Sunday 12 August 2012

Review: Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout


Cursed

  Title: Cursed
  Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
  Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
  Publication date: September 18th 2012
  My rating: 3.5 stars

 

 
Goodreads Description: Dying sucks--and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't?

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.


 Ember McWilliams feels cursed.  I think I would feel the same way if I had her ability.  Two years ago she was in a car accident in which she died and was brought back to life by her little sister, Olivia.  Ever since then her touch kills any living thing.  She goes around with gloves to prevent any accidents but also to cover scars all over her arms left by the accident.  As if that wasn’t enough, her normally brown eyes were turned sky blue after the accident.  Ember once was a popular outgoing normal girl in school and now because of the changes, is ridiculed and treated like a freak at school.  School isn’t the only challenge in Ember’s life though.  Her father was killed in the accident and her mother is basically catatonic, leaving Ember to care for Olivia, who is now five years old.  Talk about being dealt some bad cards!  Ember starts seeing a mysterious boy, Hayden, show up all over the place, seeming to know way more about her than she does of him.  Okay, he’s sort of gorgeous, but that doesn’t make it any less creepy!    

For two years Ember has managed to keep things together but after an ex-boyfriend, and now bully, backs Ember into a corner and pretty much assaults her, he dies from her touch. Hayden and an unknown group steps in to cover the accident, and takes her whole family in.  Well, maybe not takes in as much as kidnaps.  Ember does not go willingly, and they don’t care.  Turns out there are others with special abilities that all live together as a family with Hayden’s father, Jonathan Cromwell as the leader.  Olivia couldn’t be happier and bonds with this “family” immediately. Ember is a different story though, because of her ability, none of the others besides Hayden want her there.  Ember is drawn to Hayden, understandably so because he is basically her only friend and advocate.   Sparks fly between these two, but she wonders if she can trust him with his obvious devotion to his father.  Ember is completely suspicious of Mr. Cromwell’s intentions, and he’s not so friendly to her either.  Then, Ember discovers there may be more to her “accident” two years ago and no longer knows who to trust. 

I really felt bad for Ember.  She really had her life go down the toilet, and then had to shoulder such great responsibility on top of coping with her power.  The members of the Cromwell house, with the exception of Hayden, Parker and Ms. Liz, are downright rude to her.  Phoebe, the twin sister to Parker, really got under my skin.  I thought she was a hateful, jealous, witch!  I can’t imagine living a life where you couldn’t touch another living being.  How horrible would that be?!  Hayden has a power that helps with that issue, but I don’t want to say anymore and give anything away.  I really liked Hayden in this story!  The fact that he made it his goal to make Ember feel welcome and normal again totally won me over.  Well that and of course some swoon-worthy scenes!  Here’s one that got my blood pumping in anticipation:

Hayden opened his eyes.  “Em….?”  His stare held so much intensity that I found it difficult to breath.  A look of yearning, of desperation, and he was studying me.  Studying my face, the way my top had slipped down.  And is stare was spreading a hot flush over my body.  Slowly, he dipped down, placing his weight on one arm.  He brought his hand to the side of my face, his fingers hovering over my cheek.  My own fingers curled into the sweater.  God, I wanted him to touch me so badly.  The need consumed me—burned like fire.

I’ll leave you to wonder whether he touches her or not! 

While I enjoyed Cursed and had a lot of fun reading it, it’s not my favorite of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s. With that said, I still think any JLA fan will still enjoy this story, as I did. If the first half was as engrossing as the second, I would’ve rated this higher; it just dragged a little in the beginning.  Also, while the mystery does wrap up in this book I felt like we could have more to this story.  I was a little surprised that this is a stand-alone.  Unless someone knows something I don’t.  But don’t worry; it doesn’t leave off on a bad note or anything.

I just want to shout out a thank you to my wonderful blogger friend, Alexa over at Collections for lending me her copy!  She’s a booklover’s dream-friend! 



19 comments:

Sam (Realm of Fiction) said...

Lovely review, Rachel! I like that quote you picked. ;) The romance was mostly sweet I thought. It was interesting to see how Jennifer handled that aspect with the no-touch policy. While I enjoyed this too, I don't think it's my favourite JLA book either. :)

Rachel said...

Sweet review Rachel!!!! I'm glad you liked this book mostly. too bad for the slow beginning.

brandileigh2003 said...

