming the princesses for life. To do this, they must confront the one who cast the spell—Reagan, a young witch who might not be the villain they thought—as well as the wickedness plaguing their own kingdom…and family.

Told through the eyes of Reagan and Jane—the witch and the bewitched—this insightful twist of a fairy tale explores power in a patriarchal kingdom not unlike our own.

Review: Overall, I thought this was a pretty good book. The book did well to describe the trauma and the mental health of the characters. I really liked Alice, who was a trans character, and I liked how the story was a twist on modern fairytales to show their ugliness that we rarely talk about. I thought the book also did well on the feminist side of the story too.

However, there were some issues I had with the book. I didn’t like all the similarities to eating disorders as I didn’t see a trigger warning. The book didn’t really discuss it but alluded to it through one of the main characters and I could see where it could be upsetting for some people. There were also a lot of rape allegories without a trigger warning and the book was generally hard to get into. The book didn’t do well describing the world building and the characters weren’t that well developed in my opinion. You’re also thrown into the story and it takes a bit to orient yourself in it.

Verdict: It was good, but I wanted it to be a bit more fleshed out and I would like to see some trigger warnings in the final version.

LilacsBookEmporium

</Talking a bit about SA warning/>
i get why this book wouldn't be for everyone but i really liked reading it. I love fairytale type books but i normally read ones that are a retelling of a specific story but darker than the original, yet i took a chance on this one and wasn't disappointed. I thought the concept of the princesses curses were really cool and the witches even better, the skirt part was clever and even though the basis of spells have backfeed was a topic and thing talked about lots before i liked the almost physical description you are given. 
</spoiler kinda but not really beware/>
Then the (almost) main plot comes in, the darker SA part. I thought it was a nice change to see a darker and grimer part to fairytales in a way for this book, though im not sure how i feel about it being the main part of the book. Its nice that it was included but i wish we got more pages and descriptions on the other princesses and just there curses in general. It was still a good read none the less, but i dont think i would ever recommend it to anyone specifically.

Alicia Haws

2 STARS
⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. The premise was good, the pacing of the book was good, but I just did not care about these characters or their world at all. The world-building left me unsatisfied, and the characters didn't go deeper than surface level which was disappointing. The magic system was also quite confusing and never quite fully explained. The synopsis proclaimed to be a feminist fantasy, but other than the fact that all the protagonists were female, I didn't really get a feminist vibe from it. Overall, I did not enjoy this one.




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Celia Adams

I can see why this book wasn't for everyone, but I liked it. 3.5 stars, rounded up because I think more people should I've it a chance. It was like a self-aware fairytale in a world not weighed down by things like gender and sexuality. It reminded me almost of the extremist Romanticism literature that both embodied Romantic archetypes and poked fun of them. There are a lot of elements of traditional fairytales here, but their turned over so we can see how ugly the truth behind a lot them can be. And the ending was a bit unclear, but hey, we don't know how a lot of fairytales end after the curse is broken or the princess wakes up or whatever after. Unlike a lot of modern YA fantasy, this took the elements of a fairytale without romanticizing it, and I appreciated it's feminism and the main characters not straying from their goals for romantic side plots or stupid miscommunication plot circles.

Melissa 

2.5 stars

TW: ED and sexual assault
(I am glad that there was a note in the beginning of he book mentioning it, because it's very much needed.)

I had to think about this one for a while to write a review. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I hoped I would.

When I read the synopsis I couldn't resist getting it because it sounded amazing. I hadn't heard anything about the book before so I didn't really know what to expect. I think the story has so much potential and the concept of all the cursed princesses was so interesting. But it didn't live up to the potential in my opinion.

The characters were very interesting. We follow Jane, a cursed princess and Reagan, the witch who cursed the princesses. I love how we get to follow both of them and hear both sides of the same story. and then there are a bunch of side characters who switched importance to the plot throughout the book. Characters that were barely mentioned in the first half of the book became very important in the end and vice versa. That saddened me a bit because all of them were so interesting and I wish I got to know them all a little better. 

The world building overall was fine, but it was lacking a bit. We only stay in one kingdom throughout the book, which is totally fine, because travelling wouldn't add much to this story. however I wish it was described just a little more. 

(THE NEXT PART MIGHT BE SEEN AS A SPOILER)

The plot was something I didn't really see coming.
In the beginning I really thought the book was going to focus on all of the curses of the princesses and them using them one way or another to get to a good and happy ending. throughout the book you get the idea that there a big plot reveal to come that kinda gives off magical/political kingdom (idk how to describe it really) vibes, but then book is about rape and the suppression of women. To be honest I still don't know how I feel about that. I'm glad the book didn't shy away from this topic because these things are really happening, but I don't know if I liked it as a plot point and the way it overshadowed the rest of the book. 

(END OF POSSIBLE SPOILER)

Overall I think it was okay, but I don't think it's something I woud recommend to people unless they're looking for something very specific and this fits with what they're looking for.

Becca 🥀 &
Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu

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Becca 🥀 &
Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu