Thank you so much for the opportunity. I didn't get a chance to listen to the netgalley version before it was archived but have since.

It's an amazing story and a different take on beauty and the beast.

I didn’t get a chance to listen to this audiobook before it was archived, if I listen to it at a later date I’ll update with a review.

Thank you so much for the opportunity.

I feel that the promise of this series from book one comes through more here than it did in the second, but I was still sad Grey and Rhen start so far from understanding each other. As much as I hate that, I did enjoy getting to see all the angst! I ended up enjoying Lia Mara and Grey's side of the story more than Rhen and Harper's, which surprised me. I think I just ended up finding Rhen really frustrating.

The re-introduction of Lilith definitely gave me some much needed interest on the Emberfall side of things, some of her methods were brilliantly terrifying.

I found myself falling more for side characters here too, and I would have happily had more on all of their stories.

Overall this got 3.5 stars because while I really enjoyed it, I felt bits weren't quite what I hoped and I wanted more. But I think that's more on me than this series.

The final book in the trilogy and it does not disappoint. This audio version has more than one narrator, quickly you pick up who is who. In a classic tale of misunderstandings and lack of full conversations between Wren and Grey, eventually. As the countries prepare for war it becomes clear that those seeking peace need to unite for the good of Emberfall.

The story is told well through different peoples point if view, these are narrated well and have the same voices of the previous two books. A great end to a fantastic trilogy.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book via audiobook. The narrator was really good, but the book was awful. This series personally went downhill for me and that ending is the most annoying ending since reading another popular YA book many years ago.

Note to the publisher. I have not posted my review publically due to me not liking the book. If you would like to still post this on social media, please let me know.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this book in return for a review
Unfortunately I had started to listened to this when a few things didn't make sense so I looked on Amazon and found this was book 3 of a Trilogy.
Sometimes with a series you don't have to have read the others to understand the characters and the story and I think Authors need to remember that for this reason I have only given this 3 stars
This fantasy book was set in what seemed to be medieval times with Princess's ,Princes, and Kingdoms going to war as well as some demons, mystical creatures and an enchantress.
What threw me was modern day references by the characters like "Airplane formations" She was pissed at me" ,Giving them the finger, If your going to go big,
There was a mention of taking me back in DC so I can only fathom there was some time travel in one of the other books
This trilogy has got some excellent reviews so I would say if you are considering this book make sure you read the others first to avoid disappointment
I have read so good fantasy books over the years but I found this lacking if it had have been good I would have gone back and read the other 2 books but in this case I am not interested
On a plus note it was read by 4 narrators and it did help me keep the characters separate.

Regular readers will know that I devoured the Cursebreaker series earlier in the year but Netgalley were generous enough to provide the opportunity to listen to this fantastic audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The final book in the Cursebreakers series is a hard thing to come to terms with. Brigid Kemmerer has been messing with our hearts for 2 books so far and she isn’t about to let us go without a fight! Rhen and Grey are on opposite sides of a war, Harper is (deservedly) super mad at Rhen and Lilith has returned, seemingly unharmed. Is there nothing that can stop the enchantress?

Similarly to the previous two books, A Vow so Bold and Deadly is written from multiple POVs but what I loved in comparison to A Heart so Fierce and Broken is that we got a lot more of Harper! I really felt that Lia Mara took a bit of Harper’s “airtime” in the last book.
I also specifically loved the audiobook version because any third party’s speech within a character’s POV is done in that character’s voice – Rhen voicing Lilith is particularly hilarious.


The characters themselves seem to fall in my favour as we progress through the series and AVSBAD was no exception.
I still loved Harper with her fierceness and her sarcasm. I think the physical journey in the book (this is me trying to not give any spoilers) really spoke to her as a character and her unwavering, loyal nature and the fact that her anger towards Rhen took a long time to dissipate felt very real. I also loved her friendship with Zo but I must admit that sometimes Harper did border on petty – I guess she is fairly young though.
Lia Mara was a great character in AHSFAB, she was a breath of fresh air and I really admired her fight for peace in a violent kingdom. However, shacking up with Grey has made this Queen a wet fish! For a woman who has been raised with the notion that you do not need a man to rule Lia Mara severely disappoints. I really didn’t understand her character in the final book, she was unable to stand up for herself and totally dependent on Grey, even pining after him at times. It was sickening.
Grey has been my favourite in both the previous books, even when he was scary Grey! Don’t get me wrong he hasn’t totally changed and it is nice to see his struggles in gaining the loyalty of people in Shyl Shallow BUT his coldness towards Harper and THAT ending….nah it didn’t sit well with me. The fact that Grey has a claim to Emberfall is bad enough (it seems to be the only Kingdom in the fictional universe which includes bastards in the laws of succession) but to completely disregard Rhen is not the Grey the readers know and love.
Speaking of Rhen, and I’m going to get a lot of hate for this, but Rhen has never been my favourite. He has gone from being a tortured prince to a torturing prince to a tortured prince again. He just doesn’t seem to develop. Yes, I felt sorry for him, particularly towards the end of the book but I didn’t love him. I nearly did in book 1 but then he ruined it in book 2 and has never redeemed himself. I particularly felt that the ending held no justice for Rhen – there was a clear path for a happily ever after for all and, while I love a good twist, I feel that Kemmerer’s choice of ending kind of kicked Rhen while he was down.

