While I was extremely intrigued by the concept of the book, the title, and the promises that were being made this book did fall a little flat for me. The narrator, while entertaining at first, and their satirical remarks started to grow old for me as the story went on. I loved the concept of the princess's curse; she is a princess that can't go out into the sun. However, this book really lacked character development. However, the princess's character was extremely two dimensional and did not live up to the potential that she had as a cursed princess. The other characters, unfortunately, fell flat for me as well.

Regardless, I thought this book had all the makings of a good, basic YA fantasy novel. I would definitely recommend this to readers who are trying to get into the genre or readers who are trying to get into books with multiple characters coming together to achieve a goal. I think a lot of the reviews for this book are a little harsh and fail to realize that this book has many middle-grade elements to it. Therefore, while it is fantasy, it is not the high fantasy, swashbuckling adventure they thought it would be. However, to a child, that's just what this book would be. So keeping that in mind, I think this is perfect for late elementary school kids and middle schoolers.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for free in exchange for an honest review.

- 4 stars -

A girl who can not step into the sun going on an epic adventure is my favorite premise I’ve read in months.
Self-aware and sassy the narrator of this story knows we are reading it and breaks the fourth wall often through footnotes which kept me laughing though out the book . In most places this is a good thing but it does murder the tone from time to time .
Our main characters are interesting to follow but show a distinct lack of growth outside of their own narrow goals. This is most likely a pitfall of needing to spread their character arcs over multiple books.
Readers looking for a quick dive into a fantasy world reminiscent of the writing style of Sarah j Mass may enjoy this book.

Though I was intrigued by the title and the premise of the novel, How to Break an Evil Curse fell flat for me. It's a story about a princess who is cursed and cannot go outside during the day. If she does, she will die. There is a way to break the curse, which is what propels most of the story.

My biggest issues were the lack of character development, awkward pacing, and overused satirical elements. Princess Julianna is very two-dimensional, and though there is potential for growth, it doesn't happen. Other characters are static as well. The satirical elements are overpowering and almost all of the characters (and the narration in general) kind of blend together in their similarities. I feel like, for me, this took away from the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Allow me to impersonate Stanley Hudson from the Office:


Fantasy is fantasy is fantasy is fantasy.

In other words, stop with the subgenres. Look, they exist for a reason. If you never get past what a book isn't, then you'll never appreciate a book for what is it.


Every other review I've seen makes sure to mention that this is a Fractured Fairy Tale or that this book is falsely advertised as high fantasy when it is really low fantasy. This makes me think of dog lovers. If I buy a dog and name it after your ex, will you like the dog less? This is a bad example for me because I don't like animals but hopefully you do enough for the point to still stand.

I liked this book until I hated it and then I learned to love it.

I had issues as well with typecasting. This book isn't witty enough to be The Princess Bride. It isn't clever enough to be Into the Woods. It isn't witty AND clever enough to be a Discworld Novel. Or silly for that matter. But it comes so close to all three that I realized that my attempts at disliking it for what it isn't overshadowed the brilliance for what it was.

What surprised me was that the story the book leads in with is not the story we end up with. There are two girls whose destinies lead them in opposite directions. One is due to marry the Prince. The other has no soul and is sentenced to exile in a cave after plotting to overthrow the crown with an evil wizard who happens to be the Prince's kind of best friend but not really. Conroy, the Prince, is shattered by Farland's betrayal. Farland goes one step further to announce that the firstborn heir of Conroy will be cursed to never be able to step foot in the sun or else they die. There are conditions to break the evil curse involving whom the heir is supposed to fall in love with because that's what happens in these types of books. We flash forward Nineteen years and follow Julianna, the cursed, as she works to escape her dungeon turned bedroom. She lives with three ghosts, one of whom accompanies her on her adventure. Our other main character is Warren, the curse breaker who is not the type to rescue a damsel in distress if you get my meaning. He is the son in a sea-traveling theater troupe who plays a few instruments and has morals but not muscle to rely on. His sister, Corrine, also travels with him to protect him after Farland makes an attempt on his life. Our two leads cross paths and rely on each other to set things right. There's also a subplot involving a revolution that develops throughout the book but is destined to find itself in the sequels.

