Narrated dreams (and Cursebreakers review!)
You read that title right: narrated dreams.
I have them.
Don't you?
No? Just a writer thing? Huh.
Sometimes I have to wonder how many things are affected by my being a writer. Sometimes, I don't realize that not everyone types out their thoughts. (If any of you do, I'd love to hear about it, because I might feel a little more normal. At least a little less abnormal.) There seems to be a typewriter in my head. So when I'm thinking, just like any other person...I am visualizing the words being typed out. When the thought takes a new turn or "rewinds," I visualize backspacing.
Does anyone else do that?
Or does anyone narrate their dreams? Because yeah, I do that too. Oftentimes, my dreams are happening as if I'm writing them. I can change my mind about how the "plot" is progressing and switch things around. I can decide how A is going to respond to B. And it's often being literally, audibly narrated.
Again...anybody?
Other than to talk about the oddities of being a writer, I also come to you with not one but two book reviews. You know how I work full-time and am also a full-time college student? So I mustn't have much free time, right? Mustn't read much...
Until a darn good book finds its way into my hands.
The real world has just been absolutely unsatisfactory ever since I laid eyes upon A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, first book of the Cursebreakers series. I mean look at that beautiful cover.
I read the first half in about two days. The second half I read in one night. And then tossed and turned and gnashed my teeth and wailed (inwardly, anyway. Probably shouldn't wake my poor parents to wailing) because I didn't have the next book on hand.
Amazon Prime to the rescue, it arrived the next day.
Anyway, this book...exquisite. It's a Beauty and the Beast retelling, which lends a nice flair, but the story is fresh and authentic and definitely not your typical Disney princess romance. The two main characters are superbly developed, with some very real and consistent flaws and poor choices, but who are also likeable and relatable. The supporting character, Grey, is to die for.
And the ending will require the pulling of hair if you don't have the sequel available.
Fortunately for my scalp, I had it soon. And look at that cover too! Gorgeous.
A Heart So Fierce and Broken threatened to be disappointing for the briefest of moments. After the first few chapters, we move entirely to Grey and Lia Mara's (a new character) POV, no more Rhen and Harper who starred in the first book. But don't worry, you'll fall entirely in love with the new POVs. In fact, I think I might have enjoyed this book even more than the previous. The two main characters are, again, excellent.
Moreover, I loved the gripping, authentic conflict they faced, both internal and external. So often, fiction can sugarcoat. You end up with a difficult decision that, even if it's not fun, the right choice is obvious. You know what the character is going to do once they stop brooding about it. Here, however, there are genuinely no right answers sometimes. You'll be stressing over impossible choices right alongside Grey and Lia Mara.
Also...you might hate Rhen a bit as this book progresses. Just wait for the end. Any hair you have left from book 1 will be yanked out then. I'm just starting the third book...we'll see how much hair survives.
My first piece of advice: you must read these books. My second piece: don't be as stupid as me, and instead buy all three at once.