Cursed by Jennifer Armentrout

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Cursed by Jennifer Armentrout

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Pages: 288
Source: BEA 2012- Thanks, Spencer Hill Press!
Buy It: Amazon | The Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

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 have 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.--Goodreads

Ember and Olivia are survivors of the car accident that took the life of their Dad. Well, Olivia is a survivor, however Ember did die in the accident and Olivia brought her back just by touching her. Now that Ember is alive she has to live with her skin covered because if she touches someone, they will die. Yes, it definitely sucks, especially because she hasn’t touched, with bare skin, anyone in two years. It wasn’t until Dustin does something that no one else has done that Ember’s life spirals out of control. Cursed is a fast, action-packed novel that I had trouble putting down.

I hate judging books by their covers, because the book might not turn out as bad as the cover. I was so thankful that I didn’t think too much about this cover to let me stop from reading it because I would be missing out on an awesome read if I had. There is something about the cover: the girl on the front looks too perfect, too set-up. It is a bit weird and confuses me whether she is supposed to be dead or just taking a nap in the woods.

I’ve never read anything by Jennifer L. Armentrout and after reading this one, I will definitely be picking up more of her work. I liked the way her voice flowed through the plot. It helped with the vision of the whole story and I really enjoyed how easy it was to fall in love with the novel.

The story seemed a bit cliché to me. I picked the book up and after reading what it was about I was unsure whether to start it. It sounded too much like Evermore by Alyson Noel and I couldn’t shake that notion for the first few pages or so but the further I got into the novel, I realized that Cursed was a fresh take on a girl dealing with her powers. I really liked the new twist Armentrout put on Cursed. It was interesting to see Ember go through learning how to control her powers and how this girl who hasn’t been able to touch anyone in two years falls in love. There were so many twists that kept me on my toes, some predictable, some out-of-this-world. I had trouble putting this book down, it was so good! I would bookmark my page and then two seconds later, I would be coming back for more because I needed to know what was going to happen or if I was right in guessing what I thought would happen.

The characters were fun to read about. Each had their own distinct personality that fascinated me. They were all relatable and all had a story to tell which made me connect with them even more. Ember was a wonderful narrator and even when Phoebe was complaining about Ember’s instability with her emotions, I thought Ember was the most relatable and fun to read more of.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to read Cursed yet, what are you waiting for? This is the perfect book to read for any time of the year. It will also leave you wanting to read more of Armentrout’s work.

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