Review : Cursed by Jennifer L Armentrout

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Cursed
Author : Jennifer L Armentrout
Publisher : Spencer Hill Press
Publication Date : September 18th 2012
Goodreads - The Book Depository



Dying sucks-- and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he's a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she's more than interested. There's just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out.

However, she's willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't? But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not have been an accident at all, she's not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.

Personal Thoughts

Jennifer Armentrout is an author who's either a hit or a miss with me. Before I read Cursed, I had heard mixed opinions about this book from huge fans of her books. I decided that I would lower my expectations, so I went into the book not expecting to be blown away. I have to strongly agree with the mixed reviews of this book. Personally, I didn't find it very enjoyable and I had a tough time going through it. I actually abandoned it after reading about fifty percent since it was an excruciating experience for me.

Cursed tells the story of Ember Williams, a girl brought back from death by her younger sister. Now, strange things are happening to Ember : every living thing she touches dies. When a new mysterious good-looking boy comes to her school and announces that he could help her control her "curse", Ember is hesitant, but she knows deep down that she would love to be able to touch her younger sister, Olivia again.

Ember wasn't a very likeable character according to me. She constantly wallowed in self-pity and I found that personality trait extremely annoying. I understood her standpoint, but throughout the book she kept on victimizing herself and I did not think that it was an attractive trait. Moreover, she was a wreck when it came to decision-making. She made one poor choice after the other, not really contemplating about the consequences her actions could have on the lives of others. However, I do admit that for someone that young she did have a lot on her shoulders. Raising someone as young as Olivia, maintaining her school life and making sure that there was food in the refrigerator weren't easy tasks for her. So, I did feel a teensy bit guilty for not liking her. I think her character had the potential to be better if she had been more fleshed out.
Olivia, her gifted younger sister, wasn't a character I enjoyed either. To be honest, she acted like a spoiled brat for the most part, throwing a tantrum when things wouldn't go her way. Now, I know that Olivia was really young, but honestly, none of the 6 year olds I know behave in such a bratty manner. The love interest, Hayden, wasn't interesting either. Unlike Armentrout's other male interest, Hayden was bland and pretty much boring. He was also a quite cliched character in my view.
As for the secondary characters, I honestly don't think I read enough to form a solid opinion on them.

What also bugged me in this book was the unoriginality of the plot line. It seemed to me that the author basically took ideas from different books and fused them together in Cursed. The book lacked action,suspense and I found myself being easily distracted while reading. I wanted the book to have more depth than it actually had. Moreover, the whole story line was predictable. The romance in the book wasn't also to Jennifer Armentrout's standards. She usually writes steamy romances with extremely strong chemistry between the characters. She also allows her characters to get to know each other well before they fall for each other. This wasn't the case with Cursed. Ember was instantly attracted to Hayden upon first setting her eyes on him. Plus, the romance wasn't deep enough for me to appreciate it. Armentrout's writing was still very enjoyable though. She has a knack for writing great dialogues and to be honest, those were the only strong points in the book.

I have a feeling that I'm the only one who really disliked this book, so I'm guessing if you're a hard-core Jennifer L Armentrout fan then you might enjoy this book, but don't expect it to be as entertaining as her other books. I did try to find some redeeming qualities in this book, but unfortunately I couldn't. Still, I do think it's worth a try. Who knows? You might wind up absolutely loving it!

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 3/5