Book Review: Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Cursed
by
Jennifer L. Armentrout
(Website|Twitter)
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've 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.

"I was way too focused on the fact that I didn't want to be one of those statues in the museums-never moving, never changing- to forever be the girl who couldn't even touch a plant"

Ember, Em, lived a good life. She had an amazing family, a gifted sister, loving parents, and she's popular at their school, everyone knows her, she's a cheerleader and have a hot and quarterback boyfriend to top it all.. until she died. Yep, died, dead, passed away, expired.. gone. Then her forever talented and gifted sister brought her back to life.

How convenient.


Turns out her sister isn't just a typical gifted child that has an amazing memory and overly smart. What makes Olivia, Em sister, gifted is the fact that she can bring the dead back to life.

What an amazing ability. I mean, how cool is it that someone can actually bring the dead back to life, not the zombie kind of thing but actually alive? just like how they are before they died? except Em didn't turn out like that.

After coming back to life, Em wasn't able to touch any living things, or they'll end up dead.

How fucking miserable.

That's how Em's life turned upside down. She's isolated herself from school, I mean, if your touch is deadly-literally- then you don't really have a choice do you? She's turned into a freak, atleast, she's still popular, only for a whole new different reason. The school freak with creepy eyes. School was only bearable because of the presence of Adam, her ever supportive best friend. She dedicated herself by looking out to Olivia and her mother who wouldn't acknowledge the fact that she's alive.

I've been a fan of JLA, ever since the Lux (although I haven't got the chance to finish this series. More because of my own issues) and Covenant series and don't forget the sequel series Titan. So this book has been on my radar for quite a long time now. Reading a lot of JLA books made me know the trend of her books. Like, a kick ass heroine, a hot swoon worthy hero and a lot of unpredictable turns and twist.

Cursed was an okay read for me. Still a page turner, like every one of JLA's book, but I just had a lot of issues with the book after it ended.. Just like that.

The characters are still likeable and the heroine still has the same cockiness that all JLA's heroine has. Which definitely worked out for me.

"I twisted around, spotting Hayden in the doorway. “Watching the… uh,” I turned back, frowning at the screen, “the… way tigers mate.” I sighed. Damn you, Discovery Channel.

He chuckled deep in his throat. “Didn’t know that kind of thing interested you.”

“Oh. Yeah, always wanted to know how they picked their boyfriends."

And ofcourse how can we forget the swoon worthy guys?

“Hayden’s gaze fell to my lips. My heart did a stupid little jump that made me all warm and fuzzy. He liked me— really liked me. Even after seeing my scars. It was like hitting the jackpot of awesome guys.”

No I didn't have any issues with the characters, the characters is what can make or break a YA book for me after all, so I still managed to enjoy and liked this book.

What ticked me off is the fact that, this book has a lot of potential, from the good premise of the book, to the characters and the writing style, so why does this book ended up a standalone book? Oh no, no, don't get me wrong, I liked standalone books, what I just don't get is if this book was supposed to end up a standalone book from the start, then why did they let the book end with so many unanswered questions? It was downright bad, rushed to put it simply

I mean, this book is quite predictable. I knew who the bad guy was when he was first mention. Regardless of the fact that I did enjoy this book, I was just glad that this isn't the first book of JLA that I read.

Book Review: Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout