Book One), Cursed: (Cursed Magic Series

When I first started reading I thought the book was boring,but the more I read,the more I got pulled into the book.I couldn't fall asleep at night cause I wanted to read more,but I didn't have my kindle :P Anyways 5 stars :)

I couldn't put it down :) I didn't have high hopes in this book but the moment I started I couldn't stop!! I love the story and the characters, the whole flow of the trio was just right. I can not wait to start book 2!!

I love the story line. The only negative thing I have to s a y is that there was some inconsistency between modern notions and speech versus the ancient feel the author seemed to be trying to convey. Otherwise, this was a very enjoyable book. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

I really got sucked into the story. I like to read a book I can put down, pick up later, but I couldn't put it down. Read it until I finished. Totally love the descriptions of the characters - so real. You can clearly picture them. So lifelike and animated; hate to admit it, but I dreamt about the characters, where the storyline was going. I have read Bk 2 and bk 2.5 --- soooo missing Farron; can't wait for bk 3! Thank you Casey.

This was an amazing book! I will not reveal any spoilers here. I loved the way the author gets you engaged at first chapter. It my move a bit to slow, but the end result? Amazing! Read this if you want funniness, adventure, and yet just a bit of romance mixed in. Great book!

This book has been one exciting, page turning, novel. Filled with desirable content, and it seemed like I was actually part of the book, of the characters I felt their emotions! Perfectly written! Congratulations to Casey Odell! I'm looking forward to your next book! :D

This book was very good i really liked the action and how claire was trying to be like her mother and just be strong through it all. That was really brave of her and farron was funny so was aeron this book kept me laughing while keeping me on the edge of my seat. Very nicely done!!!

I don't like giving negative reviews and although the story line has great potential and the characters are likeable the writing style was not enjoyable to me. Short childish sentences and words completely unfitting the time period. Jumping up ahead without reasonable explanations... I was really disappointed and started to skip over passages just to get through it. Sorry ..this could also be a case of poor editing. Please try again ......

This book really captured my imagination. The characters draw you into their lives and really get you emotionally involved in the story. I could not put this book down. The second one is just as good. I am very eager for the next one.

I was very skeptical at first because I'm usually not into this genre, but as the book progressed I fell in move more and more. It had many twists and turns, this book was never predictable and that's what made it so good!

Cute, but sloooow. Very repetitive with poor character development. Author tried to hard to create mystery and secrets, felt like the whole book was a set up for sequels. The ploy line was never really developed enough to make you want to read more.

I really liked the storyline but, I would have appreciated a more wordly heroine. Hopefully she learns from her moments of immaturity in the following books. I really did enjoy the book and wait patiently for the next.

Umm I really like it it was a very interesting book filled with excitement and love :)) it was quite appealing to me so I give it 5 stars and I really would love to recommend this book to my friends every where um thanks for reading my post:)) <33

Love it so much if you haven't read it yet do it NOW!!!!!!! This story has a little bit of everything, adventure, mystery, and romance. I loved ot so much couldn't wait to finish it but didn't want it to end!!!!!!! :)

If u looking for a new adventure of exotic tales and not the same old vamp / ware books read this! It's got lots of twists n turns and little bit of everything for every reader. The author really knows how to capture every moment of feeling

This book has a fairly nice pace. You get to know the characters and the world they live in, which I enjoy in a novel. The only problem is that it is a bit predictable, and it can drag in a few places.

I got this as a free download, because the premise sounded interesting.

The book got off to an okay start. Suspense, mythical creatures, history, etc. After the first 50-100 pages or so it really gets to be a grind to read. I stuck with it for as long as I could, hoping it would get better.

It's been a long time since a book has left me so bored and so annoyed that I skipped the last third and skimmed the last chapter just to see if I should waste my time reading the rest. I might eventually go back and read it all, but for now, I'm moving on to something else.

I got this as a free download, because the premise sounded interesting.

The book got off to an okay start. Suspense, mythical creatures, history, etc. After the first 50-100 pages or so it really gets to be a grind to read. I stuck with it for as long as I could, hoping it would get better.

It's been a long time since a book has left me so bored and so annoyed that I skipped the last third and skimmed the last chapter just to see if I should waste my time reading the rest. I might eventually go back and read it all, but for now, I'm moving on to something else.

