It's nice to have some disability visibility and I never felt as though Harper's cerebral palsy was a tick box exercise for this. I particularly enjoyed our central character in Harper. I thought it balanced essential elements and both fantasy and contemporary additions really well. It has enough of Beauty and the Beast in it to be entirely recognisable but it's also got some welcome additions and variations so you are kept on your toes as you read. I love a good riff on a fairy tale and in this respect, A Curse So Dark and Lonely did not disappoint. Of course, Harper wants nothing more than to get back to her mother but to do that, she must teach Rhen to govern properly and defeat the evil witch who cursed him. Despite his commander kidnapping girls each year in an effort to break the curse, Rhen has been entirely unsuccessful in his quest for love and his kingdom is falling to rack and ruin because of it. which is, to Emberfall, where Prince Rhen labours under the curse of repeating his eighteenth year until he can find a girl who will fall in love with him. But even an imaginative girl like Harper couldn't have guessed where she was being taken. One day, she sees an attempted abduction of young girl and intercedes, only to find herself kidnapped in the girl's place.
But Harper soldiers on nonetheless, despite coping with her own cerebral palsy. And her brother is forever getting into trouble. Her father has scarpered but not taken his debts with him. Her mother has cancer and not long to live. Harper's life is pretty disastrous at the moment, through no fault of her own.
A compelling read but on occasion slightly bloated. Summary: An enjoyable riff on Beauty and the Beast with a fab central character who is not defined by her disability.
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