Here’s a short summary of A Curse So Dark and Lonely:
Harper is a girl out of her time and out of her depth. Cold most nights, hungry on others, she and her brother have to be one step ahead of the law. One night, when Harper’s adrenaline kicks in and she saves someone off the streets, she’s flung in the other person’s stead - into a fantastical world called Emberfell where winter is year-long. Apparently, there’s a curse, a beast in a grand castle, and a wayward prince. Emberfell has been struggling due to the curse, and their one hope is to find someone to end the beast trapped in the palace. Enter Harper.
Here's a short review of the novel:
I had really mixed thoughts while reading this book. The garnished cover, filled with blues and silvers, had gotten me to originally pick the book up. The thorns on the covers gave me fairytale-esque vibes, and I was right with my guess. This novel draws on many fairytales, though it has a more modern take with them - the main character, Harper, is unapologetically modern. Harper is also scrappy and resourceful; saving people wasn’t her thing, but she’ll deal with it to go home. The other main character named Rhen is the beast-slash-prince of the book, and he’s slightly less complex. Think of an angsty character with issues, holding a cup of scalding tea in the middle of July. There - you’ve pegged his caricature. Then comes the guard, Grey, who is just done with life. He’s the one who’s holding everyone together, like a hearth bringing family together for a sip of beer. He has depth and appears to be a subversion of the guard trope - he’s not at all protective and kind-hearted, though he is brooding. Having Harper be the reluctant hero, Rhen continue to live in agony, and Grey just...be Grey left the book to be entertaining, albeit silly. The novel gifts the reader with Harper accidentally being mistaken as the princess of D.C. and simple, first-person writing. It doesn’t try to be complicated, and sometimes, for a good story to hold weight, it doesn’t need to be. It was simple and sturdy for a story about princes and curses, and I think Kemmerer did her deed by bringing this world into existence. Plus, the name Emberfell sounds very whimsical and poetic.