The story starts off really good then goes absolutely nowhere. For a book about magic, there is next to zero magic in it, very disappointing. The main character is too whiny, fickle, and weak willed to make make much of a story. The story almost had a good ending but alas, the author just left it bland. The majority of this book is mindless drivel. Don't waste your time reading it.

But enjoyable for free. However, it's written so that you must buy the next installment in order to see what happens, and frankly, if the ham-handed attempt at fiction continues, I don't want to spend the money.

The author seems to have taken a 21st century college student and dropped her into a fantasy world. The lead character would fit right in at a bar in a safe college town, where she could flirt with every guy around, and the cops would be there to save her stupid self when she got in too deep. Not even a good fairy romance.

I had high hopes for this novel. What started off as an exciting and promising tale, quickly led to frustration with the simple mindedness of the protagonist and the stretches of unnecessary text about NOTHING! I skipped so much unnecessary text (something I never do) because I was ready for this book to end. The author never really unfolded the story. What little plot that was finally revealed could have been given in a short story. Save your time...read something else.

Although this is not my usual type of read,the book held my interest and I found it hard to put down. It was fairly well written,very descriptive with a lot of action. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

This book started out really promising. . .we meet Claire as she is running for her life and you really can't get anymore exciting then that. But after I while things just had that "haven't I read this somewhere before" feel to it. A girl with strange powers escorted to somewhere she doesn't know by two men, or elves in this case, one that is happy go lucky, but has a serious side when its needed and one that is cold and distant, but really is very caring. Its not the first time I read a story with this plot set up, but I was okay with that for a while. I actually like books like that.

But unfortunately I have read much better with this set up. I still don't know how old Claire is suppose to be and didn't find out until half way through the book what color her eyes were and not until the end the color of her hair. It was hard to read a book and know nothing about the character I was following the entire time. It didn't help that Claire isn't exactly the smartest person around either, more then once I had to stop reading, just put my kindle down lean my head back and sigh before picking up my kindle again to fight my way through reading about her doing something stupid. I wanted to jump in the book and shake her. . .hard at times. But I also didn't hate her either, I may not have had any idea of what she looked like the entire read but she had her moments when she would say or do something that would make me smile.

The description of Farron was pretty lacking as well, since this wasn't my first time reading a book like this I knew he would be considered a love interest at some point, but I could never really get an image of what he looked like. He is at first described as having platinum blonde hair, then he has silvery hair. . .I let this slid and just when with the silvery hair one because I liked it better, but I would have liked to have a better idea of what he looked like.

There is somewhat of a minor love triangle going on as well. I really hate love triangles, but for once it was actually done pretty well. I wasn't reading pages and pages of angst about what guy Claire should pick or about how hot every one was. So it didn't really bother me at all, mainly because she stuck with one guy and was pretty clueless to the other, while we all know that he has feelings for her.

The story itself is pretty lacking, we never really find out anything. What is the reason behind the attack on Claire home town? Why did the magic tattoo show up suddenly on Claire arm? What does the magic tattoo do? What ever happened to her mother? Just what do the elves want with her? Where are they traveling to? Who are the people that want to get their hands on her? None of these questions are answered, considering they are pretty major plot points it was aggravating to end the book and still know nothing.

As much as I really wanted to like this book I just can't work myself up to being excited about anything and I feel disappointed.

Would I recommend this book? Sadly no, there are much better books out there with this set up.

[...]

Though not my usual type of book,this book was excellent! It kept my interest right through to the end!The characters exploits,with subtle humor thrown in,mystery,romance,something for everyone!I'm looking forward to book number 2!Good job for this young author.

The main character, Claire, had me yelling at my book. This girl was supposed to be 22 but was so naive and trusting that she acted like she was 12. Luckily there were no men in vans looking for their lost puppy. I felt like this detracted from the book. She kept making stupid decisions, trusting everyone after 5 minutes of knowing them and just followed blindly. The elves send her on a journey that no one will tell her about but instead of questioning everything and demand an answer she just accepts that no one will tell her and follows them anyway. She meets Bren and after 1 day she is in "love". I just wanted to jump into the book and slap this girl.
The plot seemed interesting enough with the exception of the main characters actions. I will not be purchasing the next book and would not recommend.

I find it quite surprising that the grammer is so bad. I am trying to accustom myself to the poor use of gerunds in our society today, but I draw the line at sentences such as "Us girls went into the forest." There were many such examples. I understand that character dialog could be taken liberty with, but not narrative. These concerns did not stop me from finishing the story, of course. I would give the second book a try.

