Cursebreaker - Taylor Fenner
- Jan 1, 2018
- 5 min read
Eighteen-year-old Helga "Hel" Daalgaard has accepted that the only love and adventure in her future live within the pages of the books her father brings for her from his travels. She's content helping around the home she shares with her parents and eight siblings; it may be a dull life but it's all she's ever known... until a polar bear arrives at their tiny cottage and offers up a strange proposal. After spurning his young stepmother's advances, Prince Dyre is cursed to spend his days in the body of a polar bear. To break the curse he must find a woman to fall in love with him and stay with him for a year - but the woman of his choosing can never learn that he is truly a man or Dyre will be forced into a future even worse than spending his days as a polar bear. He thinks Hel could be the one to break the curse, but if l spHel ever finds out what brought them together he may lose her forever. Nobody ever crossed Viveka, Queen of Aldavellir, and lived to tell about it. Dyre is the only man alive that has turned her down but she'll have him whether he likes it or not. She'll make it impossible for the girl he's chosen to last long enough to break the curse. After all, queens don't have to play fair.
EXCERPT
“Shhh,” the polar bear hushes me as he listens to something in the distance. His ears perk up and a menacing growl passes his pursed lips. I scan the forest for signs of a disturbance and my eyes play tricks on me as I glimpse figures of shadow and mist peeking around the trunks of trees. “Hel, I need you to listen to me very carefully,” the urgency in the polar bear’s voice gets my attention. “I want you to run in the direction we came from and hide among the trees. Whatever you hear do not come out until I come find you. Can you do that?” “I can help you,” I suggest as my eyes scan the forest again. The shadow figures are creeping closer. “No!” the polar bear snarls. Softening his voice he adds, “Please Hel, just do as I say.” Reluctantly I slip from his back and run away, my cloak whipping wildly in my wake. I hear the polar bear’s powerful growl echoing through the forest as I run as fast as I can. I mentally curse the dress I’m wearing as it wraps around my legs. Behind me, I can hear the sounds of growls and inhuman whines followed by the sickening sound of flesh being ripped from bone. My braided hair slaps against my back and loose strands blur my vision as I swear I see more shadowy mist figures popping up in the direction I’m heading. I skid to a halt and change course but I can see something rushing toward me in my peripheral vision. Something bites my elbow and I shriek in pain as I cradle my wounded arm against my chest and try to outrun my invisible assailant. Don’t look back, don’t look back, don’t look back, I chant over and over in my head as I feel invisible hands tugging and ripping at my cloak. I spin around to fend off the grabbing hands with my pack and come face to face with my assailant at the moment it loses its invisibility. A scream reverberates through the forest and it takes me a minute to realize it is coming from me. I back up quickly as the eyes of the monstrous creature narrow and zero in on me. Bigger and stronger than me the creature standing before me is completely naked and covered in thick black hair on nearly every inch of its’ body. Its’ nose is large and bulbous and crazed unfocused eyes catch my every movement. A trickle of blood oozes out of the corner of its’ mouth from my elbow wound as it stalks forward hunting me. Long claw-like fingernails swing in my direction as I back into a tree trunk and throw my arms up in front of my face in a lame attempt to protect myself. I can feel the hard bark of the tree scraping my back through my dress, a small pain compared to what the troll is about to do to my face and body. Just as the troll is about to lunge at me the polar bear pounces on it and rips its throat out in one swipe. Excess blood splashes on my face and dress as the troll drops lifelessly to the ground.
Buy Links:
Amazon US: http://a.co/bbMBkuq
Amazon UK: http://amzn.eu/41TV7wG
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cursebreaker-taylor-fenner/1127062242?type=eBook
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/cursebreaker-an-east-o-the-sun-and-west-o-the-moon-retelling/id1278722579?mt=11
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cursebreaker-an-east-o-the-sun-and-west-o-the-moon-retelling
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/745480
I have never heard of nor read (obviously) the fairytale or folklore of the East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon but I do want to read it now.
Retellings are quite popular right now so it was really not hard to decided if I wanted to check this out or not. Not to mention the synopsis really pulled me in. Plus I feel like not knowing the original story gives it a little element of surprise. That and I like a good Viking story or two.
I really don't know what to say about this. I liked the idea of the story, the viking twist really gave me hope. But I had a bit of trouble along the way, I pushed through hoping that things would get better and even out. It didn't.
It was a really choppy read.
I feel like the characters weren't fully developed.
The pace went from one extreme to the other. Its either extremely slow or extremely fast moving and you feel like you may get whiplash.
Considering this is supposed to be in the viking era, some of the things that were spoken seemed a little "modern" to me at least. Also I would have thought the main character would have been a little bit more well spoken considering she was a reader, which is mentioned a few times in the story. I understand that she was standoffish and didn't like to be noticed, but still.
Also the build up to the romance was really abrupt as well. I am completely not a fan of instalove.
I can say more, but I really don't think I need too. Nor do I want too.
FINAL THOUGHTS - I feel like this large story was shoved into a compact space. It wasn't executed as well as it could have. I say this because there are moments in this book where the you forget how not so great the other parts are. But they are few and far between. All in all, it has potential to be a great book. It needs some work.
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