Spoiler alert! And stay tuned at the end for my take on the cinnamon sugar twists Rhen and Harper eat in the castle's kitchens!
There is blood under my fingernails. I wonder how many of my people I've killed this time.
When Harper, a normal teenager with cerebral palsy living in D.C., risks her life to save an innocent woman from being kidnapped by a stranger, she herself is then swept away by the mysterious man. He takes her to a distant land in a different world-- Emberfall, where an empty castle and a distraught prince await. Harper learns that she was brought there by a man called Commander Grey to end a curse placed upon the crown prince, Rhen-- one that can only be lifted if she falls in love with him. Every autumn repeats itself at the castle and at the end of the season, the prince transforms into a horrible beast. After over 300 years of trying to break the spell, Rhen has lost all hope of saving his people from himself, especially when he could not even spare his own family.
I shift on the windowsill and keep my eyes off the ground. This is the most reckless thing I've ever done. Wait. No. The most reckless thing I've ever done was attack a guy on the street with a tire iron. So I guess this is fine.
Harper is such a cool character-- it feels patronizing to say I loved that she has cerebral palsy, but I do want to make sure to point out that seeing the representation made my heart swell. I can only imagine what it must mean to those who have it to see such an incredibly strong and brave character dealing with the same physical challenges as them. In the author's note at the end, Kemmerer wrote: "I strove to create a girl who was strong, resilient, and capable-- not in spite of any physical challenges she might face, but in addition to them." I thought that was beautifully stated and actively showed throughout the novel.
Words spoken in the dark in the middle of the night always feel so much heavier than they would at any other time.
Okay, I've been posting about him on my instagram constantly but I've gotta say it here too: I LOVE GREY. What does it mean when my favorites are usually the quiet, emotionless ones? Should we analyze that? Better not. In other news, I thought this book was really cute. I think Harper is wonderful, I think Rhen is wonderful, and AGAIN, so pumped to find out more about Grey because... GIRL... That epilogue???? Come on!!! Book 2 is about to be ALL about him! Yay!! Back to this book, though. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it considering it is a take on Beauty and the Beast, which isn't my favorite--I have nothing against it, it's just not my fave-- but I was happily surprised. Harper was badass, cool, and also still kind and vulnerable. I'm still not sure that I have a solid grasp of each character-- which is fine, this is a series, so I don't need to understand them fully at this point. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.
"Rhen," she calls after me. I pause in the doorway and face her. "I'm not going to fall in love with you," she says. Her words are not a surprise. I sigh. "You won't be the first."
I admired Harper's spunk, but I do think she sort of shot herself in the foot by specifically deciding early on that she wouldn't fall in love with Rhen. I think if she hadn't closed her mind off to it, the curse could have probably ended sooner (even though she wasn't really even the one to end it, spoilers!). She also spent a lot of time assuming that Rhen was just trying to charm her with bullshit, which I thought seemed foolish-- but that could be because I could see into his head and knew that his feelings were genuine. I have to admit, though, I really thought Harper and Grey were gonna be a thing, and if I'm being honest, I'm still keeping it on the table. They seemed so natural together, and it wouldn't be the first book series I've read where the love interest in book 1 (in this case, Rhen) isn't the one our heroine ends up with in the final installment. Not to say that I dislike Rhen! I do like him! I'm just keeping my options open!
"The choices we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless."
I liked the story more than I expected-- I loved the whole extra war plot which had Harper pretending to be a princess from Disi (she comes from Washington D.C.), so that everything wasn't focused solely on her falling in love with Rhen-- I love me some romance, but I do like to keep things exciting. I was also overwhelmingly happy that Harper figured out what the curse required of her right away, it would have been a little ridiculous if she was oblivious to it (not to mention totally out of character). I do have to say I'm a bit disappointed-- or perhaps, curious?-- that Disney's Beauty and the Beast was never mentioned... Does it not exist in Harper's world? Because I was under the impression that Harper's world was OUR world... But it's probably just that Kemmerer wasn't allowed to mention anything about it. I'm just a dummy, so it was one of my first thoughts.
"When my sister died," Freya says quietly, "it was very sudden. I had no time to say goodbye. But she knew I loved her. I knew she loved me. It is not the moment of passing that is most important, It is all the moments that come before."
It made sense for the plot that Harper's mother was on her deathbed and that her brother was in trouble-- it's the classic trope: if you love them, let them go. We discovered that Rhen had fallen in love with her when he was willing to let Harper travel back home to her family. I was waiting for something like that, and oh boy, it came. I really liked the above quote though, that's one of the loveliest and most comforting quotes about death I've ever encountered. And it makes sense, we are all so concerned about final moments that we forget all the other wonderful ones we shared before then. I am super curious about what Harper's mom said before she died: I'm so proud of you. You've been... working so hard. Like, uhh, what does that mean?! Harper was confused too, and despite her brother explaining that their mom didn't always make sense when she was awake, I don't think I'm ready to brush it off as nothing. I also don't have a solid answer, but I think there may be something tucked away in that moment that may come to light later. My predictions are wrong 99% of the time though, so let's see what happens.