There are many negatives to this book. However, the plot, suspense, action, chemistry/romance and fun factor supersede the the negatives.

The positives - the author doesn't plunge into the plot, but develops it slowly. There are times when you feel as though you could hit Claire (the lead protagonist) over the head. However, generally, the plot itself is intriguing enough to curb these minor irritations and nuisances.

I enjoyed the theme of Elves. I'm utterly sick of reading about Vampires. Completely unhygienic and the topic is bland now. The author also uses centaurs - a mythological creature that's out of the norm.

The secrets, hidden stories, conspiracies, clues and powerful suspense are awesome. It's not glaringly obvious what will occur (not predictable basically). You will that it's leading to something big, but the reader is held in perfect suspense.

It's an engaging plot that doesn't drag.

The romantic chemistry that was built up in the book surpasses many books hailed as "brilliant" within this genre. If you found Twilight sappy, sickening, and childish, than you will enjoy the slow build up within within this book. It's a simmering heat gradually growing. Not instant attraction and lots of ridiculous drama and scenes. The tension is brilliant. And thankfully the romance doesn't dominate the book. Far too much going on for us to be focused on "does he love her or not" rubbish.

Negatives:

The negatives being that the author has very little knowledge of England/European history, culture and proper English language. Basing one's story around a fantasy Ye Olde English/Europe world (think a inferior Lord of the Rings) requires more than imagination.

I generally loath books with substandard English. I don't expect or demand Highbrow prose. My reviews have a lot to be desired with regards to good grammar and so forth. However, if I were to publish a book I would ensure the language manifested the era and demographic of the persons whom I am portraying. In this novel, the author fails to convey the Ye Olde English era. I don't require or wish for Shakespearean or Chaucer language. However, we could do without the modern phrases, awful grammar and poorly articulated sentences.

For instance, the author has a penchant for using "like" and "yeah", both of which are a common modern usage (predominate among uneducated teenagers) and thus detracts one from feeling the magical and historical essence of this fantasy world.

Examples: "It was like she had" rather than "It was as though she had feared" or "it was like a" instead of "it was similar to", "it's not like a I wanted to" rather than "it was not as though I desired"

Additionally, author struggles to use "was" and "were" and "who" and "whom" at appropriate times.

Additionally, Claire is mean to be a quasi barmaid, or at least the daughter of a publican. I simply don't understand why the author presumed a publican's daughter (with no elocution lessons) could even consider to possess the ambition to pass off as a lady. She was concerned her lack of deportment and etiquette would give her away, however, a quasi barmaid's speech/accent would be a far better indication of a person's status than whether she can hold cutlery correctly. The author presumes that "ladies" walk about with their nose in the air and that is the remit of identifying a lady (good breeding and quality speech appears to have missed the list).

It would have been better if Claire had been a teacher's daughter (considered almost non-genteel). Thus her speech/accent would be equal (or almost equal) to the Elves and so forth

I really can't give this book a review since all the pages were blank..... must say I am disappointed because I was looking forward to reading this book....oh well guess there's not much to be done about it....just glad it was free and not something that had to be paid for..only one star because it was necessary or else would have been none

Note: This reciew may contain some spoilers!!!

First I would like to say that this book started out really well and went down hill really fast. The main heroine, Claire, is running from centaurs that attacked her village with her mom. Her mom tells her to save herself and run into the "cursed" forest. She is still running and then elves save her. And she has this weird magical mark on her arm that just showed up.

Sounds good so far but then you read more and find that Claire has many many flaws. She trusts the elves way too fast and they tell her nothing about this mission that her and two elves, Aeron and Farron, that they will be going on. She asks nothing about the magical mark and does what she's told making her a flat character.
Then when they reach a city called Lendon, they run into the General who, off the bat, you can tell is the villain. And with the blink of an eye Claire is in love with the General but she doesn't even know him because he is with Aeron most of the time because Aeron doesn't want her to blow their cover.
Now, you might be wondering, what cover?? Well since elves don't really come out of their hiding place, seeing two with a human is suspicious. But they chose the dumbest option for a cover...Claire is a lady with two elf bodyguards. Mind you, they have been traveling for a while, they have no change of clothes, their clothes are dirty, and they stay in what today would be a cheap motel. No one would buy their story.

