im still crying and the book is over

I ADORED THIS. The sequel to gilded this book brings the astonishing retelling of rumplestiltskin and mortals blessed by gods to a close with a wonderfully happy ending. 

Through fights and chaos, finding freedom, future and truth, this book truly does go through the phases. Having loved the lunar chronicles when I read them at 17 I had high expectations or Marissa again and not only did she meet them but really exceeded them. 

Seeing Gild and Serilda finally have a happy ending was so heartwarming, and alongside the creativity, great world building and every other amazing part of this book I was also overjoyed to see queer representation in several forms both in the past and present settings of the books time and lore. 

Overall these are a great and engaging read for someone wanting a re spun fairytale with a magically engaging plot that’s truly unique in its own right too 

I adored the children and I am glad for the ending but the story was so slow paced and I found the pregnancy stuff kind of ick 

This book is well written. I liked the overall story. I was frustrating at times because the main character has all of the information in front of her but can't comprehend it. I loved the guilded prince, the princess, the forest folk, and the ghosts. The dark castle was spooky and creepy with the different creatures.  Serilda is now cursed with the guilded prince. They are trying to find a way to break the curse and set everyone free.

Probably my own complete lack of maternal sentiments but I just couldn't get behind the sudden devotion to her unborn child when it wasn't something she wanted in the first place and when, because of magic

its growing completely separate from her inside her physical body and she's a spirit for 99% of the narrative.

I enjoyed this book. I think it was a good sequel. This is a dark fairytale retelling. The characters are entertaining and there is come character development. The relationship between the characters is interesting. The plot is a little predictable though I did enjoy it. The writing style is lovely. 

Once long ago, I read and enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, so naturally when I saw Cursed, I thought I might enjoy it as well. I don't know if it's just that I was much younger when I read The Lunar Chronicles or if this duology isn't quite of the same quality, but I was left wanting.

We have a fairytale retelling which is Meyer's bread and butter. This time it's of Rumpelstiltskin. Instead of centering on Rumpel himself, we have a story that features a damsel in distress and he is her protector of sorts. I thought the way she twisted the story was fairly interesting.

Where it fell apart for me was the main character. I found her incredibly frustrating. I can't count how many times the bad guy did something horrible, she pleads with him, and then he does something even more horrible. He's clearly a sadist who gets off on psychological torture and she gives him exactly what he wants by begging him. She even makes deals with him on multiple occasions and they always end with him doing something terrible and finding a loophole in the deal. I understand trying once, but after he backstabs her once, she should never make a deal with him again. It honestly got a bit tedious.

Also, this book relies heavily on the unplanned pregnancy trope which is one of my least favorite tropes. I get that it's an important part of the story arc, but it just wasn't for me.

All in all, I just think I am maybe the wrong demographic for this book. I could imagine a 14 or 15 year old reading and enjoying this, but as a 35 year old there was a lot that left me cringing. I honestly wouldn't have read this second book in the duology, had I not had an ARC of it. If you're into young adult fantasy, you might enjoy this.

* I received an E-ARC of this from Netgalley. This in no way affects my review.

Overall a bit of an underwhelming experience. 
I couldn’t for the life of me remember the plot in Gilded, so I actually re-read that one and I flew through it and I loved it all over again. I was soooo ready for Cursed! 
But it all just fell a bit flat. There was a ton of more (!) worldbuilding. And sometimes it felt MM set thing up in Gilded that didn’t work for this plot, so some loophole had to be inserted. 
This book had quite a bit more horror elements to it. 
I guess my main beef with this one is this: why such a build up (with so many ideas and plans that failed) with such an underwhelming battle and rushed finish? 
It could have been so much more 🥲
3 ⭐️

I liked this one much more than Gilded.