He tried to jump from the ramparts. Rhen tried to sacrifice himself to protect his people. Even in his last effort to beat Lilith at something, he failed.
I did end up liking Rhen quite a bit more than I thought I would... I usually like my male leads either annoyingly cocky and a little bit dumb or stoic and sharp, but that's just a weird personal preference. Rhen is sweet and soft but also quite calculating. He has such a sad, tragic past, and though we all like to believe that finding love can heal us, I think his wounds go much deeper. If everything had been in Harper's POV, I think I might not have trusted him as much, just like she didn't. When we got to see inside his head it was mostly quite sad because he had lost nearly all hope--but it was in the little moments with Harper where I could see he was falling for her that made me like him best. I love that he taught her to dance, and I love that he always wanted to brush the hair from her eyes... I thought that he was a really good guy. And what always happens to the good guys in sequels??? They get WEIRD. Usually overprotective or manipulative or start keeping secrets, or cause some sort of drama. I don't want to see Harper go through that so I'm really hoping that they remain happy, but if something does go awry... there better be a good reason for it. I can allow it as long as it makes sense. I do think I would like to hear more about what Rhen was like before the curse-- we got small glimpses and barely enough information to know that he wasn't a great dude, but he didn't seem completely awful. It seemed like even back then he cared immensely for his kingdom, so maybe the curse was less about his emotional growth as much as Lilith trying to get back at him for turning her down. Yeah, by the way, Lilith is the enchantress who cursed him. She's not a nice lady.
"Failure isn't absolute. Just because you couldn't save everyone doesn't mean you didn't save anyone."
Let's discuss the end of the book. So Harper returns home, is there for her mother's death, is able to save her brother for a little while, and fully intends to return to Emberfall. While she's away, Rhen turns into the monster and starts attacking. He hurts Grey, who then travels to D.C. to find Harper, who then manages to get him patched up, and as they are about to head back to the kingdom, oh no, bad stuff happens. So Grey, Harper, Harper's brother Jake, and Jake's boyfriend Noah all end up heading back into Emberfall together. Jake and Noah are obviously quite upset about this. When Harper goes after the monster, it recognizes her and keeps her safe, which is something it has never done with anyone before. When the invading army attacks, she rides on the back of the beast as it savagely destroys most of the army. This protects Emberfall from the invaders, but obviously the curse is still in place. Later on, Lilith shows up and threatens Harper in front of the beast and Grey stabs the enchantress, pulling her through time and space and bringing her who knows where so that he can leave her there to die. Back in Emberfall; the curse breaks, Rhen returns to his human self, and he brings Harper back to the safety of the castle. We do not know if Harper suddenly loved him in that moment, or if killing Lilith is what broke the spell. Grey does not return... HOWEVER, we gotta take it back for a second. Earlier, when the leader of the invading army spoke to Rhen, she mentioned that he is not the true heir to the throne. His father was a total player and slept with a LOT of women. Supposedly, he had a secret son that he gave away before Rhen was born. And who do we (just the readers, no one else) learn that person to be???? GREY... AND GREY NOW KNOWS. He's in hiding, knowing that if anyone discovers him to be the true heir, his head is as good as severed. He also loves Rhen like a brother and does not want to come between him and his kingdom. I have absolutely no idea where this leaves us, but I just want Grey to be happy and safe, especially because he just got life-altering news and is now totally on his own. Buckle up for the next installment, ladies!
She swallows. "Grey. Please." I turn for the door. "Grey is dead, mother. That is all you need to know."
CINNAMON SUGAR TWISTS
The only available work space is a large table in the center of the room, dusted with sugar and cinnamon and lined with piles of dough.
But also...
"This is my final season," I say quietly. "My final chance. If you were to kill me, I would truly die." I lift my eyes to find hers. "I have no idea what would happen to you." She goes very quiet at that. We both eat twists of dough.
So clearly, we've got some twisted dough covered in cinnamon sugar. I don't know about you, but I think that sounds delicious. So I made some! Here's how mine came out:
This recipe was really easy! I was so proud of the dough I made, and I will definitely be making it again for pizza sometime soon. The twists made for a fun little baking night with my partner and (not pictured) we even made some cute little pretzel shaped ones! They tasted really yummy-- I do think that they shouldn't be baked longer than 17 minutes, because I kept mine in longer and they became a bit tough. They still tasted amazing, so no real complaints here. I also made some icing to go along with it, but I think they're nice and sweet on their own, so it wasn't totally necessary.
Dough Recipe: https://laurenslatest.com/fail-proof-pizza-dough-and-cheesy-garlic-bread-sticks-just-like-in-restaurants/
Cinnamon Twist Recipe: https://laurenslatest.com/cinnamon-sugar-twists/#wprm-recipe-container-23615
If you didn't know, I bake something from a book every week and post live updates on my Instagram. Tune in to @picklesandpages on Wednesdays to check it out!
NEXT READ: A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer
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