Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review

I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to read this book mostly based on its cover and also because of this fractured-fairytale-kind-of-vibe it has. A princess is cursed by her father's ex-best friend, and if she goes out at night she'll die. The only one who can break the curse is a specific boy with specific requirements. It sounds like a twisted Beauty and the Beast kind of story and I was so for it.

But I must say that once I dove into the actual story I felt kinda irritated for its constant and flat sarcasm tone and I ended up being annoyed. I love sarcasm, I do, but this time it just wasn't for me.
The characters, although they depict the fairytale's traditional stereotypes, the felt flat and two-dimensional; there was no difference between them. Another thing to mention is that it seems the author wanted to try and fit in as much topics as possible so we end up with a novel with pirates, women's rights, evil wizards, quests, romance, politics and a whole bunch of other topics and side plots that just make the book look busy and somewhat unfinished.

There is just so many things done wrong or halfways and it doesn't just stop there cause the marketing team in charge for the promotion of this book also messed up, stating this was 'the first book in a high-fantasy series' while this is low-fantasy at most and thus can appeal the wrong audience and get mixed reviews. Wizards and potions don't make a story 'high fantasy'

Not my particular cup of tea, but I think that the young readers who pick it up will have a fun time with it.

Morrison came up with a fascinating plot and characters to her world, and I think our younger generations need something new to come forward to. While it's on the younger-younger side for me it's going to be amazing for the kids who read it.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF (did not finish) this book at around 10%. I was thrown off by the narrator and the narration of this story in general. I wasn't sure whether it was satirical or meant to be over exaggerated and stereotypical, but it wasn't what I expected. This was marketed like a high fantasy novel, which it's not, so that combined with the strange narration was a disaster for me.

Not to mention that the main character of the story, Julianna is not present several chapters in. The first 10% (possibly more) is all backstory on her curse. How it happened and why. I'm not sure when she comes into this story, but I wasn't going to stick around and find out.

While I like satirical stories, this one was just too in your face and over done. It was not my style or to my liking, which is unfortunately why I had to DNF this title.

To start off, reading the description got me so excited for this book. I was interested in the plot, in the fairytale-esque storyline, among other things. But what I was not prepared for was the narrator. 

Written like a satire (?), I think, this book has a narrator with a mind of their own as they tell the story of Julianna. Although we haven't even met Julianna 10% into this book, which is where I stopped. 

The first four chapters are all backstory on this curse and why Juliana must live her life in darkness. We have the stereotypical evil sister, the naïve/innocent sister, the dumb heroic prince, and the evil wizard. When I first started reading, we get the point of view of the evil sister first, who was banished for conspiracy to kill the king. The added commentary and over exaggeration of feelings and actions made this book read . . . not well.  

I honestly couldn't tell if it was satire or if it was mimicking a children's movie. It was so over done and in your face that I couldn't get myself to continue. 

And I tried. 

Eventually, I just stopped after chapter 4, about 10% into the book. I had a feeling I was going to continue to be irritated reading this kind of story and I don't have the patience for that right now. 

Plus, it was marketed as a high fantasy series, which it is not. It reads like a low fantasy, but it's characterized as a fairytale/retelling. Either way, this is not what I was expected when I requested this book and unfortunately, I just wasn't a fan of it. 

This is a 1 // 5 stars for me.

How to Break an Evil Curse is a light fantasy that pokes fun at some of the stereotypical tropes of "save the princess" stories. Princess Julianna has lived her whole life in a dungeon because a wizard cursed her father's firstborn child to die if ever touched by sunlight. Fed up with her imprisonment, however royally comfortable it might be, she escapes one night through a tunnel she spent half her life digging. Meanwhile, the wizard has finally managed to locate the boy who meets all the requirements to break the curse and is going to do his best to make sure Warren never meets Julianna.

While the style of the novel takes a bit of getting used to, it's a fun read - a bit like the TV show Galavant without the musical numbers. It will appeal to readers looking for a fairy-tale type story with a comedic bent as opposed to serious drama.

Fantasy satire, featuring magical asparagus, Shawshank-level digging skills, friendly ghosts, a phony harpsichord repairman, and of course, an evil curse. There are great moments of poking fun at fantasy tropes, but sadly it never moves beyond surface-level comedy to develop an attachment with the characters. The constant jokes tired me out, but I could see this appealing to folks who enjoy humor for humor’s sake.

Plus points for the banjo and the friendly ghost pals.