I believe I saw, possibly in the dedication, that this book was originally made up as a bedtime story for the author's children. The beginning had that feel to it. It finds itself towards the middle when suddenly the book goes from humorous to humorously bonkers. The lack of seriousness mixed with weirdness is special. One example of this would be as Julianna is stalking an intended target to prove her worthiness in order to have access to a tunnel in and out of the castle *breath* the narrator mentions that the reason we are focussing on Julianna is that our other characters are sleeping. Just in case we wanted to still check in with them, the narrator then explains what it was like for them to be sleeping in the inn with details about noises they are making, and creaking, and restlessness. What other books can you name tells you that the characters are doing something as unimportant as sleeping but if you really insist on knowing proceeds to tell you anyway? The narrator, I will say, is almost as much of a character as the storyteller from Into the Woods. Little side comments make the book shine.

Another detail I liked was nearer to the end during a rescue mission, our group finds themselves trying to figure out the location of bodies of water nearby and there's a little post with a box containing maps of the area and it's clearly referential to the maps you find in forest and nature preservations. Paid for and provided by so and so.

Not everything worked for me. There's a basin and then vial of mixed Ravens blood which talks to specific people. I didn't care for that at all. One reason is that it constantly uses the word "Bro." Here is the biggest sin of the book. There are numerous uses of Man, Dude, Bro, and Yo. I'm sure there was something else I hadn't bothered to write down. It takes the silliness and sophistication of the book and knocks it down a few levels. I felt hatred in my heart the more I came across this. It practically ruined everything else on the page. Bro is bad enough but Dude has no place in fantasy literature, or even in the English language for that matter. I think we should vote it out but some of us have problems voting things out that don't belong.

I've seen critiques on character development. I don't agree. This book takes place over a short period of time and I do think Julianna and Warren are in different places than where they started. Julianna is a girl who wants to explore the world unknown to her but now sees the trouble within the kingdom and understands the people who speak out against her family. There's more growth to be sure but she openly opposes her father's totalitarian control and his desire for the big secret of the book to be kept hidden. Warren doesn't have completely as much development but I believe by the end of book one he is beginning to see that his fate has more in store for him. The plot of this book isn't as epic as people are arguing it should be but this is the start of the journey. Book One. We have the base of conflict and we have two villainous characters that we can enjoy with all their evil plotting. If you have trouble relating just imagine Tim Curry as Farland. That'll put this in perspective for you.

At it's worse points, I would have given it a three bordering on a two..but it pulled itself together and makes me want to read the sequel. It will never be perfect with the dudes and the bros, but I'll look past it for a lighthearted change.

The description of the book sounded so good. I was really hoping to enjoy it but I had to DNF it. The writing was just really lacking for me. The point of views would change rapidly from sentence to sentence and I could never tell what was really important to the plot and what was just filler. The writing just seemed all over the place and it honestly gave me a headache trying to read it and keep track of everything. I'm really not sure if the author was trying to be funny and not accomplishing that goal or what. The character Farland seemed like he could mind read without any help but all of a sudden he needed some powder to be able to do it? It just didn't feel like the author was focused and thought everything out well and just threw ideas and thoughts together as they went. The story also, I felt, was trying to be femenist but was definitely not doing a very good job of it. The male characters were horribly written as weak and dumb. The whole thing sounded like it was written with underlying political issues. I just could not make myself read anymore; it just kept dragging on and on.

How to Break and Evil Curse is a fantasy story set in a kingdom with evil wizards, pirates, revolutionaries, and royalty. The story focuses on a curse put on the royal family by an evil wizard which results in the princess never being able to be in sunlight, even inside. She is raised in the dungeons of the castle and digs her way out to experience the world. The only way to break the curse is for her to fall in love with a very specific type of man. A man who has lived his whole life at sea, is part of a traveling theater troupe, plays the accordion, banjo, and harpsichord, and is allergic to asparagus.
During her first trips outside of the castle the princess discovers the level of poverty being lived in in her kingdom and hopes to change it. While the princess is experiencing her kingdom for the first time, so is Warren (the man who can break the curse) as he is running and hiding from the wizard who made the curse.
It is at this point that I stopped reading the story. The narrator is omniscient but also seems to be a character in and of itself though you don’t know the identity. This would be ok but they are writing about a historical time from a modern point of view as well as switches character point of views multiple times mid page. It is hard to keep track of who’s thoughts you are reading. The plot was also very slow moving. I was 45% of the way through the novel (chapter 18) and I still didn’t know what the ultimate goal of the story was or why I should care about the characters. The princess was naive and bland, Warren is idealistic and impulsive, the wizard, the queen, and the king are all daft. The only characters with some substance are the ghosts of the dungeon and the “soulless” sister of the queen who is the first character we meet and then don’t hear from again (by chapter 18). These character flaws would not be a problem if they had any redeeming qualities and if there was any real reason to care about them.
I really wanted to love this story. I liked the beginning and was intrigued by the revenge plot but it felt dead and I stopped caring.

