A Curse Awakened by Cecy Robson

A CURSE AWAKENED is a prequel to Cecy Robson's Weird Girls series so you need to go in expecting the girls to be less mature and much more inexperienced. The differences between the sisters in this novel and where we left them at the end of CURSED BY DESTINY are dramatic, particularly when it comes to Celia, so it took me a moment to adjust to the way the girls behave in A CURSE AWAKENED. Don't get me wrong, they're still essentially the same but the differences in maturity are quite noticeable and this is a prequel but I still needed to actually pause and recalibrate my expectations.

A CURSE AWAKENED takes us to the girls' pre-Tahoe days, shortly after Celia and Danny broke up. It's a lot of fun to see Danny and Celia being less harmonious than they are in the series proper, and it's interesting to see how Danny's relationships with the sisters has evolved. Celia being Celia is kindness personified and she agrees to help Danny with his vampire problem even though her sisters are against it. What we get is a tidy adventure that shows us the sisters at a much rawer stage of their personal and magical developments, and see just what leads them into the matters at the start of the first novel (if I remember correctly).

The novella takes place at a time when the girls didn't have as much control over their powers, because they're still under the curse. It was a lot of fun to see all of their abilities backfire, or misfire, as it were, and it added an extra comic level to the story. Robson always does a great job of injecting humour into her writing but A CURSE AWAKENED has more of a slapstick feel to it at times because of the girls' messed up gifts.

You don't need to read A CURSE AWAKENED to follow the series but it's definitely a must-read for fans of the series. Skipping A CURSE AWAKENED won't hurt your enjoyment of the Weird Girls but it's worth checking it out if you like the girls and want to see what they were like when they were a bit younger.

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by Tynga at Monday, August 11, 2014

 Adult, Cecy Robson, Loveswept, Netgalley, New adult, Random House, Review, Urban Fantasy, Weird Girls  2 People left their mark

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Cursed by Destiny by Cecy Robson

We're part of Cecy's blog tour so there's a giveaway at the end of the post!
Thanks, Cecy!

Cecy Robson brings the heat in CURSED BY DESTINY, the third novel in her Weird Girls series. Celia and her sisters get drawn deeper into the supernatural community, the Tribe is becoming more brazen and dangerous, and Celia's love life somehow manages to get ever more complicated.

Celia's a girl in trouble. Her heart is bound to Aric, but he is a pureblood were who must deny her or risk condemning his species to extinction. And that's just her love life. She's also been called to take down a group of demon terrorists looking to overthrow the paranormal world. (No pressure.)

The Aric-Celia-Misha love triangle gets a lot of page time. I don't usually take issue with love triangles, as long as they're organic and work within the story, but I find myself getting really tired of Aric. I understand that he's torn between duty and love and that it's causing a lot of internal havoc for his wolf but I cared less while reading CURSED BY DESTINY. I guess I'm Team Misha because I found myself becoming quite fond of our resident manipulative but oh so compelling vampire, especially since Celia's living with the vampires and we get to see Misha's softer side. He'll always be machiavellian but his feelings for Celia are genuine and he's much more upfront with her than Aric, which won him major points in my book. Robson also introduces another man for Celia -- though Celia isn't terribly impressed by him. The were elders, on the other hand, are definitely on his side, which makes everything just a tad more complex. For my part, it seems unnecessary since Celia already has two options but perhaps the newest guy will grow on me (and Celia), and I'll be more invested in Celia's love square.

Celia's sisters are also experiencing ups and downs on the romance front. In each case, it really shows a lot about the girls' characters and lets us get to know them better, which is great because what we knew before this book was relatively superficial. That's not to say that they're not good characters -- it's just that we spend so much time in Celia's head that we know her much better than the other Wird girls. We see a lot of growth from Emme in particular, which I loved because she's probably my favourite sister, but both Taran and Shayna also get some nice page time.

CURSED BY DESTINY ends on a very exciting and serious note and it's left me extremely curious about where Robson will take Celia and her friends and family next. Robson is a talented writer who manages to surprise me time and again, which definitely makes her a Must Buy author for me.

Cecy is offering one (1) prize pack (a signed copy of CURSED BY DESTINY, a magnet, lip balm, and bookmark) to a lucky reader!

Open internationally

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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by Tynga at Monday, December 30, 2013

 Adult, Cecy Robson, giveaway, Penguin, Publisher, Review, Signet, Urban Fantasy, Vampire, Weird Girls, werewolf  35 People left their mark

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A Cursed Moon by Cecy Robson

Novella November might be over but I have one more novella for you: A CURSED MOON, the novella bridging A CURSED EMBRACE (#2) and CURSED BY DESTINY (#3) in Cecy Robson's Weird Girls series. For the first time, we get a new narrator: Bren, the sisters' werewolf friend. He's largely been muscle-y comic relief with his much less muscle-y best friend Dan but  now we're jumping into his brain and there's a very different tone from Celia's narration. It's not a bad thing but it's definitely noticeable, which is good since Bren and Celia are great friends but have very little in common, personality-wise, and it'd be troubling if things sounded exactly the same this time around. In fact, Robson does a great job of inhabiting Bren and creating a unique voice for him, which is why I'm sad to say I found this adventure a bit less satisfying than the other stories. Don't get me wrong, A CURSED MOON is a nice foray back into the Weird Girls world but I missed Celia and the grand problems that she and her sisters get into. (She shows up in the novella but she's not the central character.)

There are two central ideas in this novella: (1) Bren has responsibilities to the were pack that he needs to start doing and (2) ghosts are popping up all over Tahoe, causing trouble and mayhem. Robson does a nice job of tying them together and I particularly enjoyed the stuff with the ghosts. It's the aftermath of events from A CURSED EMBRACE and it's good to see that Tahoe's supernatural residents are doing their part to contain this new menace. I found Bren's interactions with the other weres to be a bit less interesting, though we do learn a lot more about why he's a loner, which I loved. There was just something about his interactions with Aric that didn't click for me the way a Weird Girls story usually does. But, as always, his relationship with Dan made me laugh out loud. Well,  Dan generally is such an endearing character that I always smile when he's on the page but it's great to see him through Bren's eyes now. They've got such a strong brotherly bond -- who doesn't love a good bromance?

Towards the end of A CURSED MOON, there is something that can only be called a Big Event. I won't say a word about it but I think this is what makes this novella a must read for fans of the series. I'm not sure how Robson will explain it away without referencing these events, as I haven't started my ARC of CURSED BY DESTINY yet but I'm certain that there will be significant ramifications for this Big Event. I'm very curious to see how this plays out and hope it becomes an important part of the series. (I know I'm being the Queen of Cryptic right now but I really don't want to spoil things for you. It was such a surprise to me and I want it to be the same for you.)

While I may not have enjoyed A CURSED MOON as much as I've liked previous Weird Girls stories, this novella is still a good and useful addition to the series. We get a lot more knowledge about how the weres function and we learn more about Aric, his station, and his feelings for Celia. And finally learning the full scoop on Bren's family definitely satisfies, since it explains his reluctance to join up with other weres for all this time. Plus, there is that Big Event that has to affect the next novel so I'd urge you to read it before proceeding with CURSED BY DESTINY. Say what you will but Robson definitely knows how to throw that Act 3 surprise at her readers, to make sure you stick around for the next instalment!

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by Tynga at Monday, December 02, 2013

 Adult, Cecy Robson, ghost, Penguin, Publisher, Review, Signet, Urban Fantasy, Weird Girls, werewolf  2 People left their mark

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