**Thanks to NetGalley and Black Spot Books for the free ARC**

I tried and tried, but after a week I haven’t been able to get past 50%, so I’m giving up. I understand this is is a farce, but it just didn’t work for me. I didn’t like the asides, and the dialogue was cringe worthy, the anachronisms drove me crazy, and jumping around annoyed me. Unfortunately this just wasn’t a good fit for me, although I imagine others may enjoy it.

I'm just going to start off that this book has simply been marketed wrong. The blurb create the impression that it's a dark fantasy and the supposed genre shelf its been shoved into, steer very much into this direction. However, this book is more like a fractured fairy tale with tons of snark and a good dose of humor. When read with that in mind, it's a good read.

Reminding a bit of The Princess Bride type of humor, this is an intriguing read which mixes a fun plot and with all sorts of adventure.

Princess Julianna was cursed before birth to never get even a tiny sliver of sunlight or fall over dead instantly. Determined to keep her alive, the King and Queen (her parents) let her grown up in what was once the castle's dungeons, where even after renovation still carry the costs of those who perished there. But those become her friends. As she tries to escape and find freedom, runs into Warren, a sea-faring lad, and together they uncover an evil plot to take over the kingdom. But as they try to stop the horrible sorcerer, Julianna learns how bad a King her father might really be.

This tale surprised me. While I was sure this would make a perfect dark read for October, it was simply a fun, humorous adventure. The entire tale does hold heart and high stakes and action packed moments, but it carries tons of quirkiness and humor and simple snark. A lot of this is thanks to the odd narrator, who constantly jabs in phrases here and there to keep things off-balance. Then, there's the ridiculous footnotes, which pepper the pages, and offer eyebrow raising, snort worthy comments. It's cute, it's silly and it's really a fun read.

The only thing I didn't really like was the plot layout and pacing. Especially the beginning jumped around between time frames, scenes and characters, causing a pause each time to figure out where and who and what was happening. It does slide together, but not without hiccups. And I found myself skipping over paragraphs and not feeling as if I missed anything. It was almost as if the humor was there for the humor itself. Which isn't bad, either. It's just not my kind of read, necessarily. But it is well done for the right mood. I was just expecting something dark and really had trouble getting past that (thanks to the wrong direction I picked this book up with).

But it is a decent read. And anyone who loved The Princess Bride and is ready for a silly tale with a somewhat similar atmosphere will enjoy this one. It's quite clever and definitely a breath of fresh air.

DNF. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy! I decided to not keep reading this one, it was not for me. Thanks!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange of an honest review

This book started off quite interesting, a banished villain living in the forest of loom for decades and an evil sorcerer who wants to see the downfall of the kingdom as well as has romantic interest in the villain- Interesting right? but that's where intrigue stopped for me, Unfortunately I had to DNF the book at 40%.I really tried hard to push through because the cover, title and the premise sounded very promising

The narrative has a funny/silly undertone like reading a children's fairy tale, however it seemed to be forced after a while which is why it was hard to focus on whats going on in the book for me. The characters lacked depth and each and every character that's introduced has some longish inner voice that gives us a lot of unwanted details and keeps hindering the progress of the plot. After a point I didn't feel like I cared for either the characters or the plot. I would give it 2.5 stars for the 40% I was able to finish

There was so much going on in this and so many characters. And some that had nothing to do with the story. It was kind of a mess.

I liked this book well enough, but I don't think the things I liked outweighed the things I didn't.
It was different from what I expected - more of a satirical spin on the YA fantasy genre, and while some people will enjoy that, it's not really my thing.
I found the writing and dialogue hard to get into - so much so that I think it detracted from my reading experience - and the main characters were a little flat. BUT the plot was great! And the ending was even better!

Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC to review.

Fantasy story told with a very humorous voice that I think middle grade readers will enjoy. There are a lot of footnote asides (about 30 plus) throughout the book that will give younger readers some more backstory to why things are the way they are in the story vs our current day.

It is a quick paced story that will keep the attention of the reader. As a middle-aged man reading it verged a bit too trope heavy for me but the tropes have become for good reasons and middle grade readers are not as likely to have been used to the tropes like a older reader might be.

The story is mostly wrapped up but it is not fully completed and there will probably be a sequel or a trilogy to finish up the story (my guess, not aware of the publisher plans).

Sadly, I did not enjoy this one. The premise sounded great, the cover is gorgeous, but this just wasn't for me. I didn't connect to Julianna and the sarcasm fell flat. I'm sure it was intended to be funny, but I just found it annoying. I couldn't wait for it to be over.

A nice fantasy story from a different perspective. Lots of humor, and fourth-wall-breaking. That has to be your thing or you won't enjoy it as much. Another thing I want to point out is one of the characters has an explicit set idea of a woman's role which isn't woman-friendly. That might be a reason for me not to recommend this book. While it's hardly the focus of the book, the way it's put down makes it painful to read. There are other ways to characterize his aversion for women. Not like this.