When I get ready to write a review I check out any other reviews to help me figure out exactly what I did or didn’t like about a book. Sometimes hearing someone else’s thoughts helps me put mine into words. I have to say I was surprised by the lackluster review of this book. When I downloaded it it was listed as an epic fantasy but it looks like they took the word epic out. I think this was a good marketing move but I also think they should mention the humor aspect.
I think you should give this book a try. It’s not a cookie-cutter fiction. For me, it was a fresh change of pace, a pallet cleanser if you will. I found the satire funny and witty. It had me chuckle out loud a few times.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes.
All around, Farland Phelps was a price slice of fella if you were a young land of the court who was not quite so delusional as to hope to sink your talons into the price himself, but still delusional enough to think you could sink one of his most powerful underlings.

A young lady should have a pre-set list of priorities when man-hunting so she can refer to it when her head is clouded. Man-hunting is a most dangerous game, after all. (You’re welcome for that advice.)

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand!” He said How do they have popsicles in Fritillary, you ask? Good question. Icebergs are involved.

My only critiques are, there are a lot of footnotes from the narrator. At first, they were fun but about halfway through the book they started getting a little old. They are easy to skip if you wish and it won't take away from the story. Also, I wish the ending had a little more satisfaction in the romance department. (I’m trying not to give away to much.) But I suppose that is what book 2 is for and I’m thankful for no cliffhangers.

This book was just okay for me. I thought the story was a little slow at times and found the characters to be annoying off an on.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review

Will not be providing feedback as the book was archived before I was able to download it. I believe the archive date was originally set to October.

A really fun and interesting read. I had an enjoyable time reading this and it held my attention the entire way through that I finished it within the day!

A witty and charming fantasy satire in the same vein as The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

Told by an omniscient narrator, it’s the story of how an evil and slightly incompetent wizard cursed the eldest child of the prince to not be able to go into sunlight. But as you know, all curses have to have a counter-curse, so just be really specific. The cursed princess grows up in the remodeled dungeon and decides to tunnel out to freedom.

The story is teaming with comedic side characters, like the pirate, Captain McManlyman. And tongue-in-cheek humor from the first sentence.

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'

Let me start by saying I love the cover of this book. That alone would encourage me to pick it up. The premise of this story is great. A princess is cursed by her father's ex-best friend: if she goes out during the day, she will die. There has to be a way to break every curse, and this curse can only be broken by a very specific boy who meets very specific requirements. So, of course the King and Queen are seeking the boy in order to break the curse. And the caster is seeking the boy to kill him so the curse cannot be broken. And so our tale is started.

Reading the synopsis of this book, I knew I would fall in love. I love so-called 'fractured fairytales' and this seemed like it would fit the bill. However, I could not get over the narrative voice in this book. It reads as tongue-in-cheek sarcastic, but it falls flat and just becomes annoying. It's to the detriment of the characters, too. Since the same overly-sarcastic tone is used throughout, there isn't much differentiation between the characters, and they become somewhat similar. Not to mention, the narrator goes off on tangents throughout the story that just distracts and doesn't add to the story. (Some of these tangents are so long and 'tangenty' that they require footnotes.) I would have preferred the author decide what was important enough to include in the story and what was not.

I ended up DNFing this book about halfway through as I couldn't handle the tone. I found myself struggling to get through. I wanted to know what was going to happen as I love the plot, but the narrative voice made it hard for me to do so. If you find the story intriguing, I encourage you to pick up the book and see if you like the writing style. If you enjoy the first chapter or two, you will like the rest

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGallery. (Sidenote: As a general rule, I usually reserve three stars for books I finished and things I DNF fall below that. However, this book is well-written with a great plot, so I'm bumping the review to three stars. It's not it's fault that I don't like the sarcastic tone. In fact, if you like the writing style, this could easily be a four or five star book.)