The ending of A Vow So Bold and Deadly definitely paves the way for a spin off book but that feels like it would centre more around Grey and Lia Mara and so I don’t know how much appetite I would have for it. I’d read it but it wouldn’t be top of my TBR.

Overall I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I had such high expectations after ACSDAL and was willing to overlook AHSFAB as plot filler but this ending fell flat for me. As someone who has read both the book and listened to the audiobook I would recommend the audiobook as it seems to keep you interested in that first few hundred pages where very little happens.

As an end to the trilogy, this was OK. For me, the biggest let down was the Rhen chapters- he is an absolute pain in the ass. His chapters were awful, they were like Bran's chapters in GOT, I just wanted to skip them. Rhen is the worst. He's manipulative, nasty, misogenistic and plays the victim constantly. There were parts that I just was angry at him, for example, there's a flashback scene of Lilith torturing Rhen and Grey. She SCRATCHES RHEN'S FACE, then breaks all the bones in Grey's body. Rhen "drags himself over".... Mate...you have an ouchie, get over yourself.
So, this book was 50/50. The parts in Emberfall with Rhen and Harper just annoyed me. Rhen can get in the bin. The Grey and Lia Mara chapters I enjoyed a lot more, and found them a lot more interesting. I do think that with the amount of strategists, intelligent people and people wanting peace, someone could have come up with "why doesn't Grey agree to abdicate his claim to Emberfall in favour for Rhen and the two of them agree to trade routes". I feel the actual political ending is just sure to fail.

Overall, its a 3* series. Fairly low 3*, probably not going to reread, and not sure that I'll keep the books.

I love these books so much, so I thought what way to relive them anew, let’s try the audiobooks and I wasn’t disappointed at all, obviously I knew what was going to happen m but the narrator made this whole world seem fresh and new, I loved it so much. If you’ve read these or if you’re new to them I definitely recommend the audiobooks, it adds another dimension to the story and really makes a difference

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this audiobook!

I have only recently come across this series, and being someone who has a weakspot for fairytale retellings, I read all 3 books this year.

I liked the narrators of this audiobook, they created a great athmosphere.

The character development seemed to go backwards, people getting less interesting and mature as the books went on, but I still enjoyed the story and the conclusion.

With thanks to Brigid Kemmerer and Bloomsbury UK for an advanced audio of the book

4.5*

What a brilliant conclusion to a wonderful series.

I haven't been following this series for very long and binged them all this year, I'm a little sad it's all over but what a fantastic way to go out! A satisfying end with no loose ends to ponder over. It was wonderful to be back with Harper, Rhen and Grey and to see there story come it it's conclusion. My favourite thing about Kemmerer's writing is that her characters are so well developed, her heroes are believable and relatable and the villains are proper villains! Crawl under your skin and make you want to commit murder type villains, their stories are so easy to get lost in.

I'll definitely be rereading this series a couple of times over.
(Book 1 - 5*. Book 2 - 4*, Book 3 - 4.5*)

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook arc of A Vow so Bold and Deadly.

When I first read A Curse so Dark and Lonely, I was really intrigued and hooked to the Beauty and the Beast story line. Fairytale retellings are one of my favourite genres.

As the series continued, however, I lost a lot of what I originally liked the series for. I feel like in the second, and in this book, we forget that Harper (our first MC of the series) is a bad ass girl from the real world with a disability that she doesn’t allow to control her. By the end of the series, she seems like a demure, timid little bird.

This happened for me a lot with this last book. Although I didn’t completely dislike the plot itself, I didn’t care much for the character development. I thought there were a lot of bad decisions and unrealistic parts to the story.

It’s a shame that the series seemed to decline, as the first book was really good at sucking you in to the story and the world. I just feel that this book lost the spark that the original story had after the curse had been broken and the Beauty and the Beast storyline had come to a close.

Reading the final book in this series via an audiobook was brilliant. I really enjoyed the narrator as it made the story flow very well. I was taken back into Emberfall and I had missed this world so much. A dramatic conclusion to the A Curse So Dark and Lonely series by Brigid Kemmerer. I would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy but also loves fairytale retellings!