A fairytale with snarky humor, yes, please. How to Break an Evil Curse is an adorably light funny parody. At times I was reminded of The Princess Bride, with it’s strange delightful narration and oddness. I felt that this book was perfect for Middle Graders while also appealing to Young Adults. This is not High Fantasy, by any means, it is super fun though.

Princess Juliana is cursed. Cursed to live her life in the darkness of a remodeled dungeon. The premise is the title of this entry, how to break an evil curse. It’s fun and if you go into the story without any preconceived notions you’ll most likely enjoy this one.

I loved the narration of this story, the unique voice of the writing, the quirky characters and the interesting details sprinkled throughout the story. The cover is also stellar and a wonderful draw to read this funny first outing in the new Chronicles of Fritillary.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an arc of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

First, I’d like to start this by saying I was drawn in by both the title and the cover, which is beautiful. And the summary seemed pretty spot on for what I might enjoy. I do love a good fantasy that involves a curse. And I especially enjoy the idea of an independent and strong young lady or woman. However, after reading it, I realized that while this may still be considered a fantasy, this should not have been described and advertised as a high fantasy the way it was when I first saw. This book was marketed towards a slightly different audience than it should have been. While high fantasy lovers may still enjoy this, it also sets them up for disappointment when it is not as it was marketed. It was definitely not the kind of story I was expecting.

How to Break an Evil Curse is exactly as the title says. It’s a story of a girl who has been locked away her whole life for fear of dying by sunlight because of curse placed upon her by an evil wizard before she was even born, so when she’s older, she sets out to break said evil curse.


There was so much potential in this story, and I was so excited to see how this might play out, but I was further disappointed by most of the story itself as well. There was a lot that could have been done to further develop the plot and especially the characters. I especially feel like Julianna’s character had so much room for growth and there was so much potential to what could’ve been done with her. She was who I was most looking forward to learning more about, but her character fell so short for me, and the way the narration is set up only furthered my dislike for both how the story is written and the Julianne as a whole.

The characters all felt much the same in the end as they did in the beginning. I always love seeing characters grow and develop, but it was just hardly happening here. Most of them fell flat, and maybe if there weren’t so many tropes and topics crammed into the story at once, there would’ve been room for said character development.

There was a lot I wanted to like in this story. I wanted to like that it talked about women’s rights and poverty and so on, especially on top of wizards and pirates, but it really was too much all at once that it all felt halfway done.

I don’t like reading something with the sole goal being the ending, but that’s how it felt reading this. The story was a struggle to get through, and it definitely took me a while. While funny at times, it was often more frustrating than funny. The povs were confusing, and the narration was lacking. It felt like a parody of what this story’s trope is meant to be. It almost felt like how The Hunger Games or Twilight parodies were. I was constantly waiting for the end to come because I also dislike not finishing books. I was hoping that at least the ending would give me some kind of hope for the rest of the series, but even the ending felt unsatisfying and anticlimactic. Part of me is hopeful that the sequel will show further development than this one. I know there’s so much more potential, and it could be great if that potential is really tapped into.

How to Break an Evil Curse is a great and exciting middle grade read! The writing itself is very witty. I found myself chuckling several times throughout the book. It reminded me a lot of the books I liked to read as a kid. It also reminded me of a Disney movie mixed with The Princess Bride in the best of ways. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but gives you a nice story the entire time. The writing kept me entertained throughout the entire read! It's a seriously wild ride at points.

The author also did a good job world building and developing the characters. I think that really helped drive the story along! The book is a fairly quick read. Whether you're reading this with your kids or reading it for fun (adults can read middle grade, too!), it's a fun time throughout.

Wow! I lost count of how many times I putted down and picked up this book.
I don't know why it was so. It felt like something was missing, something that should have made me read it and don't let go...
I pushed myself to finish it because I rarely dnf a book and because it was an ARC received.

There are so many story lines and follows so many different characters that sometimes can be confusing.
Also, there are so many unnecessary footnotes (some are ok, but..).
Another fact I have to clarify is that the book is in no way a high-fantasy as it was promoted but barely a low-fantasy (maybe because of that I put my expectations too high...).

I liked the sarcastic narrator though and his remarks. I don't see that in the books nowadays. His interventions were really funny.

Overall it is a funny read. I give it 3.5🌟

It started with two villains planning their revenge on the royal family. And I hoped the story will stay with that. I was a little disappointent when it changed focus on a royal daughter. It was fun, something light to read between heavier books. Good fairytale for people who love that kind of things.