How to Break an Evil Curse can be a great fantasy read for children. It’s easy going, fast read. It contains good plot and ideas, with humorous elements.
In my opinion the writing style can be hard to get into it, as it is for middle grades not for adults.

The premise is intriguing, but the writing is terrible. The dialogue is cringy, and it feels like a middle schooler wrote it with the writing style, technique, and maturity. It could be a middle grade, but it's still very badly written. No one has a motivation for anything besides very basic and surface level intentions, and no one feels like a real person. The author tried to write it like a fairytale and it didn't work. DNF'd at 16%

How to Break an Evil Curse was a quirky and fun read overall. I liked the tone of the prose, the style of the humour, and the way certain fairytale conventions were twisted and presented in a new light. Perhaps because of that style, though, I remained somewhat removed from the characters and found it hard to get deeply involved in their situation and feelings, which made it difficult to experience any real tension when they encountered problems. But the idea behind this series is great fun, and this first book concluded in a way that made me interested enough in how things would work out to want to read on to book two. As such, I am giving it 3.5 stars that I would round up to a 4 rather than down to a 3. Worth checking out if you'd like to read a fun and humorous fantasy adventure story.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a pleasant, easy to read, page turner, that is well aimed at a middle grade audience. In my opinion, the author made an attempt at sounding like Terry Pratchett, with unexpected lines from characters or from the narrator. For example, in a medieval setting, a reader does not often expect the mention of an Allen wrench, words like 'dude' or 'bro', or characters changing their names because the guys at the job centre find them funny.

Chapter 18 was one of the ones I liked the most because that is when I'd realised how much I enjoyed Julianna's relationship with Dexter, her "guardian". Their conversation in this chapter is a great example of a narrator that is not omniscient and allows information to be revealed gradually through dialogue. This made a nice change from the predominant additional lines where the narrator acts as a body hopper and within one chapter reveals what goes on in the minds of a multitude of characters.

The action accelerates in the second half of the book, there are unexpected twists and I really wanted to know how it all ends. It was only after reading the last page that I remembered that "How to Break an Evil Curse" will probably be the first in a series.

I admit that when I read the blurb of "How to break an evil curse" I believed the book to be entirely different. I was expecting a YA novel as any other, and what I found took me by surprise, but definitely in a good way!

The book brings a satirical view on fairytales, but also about our own ways. I found myself laughing about something just to stop and think that what happens in the crazy kingdom of Fritillary is the exact same that happens in this crazy world of ours.

The book has a type of humor that appeals to me: sarcastic, ironic and, sometimes, nonsensical. But I know that maybe it is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Also, because of all that, and because it is a fantasy book, I was obviously not questioning veracity or logic. It is just not that kind of book, so you must go open-minded.

I liked the characters, mostly the fact that even those who seem "plain" and "two-dimensional" still deconstruct fairytale's traditional stereotypes. But I expected a bigger development of both Julianna and Warren at the end.

Sadly, I think a few points could be improved, especially regarding side characters. I felt that some of them have pontencial, but are underused, working only as plot devices (The vial of raven blood and Dexter, for example). Another thing is that at the end of the book many characters don't even get to be mentioned, they just vanish. And I am not only talking about Warren's parents or the dungeon's ghosts, for example, but also Copper and Corrine, who were of great importance during the journey.

That last point made me feel like the story was cut in the middle of something. I know it is going to be a series, but that doesn't mean the book does not have to have a proper wrap up. It was like stopping mid-sentence.

My overall view is that the book is quite promising, it is funny and witty, carries many social criticism and only needs some "polishing". I am truly looking forward to read the sequels.

I want to thank the author, the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

A solid four star read. Juliana is a princess cursed by her father’s ex-best friend, the evil wizard Farland Phelps. The key to breaking that curse? A young man who meets all of the ridiculous criteria.

From the beginning this book is fun and funny. It’s sarcastic and very open with the way it presents a sheltered princess realizing her father really is an awful king and that the way the world works is very different from the way she thought it did.

A book filled with pirates, a women’s rights movement, various roguish groups and less than stellar guards the book takes the reader for a fun ride.

