A Curse Dark as Gold

Reader reviewed by Allison

I bought this book expecting to fall in love with it, and it did not let me down. It was an incredible story, and my head is spinning with everything I want to say about it.

First of all, I was touched before the story even began. In Elizabeth Bunce's acknowledgements she says "And lastly, to my husband, Christopher, for always being there. If I wrote you into a story, no one would believe you were real." I think that is lovely, and I was in love with the author from the get-go.

On that subject-make sure you read the Author's Note at the end. I thought it was a fantastic addition to the story in itself. She touches on several key points of her story, and I thought the notes were fascinating.

Now: the story. I thought it began a tad slow, although I was in love with Charlotte Miller from the beginning. From the first paragraph, she easily takes on the "strong female lead" role. There are so many lovely characters in this story...everyone from the "witchy midwife" Biddy Tom to the wool dyer Mr. Mordant added such rich life to the story.

Usually when a book begins too "fairy tale-like" I get annoyed, but Curse has such a great mix of reality and fairy tale that it works. The things that would normally seem like quite a stretch just work in this case.

I love reading a book with a constant cloud of suspense. Through this entire book, you get the "something is just not RIGHT" feeling, and it intensifies as Charlotte uncovers just exactly what it is that isn't right. She falls in love with Randall. At first, he seems like a knight in shining armor, then his character begins to look a bit weak (I wonder if that was on purpose? I hope so), then at the end he really does help save the day.

Anyway...I'm rambling. Suffice it to say that I LOVED this story, and I highly recommend it to anyone that loves YA, fantasy, or fairy-tale retellings