A Heart So Fierce and Broken (The Cursebreaker Series) Hardcover – January 7, 2020

A Heart So Fierce and Broken is book 2 in the Cursebreakers series. Rhen and Harper are seen briefly in the book, but it's really about Grey. Grey goes through a whole character transformation as he confronts some truths and sets out on his own away from Rhen. He has his own love interest, and at this point in the book, he is preferable to Rhen. If the author's goal was to turn her readers against Rhen, she accomplished her objective. I'm hoping for a satisfactory conclusion in book 3, but for now, this book is 5 stars even if it's slightly frustrating to read at times.

Really enjoyed the second outing in The Cursebreaker series. I especially liked that it focused on Grey and really built out his character. Looking forward to reading the final book.

Another 5-star rating for this amazing series. I love a well done re-telling. And Beauty & the Beast is one of my all-time favorite stories.Sequel to A Curse So Dark and Lonely, A Heart so Fierce and Broken follows the journey of Grey and Lia Mara.This second installment of the Cursebreakers series was unexpectedly amazing. I'm so glad this book did not, in my opinion, suffer from the dreaded middle-book trap.Knowing that we would no longer have Rhen and Harper's POV (except the prologue and epilogue), I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book. I loved Rhen so much, and respected him for the hard choices he made during his curse. He may not have always made what we, as the outside reader, would have deemed as the best choice, but he has always done what he thought was right to protect his country and Harper. Losing his POV, and later seeing the choices he made against the missing heir/Grey as an outside POV, really hurt. I wish we could have known the turmoil he was struggling with internally and what was going on at Ironrose while Grey was regrouping in Syhl Shallow.But it all came together in the end. I love Lia Mara as much as I love Harper. And the epilogue from Rhen answered so many questions while also making me cry and scream for the final installment to be released ASAP!The following is a summary and review which will contain spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk.We learned at the end of ACSDAL that Grey is the lost heir to Emberfall and a half-blood magesmith. AHSFAB follows Grey as he goes from being in hiding from Rhen's guards looking for the lost heir and magesmith, to a reluctant Prince seeking an alliance and ending a war with Syhl Shallow while just trying to reunite his country.Tycho is a young man (about 15 years old) who starts out indebted to the same person that Grey works for. Grey trains Tycho to fight while he's in hiding, and eventually shares his secret about being the missing heir to Emberfall. Tycho follows Grey to Ironrose Castle, and is later used by Rhen as a pawn to try to force Grey to tell him what he knows about the heir. Although Tycho is young, and has no blood ties to Grey, he becomes fiercely loyal and the first person to swear fealty to Grey as the true ruler of Emberfall.We also meet Princess Lia Mara of Syhl Shallow. She had become a political hostage by Rhen, but met a captured Grey during an escape attempt. Together, they escape Emberfall and retreat to Syhl Shallow to find sanctuary and an alliance for Emberfall. Lia Mara is the eldest daughter of Queen Karis Luran, however she is not the named heir of her mother's crown. Lia Mara is brave, fierce and believes in peace over violence. Over the course of their travels together, Lia Mara and Grey begin to fall in love. She helps him believe in himself, his magic, and his right to the crown of Emberfall.Another hidden gem of a character we meet is Iisak, a fierce magical creature called a Scraver. Iisak follows Grey as the last Magesmith, to help him get back to his own lands and find "something of great importance" to him that forced him to leave his ice forests and break a treaty with Syhl Shallow. While Iisak could rip out the throats of any opponent, the group of travelers become fiercely loyal to him.Jake and Noah of course follow Grey on the journey, in hope that eventually he will be able to return them to their own world in D.C. Jake's development arch is absolutely everything I hoped it would be. After finishing ACSDAL my biggest question was what was going to happen with Jake and Noah. They didn't want to be trapped, they had nothing to tie them to Emberfall. What would they do? This second book answers all of those questions, and really gives so much depth to Jake. I know that Harper doesn't wish any ill will toward Grey, even with the way he comes back to Ironrose at the end. However I'm still concerned about what the loyalty between Jake and Grey will mean for Harper and Rhen. (We know Rhen and Jake never really got along anyway, but they do both love Harper, so that will be interesting)All in all, I'm so glad this book didn't suffer from middle-book-itis. It wasn't just a means to get from the beginning to the end. It was well developed, carried its own weight in relation to propelling the overall story toward the conclusion. I can't wait to see what happens next, how all of our characters come together to battle the real villain. I am living for the moment when Harper and Lia Mara become BFF's.Can Rhen and Grey work together to reunite Emberfall? How will they defeat Lilith once and for all? Will either Rhen or Grey be killed in the end as a means to resolve the conflict between the line of succession and/or to defeat the enchantress? I just... I need the next book right now and I know we have at least a year before it'll be released! But on the plus side, it means I have a year to forget all of the finer points so I can re-read the whole series again next year when the final book is released!

When I reviewed A Curse So Dark and Lonely I struggled to find the words to tell you how much you needed that book in your life. All I wanted to do was shout from the rooftops how it was a book you needed to read ASAP. Honestly though, writing that review was NOTHING compared to finding the words for A Heart So Fierce and Broken. Seriously, this book was pure perfection. I can’t even explain it, but it was somehow even better than Curse.A Heart So Fierce and Broken starts off essentially when A Curse So Dark and Lonely left off. (If you have not read Curse now is the time to stop reading as spoilers will ensue.) The curse is now broken and the monster Rhen was, is gone. But there is a new problem that has taken shape and it is in the form of the true heir of Emberfall who happens to be the missing Grey. Trying to do the right thing for the good of his country Grey has taken off in order to hide the secret. Rhen isn’t the only one after the missing heir. Karis Luran is on the hunt for him too, but to help further her own agenda. But when Grey unexpectedly meets Karis Luran’s daughter, Lia Mara, he isn’t quite sure anymore who the best ruler of Emberfall will be.I’m not going to lie, I was a little bias going into this story because Grey was my favorite character in Curse. He was just the perfect mix of everything and I truly was looking forward to his story. But man did I get even better than my expectations. The Grey we got in Curse was only a shadow of the real Grey and I loved him even more. Kemmerer used what I loved about Grey in book one and made him not only more lovable but also more human and flawed and broken. She also gave him a supporting group of characters that truly helped make him shine. And I’m not even talking about his relationship with Lia Mara (THE BEST!!!), but the people he surrounded himself with as a whole. That is what brought this book to life.Again I am left with the trouble of finding the right words without saying too much but saying more than ‘you need to read this’. It really is so fantastically done. I mean I wasn’t surprised I loved it, but I’m surprised how much I felt I needed it. And you need it too. Make sure this book or series is on your TBR. I for one hope we get lots more books in it!