The reason I can’t give this book a five is because for all the things it does right, down to the footnotes in a lot of the chapters, there are a few things it does wrong. It felt like some of the characters were forgotten about until much later in the book, and that some plot lines just stopped mattering only to be shoved in at the very end. It wasn’t done as smoothly as possible. Coupled with a character that is the only one to get hurt due to never having been in a real fight before, and then being the only character who gets hurt, it got a little redundant.
The world building is fun and feels relatively solid. The narrator is fun and the style reminds me a lot of The Princess Bride in all the best ways. Listening to a story told by someone who was there and also has the best sense of humor and quick wit.

While many characters are introduced and it may feel a little easy to get overwhelmed, the core group stays small through the majority of the book and when any new characters show up, they’re around long enough to be remembered.

All of the characters are distinct, each with their own specific voice that makes them stand out. It’s just a shame that some of them were forgotten until the last two or so chapters and it sort of interrupted the action for me.
All in all, a really fun, fast read.

3.25 stars

How to Break an Evil Curse is the story of Princess Julianna, who has been cursed as the king’s firstborn to die if she is to be exposed to even a sliver of sunlight. But in her 19 years of hiding in the castle’s ex-dungeon, she figures she’s had enough of it and risks venturing out where she runs into the boy who could possibly break the curse. But along the journey, Julianna realises that she might not be in the greatest need of saving and begins to question her father’s rule.

Now before I get into the review of the actual book itself, I’d like the point out how horrible the choice it was to market this as a high-fantasy novel when it clearly is a low-fantasy or a fractured fairy tale of sorts. With books from not as popular authors, it’s absolutely imperative that the marketing team and publishers do the book as much justice as possible, and I am afraid that they have failed this book.

By marketing it as high-fantasy, they are letting the reader’s expectations veer away from the actual contents in this book, thus leading to lower ratings. This is really sad to see in a lot of the reviews because this book is actually a pretty solid, and quite entertaining, story in itself.

Anyways, now we got that out of the way, let’s start with the actual review, shall we?

How to Break an Evil Curse is a light and fun book to read. The narrator of the novel was a very interesting choice, especially considering how much of their own commentary they put in, but I felt as though this stylistic choice only helped convey the humorous tone in the novel. While I can see why some might find them annoying, looking at the story as a whole and the narrator’s role in it, I’d say they did a pretty damn fine job.

Our main cast of characters consists of the princess, Julianna, her counter-curse, Warren, his sister, Corrine, and one of Julianna’s ghost friends (yes, she can see ghosts), Dexter. I have to admit, I am quite a stickler for characters and development, and these ones fell way below my radar. But then again, this isn’t a high-fantasy novel so I can’t expect them to be at that same level. They provided just the right amount of intelligence and naivete for the story to both be entertaining and continue its satire tone while at the same time not being too infuriating for the readers.

While the characters didn’t experience much development throughout the story, it was nice watching them grow closer together as a group and actually make somewhat good choices.

The plot is what I had the most problems with. The pacing of the novel just felt awkward to read and I found myself confused at some points. Especially in the beginning with all the time jumps, man, that was not fun reading. Because of this, the flow of the story was severely hindered, and thus the story not as enjoyable.

Other than that, I found myself quite intrigued by Julianna and Warren’s story. I thought it to be engaging enough to make me reluctant to put the book down, which is a good sign. But even then, it took me a while to get into it when I first started. I was almost about to not finish a book for the first time had it not been an ARC, but the second half of this book was definitely worth pushing through for.

In terms of the writing style, which is what I feel most people would be irked by, I’d like to mention again the clear satire feel this book was going for, and that the style only fits in with it. If that wasn’t what Morrison was intending, I’d be surprised. Sarcastic interruptions from our narrator, questionable dialogue, cartoon-like narration; it’s all part of the book itself.

Now, to justify my specific rating. I give books 3 stars if there’s nothing bad about it, but there isn’t anything much good either, or if the good and bad cancel each other out. How to Break an Evil Curse was a solid first book in a series, but honestly, I didn’t feel much connection to the plot or the characters. It’s an average book, and there’s not much I can say about it that it did well for me to be raving about.

The 0.25 stars comes from the ending, which was my favourite part. It had just the right amount of sequel-baiting and satisfaction needed for a series, which I was pleasantly surprised by. Not sure if I’d buy the second book, but I’m definitely leaning towards doing so.

Overall, How to Break an Evil Curse is successful in delivering a fun read, but nothing else.