Another big problem I have is the relationship of Claire and Farron after her tragedy. Well, mostly the problem is Claire, Farron is personally my favorite character. After the General betrayed her, she for some reason can't trust Farron who is the one who saved her in the forest, always took care of her even if he had an attitude, and rescued her from the giant feline thing. He slowly opens up to her which is surpriing from his character yet at every turn she is suspicious about his actions.

A good thing though, is the love triangle between Farron, Claire, and the General. It is well played out and Claire has no idea about Farron's feelings and the General's intentions.

I, unfortunatley, will be reading the second book because once I start a series, I have to finish no matter how bad. Though, I wouldn't recommend it.

This is an intriguing story. But the author has chosen to include reasoning which many people would not agree with. And, unfortunately, it takes up a lot of this story.

I am a huge science fiction fan, but I have not liked this story. Admittedly, I have only gotten halfway through this story. I just didn't feel it was worth reading further. I may come back to it sometime in the future, but I am putting it away for now. It is simply too feminine for my taste.

I know nothing about this author. Nor do I know if the author is male or female. But the story does have a feminine slant which simply does not interest me.

I have given it two stars simply because it deals with interesting subject material.

At 51%, the story is surprisingly good and I like the characters a lot. Aeron and Farron are great, the h is interesting and likeable, and it's easy to read. The elves have a problem with nominative case, but since they're speaking, it technically isn't an error of the author.
There's some nice romantic tension, and I like the personality of the main H---who I think is the love interest. So far, so good.
Almost done and finally the best part. Id like to slap the h just once or twice, but she's a bit clueless at times.
The author is great at banter and other romantic comments. I love her H.
I'm finished and ready for book two, but my eyes are sore and it's so late....gotta get some sleep, dang it! somebody stop me.

This book started off with great promise. The heroine is running for her life from some unknown magical destiny. You have heard this before, right? Well, that's about where the story goes off the rails.

The thing I hate about this book is the "Three's Company" aspect to it. That is where one bad decision begets another bad decision and so on, until finally you are left with nothing but a steaming pile of guano. I'll give you an example even though it is a spoiler. Our heroine is traveling with two elves in a time when elves are never seen out among humans. In order to explain this, the trio feel they need to concoct a cover story when they enter the king's city. Let me set the stage. These three are on foot, carrying little in the way of gear - - not even a change of clothes. They are dirty, their clothes are worn, and they are lodging in what might be the rough equivalent of a Days Inn. So the genius cover story they settle on is that the heroine is a high born lady from a distant town, and the two elves are her guards. No horses, no servants, two guards, crummy accommodations, and this is the cover story. From there, they end up invited to a royal ball (of course) by somebody who is so obviously a bad guy it's just laughable. And the idiocy continues from there.

I find these types of stories to be incredibly stressful. It's like being stuck with a stupid annoying travel companion on a flight from Dallas to Honolulu.

I would not recommend this story to a friend.

I had high hopes for this novel. What started off as an exciting and promising tale, quickly led to frustration with the simple mindedness of the protagonist and the stretches of unnecessary text about NOTHING! I skipped so much unnecessary text (something I never do) because I was ready for this book to end. The author never really unfolded the story. What little plot that was finally revealed could have been given in a short story. Save your time...read something else.

Although this is not my usual type of read,the book held my interest and I found it hard to put down. It was fairly well written,very descriptive with a lot of action. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

This book started out really promising. . .we meet Claire as she is running for her life and you really can't get anymore exciting then that. But after I while things just had that "haven't I read this somewhere before" feel to it. A girl with strange powers escorted to somewhere she doesn't know by two men, or elves in this case, one that is happy go lucky, but has a serious side when its needed and one that is cold and distant, but really is very caring. Its not the first time I read a story with this plot set up, but I was okay with that for a while. I actually like books like that.

But unfortunately I have read much better with this set up. I still don't know how old Claire is suppose to be and didn't find out until half way through the book what color her eyes were and not until the end the color of her hair. It was hard to read a book and know nothing about the character I was following the entire time. It didn't help that Claire isn't exactly the smartest person around either, more then once I had to stop reading, just put my kindle down lean my head back and sigh before picking up my kindle again to fight my way through reading about her doing something stupid. I wanted to jump in the book and shake her. . .hard at times. But I also didn't hate her either, I may not have had any idea of what she looked like the entire read but she had her moments when she would say or do something that would make me smile.

