This was an interesting gender bent retelling of beauty and the beast. The magic system is not quite like what you think of with the curse and witch. It's more fae based and we get multiple characters throughout the story that is also cursed. Our main mc is trying to avoid being married and requires the help of our male mc. Except he has his own goals behind the scene. This is a slow burn romance where lines get crossed and plot twists are happening.

Curses is a retelling and we all know I'm a sucker for those! I very much liked the idea of the girl being cursed this time but this ended up being a lot different than I expected. Forced proximities not my favorite kind of tropes but I can appreciate it in the this instance. Tevin was a fun character, his interactions with his family was interesting and I found myself wanting to read more about them where as Merit was ok but not my ideal MC. This book was fun and quirky with a dash of adventure and I enjoyed it.

I had previously DNF'd this book, but decided to finish it. Not a huge fan. Felt bored very easily. The middle of the story to the end, just dragged on. Tavin's interaction with another female character was so strong, and I was hoping that was going to continue, but nope.

I don’t read much fantasy and I live a BeUty and the Beast retelling so I though this would be up my alley . All in all this book did work for me though I was expecting something more..I loved the curse breaking and supernatural creatures.

3.5/5 It’s been a while since I’ve read a fairytale retelling, so it was fun to jump into a gender swapped Beauty in the Beast story.
CW/TW: Violence, drugging of character, animal death, confinement, death of a parent, alcohol use

Merit Craven has refused to marry a prince. This leads to a fairy godling’s curse, turning her into a beast. To fully become herself again, she must marry someone of her mother’s choosing before she turns 18. As her birthday draws near, Merit is running out of time. That’s when she meets Tevin Dumont. Tevin has always been a con artist. He purposes for help Merit find a husband. But the closer Tevin and Merit become, the harder it is to choose from the suitors.

So although I have an eARC, I did end up switching to the audiobook. I struggled with the beginning and decided to switch over to listening. This helped a lot for me. This one had some pacing issues. Seemed very slow in the beginning, good in the middle, and then rushed at the very end. Although pacing was off for me, there were elements that I really enjoyed.

I loved the characters. Merit and Tevin are great, but so are Val, Ellery, And Kaiya. Not too mention, even though Tevin’s parents may not be the best people, his family were fun to get to know. All the characters have big personalities and make the story entertaining. There were a lot of funny moments, which I think made this BatB retelling unique. I feel like many are on the darker side and this one was more lighthearted.

i'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings and this one was no exception. i just loved the idea behind this story with the fact that Merit was the Beast in this situation and i really did immediately ship her with Tevin. i really, really loved Tevin. I thought this was an excellent take on social hierarchy and i loved the way magic played a big role -- with more of an explanation than the original movie gave us!

It was good, just... another beauty and the beast retelling! It was fast paced which I loved but it was lacking in a few parts. I still think Beauty and the Beasts lovers need to read this!

I always love a good re-telling of a classic fairytale and this one is no different!

I fell in love with the character so quickly. I love the story of the young woman being pushed and forced into doing something which she doesn't want to do, trying to get through her life. Merit is such an amazing character!

I was sold at it being a Beauty & The Beast retelling, and Curses was a really promising entry into the retelling world.

A lot of elements of the book worked but a lot of them also didn't quite delivered.
I really enjoyed the role reversal with the characters, I thought that worked out really nicely. The author's writing is also beautiful and kept me entertained for the most part. The part that did not quite work for me was mostly the story itself, it was underwhelming and for it being a huge part of the book obviously it just made enjoying the book fully - really hard.

I still think this is a good entry into the Beauty & The Beast retelling's and I think there's people who will love it.

This was a great book, well written and I enjoyed the story and character iine.

thank you for the advanced copy in exchange for a fair review.

While this story wasn't for me, I think new readers to YA would be interested in it. The story is very dialogue heavy with it's comedy and tropes. An interesting take on the Beauty and the Beast story.

I really liked this YA retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This is a lighter, quirkier, gender-swapped retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It does not have that dark, brooding, gothic feel you get from a lot of retellings. However, I felt the story played out similarly, especially in the latter half of the book.

The first few chapters of the book starts off with a different character’s POV. It moved from Merit, Tevin’s mother, and Tevin. If you’re not a fan of multiple POVs, I recommend sticking with the book because it quickly switches to just two characters. After our two main characters meet, the story is told from Merit and Tevin’s POV. So the first couple of chapters feel more like a prologue.

