by a charm and a curse starts off on the fairgrounds, in claremont, oklahoma and takes us on a journey to new orleans a place where magic has always been a possiblity. the charm of invincibility inherent to the le grand's carnival fantastic is anchored by a terrible curse, something emmaline king learns when she's conned into taking it on after a visit to the fair with an old friend.
alone and terrified by the fact that her body is no longer her own. she's like a mannequin but alive. she doesn't have a pulse, can't cry, can't breathe but she still feels cold. she still feels. and the only way she can get rid of the curse is to pass it on to someone else. but she hasn't lost her humanity quite yet. she can't imagine condemning anyone else to this existence.
and then there's ben. he's grown up as part of the carnival. his mother is the master carpenter and he is her apprentice. from the moment he meets emma, though, he can't stay away. even as it infuriates his mother. she's worried he'll be emma's next victim. but emma cares too deeply about ben to let him suffer the way she has.
but as accidents begin to pile up on the carnival campgrounds, tensions begin to run high. suddenly the girl in the box and the carpenter's apprentice are under watch. because the closer they get the more it seems like the charm that's protected the carnival is wearing off. the question is, can they break the curse?
and how they figure this out, is so worth the read. i loved the setting, the relationship that evolves between ben and emma. the fact that she's trapped in this shell of a body and the moments they touch, when his heat infuses her and she can feel him close. it's super romantic. in some ways the setting imbues the story with some old-time sensibilities. so like in victorian novels where any explicit sexual touching is frowned upon, and they relied on small touches, like hand-holding, to show those moments of connection, the same is true for ben and emma.
and as the story moves forward, their connection gets stronger and the more contact they need between them. and i love how this heightens the feelings and emotions of their relationship.
this was a wonderful read, and i can't wait to see what the author has in store for us next.
**by a charm and a curse published on february 6, 2018. i received an advance digital copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen) in exchange for my honest review. for more information about the book, including an excerpt, please keep reading.
ABOUT THE BOOKLe Grand’s Carnival Fantastic isn’t like other traveling circuses. It’s bound by a charm, held together by a centuries-old curse, that protects its members from ever growing older or getting hurt. Emmaline King is drawn to the circus like a moth to a flame…and unwittingly recruited into its folds by a mysterious teen boy whose kiss is as cold as ice.
Forced to travel through Texas as the new Girl in the Box, Emmaline is completely trapped. Breaking the curse seems like her only chance at freedom, but with no curse, there’s no charm, either—dooming everyone who calls the Carnival Fantastic home. Including the boy she’s afraid she’s falling for.
Everything—including his life—could end with just one kiss.
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EXCERPT
Leslie smiles at the girl with a mixture of pride and tentative hope. “It took us a few days to get Sidney set up somewhere else, and I’m sorry about that. But this wagon belongs to the occupant of the box.” Leslie strokes the side of the ladder that leads to the door. “What you’re going through is terrible, we know it is, though we can never truly understand. It’s a small comfort, but we want you to have a place that’s just your own, a place that you can use to escape.”
A weak, wobbly smile lifts the corners of the girl’s mouth as her gaze roves over the outside of the wagon, a shadow of the smile I saw the other night, when she was with her friend. I wonder what it would take to get her to smile for real.
“What about Sidney?”
“Sidney can make do.” Leslie’s smile broadens into a grin. “Have you seen the way he’s been eating? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him waddle out of the cook shack one of these mornings like Templeton the Rat.” She dangles a small copper key from the end of a length of faded red ribbon. “It’s like I said—the carnival owes the person in the box. This is the least we can do for you in return.”
The girl’s hand shakes as she reaches for the key, and she wraps her slender fingers around it tightly, as though she’s afraid of dropping it. I lose sight of her as she steps inside, and all I can do now is hope she likes the wagon.
I turn to head home and feel the sickening lurch as my foot lands in a slick patch of mud and whips out from beneath me. I throw out my arm. A flash of white-hot pain flares through my hand, but I manage to keep my footing. I step out of the mud that had nearly sent me sprawling on my ass, unsure as to how I even missed it in the first place. Then my hand begins to throb.
A gash runs diagonally across my palm. Blood wells from the wound, filling my cupped hand. The pain sets in, a deep pulsing starting in my palm and radiating up my arm. I glance over at the trailer and see a splash of red smeared along a sharp flap of metal. I must have sliced my hand on that as I tried to grab onto something to keep from slipping.
Falling on carnival grounds doesn’t happen; the charm sees to that. But my bloodied hand begs to differ.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jaime Questell grew up in Houston, Texas, where she escaped the heat and humidity by diving into stacks of Baby Sitter’s Club and Sweet Valley High books. She has been a bookseller (fair warning: book lovers who become booksellers will give half their paychecks right back to their employers), a professional knitter, a semi-professional baker, and now works as a graphic designer in addition to writing.
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