The description of Farron was pretty lacking as well, since this wasn't my first time reading a book like this I knew he would be considered a love interest at some point, but I could never really get an image of what he looked like. He is at first described as having platinum blonde hair, then he has silvery hair. . .I let this slid and just when with the silvery hair one because I liked it better, but I would have liked to have a better idea of what he looked like.

There is somewhat of a minor love triangle going on as well. I really hate love triangles, but for once it was actually done pretty well. I wasn't reading pages and pages of angst about what guy Claire should pick or about how hot every one was. So it didn't really bother me at all, mainly because she stuck with one guy and was pretty clueless to the other, while we all know that he has feelings for her.

The story itself is pretty lacking, we never really find out anything. What is the reason behind the attack on Claire home town? Why did the magic tattoo show up suddenly on Claire arm? What does the magic tattoo do? What ever happened to her mother? Just what do the elves want with her? Where are they traveling to? Who are the people that want to get their hands on her? None of these questions are answered, considering they are pretty major plot points it was aggravating to end the book and still know nothing.

As much as I really wanted to like this book I just can't work myself up to being excited about anything and I feel disappointed.

Would I recommend this book? Sadly no, there are much better books out there with this set up.

[...]

Though not my usual type of book,this book was excellent! It kept my interest right through to the end!The characters exploits,with subtle humor thrown in,mystery,romance,something for everyone!I'm looking forward to book number 2!Good job for this young author.

The main character, Claire, had me yelling at my book. This girl was supposed to be 22 but was so naive and trusting that she acted like she was 12. Luckily there were no men in vans looking for their lost puppy. I felt like this detracted from the book. She kept making stupid decisions, trusting everyone after 5 minutes of knowing them and just followed blindly. The elves send her on a journey that no one will tell her about but instead of questioning everything and demand an answer she just accepts that no one will tell her and follows them anyway. She meets Bren and after 1 day she is in "love". I just wanted to jump into the book and slap this girl.
The plot seemed interesting enough with the exception of the main characters actions. I will not be purchasing the next book and would not recommend.

There are many negatives to this book. However, the plot, suspense, action, chemistry/romance and fun factor supersede the the negatives.

The positives - the author doesn't plunge into the plot, but develops it slowly. There are times when you feel as though you could hit Claire (the lead protagonist) over the head. However, generally, the plot itself is intriguing enough to curb these minor irritations and nuisances.

I enjoyed the theme of Elves. I'm utterly sick of reading about Vampires. Completely unhygienic and the topic is bland now. The author also uses centaurs - a mythological creature that's out of the norm.

The secrets, hidden stories, conspiracies, clues and powerful suspense are awesome. It's not glaringly obvious what will occur (not predictable basically). You will that it's leading to something big, but the reader is held in perfect suspense.

It's an engaging plot that doesn't drag.

The romantic chemistry that was built up in the book surpasses many books hailed as "brilliant" within this genre. If you found Twilight sappy, sickening, and childish, than you will enjoy the slow build up within within this book. It's a simmering heat gradually growing. Not instant attraction and lots of ridiculous drama and scenes. The tension is brilliant. And thankfully the romance doesn't dominate the book. Far too much going on for us to be focused on "does he love her or not" rubbish.

Negatives:

The negatives being that the author has very little knowledge of England/European history, culture and proper English language. Basing one's story around a fantasy Ye Olde English/Europe world (think a inferior Lord of the Rings) requires more than imagination.

I generally loath books with substandard English. I don't expect or demand Highbrow prose. My reviews have a lot to be desired with regards to good grammar and so forth. However, if I were to publish a book I would ensure the language manifested the era and demographic of the persons whom I am portraying. In this novel, the author fails to convey the Ye Olde English era. I don't require or wish for Shakespearean or Chaucer language. However, we could do without the modern phrases, awful grammar and poorly articulated sentences.

For instance, the author has a penchant for using "like" and "yeah", both of which are a common modern usage (predominate among uneducated teenagers) and thus detracts one from feeling the magical and historical essence of this fantasy world.

Examples: "It was like she had" rather than "It was as though she had feared" or "it was like a" instead of "it was similar to", "it's not like a I wanted to" rather than "it was not as though I desired"

Additionally, author struggles to use "was" and "were" and "who" and "whom" at appropriate times.