I have enjoyed this series as a whole, but for me this final installment was definitely the weakest. Following on from the events of book 2, we find out what happens to all of our protagonists and to be honest, it was all a bit underwhelming. This being a third book, I don't want to say too much, but suffice to say that there was a lot of focus on relationships and not enough plot, the result being that the pacing felt rushed towards the end. Characters were introduced and dispatched with little fanfare and given that the narrative is told from four perspectives, it was only ever clear in tone when Harper was featured - the other three characters felt pretty interchangeable. With all that being said, I would definitely recommend this to those who have read the first two installments and I would recommend the series overall - this was just my least favourite.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I felt that this was a good ending to the series and finished quite strongly and memorably. I loved how the characters grew and changed into into themselves, the magic wasn't overdone and made sense for the story and it made me feel so many emotions from the first chapter.

Not generally a fan of shifting perspectives but it worked for this book.

Although I started to read the Cursebreaker series at the third and final novel of the trilogy, I did not find it stopped me from enjoying it. The author gives you enough background information and fills in gaps so you can easily read this as a stand alone novel, I never recommend you do so as there is a lot you miss out on and it does make it harder to understand some motivations of characters. It is however a long novel so I did not have the time to go back and read the first 2 novels as I usually would do.
The chapters are of a reasonable length that you could take your time in reading but I did find it hard to put down so resorted to buying the audiobook so I could listen as I did other things. It’s extremely well written and had shades of Terry Brooks and Stephen Donaldson in the crossover between our ‘reality’ and the fantasy world of the novel. I am a big fan of them both so loved this that much more.
What really struck me was that there are no ‘damsels’ in distress but realistic characters with concerns and weaknesses who needed to support each other through the horrors inflicted by Lilith, the curse maker and key wielder of magic for vengeance. There are both female and male leaders in this world but it is based on an earlier age so the women have to fight to be accepted.
The main characters, Lia Mara, Grey, Harper, Rhen, are fleshed out and realistic but they are all paired off, the others are not so well written (but that maybe because this is the third novel) and can sometimes feel stereotyped or 2-D. The world of Emberfall is beautifully created but I was not sure what the Kingdom covered (again possibly because I skipped book 1 & 2).
This was an easy read; despite being the third novel; there were not that many complex plots; and the number of key characters was small number, so I could follow despite this being a longer novel with a well-fleshed out world. I would definitely find the time to read books 1&2 in the future and will be watching for the next book written by Brigid Kemmerer. I would recommend this to any fantasy fan, young or old.
I was given a free copy by netgalley.com for my fair and honest review.

I have really enjoyed reading this series. I listened to the last book on audio book and read the last book as well. I have thoroughly enjoyed mixing it up and this has led to me wanting to "read" more on audio. The narrator was brilliant and added to the drama of the tale and I would highly recommend and listen to this narrator again.

The narration itself is great, I love both of the narrators and how they present the main characters, they really do give them great voices and add even more personality to them. You could say they bring them to life,

However, I had to DNF the book because I couldn't get into it. The characters sound way too different from what they originally were. I don't like how Harper seems to not know what she wants and from book 1 she was annoying me but in this one thing really got bad.

I'm saddened since I really wanted to enjoy this book but alas, i just couldn't connect to it.

It's not fault of the narrators though.

This was a good conclusion. I liked having all 4 POV's come together and I loved seeing both the sides of the story this time instead of exclusively Emberfall or exclusively Syhl Shallow. So many things came together and I don't think there was anything where I asked myself wait, what happened with this or that? Although there were some things that made sense that were left up to the imagination.
While I still liked Harper more than Lia Mara, I feel that Lia Mara finally started to step up and become a leader. Harper really stayed loyal to Rhen and tried to be the in between person. As we learn from the end of the second book, Lilith is back and it really took a toll on Rhen. I liked getting to see why Rhen behaved how he did toward Grey in the second book and really how much if effected him.
I was never bored by this book, things moved along at a good pace and I was very interested in all 4 of the POVs. I found myself wishing I could crank up my audiobook speed to higher than 2x by the end because I really needed to know what happened.
I'm so glad I read this series! If you are looking for a unique fantasy retelling, give this one a try!

I thought this was a great series finale tbh! I was so worried about what was to come with all of the characters especially after Heart, and I didn't know what to expect with Rhen (because that was a disaster!) I am super happy though because it worked out so well!

The only reason that this isn't a five star rating is that I think the killing of Lillith maybe happened a little bit too quickly, and I found the pregnancy to be very off putting and un-realistic. When it comes to people having babies just an IMO here it's not that easy so I guess it just annoyed me.

However there are so many positives to take a way from this, all of the bonds that were reformed, the story itself, FINALLY relationships having that oooft, and the fact that conversations happened in a healthy way.

I adored that Grey and Rhen made up as well! We got more Harper which is great because she's my favourite :)