I liked this one too, but didn't surpass Covenant or Lux. I really felt for Ember too and couldn't imagine living like that.
Happy reading,
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog

Keertana said...

Wow, there seem to be so many stand-alone novels in YA these days! I just read Origin which was a stand-alone and now this is a stand-alone as well as a couple of other ARC reviews I've seen, so it's an interested new trend for sure. I'm not sure if I'll pick this one up as I've never read a novel by Armentrout, but it definitely seems really interesting! Perhaps I'll wait for it to release in my library and check it out!(: Wonderful review, Rachel! I'm so glad you enjoyed this one despite its qualms! :D

~Keertana
Ivy Book Bindings

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great book! If I see a copy, I'll make sure to read it, as this review makes it out to be my sort of thing :)

Maja (The Nocturnal Library) said...

Wonderful review, Rachel! JLA and I never really got along, but I do think the Half-Blood series is improving!
It may be because I'm reading Unravel ME, but the whole kills-with-a-touch thing remind me of Shatter Me. I'm glad there's chemistly between Ember and Hayden, I love the quote.

Rachel said...

Thanks ladies!

@Keertana-If you're going to pick up a JLA book I'd start with her Covenant or Lux series first. This would be a good library read.

@Maja-I thought exactly the same thing about the kills-with-a-touch thing, I was totally reminded of Shatter Me and The X-Men. If you have a hard time with JLA you may want to stick with the Covenant series. :)

Jana said...

Totally agree with you! And Cursed is my least favourite out of all JLA's books! But I still enjoyed it :)

Great review btw! :)

Livvy said...

I love the sound of this. However, it has a character called Olivia. This tends to put me off reading when a character has my name. Even if she's only the younger sister and hopefully nice? I still feel weird...

I haven't read any JLA books, but I'm thinking of looking at her Alien series is it? I've heard lots of good things about that.

Well I'm glad to hear of another stand alone. I'm sick of series to be truthful and I'm glad there are plenty of stand-alones coming about! :)

Lovely review.

Vegan YA Nerds said...

I really like the sound of this and like you, I feel for Ember, I can't imagine how horrible it would be to live in fear of killing someone if you accidentally touched them.

And now you have me wanting to meet Hayden, he sounds awesome!

Arlene said...

Thanks for the great review Rachel! I'm reading Tina's book next, so now I know to make it past the first half and not give up. I love JLA's writing so I'm definitely going to get to this next. XD Again.. sorry for the long post. LOL

Unknown said...

I've seen a few reviews for Cursed, and I didn't realize that it's a standalone either. I hate that the story started slow for you, but glad it came together. Great review!

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Sounds like an intriguing novel! I'd hate to have this type of curse. I mean, wouldn't most people?! I'm sorry it dragged a bit in the beginning...never fun, but that's great it picked up!

-lauren

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

Neither you or Sam are overly impressed with thie one. Good but not great. You know I like that it is a stand alone and that everything wraps up, that is a bonus! And that quote was intense! Lovely review as always my friend!

Suzanne (Parabooklover) said...

I haven't read any of JLA's books yet so I'm hoping to work my way up, lol. I love your quote and can't wait to see whether he touches her or not. Hopefully I'll get to it soon and find out. Great review Rachel :)

Anonymous said...

I think yours is the 2nd review that I read that mentioned how Cursed wasn't as good as Armentrout's other works. I wasn't a HUGE fan of her previous books, so I wonder how I would feel about this book. I'm still willing to give it a shot since her characters are pretty awesome. Thanks for teasing us with that quote, Rachel. ;)
I'm glad that the second part of the book is a lot better. Lovely review as usual, Rachel. :)

Eunice said...

Lovely review, Rachel! Ah, that quote! You just killed me! Haha! Seems like a lot thought that this isn't as striking as her first two published series but I'm glad to hear that it's still an enjoyable read. :)

Unknown said...

Beautiful review, Rachel! <3 Haha, you're such a tease with that quote! I love it though, and now I'm wondering whether Hayden decided to touch her or not! (Oh please touch her, Hayden) x)

I'm glad that you enjoyed this book although it's not your favorite! This seems like a good read to pass time! Thank you for the honest, awesome review like usual, Rachel! <3

Sarah (saz101) said...

ADKJGDAJDFH. THIS IS MY FIRST REVIEW FOR CURSED AND I WANT TO READ IT SO BADLY. You have me SO excited, and this chemistry with Haydn? PHWOAR! WANT WANT WANT! ♥

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