Additionally, Claire is mean to be a quasi barmaid, or at least the daughter of a publican. I simply don't understand why the author presumed a publican's daughter (with no elocution lessons) could even consider to possess the ambition to pass off as a lady. She was concerned her lack of deportment and etiquette would give her away, however, a quasi barmaid's speech/accent would be a far better indication of a person's status than whether she can hold cutlery correctly. The author presumes that "ladies" walk about with their nose in the air and that is the remit of identifying a lady (good breeding and quality speech appears to have missed the list).

It would have been better if Claire had been a teacher's daughter (considered almost non-genteel). Thus her speech/accent would be equal (or almost equal) to the Elves and so forth

I really can't give this book a review since all the pages were blank..... must say I am disappointed because I was looking forward to reading this book....oh well guess there's not much to be done about it....just glad it was free and not something that had to be paid for..only one star because it was necessary or else would have been none

Note: This reciew may contain some spoilers!!!

First I would like to say that this book started out really well and went down hill really fast. The main heroine, Claire, is running from centaurs that attacked her village with her mom. Her mom tells her to save herself and run into the "cursed" forest. She is still running and then elves save her. And she has this weird magical mark on her arm that just showed up.

Sounds good so far but then you read more and find that Claire has many many flaws. She trusts the elves way too fast and they tell her nothing about this mission that her and two elves, Aeron and Farron, that they will be going on. She asks nothing about the magical mark and does what she's told making her a flat character.
Then when they reach a city called Lendon, they run into the General who, off the bat, you can tell is the villain. And with the blink of an eye Claire is in love with the General but she doesn't even know him because he is with Aeron most of the time because Aeron doesn't want her to blow their cover.
Now, you might be wondering, what cover?? Well since elves don't really come out of their hiding place, seeing two with a human is suspicious. But they chose the dumbest option for a cover...Claire is a lady with two elf bodyguards. Mind you, they have been traveling for a while, they have no change of clothes, their clothes are dirty, and they stay in what today would be a cheap motel. No one would buy their story.

Another big problem I have is the relationship of Claire and Farron after her tragedy. Well, mostly the problem is Claire, Farron is personally my favorite character. After the General betrayed her, she for some reason can't trust Farron who is the one who saved her in the forest, always took care of her even if he had an attitude, and rescued her from the giant feline thing. He slowly opens up to her which is surpriing from his character yet at every turn she is suspicious about his actions.

A good thing though, is the love triangle between Farron, Claire, and the General. It is well played out and Claire has no idea about Farron's feelings and the General's intentions.

I, unfortunatley, will be reading the second book because once I start a series, I have to finish no matter how bad. Though, I wouldn't recommend it.

This is an intriguing story. But the author has chosen to include reasoning which many people would not agree with. And, unfortunately, it takes up a lot of this story.

I am a huge science fiction fan, but I have not liked this story. Admittedly, I have only gotten halfway through this story. I just didn't feel it was worth reading further. I may come back to it sometime in the future, but I am putting it away for now. It is simply too feminine for my taste.

I know nothing about this author. Nor do I know if the author is male or female. But the story does have a feminine slant which simply does not interest me.

I have given it two stars simply because it deals with interesting subject material.

At 51%, the story is surprisingly good and I like the characters a lot. Aeron and Farron are great, the h is interesting and likeable, and it's easy to read. The elves have a problem with nominative case, but since they're speaking, it technically isn't an error of the author.
There's some nice romantic tension, and I like the personality of the main H---who I think is the love interest. So far, so good.
Almost done and finally the best part. Id like to slap the h just once or twice, but she's a bit clueless at times.
The author is great at banter and other romantic comments. I love her H.
I'm finished and ready for book two, but my eyes are sore and it's so late....gotta get some sleep, dang it! somebody stop me.

This book started off with great promise. The heroine is running for her life from some unknown magical destiny. You have heard this before, right? Well, that's about where the story goes off the rails.

The thing I hate about this book is the "Three's Company" aspect to it. That is where one bad decision begets another bad decision and so on, until finally you are left with nothing but a steaming pile of guano. I'll give you an example even though it is a spoiler. Our heroine is traveling with two elves in a time when elves are never seen out among humans. In order to explain this, the trio feel they need to concoct a cover story when they enter the king's city. Let me set the stage. These three are on foot, carrying little in the way of gear - - not even a change of clothes. They are dirty, their clothes are worn, and they are lodging in what might be the rough equivalent of a Days Inn. So the genius cover story they settle on is that the heroine is a high born lady from a distant town, and the two elves are her guards. No horses, no servants, two guards, crummy accommodations, and this is the cover story. From there, they end up invited to a royal ball (of course) by somebody who is so obviously a bad guy it's just laughable. And the idiocy continues from there.

