Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Firm 3 stars

The first Jennifer L. Armentrout book I read was Obsidian, I loved it so much I quickly went to read book 2, Onyx, which I thought was equally, if not better than book 1. Book 3 doesn’t come out until December, so I thought I would continue my Jennifer L. Armentrout fix and read Cursed.

Cursed is about a teenager name Ember. She was in a horrible car accident and died, and was brought back to life by her 5 year old sister, Olivia. Olivia has a “gift” she can bring back the dead with a touch. The book begins with Ember’s daily struggles in taking care of her sister, while her Mom maintains a catatonic state because her husband, Ember and Olivia’s father died in that car accident. When Olivia brought Ember back to life, she didn’t come back normal, Ember realizes as soon as she touches anything living it dies; it’s her “curse”.

Ember encounters a boy, Hayden, who has a “gift” too and tries to help Ember cope with her curse, but as you read throughout the book, there’s a lot of twist and turns and someone is out for Ember and she just doesn’t know who to trust.

I liked the beginning, I thought it was somewhat sad, yet enduring, how does Ember keep her wits? I liked the fact within the first chapter the Author lays out the story line for you, Ember died, her sister brought her back to life and now Ember has this curse, bam, summary over in the first 10 pages. Awesome.

Ember has a witty friend, Adam, who I liked a lot and I wished he was more prominent in the book, but the main character is Hayden. I am not sure how I feel about Hayden. His character is sort of a mystery to me. He seems to care about Ember, but at times he is distant and closed off, the author tires to get you to understand that Hayden has issues too, but I felt like I just couldn’t empathize with Hayden, probably because the book is told from Ember’s point of view. I think I would enjoy the book more if it was from both Ember and Hayden’s point of view.

I loved Olivia, she’s a cute 5 year old and she should have had been in the book more. I know Ember was going through her daily struggles, but I felt like Ember was trying to take on too much on her own. At one point she really was on her own, but I kind of wanted to say “see you did that, you made yourself on your own”. I don’t think Ember had to struggle that much, I mean, she has the death curse, she is bullied, she has to take care of her sometimes bratty sister, she has no friends and someone is out to kill her, could it be any more sad?

The book did end, but I felt like there was a lot more room for book 2, it just didn’t seem like everything was summed up in one happy package.

If there is a book 2, I hope the book opens up with a huge plot and we get a better glimpse of what goes on in Hayden and Olivia’s head. Also, I don’t want Ember to struggle anymore, I want her to be strong and who knows, maybe get other “gifts”. It was a good read, nothing out of the park, but enough for me to hope there’s a book 2.


View all my reviews