Title: Unmasking the curse
Author: Chelle Cypress
Series: Aralian Series
Book # 1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 498
Rating: ★★★★
Loathed and feared. Sold into a hateful marriage. Can she escape a prison to embrace her power and unexpected love?
Arianna Park is resigned to misery. Bound to an enchanted porcelain mask to contain a devastating curse, she’s set to wed a venomous man for the sake of her destitute family. But when a handsome stranger saves her from a fate worse than death, she’s shocked when he claims to be afflicted with the same blight.
Silas Belmont keeps his emotions well-buried. Brooding and aloof, visiting his sister takes an intriguing turn when he rescues a young beauty harboring a dark gift. And seeing in her a kindred spirit, he guides her in mastering her talent only to find himself begrudgingly captivated by the intelligent but naïve lady.
After Arianna inadvertently breaks propriety and incurs her betrothed’s wrath, she flees with her hero. And as Silas feels the walls around his heart crumbling, he fears his hidden sin will doom them both to ruin.
Can they break free of their twisted pasts and unite as one?
I devoured this book in 2 days because I had to feed my kids, LOL so if you don't have responsibilities or prefer to ignore them, you can finish this book in 1 day. I enjoyed reading it, but my issue was that the narrative is based on old fashion/1700s talking... I'm not a fan of it. It was hard to learn basic English, LOL I had to look online or ask my husband for some meanings.
I love Silas. The whole mate/jealousy man thing was kinda like the fairy/Maas primitive instincts, so even do I love him, it was annoying sometimes. His past story was so sad, and let you see how when you are a kid, just some words can hurt you so much to the point when you carry when them almost all your life.
But even when his life was sad, I think Arianna's was the saddest. Her mother makes me sometimes scream because I hate her. What kind of mother treats her daughter like that?
Now, let's talk about the curse.
If I'm informed correctly, this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. And I love the changes on it. Arianna is cursed. She has this dark power on her. Like the shadow things of "Azriel" or "Rhysand" from ACOTAR, hers can burn and destroy everything around her if she lets her darkness take control. So she has to wear a mask when she goes out of her room that is spelled to "keep her curse" in control...
She has lived with this since she was 6 years old, and everyone treats her like a monster, like an alien. Even her mother. The only person who is on her side is her sister, and I love her for it.
This curse is related to a Goddess and disciples, who are like the priests, the ones in charge of making the spells around the cursed people. Along the story, you find secrets about the curse and those disciples, and I don't know if I missed some details, but I ended up with some questions about the curse that I'm not sure if is explained in the book, or if we will find out those answers in the books to come.
So overall, it is a unique story that I enjoyed. And if you are a fan or like the retelling of Beauty and the Beast, you will enjoy the book too.
P.S. You will hate Theo's POVs... He is the new Umbridge. And you will find yourself excited about his ending
Thank you so much to Chelle Cypress for this PR, even when I already apologized to her for not being able to show the PR box and read the book before the release day in November of last year... I want to apologize again. For me, it is so heartbreaking when someone puts his/her soul into a book and all the effort that entails, and I can't help to spread the word to everyone about it. And her PR box was so beautiful. You can see some items in the pic above. And don't forget about the cover... it is gorgeous.
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