I find these types of stories to be incredibly stressful. It's like being stuck with a stupid annoying travel companion on a flight from Dallas to Honolulu.

I would not recommend this story to a friend.

Meh.... this book makes me feel indifferent, indifferent as to read the second book. The characters are okay, the beginning starts out exciting and interesting and it slowly goes downhill from there, with the only thing carrying the book forwards is the different relationships between the characters. The end got better, but you wondered why the main character Claire was so stupid in the first place. I will only read the second book if it is free and I have nothing else to read. Took me weeks to finish only because it was boring and doesn't really hold your attention.

I did enjoy this story despite that it may have been for a younger audience, but then I like a good tale, regardless of the age group.

I liked the way the story progressed, and how the author delved into the thoughts and feelings of Claire.

Maybe it's because I like tales of a magical world and look forward to how it continues in book two.

Well written with a touch of magic, mystery and an unusual romance - though it was the magic and mystery that I preferred.

Yes, enjoyable.

Cursed is a paranormal read with a ton of excitement, danger, emotions and tons of trees! Claire is pushed into a world that she thought were just tales! Danger is around every corner she looks, but the one constant is the handsome, trying, irritating handsome elf! It's a good read and makes you want to know more about what's going to happen next!

This was a great and easy read. The characters were very well-developed and interesting. This is definitely worth the read, but I would not call it riveting. Claire irritated me with her constant bad decision making and selfishess even if it was true to her character. The hardest part of the book was reading her thought process and see her approach the correct option then proceed to do the opposite. Overall, this was a predictable story but the author showed enough mastery of the language to make it enjoyable. Will continue the series.

I love to read a book that I can't directly compare to other books I've read. So many plots are similar these days. What I can say is that if you read Lindsay Buroker's series, The Emperor's Edge and liked that, then you'll enjoy this book too! There is lots of adventure, swashbuckling type heroes, evil villains, and slow building romance.
I couldn't put it down! On to book two!

Over all I really enjoyed this book. The story was great and I loved the heroine. The writing was top notch and the supporting characters were very interesting. The only thing was that it dragged a bit in places. There were whole sections that could have been cut without impacting the story at all. Other than that I really liked it and will read book 2. :)

I was hoping that the main character would get better but she doesn't. And it is pretty sad when you are routing for the bad guys to finally kill her. No clue how old she is but acts like she might be 12 or 13 though it is implies she is older. Also she doesn't grow in anyway and I find myself skimming to dialog because it is just so painful to read about her. I do not recommend bothering with this series at all, it is a waste of time.

Tragedy strikes and the quite sheltered Claire is thrust into a brewing war, without knowing who the players are nor why she is important to them. Some of her emotional shifts are jarring, and she's more willing to keep following shadows than you'd expect of a sheltered teen. But you come to like her all the same.

Free. So a poor review feels like cruelty.
But, I found it unreadable.
Why?
Every phrase has been used before: "... let alone marry", "hourglass figure".
Adjective, adjective, adjective. Tired hazel eyes. Thick pine table. Lone candle. Tan linen slacks.
This is page one.
I guess that the people who give better scores can go through this filter to the story and characters, but I couldn't. Sorry.
P.S. I think this is supposed to be a YA book? Please label it that way so the unwary can know before they begin.

Very good book looking forward to buying the next book.Hope you other pepole enjoy it.There is one problem in the book there are to many spaces from the words but it is still a good book.I am probally saying book to much too bad im CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The storyline was teriffic. Ending COMPLETELY unexpected. I highly recomend this book to teens who enjoy fantasy/action mixes. BEAUTIFUL! Better than most novels I've read that relate to this particular book.

This Review is done by Judith

A wonderful book that was a joy to read. Plus it had the best kissing scene ever, and that is why this book made my Indie list. Check it out here: http://scottandjudithpowell.wordpress.com/the-indie-list/

I loved this book it was highly entertaining the characters were great could not put the book down the author really did a good job i look forward to reading more of her books i would recommend this book to people