WORLD & MAGIC
The world was interesting and unique. Fairies and humans live among each other. Humans who have fairy lineage in their bloodlines are called fairyborn and typically have a higher social and economic standing. Some humans are born with fairy gifts like our main character, Tevin, who has the gift of charm. The more he talks, the more he can convince someone to do his will. I would have liked to see a bit more world-building. I hope the author writes more books in this world. I’d love to learn more about the different fairies and godlings she mentions briefly in the story.

CHARACTERS
I loved the queer representation and the women in this book were standout characters. The characters were likable and endearing, even the more cliche characters grew on me the more I read. From our main characters, Merit and Tevin to all the side characters, they felt like real people who had interesting stories outside of our main plot. I especially loved the group’s dynamic. There’s definitely a feeling of a squad towards the end.

ROMANCE
It was super romantic and I was thoroughly invested in watching the couple get together. Tevin and Merit’s relationship was perfectly paced. I love a good romantic development that begins with friendship and that’s what we got here. From the beginning, he sees her as Merit even when she is in her beast form. I love seeing both of them turn to each other to have fun and relax. They have an easygoing friendship that’s laced with attraction and a bit of “what-if” longing. This tension finally comes to surface in a classic fairytale climax with our hero and his ragtag group of friends rescuing the princess. Steam level is PG (2-3 kissing scenes).

One aspect I absolutely adored was the side romance between Val, Tevin’s cousin who is lesbian, and another side character. Val is full of swagger and flirtatiousness. She always gets the girl she has an eye on. So it was fun to see her attempts get knocked down and become head-over-heels in love with her love interest. I would have liked to see more development with their romance but what we did have was fun to watch.

I think it would be a good ya book for younger teens and tweens too as there isn’t much steam or violence. Overall, this was a fun retelling full of hijinks, good friends, and lots of sweet romance! I had a lot of fun reading this.

Fast paced beauty and the beast retelling. I was pretty intrigued with the plot. So happy I read it, definitely something I felt compelled to binge. It was gothic and dark atmospheric feel but with quirky characters. Definitely look forward to reading more!

I think maybe there have been too many Beauty and the Beast retellings lately, and so I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I would have hoped. I did enjoy the gender reversal as a little twist on the usual story. There were also some fun elements from fairytales that I really liked, such as the sisters and their cursed mouths (snakes appearing as you talk, NO THANKS!)

Generally though, I found it very slow and was just keen to finish, which is never a good sign. I’d give it a very average three stars.

A Gender Bent retelling of Beauty and the Beast?? Sign me up! B&TB retelling sat my favorite anyways, so I was looking forward to this and it didn’t disappoint (thank the gods), the o my downfall is that it dragged a little bit but I’m a fast reader so it wasn’t too bad.

This is what i would describe as a "good airplane book". Fine if there's nothing else around but not worth the effort otherwise. While it does what it sets out to do, presents a gender bent fairytale retelling, i don't think this necessarily did anything new or thrilling to make it stand out.

A genderswap retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale with so many dynamic characters and magical abilities. Tevin and Merit were absolutely adorable together, but I am glad the author took the time to tell the stories of other characters and expand upon all the moving parts behind the scenes before ending the tale. As of writing this, I do not know if there will be more stories told in this world but I know I would enjoy reading more if the author were so inclined.

I was really intrigued by the synopsis of a gender swapped beauty and the beast retelling and tried so hard to read it. But after months of attempting to finish I have to put this down as a DNF for me. Just couldn’t get into the story. The world building wasn’t there and I just didn’t care for the characters.

Fast paced and intriguing. He cover sucks you in but the writing us very entertaining! So very thrilling.

When Merit rebels against her mother's wishes to marry a totally wrong betrothed, she gets "gifted" by a godling to be a beast unless she gives into her mother's wishes or falls in love with someone who loves her. Tevin was cursed to be charming and he is forced to use his gift for his grifter parents and their nefarious schemes. When Merit and Tevin cross paths, they come up with a mutually beneficial plan of their own- which of course backfires.

Overall I found this to be very charming, full of compelling quirky characters, a sweet slow and realistic romance and with a generous helping of subtle humor. This was a great gender swapped retelling of Beauty and the Beast and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a totally new version of a classic fairytale, cute romances with HEA and great world building. I would love to come back to this world for a different set of fairytale characters. I mean really, how can you not love a story with what was basically a support group for all kinds of cursed creatures? The only negative thing I would say about the story was that it could have been a little bit shorter since the middle dragged a bit with what felt like filler that did not help move the plot forward. But in general I enjoyed this cute tale and look forward to the next book from this author.