this book was really promising. I think if I was reading it, instead of listening to it I would have finished it. It is about a girl, who was 5 years old when a fantasy world grew from under Central Park new York. the fantasy world took over, most adults died, and the children were taken by the queen. Not it is 10 or so years later. There is no emotion in this fantasy kingdom, and our girl is now part of the night watch. She goes after the Queens son, when he is discovered around the city. She follows him to Ohio, where she is quarantined, (held Prison) so she can clear herself of the spell and feel again.

It was the quarantine that lost me. It was slow and lacked the charm of the rest of the book. I found my mind wondering and not caring what was happening. I DNFed. if I was reading and could have skimmed through this, i probably would have. But that was not really possible with the audiobook. I set it aside and never picked it back up. ( )

This book was great! It starts out modern but soon becomes fantasy with fighting and a magical queen. The ending is not what I expected which is always a treat to have a surprise ending. ( )

This was pretty good! RTC ( )

Jade is a character you just feel for. Asher is a lovable character. Together they are perfect. I love the world this author has created. It is so interesting. The romance is sweet but there is still a lot of action and some drama. I will definitely be continuing this series. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Once Upon a Curse series. I borrowed this book through Kindle Unlimited.

Story (3/5): This was a very simple and boring fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The general idea behind this post apocalyptic world (where fantasy regions take over major cities and curse them) is intriguing but wasn’t really filled out very well. The story also lacked anything to push it forward or make it intriguing, the whole thing came off as really contrived to me.

Characters (3/5): The characters were very one-dimensional. Jade is very plain and a bit slow and her insta-love with Prince Asher was eye-roll inducing. All the characters just really lacked any sort of complexity and were boring to read about. The romance between the two lacked any real depth or heat and was very lackluster.

Setting (2/5): The idea of fantasy regions appearing and taking over major cities was interesting but just wasn’t filled out all that well. We’re just supposed to accept that this happened without any background or explanation. The whole setting felt very fake and forced.

Writing/Drawing Style (2/5): This was written at a very simple and low reading level. Very little description here and no complexity to the story at all. I was confused about the age demographic for this because it seems like it’s at a middle grade reading level but the subject matter is more at a young adult level. I was not impressed.

My Summary (2/5): Overall I found this disappointing and don’t plan on continuing the series. It felt like this was written on a whim and with very little effort, things were just not well thought out or well built up. This was very boring, very predictable, and there was very little I liked here. ( )